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Homeland Season 1

post #1 of 93
10/2/11 at 4:25am
Thread Starter 
The spy thriller starts tonight on Showtime
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post #2 of 93
10/3/11 at 1:40pm
I guess the pilot was available for the last month or something anyway, but I just watched this and thought it was excellent.

I was thinking maybe there'd be a little more ambiguity about Brody though. I mean, I guess it still could be possible that he's clean, but those flashbacks seemed to be pretty definitive.
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post #3 of 93
10/3/11 at 2:47pm
All we know for sure about Brody is that he lied about seeing Abu Nazir during his time as POW, and that he lied about the circumstance of Walker's death. Clearly all is not right with this man, but that could be explained by eight brutal years as a POW -- and having the death of a comrade in arms on your conscience -- as easy as it could be being a sort of Manchurian candidate.

What blew me away is how horribly unlikable they made the protagonist. Everything Carrie Mathison made me hate her a little bit more, with the only thing in her favor being the fact that she just might be right about this guy.

My favorite part were the home life scenes at the Brody household. The son that's too young to really remember his father. The daughter who was clearly screwed up badly by losing her father. The wife who's moved happily on with her life, but feels a moral obligation to stick by her husband after a seemingly heroic sacrifice. There's some wonderful gray area mixed in, like the sex scene between Brody and his wife where he appears to rape her. What drove that impulse in him? How does she just carry on after something like that happens? And in a general sense, how can this family just pretend like nothing happened? At it's best, the family scenes reminded me of Jim Sheridan's Brothers.

And I'm firmly in the camp that says Mandy Patinkin makes anything better. It was a pleasant surprise to see him in this, since last I'd heard, he'd retired from acting to pursue a music career.
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post #4 of 93
10/3/11 at 3:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt View Post

All we know for sure about Brody is that he lied about seeing Abu Nazir during his time as POW, and that he lied about the circumstance of Walker's death. Clearly all is not right with this man, but that could be explained by eight brutal years as a POW -- and having the death of a comrade in arms on your conscience -- as easy as it could be being a sort of Manchurian candidate.

Yeah, I know it's not a given that he's dirty, but it seems to be leaning very heavily in that direction in the pilot. It's not so much the lies that seem to give it away, but the way he was comforted by Nazir after beating him.

I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if there ended up being another explanation, but at the same time the pilot leaned rather heavily in the direction that he is dirty... just a little bit too far, I think. In my mind, that flashback might have been showing things a little too early. Then again, who knows what'll happen later.
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post #5 of 93
10/3/11 at 4:24pm

I don't think anyone would disagree that the tilt is toward Brody having been turned. This is TV though and we know guilt tilt can switch directions quickly and often. At the current pace I cannot see how the show could run more than one or two seasons. In The Fugitive the one-armed man only showed up at the end. An extended Homeland would be like finding a suspicious one-armed man and spend years trying to prove he's the right one-armed man.

 

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post #6 of 93
10/3/11 at 8:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt View Post

All we know for sure about Brody is that he lied about seeing Abu Nazir during his time as POW, and that he lied about the circumstance of Walker's death. Clearly all is not right with this man, but that could be explained by eight brutal years as a POW -- and having the death of a comrade in arms on your conscience -- as easy as it could be being a sort of Manchurian candidate.
What blew me away is how horribly unlikable they made the protagonist. Everything Carrie Mathison made me hate her a little bit more, with the only thing in her favor being the fact that she just might be right about this guy.
My favorite part were the home life scenes at the Brody household. The son that's too young to really remember his father. The daughter who was clearly screwed up badly by losing her father. The wife who's moved happily on with her life, but feels a moral obligation to stick by her husband after a seemingly heroic sacrifice. There's some wonderful gray area mixed in, like the sex scene between Brody and his wife where he appears to rape her. What drove that impulse in him? How does she just carry on after something like that happens? And in a general sense, how can this family just pretend like nothing happened? At it's best, the family scenes reminded me of Jim Sheridan's Brothers.
And I'm firmly in the camp that says Mandy Patinkin makes anything better. It was a pleasant surprise to see him in this, since last I'd heard, he'd retired from acting to pursue a music career.

