“Uh…Oh…Ah…:” Sam Lim and I discuss an inexplicably-titled Episode 2 of Homeland, Season 3

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Sam: You know what I thought this week? Did Homeland start taking a page from The Americans?

Is it just me or has this season been super charged with emotional relationships so far? As you pointed out, the storyline with Carrie being off her meds and having to be committed again is not new. Nor is Dana’s bickering with her mom.

Having said all that, it does make sense that deep rooted issues like the ones they are dealing with aren’t “fixed” overnight. It’s just the heavy emphasis on relationships that’s taking away from the thrill of Homeland as a covert operations show that’s starting to get to me.

I’m going to try something new and share my winners and losers this week:

Winner — Quinn. I sort of panned him last week for not being a cold blooded assassin. But it’s exactly his heart that’s got him in the winner’s seat. Loved his confrontation with the bank big wig and his subtle defense of Farah (sp?).

Loser — There were a few candidates here, but I’m giving it to Saul this week. In the sense of character development for Saul, you could argue he actually belongs in the winners column. I put him in the losers column this week because of the racist and condescending bit he threw at Farah (hey, I get to make up the rules for my winners and losers picks, right?).

What were your thoughts on this episode?

Jay: I’m on the same page. A few things jumped out at me in Week 2. First, isn’t it somewhat ironic how out of touch with reality Homeland feels with its increasingly strong focus on an Iranian villain? Just as American-Iranian diplomacy efforts are heating up in the real world (albeit with no tangible results yet), the show is depicting the continuation of mutual hostilities between the two nations as if nothing had changed. Obviously there was no way for the showrunners to predict the sudden shift beforehand, but it nevertheless feels anachronistic — almost as if the episode is outdated the moment it airs.

I know that you (and basically everyone else) are not a fan of Dana. I’m generally a little easier on her than most (it certainly helps that the actress who plays her — Morgan Saylor — does a phenomenal job of portraying an annoying, self-indulgent teenager), but even for me this intensive focus on the Brody family is annoying. Each episode already feels like it’s passing too quickly (oh, the perils of watching a great show), so it sucks to feel as if Dana’s subpar storyline is taking time away from the juicier stuff. (On that note, it looks like the original plan for Season 3 was to spend almost no time with the Brodys at all, but apparently that changed at some point.)

A couple things to note on that front. First, as several reviewers have pointed out, Brody’s obviously going to return in some form at some point. When that happens, it will have been useful to see how his family had adjusted to life without him, before he comes back and (presumably) ruins their tranquility — especially assuming, as everyone seems to be so far, that Brody really wasn’t involved with the CIA bombing and therefore is not quite as monstrous as his family now believes.

On that note, I can easily see Dana’s relationship with what’s-his-name falling apart at some point this season, at which point she’ll spiral out of control. I’m guessing this development will coincide in some way with the return of Brody: either the latter will precipitate the former somehow, or perhaps the end of Dana’s relationship will somehow create an emotional hole that Brody can step right back into. Either way, expect the results to be at least moderately cheesy.

Finally, I like your concept of winners and losers. Quinn is a definite winner for me, even if the actor is so much better than the crappy character development he’s been given lately. (Really, I don’t buy the notion of a hardened assassin taking a kid’s collateral death that seriously. That said, it does provide an interesting parallel between Quinn and Brody, who also found his world turned upside down after an American operation — with which he was, in some tiny way, associated — resulted in a kid’s death.)

The entire character of Farah seems like a trope straight out of TV hell. That was an atrocious start with the headscarf bullshit. Even if that were how CIA employees would react to a Muslim after the bombing, it certainly didn’t make for riveting TV.

Where do you expect the story to go from here?

Sam: Before I get to my thoughts on the next parts of the story, I have to agree emphatically with your point on Iran. It seems like the writers were trying to pull a page from David Simon’s book with The Wire…except they probably didn’t foresee any of the recent developments with the US and Iran. Of course, what’s happening in real life could change in an instant, but your point is well taken.

Nice catch on the Quinn/Brody + kid’s death parallel storyline. I hadn’t even thought about that. As for where we go next, I think your take on Dana’s relationship is spot on. The pictures she’s taking on her cell phone are going to come back to haunt her, and the guy she’s with will likely do something rash when things between them don’t work out.

I think Brody will actually get drawn back in more with the Carrie storyline. She’ll be back on her meds for the next few episodes, so she’ll continue hating Saul as he tries to piece together a plan of attack for his intelligence on Iran. At some point, she’ll likely come across some useful piece of information that Saul needs, and she’ll find some way to make him pay or work for it.

It seems that Homeland drops a bombshell out of left field every few episodes (like the CIA bombing last season). Up to this point, I can’t say that I anticipated any of them happening when they did. So, let’s get a bit creative here: what do you think is the next major shock that’s going to happen?

Jay: I’m starting to think Brody may actually remain MIA for at least another episode or two. The idea, I’m guessing, is to allow plot-lines to develop in which he has seemingly no role and then to suddenly bring him back when everything’s at its most hectic. An alternative scenario would have him return at Carrie’s lowest point and give her a reason to pull herself together so she can recover his burnt reputation.

In short, I really have no idea. I just hope we don’t spend all season watching Dana play with her hands.