If you aren't interested in reading spoilers to the show Homeland, I would stop reading right now.

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The first thing I thought after watching the first episode of Homeland was, "why didn't anyone make this show sooner?" I would guess, not having watched it, that 24 had fulfilled the previous demand for post-9/11 covert narratives. And I suppose also that every show, from CSI:NY to Little Mosque on the Prairie, has had its little terrorist that couldn't episode. So in that way, everyone attempted to make this show sooner. Well they all failed.

Homeland is a sculpted whodunit (or whogonnadoit?) chock-full of intelligence personnel, politicians, terrorists, and soldiers. Islam and the war on terror have an obvious role and are by necessity painted in some light. But it seems to me this light wouldn't offend the sensibilities of a nonpartisan who reads Foreign Policy, which is contrary to what you would expect from anything commissioned by TV execs (it is on Showtime). This prevents some of the more unwatchable triteness of the previously mentioned offerings.



Homeland might be, I imagine, criticized for not taking a stance on either the motives or the actions of terrorists. Instead the audience is presented with a world coated in realism. Homeland doesn't see making a political statement or even giving each side its due as a necessary condition for wrapping up any one episode, like the various incarnations of Law and Order, for example. So with that kind of politically correct, and therefore stupid, preoccupation out of the way we follow the characters on a very believable goose chase, populated by a balanced mix of minor, medial, and major characters. If there is any one thing to say about the cast to a man (or to a woman) it would be that each character makes you demand more knowledge of them, their friends, their backstory, their motivations, and above all, their intentions. When a character that would be a throwaway on any other show has you dreaming up alternate universes, you're probably watching the skilled execution of an intricate script.

In the first few episodes Claire Danes was spectacular, in the kind of way I had to look up who she was, to find out that yes, she was that young hottie from previously fluffy work. Now at just thirty-two she is acting out high tension scenes with Mandy Patinkin, who plays probably the most badass character on television yet to grab a guy by the collar, much less point a gun. Fans of Band of Brothers will recognize Damian Lewis as Brody, the marine sprung from an Iraqi hell hole after eight years of captivity, torture, and plenty else to be revealed through well-conceived flashback scenes.



While Homeland may not offer the indignant moralizer enough clarity on the culpability of the state, it does focus very clearly on personal responsibility, particularly of Danes' Carrie. Through an unfortunate twist of events Carrie puts a highly valuable asset in danger, lies to her about the presence of protection, and arrives all too late to the alley where she was slain. Later she engineers a sting operation that blows up in her face, killing a number of innocents including once again, (freshly turned) intelligence assets. These are not her only failings that result in loss of life, but they are the ones that were a direct result of her borderline quixotic pathology for unraveling a plot that may or may not exist. The audience is left directionless concerning the consequentialism Carrie invokes everyday.

Danes' character, running herself ragged, turns Icarian as the season progresses. This provides the audience with two competing hourglasses, that counting down to a horrific terrorist attack and that counting down to Carrie's own professional and psychological unravelling. In this believable and therefore immersive world however, there is no need for a constant ticking reminder that little time is left.