Homeland: New show on Showtime

Hoping for an entire Dana-centric season next year...

 

Maybe it was all leading up to that scene where she was working as a motel maid?

 

If that's the case, that was a real mis-calculation on the part of the writers.

 

The only thing I can think of was that maybe Carrie decides to have her baby but asks Brody's wife to raise it. Maybe Dana will be a link there. Can't think of any other reason for them to take that plotline so far, particularly with the daughter's attempted suicide, the bizarre love affair with the teen killer, and all that other stuff.

 

Except that Dana and the ex-wife are not coming back for next season. So if anything like that happens, it will be off camera. Not much payoff...

 

Actually, the producers said they were no longer regulars. Anything can happen in TV, even if it's just a one-shot deal.

 

What is happening to this show? It's like everyone decided they don't want to play anymore and are trying to kill it so they can go home.

 

It's been picked up, so I assume another 12 episode season will happen on Showtime. What is bizarre is that the new season is being shot in Cape Town, South Africa (!!!) as opposed to the past seasons shot in North Carolina. I believe it'll start airing late this fall or early next year.

 

Well since Carrie got a new gig as a station chief overseas, I guess they decided it would be too much of a challenge to make North Carolina pass for Turkey.

 

The Showtime/Sky TV show Strikeback is filmed in South Africa. It's pretty amazing that that country can look like everything from Baghdad, to Afghanistan to Eastern Europe. It is also probably a lot cheaper to film there, especially since they already are set up for the other show.

Chad

 

I guess it's hard to keep up with the great writing of the first season. I liked season 2 but not nearly as much, now it seems season 3 is even worse. I haven't seen it yet, waiting for the DVDS.....

 

I am finally caught up with Homeland, having just finished Season 3 on DVD (which was just released on DVD this month ).

Season 4 begins very soon---October 5, 2014.

Count me in among the confused-about-the-Dana Lazaro-storyline-arc of Season 3-----it is very, very difficult to believe that this was the writers' intent from the very beginning of the season. If it was, then it was merely filler, time that could have been used to greater benefit during the rushed plot resolution in episodes 10 & 11. The only thing I can think of is that Dana is part of a very long-term arc that will resolve in Season 4. Maybe Dana will raise Carrie's baby at the Motor Lodge while Carrie is in Istanbul. Maybe the topless selfies Dana took will show up on Quinn's CIA computer.

Question: Is there any way to watch Season 4 as it happens without subscribing to Showtime? I've never had 'premium cable' in my life and never wanted it, except for Homeland now.

 

I think the writers must have had some other plot arc in mind when they wasted the first third of the season on the Dana stuff that went absolutely, positively, nowhere. This show, unfortunately, suffers from some of the same afflictions as 24 (with whom it also shares writer/producer DNA): Lack of sufficient arc-long storyboarding to avoid stories that become pointless tangents.

 

Further Homeland Questions:

(1) Who will be raising the Carrie-Brody love-child in Season 4?

Carrie while she is in Istanbul? Not likely but not impossible.

Carrie's sister? A safe bet---not a main character, can be brought back when necessary.

Carrie's father? Nope, the actor who played him, James Rebhorn, died in March, 2014.

Saul? Too busy in the private sector.

Dana Lazaro? (Like her brother Chris said, in the only line he got all season, I think her new name is pretty cool.) It's a long shot, but maybe Big Sis will watch her little sibling at the Motor Lodge for supplemental income.

Adoption? Probably the best option for the infant involved, and the easiest/simplest way for the show to move forward


(2) Saul in the "private' sector"?

What type of job in the private sector do former CIA officers/interim chiefs end up in? All we know from the '4 months later' epilogue in the Season 3 finale is that it is lucrative financially, and that Saul is already taking vacations after only a few months on the job.

Investigator? Expert Witness? Consultant? (my bet is the latter, since it is such a vague, define-it-as-you-like-type of position), and if so, who would Saul be consulting with?

 

Not legally, no.

 

Re-watching Season 3 on blu-ray. I like the season more this time around, watching it at my own (faster) pace.

I think the storyline with Brody's daughter. . . well I think the point of it was to show how Brody's actions had impact beyond the big picture of the outside world and how it fractured his family. And there's two points that his final encounter with his daughter brings: her telling him that she never wants to see him again makes it easier for him to choose the final path, so risky, that his life takes. And though he won't live to experience it, there's a balance in his losing forever one daughter, and having another daughter on the horizon he will never be able to meet.

What struck me this season was the production values, especially of location and locating filming. Just rich and textured so well, aids the story in many ways.

 

Just get Showtime. They even have a $50 rebate offer right now. Keep it for six months and then cancel it. Its not that much with the rebate.

http://www.sho.com/sho/order/50/rebate

 

Season 4 had fairly solid start, with some caviats. I'm not sure I care about Quinn's apparent PTSD storyline and Carrie's being a bit of a cold hearted so-and-so. I'd much rather see the terrific Claire Danes play a more sympathetic role...but we'll see where it goes.

Also, I have a feeling that I can predict what's gonna happen with

Spoiler

the educated, moderate orphaned boy - he'll be radicalized and end up doing a Brody from season 1! Hope it's not that transparent.

 

First ep was better than I expected (lots of action). The second hour was just Carrie being crazy. I'll be watching next week.

 

He may end up that way, but I think first he's going to be recruited as an asset.

 

Just by looking at the forthcoming season trailer, I suspect the Quinn storyline (and the orphaned nephew storyline as well) will get a lot more intriguing than we got a taste of in EP 1&2.

I somehow suspect we haven't seen the end of Dana -- maybe not a major storyline, but bringing the kid by the house kinda seemed to foreshadow some sort of involvement between Brody's kids and their half-sister.

 

Just watched the new season opener _NO SPOILERS_
thought they took the whole thing up a couple notches, plot, writing, production values- I thought the first part was better than the second, but it may have been the pace.
Glad it's back and on a good footing!

 

Worth watching for the sex scene.

 

I wonder how they managed it, since both had their pants on?

 

that entire part of the episode is beyond cliched and borderline-offensive. seriously, this is what the show does every time. it seems like high-brow writing only to be bogged down with crap like that. ok, we get it. noble skinny white guy gets interested in an overweight gal while wasted and shows how noble he is by beating the hell out of some douchebags who make fun of her in public. c'mon.

other than that, my interest is piqued again. i wasn't going to give season 4 a chance if episode 1 didn't do something right, and i think it did. i do, however, think the show jumped the shark a long time ago. thank god mandy and claire are such great actors.