That would be encouraging if I really thought that’s where the show was going to keep going, but I assume this will all still end in conspiracy. Which wouldn’t be a problem, except I believe the show isn’t willing to let the Brody-Carrie relationship go, and I just don’t see how they can keep that going without undermining the other aspects of the show.
It would be an amazing transition if the show really did just turn into a show about three separate lives (well, Carrie’s life, Brody’s life, and Brody’s family) and how they pick up the pieces (or don’t) from the events of the last two seasons, but I just can’t imagine sticking to that. At some point it’s going to come back to conspiracy and espionage and stuff which is also awesome, but which I don’t think they can support with the current characters and the corners they’ve been painted into.
That almost makes me want to go back and watch Carrie’s scenes in the earlier episodes. It’s nice that it explains why she was so much more extreme in her mania this time. Did we really not see it in her private moments?
I obviously haven’t had the time (or the desire) to rewatch the earlier episodes, but I’m having the opposite reaction: that was a terrible cheat, I’m almost certain we were seeing her in private, melting down when the only one it could manipulate is us. I can’t think of a time frame for Saul and Carrie setting this up that doesn’t feel like straight up lying to the audience.
And we’re also back to the horrible horrible Dana story. It’s all just dumb dumb dumb.
edit: This NPR piece and Alan Sepinwall’s review say it better.
And way, way down on my list of problems with this (but it just occurred to me) is what a ridiculous gamble it is to assume the Iranians would contact Carrie in the first place, regardless of how the show cheated in revealing the plan.
I also don’t buy it. I think the writers under-estimate their audience: You can go over the three previous episodes and identify many points where their tricky scenario doesn’t make sense without uncomfortable exposition explanations.
Well, on the other hand, I did explicitly think, “Why is Saul suddenly like this? WTF?” and “How can Carrie be this nuts? This is ridiculous.” in all four episodes. So the writer’s comments in that interview ARE correct in that I certainly did feel like something was off.
Overall, I guess I prefer Saul and Carrie as ridiculously competent and risk-taking, over Saul and Carrie acting so out of character.
I tried to come up with another response after thinking about things more, and it still just made me angry. It’s either contempt for the audience or terrible judgement about how we’d react, either way it makes you wonder how they could make such a mistake.
This. I was on the fence about this show, but now I’m definitely done. It didn’t help that I watched this back to back with Walking Dead episode 3. Why can’t these shows take any real chances with departures from premises? Fucking drop dana- it simply doesn’t make sense any more. And for it to make sense something ridiculous will have to happen. They should have done something really brave like just drop Brody as well. Look- he should have detonated the bomb in the vp’s bunker. That was alternate universe where this show was groundbreaking/exciting. It was all downhill from there.
I mentioned in the walking dead thread that the 00’s saw the exploration of the season (as opposed to episodes). I’d love for the teens to give us shows that pulled no punches with inter-season arcs. I’d love to see a show that was a comedy in season one, but then a drama in season 2. Not as a gimmick, but via fidelity to the original premise. We got a hint of that with the British version of the Office. What if all the zombies just died in the Walking Dead, and it become exclusively about … whatever comes next? My best friend still digs both these shows as much as ever and I just don’t get it.
I caught up with the first few episodes of the season last night, and every time somebody said something like, “Oh no, the CIA might go out of business!” I laughed so hard I missed the next few lines. That’s one of the most absurd things I’ve ever heard in any work of fiction.
They’re working awfully hard to sell that as a possible reality but it doesn’t seem particularly plausible, which blunts some of the dramatic impact it’s supposed to have. I agree with most of the complaints lodged in previous posts. I feel like I get why they want to go down this road with Dana but I find the whole plot thread so damn boring I skip right over it. What’s the endgame there? Is she going to learn some lesson about the dangers of being a chaotic teen or hanging out with questionable people? Maybe whatever happens to her will somehow lure Brody back to the States? I wish they’d get to it already.
I think you’re supposed to feel bad for Dana’s mother. She doesn’t look worried, she doesn’t look freaked out enough. Maybe it’s because I am a terrible human being and I just want Dana to die.
I feel used. At least I can like Saul and Carrie again. I think they should have condensed Episodes 1 + 2 because frankly I can’t remember anything happening other than Carrie-gets-messed-up.
An interesting scene is when Carrie sees the other blonde woman be restrained - it could be her, and in case we don’t get it, the orderly comes in DON’T MAKE ME REPEAT MYSELF. For a few seconds I thought that patient was her, and she was just imagining herself looking from outside. I probably need to get my eyes checked.
They showed Carrie purposefully putting the gun back in the safe. They had Chekov’s minaret in episode 3, is this supposed to be a hint that she is in somewhat in control?
I also think I accept the cheat a bit more than others here. She was really suffering and in order for it to be effective, it had to be real. So Saul and Carrie knew what she was getting into, and that it would be horrible and raw, but it had to be done. Saul probably didn’t let her know how far he would take it, and she at some point really wanted out since it got too real. So, while we were seeing everything happen to her (her melting down and all) and are now aware it was planned, it was no less real. It had to be for it to convince the bad guys.
Against my better judgement, I put episode 4 on in the background last night while reading on the couch (I’m behind on my DVR viewing). When the big reveal was announced at the end of the episode, my first thought was, “Really?” My second thought was, “No…really?” My final thought was, “Seriously…really?”
This show believes its audience has the cognitive ability of a tree sloth. What a downward spiral for a show that started off strong (in spite of hiring a lead actress I find completely annoying).
I guess the lack of updates in this thread says it all. Still watching it, cause sure, whatever, but totally uninvested in it. If it wasn’t something I watched “live” with my friends every week, I would definitely have fallen behind.
I’m still enjoying it but it’s a very different show than season one. They even had a Brody training montage this episode! It’s like a bizarro world version of 24 I actually like.
Well Homeland season 4 is like a non-terrible 24, but Homeland season 1 was like a non-terrible Homeland season 4. So I’m not thrilled with the trajectory.
