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Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Homeland- season 2, episodes 10-12

By David Shankbone (Own work) [CC-BY-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
We finished Homeland season two. Lots of people think the show went off the rails in these episodes and that season two isn't as good as season one. First of all, what is? That's an incredibly high bar. Second, the show is still great. Season two was riveting, fast-paced, and risk taking. We loved the surprising finale. Brody was found out by Saul in EPISODE TWO. He became a different person. In the penultimate episode, they killed Abu Nazir.



In the episode that started the complaining, Carrie's car gets hit by Abu Nazir's SUV (of course the terrorists use the gas guzzlers...they are better for smashing), she gets captured, and Nazir uses her to get Brody to perform a task: help Nazir kill the Vice President. Some people say it's too cartoonish or unrealistic for him to break into the VP's office, get the serial number for his pacemaker, and allow Nazir to cause it to malfunction. We don't know about the technology, but when is technology ever realistic on TV?

The motives are solid. Brody is in love with Carrie. Brody hates the VP for being a douche and for killing Issa. Brody has access to the VP and his office. It makes complete sense to us. Of course there had to be Homeland backlash since it was so universally loved last year. It was never realistic. Homeland Security doesn't even handle the Abu Nazirs. We don't care. PRESIDENT OBAMA, a fan of the show, doesn't care, and we're sure he knows which government organizations do what.

We would have wanted Brody to look a little more horrified at having killed the VP though, especially when he was watching him die. It's a fellow human dying right in front of you. Come on. It was crazy when Carrie kept going back, single-handedly to get Nazir, even physically fighting with him at some point. The show made it work, but Carrie is very cray for trying. We all know how much she always wanted to take this guy out though.

Finally, Carrie and Brody decide to be together. We liked the amiable split between Jessica and Brody. They both knew it was never going to work. We feel bad for Brody's son, who seems fairly devastated. Dana is just over it, as she is over everything. We love Quinn for standing up to Estes on the Killing Brody plan. We mostly love him for being hot though. We're glad Saul isn't fired or hampered going into season three.

We liked the scene when Brody told Dana that he had planned to perform a suicide bombing last season. It was the confession that Jessica refused to hear, wanting to stay in the dark. Instead, Dana got it. She got the message that her dad changed. That he changed his mind and wouldn't do something like that. Dana seemed to get the message that you can't trust or get close to anyone. That's when we wanted Brody to say, "You're the reason I didn't do it. That's the power and result of you getting close to someone. That's the impact you have." But he didn't. Lots of people hate Dana, but we think her relationship with her dad is one of the best parts of the show.

Then, terrorists grab Brody's car and use it to blow up Walden's funeral. Then they release Brody's confession suicide bombing tape to the media. He has to run. Carrie doesn't go with him, but vows to clear his name. We wanted Brody to die at Quinn's hand and for Carrie to start boning Quinn, but you can't have everything. This is almost as good. Maybe Carrie can bone Quinn while Brody is in hiding? This is a gamechanger.

We have to also remember that David Estes and Finn Walden are dead. These are major characters who seemed to have more story in them. It's a ballsy show. It's an entertaining show. And, yes, it's still a smart show. Some people just can't be pleased. Some people will hate on Dana, who is an honest and brave teenager, because they just need a woman to hate in every show at all times, and it can't be Jessica because she was on Firefly. Yeah, Dana is shriller and brattier this season, but she has reasons to be, first of all. She was so cool in the first season that we are willing to give her a lot of leeway before just writing her off as annoying.

We like this show. We're watching next season. Haters gonna hate.

Broken Hearts grade: B
In Memoriam grade: B+
The Choice grade: A-

21 comments:

  1. I agree with your point of view except: won't Carrie be investigated for surviving the walden funeral explosion and how will she explain all the unaccounted fro Time except by lying? How will she explain all that away and not implicate herselfe in Brodyy's disappearance? I think their "love affair" is ridiculous. Carrie is smart and accomplished ~ let's get bask to her as a first rate CIA agent, not some girl singing "what I did for love."

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    1. So, part of us is totally onboard with what you are saying and part of us hopes that the show has a PLAN for the love story/something they are exploring that makes it worth it. It seems to bring out the question for Carrie, "Is what I do important enough to me that I would be willing to die alone in order to do it?" Is that a good enough question to justify one of the dumbest love stories ever? Possibly. Only time will tell. Is there another question? We will see.

