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[inm8num2]

When you look at the trajectory of the show it becomes clear that the spy thriller aspects were more of a setup for the heart of the show - the personal arcs of Carrie and Brody.

I'm more interested in the latter, but I agree that things need to move forward with Carrie soon. I can only imagine her health getting worse, though.

 

[GusBus]

I feel fucking awful for Carrie. Fuck Saul.

Also, I couldn't help think that the line, "You're not a Muslim. You're a terrorist." was the writers' way of trying to offset criticisms about the show's Islamophobia.

You know it amigo. A little cringe worthy, imo.

But I have to say, it would be a lot of fun if they were secretly connected to Abu Nazir or something. They whisk Brody back to the Middle East, where he's then reminded of his devotion to Isa and Islam. Slowly, he prepares another terrorist attack. He sneaks back to Washington, and the show ends with him blowing himself up at the White House.

 

[Arcteryx]

Holy shit everytime he was on the screen I was glued. And god damn at that daughter chick, she is unbelievably attractive. Loving these two new characters.

Look her up on Google(Martina Garcia

Spoiler

NSFW

).

Aside from the creepy doctor and Esme, that was a really shitty episode.

 

[Sean]

the last thing they need to do is pick up the pace. picking up the pace gave us season 2. do you want season 2 again? DO YOU?

Even though season 2 went completely off the rails, the first half was an exciting ride. Saul finding Brody's confession video in the premiere was nuts - something you'd expect to happen near the finale, not the first episode. I'd almost rather have the writers take huge ballsy risks like that instead of playing it safe like they are currently.

These first three episodes have been well written and acted but nothing's really happening.

 

[Dysun]

Look her up on Google(Martina Garcia

Spoiler

NSFW

).

Aside from the creepy doctor and Esme, that was a really shitty episode.

Copy/Paste in Google

 

[Ekdrm2d1]

Here's the Venezuelan lady

https://twitter.com/xmartinagarciax

 

[V_Arnold]

Copy/Paste in Google

Yep. This is a day to be celebrated even years later.

 

[DerZuhälter]

In the next episode of Homeland:

 

[Ekdrm2d1]

In the next episode of Homeland:

Yeah, I kept waiting for him to kick ass. He almost did, he grabbed the doctor's (or child) hand

 

[muddream]

I'm quitting this season if the show doesn't pick up, not going for another 8 season Dexter ride. Hard to choose the most cringeworthy moment...Crazy Carrie still managing to get people who should know better to do her favors, the hot daughter looking like she's doing a glamour shoot in the slums or the predictable "you're not a Muslim, you're a terrorist" line.

 

[V_Arnold]

Carrie's emotions are so sad. I just hate seeing her saying stuff like "I am okay, I am calm" and then seeing how obviously she is on a verge of a nervous breakdown. It is incredible.

It is also great acting, no matter how tired the situation must be. It is designed that way.

 

[Saty]

This has to be some favor. And how does he even know Carrie wants Brody alive and well? I doubt Carrie contacted him after his escape and i don't see why he would think it was Carrie who was involved with Brody going from Saul's testimony. There better be something else.

Call the police to come arrest the world's most wanted man - send only two cops.

 

[LNBL]

His Arabic has improved since last season

 

[antonz]

This has to be some favor. And how does he even know Carrie wants Brody alive and well? I doubt Carrie contacted him after his escape and i don't see why he would think it was Carrie who was involved with Brody going from Saul's testimony. There better be something else.

Call the police to come arrest the world's most wanted man - send only two cops.

It was heavily implied that Carrie had set in motion a plan to keep Brody on the move. Jumping from place to place. We know she used her cia contacts to initiate this all the way back at Canada where they were to meet someone who would get brody on the move
With Carrie now being cut off and the last jump nearly getting Brody killed this contact is basically holding brody hostage as carrie "doesn't care" etc while she is just cut off

 

[BertramCooper]

Is it bad that I'm gleefully cheering on the self-destruction of these two characters?

I pretty much loathe both of them by this point.

 

[Darko]

I wish this show as less Carrie being crazy and more 24. :/ I guess I should have given up on that a long time ago.

god no.

 

[a secret-boss]

Dana less episode. A step up than previous episode.

I think that doctor is from the movie Hackers.

Is it bad that I'm gleefully cheering on the self-destruction of these two characters?

I pretty much loathe both of them by this point.

Nope. When carrie banging her head onto the mirror. I was saying time to reboot that noggin' computer

 

[inm8num2]

I fully demand a multi-episode story arc focusing on the Brody family's drama to compensate for the lack of it during this past episode.

Just kidding.

 

[Angry Fork]

I liked this episode a lot, much better than the previous 2. I really hope Brody doesn't stay there too long though. I hate the drugs angle as it's going to be an annoying dramatic crutch down the road but oh well. I'm assuming the people holding him are doing so at the request of some terrorist leader, I hope we get some kind of answer to that soon though so this isn't stretched out.

I want Carrie to get revenge/vindication somehow, so bad. I hope they're setting this up for that later. Saul needs to get got, as Stringer Bell would say.

