Brigette Watches Homeland, S4/Ep12: "Long Time Coming"

Well, um, I guess that’s it for Homeland? Happy season 4, everybody!

I must say, I thought the reveal that Dar Adal was Haqqani’s bro was going to be a really big deal. And I thought that Quinn’s assassination plan thwarted was going to be a really big deal. And I expected the finale to take place in Pakistan. Buuuut…. the whole episode took place back in the American suburbs.

The most anti-climatic storyline of the finale belonged to Dar Adal. He just outright confessed to Saul over pancakes that he was making deals with Haqqani. So…no secret double agent stuff after all, I guess? And now Saul has possession of the embarrassing footage of being Haqqani’s prisoner as part of one of these said deals, so he’s like, “Okay, I guess.” And Carrie hates him for that. I get it. I mean, it’s not admirable of Saul, but it makes sense for him; the prisoner exchange was way worse than actually being a prisoner, and owning footage of being a hostage helps to ease some of that shame. Okay, whatever. I don’t really care about that.

I care more about what the heck this season was about anyway. If you put a lot of stake in the finale, you would think it was all about family: Carrie reconnecting with Franny (was I the only one who was freaked out every time there was a scene where the two of them were alone? I have NOT forgotten the near-drowning in the bathtub thing); reconnecting (if it can be called that) with her long-lost mother, who ditched her family to have another family, and the possibility of having a normal family life with Quinn. Yes, they finally kissed. I mean, I get it, but it’s sort of out of nowhere at the same time, as I’ve always thought. Oh, and of course it was also about Carrie mourning the death of her father. FAMILY!

I think this episode signified the beginning of the end. I’m guessing one more season, two tops, since the whole thing revolved around the ideas of being grounded, having a normal life, getting out of the crazy C.I.A. game. After Quinn proposed this very idea, Carrie seemed to be kind of into it, which was unexpected, but I guess the emotionally depleting terrorist raid and the death of her father shifted things for her a bit.

But we know that Carrie’s not going to get out of it just yet, because Quinn did a 180 and isn’t out of it just yet himself. Most likely, Carrie will chase Quinn to the depths. This may be good TV, but it’s a STUPID move as a human. I thought it was completely reasonable, as Carrie was tracking down her mother, when she told Quinn she couldn’t think about a relationship that second, that she had a lot going on, that she needed a few days. But this was not reasonable to Quinn; within a matter of HOURS, he went from wanting to fly out to meet Carrie and have a committed relationship to completely ditching her for a top-secret mission. A MATTER OF HOURS. I’m sorry Quinn, are you a psycho, emo, teenage girl? Carrie should NOT be chasing that. NO ONE should be chasing that. But Carrie is not one to make smart decisions about men, is she? So she probably will.

Well guys, this whole season was weird, from start to finish. It was emotionally disconnected, the plot went from being boring and one-dimensional to super exciting and back to dull, and there was just a lot of dead space: Carrie putting in her retainer, Carrie walking down a dark hall. I’m surprised they never showed Carrie taking a dump and then plucking her eyebrows. There were so many scenes like that which I thought would be significant, and then they just weren’t.  Shrug.

Choose your own adventure:

A) Do you think the show should have ended after three seasons with Brody’s death? B) Do you think it should have continued, but we still should have followed his family to give the show some cohesiveness (and so it felt like the same show)? C) Did you dig this season?  D) Are you excited for what will happen next season?

I think I'm the only person in the world who thought Dana was interesting.

Here are my answers:

A) Maybe B) Yes C) No D) No

Yours?

Regardless, I must confess, I’m kind of relieved this season is over.

Brigette Watches Homeland, S4/Ep10: "13 Hours in Islamabad"

Homeland was the source of 37 heart attacks last night.

I hadn't watched the previous episode until about an hour before this one aired, so for me, it was a double-dose of heart attacks. First, we barely get a resigned Saul back alive in exchange for prisioners, and then right when he takes his glasses back from Carrie-- symbolizing his re-acceptance of his life and  identity-- the convoy they are traveling in gets blown to shreds.

But Saul and Carrie weren't the target! It was just a distraction so the terrorists could crawl through the tunnels and STORM THE EMBASSY.

Then, pretty much the scariest thing that could have happened happened: as Lockhart and the like are scrambling to delete everything and get out of there, the terrorist march right into into drone-central and start shooting everybody! Ahhh!

