Ep 1. The Drone Queen

In the first episode of season four of Homeland, titled "The Drone Queen," we find Carrie Mathison, played by Claire Danes, stationed in Kabul, Afghanistan. She has been promoted to the role of CIA station chief, and her main focus is on targeting a Taliban leader named Haissam Haqqani.

As the episode opens, we see a number of drone strikes taking place in different parts of the country. Carrie is in a command center, overseeing the strikes and working closely with the military in the area. Her team of CIA operatives and soldiers are using drones to take out Taliban targets, and the operation seems to be going well.

However, things quickly take a turn for the worse when a drone strike kills a group of civilians who were perceived to be enemy combatants. Among the dead are several children, and the strike causes a major uproar in the local population. Carrie is devastated by what has happened, and she knows that this incident could spell disaster for her mission.

Throughout the episode, we see the fallout from the drone strike play out in different ways. There are protests in the streets, and there are even calls for the US military to withdraw from the country altogether. Meanwhile, Carrie is struggling to deal with the emotional toll of the incident, as well as her own personal demons. She has a fraught relationship with her sister Maggie, played by Amy Hargreaves, and she is also dealing with the aftermath of an affair she had with a CIA colleague.

Amidst all of this, there is a sense that something even bigger is brewing. Carrie and her team are aware of a possible attack by Haqqani, and they are trying to prepare for it. At the same time, they are also dealing with internal threats. There is a mole within their organization, and Carrie is facing pressure from her superiors to root out the traitor before they can do any more damage.

Overall, "The Drone Queen" sets the stage for what promises to be a tense and thrilling season of Homeland. The episode deals with complex themes such as the morality of drone warfare, the toll that war takes on soldiers and civilians alike, and the challenges faced by those who work in the intelligence community. This is not an episode to miss if you are a Homeland fan, or if you are simply interested in high-stakes drama.