Homeland (not the grocery store)

No talk about the Season 2 finale?
I'm in the camp that I liked it despite several flaws.
Others I know say that other than Mandy Patinkin's acting is was horrible.
Not posting anything else for fear of spoiling for those that haven't watched yet. Your thoughts?

 

I loved it. I was SO bored in the first half, but totally hooked in the second. I really do love this show.

 

You have to look by all of the ridiculousness, like the fact that a car can just park anywhere at the CIA, that there wouldn't be 200 cameras of Bordy and Carrie leaving and that they wouldn't have debriefed Carrie after she was captured by Nazir or Brody after he was with the VP at the time of death.

Also, where did Carrie and Brody go at the end? Canada?

 

I don't see any of that as ridiculousness. The car being moved -- I don't know how they'll explain that, but in the real world something like that could happen by someone gaining access to the car (a Nazir aide hiding in the trunk?) and then moving it. We don't know how long it had been parked there. Regarding Carrie and Brody leaving and that the cameras would have caught them, maybe that awaits explanation too. In real life that would be a chaotic enough scene to explain quite a bit of stuff, most prominently including all of the people who would be ordering such questions be answered are dead. I assume Season 3 starts with Saul asking Carrie where the hell she was all that time she was missing but clearly not injured.

People have just started to pick apart this show because they want to make their voice heard, but it's a great show. Halfway through the episode I was wondering how they were going to build Season 3. Now I can't wait for it.

Entering Sopranos territory for me.

 

I'm in the camp that feels like it went hardcore off the rails this year, mainly by burning through 2 seasons worth of plot in 1. I think Brody's presence would've been more sustainable if he'd spent more time as a Manchurian Congressman and the CIA had found his tape a bit later this year.

Still, as many problems as I had with the finale, I thought it set up an interesting Season 3 as well as they could, given where they were.

 

Has there ever been a show critics have turned on faster?

Twin Peaks, maybe?

 

It seems, though, that the critics are at least partially back onboard after last night's episode, and I agree with them. I think last night was by far the best episode of the second half of season 2.

 

I liked the episode mostly but there were strange things. Like how in the world do they drive to Canada that fast from Washington? Also, does it leave open the possibility that Brody is still working for the terrorists? They did make a point of saying that she and Brody were going to be apart that night before they saw each other at the memorial.

 

Anyone else get the sense that Saul's closing expression seemed to say: Oh fuck, she's still alive, who fucked up??

Impossible to believe the Carrie-Brody romance, there is zero chemistry there.

 

I enjoyed the episode immensely but there are things that are nagging at me in hindsight.

One of the things that annoyed a lot of people I know was that Quinn, who was black-ops and is the one they send in to do assassinations around the world, suddenly had a heart and let Brody live (which set up the rest of the episode nicely). I'm in the camp that is was plausible for him to question the hit, especially when he realized the collateral damage (to Carrie) it would cause and knowing the reason behind the hit. But his scene in Estes' bedroom was top-notch.

How Brody's car was loaded with that many explosives got into the CIA parking lot, with that many high-level officials there wouldn't every car - Congressman or not - be checked for bombs?
Why wasn't the president there paying tribute to the VP?
How did Brody's car get moved?
Why when they left the ceremony did Carrie take him to a part of the building that wasn't completely destroyed?
Why after escorting the VP's widow in, did Brody sit 30-40 rows behind her?
How did Carrie have that elaborate of an escape plan in place? If it was something she set up before the electroshock treatments, how did she remember it? If it was done after, why would she feel the need to do it?

I know I'm supposed to go along for the ride (like with "24") and in the moment I can, but in hindsight these questions come up.

 

Saul's expression seemed to say "Thank God she's alive. If anyone knows where Brody is and if he's responsible, it's her"

The Carrie-Brody romance has some chemistry but is so damn awkward in that they think they want to be together, but they're not sure they should be together.

 

This show gave the most realistic portrayal of ECT there's ever been on TV or movies in Season 1. If there was memory loss it would have been short term and at this point it is highly unlikely Carrie would have anything she doesn't remember as a result of the ECT, let alone an in-depth plan she put in place long ago.

I think one reason the second season didn't work as well was that in the first season so much of the drama came from what we didn't know about the characters. Was Brody bad? How bad? Was Carrie able to handle herself? Was there more to Saul than we knew? Was Estes evil or just ambitious? Nazir was a mysterious figure for most of the season.

During Season 2, we had a firmer grasp on these characters and it was harder to build drama on whether Brody was really a terrorist or not, etc. So the writers had to try to create drama with plot twists. They are much better at creating realistic characters than realistic situations.

But lots of great shows -- Friday Night Lights and The Wire among them -- struggled a bit during the second seasons to figure out how to take an fantastic initial premise and make it work as a multi-season show. I wouldn't be shocked if Homeland comes back and blows us away in Season 3.