TV Review: Homeland

Missing In Action

Spoiler Alert!

Firstly, some disclosure. I've been a fan of Homeland from the beginning, engrossed in the twists and turns of intelligence and espionage that Homeland proved so adept at in Season 1 and parts of it's sophomore followup. I'd even hoped that Brody's pace-maker quid pro quo with Abu Nazir which saw the offing of Vice President Walden was simply an aberration.

But now in Season 3, my patience is being sorely tested.  

For all the talk of Homeland starting afresh, sidelining a headline character for almost half a season (to date) - however much the storyline might dictate it - is either one hell of a bold creative move or a kamikaze mission.

I hate to say that on this season’s showing so far it’s the latter. The series’ scribes wrote themselves and war hero cum senator cum suspected terrorist-on-the-run Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis) into yet another corner in what was admittedly a doozy of an episode. It ended with our anti-hero seemingly succumbing to the drug-addled, colourful concrete ghetto of Caracas’ ‘Tower of David’.

"Homeland scribes I implore you, bring Brody back sooner rather than later..... Otherwise you might as well shuffle Brody off this fictional mortal coil and truly reboot Homeland, thereby putting him and us out of our misery."  

But that was one – count ‘em one - miserly episode out of six so far. An integral protagonist M.I.A stretches the audience’s patience too like a rubber band. If there’s no pay off in sight, it may just snap.

Nick Brody: So far, so sidelined.

The good news is that Homeland can still be taut, gripping viewing with the considerable power to induce pulse-racing, bum-on-the-edge-of-your-seat moments; last week’s episode anointing a new terrorist baddie etched in blood, Iranian intelligence high-ranker Majid Javadi  (Shaun Toub) a case in point.

The bad is that for a series built on the verisimilitude of the US War on Terror, Homeland continues to stretch credulity, even if you factor in that yes this is after all a fiction.

This season’s long-con twist tried to seduce us into believing C.I.A caretaker Saul (Mandy Patinkin) had thrown bi-polar agent Carrie (Claire Danes) under the bus - straight to the psych ward. And what are we to believe of Carrie’s apparent pregnancy? Is Brody really the baby-daddy?

Pin the tail on the Brody

And I think I speak for all fans of the show when I say enough of the melodramatic misadventures of troubled teen Dana Brody. Last week, it looked as though she was leaving for good. Please writing Gods make it so so that screen time can be allocated back to where it belongs.

With Brody still M.I.A (at least if episode seven’s promo is to be believed) Homeland scribes I implore you, bring Brody back sooner rather than later. 

Otherwise, as Lewis himself has reportedly suggested, you might as well shuffle Brody off this fictional mortal coil and truly reboot Homeland, thereby putting him and us out of our misery.