Homeland (TV Series) The Litvinov Ruse (2015) User Reviews

Superb Episode

[851222 · 10/10 · 30 November 2015]

Greetings from Lithuania.

"The Litvinov Ruse" was the best episode in the great season 5 so far. It was so good to see Saul and Carrie working back together again, the whole long chase sequence was amazing, and the ending left me wanting the next Sunday to come ASAP.

Remembering last seasons, i somehow do believe that this great episode was just a warm up to what it is coming next. I do not know whether this last scene will end the way it looks like now, but this is surely a great cliffhanger.

Overall, "The Litvinov Ruse" is a superb episode in all directions. Superbly intense, smart, plausible and involving - this is the highlight of the season 5 so far.

A very tense episode with a cliff-hanger ending

[Tweekums · 10/10 · 7 December 2015]

After Carrie's realisation that Allison is working with the Russians she takes her finding to Saul. He initially doesn't believe her, or doesn't want to, but agrees to an operation to test her loyalty. He plants a tracker on her and bugs her phone before informing her that a senior Russian agent with knowledge of a mole in the CIA's Berlin station is planning to defect. At first it looks as if she won't expose herself but after a bit of prodding she heads to an FSB safe house. Meanwhile Quinn learns that the terrorist group he is with are planning a sarin attack… but first they intend to demonstrate that they have the poison by testing it on him!

This was one of the best episodes of the current season; there was plenty of tension in the plot involving Allison; would she catch Saul as he planted the tracker, would she take the bait and finally will she be able to turn the situation around and save herself… this was all mild compared to Quinn's story though; as the episode ended his survival was in doubt. Rupert Friend does a great job showing his controlled fear as he learns what is planned for him. His final scene is one of the series' most disturbing as we see the sarin start to affect him. As the episode ended I was left keen to see what happens next to both Quinn and Allison.

Homeland finally ups its game.

[foleyjd · 8/10 · 7 December 2015]

I spent much of the last few episodes waiting for the show to explode or at the very least up the tempo a little. Thankfully, for the most part, The Litvinov Ruse delivers on that front.

Let's get the bad out the way first, the stuff with Quinn. Now part of the problem for Quinn this week is just that the other side of the plot is so much more interesting so every time they flick over to him we feel a little disappointed. There are a couple of other big problems as well though.

Firstly have Quinn in this sort of situation is getting repetitive and particularly this season has had a lot of sick/chained up Quinn. The other problem is that the plot feels somewhat beside the point at this stage, or at least in relation to the other side of things which makes weird and horrible torture scenes feel a little bit unearned.

The rest of the episode was really strong though. Straight off the bat the reconciliation between Saul and Carrie is pretty sweet. I have been banging on all season that the show is just better when its leading three characters interact and at times this season hasn't been able to give us this.

The episode then ramps up the tension by doing what Homeland does best, having a bunch of people in suits watch some other people walk around the place, on a 50 inch screen television, while looking anxious. The prolonged Alison chase scene (if you can call it that) is really classic Homeland and the first time this season has upped the suspense.

Quote often the problem with these mole plots is how longer can you have the mole not be known before the audience just gets irritated. Homeland is pretty borderline after having eight episodes of this stuff, but in this sense The Litvinov Ruse does move the plot a fair amount forward, another criticism of episodes this season.

I don't know just how plausible it is to have Alison be able to lie that it was the other way round and get away with it, but nonetheless this was an exciting episode that maybe could have come a little earlier.

Nerve wrecking but superb !

[ThePapaStephIE · 10/10 · 2 December 2015]

Oh boy ! What an episode ! I was on the edge of my seat for 50 mins, my palms sweating, jittering. It was a great show in terms of story telling, edginess, wit, twist... superb!

However it stays with you for a while, lingers in your head. Psychological thriller at its best. After what happen in Paris recently, you really keep thinking that ALL OF IT is plausible and there are factions in Europe that are surely thinking about ...That... Is scares the hell out of me.

Danes & Patinkin are back the "dynamite" duo and the tension is palpable, you out to love them, despite her always saying a word to many and him being a cuddly hard a*s. But the palm MUST go to Rupert Friend (Quinn) who is a genius actor. His character is bruised, battered and more... You really feel for him and all is torments. If the tension goes any higher, I will need to get blood pressure pills...can't wait for next week...or can I ?

Great

[Abdulxoxo · 8/10 · 18 October 2020]

What an episode, very suspenful and intense, finally the plot is going somewhere, The Quinn and the terrorists storyline will now be the main plot I guess, the ending was shocking and disturbing. Rupert Friend did a wonderful job portraying how the Sarin affects a person. Allison managed to dodged a bullet.

Seriously???

[LittleStorpingInTheSwuff · 7/10 · 13 June 2018]

Allison is on the run, and "Wow!", her every move is caught on camera!!! Oh, and the little transmitter that Saul put in her purse? It's too small to have a range of more than about a mile. Even if there wasn't a jamming device at the Russian safe house it would have been useless. But, since Allison has discovered the transmitter - yet- it may still lead to her eventual downfall.

This is a really good episode, but the farce with the cameras tracking her movements deducted points for me. And when she got caught at the Russian safe house I sensed how she would get out of it, and I was right. In the end Allison outsmarted them all. But that shouldn't have surprised anyone, there are still 3 episodes left in the season.

Say a prayer for Quinn

[dierregi · 7/10 · 21 April 2021]

Poor Quinn is having a particular rough season, getting shot, septic, suicidal, beaten repeatedly and now poisoned. What did he do wrong, apart from being an efficient killer of bad guys?

He's the only one I'm sort of rooting for, but I liked better cool Quinn or Quinn in love, not Quinn as a beaten-to-a-pulp victim.

Meanwhile Allison is finally on the run but with an ace up her sleeve, even if Dar falling for her lies is far fetched. Surely Iraqi guy's laptop must have held more tangible information than just a photo of the guy in St. Lucia.

At least Carrie and Saul metaphorically kissed and made up.