Homeland - on Showtime - best new series

[Saracene]

I was house/cat-sitting for a friend yesterday and watched the whole 1st Season in one day. Great stuff and great characters, especially Carrie. I'm a sucker for damaged anti-heroes.

Can I just gush about the amaaaazing chemistry Claire Danes and Damian Lewis have It's been a while since I've seen so much spark between the two leads.

 

[BGD75]

Somehow I missed the fact that this show even existed....Heard about it from couple of people recently and started watching it from 1st ep just couple of days ago. Must say that I really enjoy it. Such a refreshing thing after years of mostly nothing but crap TV.

 

[Cactus Annie]

I would like Carrie and Brody to get together. Yes I am a sucker for a nice romantic tale amongst a Psychological Thriller

Can I just gush about the amaaaazing chemistry Claire Danes and Damian Lewis have It's been a while since I've seen so much spark between the two leads.

Yes I agree with you there. Not since Rose and The Doctor in the first series of Doctor Who back in 2005.

 

[CrashedCarDriver]

I remembered when people were up in arms when this show took out the likes of Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Boardwalk Empire and especially Game of Thrones in the awards stakes

However, those shows didnt cater for the female audience as much.
Even though Homeland has a Military Intelligence aspect to the show, it has a female lead - Claire Danes, she was part of that "alternative indie chick" crowd in the late 1990s/2000s (along with Kate Winslet) who is playing a woman caught between her personal life and her career.

Alot of the female audience can relate to her, and are envious of her playing opposite to Leo di Caprio on the screen.

^ As a result, Homeland has a better balance, and that's why it beat out the shows with the mass fanboyism

 

[Cactus Annie]

I agree with 'tis post

 

[DRay9911]

i didn't really like that new pricky cia dude, but daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn!

 

[corianderstem]

Alot of the female audience can relate to her, and are envious of her playing opposite to Leo di Caprio on the screen.

Yeah, no.

 

[joyfulgirl]

 

[u2popmofo]

Finally got around to watching the first episode of this series last night. Watched the second episode immediately after. I have a feeling this show will have me staying up past my bed time until I finally get caught up.

Couldn't place who the actrells playing Capt. Winters' wife is. Finally realized this morning she was on Firefly / Serenity, can't believe I didn't realize that immeidiately. Dohz.

 

[deep]

also, V

 

[DRay9911]

Poor Eileen

 

[u2popmofo]

Watched around 5 more episodes last night.

 

[DRay9911]

Just saw a picture on Facebook. Thought it was very interesting. Adding a spoiler tag

Spoiler

fixed

 

[Cactus Annie]

OK, so where are you in America? In Britain we're on the second series and they showed episode 6 of this series on Sunday and it shall be repeated latter on tonight. If you're further ahead please don't spoil this for me. I get enough spoilers. Temptation gets the better of me. On the imbd website they have a spoiler button that shows up in red until you click on it.

 

[deep]

We finished season two,

Spoiler

where Brody kills his wife and daughter. [/SPOILER

 

[mobvok]

Two weekends ago I picked up watching the show and caught up all the way last night. I assume I don't have to preach to the converted here about Homeland's quality, except to say that it's impressive how it mashed together DNA from (Good) 24 and Breaking Bad- at least in so far as Nicholas Brody is like Walter White, desperate to stay ahead of the wave crashing just behind him. Smart people doing smart (and dumb) things.

Season 1 kind of feels like it is it's own particular arc, with S2 grafted on top of that. That's not particularly a bad thing, it's just interesting that you could stop at the end of Season 1 at Carrie's nadir and get a whole narrative, or you could keep going at least as far as Q&A and have a metric ton of cathartic release.

Claire Danes and Damian Lewis killed it in that episode. Just a remarkable 15 minutes straight through, of what's essentially a monologue and reaction shots.

