Starring: Claire Danes, Damian Lewis, Morena Baccarin, David Harewood,
Diego Klattenhoff, Jackson Pace, Morgan Saylor, Mandy Patinkin
Creator: Gideon Raff
Genre: Psychological Thriller, Serial Drama
Rating: A+
I was really surprised by this TV show. Going into it I wasn’t really sure what to
expect; I figured it would be kind of typical of the cop versus bad guy type
show. Everything that I saw about it
really suggested that it was a bit cut and dry, with the suspense being in
whether or not the CIA would stop the terrorists. In that case I was thoroughly surprised by
this show, as it’s about so much more.
There is the element of whether or not the CIA is going to stop the
terrorists, true, but there’s also the question of who the terrorists are, and
in addition to catching them, will the CIA catch Carrie Mathison (Danes) in all
of her not exactly appropriate behaviours?
The premise of Homeland
appears simple: while on a mission CIA agent Carrie is told that an American prisoner
of war is about to be released, but he’s been turned and is now working for Al
Quida. At first Danes thinks this is
impossible, as to her knowledge there are no current POWs – then in the middle
of an operative Sergeant Nicholas Brody (Lewis) is discovered, having been kept
captive for the previous eight years and until now presumed to be dead. Brody is greeted with a hero’s welcome by
everyone, but Carrie believes him to be the turned POW that she had been warned
of. As no one in the CIA believes her,
she takes it onto her own hands to deal with the situation, illegally bugging
Brody’s home. Carrie must determine
whether or not Brody’s a terrorist, while keeping her actions hidden, and
dealing with her own questionable mental health.
The thing that I really liked about the first season of Homeland was that it kept the viewers
guessing about whether or not Brody is a terrorist for a long time. You start off as convinced as Carrie is,
certain that he must be a terrorist – after all, that’s what this show is being
presented as. As the season progresses,
however, that fact comes into question as you begin to think that maybe he
isn’t a terrorist, and then begin to hope that he isn’t one. Brody’s experiences are fed to you
throughout the series as you get to know who he is and what happened to him
while he was captured. You also get to
know Carrie as well, and the journey of figuring out what it is that’s wrong
with her and what fuels her obsession is just as interesting as the journey of
figuring out Brody. I wasn’t as big of a
fan of some of the more secondary characters – especially Brody’s wife – but
their stories are divulged into as well.
The show makes extensive use of flashbacks, but in a manner that isn’t
as confusing as is seen in other shows.
The only character to experience a visual representation of his history
is Brody, and as he’s the most cerebral of the characters I think this is
important. There are a lot of things
about Brody that he wouldn’t share with anyone, simply because of the nature of
his character, so it’s revealed in pieces to the viewer via flashbacks. The performances of the two leads, Danes and Lewis,
are amazingly well done. Danes’ portrays
the obsessive nature of her character perfectly, and the more unstable she gets
the more I enjoyed her performance. Lewis
on the other hand does an amazing job of portraying this elusive character, he
totally seemed to embody the character of Brody. My one big problem with the show is that
there is a lot of non-English spoken in it (which in itself I have no problem
with), but an inconsistent use of subtitles.
A lot of it is greetings and the like, nothing actually important to the
plot, but when it’s done in a manner that it’s obvious all characters present
know what’s being said it doesn’t really make sense to not let the audience
know what’s being said as well. It’s
just something that’s annoying to experience while you watch.
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