Homeland

Some questions/thoughts:

1. What is Carrie going to find in that room she was walking into when the last episode ended? Nazir would only have let her go if he knew it would not be a problem that she was going to come back and bring the cavalry with her. So whatever she finds in there, either she/CIA won't be able to do anything about, or they won't have time to do anything about.


2. Also, there's no way that Estes actually kills Saul to keep the old drone strike under wraps, right? Maybe he digs up some dirt on Saul (like not reporting Carrie's illegal surveilance of Brody in season 1) and convinces him to keep quiet, but I don't see him actually killing Saul.


3. Since killing the VP is obviously not Nazir's big goal (still 2 episodes left), what is? What does he still have? Roya Hammad is captured. The unnamed guy who shot up the Gettysburg store is captured. The explosives were captured (presumably). I would say Brody is going to be used by Nazir in some way, but that just happened and it's hard to see it happening again. Is one of the other characters in the show working for him and we just don't know about it yet?

They've been hinting at number 3 for awhile. Specifically that they have other sources of information. Maybe season 2 cliffhanger will be some sort of mole reveal in their group.

well this show was pretty incredible for 15-16 episodes but I think it's desire to find a way to get as many seasons as possible out of it have turned it into something quite different than it was early on. There's not much else on Sundays right now, and I'll still watch it, but man have they dampened my enthusiasm 10 fold.

Thank god for Carrie or the CIA would be pretty terrible at doing everything

I see the daughter can't find shit to stop complaining about. Even in the next episode it seems like she goes on a tearful rant to Brody again.

Wasn't the shock therapy supposed to make Carrie more sane? She seems much more out of it this season, and now with a shitload of freedom. I really feel like the resurgence in her and Brody's relationship feels incredibly forced in season 2, where in season 1, when there was doubt and he didn't know either, it seemed very plausible.

Nothing worse than sub plots that have to do with taking your beset person in the room out of the loop because he's onto something you're doing. 24 did this about every season, along with a few 'is Jack Baeur a bad guy now?' situations, it's like ffs, think of an original avenue to take instead of going for the easy delay of shit getting done because internal conflict and cockblocking

meh

I was hoping beyond reason that when he was talking to his wife in the car 5 or 6 bullets would find the back of his skull. Alas now we have to deal with some shitty romance and No Saul in the CIA. How did the show take a turn to shit so quickly.

If we get to see the wife naked again soon, all will be forgiven.

Anyone else groan out loud when they were doing the final sweep and the rest of the squad just ran off on their own and it was just Carrie and the red-shirt FBI guy left to explore the mysterious hidden room ?

Soysauceonrice_sl said:

Anyone else groan out loud when they were doing the final sweep and the rest of the squad just ran off on their own and it was just Carrie and the red-shirt FBI guy left to explore the mysterious hidden room ?

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I was about ready to turn it off if Nazir would have gotten away. It's just really sloppy writing. I've never been military, or police, but even I know that a squad like that wouldn't split up and that guy sure as fuck wouldn't have cleared an unknown area without any back up. It was just such a stupid stunt done in order to increase the drama that it really did sour the episode a little for me. With 24 I forgave this kind of crap because it really presented itself as an action show, but this show is supposed to be a lot more cerebral but this season they've taken a lot of weak outs in order to add tension or draw out a plot.

I hate to sound like I'm bitching too much though, it's still a good show. I just wish the writers stuck to their Season 1 guns a bit more.

As for the finale--this all seems too staged, still. It really feels like Brody is still playing for the other side. All the theatrics for Carries sake, and how affectionate Brody is being all of the sudden, all seem staged. I keep going back to how Abu Nazir said "If everything goes well, we will never see each other again"--When he knew Brody would be in a safe zone for the bomb. The line didn't make sense. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it kind of feels like there is more out there.

And there is still a mole, I'm sure of it. I liked the idea that Saul is actual a Mossad agent and he has leaked stuff when the Israelis needed the U.S. to flub one, so they could continue following X or Y target. That would explain why the leaks don't always come when Saul is around, but they do at certain points. (Though I doubt Saul would have had all those agents killed.)...It could still also be that guy that they pulled over tonight, whose stitches were bleeding. Maybe he ripped them out as a cover story? I don't know, but I'm pretty convinced we're going to see the mole--maybe that will be next season's story line. Maybe Brody's orders were to make contact with the mole once Nazir was dead and he had Carrie's trust, which is why he became so affectionate and put on that huge show with Nazir when she was captured. "All I care about is you!"

Soysauceonrice_sl said:

Anyone else groan out loud when they were doing the final sweep and the rest of the squad just ran off on their own and it was just Carrie and the red-shirt FBI guy left to explore the mysterious hidden room ?

Click to expand...

Yeah it was cheap horror movie conventions right there.

Something else sounded odd to me... from the CIA's point of view, their loony agent got in a car crash and disappeared, then their loony agent calls from out of town saying she has been kidnapped by Abu Nazir. The CIA people go there, find her, are told by her that Nazir must still be around and that she escaped... somehow. They sweep the place and find no Nazir... At that point, isn't the logical reaction to think the looney agent is looney? Or at least wonder if she is going insane?

Lithose_sl said:

"If everything goes well, we will never see each other again"

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There are many ways to understand that line. For me it meant: "If you stay on the straight and narrow, we will never have to meet face to face again."

Unless Saul starts hanging around with Virgil and the Mute one (Hey, I can talk!) as a new member of Carrie's Scooby gang then next episode we know one of Estes or Saul is gone for good. I was firmly convinced that Brody would be dead by the end of season two but unless they do the Scooby part I just can't see them ditching two main cast members.

Thanks for getting off your death bed Galvez, now where's Nazir you terrorist scum!

Soysauceonrice_sl said:

Anyone else groan out loud when they were doing the final sweep and the rest of the squad just ran off on their own and it was just Carrie and the red-shirt FBI guy left to explore the mysterious hidden room ?

Click to expand...

^ This _and_

Carrie gets to interrogate what's her face Roya... This bothered me to no end. Here is a room full of CIA people securing a terrorist, and in walks Carrie with her visitors badge and tells everyone to leave the room??? wtf, when did the CIA give visitors that kind of authority??

Szlia_sl said:

Yeah it was cheap horror movie conventions right there.

Something else sounded odd to me... from the CIA's point of view, their loony agent got in a car crash and disappeared, then their loony agent calls from out of town saying she has been kidnapped by Abu Nazir. The CIA people go there, find her, are told by her that Nazir must still be around and that she escaped... somehow. They sweep the place and find no Nazir... At that point, isn't the logical reaction to think the looney agent is looney? Or at least wonder if she is going insane?

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They had reports of an accident/abduction and video of Nazir driving the van that hit her. And she had wounds consistent with being held captive. I'm assuming they also found the van at the mill. They had no reason to doubt her other than her usual bullshit.

chaos_sl said:

They had reports of an accident/abduction and video of Nazir driving the van that hit her.

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Aaaaaah you're right. I forgot about that.

I really enjoy the show even through the plot holes, but this article really sums them all up nicely

Homeland Recap: Tunnel Vision

This last episode was indeed groan worthy.

Shark = jumped for me. Saul is still awesome, rest of the show? Not so much.