Second Home

Showtime's Homeland has been the best new show of the season, and its finale was powerful yet, ultimately--and intentionally--unsatisfying. (Spoilers ahead, of course.)

By almost any standard, except how it made us feel when it was over, "Marine One" was excellent.  The whole season came together as the terrorist plot was about to be sprung.  The tension, mixed with dread, was palpable--almost like Breaking Bad. (But I do have to question the piss-poor security.  They know there's a sniper loose, so aren't they checking every window within shooting distance?  It's already ridiculous enough Walker could be hiding so long now that everyone knows he's out and about.)

On the scene, after the shooting, Carrie finally figures out the scheme, but no one will listen to a crazy lady, not even Saul. So the main part of the plan is set up, with Brody in a small room with bunch of powerful people.  First attempt, the bomb won't go off.  Second attempt, Brody is talked out of it unwittingly by his daughter--who is only talking to him because of Carrie.  Carrie herself is taken away by the police and Brody won't press charges when she promises to stay away from his family.  She agrees to go through electroconvulsive therapy to deal with her mental problems

Meanwhile, Saul, following Carrie's insight, is nibbling away at what made Nazir go quiet, and uncovers one of those tiresome conspiracies that powerful men are always getting involved in in movies and TV.  Saul finds this out by blackmailing the Vice President (what is this, The Event?) but can't talk because it would endanger agents. Also, Brody's failure has led to a new mission from Nazir, which first involves killing Walker.  Since we have nothing invested in Walker--he only felt like a character for about two lines before he was shot--this scene, filmed in one of those sewers that looks like a set, barely registered. (And why would Nazir give up a top guy in the field--how many does he have that he can afford to waste them?  How was Walker going to be trouble?  Didn't he do what he was told?)

But even as the episode was well done, it left us hanging.  Starting it with Carrie at a low point and the terrorists on the edge of triumph is good drama, but ending it that way is simply frustrating.

In fact, at every turn we were frustrated. There was no explosion that not only would have taken care of a major character, but more important, proved Carrie right.  Fine, but can't they give us a crumb, so someone understands what's happening?  Nope.  Saul is impressed that Carrie led him to the conspiracy, but he believes she was wrong on Brody. (Shouldn't she at least have mentioned that Brody's become a Muslim--wouldn't that be of some interest?). Certainly everyone else in the government thinks of her as crazy. And Carrie herself?  She's not given the satisfaction of knowing her gambit with Brody's family worked.  And then just as she makes the connection with Issa and Brody, she gets the ECT.

So everyone's off the scent. And instead of a specific terrorist plot next season, it seems we're promised a much less interesting open-ended story with a highly placed spy who has the ear of the President.

I understand why the show did this.  They didn't want to kill off any stars and they wanted to continue the cat and mouse game, not just kill the lead terrorist and bring in a new one next season. But would it have been so hard to give Carrie (and us) some satisfaction that she or Saul or someone secretly knows that she's right, but they're prevented from acting?

There are a few other loose threads, like who gave away inside information and why did Saul fail his first polygraph.  But those are minor compared to have to start at the bottom again.