Homeland [Showtime - US] [** Spoilers **]

JohnK

jcf wrote: »

The writers pussied out ..... and whats the point of showing us at the end that
she remembered but then gets her head fried ?? surely she should have stopped it and got up ? - then an ending ... now she won't remember in S2 and it will be another 6 seasons of her chasing him ...

They had already pumped her full of the anaesthetic so shes lucky she was even lucid enough to put the pieces together, she never had any chance of just jumping up from the bed.

mailforkev

Pity it's all over, was a great season. Loved the unpredictability of it all.

I was kinda hoping that Brody in the bunker would shout out Allahu Akbar or something like that as he pulled the trigger and then not explode but still out himself.

redt0m

mailforkev wrote: »

Pity it's all over, was a great season. Loved the unpredictability of it all.

I was kinda hoping that Brody in the bunker would shout out Allahu Akbar or something like that as he pulled the trigger and then not explode but still out himself.

Yeah, this is what I was half expecting too, if they weren't goin to have the bomb go off

Still, good show

The Pontiac

Black Oil wrote: »

Hollywood bull? Was it directed by Michael Bay or sentimental twaddle from Mr. Spielberg?

Anyone who doubts Danes' acting chops should watch Temple Grandin.

I'd be interested to see how the series went down the States. I can only imagine parts of the nutty American right talking about how unAmerican it is for daring to tell its the story in the way that it has and for not conforming to the Jack Bauer model. Mind you, the same idiots will probably seize on elements of The Dark Knight Rises trailer as being socialist propaganda.

I don't doubt her acting abilities at all. I just think she was the wrong person for the role, or acted the role as the director/s instructed her. This role could have been very intriguing - a CIA officer with serious mental issues whilst trying to hide it from the organisation.

I also liked the anti-american element. It's not too often you get this in an american TV series.

The show had many positives as I pointed out in my previous post. Such a shame they had to mess it all up, and spectacularly.

The finale was pure and utter hollywood garbage.

iMax

Pretty good summing up of the finale on Remote Patrolled (great blog from a TV producer).

I like mailforkev's ending & I'm sure it was a possibility, maybe even an alternate shot ending, I also would have liked to see him succeed, but ultimately I'm satisfied with the ending we got. Life sometimes works out like that.

expectationlost

anybody know anything about the original israeli version, it always been described as focusing on the returning hostages.

don ramo

<Ollie> wrote: »

The finale was pure and utter hollywood garbage.

what, how is that hollywood, the bad guy got away with it, he might have had a moral dilema but brody is still the bad guy (as is abu), and he did push the button bar the switch breaking,

and it pushed carrie (the good girl) so far over the edge she had to get her brain fried, i have no doubth the writers seriously played around with brody detonating, but then theyd just have a 24 thing going generating new bad guys over and over, when they have a great bad guy that fans love, and im delighted damien lewis is gonna be back,

great show roll on season 2:):):)

DeepBlue

don ramo wrote: »

what, how is that hollywood

It's Hollywood in the sense that you could almost see the cogs working in the mind of the writers where they tried to figure out "how can we write this so that it leads to a second series?".

don ramo

DeepBlue wrote: »

It's Hollywood in the sense that you could almost see the cogs working in the mind of the writers where they tried to figure out "how can we write this so that it leads to a second series?".

do whatever you like, with ratings like that for season 1 they could have just had carrie sitting at home watching the news for 84 mins, just to see if anything did happen, if he blew himself up they would have just cast a new bad guy like everyone esle does, and being honest if i had damien lewis in my show id wanna keep him too:D

McSpud

Just finished this first series & really enjoyed it. It seemed fairly obvious he wouldn't detonate as they'd have lost a major character in Winters. Damian Lewis was perfect choice for the good/ban guy. Claire Danes was especially good in the last two episodes.

I loved the last few moments with Carrie on the hospital bed as she remembers an obscure name. I am sure they'll spend the entire second series dangling the chance she'll remember at any moment.

expectationlost

of course the original israeli show was just one season

sink

The VP might not have been blown away but I certainly was.