Those who survived the attack make to the safe room, which of course the terrorists find, and then they begin systematically shooting Americans, insisting for Lockhart to step outside and turn over the ONLY copy of the CIA's list of assets. (Did we know about this before? Seems a little convenient.) Seeing everyone get shot on the camera feed showing the other side of the door is horrifying, but it's not until Haqqani threatens to behead Fara in front of all of them that Lockhart agrees to step outside and hand over the list. What results is just the worst: they kill Fara anyway. Quinn and another worker shoot at the terrorists, the terrorists shoot at them, and then some of the terrorists--including an injured Haqqani-- get away.

After all of this goes down, Boyd convinces his wife to give him his belt so he can hang himself. She struggles with this, agrees... but he doesn't go through with it! I'm not one for hanging yourself, but talk about adding insult to injury. How much has he put his wife through by this point?  Boyd is basically the worst person ever.

Americans are ordered to GTFO of Pakistan, and for once, Carrie seems to agree-- especially considering it's no secret that the Pakistani military didn't rush to their aid-- but Carrie can't go just yet. She has to go find Quinn who has gone rogue, hunting the streets to avenge Fara's death and find where those terrorists are, one white Motorola phone at a time. (I mean, they looked like Motorolas.)

For a season that has been weird, to say the least, and arguably emotionally disconnected, this episode payed off in a big way. I have not screamed at my TV watching Homeland in quite some time, so, mad applause for that.

Questions:

Am I the only one who felt like Boyd wasn't being monitored that closely? Not only was he slipping information to the terrorists and giving Carrie fancy LSD, but he gave information about the TUNNELS, which was HUGE. Boyd is basically responsible for all of those people dying. And he was just chillin' in that cell, talking to his wife. At one point the bars weren't even closed, and I think at another point he was walking around. Did I miss something??? Was none of this as weird as I thought it was??

Why was Lockhart so emotionally attached to Fara? Why was that where he drew the line? Did I miss something where they bonded at some point? I get that someone had to die-- this was a very big event, and the fact that Carrie and Saul survived the car bombs and then the shower of snipper rifle was kind of unrealistic, so whoever died had to be someone we would feel. But do we feel for Fara ourselves? I always liked her, don't get me wrong, but I don't think we got to know her enough to be truly destroyed that she's gone.

And now, the most important question: didn't that part in the safe room remind you of Panic Room with Jodie Foster and Kristen Stewart? Remember how when that movie first came out, you couldn't tell if Kristen Stewart was a boy or a girl, and after watching the entire movie you still had no idea? Was anyone else so distracted by remembering Kristen Stewart's once ambiguous gender that they almost forgot what was happening for a minute on Homeland? No? Just me then?

Well, anyway. There are only two episodes left, so it's down to the wire! Will Quinn die in his quest to get the bad guys on his own, further supporting the idea that anyone who is even remotely interested in Carrie will die? Did Carrie mean it when she said she wanted to go home? Was this the final straw? Will she try to live a normal life with her Brody baby? Somehow I doubt it. All I know is that no one is safe!

Brigette Watches Homeland, S4/Ep8: "Halfway to a Donut"

What we learned on Sunday's Homeland:

1) Quinn's face looked totally normal, so I'm assuming Carrie didn't ACTUALLY break his nose & balls last week.
2) Apparently, Kahn wasn't behind the tampering of Carrie's meds after all. Okay.
3) Saul hates Carrie for not letting him blow his brains out.
4) Terrorists DO notice when drone are following them! Because they have EYES.
5) Drones remind me of video games which reminds me of Ender's Game which makes me uncomfortable.
6) One Saul is the equivalent to a handful of terrorists, but how would this convert using Shrute Bucks to Stanley Nickels?

Alright. I just have to say something. I've been confused pretty much all season about character motivation, and I feel like this is not something that's happened before while watching Homeland. Complicated, contradictory feelings are nothing new to the characters on this show, but I feel like the contradictions were always conveyed in a way that felt organic. I'm not experiencing that this season. I'm just feeling like I don't know why anyone is doing what they're doing.

I don't get Kahn's deal, which is maybe okay, because maybe we're not supposed to yet. Maybe he really is clueless to his government's aligning itself with the terrorists. That was pretty much confirmed when we saw him watching Mr. Camera Phone, aka, Boyd, being slipped notes without Carrie present. Are we comfortable proclaiming Kahn a "good guy" now? I don't know. And why did he make such a production about telling Carrie what he saw? Why did they keep returning to the awkwardness of when she thought he was Brody? I feel like Kahn wants Carrie to "like" him.  How many out of nowhere romances can they tease this season? We'll see!

