by Robbie Jones
Homeland is only on the up and up, following half a season of pure mediocrity. This week’s episode was perhaps the best so far, but first, let’s talk about the strange titling of the episodes in Season Four.
Homeland is only on the up and up, following half a season of pure mediocrity. This week’s episode was perhaps the best so far, but first, let’s talk about the strange titling of the episodes in Season Four.
Some of the titles actually make sense in conjunction with the episodes, others, not so much. Like for example the episode “Shalwar Kameez”. Was there anyone named Shalwar Kameez in that episode? It wouldn’t appear so, and there are no plot descriptions that argue that. Perhaps it’s not even a name, but rather a saying. Either way, things like that should be made clearer. And this week’s episode, “Halfway to a Donut”. This is a comment made by Dennis Boyd as he brings his wife some form of cake or pastry or something. What relevance whatsoever does that have to the episode? Fair enough, you can’t exactly call it “Saul runs away from terrorists” but maybe something a bit more relevant. But this can be ignored due to how excellent this week was.
Apologies to Mandy Patinkin for comments in earlier reviews about his performances. He knocks it out of the park for the first time in a while this week, to see a side of Saul we haven’t seen before. It’s not like a darker side or anything, but it’s certainly not a way the character has been played in the past. Saul speaks in this episode of his preference to death than going back to the Taliban, and makes Carrie promise she’ll kill him with a drone strike should he be recaptured. We’ve been speculating all season that this would be Saul’s last, and it seemed to be the case for a while. However, after a nail biting scene of Saul evading the Taliban, he is recaptured, throwing expletives at Carrie who lead him that way. What a terrific scene, and a great climax, proving that Homeland has got its sense of tension back. That final scene with Carrie and Khan was alarming; for a split second, it seemed like something romantic was going to happen. He’s clearly interested in her, but making them have sex would ruin everything the show has worked up to these past few weeks. It would be a sign of them running out of ideas again, and I hate to break it to the show runners, but you can’t just have Carrie bang someone every time that happens. Thankfully, all he did was reveal that Boyd replaced Carrie’s pills.
This episode right here is the episode that has returned Homeland to its original quality, to that outstanding television show it once was. The past few weeks have been good, been a redemption for the show but this week was seriously amazing. It felt like watching the show when it was in its prime, and with four episodes left, let’s hope it remains that way for the rest of the season, possibly even for Season Five.
This episode right here is the episode that has returned Homeland to its original quality, to that outstanding television show it once was. The past few weeks have been good, been a redemption for the show but this week was seriously amazing. It felt like watching the show when it was in its prime, and with four episodes left, let’s hope it remains that way for the rest of the season, possibly even for Season Five.
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