TVGeek: Homeland

I’m strangely fond of this convoluted, dour, intense and ultimately repetitive show. It began as a spin on The Manchurian Candidate, with a POW war hero who is only suspected of being a double agent by one highly unreliable operative: Carrie Mathison, played brilliantly by Claire Danes as a barely-functioning bipolar woman with questionable taste in men.

Season Four has just wrapped up, at least for me. Season One was brilliant, taut and kept me pressing “next episode” far past my bedtime. Season Two continued that, but Season Three wavered off of the story premise and follows Carrie into insanely convoluted world politics.

Season Four is a tad less convoluted, thank goodness. It’s actually possible to keep up with the various storylines and who’s screwing who (in the figurative and literal sense) without a diagram. Characterization is much improved among the minor characters, and I finally remember enough people's names to know who to yell at. The shining star continues to be Danes as Carrie, while I wonder how the hell Mandy Patinkin is still on this show. He allegedly quit Criminal Minds after its first season because he found it too dark. And this isn't?

On the one hand, the show is brilliant and sadly realistic in the near-futile repetition of fighting the same battles over and over in different countries. On the other hand, this isn’t a documentary. Season Four at least managed to streamline enough so that the action compensates for the intrigue, a step from Season Three.

In the end, “convoluted, dour, intense and ultimately repetitive” is a good analogy for global politics and anti-terrorism. But Homeland walks a fine line between realism and the need to keep the story entertaining and not so hopelessly nihilistic that the viewership runs off to watch Dancing With the Stars.