FALL TV EXTRAVAGANZA

 

HOMELAND

***1/2 (out of ****)

 

Ladies and gentlemen, I think we have a winner. We’re only halfway through this two month barrage of brand new, televised garbage, but based on the first month, I’d be surprised if it got better than this. Claire Danes stars as CIA agent Carrie Anderson who, ten months ago, was told by a prisoner in Iraq that a terrorist sect has captured an American soldier and successfully turned him to the dark side. Fast forward to today, when Sgt. Nicholas Brody has been found by a Seal team and has been sent home. Carrie gets it in her crazy head (more on that later) that this soldier, that America is ready to welcome home as a hero, is the very same turncoat that she was told about almost a year ago. This sets up our story, as we bounce back and forth between the lives of Carrie and Nicholas. Carrie lives alone and is a workaholic for a job where she is still in trouble  for the events that occurred ten months ago, her superiors still uneasy about her temperament and rash decisions. We also find out that she hides pills in her aspirin bottle. Due to personal experience, I just assumed it was Viagara, but it turns out is an anti-psychotic pill she has been taking since she was 22. MEANWHILE, Sgt. Brody has arrived on American soil, and is flown directly to a ceremony, where he re-meets his family, and meets, for the first time, the Vice President of the United States. He is then taken home, and begins to adjust to his normal life. Except for one scene where Carrie, at a briefing with some CIA muckety-mucks and Brody, makes her intentions known by asking Brody a couple of tough questions he doesn’t really have answers for, the two spend the entire episode apart, and it seems like this will be the norm for the series, as I can’t imagine them eventually teaming up and fighting pollution in the streets of D.C. Claire Danes is as good as she usually is, knowing when to cry a little, and when to cry a lot, seemingly breaking down right in front of us. Even without the crazy she is crazy, as she is willing to do anything for her job, even if that means sleeping with her mentor who is twice her age. But the added actual craziness is a pretty interesting addition that has a ton of potential, including the always interesting unreliable narrator. Damian Lewis, who plays Brody, has the toughest job here, not only because his role is quiet and not flashy, but because he strikes a perfect balance that never convinces you one way or the other if he is a terrorist or not. Early in the episode, Carrie, when trying to pitch her suspicions to her mentor, tries to rationalize this whole POW hero being a turncoat by telling him that the terrorist are playing a long con so no one suspects anything. So is Shotime, and I, for the first time this fall season, am along for the ride.

 

-Ryan Haley