Homeland--the TV show--the Demise

Watching this season of "Homeland" was like seeing a new girlfriend unravel before your eyes. What had once seemed so promising, exciting and wonderful fell apart, bit by bit until you find yourself just wanting out.

The best character in the series, Brody, conflicted, vacillating, fascinating as a chameleon, is offed.

Episode after episode of the daughter, quivering lipped Dana, is inflicted upon you, while Brody is nowhere to be seen. With him off the screen, the action creaks to a halt.
Even Carrie, who has been fun to watch, dissolves into a helpless object who has to be rescued.

And the great surprise, which is nothing more than  reprise of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, in which it turns out the disaffected spy (Carrie) who has apparently rejected her old friends at the CIA, was actually playing at disaffection to get close to the head of the Iranian spy agency--that surprise is launched mostly off stage with not enough hints at what was going on to make the game between viewer and writer a fair game.

But the whole premise, that installing a new CIA run mole as the head of the Iranian spy agency would result in the Iranian government agreeing to giving up its nuclear arms project and agreeing to international inspections is absurd:  Since when does a spy agency decide on a major policy shift like abandoning a nuclear weapons program? 

The writers of Homeland were so in thrall with The Spy Who Came in from the Cold they had to kill off Brody at the end, just as Le Carre killed off his protagonist in the end, they kill off Brody. (At least they didn't have Carrie captured and killed as well.)

Any Le Carre aficionado can see in Saul's pursuit of the Iranian, Smiley's pursuit of Karla. There is even the adulterous wife of Smiley reflected in Saul's wife, who pursue outside business with someone who turns out to be an Isralei spy, who could have planted the bug in Saul's computer during any of his trysts with the wife, but somehow has to sneak back in when she's not home and narrowly avoid been discovered--dramatic tension trumps tight plotting every time in this series. 

And then there is the Tale of Two Cities aspect of Brody going off willingly to his execution doing a far, far better thing than he has ever done before. Plueeeze,

And what was that pathetic scene with Carrie climbing the fence to lock eyes with Brody as his own eyes are popping out of his head, as the rope tightens.

Why did Carrie want to be present for Brody's hanging? Who would want to witness her true love swinging from the end of a rope?This makes no sense, emotionally, rationally--just another instance of the writers saying, "How can we ratchet up the conflict and intensity here--even if it makes no sense whatsoever. I know, we can have Carrie run naked into the crowd, a streaker to distract the hangmen, but no, they hang him any way.


At least the hanging scenes in "The Killing" and In Cold Blood served understandable purposes--in the case of "The Killing", the brutality directed at an innocent man, and In Cold Blood, the lack of expiation from seeing the killers, who were clearly guilty of a brutal murder, hanged. 

At least "The Killing" has been renewed by Netflix, so we do not have to lose Sarah and Holder, the best pair since Nick and Nora. Of course, how they are going to extract Sarah from the murder of her boss/serial murderer/lover/detective honcho is anyone's guess. Perhaps they can call the "Homeland writers" for a few tips on implausible but really intense solutions to this problem.  I know, a drone nukes the scene of Sarah's murderous attack, destroying all evidence. But ultimately, Sarah has to explain what happened to her missing boss and the Seattle police decide Holder must have killed her boss in a jealous rage;  they drag off Holder to hang him for the murder and Sarah must watch the execution. 

All in all, it was just one of those doomed affairs. That fetching beauty who was "Homeland"  was never really what you thought she was. She was pretty, and caught your eye, but as time went on, you found she just could not sustain it. She just wasn't bright enough. All flash, no bang.