Jojo the circus boy
Footballguy
Nice eye.
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Homeland (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Usual21
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pollardsvision
Footballguy
I normally watch the previews, but didn't this week. Glad I didn't.
Danes is great. Does she have an Emmy coming her way?
Danes is great. Does she have an Emmy coming her way?
Doctor Detroit
Please remove your headgear
'Reg Lllama of Brixton said:
belljr
Footballguy
She mentions foolow the purple. Saul goes dwon and starts sorting through the mess when what he sees starts to make sense. he was able to start putting the pieces together.I loved the episode. Not a big fan of Calire Danes but the scene with them tearing down the wall is awesome. I like how that she thinks clearer off the meds but is down right crazy or can't put the thoughts together....I saw the previews by accident, I won't spoil it but I don't think it's going to go down how they portray it..... At least I hope it doesn't because it ruined it for me....
comfortably numb
Footballguy
Can you please put a preview disclaimer or a spoiler tag if you are going to talk about the previews....even what little you saw.'Chaos Commish said:
Ned
Footballguy
She told him its a timeline and to start with the purple.
babydemon90
Footballguy
Just watched...psyched for the finale. I'd be surprised if it all plays out just like the previews make you think.
Chaos Commish
Footballguy
I didn't mention anything a casual viewer shouldn't already know from watching, but sure.
biggamer3
Footballguy
was watching the episode in passing, was doing other things while it was on. Wasnt sure about a few things.
1) was that Arabic dude trying on a bomb filled jacket and what was in the package? assuming it was a jacket.
2) What was the color code representing exactly?
3) How did the daughter have video of her dad standing outside all day, was it filmed by accident?
1) was that Arabic dude trying on a bomb filled jacket and what was in the package? assuming it was a jacket.
2) What was the color code representing exactly?
3) How did the daughter have video of her dad standing outside all day, was it filmed by accident?
Wingnut
Footballguy
HTH
wadegarrett
FFA Legend™
Jojo the circus boy
Footballguy
also order of the rainbow - ROYBGV
biggamer3
Footballguy
Thanks
mad sweeney
Footballguy
Just came in to post the exact same thing, though I didn't think the episode was the best. Actually pretty low on the scale, but still very good. I realize though, that it was the calm before the storm. And even the worst episode of this show is still a very good episode.As for the trailer, though it seems like the whole Abu Nazir plot was given away, usually what the trailers suggest aren't what you actually see the next week. They've done a great job making an outstanding season. I don't see them "ruining" the finale for their fans by giving away too much. They're deceiving us quite a bit with that trailer, IMO.
Raider Nation
Devil's Advocate
Claire was on The View this morning (looking hot, BTW)... and oh yeah, Whoopi honored her with a fart.
http://youtu.be/aBFSTq8re34
http://youtu.be/aBFSTq8re34
Wow. Those are definitely the top two new shows that I've seen, but I think Game of Thrones is number one by a decent margin.I guess this week's Homeland will be pretty darn good.Sepinwall wrote that he's seen the Homeland finale and that it bumped the show above Game of Thrones for his No. 1 new show of 2011.
Huh. I just checked out Sepinwall's list of the best new shows. I'm a big fan of Game of Thrones and also really like Homeland.
But I've never seen and don't know anything about any other show on the entire list. I've never even heard of most of them.
Meanwhile, he didn't mention Revenge or Ringer, both of which are pretty good as far as guilty pleasures go.
But I've never seen and don't know anything about any other show on the entire list. I've never even heard of most of them.
Meanwhile, he didn't mention Revenge or Ringer, both of which are pretty good as far as guilty pleasures go.
