tv: Coming off it's Emmy winning first season, I don't think anyone could have expected what was going to happen to Homeland this year. As the season wore on it went through some serious ups and downs. It was like watching a high wire act as it tried to balance the action it had the potential to produce and the intimacy that was ultimately what allowed it the success it gained. And as those two opposing forces played havoc with viewers and the quality of the show, the debates and conspiracy theories and picking apart of implausibility brought about a level of scrutiny that thanks to the immediacy of the internet was pretty unprecedented. Homeland pushed the envelope by turning over plots and forcing itself to continue to find what was next. The show almost became lost within itself in the process.
But they had one last twist both in terms of its plot and its storytelling left for its season finale, The Choice. Just when it was thought that the show had officially turned into 24, they pulled back. The Choice began with Carrie and Brody going back to the place where their love affair truly began. That cabin they got away to in the shows best episode, The Weekend. From then on the episode was more or less framed as the series most intimate story. Focusing on what was to come almost purely through the actions of our two main characters. Having left his family for real this time, Brody follows Carrie to the cabin to try and figure out what the next step is. We see the two of them open up to each other in a new way, not sexually while in the midst of their agendas but was two people trying to figure out if it is possible to have a future together. Carrie discusses her parents as she tries to explain the hardships Brody will have to deal with given Carrie's severe bipolar disorder. But as we saw at the end of their last weekend together, the real world called them back. And with that call came a sense that nothing could ever be so simple for the two of them as croissants for breakfast.
Carrie returns to the agency before heading off to a memorial for the now deceased V.P. Walden while Brody heads home to get a suit for the same occasion. Both seem to be given a chance to re-enter their former lives. And yet their opportunities to so blow up in their faces. Then the real bomb goes off.
When Carrie comes to her senses she lunges for a gun to point at Brody. She then decides to trust in her man and help him to run, knowing that all eyes will now be on Brody after it was his car that was the bomb. Carrie helps him to escape to the Canadian border.
It is at this point that we begin to remember why Homeland was recognized as it was. While Brody convinces Carrie that he had nothing to do with the explosion at the memorial, it is hard to be convinced as a viewer. Carrie has not been the brilliant agent she was last year, making mistakes at almost every possible turn. Her love for Brody beginning to cloud her judgement as much as her lithium regiment. But after watching their relationship blossom if only in the moment where they could escape everything, it is hard not to wonder if a total escape could be the answer.
Then the suicide tape Brody made in season one gets leaked to the press. With the nation believing that this was his admission of guilt for what happened in the season two finale, the viewer knows better. Or do we? Just because we know the tape and the bombing have nothing to do with each other doesn't prove Brody's innocence just as we know that the tape doesn't actually prove his guilt either.
But for all of the uncertainty surrounding Brody, we saw two moments where he wasn't lying. When he realized the suicide tape got leaked, there is a long shot of him in Carrie's car. It is not the look of fear. But he now knows the ramifications of his actions. His life, for all intents and purposes, is over. And his family is going to be the most direct casualty of his actions when they see who he really is, or at least was. I can't say I saw regret on his face, but to watch Damian Lewis portray that "What have I done?" moment was nothing short of heartbreaking as he accepts that there is no going back to his former life. There was always talk of Brody eventually being killed. In that moment we saw his death. Whether or not we see him again in seasons to come, Brody's life as we knew it was over. His other moment of honesty was when he finally walked away. He looked at Carrie and said "It really was love." For all the games and manipulation between the two, that was no lie.
Looking ahead to season three, the show will certainly have a new leaf to turn over. Saul appears to be in position to take over the CIA directorship, with Carrie presumably getting the promotion the two of them discussed. There are still a ton of unanswered questions about the events of the season finale though. Brody's guilt or innocence is up for question. And no matter what side of lady justice he falls on, the nation believes he is a terrorist, the terrorist. And Carrie just helped him escape. I have a feeling the show now intends to turn inwards and look closer at the CIA. With all these questions needing to be answered and pointing the investigation into those questions right at Saul and Carrie seems as interesting a place to start as any. Saul's unconditional love and support of Carrie would have to then be called into question. Testing that would seem a great place to start with so many of the major players taken off the board. Quinn and his handler Der Adal will certainly play a role in that.
One thing is for certain though, as we turn a page in the story of Homeland ready to begin a new chapter, it was nice to say goodbye to so many aspects of the show, be it plots or characters, while seeing the show do what it is best at. They let go of the huge plots that weighed down their season and passed that weight to its most intimate moments of the characters we are most deeply invested in, capped by a smile, justt like we began twelve weeks ago.
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