by Robbie Jones
Well ladies and gents, here we are. It’s the Season Four finale of Homeland, the show that pulled a massive U-turn and went from one of the worst shows on TV to one of the best halfway through the season. These past few weeks have been exciting, nerve-wracking and filled with possibilities. Now, it all comes to an end for another year. We will take a look back Season Four later on, but first let’s discuss the last of Homeland we’ll see until September.
Nothing happened.
Well ladies and gents, here we are. It’s the Season Four finale of Homeland, the show that pulled a massive U-turn and went from one of the worst shows on TV to one of the best halfway through the season. These past few weeks have been exciting, nerve-wracking and filled with possibilities. Now, it all comes to an end for another year. We will take a look back Season Four later on, but first let’s discuss the last of Homeland we’ll see until September.
Nothing happened.
Completely ignore all of the predictions from last week, they were entirely wrong. Quinn isn’t on a rescue mission, Carrie hasn’t been held hostage by Dar Adal, Saul isn’t a rat, none of that happened. It was just a lot of filler and forced conversation. Let’s get the good bits out of the way now because there aren’t that many: Frank’s funeral was held at the start, and it was a touching farewell to actor James Rebhorn. Then, after the funeral, Carrie and Quinn shared a passionate kiss, and whilst they still haven’t decided on a relationship yet, it could be on the cards. So the Carrie/Quinn shippers will be pleased, but the episode really falls to pieces after that.
We also meet Carrie’s mother, who walked out on the girls fifteen years ago and suddenly popped up. Carrie sends her packing, but soon drives to Missouri to see her, and finds out she left because she cheated on Frank and was pregnant with another child. The inclusion of Carrie’s mother felt incredibly forced and rushed. No surprise really, since it was shoehorned into the last episode for a final little twist. This is pretty much the first we’ve heard of her Mum since the show started, so it’s not like it was an underlying plot line or a previous topic of discussion or anything, it was just completely out of the blue. Maybe had this new appearance been spread over a couple of episodes, it would’ve been easier to gel with, but unfortunately it just fails completely.
We also meet Carrie’s mother, who walked out on the girls fifteen years ago and suddenly popped up. Carrie sends her packing, but soon drives to Missouri to see her, and finds out she left because she cheated on Frank and was pregnant with another child. The inclusion of Carrie’s mother felt incredibly forced and rushed. No surprise really, since it was shoehorned into the last episode for a final little twist. This is pretty much the first we’ve heard of her Mum since the show started, so it’s not like it was an underlying plot line or a previous topic of discussion or anything, it was just completely out of the blue. Maybe had this new appearance been spread over a couple of episodes, it would’ve been easier to gel with, but unfortunately it just fails completely.
So let’s take a look at previous finales in Homeland:
Season One - Brody prepares to blow Walden to smithereens in the show’s most tense moment to date
Season Two – The CIA is bombed, killing hundreds of people including the director and sending Brody on the run.
Season Three – Brody is hanged publicly in Iraq
Season Four – Nothing. Nada. Zip. Squat. It was just a lot of talking
Last week, we saw Dar Adal hanging out in the back of Haissam Freakin’ Haqqani’s car, prompting us to believe he is a villain and he is against the CIA. Well, that’s not quite how he’s portrayed this week. Turns out that Dar Adal made a deal with Haqqani to take him off the CIA kill list if he stops harbouring terrorists in Pakistan. No evil terrorist plot, no betrayal, nothing. Unless of course they’re saving it for the next season, in which case they could’ve at least given us a cliffhanger. Oh wait no, they did, it was just really underwhelming and completely obvious. Dar offered Saul the opportunity to become director of the CIA again if he agreed to this deal, and the episode ends with Carrie discovering Saul’s agreed to it (Followed by two minutes of her driving away to the show's awful theme tune). So....That’s what’s supposed to keep us on edge until next year? Gee. Great.
Season One - Brody prepares to blow Walden to smithereens in the show’s most tense moment to date
Season Two – The CIA is bombed, killing hundreds of people including the director and sending Brody on the run.
Season Three – Brody is hanged publicly in Iraq
Season Four – Nothing. Nada. Zip. Squat. It was just a lot of talking
Last week, we saw Dar Adal hanging out in the back of Haissam Freakin’ Haqqani’s car, prompting us to believe he is a villain and he is against the CIA. Well, that’s not quite how he’s portrayed this week. Turns out that Dar Adal made a deal with Haqqani to take him off the CIA kill list if he stops harbouring terrorists in Pakistan. No evil terrorist plot, no betrayal, nothing. Unless of course they’re saving it for the next season, in which case they could’ve at least given us a cliffhanger. Oh wait no, they did, it was just really underwhelming and completely obvious. Dar offered Saul the opportunity to become director of the CIA again if he agreed to this deal, and the episode ends with Carrie discovering Saul’s agreed to it (Followed by two minutes of her driving away to the show's awful theme tune). So....That’s what’s supposed to keep us on edge until next year? Gee. Great.
Quinn was also given nothing to do this episode except play with the baby (Carrie has apparently gone back to acknowledging the existence of her daughter). You know those cool clips in the promo of him preparing for some kind of mission? They don’t come in until the end. It seems he’s working for Dar Adal as well. So is Adal just not evil then? This is all for the good of the CIA? What was the actual point of the twist then? And whilst that could have made a great ending scene, they instead chose the driving. We better see that in the Season Five opener.
Season Four was quite odd; its first five episodes were absolutely piss poor, not worth anyone’s time, but episodes six-eleven were absolutely fantastic, ten in particular being the highlight as we got to see some badass Quinn and genuine danger in the show. But unfortunately, the season has ended just how it started: On a bum note. It’s a sad way for Homeland to leave us this year, but hopefully Season Five will restore the quality seen in the last few episodes.
Season Four was quite odd; its first five episodes were absolutely piss poor, not worth anyone’s time, but episodes six-eleven were absolutely fantastic, ten in particular being the highlight as we got to see some badass Quinn and genuine danger in the show. But unfortunately, the season has ended just how it started: On a bum note. It’s a sad way for Homeland to leave us this year, but hopefully Season Five will restore the quality seen in the last few episodes.
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