Wilfred is really good. Dark, twisted and funny. I've heard that Boss is good and want to see it, but I don't get Starz. The Chicago Code was the best new network show. Created by Shawn Ryan, who did The Shield, and starring Jennifer Beals as the Chicago police chief trying to take down a corrupt city councilman. It had a satisfying conclusion. Happy Endings I've watched a couple times but wasn't able to get into. The Hour was pretty good. I think it was just a six-episode show on BBC, but they are doing a second season. It's about a woman running a news show on the British government-owned BBC in the 1950s. Great performances by the three leads, including Dominic West (McNulty from The Wire), but it didn't quite hit -- particularly the spy angle. Lights Out was a flawed show on a retired former heavyweight champion boxer forced by poor money management and the economy to get back into the ring. It had good acting and some really nice moments, but the writing annoyed at times. Still, it had a pretty strong ending. New Girl is the Zooey Deschanel show. It's still finding itself but it has potential. Shameless on Showtime is a good show about a family of kids of different ages raising and fending for themselves with a drunk William Macy as their father and a mother who abandoned them. Emmy Rossum gets naked a lot and it's spectacular.'Maurile Tremblay said:
SlaX
Footballguy
You didn't mention it, but I think we've found the one guy who likes Bob's Burgers.
comfortably numb
Footballguy
Very good finale...Carrie got just enough info to get back into her crazy ways
mad sweeney
Footballguy
Underwhelming. I'm glad they didn't go for an hour-long build up to Brody flipping the switch and a bang as a cliffhanger. I had hoped there would be some commentary in here that would raise my whelm level, but it didn't. Still the best show of the year, but the last 2 episodes were the weakest of the bunch. How Inigo Montoya got overlooked for Best Supporting Actor is criminal, he runs circles around everyone on that show.
Jojo the circus boy
Footballguy
So any chance now Brody becomes a double agent?
Only thing I could think of why Brody would kill Walker was that Walker was a terrorist and it was "ok" to kill him.
Only thing I could think of why Brody would kill Walker was that Walker was a terrorist and it was "ok" to kill him.
Raider Nation
Devil's Advocate
Seppy:
In the intelligence game, as in many professions, there is what you know and what you can only guess at. When "Homeland" debuted, we knew that Claire Danes and Damian Lewis were both giving riveting lead performances (and that the supporting players weren't too shabby, either), that the cat-and-mouse game between Carrie and Brody was fascinating, that Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa had been able to apply their thriller skills from their "24" and "X-Files" days to a more human-scale story, and that this was a very strong start to the series.
What we could only guess at was whether Gordon and Gansa could make it work all the way to the end of the season - and, more importantly, beyond. The "is he or isn't he?" set-up seemed ideal for a one-season and out miniseries, or even a series centering mainly on Carrie, with a new villain each season as her co-star. But Gordon and Gansa insisted they had plans for how the show would continue into a second season, and with Lewis as part of the cast. That could have just been them performing some misdirection - why tip us off to the fact that Brody would blow up or go to jail by episode 12? - it could have been a hedge from two guys who didn't know exactly where the story was going to go yet, or it could have been the absolute truth.
I kept saying, early and often, that the character stuff involving Carrie, Brody, Saul and Jess was so strong that I ultimately wouldn't regret the time spent watching even if they muffed the ending. People compared this show to "The Killing," but the difference is that "The Killing" had ceased to be interesting long before that terrible finale, which was the straw that broke the camel's back. Had the "Homeland" finale not worked, it would've been a healthy camel saying, "Dude, that one piece of straw is really annoying, but I'm still good to go across this here desert."
And now that we've come to the end of the first season, and with Brody both alive and neatly situated to continue as Carrie's opponent - even if Carrie's own status going forward is much more questionable - I can say this:
They did it. They stuck the landing, ended this season satisfyingly, while plausibly setting things in motion for season 2.
Where the producers impressed me was how far they were willing to take things. Tom Walker kills Brody's new political handler Elizabeth Gaines, setting in motion what turned out to be a fiendishly clever plan that allowed Brody and his suicide vest to walk through a metal detector without anyone caring, and into a sealed bunker with Vice-President Walden and half the defense establishment. Brody has the detonator in hand, ready to go, and he presses the detonator, and while the vest's temporary malfunction could have played as a deus ex machina to get everyone out of the corner they'd been painted into, it instead accomplished two things: 1)Made it clear that Brody was ready and willing to go all the way with this murderous plot, and 2)Stalled just long enough for Carrie to reach Brody's daughter Dana and convince her to call her father (who had just finished repairing the bomb) and talk him down.
