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With
the return of Homeland to RTE for its 3rd series, Brenda has a look
at the first episode and considers if it’s done enough to resurrect a premise
that has been buckling under the weight of expectations. WARNING: SPOILERS
In 2011, Homeland was one of the most
talked about new shows. The premise and execution were tense, fraught with the
unexpected and an engaging tale of cat and mouse with two compelling lead
characters.
Carrie
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| Conspiracy Theories |
The general storyline had Carrie (Claire
Danes), a CIA officer believe that recently rescued marine Nicholas Brody had
been “turned” by his 8 years of captivity in Iraq. What followed was an intense
game of chess as Carrie, haunted by the fact that she missed some crucial
evidence that could have prevented the 9/11 attacks, continues to believe Brody’s
guilt, despite the fact that no-one else does. Her increased downward spiral into a manic
depressive episode does little to give her story credence with her colleagues.
In order to maintain contact with Brody, she ends up having an affair with him
and that’s where lines become blurred. Does Carrie really fall in love with him
or is her compulsive need to uncover the truth what is driving her?
Brody
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| Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis) |
In the first series Brody is dealt with in
an interesting way. Damian Lewis deserves a great deal of credit for making the
character not entirely unsympathetic. Despite the fact that we don’t know the
full story, Brody is not a black and white bad guy. If anything, once we do
find out the motivation for his beliefs we find them, in some ways,
understandable. We see his psychological damage from years of torture and
captivity, his struggle to adapt to life back in the US, particularly with his
family who have spent the last 8 years believing he was dead.
Losing it's Way?
Ultimately in the season finale, the attack
Brody is commissioned to carry out in the Vice President’s office is aborted.
In a tense scene involving a phone call from his daughter Dana, Brody promises
he’s coming home and de-activates the suicide vest he’s been fitted with.
Carrie, believing that her mental health has compromised her reasoning
undergoes electric shock therapy which leads to her forgetting many of the
details she has uncovered.
All in all a solid story well told. A few
twists, a few turns - did we end up where we expected to? Not quite but who
doesn't like to be kept guessing to the end?
For some people though the second series
was a step too far. So, where do they believe Homeland lost its way? Well, many
believe that Brody should have died in the first series. I have to admit it
would have been a gutsy move. Showing the viewers that no-one was safe and the
show was prepared to make brave decisions.
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| Carrie and Saul |
As a result of their decision to keep Brody
front and centre, we get a second season that isn’t quite as sure of its
footing. The cat and mouse element still
remains. The CIA uncovers Brody’s pre-recorded confessional tape meaning that
Carrie is welcomed back with open arms as the only person who saw the light.
Still unstable and damaged by her experience from the previous season, her
behaviour becomes more erratic. Saul (Mandy Patinkin), her confidante and mentor
within the CIA tries to contain her behaviour but with laughable results. The
introduction of new moody kid on the block in the form of Peter Quinn (Rupert
Friend), a CIA analyst, does add an extra dimension, with the viewer never
quite sure whose side he’s on.
Highlights and Puzzling times
This season is not without its merits, when
Carrie confronts Brody in the hotel room declaring him a traitor to his country
the audience can taste the bile in Claire Danes' voice. She practically spits
her hatred in his face for what he has done to her life and her mental health.
The following interrogation scenes where Carrie gets Brody to confess in his
own words is undoubtedly my highlight and must have played a significant role
in Claire Danes' Emmy win this year. Unfortunately, after this episode the series
lost me. Carrie and Brody resume their affair after Brody agrees to go counter
spy on Abu Nazir, the terrorist leader of al-Qaeda. What follows is a number of
frantic situations including Brody being air lifted out of a field in a chopper
by terrorists, a pace maker being hi-jacked and our two mentally unstable
protagonists believing that they can skip into the sunset, conveniently
forgetting the damage they’ve done to each other.
A
Parody?
Parts of the show became so over-wrought it
even seemed to parody itself. Traits from the show have
begun to enter the lexicon – such as “Carrie’s Cry Face”. The Saturday Night
Live spoof featuring Anne Hathaway highlighted some of these perfectly and if
you've seen some previous episodes I recommend you seek out this sketch. You'll
never look at it in quite the same light.
My friend James and I even created the
rules to a drinking game that is bound to have you under the table within the
episode! Shots if you see any of the below!
- Carrie pops pills/doubts own mental stability
- Carrie's cry face
- Carrie hysterically convinces Saul that they need to act now
- Saul inexplicably listens to Carrie
- Carrie does what she is specifically told not to do
- Dana (Brody’s daughter) toys with her hair/sleeves
- Dana makes hostile teenage face at her mother
- Anytime Brody starts sweating under pressure
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| 4 SHOTS based on statements 1-4 |
Saved
or Lost?
So has there been any steps to use this
third series as a method of pulling the concept back from the brink?
Well, I personally think that there has
been. The first episode was tense, re-established the boundaries and offered us
a different battle ground. An inquiry into the explosion which decimated the CIA
headquarters at the end of season 2 is going to be the main focus. Saul is now
the acting head of the CIA and is in the media spotlight as people look for
answers. Carrie's inquiry is behind closed doors as she still has assets in
the field that are important. All in all Carrie is toeing the line as much as I
believe she is capable of doing but it seems that Saul may be a little too
eager to offer her up as the sacrificial goat for "the greater good".
Brody, innocent as far as the viewer and
Carrie are concerned, is currently on the run and did not feature in the first
episode. Sadly, his family did. I have yet to come across more uninspiring and
less interesting people. Inexplicably Dana still has screen time, having
attempted to commit suicide under the strain of the revelations that her father
was a terrorist and guilty of the CIA bombing as far as the media
are concerned. Bizarrely, watching her smile in this episode has to be one of
the less believable moments in the whole concept.
Instead
of filling air time with The Brody Bunch, I would rather have seen more
regarding the inquiries. Or a better set-up and more time spent on the mission
that Quinn and the other agents undertook. And while Brody didn't make an
appearance, a final shot, without dialogue showing us where he was would have
set the scene for the audience for the story to come.
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| Carrie and Quinn (Rupert Friend) |
For me, this season will be make or break. I
think some drastic steps have to be taken, some character changes and given
that Abu Nazir was eliminated we now need a new focus which hasn't become
entirely clear from the season opener.
The tone also needs to be grounded. We
were shown signs of it in this episode but the writers have to trust the
audience to appreciate the quieter twists and reveals rather than the loud
crashing and explosion of a storyline that once the smoke clears lacks in substance. Only
time will tell which approach wins out.
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