I also thought I originally understood Carrie's position on Saul's imprisonment; she knew he would rather die than give into the terrorists or be a problem. She was willing to blow him up without even thinking about it. But for some reason, once it was confirmed through a telephone conversation that Carrie was exactly right about Saul's wishes, she did a 180. Suddenly, she couldn't bear to watch Saul shoot himself in the head. She cried. It was too upsetting. She forced him to keep going, to keep running, even as millions of little terrorist guys were closing in and she knew help would not be arriving.

This is where I got confused. Did Carrie know that it was hopeless, or did she think Saul actually stood a chance? Did she knowingly direct him right to the terrorists just to avoid watching him kill himself? What is the difference really between watching a drone blow up your father figure and watching your father figure shoot himself? I guess with an explosion, there's no body to see.

Themes:
We saw Carrie get ready for bed again: retainer, earplugs, eye mask, lay down. Still waiting for this "going to sleep" theme to pay off. We may have gotten a glimpse of the significance when Carrie tells Quinn that she finally realizes there are no good solutions and no good endings to anything that they're doing, but the moment didn't feel climatic enough to be the "waking up" that I keep waiting for.

Even with the confusion, this episode was the most exciting of the season so far, no? Saul's escape was pretty intense (it involved murder-- with his bare hands!) and I honestly had no idea what was going to happen at the end. I can't believe it, but I actually wanted Saul to kill himself, just to win this one, and I was disappointed when he didn't. Obviously, so was he. 

What do we think about this episode? Am I the only one who is greatly confused by character motivation this season? Will Saul now hate Carrie forever? Is there any way this can end well for Carrie and Co.?

Brigette Watches Homeland, S4/Ep7: "Redux"

Things we learned:

1) Saul is currently a human shield for Uncle Terrorist aka Haqqani (aren't you proud of me for looking up his name?) and is chillin' with his whole brood. Until they move him.
2) Negotiations are being made to get Saul home, and Carrie thinks they should have just let him die.
3) Boyd STILL hasn't turned off the sound on his camera phone!!!! (Aren't you proud of me for looking up his name?)
4) It IS possible for Carrie to have a freak out without hearing jazz music.

One thing I like about Homeland, even as it seems to be decaying, is that every character is a real person. No one is just pure evil, not even the terrorists, even though they do evil things. As we saw largely though Brody's storyline, who the "good guy" is and who the "bad guy" is depends entirely on perspective. There are points in this show where people are just people. That seemed to be apparent when Saul and Haqqani were in the car and Haqqani talked about how happy he was to see his family, as well as when all those little children ran to hug him, and when Haqqani scolded his son for throwing his shoe at Saul. But this guy is no angel, and Saul can't  play nice. Who could blame him? After being as involved with catching these guys as Saul was, how could anyone keep their mouth shut and not call Haqqani out?

Saul: "You just executed your nephew, and before that you killed his family in an airstrike. How is that necessary?"
Haqqani: "You point your finger at Islam, but if Christianity is to be judged by the misery it has caused mankind, who would ever be a Christian?"
Saul: "I'm a Jew."

ZING!

All Haqqani can say back is, "Yeah. Well," and Saul pays for that by having to listen to Haqqani and his wife have sex after three years apart. He is Haqqani's human shield after all. I feel like if Saul hadn't won that dinner table convo, Haqqani would have at least given Saul some cotton to stuff in his ears, but no. If Saul wished for death at any time during all of this, you know it was then. Yikes!

Speaking of which, I think I agree with Carrie that Saul would have wanted the mission completed, even if he got killed. You can see that in Saul's repeated insistence to Haqqani that he's really not that special, and in the disappointment at the end when he's informed that a hostage negotiation is in fact taking place. Saul is in a very special kind of nightmare right now in which living undoes a large amount of his life's work. But at the same time, we know he doesn't really want to die. And let's hope Carrie doesn't want him to either, because really Carrie?

But Carrie can't really help Saul right now, much less herself. Why aren't these pills working???? she wonders, as she takes five more, not knowing that Boyd switched them. Are they just sugar pills and her bipolar is taking its effects, or are they pills that are actually making her worse? Was this all explained and I missed it? Probably.

