brody's big south american adventure

What Happened to Brody Between Homeland Seasons 2 and 3?

Damian Lewis as Nicholas
Photo: Kent Smith/Copyright: Showtime 2013

Brody was once a U.S. congressman and now he’s a heroin addict in training, stumbling around a Caracas pseudo-prison. How did we get here? What circuitous road took him from the Canadian border to Venezuela? These questions are answered in a half-hour audiobook called Phantom Pain. (Sadly, it’s not about how he misses the 1998 Rose McGowan tour de force Phantoms.) The book, which is narrated by Damian Lewis, is available for free on Audible.

Broadly, Brody’s trip, which was orchestrated by an ex-CIA agent named June, takes him from a shipping boat, where he stayed inside a shipping container for three weeks; to meeting a guy named Philippe, who is “made of scars” and shaves Brody’s head; to a brothel in Honduras; to bribing customs agents at the Nicaraguan border; to a fishing boat from Panama, where Philippe kills the captain and first mate after they recognize Brody; to his new home, Venezuela. All the while, Brody spends the time lamenting how he’s now portrayed at home: “Now I’m a pawn. A puppet. A twisted soul broken by war. I didn’t recognize that man. I wanted to scream at all those talking heads.” He also spent a lot of time listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Under the Bridge,” so that explains that whole mishegas.

What Happened to Brody Between Seasons 2 and 3?