11/24/13
View Logs: Homeland S3 Episode 5
Title: The Yoga PlayIt is both surprising and unfortunate that Homeland has lost me already. During my time away, most of my view log shows have been on my mind. I've been curious on how Stephen Merchant would develop his character in Hello Ladies. I've wondered how bad Dads can really get and checked Variety.com every day hoping to see it get cancelled. I've wondered about Agents of SHIELD and how my guest is doing with it. But the one show that I've consistently forgotten about was Homeland. Which is highly ironic because Homeland was supposed to be the gold standard to all of the shows I've been looking at for this blog. If there is a TV powerhouse in my line up, it should be Homeland. But it's turning out to be quite the opposite.
This episode didn't help my boredom with the show and it's because the primary plot is now moving at a crawl. Ironically, the most interesting thing about this episode was Dana. In the episode it was revealed that her boyfriend accidentally killed his brother and Dana first suspected that he was a murderer. This plotline was developed and resolved within this episode. Thank you Alex for being economical with that. Honestly this is a huge step up since 24. In fact, Dana turned out to be the more interesting character for Season 3 so far. As well executed as all this was however, this does still speak to how slowly the main plot line is developing. Again, I'm sure Mr. Gansa has a plan for all this but the show would have been far more compelling if Carrie was sincere (even a little bit) about turning on the CIA. This entire episode was basically waiting. Javadi spent the entire episode just driving around the US giving looks at citizens and eating a hamburger. The only thing that happened with Saul is that he found out he was not getting the job as the head of the CIA and decided to burn his bridges with the person who is. And Carrie just did... well... she ran an errand for Ms. Brody to find Dana. Which resolved without Carries help. Actually does anyone else get the feeling that this entire episode was a waste of time?
Look, I love drama. I love slow dramas. Hell, I think the world can gain a lot if we slowed down every once in a while. TV is the medium that isn't afraid to slow down. Mad Men and Boardwalk Empire are two fantastic examples of that and it's honestly served the medium well. We all get a sense of these characters a lot better when we let them breath on the screen and have their human moments away from the action. But Homeland now isn't using it's time well. It's starting to wait instead of develop and that's the difference between developing character and dragging. It's kinda ironic that Gansa did 24 before this when 24 had too much pace and action and now Homeland is suffering from the exact opposite problem. Does anyone feel like the Showtime staff might not have enough ideas for Season 3 and thus we're seeing filler? I think Homeland is beyond repair by this point. But I'll keep watching and hope that atleast Season 3 can end off well...