I'm kinda in your camp on this, I like the Actors, Damian Lewis should be on Season 7 of "Life" right now if there was any justice for TV Programming, he's good in this, but not sure I can invest in a series with no one to root for, if Brody is a terrorist and Cathy's Clearly out of control well... not sure.
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post #7 of 93
10/4/11 at 12:06pm
I really like Damian Lewis as an actor but this show smacks of "The Manchurian Candidate" to me. Does it overcome that?
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post #8 of 93
10/4/11 at 12:52pm
I just can't get past the idea of seeing Dick Winters as a bad guy! It's the uniform (Marines not Army, I know). Anyone else?
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post #9 of 93
10/9/11 at 5:39pm
Thread Starter 

Wow.  Just watched through episode one.. this thing could be fantastic.   I don't know how they'd extend it past a single season, but scripted right, this should be some awesome material.   Very impressed with the pilot.

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post #10 of 93
10/9/11 at 7:08pm
The big question: Does Mandy Patinkin makes it through the season, or does he quit half-way through?
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post #11 of 93
10/9/11 at 11:22pm
The second episode certainly stacks the deck further against Brody. Brody answering the morning call to prayer alone would not unduly speak against him, but that coupled with him embracing the hero card that he scorned mere hours before adds up to something incredibly suspicious.

As unlikable as Carrie is, she makes a good protagonist because she's in it for the right reason: she wants to stop further acts of terrorism. In order to make her shine by comparison, they give her a boss that is completely loathsome, focused solely on career advancement even at the expense of possibly solid intelligence. On the other side, Saul's a pro. He trusts Carrie's instincts, and he's ready to put himself on the line even though he finds her behavior and actions repugnant.

I liked the opening credits, too. The mingling of fact and fiction was uncomfortable, and drove home that while the scenario and characters are fictional, the country faces real threats constantly. The sequence sort of repudiates its own entertainment value.
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post #12 of 93
10/9/11 at 11:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt View Post

I liked the opening credits, too. The mingling of fact and fiction was uncomfortable, and drove home that while the scenario and characters are fictional, the country faces real threats constantly. The sequence sort of repudiates its own entertainment value.

The thing I minded about the credits was that Obama was in them. Not because of any political reason, but because they already made note of the fictional VP last week, so it's kind of weird that the credits would have the actual president in them.

I have to admit, for a few seconds there during that 'job interview', I'd have thought I accidentally changed the channel to Cinemax if it wasn't for the Showtime bug. biggrin.gif
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post #13 of 93
10/10/11 at 5:52am
Thread Starter 

I think Carrie is the very flawed but realistic protagonist; she's conceited enough to believe she's right.. she blames herself incredibly for missing data on 9-11, and she has a complex about how to "fix" things.   Here character isn't always likable, but I'm not sure it's meant to be. 

 

The entire storyline about the prince I thought was very well done; some good cloak & dagger stuff there.  

 

This along with Dexter are making Showtime my first stop on Sunday; since CBS has "Good wife" kind of screwed up on the timing, It's often easier for me to just record a two hour block there, get it and sort it out later; but for a consistent block of drama.. this may be it.

 

Adam referred to it as "rape" earlier; I don't think that's the way either character saw it.   I think she wanted to have sex, but had a very different perception of how it would go, and her horror over his scars tainted everything.   I think she's still struggling to deal with his return (night terrors, crying, etc.) and he'll get tons of leeway.   But wow, is this a great role for her in comparison to Anna on V. 

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post #14 of 93
10/17/11 at 5:44am
Thread Starter 

Sunday is too packed, but this show just keeps delivering.   Great episode.  BTW, I love what they are doing with the soundtrack.

