301: 'Tin Man Is Down'
Written by Alex Gansa & Barbara Hall
Directed by Lesli Linker Glatta
It's no secret that I had my issues with Homeland's second season; by the final hours, I had tired of the seemingly never-ending Ballad of Carrie and Brody, and was ready to throw several sharp implements through my television screen every time the pair of them appeared on my screen together... so thank Heavens for the final half hour of that season finale when everything went horribly pair-shaped and the pair were forced to split... hopefully, for good. And that's, thankfully, where we're (still) at, 60 minutes into Homeland's third season. Carrie's career is on the line, everyone around is betraying her, and there isn't a Nicholas Brody in sight. Good. The more distance Homeland can place between these two at this point, the better (it's more believable, for starters). It allows for other storylines to take prominence such as, er, Carrie's fragile psyche and um, Dana Brody's attempted suicide. Actually, I'm being unfair here - neither of these are *bad* plot decisions per se, and in fact, their treatment in this first installment is more than passable. Claire Danes is great as an increasingly isolated, and vilified, Carrie and Dana's story is actually remotely interesting for once. It's an understandable consequence of what appears to be her Dad's horrifying betrayal and, well, it gives the incredibly talented Morgan Saylor something gritty to get to grips with. There's also a rather niftily written and directed espionage sequence in which the CIA takes out a number of key players in the Langley bombing, designed neatly to whet our appetites for the main course to come. A good start then, if, perhaps necessarily, a slow one. (8/10)
302: 'Uh... Oh... Ah'
Written by Chip Johannessen
Directed by Lesli Linker Glatter
Two episodes in and still, Homeland refuses to show us a single, measly inch of Nicholas Brody (admittedly, judging by the previews, it looks like this may all change next week, but still...) It's a brave move, given that a significant proportion of the show's popularity can be attributed to his character, if, as it transpires, not an entirely successful one. Had the writing staff managed to fill the gap left by his exclusion with stories of sufficient weight to keep us permanently rooted to our seats, the absence might not be felt so strongly. As it is, the show is beginning to falter and, worse, stall for time. While Claire Danes once again gets some incredibly meaty stuff to sink her teeth into, and does so with sufficient skill to guarantee her a few Emmy nominations, you can't help feeling like we've been here before. Because we have. Repeatedly. Throughout seasons one and two. It's all well written, of course, and sharply directed but, to be frank, we're virtually experts in Carrie's broken psyche by now. And yeah, Saul's apparent transformation into, well, something of an asshole is interesting to watch but there isn't really enough surrounding this to make it as engaging as it could be. And, sadly, despite the high hopes I had last week, it appears that Dana's storyline is destined to retread the missteps of season two and become little more than a 'damaged girl meets damaged boy' type thing. Sigh. (6/10)
303: 'Tower of David'
Written by Henry Bromell & William Bromell
Directed by Clark Johnson
Homeland isn't exactly in the good books of a great many of its viewers at the moment and it's easy to understand why: with a narrative that's creeping along rather than propelling with any significant momentum, often rehashing tropes of old, one could definitely be forgiven for feeling more than a little frustrated. And truth be told, if that's how the show is making you feel right now, you'll probably feel even worse by the end of 'Tower of David'. This is an episode that positively revels in its sluggishness, refusing pointedly to engage with the central narrative and instead taking time out to present a character study of a battered, bruised and broken Nicholas Brody. It's mostly detached from everything else going on around it, save for a few obligatory check-ins with Carrie (and it's questionable whether these should've been included) but frankly, therein lies its greatest strength. This is as powerful an hour of television as Homeland has ever produced, stripping away the layers of Brody's psyche gradually, painfully, until he's left little more than a shell, sprawled on the floorof this hovel he now calls home.
This is difficult television, painful to watch at times, but in the main, it's perfectly pitched - this isn't meant to be enjoyable, it's meant to make us uncomfortable, to give us a insight into the consequences of the events that occurred at the end of season two. It's another brave move from the Homeland writing staff and one for which they should be applauded. It doesn't always work - the middle section of the episode in particular lacks some gravitas and threatens to disengage the viewer - but when it does, there's some outstanding stuff here. Damien Lewis turns in a stellar performance from first to last, and the direction and cinematography is breathtaking. A harrowing watch, then, but a necessary one. (8/10)
304: 'Game On'
Written by Alex Gansa & James Yoshimura
Directed by David Nutter
Well. There's a turn up for the books, huh? In the most controversial swerve since 24 revealed that Jack Bauer's descent into drug-addled madness was actually pre-planned, it turns out Saul and Carrie had a gargantuan play going all along and that his betrayal and her subsequent trip to the clinic was all meticulously planned and orchestrated in order to lure the Iranians out of the woodwork. Credit to the writers in one sense, at least - I did not see this coming. They successfully managed to persuade me that we were all set to witness Saul's decent into hard-nosed bastarddom and another round of Carrie as helpless victim. On the other hand, the idea that all of this was concocted in the hopes of achieving one particular outcome stretches credulity quite substantially. While it is undoubtedly true that the writing staff plotted the season arc with this turn in mind, it doesn't exactly seem like the most problem-free of deceptions. And the question of whether Carrie would willingly subject herself to this sort of torture is also a highly relevant one, given where she was throughout season two. I don't exactly feel cheated (like, apparently, a lot of other viewers do), but I don't know that this waste best way to arc the season. The aforementioned 24 twist suffered from similar problems... and it's no coincidence really, given that Homeland showrunner Howard Gordon worked on that series too.
What of the rest of the episode, then? Well, it was all a bit meh, to be honest. Those assisting the Iranians seem interesting and sinister enough, and Claire Danes did some more stellar work as an increasingly desperate Carrie, but there's a distinct lack of substance in the main. Dana's storyline, depressingly, is rapidly becoming a rehash of season two, which is the last thing we need. Here's hoping that now the cat's out of the bag, we can get round to some actual business and, you know, jump-start the story a little bit. Just a thought. (6/10)
305: 'The Yoga Play'
Written by Patrick Harbinson
Directed by Clark Johnson
Frustratingly, instead of propelling its narrative into the stratosphere following last week's oh-so-shocking revelation, Homeland remains content with the auto-pilot setting for much of its fifth hour, preferring to concentrate on the entirely irrelevant and down-right irritating Dana Brody B-storyline. Sure, there's some significant story progression elsewhere - the scenes involving Carrie's humiliating strip search and subsequent kidnapping are suitably tense and engaging, and Saul's day out with the CIA's latest bent director turns in one of the finest (and bitchiest) speeches in the show's history (go Saul!) - but in the main, this is a trudgingly slow episode, focusing on all the wrong things. The meat of the hour involves a great deal of pontificating on Carrie's part and most worryingly of all, actually marries her narrative to the Brody's. While this may be an attempt to give it some weight and - Heaven help it - some significance, given that virtually nothing at all comes of it, it all ends up feeling and reading exactly like what it is: a stalling technique because the writers don't have actual material to fill twelve episodes. I mean, come on - what actually happened to Dana? She flirts, goes into a store, watches a bit of TV, learns the shocking truth about her boyfriend and, er, gives herself up. Meanwhile, we're supposed to invest in Carrie's attempt to involve the FBI. It's cheap, it's lazy and above all, it's boring. Don't get me wrong, I am all for the inclusion of the Brodys, provided the writers can do something original and engaging with them. As it is, they're simply trotting out tired, cliched narrative devices and virtually recycling what's come before. Frankly, we expect... nay, we deserve better than this. Come on, Homeland. Get it together. (4/10)
