【Candy Apples Archives】

This recap contains spoilers for Homeland Season 6,Candy Apples Archives episode 1, titled "Fair Game."

Homelandis back for Season 6 with "Fair Game," an episode that finds the key players a bit scattered when the season begins -- but it's only a matter of time before they converge.

Carrie's fight

After years of globetrotting in order to wage a war on terror, Carrie (Claire Danes) has settled down in Brooklyn and is trying to raise Franny while helming an organization that protects and defends Muslims from unjust prosecution.

It's a noble cause, to be sure, as viewers are introduced in the premiere to Sekou Bah (J. Mallory McCree), a Muslim teen who seemingly wants only to share a counterpoint view to heinous U.S. military activities, but whose website is something the FBI has deemed "material support" for terrorism. FBI Special Agent Ray Conlin (Dominic Fumusa) -- who should be a fun mustache-twirling a-hole for this season -- claims that they worry Sekou's rhetoric will incite others to violence. So Sekou is arrested and Carrie and co. are brought in to represent him, and already we smell something else brewing with this storyline.

Surely Homelandwouldn't be so cliched as to make Sekou a bad guy at some point down the line -- this show is far more nuanced and complicated than that -- but regular TV watchers know that there is probably something else going on with Sekou that we don't yet know about.

Perhaps it will have something to do with his father. When the story finds him, Sekou was planning on leaving to visit his father in Nigeria, who lives there after being deported from the U.S. in 2002 (something the U.S. did a lot of in the wake of 9/11). Or maybe it will have to do with Sekou's sister Simone (Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut), introduced in the premiere as a foil to Sekou's proud Muslim beliefs.

Regardless of the what, we feel fairly confident that there is more than meets the eye with Sekou and his family, because Homelandloves nothing more than a good twist -- so keep your eye on the Bahs.

Quinn's flight

When we find Quinn (Rupert Friend), the soldier is in a bad place after the events of Season 5. Of course, that's to be expected after suffering a brain hemorrhage caused by exposure to a chemical weapon. But it's still incredibly sad watching Quinn keep Carrie at arm's length, refuse to participate in physical therapy and then get robbed of hundreds of dollars by a hooker and her boyfriend after am ill-advised drug trip.

However, watching Quinn move in with Carrie and Franny -- which is sure to get bad before it gets better -- we can't help but wish the show had just let Quinn die. Carrie does not need to be coupled up with a man to be an interesting TV character, yet the show seems unable to let that go.

Her relationship with Brody (Damien Lewis) was compelling in its shades of gray and moral ambiguity, as was Quinn's journey of going from someone meant to assassinate Brody (and later, Carrie) to Carrie and Saul's ally.

But forcing Carrie and Quinn together romantically seems a little trite. Don't get us wrong, Quinn is a great character and Friend is fantastic in his portrayal. But maybe kicking Season 6 off with a kinder, gentler Carrie who just wants to do her own thing, raise her daughter and help people, only to be dragged back into the world of the CIA, would have been more interesting than saddling her with Quinn and all of his baggage.

Alas, that train has left the station, because Quinn is now living downstairs in Carrie's apartment. The only thing we can hope for is that at some point Quinn becomes involved in the overarching Season 6 plot, since right now, the Quinn scenes feel like an entirely different show than the rest of the premiere episode.

Dar's slight

In the storyline that is obviously Homeland'sbread and butter, Saul (Mandy Patinkin) and Dar (F. Murray Abraham) are meeting with President-elect Elizabeth Keane (Elizabeth Marvel) as part of the transition process between the election and inauguration.

Keane is perhaps the most interesting character in the Season 6 premiere, as parallels can be drawn between Keane and Hillary Clinton (former junior senator from New York); Keane and Donald Trump (lack of foreign policy experience and a distrust of the CIA); and Keane and Cindy Sheehan (anti-war activist whose son was killed serving in Iraq).

Saul thinks that Keane's suggestion that "not every problem in the Middle East deserves a military solution" is perhaps not that crazy. He's at least willing to explore that line of thinking, which interestingly puts him at odds with Dar.

Any season where we get to watch Patinkin and Abraham spar on opposite sides of a conflict is enticing indeed. Add in the fact that at episode's end, Dar has a meeting behind Saul's back with Gen. Jamie McClendon (Robert Knepper) and we're definitely all in for this storyline.

Overall, it seems like Season 6 is going to be a bit of a slow burn, because getting Carrie and maybe Quinn involved in what Saul and Dar are up to is going to take some maneuvering. But we trust Homelandto make it an interesting ride.

Homelandairs Sundays at 9 p.m. on Showtime.