I had been saving this for when I was off work and I just finished watching the entire season over 2 days. Literally my heart was pounding during the finale, this is up there with the best. I was left guessing the entire time with a highly original story and characters that were well constructed and played to perfection. It could have so easily been a mediocre clichéd terrorism plot I almost expected to be let down. I always knew no matter what Damian Lewis would carry it but I was not expecting Claire Danes to be that good. She deserves an emmy, they both do.

This year has already been a fantastic year for TV with Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad and Boardwalk Empire all excellent. I was not expecting to add another to that list but this show is right up there. Highly recommended!

The Black Oil

Hollywood rubbish would be the first season of the remake of The Killing.

If this is correct, Homeland will be on More4 in February.

adox

Watched this in two sittings over the last couple of days and really enjoyed it overall. I thought the ending was a bit weak but understandable given that there was a second season coming.

I didn't buy the storyline of the first pow still being alive and both of them having been turned. Also not blowing himself up at the second attempt because his daughter asked him to promise to come home seemed an incredibly weak plot line.

Having said that, I suspended belief and went with it and found the show excellent overall.

Scruff

Finished watching this a short while ago and really enjoyed it. Deliberately didnt read anything about it anywhere so didnt know if there was going to be a season 2, although i suspected it. Really was on the edge of the seat when he was flipping the switch, didnt think he'd actually do it! i thought the daughter would have rang him before he had to. nice twist that.

I actually was really hoping it was a 1 season show and was going to go out with a bang (eh!ehh!!!) and a really fook u audience, bad sh1t happens attitude but most series arent like a Game of Thrones where anyone can lose their head.

That said i'm looking forward to season 2. Season 1 was the perfect length, they didnt drag the arse out of it with 20 episodes.

Morlar

Scruff wrote: »

Finished watching this a short while ago and really enjoyed it. Deliberately didnt read anything about it anywhere so didnt know if there was going to be a season 2, although i suspected it.

Same here, took efforts to avoid the publicity & spoilers & managed to watch the whole thing without knowing anything in advance.

Definitely recommend this series to anyone.

The acting throughout was fantastic, Claire Danes in particular towards the end of the series. I liked the lengths they went to with the characters, not the usual one dimensional drivel. They handled the subject matter respectfully imo, good to see a series that doesn't pander to the lowest denominator and patronise the audience to the usual extent. Hope S2 lives up to the same standard.

stevenmu

adox wrote: »

I didn't buy the storyline of the first pow still being alive and both of them having been turned. Also not blowing himself up at the second attempt because his daughter asked him to promise to come home seemed an incredibly weak plot line.

I thought that

two of them being turned was a little much alright, but I liked that he didn't blow himself up because of the daughter. It made him much more 3 dimensional than just the standard bad guy doing bad things because he's evil. Through the build up we got to see that he wasn't just evil or a nutcase, he loved his country but hated some of things it's leaders had done. He was deeply conflicted about what he was doing, and about the hurt it would cause his family. I found that much more believable and enjoyable.

ballyrhy86

I just finished this series last night, great show.

As others have mentioned, I thought the idea of the two snipers being captured and both being turned was a bit of a stretch. Even the idea of the sniper team getting captured is a bit odd, given that the whole point of snipers is that they don't have to get close to the enemy. It must have been fairly unusual circumstances for them to get captured.

I think it might turn out that Walker had been turned before they were ever captured. Maybe Walker was a member of Nazir's cell well before the event. Nazir asks Walker to bring him a guy they can turn, who be an ideal candidate for political office. They think that a JFK type war hero would be a great propaganda tool if they can get him to turn against his own country. Walker then delivers Brody by virtue of them both getting "captured" and they set to work in trying to turn him.

ixoy

I too finished this last night - the show worked well watching nearly one episode a night.

It reminded me a little of "Sleeper Cell" in tone, more so than "24". All shows stretch credibility too. Like the rest of ye, I find it a bit difficult to believe they could turn highly-trained marines. Not sure why Walker was turned for example, given there was reason for Brody to switch.
The finale was tense, especially when Brody hit the switch for the first time. It would've been something to see him go off but nope, they had to think of the second season and back off. Shame it was by virtue of a last-second phone call.

Good acting for the most part and I liked Claire Danes in this. Yes she was manic and OTT but her character is meant to be intense. She was surpassed though by Mandy Patinkin (the way he reacted when he saw her unstable was excellent) and, of course, Damian Lewis who was great in the lead role.

