Skip to footer

'Homeland': Is the new season an improvement?

The last two seasons of the Showtime drama, which stars Claire Danes, Mandy Patinkin, and Rupert Friend, were disappointing. Are the new episodes better than the past years'?

|
Joe Alblas/Showtime
'Homeland' stars Claire Danes.
  • By Brian Lowry Reuters

Meet the new, improved "Homeland." After two disappointing seasons, the Showtime series' dramatic culmination of its original story has shifted the focus squarely onto Claire Danes' complex CIA operative, and simultaneously allowed the producers to shed more irritating elements (see Brody, Dana). What emerges, then, in a two-episode premiere and subsequent hour is a show that lacks the initial kick the program delivered, but plays like a smart, spare thriller – "24," without the James Bond-style super-heroics. "Homeland" might never be a truly great series again, but if it stays on this path it will be an eminently watchable one.

Admittedly, the show has a lot of recovering to do as it pivots to face a new threat. Not only is it without the character of Nicholas Brody (as played by Damian Lewis), but the death of actor James Rebhorn has deprived the producers of his talents as the father of Danes' Carrie Mathison.

Once again, though, the writers zero in on the war against terrorism in a manner that uncomfortably brushes up against real-world events. Carrie is serving as the CIA's station chief in Kabul when the season begins, having earned the nickname the Drone Queen. Still, the opener (written by Alex Gansa and directed by Lesli Linka Glatter) offers a sobering reminder that aerial, push-button videogame warfare is not without its risks, including the sort of unintended casualties that can exacerbate relations between the U.S. and the Arab world, drawing an innocent student ("Life of Pi"'s Suraj Sharma) into the web of intrigue.

At that point, the CIA might be better represented by the acronym C-YA, with higher-ups scrambling to protect themselves. And while Carrie is our ostensible hero, viewers are quickly reminded of her ruthlessness in getting the job done as well as her history of flouting authority.

Hitting the reset button has also somewhat depleted the show's supporting cast, with fellow operative/enforcer Peter Quinn (Rupert Friend) and Carrie's former mentor Saul (Mandy Patinkin) occupying different roles, and Friend's contribution expanding significantly to help fill the void. Fortunately, Danes is such a world-class talent she can carry the action through these early stages, as the ramifications of what has happened crystallize and spiral. (There is, however, one glaringly false note pertaining to Carrie's lack of maternal instincts.)

Although the rebooted "Homeland" is more serviceable than sensational – after the first year included an early endorsement from President Obama, who might be less enamored with this latest plot, given his current Middle East policies – the show does feel as if it has extricated itself about as well as could have been expected from the corner into which it had been written.

If that sounds like a tepid endorsement, there's still something to be said for a series that faces the complexities of terrorism not with super spies cloaked in red, white, and blue, but rather in nuanced and troubling shades of gray. 

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to 'Homeland': Is the new season an improvement?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/TV/2014/1003/Homeland-Is-the-new-season-an-improvement
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe