Contributor: Edmund B.
Written by Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon
Directed by Michael Cuesta
Living up to its stellar first season, and avoiding the dreaded sophomore slump, was already a heady challenge for “Homeland.” Sweeping the Drama Emmys one week before its return, becoming the first show both to beat out “Mad Men” and to top it by adding the acting awards to its series prize, just upped the ante. Most of the season is already in the can, but the premiere shows the accolades are deserved, as they don’t miss a beat resuming the story.
The presence of Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa has led many to compare this show to “24”, their prior collabaration. However, I have always seen it as the more successful sibling of the fabulous, but fatally flawed, “Rubicon”, especially with its showrunner Henry Bromell brought in as consulting producer. “Rubicon” was too cerebral, its action too trapped in the heads of the API analysts. Its enemies remained too elusive and amorphous, both within and without, until far too late into its one season. (Although I see no reason why two of its most compelling characters, Truxton Spangler or Kale Ingram, couldn’t pop up in “Homeland.” I’m sure Michael Christofer is getting tired of Angelica Huston tossing drinks in his face.)
“Homeland” avoided those pitfalls last season by placing the conflict between Carrie Mathison and Nicholas Brody front and center. The stakes were clear: brilliant CIA officer suspects war hero POW has been turned by master terrorist Abu Nazir. The outcome, and where the truth lay, most certainly was not. Their cautious tap-dance around each other, and even into each other’s arms, was a charged and harrowing ride, with exquisitely nuanced performances from Claire Danes and Damien Lewis.
As it drove towards its climax, with Brody in a suicide vest, trapped in a bunker with Vice President Stanton, a believable route to a second season didn’t seem possible. Turning Brody’s failure into an opportunity Abu Nazir couldn’t resist: access to power via Brody’s rising political star, was an escape of Houdini-like proportions. His triumph mirrored Carrie’s fall. Her frustration drove her hidden bipolar disorder into full-blown mania and immediate discharge from the CIA. Trying to regain equilibrium, she finally turned to ECT, as electroshock therapy is now known. The final twist of the knife was recalling crucial evidence just as the electrodes fired, wiping out chunks of her memory.
This season opens after a few months have passed. Brody, like any good Marine, thinks he has everything under control. He’s settling into his Congressional office and Stanton is vetting him for the Veep spot on the ticket. All of that assurance comes crashing down, courtesy of an Arab journalist doing Nazir’s bidding and his own daughter blurting out his new Muslim faith. Whether faced with pilfering a CIA safe or admitting to his wife his daughter’s right, watching those decisions play across Damien Lewis’ face is riveting. Both of the main characters demand your attention even when they’re silent, just by the intensity of their attention and reaction to what’s around them.
Of course, those around them are very worthy of that attention. Morena Baccarin does some of her best work after Brody admits his conversion. Her frenzied search for his Qu’ran and prayer mat encapsulates her fears that the new life they’re so tantalizingly close to can be smashed in an instant. Morgan Saylor continues to impress, bringing a realist take to a role that could easily devolve into the cliche of the petulant defiant teenager.
In Carrie’s corner is the wonderful Mandy Patinkin as Saul. The phone call where he calls Carrie back in was stunning. Sparce dialogue, with mountains of unspoken subtext passing between them. They both know what he’s asking, how he’s threatening her months of recovery. But they also know he has to do it, and he knows, with the barest push, she will.
Claire Danes takes Carrie to another level in this episode. Last season, we saw the functioning, coping Carrie, able to manage her condition and even use it to drive her insights. Now, she showing us its true extent. Watching her transition from her safe familial setting back into field work was breathtaking. In one episode, we get a primer on the lows going in, when the assignment seems too much, to the highs when she realizes she’s still got it. “The Smile” in that moment of triumph, and the instability it portends, gives this premiere its title. It also means Saul, and eventually Brodie, are going to have to have their hands full.
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Directing: 2/2
Style: 3/4
Total Score: 9/10