Carrie Mathison's Diary

Over the course of the five seasons of Homeland so far, we've seen Carrie's character and her relationship with her illness change and develop.  In season one, she's very dismissive of her illness and obtains medication in secret from her psychiatrist sister but by season five, she's accepted and learned ways to manage and deal with the condition.  Her bipolar disorder is an inherent part of how she thinks and feels, and the way she reacts to the world around her but she gradually adapts to work with it rather than against it which is fundamental to her development as a character and as an intelligence officer.

 

As Carrie herself points out on several occasions, there are times when the intense perception and hyperfocus of mania can be beneficial to her work within the CIA.  Whether or not Homeland is realistic or accurate in its portrayal of mental illness is something which has sparked a lot of debate and controversy but for Carrie as a character, it's an integral part of who she is and how she functions both in her own life and in relation to events in Homeland.  It's not clear with Carrie which of her traits are her personality and which are related to her bipolar disorder which is typical of many people with the same condition.  Some of the traits- ability to notice things many people would miss, the intense focus that comes with manic episodes, making connections between seemingly arbitrary events- are vital to her work as an intelligence officer and she is aware of this, making the decision to engage with treatment for the condition very difficult and she is very ambivalent about it as we see progressively more throughout the series.

 

Season One

 

In the pilot episode of season one, we're introduced to Carrie as a character when she's come home from a night out, thrown her 'wedding ring' into a bowl of jewellery, washed and changed for work, swallowed her medication and goes to work after we’re given a camera pan of Carrie’s apartment which again tells us a lot about her without it seeming like exposition.  There are papers all over her desk and a giant notice board with a world map, pictures of the same man (who we soon find out is Abu Nazir), a detailed diagram linking him to several other people (his command structure?) and report cuttings.  It’s all very systematic and thorough, and shows that even when Carrie’s ‘off duty’, she never really ‘off duty’ and I’m pretty sure it’s not allowed to have confidential information plastered over the wall of your living room.  She arrives late at work and slips into the briefing to a disapproving look from David Estes.  At this point, we’ve known Carrie less than five minutes (literally- it’s 4 mins 40 seconds into the episode) and already we’ve got a good impression of what she’s like as a character.  My first reaction was ‘wow, this woman never stops’ and I was massively impressed, but now I’m also starting to see that one of the reasons she never seems to slow down is because she doesn’t want to accept being ‘alone’- working alone and begin independent is one thing and I think she uses that as a ‘mask’ for how alone she really feels.

 

All of this is typical of a person with bipolar disorder and even though we don't know anything about Carrie as a person yet, it's clear that she has strong traits of someone experiencing particularly the manic episodes associated with bipolar disorder.  Her 'partying' lifestyle and sexual promiscuity with men is a symptom of bipolar disorder and the implication that she has been out all night then going to a full day at work suggests that she does not need a lot of sleep and that she is capable of functioning without it.  Soon into the episode, we see Carrie's fixation about Abu Nazir resurface when she questions Brody over and over about his contact in Iraq.  When David Estes mentions this to Saul later, he responds with "She can be a little obsessive on the subject" which we see repeatedly until Nazir's death at the end of season two.  This fixation is also consistent with bipolar disorder where obsessive thoughts can lead to fixation on a person or an idea.  There are also references to Carrie's unusual behaviour from Saul and Estes when they're talking about letting her into the debrief and they agree that she has to "behave herself" and that Saul "is willing to do the babysitting".  This implies from the start that Carrie can be volatile and unpredicatable which again points towards possible aspects of her bipolar disorder.

 

Later in the pilot episode, Virgil confronts Carrie about her clozapine medication and she tells him that she has a mood disorder.  He looks shocked and she replies with "Come on, it can't come as a complete surprise" which shows that she is aware of how her illness can affect her judgements and behaviour, and how she can come across to other people.  Virgil's still not convinced and Carrie voices what many people with mental health issues think on a regular basis when she responds angrily, "You think I'm making this shit up?"  Then she reminds him that he's involved whether he likes it or not and although he doesn't look very reassured, he accepts that.  We see Carrie visiting her sister for more medication in the second episode and find out that she gets her medication 'illegally' through her sister because if she obtained it through the health service, it would be on her medical record and she would lose her security clearance.  I'm wondering how she managed to keep the diagnosis secret from her medical records in the first place?  But it's clear from the start that Carrie's bipolar disorder has a massive impact on her life and work, and she's very much aware of this and of possible consequences.

