Saul Berenson
| Saul Berenson | |
|---|---|
| Homeland character | |
| First appearance | "Pilot" (2011) |
| Last appearance | "Prisoners of War" (2020) |
| Created by | |
| Portrayed by | Mandy Patinkin |
| Information | |
| Full name | Saul Michael Berenson |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation |
|
| Spouse | Mira Berenson (divorced) |
| Relatives | Dorit (sister) |
| Religion | Jewish |
| Nationality | American |
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Saul Michael Berenson, played by actor Mandy Patinkin, is a fictional character in the American television drama/thriller series Homeland on Showtime, created by Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon. Saul is a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer who has worked for the agency for 35 years and is the mentor and former boss of Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes).
Character biography[edit]
Background and personality[edit]
Saul has worked for the CIA for 35 years. He recruited and trained Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes), and continues to mentor and have a close working relationship with her, despite not being her immediate supervisor anymore. Saul is also a long time friend of Dar Adal (F. Murray Abraham), a black ops specialist, and the men help and advise each other over the course of the series. Saul is married to Mira Berenson (Sarita Choudhury), but his work takes a toll on their marriage.
Season 1[edit]
Saul is informed by Carrie that her informant in Iraq was that "An American prisoner of war has been turned." She concludes that the POW in question must be Brody. Saul flatly rejects the possibility of the CIA conducting any investigation into Brody, who is now a beloved war hero. Carrie goes back home, where she meets a furious Saul already in her house. Saul discovered Carrie's illegal surveillance setup on Brody and tells Carrie she'll be reporting to the Inspector General and to "get a lawyer, you're going to need one". Carrie, in desperation, makes a pass at Saul, who leaves in disgust. She then comes over to Saul's house and shows him various news clips of Brody that day. She notes that every time Brody was on camera, he was tapping out a distinct sequence with his fingers. Carrie suggests that it looks like a coded message, possibly intended for a handler or sleeper cell. Saul agrees that it's something that needs to be investigated further.[1][circular reference]
Saul visits a judge he has history with, he has some leverage over this judge and asks to be granted a FISA warrant, in order to make Carrie's surveillance of Brody technically legal. The judge reluctantly agrees. Saul also checks in with the CIA cryptography team, who were not able to decode Brody's coded message, if indeed it was a coded message. Saul then presents Carrie with the warrant temporarily legalizing her surveillance, which will be valid for four weeks. Carrie reports Brody's disturbing behavior to Saul, who says that if Brody had indeed been turned, then he would be embracing the hero role in the media. Carrie calls Saul and tells him "It's happening, exactly like you said. He's out there playing the hero card!" after Brody goes to the press outside his house. Carrie speculates that the true connection to Abu Nazir might not be the Prince Farid, but somebody in his entourage. Saul reminds her of the missing diamond necklace, and how jewelry is often used to transfer funds quickly and as a means of financing terrorist operations. Carrie has one day left before the FISA warrant expires, and she still has no solid evidence against Brody. She asks Saul for an extension on the warrant, but Saul says to focus on the money trail instead and that the surveillance equipment in Brody's house must be removed the first chance she gets.[2][3]
Saul picks up his wife Mira as she returns from India. Saul gets a call about a captured terrorist and has to leave immediately, not even able to take Mira home. Carrie and Saul arrive for an interrogation of Hamid. Sgt. Brody has also been summoned. Saul conducts the interrogation alone in the room with Hamid, while Brody and Carrie watch on camera and are able to talk to Saul via an earpiece. As the interrogation progresses, Brody feeds Saul details of his captivity, so that Saul appears all-knowing. Saul then offers to protect Hamid's family from Abu Nazir, if he's willing to talk. Hamid is then left in the interrogation room with the lights blinking, the air conditioning on full, and intermittent blasts of loud metal music are played. After many hours of this treatment, Hamid is seemingly ready to cooperate. He says he doesn't know much, but gives up an e-mail address to which he once passed along a message. The address is eventually traced back to the university where the previously investigated Raqim Faisel is working. A short time later, Raqim's home address is ascertained. Saul calls Carrie to inform her that Hamid is dead. He had somehow obtained a fragment of a razor blade and slashed his own wrist.