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post #15 of 93
10/17/11 at 8:25am
The scene at the end of last week's episode but the family scenes in this week's episode into a whole new context. He's trying hard with his wife, despite the sexual dysfunction, and he had that great scene with the daughter where he seems to be implicitly forgiving his wife for whatever she may or may not have done while he was gone. And his daughter clearly adores him, in that child-like way of someone who lost her father at 8 or 9 years old.

How much of that is coming from a genuine place, and how much of it is just him fufilling his role as a sleeper? Is he genuinely turned, or has he been programmed and/or brainwashed in a Manchurian Candidate fashion? It's incredibly hard playing a cypher like that, and Damian Lewis is doing an incredibly great job.

And that scene in the morgue with the escort's parents was absolutely brutal.
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post #16 of 93
10/17/11 at 2:03pm
I'm not quite sure how this show can be extended past a first season and keep this quality either, but for the time being, this show has been consistently excellent so far each week.
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post #17 of 93
10/17/11 at 7:20pm

Since the "Gaucho Taco" speaker was featured in the scene where mother and daughter discuss the affair; I'm guessing that's going to be on the news soon. blush.gif

 

From the moment hooker/agent was introduced I'm sure we all knew she was toast.

 

My wrong guess was that her new necklace had a transmitter.

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post #18 of 93
10/23/11 at 10:10pm
Thread Starter 

This manages to really slowly turn the screws VERY well.  I'm not sure where the end game is on their "turned" American.  Such a brilliant ending this week.. it's hard to think about whats going through her mind..

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post #19 of 93
10/25/11 at 8:00am
It will be criminal if Damian Lewis doesn't win an Emmy for this role. Easily the hardest on television right now; he has to be at once an enigma and a sympathetic protagonist for the audience to root against.
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post #20 of 93
10/25/11 at 8:25am
Thread Starter 


It is a pretty incredible performance; to rotate between tortured POW with real battle scars.. and potential turned POW.. and somehow, week after week, he completely pulls it off.   I'm surprised at how good the supporting cast has been.   Great find for Showtime, really well done... easily the best new show of the season so far  (I'll give StarZ Boss time to grow; it has a good start also)
 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt View Post

It will be criminal if Damian Lewis doesn't win an Emmy for this role. Easily the hardest on television right now; he has to be at once an enigma and a sympathetic protagonist for the audience to root against.


 

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post #21 of 93
10/25/11 at 12:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mattCR View Post

I'm surprised at how good the supporting cast has been.
I don't even need to mention Mandy Patinkin, because he's absolutely terrific in everything he does, but the two big surprises for me are Morena Baccarin and Morgan Saylor.

After Baccarin's mustache-twirling turn on "V", I wasn't sure how hard it would be to put Anna behind me. But it's not a problem at all. Jess Brody is a much more demanding role, and she nails all of the facets. Here's a loyal Christian woman who's cheated on her husband but is trying desperately to do the right thing even though this alien creature has moved into her home. She already mourned the death of her husband and started building a new life, and now here's this foreign doppleganger walking around in her husband's skin making her feel guilty and desperately alone.

Saylor's the real surprise, though. So much of her character is observing and reacting, and she plays Dana as a lot more observant and aware than most teen actresses would. She balances the little girl who lost her father and the rebellious, damaged teen really well. Most fascinating are the scenes between father and daughter, though. On one hand, she has this image of Brody from when she was in early grade school. On the other hand, she's getting a relationship with her father that wouldn't have been possible if he'd been there right along. She can talk about stuff with him that's not comfortable with mom because there isn't all of the years of parenting baggage in between. And Brody, because he didn't watch her slowly grow up before his eyes, can see and speak with Dana as a teenager instead of his little girl.