 

Throughout season one, Carrie's fixation on Brody and Abu Nazir are evident and this is linked strongly to her hypomania which seems to be prevalent almost consistently.  We see from the beginning that her work/home life boundaries are very blurred and she literally lives her job, with classified information plastered on noticeboards in her apartment and never really switching off, and her issues with boundaries become more apparent when she follows Brody to the support group meeting and a few episodes later, meets him after he calls her and ends up sleeping with him in her car.  This is another example of her impulsiveness and sexual promiscuity, and it's unclear what her motivations are- if she is genuinely attracted to him, if she is trying to manipulate him into revealing information, if she is just acting on impulses- and I don't think Carrie knows herself.  She's definitely crossing boundaries massively when she takes him to stay in the cabin and it becomes more apparent while they're there that she's feeling ambivalent about the whole situation and her personal and professional interests are entwined almost to the point of fusion.

 

The other aspect of Carrie's life which can be linked to her bipolar disorder is her self care, or difficulties with managing all aspects of her life and wellbeing.  We see repeatedly that Carrie does not buy, cook or eat healthily and this is pointed out several times by both Virgil and Saul, who gives her direct instructions to "Clean your apartment.  Go shopping.  You need some real food."  This is typical of many people with bipolar disorder, and in Carrie's case it seem particularly linked ot her manic tendencies when she focusses completely on her obsessions at the time.  It's also evident in the way she throws clothes on and quickly washes, downs her pills at the sink and at one point, applies nail polish to only one foot.  It is also linked to her slightly disordered thoughts when she is hypomanic and how she jumps from one thing to another without taking a break.  She seems to live off 'quick' energy- coffee and muffins or just coffee, and we rarely see her slow down enough to even think about taking care of herself.  The most we see in season one is when she's overwhelmed and lies on her bed listening to jazz music but apart from that, she never seems to take time for herself.

 

The first time we see Carrie in a full-blown manic episode is near the end of season one, after an explosion in the park.  She's had hypomania and obsession building up throughout the season but this is the first time it explodes into actual mania.  After the explosion, Carrie is injured and taken to hospital but while she's there, the trauma of the explosion combined with being without her medication while in hospital seems to have triggered a manic episode.  Our first real glimpse of Carrie experiencing mania is when she's asking a nurse for a green pen.  She becomes more and more agitated, saying "Green is important, Green is necessary.  It doesn't make sense if it isn't green.  And it's really not an unreasonable request..." which is a clear example of how, in Carrie's mind, the request makes perfect sense but the level of fixation and obsession with it is symptomatic of mania.  When Saul arrives, she throws herself at him, saying "Saul. Thank God. My green pen is dry.  I’ve asked four, five, six times for a new one but there’s no understanding.  They offer me blue, they offer me black.  I mean is green so hard?  Is green elusive?  I mean my kingdom for a fucking green pen.”  She's talking fast and Saul's obviously confused and slightly uncomfortable with this side of Carrie which he hasn't experienced before and which she usually manages to conceal by taking clozapine.

 

The whole of that episode, The Vest, is incredibly well acted by Claire Danes.  When I first watched it, I was a bit concerned about how they were going to show Carrie's mania without it seeming sensationalised or over-acted but Claire Danes does an amazingly perceptive job which shows the different aspects of the manic episode.  When Saul first sees her, she's talking fast and her thoughts are jumping from one thing to another, and he tells her to "slow down" and that the doctor is coming but Carrie's still talking rapidly, switching topics to Abu Nazir and getting even more agitated.  She describes herself as "laser-focussed" which is an accurate description but it's more than that; her thoughts are racing and Saul can't keep up with her.  She says, "There's many, many, many, many more.  The thing is, Saul, that Abu Nazir has methods and patterns and priorities.  A single sniper?  No, no.  Abu Nazir doesn't do that.  He never has, he never will.  He goes big!  He explodes! He maims en masse, we know that."  Her Abu Nazir obsession has intensified even further and she's pacing around the room frantically, desperate for Saul too understand.  She continues with "Facts facts are facts, and we have about a week, maybe less, to figure out the real target, not this single shot to the president, spy-novel-101 bullshit...it's wrong.  It's, it's incomplete.  Walker's not even critical!  He's just a part, a piece, a pixel.  A pawn of no importance.  There is a bigger, pernicious Abu Nazir-worthy plot out there, and we have little time.  We have to code it, collide it, collapse it, contain it."  This is typical of someone experiencing mania- intensified focus, mild paranoia (although in Carrie's case, it's justified), agitation, racing thoughts, speaking fast.  Saul's never seen her like this and he's visibly shocked.  Her perception of detail is hyper-focussed and she's making real connections which become blurred in her agitation.  The irony of the situation is striking: Carrie, despite her illness and perhaps partly as a result of it, is the only character fully aware of the complexity of the situation but because of her mania, she's unable to fully participate in the operation.  But thankfully Saul's willing to listen to her and take her seriously...  She finishes by saying that "Okay, the important thing now is the green pen" which shows how she's fixating on small details as a way to deal with the intensity of what she's experiencing.