Homeland

Showtime repeats the “Dexter concept", this time in Manchurian Candidate garb. And, judging by the intro, it looks no less interesting and quality-full. Worries about Claire Danes fade away during her first scene face to face with Lewis. The tension and chemistry between them... Indescribable. If Showtime builds the whole season on that, we have a lot to look forward to; especially if they add a few unobvious twists and aren’t afraid of being politically incorrect. S1: When the creators were fearless of twists and when they were focusing on the central duo, it works excellently. What trips this series up in the end is the ending; this should have been just one season long. Not that the loose ends hold no promise for some interesting journeys, but that from the very beginning it was heading toward a single moment that doesn’t happen in the end. But, it's not so bad either like this. In many ways this is a logical conclusion. It’s just... It’s just that since that nothing is right after that phone call with the daughter. And in view of the qualities and the tightness of the entire season, the number of loose ends in the last episode is surprising. It’s simply on a different wave from all the episodes before it. S2: It begins with a few pontes asinorum to get all the players from the first season back into the game, but as soon as it gets going as of episode two, it’s almost surprising what risks the creators take, what twists they try and what tempo they set. When they get to the moment when in the last season they had a grand turnabout which seemingly spoils everything, the tempo drops and... And this time they didn’t make the same mistake as last and the proverbial silence before the storm meets its purpose as a more than respectable final period. And while I was “merely" curious about season two, I confess I am looking forward to season three. S3: Which was a mistake, because season three failed to avoid the age old problems. Again it has a dead period, in the first four episodes. Brody’s family is given a disproportionate amount of room in the first third which has no fundamental influence on later developments and is a prime example of series filler. Both Brody and his family are evidently a superfluous ball and chain. Too bad that the creators got Carrie into a vicious circle of “disobeys an order - acts on his own - gets told off". We had this in past seasons, but here it becomes more and more obvious with every episode that this works only thanks to Claire Danes. When you add that, from the very beginning, the entire season is all too obviously headed to “that" one moment, so no excitement there. But we get some satisfaction, because the actors carry it along and all of the purely espionage-related parts are still unusually gripping. S4: Freeing this from family and relationship complications in favor of focusing on spy games is certainly beneficial; straight away it becomes considerably more intriguing and suspenseful, despite the fact that here and there the creators’ roots in 24 show more obviously than ever. However, some episodes and parts (I would say episodes 6 thru 11) are some of the best that Homeland has ever come up with and so even some unavoidable filler in some episodes is easily bearable; especially since this time it isn’t boring, despite holding things up, sometimes rudely interrupting the tempo. S5: A season that suffered from having to be twelve episodes long. If it could have been half as long, it has the material to make it the best season yet, but this way it was stuffed full of filler that then fizzles out, tries to be up to date and is altogether hopelessly... Redundant, making the characters get up to incredible nonsense revolving around a hundred and one MacGuffins. Quinn’s storyline suffers the worst of all, but none are spared completely. Too bad; fundamentally it is outstanding and entertaining, but the stories about nothing sent it down the drain. | S1: 4/5 | S2: 5/5 | S3: 3/5 | S4: 4/5 | S5: 3/5 (06/10/2011) (less) (more)

Season 1 – 80% – Although enjoyable action or ambitious secret agents occasionally appear in the world of TV series, we were needing a suitable successor to 24's Jack Bauer. And to some extent, we still do, but with Sean Callery's music and an uncompromising portrayal of politics and the world of spy missions and intrigues, Homeland has become his distant brother. The paranoia surrounding Sergeant Brody, the emotions of Agent Carrie, or the wit of Saul draw you into the story with a clever pilot and a daring theme, and it's just a shame that the pace occasionally unexpectedly slows down in the second half. Nevertheless, another provocative series has been created under the aegis of Showtime, whose first season was just the beginning, and it helped redefine the genre. Especially since the creators never went beyond the boundary where their creation could become burnt-out mess. Season 2 – 100% – When brilliant dialogue alone would be enough for the highest rating, when even situations like searching an office or driving past a parked car become nerve-racking moments without exaggeration, when the main cast tries to outdo each other for the most amazing performances – these are the moments when Homeland becomes the king of the 2012 season and gives us a real dilemma. Do we want the creators to stop at an appropriately low number of seasons, or will we continue to cheer for Carrie for a few more years at the risk of unnecessarily dragging the plot out? With the paranoia that the second season brought, I was willing to risk the second option, even though I now know that the first one would have been better. Season 3 – 90% – Unkillable, bringing misery wherever I go. Oppressive, sometimes devastating, and consequently much less visually appealing than games of cat and mouse or thrilling chases. The main heroes fall into multiple webs of intrigue this time, and pain and disappointment frequently become a part of their daily lives. Political dirt rubs off on Carrie or Saul in almost every episode, and Brody and Dana face the consequences of their own past. And so, the series takes on a completely new face, which is a bit more demanding to watch, but as a whole, it becomes timeless. Season 4 – 70% – What seemed like the end of an era and a difficult place to start something new after the episode