Homeland

The training montage was a bit laughable, but overall it was still a strong episode. I like the play and liked how Saul handled the senator issue.

I would say something about the mossad guy being a little easy to catch, but a few year backs a couple mossad agents were arrested in Switzerland because they got spotted by a concierge while installing wiretaps!

Yea, I thought of this.

The thing is, there really is no good way to go about it and here they managed to make both the "16 days later" title AND the montage! The best solution could be to still have plot elements during the training period for the other characters and periodically hop back to the guy in training or hear about his progress (- And how is Brody? - Fitness is getting there, but the guy still can't shoot). The problem with this solution though is that Brody already spent 8 episodes locked up in Caracas so having him spend another one or two training once he accepted the mission would not be so hot. An alternative would have been to have Brody go out of his mind in Caracas, but not out of shape.

I thought it was an amazing episode - best this season. In addition to the story, which I thought they moved well (why the Eff did they wait this long), they did a great job on displaying and moving the characters.

Carrie and Brodie, both in the hospital at the same time, both being used for other means, and them showing that each one knows this about the other - They're both trying to understand themselves (and each other) and their roles in the game they're in and whether they'll accept it.

Saul, with the constant weight on his shoulders of doing this he considers reprehensible for the greater good (and for the CIA knowing it's in danger), all the while trying to minimize that influence while coming up with ingenious "plays". I loved the way he dealt with the Senator. Saul tends to look at the "big picture" while Carrie and Brodie are much more personal.

I forget the name of the weaselly looking fellow who, whenever a leak is talked about, he's in the scene. Gotta not like him.

While the montage was kind of cheesy, it fit with Brodie pretty well. He's always been a very malleable character, which lends itself yo a montage.
I'm looking forward to next week.

16 days later, lol. I loved Saul in season 1, pretty much hate him this season. his retarded plan is just retarded, once his hates-all-women-has-no-morals buddy is in the top spot, I wonder if (a) he will be a spy for America and turn into the worlds biggest peace hippie, or (b) he will send hit squads to kill Saul and everyone he saw and hate America even more than the previous guys.

Of course all this hinges on Brodie executing a complex plan all alone, and as we have seen Brodie is the master of getting shit done. Oh wait, no, every plan he has been involved in he has royally fucked up. But I'm sure after getting addicted to heroin and undergoing African drug detox he is now James Bond.

Dana redeemed herself at least, good for her on telling Brodie to fuck right off.

will say, watching this episode on the day Iran agreed to nuclear talks is weird. The senator stuff is terrible too, even assuming talking to an Israeli spy is grounds for not getting the job (although that would seem to be a good thing to do as part of the job?), then just letting him have the job is dumb because the Mossad would be able to blackmail him any time. duh

I really didn't mind the montage just because it shoved a lot of progression into one episode, rather than forcing us to watch Brody slowly and inevitably get stronger over the course of several episode.

spronk_sl said:

The senator stuff is terrible too, even assuming talking to an Israeli spy is grounds for not getting the job (although that would seem to be a good thing to do as part of the job?), then just letting him have the job is dumb because the Mossad would be able to blackmail him any time. duh

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It was a little more complicated than that. Not only was he working with an Israeli spy, but he was doing so to spy on the director of the CIA. If something like that were to leak, it would be extremely damning for him as he was not only accessing confidential information (remember last week when the Chief of Staff made him leave because he didn't have proper security clearance?), but also potentially having that information turned over to a foreign government.

That said, the whole thing was just so lazily convenient. Did the Israelis target Mira on their own and Lockhart was able to take advantage of that? Did Lockhart send the spy to woo Mira? Neither case makes much sense when you consider Mira had basically left Saul (and that the affair wouldn't have encouraged her to go back to him) and the fact that Estes was still the director and there would've been no reason for Lockhart to even consider spying on Saul at the point while Mira was in India. I'm sure it's nothing they'll ever bother to explain since it served its purpose.

Cantatus_sl said:

That said, the whole thing was just so lazily convenient. Did the Israelis target Mira on their own and Lockhart was able to take advantage of that? Did Lockhart send the spy to woo Mira? Neither case makes much sense when you consider Mira had basically left Saul (and that the affair wouldn't have encouraged her to go back to him) and the fact that Estes was still the director and there would've been no reason for Lockhart to even consider spying on Saul at the point while Mira was in India. I'm sure it's nothing they'll ever bother to explain since it served its purpose.

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They will probably never explain it indeed, but I don't find it that unbelievable if you consider it from the angle of a chain of opportunities rather than a complex machination.

If you are a mossad agent in Mumbai and notice the wife of a top level CIA guy is around, it can't hurt to try and get in touch with her. You learn about her marital problems and that gives you an opportunity for pillow talk. The husband becoming acting chief of the CIA, suddenly makes the previous play that much more valuable. Then you learn who the next chief will be and that there are problems and secrets between him and Saul, as pillow talk is no longer an option, you wiretap Saul's house in an attempt to gather some info to give to the next chief and have him indebted to the mossad, which can't hurt.

Slaythe_sl said:

So anyway, I'm kind of rambling here, but if you think your dad is a monster for killing 200 people and then find out he didn't actually do it, wouldn't that go a long way to forgiving him?

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A long way yes, but it wouldn't instantly make her forgive him. He still was a terrorist at some point and still fled after the bombing. In both occasions, Dana could legitimately feel like her father acted without considering the impact it would have on his family, even if he had reasons and excuses for his behavior.

I loved the episode and the Saul/Carrie interaction has been awesome since the show started. Him calling her out for saying Brody is innocent in the hospital was fucking great.

khalid_sl said:

I loved the episode and the Saul/Carrie interaction has been awesome since the show started. Him calling her out for saying Brody is innocent in the hospital was fucking great.

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Yeah the relationship between those two is one of my favorite parts of the show too. They always bring their acting chops when they have a scene together, they have a way of making some seriously unbelievable shit seem somewhat plausible lol. I still remember the scene waaaay back when Carrie was trying to convince Saul of something, give her another chance etc, and she tried to hit on him. That scene was awkward as all hell, just like it would be in that situation. It actually made me cringe.

BoldW_sl said:

Spoiler

Nitpicking: The tub the lawyer was trying to melt the bomber in was a cheap plastic variety. Everything I've learned from TV murders says it needs to be ceramic otherwise it gets eaten through.

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He was probably using sodium hydroxide (commonly used to dispose of roadkill), which has better compatibility with commonly used plastics than ceramics and cast iron (this would be especially bad).

Glendronach_sl said:

He was probably using sodium hydroxide (commonly used to dispose of roadkill), which has better compatibility with commonly used plastics than ceramics and cast iron (this would be especially bad).

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So what y'all are saying is that what I hear on TV isn't always true? /sadface

I enjoyed the episode, but Javadi better shoot some more bullets if he wants to keep things under wraps, because I am sure the iranian platoon must have found it pretty fishy that iraqi border patrol got hit by missiles when engaging an Al-Qaida cell.

or that an entire iranian military unit can apparently hide from US drones by turning their lights off

enjoyable episode, who the fuck is the father (random bar bang guy?) and does anyone really care. I wonder if brody realizes that the only way javadi could possibly not be executed after bringing an assassin in front of the head of the military is for him to kill the assassin right after. If brody gets away, there is no possible way Javadi survives so ... yeah, brody's gonna escape, isn't he.

I'll give them a pass on missing the iranian military unit, because after the explosion (which certainly alerted the unit in the first place) the single drone was pretty much focused on the iraqi border patrol and the destroyed vehicle.