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

In the next episode of Homeland:

Heh. Heh heh.

 

[Lumpy Onion]

That was a really enjoyable episode overall. Great tension and atmosphere. That one guy's daughter though....stunningly beautiful. So far the season has been delivering for me.

 

[dyergram]

Fantastic episode should of been episode 1 IMO. That creepy james earl jones esq peodofile doctor was fantastic. Homeland was on its last chance with me but I'm semi on board again now.

 

[trinest]

See the problem with Homeland is I'm like "oh god this sucks" then they go around and pull this crap and go a good episode. Its not like it was amazing TV, but compaired to what other episodes have been like and its general atomospheric ideas, it was an amazing episode for the season if not series.

 

[Cornballer]

Damian Lewis To Narrate Bonus ‘Homeland’ Story on Audible

This is up now here It's free.

EW with a few more details:

The most recent episode of Showtime’s Emmy-winning drama has hungry Homeland fans jonesing for answers: How did a fugitive Nicholas Brody end up in Caracas, Venezuela? Who shot him, and why? Also, what’s with the shaved head?

The good news: Homeland‘s writers can, in fact, explain themselves. The bad news: You’ll have to download a 29-minute interstitial audio book called Homeland: Phantom Pain to hear them do so. (The good news, again: The book is free! And it’s narrated by Damian Lewis!)

Why go this route to reveal what happened to Brody in between seasons 2 and 3? Don’t ask; just be thankful that Phantom Pain exists in the first place. Because if series creator Alex Gansa had his way, Brody’s backstory would have stayed obscured.

“Our feeling was that it’s a fairly straight narrative line between Brody being dropped off [at the Canadian border] and how he got to Venezuela,” Gansa told the New York Post. “He’s been on Carrie’s underground railroad…and ran into some difficulty at a border crossing. Maybe people feel differently, but our goal was to reveal Brody in an interesting way, rather than showing him being shot…That was the most impactful and narrative way [to show Brody] after not seeing him in the first couple of episodes.”

“One of the men [guarding Brody] does allude to ‘those Colombians’ and the fact that Brody didn’t have a pleasant border crossing,” Ganza continued. “I don’t know if it had to be explicated beyond that.”

In other words: On Homeland itself, what you’ve seen so far is all you’ll get in terms of Brody’s journey. The audio book, written by Glenn Gers, fills in the gaps, explaining how Brody is “guided off the grid by a former CIA analyst and a battle-scarred French mercenary” after escaping into Canada in last year’s season finale. Naturally, there’s also an element of tortured romance: as Phantom Pain‘s official description notes, ”Wherever he goes and whoever he meets, he cannot stop thinking about Carrie.”

The story seems to have placated thirsty Homelanders so far — currently, Audible users rate it 4.7 out of 5 stars.

 

[kottila]

One of the most boring episodes of tv i've seen. I'd rather watch the Dana-show than this. Brody needs to be dead and Carrie must take her meds or stay locked up and out of the show. The absolute low point was the government sending only two - 2 - TWO people to arrest the worlds most dangerous terrorist!

 

[Plasmid]

Boring episode but loved the back and forth showing they're both in different prisons. Looking forward to Brody escaping.

 

[TrumanBurbank]

The hot chick telling Brody "Take me with you".... what idiots these writers are.

 

[AuthenticM]

The hot chick telling Brody "Take me with you".... what idiots these writers are.

Why ? We have yet to know what her motivations were. Maybe she has the shittiest life.

 

[Cornballer]

- Buzzfeed: The Crazy, Real-Life Building Where Brody Is On "Homeland"

 

[Salvadora]

Fantastic episode should of been episode 1 IMO. That creepy james earl jones esq peodofile doctor was fantastic. Homeland was on its last chance with me but I'm semi on board again now.

Yeah I really enjoyed it too.

Both the creepy doctor and hot daughter are welcome additions and I really liked the atmosphere in the 'tower of david', but as usual Carrie stuff was pretty uninteresting/tiresome.

 

[AngmarsKing701]

I liked the episode. As much as I'd rather Brody died in the S1 finale, what they are doing with him here is at least interesting, and the characters surrounding him are so far pretty good. The Carrie stuff is a bit tedious actually, almost as though they don't know what to do with her so they show scenes of her being nutso in the hospital. I liked it better when she was on the edge, in S1, and reacting based on instinct, even if that went against orders. Now she's just batty.

The complete lack of Brody's family on screen made it the best episode in a very long time.

 

[AuthenticM]

Why are you guys calling the doctor a pedophile ? He didn't come off as such for me. Was it something he did or said ?

 

[Schrade]

Why are you guys calling the doctor a pedophile ? He didn't come off as such for me. Was it something he did or said ?

When he was talking about why he was in that place he was creepily stroking the child's hand while he said something like his preferences or something don't fit in elsewhere.

Basically he's a pedo.

 

[foxtrot3d]

So how long do you think we'll have to deal with Brody being a heroin addict?