Regardless, as painful as it was to watch Carrie's rapid meltdown, it also gave us some of the best moments of the night. I swore at my T.V. when Carrie "shot" the guys in the car, then swore again when we see that she didn't actually have a gun and it was just her hand. Oh, and how could I forget the moment before that when she broke Quinn's nose and balls, assuming he was actually there?

Did that ending make anyone else EXTREMELY confused? Carrie was taken to Assar Kahn's house, right? (I am just on FIRE looking up names!) The one who claimed they had no footage of Saul in the area he was kidnapped? The one who is working with Boyd to mess with Carrie (right)? Why on god's green earth is she at this guy's house? I think we're not supposed to know that yet, actually.

Of course, I gotta mention the Brody hallucination. I'm a fan of ghost stuff, so I was hoping that it was really him. I was like, "Wow, this show is getting spiritual? What are they doing here?" But nah. Carrie was probably so far gone that part of her brain went to Brody, the safe place, to calm herself down. Even though Kahn knew what was happening to Carrie as he cradled her because HE had been behind it (creepy), he still must have been like "WTF."

Will Carrie figure out what happened with her meds? Will Saul die? Will Quinn need nose and ball surgery? Let me know what you think! Until then, in honor of Carrie's freak out, watch that Homeland skit on SNL with Anne Hathaway because it's still one of my most favorite things ever, and I know it's one of yours too.

Brigette Watches Homeland, S4/Ep6: "From A to B and Back Again"

Woaaaahhh Homeland. Woah.

Things we learned:

1) Aayan fell in love with Carrie (or thought he did).
2) Carrie staged her own kidnapping, which resulted in a bloody nose (which by now I feel she deserves).

3) The one guy who's name I still don't know who took pictures of Carrie's stuff with the sound of his phone on is still spying on Carrie.
4) Aayan's uncle is holding Saul hostage. SAUUULL!

Okay, I feel like the moment at the end of the episode overshadows anything else that happened, so let's focus on that. Carrie's plan for Aayan to lead her right to his uncle worked-- not without roadblocks, but still. The drone followed Aayan on his journey, leading directly to Mr. Terrorist. (What's his name?)

But Mister Terrorist KNEW who Carrie was and knew what she was up to. (How? Is it because of Loud Camera guy?) Mister Terrorist also knew that a drone was following them, which leads me to question #1: okay, I've never been followed by a drone, nor have I even seen one, but wouldn't you notice something following you? Even if it were in the sky above you, wouldn't you catch it out of the corner of your eye? I mean, it's a flying object. It's not invisible. Duh, Aayan, there's a drone on your back.

Poor Aayan. I guess he really was just as innocent as he seemed after all. His uncle, who Ayan thought was actually a good guy despite what Carrie said, put a bullet in the poor kid's head. I guess family isn't the most important thing when your safety has been compromised. It was painful, wasn't it, just watching Aayan's face as he tried to put it all together? Carrie was who? She did what? Saul was who? Was his uncle mad? The kiss on the cheek was a nice thing to do. I take solace in knowing that it honestly didn't seem to register that he was going to die until he was already dead. But it was still upsetting.

What was up with Carrie's reaction? I kind of thought that before she saw Saul that she was perfectly comfortable having the drone kill Uncle and take out whoever was near him-- including Aayan. Can a drone kill just one person in a crowd of people? Or was she just planning on blowing up his car once they drove away? I don't know, but her reaction to Aayan's death was so strong that I got the impression that maybe she thought he was going to live through all of this. Was this explained and I missed it? Probably.

Regardless, her plan was screwed up, and nothing upsets Carrie more than the injustice of her plans being screwed up. All that work, all that screwing, for nothing! She was going to get Mr. Terrorist, and he beat her at her own game. He knew she was watching, showed her Saul, and said, "Whatchoo gonna do 'bout it?"

If Carrie was unlikeable a few episodes ago, she was surely unlikable in this moment. Even if she was upset for Aayan, that emotion wasn't enough to forgive her for demanding to take Mr. Terrorist out, immediately, killing Saul with him! Saul is basically Carrie's father. Maybe she knows it's a hopeless situation and she knows Saul knows that, but it still doesn't excuse her for demanding that Saul be blown up immediately.

Themes: Did anyone notice that part in the drone room when Carrie was told to "lie down and get some rest"? Again, there was a scene of Carrie sleeping and being woken up. I'm telling you, this is on purpose! There's gonna be some grand awakening on the horizon.

