10/21/13
View Logs: Homeland S3 Episode 2
Episode Title: Uh... Oh... Ah...This is a horrible title for an episode... seriously who thought up of that?... Anyways, this episode was... unfortunately a step back from the pilot. It seems that Alex Gansa learned his lesson in Season 2. You have to calm down and be careful not to build up the story too much or else you'll have to rely on over the top means to resolve everything cleanly. Now... it seems that Alex Gansa is being too cautious...
The bits about home life really drags the series down because too much time is devoted to characters that are inconsequential to the actual plot. I understand the need to see Brody's family try to move on from what happened with Brody's unfortunate reveal at the end of Season 2. But there really isn't enough there to have them be a major plot line. Dana in particular was always one of the worst characters of Homeland. Ok Brody's son was the worst character in the past seasons but Dana was the most annoying. Teenage angst is ok. But Dana whines and complains a little too much even if that's what's realistic for teenage girls. While I'm always a champion for believable character behaviors in fiction, you need to be careful on how you incorporate real elements in fiction because some people are just properly annoying and irritating. If there was never a real point to having a character be that irritating, you're better off with not doing it.
Fortunately, Dana as a character does play very prominently into the storyline and that atleast made her relevant (unlike... Brody's son...) Here she's... not really that relevant. I know I'm judging a little early but I find it very weird that Dana gets far more screen time than Jessica when Jessica atleast serves as a more relevant connection to Brody. I'll just hope this family plotline goes somewhere... unlike the Seward plotline in The Killing...
Also... Carrie... Carrie is now gradually becoming a cartoon character. I've stated in my previous view log how the writers' over-reliance on Carrie's flaws is making her a one dimensional character. Well, that came true for this episode. Again, I can understand that Carrie's situation is making her mental stability worse. But at this point, it almost seems like Carrie's never really had it together, which was not really the case in Season 1. She now throws tantrums whenever she runs into obstacles which has never ever really been one of Carrie's issues and she rarely acts like an adult. Honestly there's barely a single scene where Carrie doesn't look like she's about to lose it and that kind of mental downturn was too quick for this character. Honestly, being stuck in a mental hospital and being forced drugs is never a good situation.
But...
- The hospital is modern and the drugs they are feeding you are atleast relevant to your condition.
- Carrie has DEFINITELY been in worse positions before. Especially being in the field in Iraq.
So Carrie's constant over-reaction is getting a bit much... It's ironic, the one thing that the writers need to escalate is the plot but they end up just escalating their character's flaws while setting the plot on a backburner. I hope this swings the other way soon because Homeland is starting to get a little boring. Please don't make me go through Low Winter Sun again Alex...
