Full spoilers follow.

“The plan is a success. You and Brody pulled it off."

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Brody reflects.

The star

No additional comments this week, except to say RIP Brody.

After all the complaining and second-guessing that Homeland has had to endure from critics and fans this (and most of last season), in the end the show’s creators finally had the guts to do what needed to be done with Brody.They killed him, clearly and unambiguously. Brody’s dead.The argument could be made that he’s always been dead for as long as we’ve known him (and even for years prior to that). Even here, in the last few happy minutes that he and Carrie shared together in the safe house -- where it was all too clear to us, the viewers, that things were about to go horribly wrong -- it was only Carrie’s impassioned speech about them being meant to be together and that, by the way, she’s also pregnant, that seemed to bring Brody back to life if, only momentarily.But this was the ending Brody needed. Any flights of fancy of him becoming a super-spy alongside Carrie and Saul, or somehow doing a Mr. Mom while Carrie fought terrorists, would’ve damned Homeland. A happy ending just wasn’t in the cards for him -- that’s not what Homeland is about. This season in particular has shown us what the spy life can do to its best and brightest, how it takes and takes and takes, and then discards you once you’ve completed your mission. Brody is the ultimate example of this. (Saul, having achieved the unachievable with his huge win on the Javadi front was still kicked out of the agency for his trouble. He seemingly got off easy compared to many of his peers.)“The Star” is perhaps one of the saddest hours of TV we’ve seen in some time, and it’s also a reminder that for all the Carrie fatigue that’s been going around this season, Claire Danes remains an amazing performer. Ultimately, her and Brody’s story was truly tragic, and even with Brody gone Carrie is continuously reminded of his presence by the baby inside her. In fact, it amazes me how this one episode turned that entire pregnancy subplot around so that it’s suddenly a very compelling and painful part of the character. The easy route would be to go with the “this baby is a part of Brody” thread, but no, Carrie wants nothing to do with the thing.Damian Lewis is less flashy than Danes in his final appearance as Brody, but he’s perfect in his world-weary, resigned approach to where his life has taken him. Any ideas of getting out of Iran for the sake of his daughter are gone now -- Brody’s family isn’t even mentioned, in fact -- as the ex-Marine reflects on the madness of it all. His remarking that at least his dad isn’t around anymore to see any of this is a heartbreaking moment, as are the final seconds of his phone call with Carrie where she begs him to stay on for a few more seconds of just… silence.The episode certainly leaves a lot open as for where things will go next season. It pretty much leaves everything open, in fact. And yes, it has some illogical plotting bouncing around as well as a clunky wrap-up, but that doesn’t really matter. Because when Carrie quietly scrawls that star for Brody on the wall, a star that no one will recognize except her and maybe a few other people, we couldn’t ask for a better memorial to the character. Brody may have outlived his usefulness on the show -- as well as in the show’s reality -- but damn if he wasn’t a great television character.Some notes:

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