If the entire season came down to a few loose wires, that's terribly lame. Instead, it comes down to these characters we've been following and learning about for the last three months. Carrie knows Brody and his family so well from her time keeping them under illegal surveillance, and when all else fails she knows that Dana may be the last hope to save the day. And Brody, who never expected to live through the consequences of his decision, had to hear the alarm and horror in his daughter's voice as she repeated Carrie's allegations to him. Brody could tell himself that his wife and kids would understand and accept his actions, but the pain he heard coming through that telephone made clear how much a lie that was. He got into this plot to avenge the death of a boy he had come to think of as a son, but he couldn't go through with it knowing how badly it would hurt his daughter.
And what was fantastic was the way the show got to satisfactorily have its cake and eat it, too. While standing outside the location of the attack, Carrie asks her good buddy Virgil if she's crazy, and he replies, "Look, you know you are." And that's both sad and hilarious at the same time, but it's the show being everything at once. Carrie is crazy and she's right. Carrie gets Dana to talk Brody out of killing a few dozen important people and escalating the war between America and the terrorists, but in a way where nobody, even Carrie, can realize what she did. (Though Carrie does start putting the pieces together in the finale's closing moments, and will no doubt be back on Brody's trail as we get into season 2.) The way events unfolded gave the producers everything they could have wanted going into a second year - both of their lead characters alive, the cat-and-mouse game extended, the world in the dark as to what's going on - without feeling like a cheat.
Much of that is a credit, as so much of the show's greatness has been, to the two leads. Last week's episode, with Carrie's manic outburst, will likely be Danes' Emmy submission episode (), and the finale should certainly be Lewis'. He starts off doing Brody's confession looking so clear-eyed and confident (and in what I think was a single take), but as the episode moves along and Brody starts experiencing various lasts (last hug of his son, an aborted last conversation with his wife, etc.), you can see the pressure getting to him, until by the time he's in that secured bunker, he's just a wreck: sweaty and shaking and confused - and, by the time Dana calls him, trembling so fiercely that he looks like he could vibrate apart at any moment. Raw, magnetic, unflinching, mesmerizing acting, that was.
Does Brody mean what he says to Abu Nazir about wanting to punish the American government by corrupting Walden rather than killing him, or is he just saying that to keep Walker from shooting him? I don't know. The fact that Nazir or someone in his employ has a copy of the video confession is one hell of a piece of leverage to use on him, and I could see a storyline in season 2 where Brody has second thoughts but can't get out because of that damn video. As with so many things about the character, we know everything about his actions and only some things about what's going on inside that damaged body and soul. Aside from that one feint at mid-season - where Brody appeared to be innocent at the end of one episode and then was revealed to be aligned with Nazir at the end of the next one - the show has played fairly straightforward with us about what Brody's up to, and I think the drama has been richer for the lack of a narrative shell game. But there's definitely some wiggle room next year for what's truly on his heart and mind.
As for Carrie, we know what's on her mind in the closing seconds - the name Issa, which she heard Brody blurt out in a nightmare, and which she realizes was the murdered son of Abu Nazir - but her mind is about to be very changed, thanks to her decision to have electro shock therapy to deal with her bipolar disorder. Where Brody eventually declines to set off the bomb strapped to his chest, Carrie winds up blowing up her entire life to stop the guy (and, again, doesn't entirely realize that she's done it). Her mental illness has been exposed, as have the various illegal and/or unethical acts she committed in her pursuit of Brody. She has no job - even if she insists to Virgl that "It'll always be my job!" - and just as she's on the verge of finally piecing together the Brody puzzle, the shocks hit her and zap her short-term memory.
Carrie will get back on the scent in season 2... somehow. She'll get her job back... somehow. (Or, failing that, she and Virgil will drive around in his van solving mysteries, which is a show I would not in any way object to watching.) Maybe Gordon, Gansa and company will have to contort themselves a little to get the pieces back into place for the new season, but after how well they brought things home in the finale, they have earned a huge benefit of the doubt second time around.
Some other thoughts:
* One plot thread left hanging, for now: who was the mole? Or was there a mole at all? As I've said, I'd be displeased if it turns out to be Saul, and the subplot with Saul investigating the drone strike would seem to point suspicion away from both him and David. If there has to be a mole, I'd almost rather it be someone we haven't met yet or don't care about. One thing that occurs to me is that Nazir knew Brody was going to be offered a chance to run for office. At one point, I wondered if Elizabeth Gaines might be working for him, and it's possible she was (and was sacrificed without realizing it), but that kind of knowledge seems like it would have come from outside the CIA offices.
