- Direction
- Acting
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- Cinematography
We’re going to cut right down to the chase and ask a few questions pertinent to future “Homeland” viewing. Has the series run short of content? Have the creators realized the futility of having Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) showcase just one (hysteria) emotion? It seems to appear that Season Three is taking a turn in terms of the show’s focus. In Season One we were treated to intricate and complicated plots. Just when we trusted something was sure to happen, bang, the creators laughed in our face and went the other way. And we loved it. Season Two tracked down on Abu Nazir whilst Carrie went deeper into the rabbit hole that was the CIA undertakings. Boy, did we dig that.
But now Season Three is here, and we’re wondering if Showtime can up the ante. We thought so, until last night’s episode which saw teenage angst and drama take centrestage. Jessica Brody (Morena Baccarin) declares that her daughter thinks she’s famous in a bad way in the therapist’s office. Dana Brody (Morgan Saylor), with a huge dollop of attitude, says the word’s “infamous”. Whilst Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis) is STILL MIA, his family, or rather just his daughter is grappling for normalcy. What we can’t wrap our heads around is why Brody’s second born is the picture of perfection or else seems to be. The creators are taking a deeper-than-necessary look at the girl-child’s woes, her nut-house sexcapades and how she tried to kill herself. The good folks of the internet world have gone abuzz with having a new character to hate after Skylar White (“Breaking Bad”) and we can’t say we disagree with them.
Meanwhile, there’s literally nothing else happening at Langley other than a minor plot involving the tracking down of the hands behind the bombing. Enter a new character, Fara Sherazi (Naznin Boniadi), a Muslim analyst to give the Agency something, anything that points back to Iran. A particularly heated, intense and out-of-place talk-down leaves the poor young thing in tears in her first episode. The rift between Saul Berenson (Mandy Patinkin)and Carrie has grown wider and reconciliation isn’t likely in the near future. In the last episode, he ratted her out, publicly at that. All her attempts to avenge her tainted reputation and lost dignity implode and poor Carrie is even off her meds. Her squished and tormented face, probably the most consistent thing we’ve seen in TV history, makes yet another (Emmy-winning?) appearance during the episode. When she tries to convince people that she’s not crazy but under attack, it’s that one moment where we feel bad for her. She feels betrayed, with good measure, because everyone who Carrie thought would stand by her, hasn’t. They may be acting in good will, albeit we can’t say the same about Saul, but they’ve done her wrong. In the end, the episode’s title makes sense when Carrie heavily sedated and medicated cannot enunciate due to a swollen tongue. Her conversation with Saul is a sad one, but one that he can’t say he didn’t see coming. She rightly says, “Fuck you, Saul” but we can’t help but pity what it’s come down to. We hope next episode will have some buoyancy with an improved Carrie, also Brody should show his face, please. But most importantly, no more Dana. A blah episode, which makes us wonder what’s going on at Showtime after “Dexter’s” debacle.