The Star actually became the end of one era and the beginning of an uncertain reincarnation of a new Carrie, who, in the end, makes the same mistakes – only lacking the sincere motivation that made me fall in love with her three seasons ago. The whole storyline with Aayan does a disservice to the central heroine, and it diminishes the uniqueness of the previous acts and twists around Brody. It is only when the lines escalate in the second half into explosive clashes that make the blood run cold that I start to root for the main characters again. Which doesn't change the fact that some of the twists and turns or entire episodes seem to have been taken from later seasons of Bauer's 24. While this is by no means a fault in terms of quality, it does take away from Homeland's uniqueness as well as the seeming realism it managed to maintain without reservation in previous years. Thus, the Pakistani ballad is saved from outright disappointment and sighing at the beginning of its journey to nowhere by a decent finale that gives space to the actors, a few telling glances, and some brief punchy dialogue. But I can't shake the nagging feeling of a missed chance to go out at the very top. Season 5 – 70% – The renaissance doesn't (ultimately) happen. While last year's season plodded along, only to gain more momentum in the second half, this year it's the exact opposite. A suggestive sense of paranoia is interspersed with cold-blooded actions on both sides of the barricade, Carrie is once again on the edge of her seat, and intrigue tugs at the nerve strings of everyone involved – only to have everything collapse into a pile of predictable, random, and oddly written clichés. Even as head writer Alex Gansa likes to brag about how the writers soak up current information and incorporate it into the plot. Unfortunately, I feel that their comments on the Islamic State, leaks, or Vladimir Putin have gotten a bit mixed up, and because of that, they've muddled even the sensible reveals. Since the series was given a surprisingly fresh spin with the character of Allison, I'm terribly sorry about this embarrassing outcome. All the more so because it proves that if the creators should be slapped down for anything in recent years, it's for the way they (don't) know how to write a character as rewarding as Peter Quinn. Season 6 – 80% – Further proof that the series works best when it plays out the characters' fates in realistic dramatic settings. The creators' urge to be socially relevant at all costs is a detriment this time around, because for every good scene there is one tired exchange with a Middle Eastern supporting character on a political-economic topic. Originally I was even more pessimistic. Whereas at the end of the last season all indications were that Peter Quinn's days were numbered, he enters the new season just a few storylines away from the last events in an admittedly impoverished state, but one quite at odds with his original irreversible prognosis. But the plot wants to move forward, so once the initial disillusionment passes and the story stops focusing on the uninteresting Sekou, the paranoid atmosphere begins to work perfectly, with the trio of Claire Danes-Rupert Friend-Elizabeth Marvel delivering performances that are literally breathtaking. Homeland is back to square one, probably on its last one. Television immortality has already been scorned by the filmmakers, but something still makes me wish they could make it across the finish line without stumbling. Season 7 – 60% – Gansa and co. want to have it all and often end up with almost nothing as a result. They get bogged down in attempts to reflect on the burning issues of the day (Russia, the American presidency and trust in it, the media) and every time they latch on to an issue, they help themselves, as they have so many times before, with a shootout straight out of Jack Bauer's escapades, sending all their realism to the dogs very quickly. Major twists occasionally happen off-screen, or openly take inspiration from Oscar-winning films of recent years (Argo, Bridge of Spies), another chapter of emotional blackmail comes into play when the plot needs to be slowed down in the form of Franny, and the whole concept of a slow-burn finale with storylines conveniently resolved or completely ignored is definitely getting to me this year. So thank goodness for the phenomenal Claire Danes and the dependable Mandy Patinkin, who single-handedly add tens of percent to the rating and, with the help of some able supporting actors (Linus Roache, Beau Bridges), are among the few making the case for another season for a once excellent piece. Season 8 – 70% – After a two-year hiatus from the airwaves and a previously announced return to the Middle East, the next chapter seemed almost unnecessary, especially since experimenting with the Russian side didn't exactly work out so well last time. For quite a long time, moreover, it seems that the series has somewhat "outlived its usefulness", that it no longer has a place in today's world, and that it is returning to forgotten things that have no place in 2020s. But from the moment when, in the exact spirit of the good old days, perhaps every storyline starts to go into the gutter in terms of event development, it's the same old Homeland, full of suspense and starring the very two people who have been pulling it off from the very beginning. Both Claire Danes and Mandy Patinkin outdo each other, and it's a shame that the central storyline flies off the handle and that one of the main players is the impressionable coward Hayes. It's the amount of space given to this misfit character that shows time and time again that the filmmakers can't move away from a literal and hilariously clumsy incorporation of political preferences into their own scripts, even at the very end. The scale shifts to implausible proportions because of it, which is most evident at the very end, in the pleasingly straightforward yet all-encompassing finale. Carrie, Saul, Brody, Quinn, and everyone else long ago missed their chance at marbled timelessness, and my impressions of the final season are the same as those of the series as a whole, which is to say that less is sometimes more after all. I will remember them fondly, but not without recalling this occasionally rotten finale. (13/01/2012) (less) (more)