Aired Sunday December 15, 2013
This is Part 3 of 3, picking up loose strands that didn't fit into there others. Part 1 discusses the Season Finale and the road there. Part 2 looks at the season as a whole and what can happen with Season Four.
- This season sure had its share of moments of characters reflecting upon their reflection in the mirror. Brody does it once more at the safe house
- A surprisingly easy escape to the safe house, no? All so Carrie can tell Brody about the baby.
- A show I once loved for plotting has moved away from that by leaps and bounds in order to get the characters they want together so they can have the conversations they want them to have and make the decisions they want them to make.
- Saul ending his tenure and heading to Ramstein brings to mind President Carter heading from the Reagan inauguration to Ramstein to meet the hostages. They were released a few minutes after noon on January 21, 1980 just to spite Carter
- If he had Robert Redford plan the extraction on his last day it may have gone better for Brody
- No opening or on-screen credits, unless my DVR missed them. We jumped right into the tension that Homeland does well even when it's at its worst.
- The lack of Showtime promos or other sound cutting into the credits makes a huge difference. When you watch shows like these on DVD you can sit and contemplate a few minutes at the end, like the Sopranos did. AMC and Showtime tend to jump right in and Harrison Bergeron your mind just when it's coming to grips with some heavy stuff. It's part of the reason Matthew Weiner makes his promos so incongruous...he's required to make them but hates them so much, preferring instead to simply play the music they picked out so carefully and shelled out money for. It's ketchup on a nice steak when some Masters of Sex promo blares out immediately following an assassination on Homeland.
- In the same vein as the tension that we feel when Brody is trying to cross the border or escape post-assassination, a strength of the show is holding back a clear explanation of the character's feelings, motives and plans. But when Saul laid out his plan to us for reasons unknown, it detracted a great deal from the remaining episodes. Ultimately everything went as planned with little detour. Next season, tell us "spoiler alert!"
- With that said, it speaks to the quality of the acting and direction when Brody's border crossing or his escape is as exciting as it is
- As annoying as Carrie and Brody have been, there's still an investment watching them
- That said, after all this time, I still do not really understand the connection between them
- Even in the safe house, Carrie is working Brody like she would any other asset, convincing him he did the right thing because of the atrocities committed by his victim
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