Homeland
Achilles Heel
TV Flash files “Achilles Heel” as hour 8 of 96 in the TV Flash guide — Homeland (2011–2020) on Showtime, season 1, episode 8, aired 2011-11-20, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E08: listed hour 8 of 96 in the Homeland guide, hour 8 of 12 in season 1. It aired 2011-11-20 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “The Weekend” (S01E07). Next is “Crossfire” (S01E09).

Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
While Carrie and Saul are left reeling by the news that Walker is alive, the intelligence organisations squabble over how to capture him. The FBI leans toward using the public's help, but Carrie thinks they should use his family to draw him out. Elsewhere, Brody sets out to find a mysterious man who has surprising info about his years as a captive.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Achilles Heel sit in the Homeland guide?
S01E08 is listed hour 8 of 96 — hour 8 of 12 in season 1, season 1 episode 8.
When did Homeland S01E08 air?
Achilles Heel aired 2011-11-20 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Where should I start?
Season one — the Brody suspicion loop is the tightest craft. Later seasons shift missions and regions; the early run is the rewiring of cable espionage people still mean.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Claire Danes's bipolar CIA officer as the camera's heartbeat: Brody suspicion, Saul's counsel, a decade of wars and administrations. Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa's Showtime flagship dominated early-2010s Emmys, then went roving. Post-9/11 prestige as long-form nerve damage — watch the first loops of doubt, then the foreign-policy anxiety tour.
October 2, 2011, Showtime: a bipolar CIA officer suspects a rescued POW has been turned, and trust collapses into geopolitics. Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa developed *Homeland* from the Israeli series *Prisoners of War*. Claire Danes's manic intelligence is the camera's heartbeat — multiple Emmys as Carrie Mathison — with Damian Lewis's Brody as the early cat-and-mouse, Mandy Patinkin as Saul, Rupert Friend as Quinn. Rex's beat is not the app. It is the long nerve: **eight seasons as a national anxiety diary.**
Filed against
- Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison
Claire Danes’s Angela Chase narrated My So-Called Life like a wound that had not scabbed — 1990s catalog one perfect canceled season, then Homeland turning the same nerve into a CIA heartbeat. TV Flash files her as the sophomore who…
- Damian Lewis as Nicholas Brody
Damian Lewis’s Richard Winters walked Band of Brothers from training ground to the Reich’s end — 2000s catalog Easy Company, prestige miniseries as a template, then Homeland recasting the composure as Brody suspicion. TV Flash files him…
- Mandy Patinkin as Saul Berenson
Mandy Patinkin’s Jeffrey Geiger brought intensity to Chicago Hope’s prestige white coats — ER’s rival across the dial, David E. Kelley’s ethics machine — then counselled a decade of wars as Saul on Homeland. Nineties doctor speeches;…
- Rupert Friend as Peter Quinn
Rupert Friend's Peter Quinn carried Homeland as field-agent nerve damage — Claire Danes's bipolar CIA officer as the camera's heartbeat, Brody suspicion, Saul's counsel, a decade of wars and administrations. Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa's…
- Morena Baccarin as Jessica Brody
Morena Baccarin’s Inara Serra gave Firefly’s ragtag Serenity a Companion’s poise — space western as found family, fourteen Fox episodes canceled out of order — then entered Homeland’s Brody-suspicion decade. Browncoat treasure; Showtime…