How Season 2 will operate will be interesting. They'll obviously be doing the Senator angle but will they introduce a new investigative angle? Please don't do the amnesia element though - it's too obvious and too open to have her remembering in the last episode for a hasty finale.

jcsoulinger

I taught the series was good but not brilliant.

It should have ended with brody not going through with the bomb and returning home it was the climax of the whole series and the extra bit with him killing his partner was just over kill.

Carries electro shock story was good and very unexpected even though i found it very difficult to watch, I think there is a glaring mistake here tho, when sol tells carrie about the covered up drone strike that kills the kid he does not mention the kids name so how can carrie make the connection, please tell me if I missed something here?.

don ramo

jcsoulinger wrote: »

I taught the series was good but not brilliant.

It should have ended with brody not going through with the bomb and returning home it was the climax of the whole series and the extra bit with him killing his partner was just over kill.

Carries electro shock story was good and very unexpected even though i found it very difficult to watch, I think there is a glaring mistake here tho, when sol tells carrie about the covered up drone strike that kills the kid he does not mention the kids name so how can carrie make the connection, please tell me if I missed something here?.

cause she studied nazir for years, and knows the names of all his sons, and then she remembered brody saying his name when he was a asleep,

yeah but brodys partner was a loose end, the whole country will be looking for him, and now hes served his purpose, so nazir got brody to kill him to prove he was loyal,

jcsoulinger

don ramo wrote: »

cause she studied nazir for years, and knows the names of all his sons, and then she remembered brody saying his name when he was a asleep,

yeah but brodys partner was a loose end, the whole country will be looking for him, and now hes served his purpose, so nazir got brody to kill him to prove he was loyal,

Then she should have made the connection when brody first said his name.

Im not questioning why he killed his partner I just think it cheapened an other wise very good finale. It would not have been a loose end cos there is a second series coming.

don ramo

jcsoulinger wrote: »

Then she should have made the connection when brody first said his name.

Im not questioning why he killed his partner I just think it cheapened an other wise very good finale. It would not have been a loose end cos there is a second series coming.

yeah but she didnt connect the dots till she was just getting shocked, he could have been on about anyone, but when she relaised the drone attack killed a load of kids it finally clicked,

maybe killing his partner did cheapen it, personally i didnt think so, nazir wanted to remind brody whos calling the shots aswell, while making sure he still had some level of control over him also, and do you want them spending another 6 eps next season chasing his partner,

the thing i like about the show is that even though brody did push the button i still think deep down hes good, and is just caught in situation that has no way out,

ixoy

jcsoulinger wrote: »

Then she should have made the connection when brody first said his name.

I thought this too initially but then thought about the context of Brody mentioning the name - he was basically muttering in his sleep, she was waking up and she filtered it as you would at that time. It lodged in her brain though and it took a literal jolt to shake it loose.

Hyzepher

Sol does tell her the name of the child

jcsoulinger

ixoy wrote: »

I thought this too initially but then thought about the context of Brody mentioning the name - he was basically muttering in his sleep, she was waking up and she filtered it as you would at that time. It lodged in her brain though and it took a literal jolt to shake it loose.

But she later questions him on the porch and asks him directly about the dream and mentions the kids name.

jcsoulinger

Hyzepher wrote: »

Sol does tell her the name of the child

Not in the version of the show ive seen.

JohnK

jcsoulinger wrote: »

Not in the version of the show ive seen.

Yeah, Sol just says it was the youngest son who was killed but he doesnt actually name him although the way he says it gives the impression that she would know the name just by hearing it was the 10 year old.

Hyzepher

i remember it as Saul says it's the youngest son and she says the name - just before she says "how could I have missed that" in the hospital bed.

I need to go back and listen again.

cyrusdvirus

Not related to Homeland, but kinda backing up your point there Hyzepher. I recorded Suits last week (the pilot) seemed good enough so i figured i'd (ahem) 'obtain' a copy of it to show the g/f and see if she'd be interested in it. The copy that i 'obtained' and the version that i saw on screen were different in that there was quite a few, albeit minor, scenes cut from the 'obtained' version as opposed to the broadcast version from Dave.