Homeland: Catch and Release
February 16, 2020 11:53 AM - Season 8, Episode 2 - Subscribe

Carrie reconnects with an old ally. Tasneem seeks counsel. Saul finds hope.
posted by KTamas (2 comments total)
 
I keep writing and deleting comments for this season of Homeland.

My cynical side considers this boring because the magnitude of real world corruption makes the show cartoonish.

I hope Saul's all bloodied up and with concussion symptoms for a good long while after getting the butt of a rifle in the forehead. The supernatural healing pisses me off, especially after how "well" Quinn's injuries were addressed.

We won't, though, since Carrie's problems are again only annoyances until their absence is needed for plot.

I am interested in whether we get an outcome of her and her GRU creep.

I did really like that the jarheads made an effigy of Max out of a potato and patted that for luck, after Max made a point of not enjoying being touched. PotatoMax is awesome, seriously. I'd be honoured to be a potatoKevin.

But that arc felt super "paid for by the US Army" propaganda.
posted by porpoise at 11:20 PM on February 16, 2020 [1 favorite]


Loved this episode too. It's so tightly paced, strongly written, thrilling. Maybe a little hackneyed; Saul goes off on a spy mission and gets in trouble, this is like the third time? Carrie's surprise encounter / hallucination Yevgeny was a nice turn, though. The whole plot with Samira seemed awfully rushed but maybe it's best it's done with, and along the way we got a nice moment of characterization of Jenna. Are they setting Jenna up to be the new Carrie if the show continues? It kind of felt that way. I hope not.

The thing that bugged me was using the name Haqqani. Haqqani Sr and Jr are real people, Sr. died last year of illness. Bizarre to use them in a similar-but-not-the-same role in the TV show. The real Haqqani is not the leader of the Taliban, but rather an offshoot.

I agree this show feels a bit weird in modern times with such a monstrous American president. I sympathize with how they basically just skip over that. We went from stories involving a fictionalized President Clinton to.. who's president now in the Homeland universe? It doesn't seem to really matter. Tackling Trump would be such a distraction. Also I suspect some of this show's producers are pro-Trump, or at least not willing to be anti, and boy that'd be a firestorm.
posted by Nelson at 7:32 AM on February 17, 2020 [1 favorite]


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