Homeland

[MarkGrace]

So many effing cliffhangers! Makes me want to stay up all night watching.

[MarkGrace]

Finished last night. Read through this thread and some thoughts...

- They killed Tom Walker because he had no use to them anymore. He was an assassin, and the new plan apparently didn't need his expertise, so all he was at that point was a liability.

- Which leads me to the new plan -- I'm not sure how much I buy the "why kill a man when you can kill an idea" line of thinking as it relates to Brody. He's not an anti-American ideologue; in fact, they had pretty well established in his video monologue that he still loved the country and felt he was doing what was best by getting redemption against a handful of abusive individuals. I get the whole "if you cut the head off one is just going to grow back in its place," but the motive they developed for him was that this was very much about killing a particular man (or handful of men) as retribution. It's possible this whole thing is just a red herring and his talk with daughter snapped him out of his intentions and he'll spend the rest of next season trying to get himself out of his current situation, but for now I'm not sure I entirely went with it.

- I don't think the show would have been better if the bomb had exploded. The show is already set after a landscape altering terror event and explores the motivations and mechanics of those operating in a post-9/11 world. We know Carrie has become an obsessive racked with guilt and committed to doing anything within her power -- including crossing several boundaries and codes of ethical conduct -- to prevent a similar event. We know Saul is going to remain principled and realistic about who shares the blame in a scenario where an opportunity is missed. And we know the politicians will continue to opportunistically exploit the war on terror and abuse their command in the name of counter-terror. Having that bomb go off changes nothing about the world of the show, because it's already operating in an environment where that bomb has effectively gone off.

- I loved the Carrie character and was very invested in her. To that extent, I would have liked to see the bomb go off merely as vindication, but as explained above I don't think that does much for the show and I'm hoping she'll have her day. To that end, I think if the show was going to end after season one, they wouldn't have set off the bomb, but rather had her figure the whole thing out and essentially save the day.

- This show reminded me quite a bit of The Killing, actually. The season long investigation, the continued use of what seemed like red herrings to keep you guessing, etc. But this show was much more skillfully done, and a lot of what seemed like red herrings actually were just an effective way to keep you guessing about people's involvement pretty much right up until the end. I will say, however, that also like The Killing, the finale left me a bit empty in terms of resolving a lot of what I felt like I invested into the season.

- And on that note, I agree with Lebowski (or was it Surfah?) that they need to be careful about how far they drag these same storylines into next season. I've kind of loosely followed The Killing this season, and I pretty much couldn't give a shit about who the killer is at this point. It's just gone on too long for me to care and I've lost interest. Something similar could happen here, though the people behind this show seem a lot more talented than the group behind The Killing and I'm optimistic they'll handle this better.

- Not only did I not like the Jessica Brody haircut, but did anyone else notice that from the point she got it cut she stopped getting, uh, nevermind. Also read last night that the actress went to HS with Claire Danes.

- I agree that the interrogation scene was wholly unbelievable, but, as I've mentioned in several other discussions, I just don't get really concerned about the technicalities of how a profession might operate. Like The Hurt Locker, I don't think this is meant to be a faithful rendering of how a soldier/CIA agent/etc., conducts his work, but rather a character study (with the excitement of a thriller) of the personalities and mentalities of those working in these institutions. I guess you could have explored the psyche of a former prisoner as it relates to his captor without being so obvious and overt, but I didn't mind them toying with how that scenario might play out if they came face-to-face.

- Anyway, good show. Not sure how I'm going to watch next season. It seems like a show that would be tough to watch week-to-week since every damn episode ends with a cliffhanger.

[MarkGrace]

[YOUTUBE]Xh_TPjZJCRc[/YOUTUBE]

Looking forward to this. Still not sure how I'm going to watch it.

[SCcoug]

Turns out the president is a fan.

And then there was that request from the White House screening room. Mr. Gordon’s reaction? “Completely surreal.”

(When Mr. Lewis sat next to the president at a state dinner last spring, he said Mr. Obama told him, “While Michelle and the two girls go play tennis on Saturday afternoons, I go in the Oval Office, pretend I’m going to work, and then I switch on ‘Homeland.’ ”)

Ms. Danes said: “I think we were all stunned — and a little terrified by that idea. The president knows what we do?”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/16/ar...ewanted=1&_r=2

[MarkGrace]

Homeland with actor and actress sweep.

Claire Danes looks hot.

[Donuthole]

Bad frock, though.

[MarkGrace]

Homeland continues its run. Jessica Brody!

[Donuthole]

Homeland continues its run. Jessica Brody!

She took a back seat to Laura vandervoort (Smallville!) in V, but she is second to none in Homeland.

[MarkGrace]

That dress definitely got me excited about season 2.

[SteelBlue]

I liked homeland, but can't get behind Damian Lewis winning best actor over Bryan Cranston.

[MarkGrace]

I liked homeland, but can't get behind Damian Lewis winning best actor over Bryan Cranston.

He bugged me for at least half the season. Also had no idea he was a brit.

[Mrs. Funk]

I liked homeland, but can't get behind Damian Lewis winning best actor over Bryan Cranston.

Same. I think Bryan Cranston's role as Walter is perhaps the most impressive I've ever seen. Damian Lewis? Meh. I thought Claire Danes was more impressive in Homeland than he was.

[The_Tick]

I love this show.

It gives me the Heebs. Which is exactly what a show like this should be doing.

[OrangeUte]

I love this show.

It gives me the Heebs. Which is exactly what a show like this should be doing.

i fell asleep before i could watch this last night. very much looking forward to teeing this up on the dvr tonight.

[wuapinmon]

This show alone makes Showtime worthwhile. The acting is superb, and it's good to see the daughter's character being developed beyond the bratty screwing-around kid into something resembling a real father-daughter relationship.