Saul is home with Mira, who is at the end of her rope. She says she is tired of her life revolving around Saul and his all-consuming work. As this conversation is going on, Carrie shows up. She's learned of Brody's meeting with Hamid and has a tape of the camera footage with her. She is furious that Brody was allowed to have contact with Hamid, and points out that in the melee, Brody pulled Hamid into the blind spot of the camera, giving him ample opportunity to pass Hamid the blade. Saul is also angry that Brody was permitted to meet with Hamid, but refuses to take Carrie's suspicions up the chain of command, as there is still no hard evidence. Carrie says she will take it up with Estes, whether Saul approves or not. Saul counters that if she does so, she'll be fired. Carrie storms out after a nasty argument.[4]
Season 2[edit]
Season 3[edit]
Season 4[edit]
Season 5[edit]
Season 6[edit]
Season 7[edit]
Season 8[edit]
Saul, now the US National Security Advisor, is leading the US effort to end the war in Afghanistan. Negotiations between Afghanistan and the Taliban fall apart when Afghanistan's vice president, Abdul Qadir G'ulom (Mohammad Bakri), announces he will refuse to honor the proposed terms. Saul recruits Carrie, who is still recovering from her imprisonment in Russia, to join him in Kabul to help salvage the peace talks, despite warnings from Carrie's caretakers at a military hospital in Germany that she is not ready. Saul arranges a secret meeting in Pakistan with Haissam Haqqani (Numan Acar), who is now the leader of the Taliban, but the ISI learn of it and hit Haqqani's convoy with an RPG. In the aftermath, Saul is captured and delivered to Haqqani, who was not in the convoy but sent it as a decoy. Haqqani suspects Saul planned the attack, but soon learns that his son Jalal (Elham Ehsas) betrayed him to the ISI. Saul and Haqqani eventually agree to terms on a peace deal, which includes an immediate cease fire. Their plans fall apart when the helicopter carrying the US president and the Afghan president goes down in Taliban-controlled territory.
Carrie, already suspected to be working with the Russians, lies about her clandestine meetings with GRU agent Yevgeny Gromov (Costa Ronin), and Saul is compelled to send her back to Germany. Carrie goes on the run with Yevgeny in search of both a missing Max and the flight recorder from the helicopter crash. She remains in contact with Saul, who tries to help her despite the CIA's pursuit. With Haqqani about to be put on trial and executed, Saul seeks aid from his Pakistani nemesis Tasneem Qureishi (Nimrat Kaur), who is now Director-General of the ISI. Though her stepfather Bunran Latif (Art Malik), Saul's old friend, refuses Saul, Tasneem agrees to help him stall the trial. They believe they are successful, but Haqqani is immediately sentenced to death. Jalal claims responsibility for the crash, and Saul tries to prevent the new US president from escalating the situation further by threatening to invade Pakistan. Saul wires Carrie $1 million to acquire the flight recorder, which is subsequently stolen by Yevgeny. Knowing that the recorder proves that mechanical failure caused the crash, Saul goes to the Russian ambassador, who denies any knowledge of it. Yevgeny tells Carrie that she can have the recorder in exchange for the identity of Saul's highly-placed spy in the Kremlin. She turns herself in to the CIA and is released into Saul's custody, but he denies the existence of any such double agent. Carrie's subsequent investigation proves to her that Saul is lying, and Yevgeny tells her to find the spy's identity or kill Saul.
Tasneem helps Saul diffuse the US's threats against Pakistan by providing him with a believable location for Jalal that will distract US intelligence. When Saul refuses to identify his Russian asset, Carrie drugs him, and threatens to kill him if he does not comply. Saul calls Carrie's bluff, so she leaves him as the captive of two GRU agents while she visits his sister Dorit (Jacqueline Antaramian) in Israel. By pretending Saul has died, Carrie collects a video left for her with Dorit that identifies Saul's asset as Russian translator Anna Pomerantseva (Tatyana Mukha). Carrie informs Yevgeny, but Saul manages to warn Anna, who kills herself before the Russians take her into custody. The cockpit recording is released by the Russians, ending the threat of nuclear war. Two years later, Carrie has fled to Russia and is in a relationship with Yevgeny, and Saul has retired after suffering a heart attack. Saul receives a message from Carrie in the same manner he communicated with Anna, establishing herself as his new asset in Russia.
References[edit]
- ↑ "Pilot (Homeland) - Wikipedia". en.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
- ↑ "Clean Skin", Wikipedia, 2019-09-28, retrieved 2020-02-26
- ↑ "Semper I", Wikipedia, 2019-09-28, retrieved 2020-02-26
- ↑ "Blind Spot (Homeland)", Wikipedia, 2019-09-28, retrieved 2020-03-08
External links[edit]
- Saul Berenson at Showtime
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