Actually, one more thing that stuck with me- Dan Harmon talking about Community said he specifically wanted to crash the sexual tension between Britta and Jeff by having them have sex, because the more interesting storytelling question was "well what happens after that?". That seems to be the philosophy every 3 or 4 episodes for this show. There's admittedly a danger of throwing too much out there and following in 24's maniacal ADD footsteps, but I hope having only 13 episodes a pop rather than 24 helps the writers keep their heads above water.

 

[bonocomet]

We finished season two,

Spoiler

where Brody kills his wife and daughter. [/SPOILER

Spoiler

I LOLed.

 

[joyfulgirl]

The show made a left turn to crazy town this week, guys.

 

[Cactus Annie]

I thought you were serious for a moment

 

[anitram]

The show made a left turn to crazy town this week, guys.

So many things that were silly I don't even know where to start.

 

[deep]

Spoiler

because the show is doing well
I think they are trying to stretch it out, the writing is slipping


at this point, they would just kill Brody, why take a chance
they obviously have plenty of other operatives that do not pose 'risk factors'

and of course a black helicopter could fly around and land in U S airspace with no problems.

 

[joyfulgirl]

This show has gotten dumb. At least now I can cancel Showtime after Sunday's finale.

 

[DRay9911]

Quinn is gonna die

 

[mobvok]

I can't imagine what compelled the writers to draft a "Eeeeevil Industrial Plant Lair!" for Abu Nazir, complete with a hidden sewer cubbyhole for him to hide in. What is he, Mike Myers, stalking her? What a trainwreck.

Urf.

Well, at least it's obvious they've set up the way for discarding Brody's family and He Must Have A Plot!, both of which were elements that were far too old and rotten.

Things I *DID* like was how Carrie was shown to be wrong twice with the Muslim agent and interviewing the journalist. The show's not good when it's all Carrie's unbalanced hunches constantly proving Estes' dreary "by the facts" approach wrong.

 

[Imperor]

It's been bordering on ridiculous all season, but moments like Brody's interrogation will keep me coming back. I guess we can take a step back and evaluate the entire thing come Sunday.

 

[joyfulgirl]

The first 2-3 episodes had me on the edge of my seat. I'll keep coming back, too, but on DVD. I really don't need to be paying for Showtime given how little I watch it.

 

[deep]

I can't imagine what compelled the writers to draft a "Eeeeevil Industrial Plant Lair!" for Abu Nazir, complete with a hidden sewer cubbyhole for him to hide in. What is he, Mike Myers, stalking her? What a trainwreck.

Urf.

Well, at least it's obvious they've set up the way for discarding Brody's family and He Must Have A Plot!, both of which were elements that were far too old and rotten.

Things I *DID* like was how Carrie was shown to be wrong twice with the Muslim agent and interviewing the journalist. The show's not good when it's all Carrie's unbalanced hunches constantly proving Estes' dreary "by the facts" approach wrong.

yes the writing has gone to shit

please just kill Brody and put us all out of our misery, no way can a guy that wore a vest into a bunker with whole government be allowed to live.
and to suggest Saul would think so is an insult to that character.


Now, the woman reporter, she is interesting, and has potential, she has a back story. Let her escape (or be broken out) after being interviewed by Quinn. They could build something with her masterminding a network in the U S with Quinn and Carrie on the hunt.

 

[corianderstem]

I have to say, I'm very curious to catch up on the last two weeks to see what has people ready to pack it in. Haven't read spoilers, just seen general reactions.

 

[deep]

I don;t really think I spoiled too much


I will say we have done you a favor in lowering your expectations, way down.

Now, you may find it not so weak.

 

[anitram]

To me, the only way that this show could potentially return to its former glory days next season is if Brody dies in the finale. Whether he is killed or commits suicide (my preference), it doesn't much matter. His character is played out and it completely defies all logic that he could continue to play a main role in the series.

The best part of the episode was this nugget:

"Well, I was never that stupid, you idiot whore!"

Could you describe Carrie of the last few episodes more succinctly than that? I think not. That scene with Roya was very powerful and I think they did a great job. I didn't think much of the character all season because anytime I saw her I thought of the OctoMom (they look so alike!), but she definitely is a lot more interesting than I previously thought.