If Carrie sleeps with a terrorist sympathizer, he will die. Is this Carrie's lesson? Is this the terrorist's lesson? Is this just the audience's lesson? We know now that if Carrie makes eyes at another terrorist affiliate, he's got no chance.

Are you glad Aayan's gone, or do you feel like "why did we spend so much time with this kid if he was gonna die"? Is Saul gonna die? Is Carrie going to redeem herself? Can this season redeem itself?

Brigette Watches Homeland, S4/Ep05: "About a Boy"

Seriously? They titled this episode "About a Boy?" Sigh.

What we learned:

* Carrie and Aayan actually didn't have sex last week…right? He just "received." Well, okay.
* Saul thought he was one step ahead of pony-tail guy who ordered Sandy's death, but Pony-Tail was actually one step ahead of Saul, so much so that he KIDNAPPED SAUL. OH NO SAUL.
* That one guy and his wife don't like each other and he's being forced to stay where he is or something and then he was snooping through someone's apartment in the dark but kept the CAMERA SOUNDS ENABLED ON HIS PHONE.
* Fara is gaining confidence, and Quinn is well-aware of Carrie's manipulation abilities.

Alright, I should really know and understand the storyline with that guy with the loud phone, but I just don't. I haven't been paying attention and hoped he would go away, but he didn't, and now I feel like he's probably important. I'm assuming he's the double agent who was communicating between Sandy and Pony-Tail. Is this obvious to everyone else, or am I totally wrong? Do I even care? All I know is he needs to divorce his wife because that relationship is soooo depressing.

The car check point scene seemed impossible. Quinn & Fara were in "Taliban territory," and Fara was supposed to put a tracker on Pony-Tail's car? With no one noticing? And was it even his car? I'm so confused. I'm assuming it was, since at the same check point, a trunk is opened and there's SAUL IN THE TRUNK. How CREEPY was that when the guy saw Saul there, and just closed the trunk? Like, "Oh, there's a white American looking guy. He's probably gonna get murdered. That's totally cool." Mad props to Mandi Pantinkin for conveying such desperation and fear with only his eyes in an extremely short shot. I was sufficiently traumatized.

Okay. On to Carrie and Aayan. You guys, I don't even know where to begin.

I understand that when Carrie was telling Aayan about her daughter that it was complete manipulation. Not only did this "sharing" humanize her, but it implied that she wanted to give him-- and owed him-- some piece of her personal life. Pretty low, yes? When Carrie brought up Brody, I think that began as manipulation, but the emotion turned real. How could it not? All of this "bonding" made Aayan want to get busy with Carrie again, even though five minutes before, he was ravaged with guilt. I'm not saying this was unrealistic, I'm just pointing it out.

Question of the night: Why was Carrie crying while she and Aayan had sex?

A) She was starting to feel guilty for manipulating Aayan.
B) She was thinking of Brody. (It's safe to say she probably hadn't been with anyone since him.)
C) Aayan wasn't doing a very good job.

I'm guessing the answer is probably a combination of all three.

The most surprising development for me was that Aayan actually confessed to Carrie that his uncle is alive, which is making me re-think my previous theory that he is actually in cahoots with the terrorists. I'm not completely giving that idea up, but I'm becoming more convinced that maybe he is as innocent as he seems. I hope this isn't true, because it makes the whole storyline less interesting to me. Let's not forget though that after Carrie's convo with Quinn, Aayan was no longer in bed and had disappeared to the balcony. Did he actually hear what happened? I hope so. Which brings us to...

…the best moment of the night.  Quinn shows up at Carrie's and this exchange takes place:

Quinn: Why don't you tell me just what it is you're doing in there?
Carrie: I'm recruiting someone.
Quinn: Really? 'Cus to me, it looks like you're f**king a child!

OHHHH!!! NO HE DI'IN'T! NO HE DI'IN'T! OHHHH! SOLJA BOI SOLJA BOI HEY!

Too good. Then of course, they had to tease that Quinn loves Carrie thing with a typical, "what's it to you anyway?" and "nothing!" response.

Something I've Noticed: Carrie likes to sleep with the enemy, which reminds me of how some cops say, "If I didn't become a cop, I'd be a criminal."Is there a fine line between this type of person versus that type of person? OR is there something artistic or symbolic about how Carrie keeps physically and emotionally "joining" with the same thing that she is supposed to destroy? Does Carrie have a Freudian death wish, desperate to destroy herself while at the same time, striving to preserve her ego and sense of power???? Hmmm.