      The point of Carrie has never been that she's accomplished. It's a given that she's brilliant. The bipolar disorder compromises her career as much as Brody does. It's not weakness to fall in love. HOWEVER, Brody is a) married and b) the worst possible guy choice for anyone. You can see why we wanted him to die, haha.

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  2. Dana is one of the most awesome young teen/child on any show. She's up there with Arya Stark and the young actresses/actors on Parenthood. (I consider Amber Holt (Mae Whitman) young because she looks young even though she is basically an adult on the show and real life haha...I feel like she's 15 or something by her looks)

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    1. - I liked the reveal of Abu Nazir being in U.S. It was unexpected and interesting and I was just as "WTF"ed by it as were the characters on the show. The helicopter scene was cool too. I was not expecting a helicopter haha...
      - I did not like how Abu Nazir died...but I liked how there was more bad shit coming after his death than I thought. (brody's car bomb) I guess if the show stayed realistic, Abu Nazir would be alive for 10 more years or so...and at least the search wouldn't go on too long.
      - I still find Carrie's/Brodie's love for each other weirdly crazy and I sort of like/love it. It's not the kind of love I usually see on TV shows and Homeland has somehow made it work.

      Are people going to listen to Carrie or are they going to continue ignoring Carrie? haha...She has been so spot on on things that people should forget about her bipolarness and trust those crazy psycho eyes..lol

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    2. Amber Holt has been incredible for years. Ever since Arrested Development. She was in Perks of Being a Wallflower this year. She's so good, and it's great to see her getting so much work.

      We're glad Nazir is dead, but the how could have been better. This year, Carrie needs to be on top.

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    3. Heh. I just torrented Perks of Being a Wallflower earlier today. It has a good user score on IMDB/Metacritic. (8+/10 rating is like really good for comedy movies...usually dramas get better scores) I'm thinking about catching up on movies for now instead of TV shows...give movies a chance and stuff.

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    4. Oh..still need to check out Arrested Development (at least while I'm on break..i want to catch up on it before the new season begins on netflix)

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    5. It seems like there have been a lot of good movies this year..or at least compared to last year. I haven't been keeping up on movies for the past 3-4 years, though...so I missed out on a lot (not that I was a big movie buff or anything back then either....but yeah) Sorry for making multiple posts..haha..I change my mind about finishing what I write off sometimes.

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    6. Definitely check out Arrested. Give it at least half a season. It takes a while to get used to the humor. And yes, 2012 had better movies than 2011. We're working on our favorite movies of the year post.

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    7. Btw, have you guys checked out Perks of Being a Wallflower? It's actually really good. (got done watching it an hour ago) Going to watch Men in Black 3 and Moonrise Kingdom next. :D

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    8. We did see Perks! Did we not mention that on here? Wow, we're slacking.

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    9. Nah. You mentioned it in this post...but wasn't sure you guys actually watched it. Moonrise Kingdom was some good stuff. :D (I'm sort of going through your blog post/going on top 50 list and randomly picking movies to watch)

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    10. We should have reviewed it. It will be on our Best Of list. lol

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    11. It's time to make that Best of List. There is nothing else coming that's interesting. Make it now!!! (just want to torrent stuff and I trust your guys opinion over some lame list by some brainwashing monkey hogging "I'm making a list to get more views" website

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    12. Soon, very soon. Family is hogging the holiday time.

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    13. OH OH OH since you are streaming, we're going to expand the post to list the top ten movies of every year since 1990 or so. That way it's extra worth the wait, and you'll have lots to watch.

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    14. I thought of doing list like that...but seemed like too much work. haha...but it makes it easier picking out movies by year instead of total(I feel that there is no way any movie (or even show) could get the #1 spot as far as "Best stuff ever" goes...as some feel like they earn the #1 to me as well)

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    15. That sounds really great, though..would love to check out classics and also see what some of the best stuff were in the 2000s

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  3. lol so a guy running from the government while someone is trying to clear his name. kind of sounds like prison break.

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    1. In first season that was good.

      We're sure they will come up with like five twists to make it different. This show never goes where we think it's going/changes direction often

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