Homeland Season 3 Discussion

Snipes · Star Player Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Posts: 6040

Terrible finale to a terrible season.

Quinn is my favorite character now..QUINN!

ribeye · Franchise Player Joined: 10 Nov 2001 Posts: 12632

Krispy Kreme · Franchise Player Joined: 30 Mar 2003 Posts: 12252

KobeDunk · Retired Number Joined: 23 Sep 2004 Posts: 26849

so how do they go a season 4 without Brody??? I don't see how they could keep this going... Love the show by the way! but was very disappointed with Brody's death.

wolfpaclaker · Retired Number Joined: 29 May 2002 Posts: 58344

Free_Kobe · Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2014 5:58 pm Post subject:

Drifts · Retired Number Joined: 22 Nov 2004 Posts: 28374

AirKobe8 · Star Player Joined: 30 Jan 2005 Posts: 8586

focus · Star Player Joined: 23 May 2012 Posts: 2526

Krispy Kreme · Franchise Player Joined: 30 Mar 2003 Posts: 12252

i heard the writers for seasons 1 and 2 hardly wrote season 3. is this true?

if so, they need to get them back for season 4.
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ribeye · Franchise Player Joined: 10 Nov 2001 Posts: 12632

DaMuleRules · Posted: Tue Jan 07, 2014 10:21 am Post subject:

Finished a binge watching of Season 3 last night. It was interesting to read through this thread after the fact. It certainly wasn't as great as the two prior seasons due to the obvious plot holes, it got a bit manipulative at times etc. but it was still a compelling show and I didn't mind suspending belief.

My thoughts -

Brody had to die at that point. The story demanded it really. There was nowhere for his journey to go. He was too tortured to be able to just complete his mission, redeem himself and come back and struggle as the misunderstood hero. It was actually a fitting ending for the character. He pulled off the mission despite the fact that he was so highly doubted. He came to a certain peace with what he had done. There was no interesting tale to tell about returning to a "normal" life. That had been covered to death already and the bridges had been burned. With Carrie pregnant, him surviving and become the Dad to their baby would just have been a bit silly and convenient.

The Dana stuff was a bit much for sure, and too much all at once. But the show is called "Homeland" for a reason - it's as much about the collateral damage of living a life of espionage and returning from the horrors of war as it is about the actual operations themselves. The show wouldn't be as good as it is without seeing the fallout in the personal lives. I can see how it would have been frustrating on a week to week basis, but watching in a "marathon" fashion, it wasn't intolerable.

Saul's rise and fall of his final days was much more interesting than seeing him take over and carry on successfully. He's not going anywhere, I expect to see him return to the fold in some fashion.

As much as people are saying that the show was about Brody and Carrie, I don't see it that way. The show was really about Carrie as the primary character in a story about the intricacies of working in that world of terrorist driven espionage. Brody was just the primary story vehicle for doing so - a way of showing the perspective of the hunted as well as the hunter.

Gordon and Gansa have certainly put themselves in a tough spot as far as making season 4 as compelling as the prior 3, but I have faith that they can navigate that. With the Javadi character entrenched, there's material there when it comes to exploring the intricacies of handling and being handled buy that kind of asset. It puts the storyline in Iran now, rather than the aftermath of the Iraq war. That's a much more timely story with what is going on in the world.

All in all I thought it was great, flaws and all. Though I'm glad I watched it over a matter lot days rather than over weeks. It definitely made it more interesting. I suspect I would have become frustrated in a drawn out viewing.

loslakersss · Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2014 12:26 pm Post subject:

Anyone been watching the new season? It's back to being really good again. I wasn't expecting too much without Brody but giving Quinn a bigger role is exactly what they needed to do to fill the void.

numero-ocho · Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2014 2:04 pm Post subject:

^Yeah. It's been good. So glad they killed off Brody. I know Carrie is supposed to be a flawed character, but her googly-eyed obsession with him was ruining the show for me. Also glad the baby is out of the story for now too. The first few episodes this season have taken the show back to its roots.
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Omar Little · Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2014 2:16 pm Post subject:

I like the reboot. Show has a much leaner feel (Quinn's (bleep) buddy notwithstanding

), and that is good. Much more sustainable IMO, since they can move from one threat to another season by season.
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ribeye · Franchise Player Joined: 10 Nov 2001 Posts: 12632

I've only watched the first three episodes. A bad season of Homeland is still better than just about anything else on the tube, and it's not too bad, but it still has some rough edges.

Carrie is now more flawed than ever--way more. So far, without Brody, and the other subplots of affection or romance or friendship from before, there is no humanity to it, which isn't a reach considering the subject matter, but it is so dark and bleak. Notwithstanding Carrie and Saul, which, even here, is far less than, say Mulder and Scully buddies, all the relationships are so stressed or damaged. There is not only not a single healthy soul, but not a single happy soul, in the mix--OK the world is a tough place but it is the humanity that so many bring to it that helps to make it tolerable.

It was paced well and the one scene, in and around the car, was just about Breaking Bad intense. On the other hand, the manipulation by Carrie to get her way was not totally convincing. But it looks to be another entertaining season altogether.

I've avoided specifics for those who have not watched any of season four. But beware, spoiler alert.

We know Obama considers this to be a favorite show. So, when we see a drone strike land in a wedding, first, I wonder what he must think and I wonder if they want him to wonder. Are they asking, just how many of these mistakes have occurred, and how many innocents have died and how many families wept as a result? I have enjoyed how the show does not take sides, but tries to show the horror of this war against violent jihadists and how it affects all, especially those just living their lives one moment and not the next.
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loslakersss · Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2014 11:28 pm Post subject:

What an episode! Claire Danes was ridiculous good. I am in awe.

dmorans1 · Franchise Player Joined: 11 Sep 2012 Posts: 11669

It was an amazing episode. Seeing Brody again was awesome. I genuinely thought he was back for good for a second.

loslakersss · Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2014 12:08 am Post subject:

Same here, I think the writers wanted the audience to really feel the confusion and emotions that Carrie was feeling and it worked. I was so hopeful that Brody might be alive but it would have just been too far fetched IMO.

magickobe24 · Starting Rotation Joined: 24 Jul 2014 Posts: 217

Omar Little · Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2014 9:05 am Post subject:

If Brody had been back for real, they would have lost all the momentum they had recreated. Great fake though.
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numero-ocho · Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2014 10:59 am Post subject:

Drifts · Retired Number Joined: 22 Nov 2004 Posts: 28374

Claire Danes is doing a Kobe for Homeland this season... it's almost like a one-person show right now.
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Splash1 · Starting Rotation Joined: 18 Aug 2011 Posts: 482

Without a question, Claire Danes is doing great playing the crazy role. Her acting isn't the problem for me. It's her character. The 3 and a half seasons worth is wearing thin on me. At what point will the CIA, for the second time, realize she's more of a liability than an asset? I think there is and could be more to the show than crazy Carrie...more than her screwing her target, her asset, and contemplating drowning babies. They might as well rename the show, "Carrie's Land."

Wilt · LG Contributor Joined: 29 Dec 2002 Posts: 13731

^

Yeah, suspension of disbelief is fine, but her character makes no sense at all anymore. She makes the entire organization look ridiculous. The CIA director shows up in Pakistan, she freaks out, and she just goes to her apartment and takes a nap. No one attempted to see what's up with her after a while? Previously, she decides to have sex with a kid for a couple days, and there's no way to contact her? She turns off her cellphone and she's suddenly unreachable? There's no way to contact a station chief in an emergency situation in a safe house? It takes some disgraced professor to discover that there's something seriously wrong with Carrie? ... The show is losing it.
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