Homeland

Springbok_sl said:

The shark has officially been jumped - its been coming all season, and the difference in writing between S2 and S1 is vast... doesn't even feel like the same show. Still watchable, but there were so many "lol?" moments this episode I had to pause and make sure I wasn't watching Dexter.

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Last night's episode was real? <boggle> I assumed it was a prank episode written as a joke by The Onion.

Brody kills Quinn? Mike? Maybe he'll infiltrate the C.I.A. with Carrie's backstage pass and take out Estes.

Elurin_sl said:

Ugh, this. Not only that, but there are tons of signs in those scenes saying Restricted Area. I don't know how fantasy-land CIA works, but in the real world she'd be escorted at all times. I mean, at this point Carrie would've been imprisoned several times over.

The FBI agent going solo bothered me, but Carrie at the CIA was just ridiculous.

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I was under the impression that she is back on board.

chaos_sl said:

I was under the impression that she is back on board.

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So was I and even said that in an earlier post which I've shamefacedly deleted as I checked the episode again and sure enough she has a damn great VISITOR yellow badge flapping around on her jacket during the interrogation scene.

Sure, she has been hanging around with that team for long enough that the rank and file would presume she is part of it but umm, yeah...

Fazana_sl said:

So was I and even said that in an earlier post which I've shamefacedly deleted as I checked the episode again and sure enough she has a damn great VISITOR yellow badge flapping around on her jacket during the interrogation scene.

Sure, she has been hanging around with that team for long enough that the rank and file would presume she is part of it but umm, yeah...

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Maybe the CIA just "forgot" to give her a new badge. Like they "forgot" to tap Brody's cellphone so could talk/Skype with Abu Nazir in the Vice President's house without nobody knowing.

This show has gone from complete awesome to mediocre fairly quickly this season. Hope it picks up or I might be skipping Season 3.

Sterling_sl said:

This show has gone from complete awesome to mediocre fairly quickly this season. Hope it picks up or I might be skipping Season 3.

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Only one more episode left, not much time for them to redeem the season. Worst case scenerio for me is that Homeland goes from must watch on broadcast night viewing to DVRing it and watching it when I can, like Dexter.

Gonna make my final episode prediction of Brody digging out the suicide vest for a trip to the CIA.

I think Quinn will have second thoughts but still try and go through with it. Brody will gank his ass after getting a non serious gunshot wound. (You know, high on the shoulder where they can just ignore it ever happened. no mind bones and muscle, it is TV!)

This leads into Brody and Carrie on the run trying to escape Broyles wannabe CIA dude. With Saul coming in at some point and helping whittle away all of wannabe's CIA pull. Of course wannabe is claiming Brodie and Carrie are terrorists.

For some reason I hadn't realized that there's only 1 episode left. Don't really see how they can redeem it completely. Will have to see how it goes when season 3 rolls around.

Sigh... ever since the CIA agents got shot up, this show has been off the rails. The season started off so well too, sigh...

man from them finding Brody's tape early on we're all in 'YES! this show doesn't fuck around mode!" then the shows proceeds to fuck around the rest of the god damn time

Yeah I also groaned at all the Nazir hunting shit. For one, what a terrible sweep the original time, then 5 minutes after they tell us they only work in pairs as they split up. Nazir cuts the dudes throat (extremely quietly) then instead of fleeing, proceeds to chase Carrie out into the open, knowing there are other agents out there as well. It was probably worse than anything I ever saw on 24, truly terrible and cheap writing

Also why was the guy who's stitches ripped open driving like that and not telling anyone? Seems like an important detail. Oh also there's an ambulance literally at the place you're driving away from.

I like how 1 Police Dog would have solved the whole Nazir thing within minutes.

ham_sl said:

Also why was the guy who's stitches ripped open driving like that and not telling anyone? Seems like an important detail. Oh also there's an ambulance literally at the place you're driving away from.

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That, and why would he continue to drive until the roadblock, with cars obviously chasing him when he could just stop and say "yo, going to hospital". It's like they hired space aliens with no concept of how normal human beings would interact with others to write this season.

Is the second season of the Israeli version pants-on-head-retarded too? Maybe this is just the live-action equivalent of shitty anime filler.

a point brought up on the BS report. The CIA knows that Brody is a terrorist, and in bed with some (or was). He visits the VP's house, the VP's pacemaker malfunctions and dies, and nobody finds this suspicious?

Yeah.. It's gone totally bonkers. For the past few episodes there hasn't been a single believable thing, at all. In three episodes they have nearly killed an entire series. I've never seen something crash so hard. They could have gone any other route and kept the show as amazing as it was in the beginning of the season. Turning Nazir into a foot soldier? Having him die in crazy and unbelievable setting as a menial ground-soldier. CIA permissions, Carrie going wherever she wants? Carrie constantly flipping her lid and having no repercussions? Remote pace maker control? Estes not having a tail on Brody 24/7, despite planning to kill him IMMEDIATELY after Nazir is killed? Estes behavior with Saul? The list goes on and on and on. You can bend and invent 007 gadgets and concepts only so many times until we're living in fucking never-land.

Saul is in his own television show right now. He's the only believable character with believable actions.

Do the writers not understand the caliber of actors they have right now and they can easily get away with Breaking Bad slow pacing/intensity and let the acting ride out? They had half of an episode with Carrie contemplating killing herself 6 episodes ago and it was gold. Character driven superior acting and drama. Fucking damnit.

Szlia_sl said:

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."

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Yeah, I thought this at first..but it doesn't make sense with the character. Nazir has always been brutal, even towards his most trusted followers. It doesn't make sense that he would just let Brody go do his own thing if he did his job well. But then again, with how poorly they've been writing the characters now, who knows.

In any case, that book Brody stole from Estes office early in the season, still hasn't really been accounted for yet, right? Nothing came of that. I'm thinking there is still a far larger plot underway, and somehow the mole in the CIA, and Brody, are going to carry it out. It's the only reason I can think of for Nazir acting like a moron, becoming a foot soldier and putting on that ridiculous skype-drama show in front of Carrie--all as a means to cement her trusting Brody, so Brody could worm his way into something important. (Which would also explain why Brody all the sudden went from mistrusting her to being head over heels in love with her).

Of course, this could all be explained by terrible writing and next week could be derivative where Brody and Black Ops Man go have a sniper duel in the woods somewhere, giving us a 24-esqe-action finale, just like the last 3 episodes. Which, I guess is more plausible than a mind blowing twist that explains away some of the characters turning into shallow, idiotic action clones of themselves...but meh.

My take on it was that Brody agreed to help Nazir in order to get vengeance on the VP and once that was complete he would be done and they wouldn't have a reason to see each other again. He told Nazir that he didn't realize how important his family would be to him so it would make sense that if Nazir wanted to accomplish their mutual goal he'd need to find a compromise allowing Brody's family to not be hurt in the process.

Carrie: "I know you guys searched the area over and over but, oh look I think there's something behind this fake panel!"

Nazir: "Fuck my war against America, my sole purpose is now to kill Carrie!... although I do not know why"

Echoing what most have said above, the show has completely nosedived the past few episodes, it doesn't even feel like the same show as the past 1.5 seasons. Also - Dana has got to be the worst character/actress in a show ever. Every time she is on screen it's like nails on a chalkboard for me.