If they gave Emmys for single scenes, Saylor would deserve one for the scene last night where Jess comes in and sits on Dana's bed. There's so much going on between the two of them, so much being communicated, and it's all in the eyes. Here's a mother and daughter with a very adversarial relationship, but underneath that there's the mutual protective instinct and understanding that comes between a single mother and her child. There's a lot of love, and respect, underneath the anger.
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post #22 of 93
10/27/11 at 7:07am
Just read it got picked up for a second season.
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post #23 of 93
10/27/11 at 8:11am

Excellent as always Adam, though I wouldn't say Jess cheated on her husband by any sane definition. In fact, as a practical matter, I'd guess he was declared dead and she could have cashed in life insurance policies, etc. Moving on romantically was just one part of that. The whole secrecy thing is just because both parties know it'd hurt him and he wouldn't be able to look at them the same again, not because they think they did anything wrong.

 

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post #24 of 93
10/27/11 at 8:41am
Thread Starter 

Great news on the pickup.   This is really some incredible performances here, and I've been completely blown away by some of the performances.

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post #25 of 93
10/30/11 at 11:18pm
It's interesting that we didn't get to see whether Brody handed off the razor blade. We certainly have a more damning body of evidence against Brody than Carrie does, but at the end of the day it's all entirely circumstantial. I don't think it's all leading us down a false trail, but it's interesting that they're leaving that door open.
Quote:
Excellent as always Adam, though I wouldn't say Jess cheated on her husband by any sane definition. In fact, as a practical matter, I'd guess he was declared dead and she could have cashed in life insurance policies, etc. Moving on romantically was just one part of that. The whole secrecy thing is just because both parties know it'd hurt him and he wouldn't be able to look at them the same again, not because they think they did anything wrong.
I agree with you that Jess wasn't unfaithful by any sane definition. I don't think she did anything wrong. But I disagree that she doesn't think she did anything wrong. It was perfectly fine with her when she thought Brody was dead -- everything but the body. Once he showed up in the flesh, however, it was like a slap in the face. She feels like she didn't hold out long enough, didn't hold the faith when she should have. She feels disloyal to the idea of Brody, the Brody she waved good bye all of those years ago, as she feels unfaithful. How far that guilt will take her in putting up with Brody is the question.
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post #26 of 93
10/31/11 at 3:27pm
Thread Starter 

I think that's what really has helped make this show compelling.  She's building a compelling - but completely circumstantial case against him.   She can be easily rebuffed at any point because she doesn't have any real hard facts.  She just has her gut feeling.   The audience wants to sympathize with Brody, we also have a sneaking suspicion he may be a bad guy.. but we just don't know.

 

This show walks such a great fine line

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post #27 of 93
11/6/11 at 8:58pm
Thread Starter 

What a completely dangerous game Carrie is playing.    They absolutely defied most of my expectations this week; so many things went completely sideways from how I thought they were going to go.   I was completely thrown by her "I have to make this work".. and the "faithful" question.. brutal stuff there.  

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post #28 of 93
11/6/11 at 9:49pm

Was so disappointed by the gravitas given the polygraph. I'd expect any half bright civilian, let alone C.I.A. staff, to know that a polygraph test is an intimidation tool for the ignorant and weak minded.

 

On an entirely different subject, can't tell you how much I enjoy Angela Chase playing rough.

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post #29 of 93
11/6/11 at 11:15pm
Ah, to know that Brody cheated the polygraph test, but the only way you know is because you slept with him. I enjoyed the twist, foreshadowed last week, that the Arab guy was being dragged into the terrorism, with the white rich girl doing the dragging. I also enjoyed that they showed terrorists can be as brutal as drug rings or any other high-risk enterprise that depends on secrecy. Loved most of all Brody's daughter's disgusted look at him on the way to the car, even though she knows better than most what drove his behavior. The perfect image started to crack.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Henry Gale View Post

Was so disappointed by the gravitas given the polygraph. I'd expect any half bright civilian, let alone C.I.A. staff, to know that a polygraph test is an intimidation tool for the ignorant and weak minded.
They set it up well, though, with the bosses using it as a CYA formality, and Saul having been caught up in it by the stress from his marriage problems. And then of course, Carrie knew but couldn't act on it.
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post #30 of 93
11/7/11 at 11:39am
Yes Saul has stress with his marriage and that could've caused him to fail that question. But, could Saul be the mole?
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