Dream Time Jump: It's thirty years later. Carrie's daughter is taking care of Carrie, who has been a complete invalid for some time for purely mental reasons. The rest of the series is Carrie's daughter having flashbacks/arguments about all the times Carrie used her to get to others and almost drowned her in bathtubs. It would sort of be like Gray Gardens except they would mostly hate each other, but maybe love each other just a little, because they are a part of each other after all. I would be totally fine watching that series instead of this one.

So what do you think? What will happen to dear Saul?! Is Aayan as innocent as he seems? What's going to happen after those three days that imaginary preparations are being made to go to London? Do you still care?

Brigette Watches Homeland, S4/Ep04: "Iron in the Fire"

This past Sunday, on Homeland we learned:

1) The terrorist guy who we thought was dead ISN'T DEAD.
2) The "sweet" medical student kid knows his Uncle isn't dead & is talking to him & possibly smuggling medical supplies/drugs.
3) Sandy was killed by… the government?… of the country they are in? Where are they?
4) They bugged the pony-tailed mob instigator's phone & house, but he probably figured it out because someone called and said "your laundry's done" or something and he deleted or destroyed his phone or something? I don't know.
5) Carrie seduced little med student, for reasons we will all try to figure out.

If you can't tell by now, I usually half understand everything that's happening on Homeland. Usually by the end of the episode, I've got it pretty much figured out. I can't promise that's going to happen this week, but this is still worth your time, okay??? (Okay?)

A lot of people were mad about this episode, namely Carrie's behavior. Would a C.I.A. member actually seduce a person they wanted information from? Isn't it unethical? Is Carrie still likable?

Let's remember that Carrie is bat-shit crazy and always has been. I know that's not a politically correct term, and I'm not making fun of her bipolar disorder, because her character is on meds right now (we've seen her off of them). But she's always been a live wire. She will do ANYTHING to win, to distract herself from her personal life, and to get outside of herself. Sex is just a negotiating tool for her. Not a big deal. And know one has to know, so she thinks. If she can get this kid attached to her, she can get him to …give up information about the Uncle? Is that what she wants? Or put a positive spin on the bombing? I'm so confused.

Let's also remind ourselves that Carrie recently saw the man who she loved hung to death in front of an angry mob. Not shot in the head or something else quick and painless, but hung. We ALL had to watch Brody's slow death, and it was awful. So maybe we could be empathic towards that trauma.  Still, we could argue that the likability of Carrie started to waver this season when she nearly drown her baby, Brody's child. Perhaps it was salvaged when she fought her way to leave the country so that she could be safely away from that child (GOOD CALL). Personally, I don't really need to "like" Carrie to find her interesting, and she certainly is. Carrie may seem very steady and in control in front of others, but she's lying to everyone as well as herself. How long can she keep it up this time?

Best casting ever goes to this weird baby who looks
exactly like Damian Lewis.

Theory: In the first episode, we saw Carrie peacefully going to sleep after bombing the wedding. Before little med student guy awoke, she was sleeping in her bed. They sure are showing her sleep a lot, right? I feel like this isn't a coincidence. Around her, others are dealing with their conscience, namely Quinn, but Carrie is able to sleep at night, alone, surrounded by darkness. I'm wondering if the end of this season will address this issue, if Carrie will "wake up" and question what she's doing with her life.

Theory: Little med student guy isn't so innocent. He's playing them all. He's not communicating with his Uncle out of familial obligation or pressure from the terrorists his Uncle is associated with, but he believes in the cause himself. Hmm. We shall see. (I'm so sorry that I don't know that kid's name. I mean I could look it up, but…)

Points of Confusion: What's up with Saul? I thought he retired and they made a big fuss of that at the end of last season? But he still works for the C.I.A, just a different branch? What country are they even in? Huh? Didn't that scene with that 9/11 conspiracy theory guy really make you want noodles? Who was that guy anyway?

We are four episodes in to the "new" Homeland, or shall we say the "Brodyless" Homeland, and I don't know how I feel. It's clearly not the same show, but I still thought the premier was pretty exciting. Since the premier…ehh. I'm confused as to why they're teasing this Quinn loves Carrie thing when I feel like it's kinda out of nowhere except that they work together and are the same age. Am I missing something? It's not really the same without whiny Dana and Brody's alien wife. (She was on that V show, right?)  I don't know, guys, but I don't give up on shows that easily. I'm gonna stick this one out for a while.


What do you think about this week's Homeland and where the show seems to be headed?