Starring: Claire Danes, Damian Lewis, Morena Baccarin, David Harewood,
Diego Klattenhoff, Jackson Pace, Morgan Saylor, Mandy Patinkin, Jamey Sheridan, David Marciano, Navid Negahban
Creator: Gideon Raff
Genre: Psychological Thriller, Serial Drama
Rating: B+
I'm still a bit undecided on the second season of Homeland, owing largely to the sheer unbelievability of a lot of it. It kind of lost me about mid-way through the season, only to bring me right back into it at the end. While I like being brought back, I don't like being lost in the first place.
The second season of Homeland switches things up a bit from the first. At first things are all about getting Carrie (Danes) back into the business of the CIA, while Brody (Lewis) struggles with the duality of his life and identity, as he acts as both a patriotic family man and a covert terrorist. Then the CIA finds his suicide video and discover what he's up to - and use Carrie to manipulate Brody into acting as a agent for the CIA against Abu Nazir (Negahban). Through it all, there is the underlying theme of the relationship, or possibility thereof, between Brody and Carrie, and the implications that it has for both her job and his family.
I really didn't buy Brody's conversion back to being a patriotic American. I don't think that you can have feelings as strongly as he had in the first season - he was prepared to blow up himself in order to kill the Vice President of the United States - only to very quickly switch back to being a patriot again. As such, the whole plot with Brody really bothered me because I never really thought that he was being straight with us. This is in a huge contrast to season one, when I spent the a huge chunk of the season unsure of Brody's motivations and allegiance and hoping that it was one way, but suspecting that it was another - this season I was told it was one way, then another, all while getting a bit bored with it. I think I liked Brody more as a terrorist than as a former terrorist.
I liked what they did with Carrie a lot more. Her mental instability really is key here, and I think in a lot of ways the relationship with Brody - and the things that Brody kind of gets away with - is dependant on her being mentally unstable. I think Danes' character here is probably one of my favourite characters on TV right now, which kind of says a lot because I love a lot of TV's characters. Danes does a great job, even when I'm not buying the actual plot of the show. In a manner, while the character's believably is aided heavily by her mental instability it is Danes' skill as an actress that makes that instability believable in itself. Kudos!
My favourite part about this season, however, has to be Brody's family, namely his daughter Dana (Saylor). Her struggles were far more believable and relate-able to me than anything else that was going on here. There was a point when I almost wished that Homeland was not about the plot to say the USA from a terrorist threat (or multiple terrorist threats) but rather about a family dealing with a father's rise into politics (with or without the whole father-is-a-possible-terrorist aspect of the plot). There was a lot of greatness and potential for even more greatness within that plot. Furthermore, I kind of see potential for greatness within Morgan Saylor that I expect to see in her future endeavours.
I'm still a bit undecided on the second season of Homeland, owing largely to the sheer unbelievability of a lot of it. It kind of lost me about mid-way through the season, only to bring me right back into it at the end. While I like being brought back, I don't like being lost in the first place.
The second season of Homeland switches things up a bit from the first. At first things are all about getting Carrie (Danes) back into the business of the CIA, while Brody (Lewis) struggles with the duality of his life and identity, as he acts as both a patriotic family man and a covert terrorist. Then the CIA finds his suicide video and discover what he's up to - and use Carrie to manipulate Brody into acting as a agent for the CIA against Abu Nazir (Negahban). Through it all, there is the underlying theme of the relationship, or possibility thereof, between Brody and Carrie, and the implications that it has for both her job and his family.
I really didn't buy Brody's conversion back to being a patriotic American. I don't think that you can have feelings as strongly as he had in the first season - he was prepared to blow up himself in order to kill the Vice President of the United States - only to very quickly switch back to being a patriot again. As such, the whole plot with Brody really bothered me because I never really thought that he was being straight with us. This is in a huge contrast to season one, when I spent the a huge chunk of the season unsure of Brody's motivations and allegiance and hoping that it was one way, but suspecting that it was another - this season I was told it was one way, then another, all while getting a bit bored with it. I think I liked Brody more as a terrorist than as a former terrorist.
I liked what they did with Carrie a lot more. Her mental instability really is key here, and I think in a lot of ways the relationship with Brody - and the things that Brody kind of gets away with - is dependant on her being mentally unstable. I think Danes' character here is probably one of my favourite characters on TV right now, which kind of says a lot because I love a lot of TV's characters. Danes does a great job, even when I'm not buying the actual plot of the show. In a manner, while the character's believably is aided heavily by her mental instability it is Danes' skill as an actress that makes that instability believable in itself. Kudos!
My favourite part about this season, however, has to be Brody's family, namely his daughter Dana (Saylor). Her struggles were far more believable and relate-able to me than anything else that was going on here. There was a point when I almost wished that Homeland was not about the plot to say the USA from a terrorist threat (or multiple terrorist threats) but rather about a family dealing with a father's rise into politics (with or without the whole father-is-a-possible-terrorist aspect of the plot). There was a lot of greatness and potential for even more greatness within that plot. Furthermore, I kind of see potential for greatness within Morgan Saylor that I expect to see in her future endeavours.
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