Homeland Review: Bury the Hatchet
Homeland continued to excel in keeping the audience in the dark in "New Car Smell," specifically in that final scene between Carrie and Brody. WOW.
Honestly, I don't know who did a better acting job in those few scenes: Claire Danes, Damian Lewis... or Carrie Mathison. The first two were obviously fantastic, but Carrie seemed to have everyone fooled with that performance.
Whether attempting to take down Brody right then and there was the right decision in the long run won't be answered right now, but the question of whether or not Carrie is back to her old self seemed to be confirmed with her actions.
I didn't know in the slightest what she was up to when she knocked on that door to his hotel room. Was she just trying to get in the sack to keep the plan going? Was she fishing for something and hoping she didn't get caught in a bad spot? Or was it her plan to get him alone like that in order to get him to incriminate himself the entire time?
But as great as that moment was, I think I preferred the scene just prior to it, when Carrie and Brody were seemingly feeling each other out. She slipped to him that she was working on a terrorist, he joked "as long as it's not me," and so she revealed it was the big guy. The whole sequence was so intriguing because it was impossible to figure out what either one was going to do next.
Earlier, when they met in front of the CIA building, we knew exactly what would happen. They would meet, he'd be a bit surprised, she'd lay it on thick, and they would go their separate ways. That didn't make it any less enjoyable to watch, though. arrie was interacting with the man who almost ruined her life for the first time in a long while, and Brody was thinking a mile a minute, trying to figure out what the heck she was doing there. That was really good.
What wasn't good was that terrible line Dana threw out at the top of the Washington Monument: "Makes you realize there's this whole big world out there." I literally laughed out loud harder than I did at half the comedies I watched last week. The writers’ room must have been wracking their brains trying to come up with something, anything that sounded less corny. Alas, that's what they ended up with.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not hating the story line in general. The Veep's kid angle could create a lot of interesting situations for Dana, and they might be very entertaining for us to watch. Let's put it this way: it's better than her staying with Xander.
While there was absolutely nothing wrong with it in this episode, I'm afraid of where the arc of this new guy running the crew might go. He was kind of a jerk, and he's new to the fold, so my immediate reaction was that he was going to turn out to be dirty. If he does, that would be a travesty to the story telling of Homeland. It's from the 24 playbook, and in this case, that's not a good book to be reading from.
Elsewhere, Jessica gave Brody one more chance to stay home, but he passed, and Lauder continued to dig up dirty on Brody's involvement in the Tom Walker issue. Sure, there were a couple of things that prevented the episode from being a perfect 10, but the final few moments alone certainly made "New Car Smell" as entertaining as anything else on television.
What did you all think? What was your favorite moment? What was your least favorite part? And where on earth will the go from here?
Dan Forcella is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow him on Twitter.
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October 24th, 2012 7:01 AM
Great episode (I even forgot to watch for Claire Danes' baby bump!). I did wonder at the iPhone SMS sound on Carrie's non-iPhone though :)
Like Clemens, I'm hoping they can keep going so well and have enough of an idea for the way the storyline will keep going, into season 3 (and beyond).
Rank: Extra
October 23rd, 2012 11:16 AM
Once again, you end up wondering where the plot can possibly take it from here. Instead of some interesting snooping on Brody's calls, texts, meets, habits, can he really end his life in an orange suit in Cuba? He will have to be turned, of course, and persuaded to work for the US - keeping up his links with the enemy. Perhaps there is another traitor in the government and he is used as bait. Having been commissioned for a third series, the writers must have some entertaining twists up their sleeves.
October 23rd, 2012 12:35 AM
Solid episode. The knuckleballs just keep coming.
So far, they haven't played it safe. That was a wicked ending, but of course I, like many, fear where this could go. Then again, the whole run has been stellar, and the writers, by and large, haven't led us astray with cheap gimmicks a la 24, so I'm excited and optimistic.
Rank: Extra
October 22nd, 2012 2:57 PM
Claire Danes and Damien Lewis just freaking bring it! They are so good on screen together. I hope it doesn't go the 24 route. (although I am a fan of 24)
October 22nd, 2012 1:29 PM
The only issue I have is where do they go from here with Brody? The tension was in what he'd do undercover. Now they've broken him, this is getting dangerously close to that point where they could easily turn into 24.
However - this was an awesome episode. They've kept knocking it out of the park, so I'll keep trusting them until they whiff it.
October 22nd, 2012 11:09 AM
Reminds me of the 4th episode of the 1st season when Carrie and Brody did hit the sack. It seemed too much was happening too soon and you really wondered where it will go next. The parallels of Mike/Lauder and Dana/Finn might converge when they delve deeper and gasp, compare notes with others.
Rank: Guest Star
October 22nd, 2012 10:59 AM
Hell, the "There's this whole big world out there" literally spells out Dana's "Growing into her new circumstances" storyline. And hers is so much better than Jessica's "political wife" storyline. Plus, her and Finn have a heaping amount of chemistry, and they seem to like each other quite a bit, so it'll be interesting to see how that'll crash and burn when the truth about Brody comes out.
Rank: Guest Star
October 22nd, 2012 10:52 AM
I love Dana. And I'm actually pretty fond of her storyline, even if it's a teenaged romance. The reason being is that she has a similar storyline to Jessica (the world's the limit, growing into her new life as the family of a very well known politician) but unlike Jessica she's not annoying about it. In a way, Dana renders her mom completely redundant. It's all very natural and organic, and it will inevitably all come crashing down in the fullness of time.
Best episode since The Weekend. Which should not be a surprise, because they share the same writer. Meredith Stiehm is simply masterful at writing the Carrie/Brody dynamic.
I like Peter Quinn too. He seems to be (relatively) a straight shooter, although I doubt that he's only an analyst.
Rank: New User
October 22nd, 2012 7:38 AM
The person who writes the script / plot does a lousy job...
sorry
Rank: Guest Star
October 22nd, 2012 4:33 AM
Absolutely agree with DLinLa here..... What an epic end to the episode.