Homeland
- flyonthewall2983
- Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
- Location: Indiana
- Contact:
Re: Homeland
Wow
- Professor Wagstaff
- Joined: Tue Aug 24, 2010 11:27 pm
Re: Homeland
I hope that's a "Wow, not one logical character action in that whole episode" comment
- TomReagan
- Prince of Trades
- Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2004 9:27 pm
- Location: A Pistol Hot Cup of Rhyme
Re: Homeland
Have to wholeheartedly agree with this comment. After a very good first season, in which plausibility was maintained with a small(ish) suspension of disbelief, this current arc became a parody of itself. I suspected the show might be in trouble after "resolving" some huge issues very early on in the second season (no spoilers here), and that lack of care and patience ultimately devolved into nonsense and utter fantasy. It's really a shame based upon the talent in front of the camera.Professor Wagstaff wrote:I hope that's a "Wow, not one logical character action in that whole episode" comment
- flyonthewall2983
- Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
- Location: Indiana
- Contact:
Re: Homeland
I was kept through much of the season. I thought the finale worked to whatever strength is left from the first season. It might continue to be far-fetched, but I'll keep watching.
- John Cope
- Joined: Thu Dec 15, 2005 5:40 pm
- Location: where the simulacrum is true
Re: Homeland
Such a tremendously good show. Great really and doesn't seem to get its proper due in the face of the avalanche of adulation for the more commonly praised series out there. Anyway, just finished season 2 (and watched the season 3 premiere via youtube); I'm always a year behind and I don't really mind that as I like to watch these things in bulk over the course of a few days. If I had my way I'd wait till everything was totally over and consume them that way. Evidently many seem to think the show has gone off the rails since its superb first season but I don't agree with that all. In fact, I think the show improves in season two, gets even more complicated as it focuses in even more on its central theme and is carried off with meticulous care.
What's always been good about the show but is especially good now is the concentration it gives to the unknowability of people's real motives, the collapse of personality and self under a welter of conflicting allegiances and the very issue of authenticating "truth". It plumbs the depths of those questions in a serious way with genuine repercussions and damage to the characters whether or not they are actually exposing themselves for real or not. This is the reality of trying to keep so many things in play at once. But that can't be overstated. I've never seen a series focus in on the difficulties of it so much as this one and the vast toll it takes. And there's also the issue of how individuals when they do prioritize those conflicting motives and allegiances will by nature become oblivious or indifferent to the collateral damage in their wake that they will cause and perpetuate. Wisely, the show pretty much acknowledges that there's no way to avoid that. Being aware is small consolation though. It's a hard world.
On a side note, I can't help but wish that Tom Irwin had been cast as Carrie's dad and, in my less sane moments, Jerod Leto as Brody. That would have been awesome but it's hard to imagine Leto, as good as he can be, matching the incredible and profoundly difficult work Lewis does. Lewis, in turn, is matched and can really only be matched by Danes. I hate to think of how this would have fallen apart had it been miscast. The requirements for not just subtle but dexterous acting are just too great, monumental even. Patinkin is, of course, superb, as well as the one character allowed space to really indulge the subtle machinations of his mind. Meanwhile, I can't help but think that the character of Brody's son is some kind of in-joke for the showrunners. He's the only utterly extraneous character and so absurdly useless that I wouldn't be shocked if he winds up in the last scene of the last episode holding a snowglobe with the CIA headquarters in it.
What's always been good about the show but is especially good now is the concentration it gives to the unknowability of people's real motives, the collapse of personality and self under a welter of conflicting allegiances and the very issue of authenticating "truth". It plumbs the depths of those questions in a serious way with genuine repercussions and damage to the characters whether or not they are actually exposing themselves for real or not. This is the reality of trying to keep so many things in play at once. But that can't be overstated. I've never seen a series focus in on the difficulties of it so much as this one and the vast toll it takes. And there's also the issue of how individuals when they do prioritize those conflicting motives and allegiances will by nature become oblivious or indifferent to the collateral damage in their wake that they will cause and perpetuate. Wisely, the show pretty much acknowledges that there's no way to avoid that. Being aware is small consolation though. It's a hard world.
On a side note, I can't help but wish that Tom Irwin had been cast as Carrie's dad and, in my less sane moments, Jerod Leto as Brody. That would have been awesome but it's hard to imagine Leto, as good as he can be, matching the incredible and profoundly difficult work Lewis does. Lewis, in turn, is matched and can really only be matched by Danes. I hate to think of how this would have fallen apart had it been miscast. The requirements for not just subtle but dexterous acting are just too great, monumental even. Patinkin is, of course, superb, as well as the one character allowed space to really indulge the subtle machinations of his mind. Meanwhile, I can't help but think that the character of Brody's son is some kind of in-joke for the showrunners. He's the only utterly extraneous character and so absurdly useless that I wouldn't be shocked if he winds up in the last scene of the last episode holding a snowglobe with the CIA headquarters in it.
- flyonthewall2983
- Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
- Location: Indiana
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Re: Homeland
Finally caught up on Season 3. To my surprise it's been staying the course and hasn't gone completely off the rails like some predicted it would. Danes and Lewis have been just killing it so far, and I like the darker trajectory that it's taken with regards to their characters.
- flyonthewall2983
- Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
- Location: Indiana
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Re: Homeland
Anyone other than me (and possibly John) on board with the season so far? The last episode had me quite riveted by the end.
- flyonthewall2983
- Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
- Location: Indiana
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Re: Homeland
Season 4 was quite a bit better than I'd expected it to be. Not perfect, but a bit more logical (and still a little illogical at times) in places.
- flyonthewall2983
- Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
- Location: Indiana
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- TMDaines
- Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 1:01 pm
- Location: Stretford, Manchester
Re: Homeland
No surprise. This and Zero Dark Thirty and all manner of other stuff are guilty of horrendous orientalism.
- flyonthewall2983
- Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
- Location: Indiana
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Re: Homeland
That's most likely true, but at least in the case of Homeland the characters are so interesting and the tension is so well-done I can forgive that. OTOH I won't stand in the way of the people who do have valid criticisms like these people did.
- flyonthewall2983
- Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
- Location: Indiana
- Contact:
- flyonthewall2983
- Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
- Location: Indiana
- Contact:
Re: Homeland
This season has been very good so far. They are ending after their 8th season. A typically long run for a Showtime series, but I feel like that they've got a good enough shot at ending on a satisfying enough note if they're looking ahead at it from this point on.
- flyonthewall2983
- Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
- Location: Indiana
- Contact:
Re: Homeland
Last night's episode was as good and as intense as the first season's finale. This is the first time in the show's history that I've become actively interested in where they are going next season.
- Roger Ryan
- Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2010 12:04 pm
- Location: A Midland town spread and darkened into a city
Re: Homeland
A decent season that managed to find some fresh angles that reflect the current political climate, but Jake Weber as the Alex Jones stand-in could not maintain a convincing accent/delivery to save his life!
- flyonthewall2983
- Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
- Location: Indiana
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Re: Homeland
But it's funny that he was trying for a southern accent, but wound up sounding Australian.
- flyonthewall2983
- Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
- Location: Indiana
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Re: Homeland
Binged the last two seasons this weekend. They stuck the landing, something nearly impossible if a show goes on that long. I was encouraged by hearing that the series was finishing up with an 8th season, before the 7th started. Showtime has notoriously let shows go on for far too long, but because of the prescient nature of this, it made sense that they went the distance.
- fdm
- Joined: Fri Apr 21, 2006 1:25 pm
Re: Homeland
Awaiting a blu-ray option for season 8... (cracking open 7 any day now).