 

[AuthenticM]

When he was talking about why he was in that place he was creepily stroking the child's hand while he said something like his preferences or something don't fit in elsewhere.

Basically he's a pedo.

oh shit. Didn't catch that.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Anyone listen to that audio book? Was it any good?

 

[Cornballer]

Anyone listen to that audio book? Was it any good?

Warming Glow put together a plot summary if you want the CliffsNotes version. Apparently it's not great:

It’s written with a heavy hand, and it’s ponderous and dull, and I know that 99 percent of you will never listen to it, so I did it for you.

 

[3N16MA]

The woman taking care of Brody must really hate her life if she just wanted to leave with him like that.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

I liked the first two eps (minus Dana) and felt like the show had returned to form somewhat. But this episode was very meh. I pretty much could do without Brody at this point. Danes continues to be great, but there wasn't enough going on for a whole episode to hang off of.

I wonder when Brody's captors start forcing him to make meth. Then Carrie busts out and goes and wrecks them all.

 

[phazedplasma]

Why is the short story called Phantom Pain, no one asks? Because after Philipe describes the phantom pain that he often feels where his arm used to be, Nicholas uses that as a heavy-handed metaphor to describe his relationship with Carrie.

Oh god...why

 

[Cornballer]

Oh god...why

It sounds so hilariously bad that I kind of want to listen now.

“Now I’m a pawn. A puppet. A twisted soul broken by war. I didn’t recognize that man. I wanted to scream at all those talking heads. MY CHILDREN ARE WATCHING THIS.” But, as he explains, “Everything I’ve done, I did for love.”

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Warming Glow put together a plot summary if you want the CliffsNotes version.

“Now I’m a pawn. A puppet. A twisted soul broken by war. I didn’t recognize that man. I wanted to scream at all those talking heads. MY CHILDREN ARE WATCHING THIS.” But, as he explains, “Everything I’ve done, I did for love.”

Gross.

 

[a secret-boss]

this season might finally decide for me if it had "Showtime-ed"
not gonna suffer through it like Dexter

 

[Cornballer]

Must be "Defense Force Thursday" or something:

- Alyssa Rosenberg: In Defense of ‘Homeland’s Pedophile Dr. Graham And Portraying Unpleasant Characters
- The New Yorker: Leave Dana Alone: A Defense of Dana Brody on 'Homeland'

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Must be "Defense Force Thursday" or something

HBO just announced the return date for 'Girls', so I guess this is just their way of warming up before the main event.

 

[dead souls]

HBO just announced the return date for 'Girls', so I guess this is just their way of warming up before the main event.

Lol. I'm looking so forward to hate-watching the shit out of Girls season 3.

 

[sangreal]

Must be "Defense Force Thursday" or something:

- Alyssa Rosenberg: In Defense of ‘Homeland’s Pedophile Dr. Graham And Portraying Unpleasant Characters
- The New Yorker: Leave Dana Alone: A Defense of Dana Brody on 'Homeland'

even that picture of dana annoys me

I happen to love all of Dana’s qualities that rankle other people: her long, straggly hair; her contorted facial expressions and whiny indignation toward her parents; the fact that she wore the same pair of clunky, long-tongued boots throughout the entire second season. Dana, played by the eighteen year-old actress Morgan Saylor, is sullen, annoying, messy, and self-righteous in a way that feels endearingly true to teen-age experience. (Her authenticity is somehow augmented by mere proximity to Claire Danes, the leading angsty high-schooler of an older generation.) Her puppy-love courtship with Finn was unusually natural and convincing—especially a scene in the observation deck of the Washington Monument, shot with Dana and Finn’s backs to the camera, their faces reflected in the window looking down on the city. (Dana even did the right thing and told Finn that she had to break it off with Xander before they could get involved!) Her more recent relationship, with Leo, a boy she met in rehab, is a frank and unencumbered portrayal of teen sexuality, with zero hand-wringing over Dana’s virginity, or the taking thereof.

even if you think it is a wonderful portrayal of the life of an angsty teenage girl -- why would you want that in Homeland?

 

[Sun Drugs]

Over how long of a time span did this episode take place? What really took me out of this episode is how Esme went from not understanding a word of English to being able to form coherent sentences so quickly. There was one part when Brody says "We're walking with a cane" and Esme repeats after him in completely unbroken English with only a slight accent. So terrible.

 

[V_Arnold]

even if you think it is a wonderful portrayal of the life of an angsty teenage girl -- why would you want that in Homeland?

For the simple reason that Homeland focuses on the Brody family since episode one? Their storytelling does not just ignore them with that gone, it is obviously a good potential for telling something to the viewer: what happens when a thread is cut out from your life in such a shocking, (relatively) unexpected way.

Therefore, Dana's story is integral to Homeland's story. And before you ask: yes, Carrie's psychic breakdown is part of Homeland even when she is not technically part of CIA anymore. Because it is *her* story as well.

 

[Cornballer]

HBO just announced the return date for 'Girls', so I guess this is just their way of warming up before the main event.

Yeah, gotta limber up a bit or someone might pull something.