* I'm not sure I noticed Chris Chalk in anything before he turned up in this show as Tom Walker, but he made a very strong impression given minimal screen time and even more minimal dialogue. Like Danes and Lewis, it's a performance defined by physicality (the stillness, precision and sense of purpose seemed perfect for a bad-### Marine sniper), and one that was striking every time he was on screen. I'll miss him, even if Walker outlived his story usefulness. And before he went away, we got some blanks filled in on Brody's memories of captivity, as we learn that Walker turned more quickly than Brody did, and participated in the faking of his own death to help break his partner.
* I also liked the moment where Walker ruffled the hair of the woman whose apartment he used as his perch and walked out with her still alive; he has no need to hide his identity, so why bother killing her?
* For that matter, I appreciated the various moral grey areas the show has gone into throughout the season, not just with Carrie's illegal surveillance of the Brody family, but the drone strike that inspired Brody's mission, Saul and David's debate about how certain attempts to fight terrorism can only create more terrorists, etc. The plot structure of "24" didn't allow for much in the way of moral ambiguity - Jack Bauer didn't have the time to debate ethics, man! - but it's good to see that some of the same writers can raise these questions within the framework of a show that seems more conducive to them.
* I liked the transition from Carrie lying awake in her bed to Brody lying awake in his; as we were reminded in those early episodes when she was just watching him on TV, they are the same in many ways.
Raider Nation
Devil's Advocate
I hope they go all Vacation movies and recast the daughter next season. So annoying.
She has perfected the "Why am I constipated?" look.
She has perfected the "Why am I constipated?" look.
Raider Nation
Devil's Advocate
Sepinwall's readers are killing him for liking the finale. Almost all of them hated it.This comment is awesome:
Chadstroma
Footballguy
Been liking the series but the finale was not good. The secret service agent did not feel anything unusual at all when he tackled Brody to get him to the ground? They push him everywhere except where the vest is? He goes through with it once but stops when he gets it working because his daughter promises him to say he is coming home? But now is back on plan enough to kill Walker?
The comments on Sepinwall annoy me. It's the kind of stupid stuff we usually see here. Kind of like Chad above. Brody didn't abort the plan because he no longer believes in the cause. He had convinced himself that his kids would eventually understand. When he heard the way his daughter repeated what Carrie had told her, he realized that she wouldn't. But he's still loyal to Nazir. That never changed, so killing Walker at Nazir's request did not go against anything else he had or hadn't done.
I imagine that Nazir was livid when he found out the bomb did not go off. He wanted revenge. He wanted the VP dead. He wanted to make an explosive display for everyone to see, as terrorists usually do. But with the plot failed, he has the option to either kill Brody or see value going forward in having someone loyal to him on Capitol Hill and close to the future president. It's not surprising he chose the latter. In real life, most terrorist plots fail. I'd guess that terrorist leaders are used to letting go of failed opportunities and moving on to the next plan.
I imagine that Nazir was livid when he found out the bomb did not go off. He wanted revenge. He wanted the VP dead. He wanted to make an explosive display for everyone to see, as terrorists usually do. But with the plot failed, he has the option to either kill Brody or see value going forward in having someone loyal to him on Capitol Hill and close to the future president. It's not surprising he chose the latter. In real life, most terrorist plots fail. I'd guess that terrorist leaders are used to letting go of failed opportunities and moving on to the next plan.
belljr
Footballguy
That was my biggest thing, he gets tackled which probably cause the malfunction, no one else in the room see him flipping this switch? He makes it a point that he doesn't let his daughter hug him before he gets in the car but trained professionals escorting him. I can't even believe Saul doesn't get someone to check it out, although they did paint how Carrie is stalkerish so her decisions could be off based.I really liked how they did the Carries arc weaved into the story, the rest was a bit meh
belljr
Footballguy
JFC how did I forget that
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comfortably numb
Footballguy
Christ you people are hard to please.
I loved these last 2 episodes.
I loved these last 2 episodes.
