It's been an implausible, meandering mess of a second season for the Emmy-winning Homeland . Here are the show's 25 worst moments.
Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison; Damian Lewis as Nicholas Brody. All images are courtesy of Showtime.
Here's the thing about Homeland: Brody should have died (blown himself up, or blown himself and the vice president up, or blown himself and his daughter up, or been caught and killed by Carrie and/or Saul) at the end of Season 1. Yes, we love Damian Lewis, but Brody needed to go; Carrie (Claire Danes) and Saul (Mandy Patinkin) would then move onto another challenge in Season 2. Yay, Homeland.
That is not what happened. And as a result, I have found this season, which comes to an end on Sunday, meandering, maddening, and unintentionally funny. While I never thought of Homeland as a document of realism, it has filled its hours with such nonsense that I've been stupefied by the decision-making. Worse, though, it has made me dislike the lead characters: Carrie is awful (selfish, pigheaded, terrible at her job), and Saul is useless. While I very much look forward to liking Homeland again after Brody dies, can I like these people again? God, I hope so.
I'm hardly alone; it's difficult to measure real viewer feelings through social media, but both critics and ordinary viewers seem, at the very least, less enamored of the show than during its superlative, Emmy-winning first season.
I have attempted to trace the problem in a list of moments during which Homeland fell apart for me. If you care about spoilers and are not caught up, read no further. I'm starting with the two-part finale from Season 1 — when I got a sinking feeling! — and going through every episode leading to the finale. After the finale, I will update it. And since what drives me crazy is subjective, please offer your best and worst Homeland moments in the comments section! Off we go…
“Marine One – Part 1”: Season 1, Episode 11
Brody, the failed suicide bomber.
Summary:
Carrie has gone off her medication and had a break as a result. She's been fired. She's supposed to be sequestered in her home under the care of family and friends (of course, she doesn't really have friends, but Saul and Virgil are around). Brody is armed with a suicide vest to take out Vice President Walden (Jamey Sheridan) at a big, public event where he announces he's running for president. Sniper and fellow terrorist Tom Walker creates the crisis that forces Walden, Brody, and the cabinet into a bunker that would be the perfect spot for Brody to blow shit up.
1) Most ridiculous line knowing what we know from Season 2:
Saul about Carrie: “We shouldn’t kid ourselves. She’s never going to set foot in Langley again.” IF ONLY, SAUL.
2) Insubordinate Carrie moment:
Carrie gets out of the house and starts snooping around the area where the vice president's event is going to be. Fans might, um…recognize this pattern.
3) Irritating Dana instance:
Having walked in on Brody engaged in Muslim prayer, coupled with some other weird behavior on his part, Dana has become suspicious of and worried for her father. I actually think that Morgan Saylor is a good actress faced with a fairly impossible task on Homeland, but this thread does her no favors. She has to engage in extensive begging that Brody not go to the announcement — “I still think that you should stay here" on endless repeat — and I do recall wishing for Dana's death when I first saw this episode. (I was more sympathetic when I re-watched; poor Dana.)
4) No!
At the end of the episode, a shaking, sweating, ready-to-die Brody is all set to carry out the suicide mission. (The way he looks, by the way? I would be so sure he was about to vomit that I would have gotten as far away from him as possible, and therefore would live!)
Then: The vest doesn’t work. It. Doesn't. Work.
