Homeland

[Reed John]

I'm catching up. Still in early season 3.

I can't decide if it's a great show, or a terrible show.
*** spoilers ***

Pros:
The characters and performances are great, especially Mandy Patinkin.

The concept of a biploar agent who does her best work off her meds is intriguing. Claire Danes is perfect for the role. Better than Hallie Berry, they're original choice.

The girl who plays the teenager is so good as to distract from the fact that her subplot doesn't do anything for the main plot.

All of the who is lying/who is telling the truth stuff is great. Classic spy stuff.

It's politically neutral. Some of the Americans are really evil as are some of the middle-eastern terrorists. It seems to primarily take a "war is hell" approach while being particularly unfavorable to chicken hawks.

The way they gather intelligence usually "feels" realistic, even when it isn't.

Cons.
But then lots of the stuff that happens is absolutely preposterous.

Maybe it's just because the guy is not a good enough actor, but I just don't feel any romantic chemistry between Carrie and Brody.

The CIA used Skype to call agents in Beruit to discuss a top secret assassination attempt. Billions in high tech communications gear and they're using Skype? I understand the desire for product placement money, but c'mon.

I could go on at length about the stupidity of that pacemaker hacking thing. Ironically, I can think of a real way to do that which would actually be kinda easier.

Likewise, the massive terrorist attack at the end of season 2 makes no sense. The real CIA headquarters does not have anywhere where a car could park next to a big meeting hall. It's infinitely more secure than that for that very reason.

The Vice President seems to have no secret service protection, but his son does. WTF?

Related to the problem with how they show the CIA HQ is that the show is so obviously not filmed in DC. It's filmed in and around Charlotte, and anyone who has been to either city even briefly (I've been to both more than briefly) can see that very clearly.

Another example. Carrie supposedly lives in Adams Morgan, DC, which is close to the center of the city and has lots of ethnic restaurants, dive bars, and other hipsterana. It is the sort of place she would like since she goes to jazz clubs and probably likes mid-eastern food. But that's kind of a shitty commute, by car, to the CIA and anyway her apartment complex appears to be in the suburbs. They should say she lives in Arlington. That would make more sense.

I don't know how much CIA agents make, but I doubt it's a ton and yet I'd estimate that her condo in Adams Morgan with inside garage parking (if it existed) would cost at least $2 million. Likewise Saul's house, which appears to be in Bethesda or similar, would be near mid seven digits. It would make more sense to show that these are really smart people who have sacrificed the chance to make a lot more money in order to pursue a career in espionage.

The diner where Carrie accosts the FBI agent is The Penguin. They don't even hide it. That's a very well-known place in Charlotte that's been on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, etc.

Normally, stuff like that doesn't matter too much, but as in the case of the big attack at the end of season 2, it matters that the writers haven't tried a little harder because any viewer would find it hard to imagine that the CIA would be so easy to bomb and that undercuts the plot a a bit.

The show is supposed to be about how Washington really works, but every external shot undercuts all the verisimilitude built up in the better scenes.

The show Covert Affairs has the same problem, but in that case it's Toronto doing a poor job of looking like Washington.

[Come along, Min]

Homeland

I gave up a few into season three, the whole daughter thing did it for me, proper sucked me off

[Reed John]

Homeland

She's doing such a good job playing a real teenager with a lot of problems that I think she could be her own show. In fact, she should, since nothing she does seems to drive the main story even though they keep implying that somehow it will and there are several obvious ways that it could.

[Janik]

Homeland

Reed John wrote: Cons.
But then lots of the stuff that happens is absolutely preposterous.

Exactly this. The key problem with intelligence shows is that any agents shelf-life is basically self-limiting. Brody would have been in jail or had it made clear that his only course was a complete retreat from public life after the events of series one. Carrie similarly would have been consigned permanently to a desk job or pensioned off. It is inconceivable that either would have had further involvement with the intelligence community. But the characters were popular and the show a success, so the writers are forced to contort themselves to let both start again as if previous happenings would have had no serious and permanent consequences. Which inevitably leads to utterly farcical plots.

It should have been one highly successful series and end there. But that isn't how the money making machine works.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Homeland

The skeletal remains of the show begins it's fourth season this Friday.

[Reed John]

Homeland

It's picking up steam in series 3 with the Iranian guy and the Assassin with A Conscience and Muslim Forensic Accountant are interesting characters,

[Reed John]

Homeland

Janik wrote:

Cons.
But then lots of the stuff that happens is absolutely preposterous.

Exactly this. The key problem with intelligence shows is that any agents shelf-life is basically self-limiting. Brody would have been in jail or had it made clear that his only course was a complete retreat from public life after the events of series one. Carrie similarly would have been consigned permanently to a desk job or pensioned off. It is inconceivable that either would have had further involvement with the intelligence community. But the characters were popular and the show a success, so the writers are forced to contort themselves to let both start again as if previous happenings would have had no serious and permanent consequences. Which inevitably leads to utterly farcical plots.

It should have been one highly successful series and end there. But that isn't how the money making machine works.

I don't know. There are only so many people with the skills and contacts she has and she was right when everyone else was wrong. They might take a risk and keep her.

And since they seemed to have turned Brody to their side, they'd keep him in place at least for a while, until forcing him to quit, as the show portrayed.

I find that less preposterous than that the Iranians took the GW Parkway from Adams Morgan to Germantown. Clearly, they'd take Connecticut all the way to the Beltway. They could have googled it.

[Reed John]

Homeland

That was, without a doubt, the most ridiculous assassination of all time.

[Reed John]

Homeland

I deeply regret sticking with it that long