Has Carrie Switched Sides On 'Homeland'?

I never doubted that at some point, Carrie Mathison would find a way out of the CIA. But what I never pictured was her working for the enemy. However, now I'm not so sure. Homeland Season 5 premiered Sunday night and showed a new side of Carrie: The family-loving, private sector-working side. Carrie is now living in Germany with her boyfriend Jonas and daughter Frannie. She works as the head of private security for billionaire philanthropist Otto Düring at the Düring Foundation, and her life as a CIA agent is behind her, despite her still having some CIA clearance. Despite this seemingly peaceful new life, a cold encounter with her old mentor Saul and her actions to secure safety have turned her into something darker. Is Carrie working for the other side now that she's out of the CIA?

When Carrie encounters Saul two years after the Season 4 finale, we see that things have gotten pretty tense between them. Saul is angry with Carrie for not only ruining his bid for CIA director, but also for joining the Foundation instead of staying at the CIA. Carrie truly believes she is doing good work, which Saul bluntly disagrees with. But the dangers at the Foundation are just as real and perhaps even worse than some of her time at the CIA. For one, Carrie is being constantly pressured to divulge CIA secrets to her co-workers, especially after one receives a classified document regarding a deal made between Germans and the CIA to have the agency spy on the German public for the government.

Plus, there's this upcoming trip to Lebanon on which Otto is forcing Carrie to accompany him as security to visit a refugee camp. Carrie is genuinely worried about their safety as the refugee camp is notoriously known for being run by the Hezbollah, rather than the United Nations. Carrie's friends at the CIA won't help the Foundation get backup and support to make the trip, so Carrie makes a move that is quite surprising. She reaches out to Hezbollah leaders to see if she can be get food and supplies from the Hezbollah counsel for the camp.

A Hezbollah member captures her and takes her statement, but then reveals that he was there the day she and the CIA tried to assassinate Abu Nazir in Beirut. He also stated that she killed his son. Despite her stating several times that she left her CIA life and is now a private citizen, it appears at first as though the member does not want to cooperate with her at all. However, Carrie receives a call later that night stating that the Hezbollah leaders will meet Otto in Lebanon.

Does this mean that Carrie really is turning against the CIA? In trailers for Homeland Season 5, we hear from Quinn that Carrie is on a kill list. Ostensibly he is still working for the CIA with Saul when he encounters this kill list, so does that mean that the CIA believes Carrie is a threat? If she continues to align herself with terrorists, there's no question that she'd quickly find herself as a target of her former employer.

I truly believe that Carrie is just trying to do anything she can to stay safe in a dangerous situation, but I'm afraid she'll only find more danger.

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