Chadstroma
Footballguy
I am not really and often think the FFA is full of a bunch of complainers. However, the finale was easily the weakest episode with the biggest stretches. They just tried too hard and it didn't come off well in my view.
This finale would have been much better had they not shown all the previews leading up to the final episode of the season. It was obvious that they wanted everyone to think that Brody was going to kill himself and the VP, but knowing that Showtime previews are never what they seem I knew Brody would not be able to follow through with his plan.
The final episode was still good IMO and is my favorite new show this year, just wish there were not so many previews leading up to the new episodes.
The final episode was still good IMO and is my favorite new show this year, just wish there were not so many previews leading up to the new episodes.
comfortably numb
Footballguy
I avoid the previews, and then watch them after I have watched the show.God do they give out so much with those previews.
mad sweeney
Footballguy
Other than Nazir telling him to? Only one of those two guys was walking out of the tunnel. Brody failed his mission, though it was clear that he was willing to carry it out and only dumb luck stopped him. Maybe he'll become a double agent in time, but he essentially sacrificed himself, the bomb just didn't work. Then he went back again and only a hand on his shoulder stopped him. From Walker's attitutde and tone in the tunnel, he wasn't letting Brody out of their alive after his failure.
Reg Lllama of Brixton
Footballguy
I thought the finale was pretty damn good. A couple of hiccups here and there but over all it was pretty solid.
Reg Lllama of Brixton
Footballguy
Are there any TV drama kids that you do like?AJ Soprano, Flynn White Jr, Sour#### Brody...
Reg Lllama of Brixton
Footballguy
Except they really didn't. Go back and watch the previews for the season finale. What they let you see and the way the let you see it didn't give away much in terms of what really happened.
Chaos Commish
Footballguy
It was so predictable they probably lost me for season 2. Here's a good example of speculation from the TWoP forum.
I avoided most of the previews, but they clearly gave it away.
Reg Lllama of Brixton
Footballguy
Did you read that before you watched the finale?
comfortably numb
Footballguy
I am pretty picky with previews, I just watched the finale preview.Couple things I am glad I didn't see.-Walker/Brody meeting...with conflict ensuing-Brody in the room with blood spattered VP, so I know VP didn't get killed-Brody wearing the vest getting ready to detonate (I had a thought that maybe he was buying/storing the vest for someone else of similar stature)-Brody recording his suicide video, was a very good scene, not knowing it was comingJust some small things i like to avoid
Raider Nation
Devil's Advocate
I calls em as I sees em.
Little Sally Draper is the current gold standard for young actors.
Chaos Commish
Footballguy
No. I was reading reactions after the show last night and he quoted himself and bragged about nailing it. But I found the same in my poker forums and very close to the same in one of my FFLeague discussions. The leaguemate said:
Reg Lllama of Brixton
Footballguy
Good call. Kiernan Shipka is going to be a star someday. Just as long as she stays away from Glen.I calls em as I sees em.
Reg Lllama of Brixton
Footballguy
Barry
Footballguy
I didn't really like the conclusion or lack of. maybe in order to have a season 2 they had to neuter the story.
pollardsvision
Footballguy
I was really hoping he'd do it. For a few minutes, I actually convinced myself the writers had the balls to do it (these are some of the same people that killed Teri Bauer, then wiped out half the cast 4 seasons later).
It probably wasn't really an option, but man, it would've made this season legendary. Who knows if the writers could've come up with a great new storyline to replace Brody, but I assure you, a hell of alot of people would be watching to find out.
Instead, I'll just have to settle for mastermind Brody being someone who never considered the fact his daughter might be upset about him being a terrorist suicide bomber, until the last second phone call.
I did like the episode though. I just wish they'd used the malfunction, then the room clearing before he could fix it angle as the out. Not the daughter's call.
It probably wasn't really an option, but man, it would've made this season legendary. Who knows if the writers could've come up with a great new storyline to replace Brody, but I assure you, a hell of alot of people would be watching to find out.
Instead, I'll just have to settle for mastermind Brody being someone who never considered the fact his daughter might be upset about him being a terrorist suicide bomber, until the last second phone call.
I did like the episode though. I just wish they'd used the malfunction, then the room clearing before he could fix it angle as the out. Not the daughter's call.
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