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Homeland: Season 2 - US pace, Season 3 starts Sep 29th

Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2012 12:11 pm
by Monkey Man
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Starts Sunday 30th September in the US so will be available early Monday for us.
Season 2 reviews - http://www.metacritic.com/tv/homeland/s ... ic-reviews

Based on the Israeli version of "Prisoners of War." A U.S. soldier who was thought to have been killed in Iraq over 8 years ago who is now being questioned as to whether he is a member of a sleeper cell sent to cause a terrorist attack. Claire Danes stars in this Showtime pilot as a CIA agent with bipolar disorder who comes to suspect that an Afghanistan war hero who has returned home after years as a POW might be part of a terrorist plot. Expect a psychological thriller with a strong focus on character development.


http://www.sho.com/sho/homeland/home

Lengthy recap of the Season 1 finale -

Day one

Brody records a videotape of himself, explaining his future actions as an attack against a domestic threat, namely Vice President Walden and his advisors who were responsible for the deaths of 82 children. He leaves the camera's memory card at a drop-off point. Carrie, who is in a deep depression following her manic episode and dismissal from the CIA, gets a visit from Saul. Carrie implores him to follow up on her insights into Abu Nazir, and wonders aloud why Brody betrayed her by turning her in. Saul recoils as he realizes Carrie is in love with Brody.

That night, Tom Walker commandeers an apartment overlooking the State Department, which is the site of the Vice President's summit. He ties up the woman resident, and sets up a vantage point at the window for his sniper attack. In his garage, Brody is discovered by Dana in the middle of an Islam prayer ritual. Brody admits to Dana that he did indeed convert to Islam while he was in captivity, and asks her to keep it a secret from the rest of the family.

Day two

Saul presents Estes with a heavily redacted internal CIA document. He believes it to be in regards to a drone strike which possibly had some impact on Abu Nazir, as it correlates with the time that Nazir went silent. Estes dismisses it and tells Saul to focus on protecting the Vice President.

Brody gets dressed for the event, with his explosive vest concealed under his Marine uniform. Dana, well aware of her father's recent bizarre behavior, is very uneasy and asks Brody not to go. Carrie hears about the summit on the radio and, as there will be many high-ranking government officials there, recognizes it as a possible target for Tom Walker and Abu Nazir. She asks Virgil to drive her there. At the summit, Carrie is outside in the crowd of spectators and witnesses Brody's arrival.

As the politicians are milling around in front of the State Department, Walker opens fire. He shoots Elizabeth Gaines, VP Walden's chief aide, in the back, killing her instantly. As Walker continues to fire into the crowd, Walden, Brody and the other VIPs are rushed into the State Department building by Secret Service agents, into a secure bunker area inside. Brody successfully gets past the blaring metal detectors which are ignored as the crowd of people rushes through them. The plan so far has gone perfectly; Brody finds himself in the bunker with VP Walden, CIA Director David Estes, the Secretary of Defense, and many other high-ranking officials.

As chaos ensues outside, Carrie calls Saul who is upstairs in the State Department. Already believing that a lone sniper attack would merely be a diversion to a larger scaled siege, she now sees what has unfolded and puts together the scheme. She explains to Saul that now all the high-value targets have been sequestered into a confined space, and an attack on that room is the true goal, and that Brody must be the agent to deliver the attack. Saul dismisses this theory as a resurfacing of Carrie's obsession with Brody. He sends some Secret Service agents out to contain Carrie, but she realizes what's happening and escapes in Virgil's car.

Inside the bunker, Brody slowly approaches the Vice President, preparing to detonate himself and kill everyone in the room. He hits the switch inside his sleeve and nothing happens. He retreats into a bathroom stall inside the bunker, takes off the vest and inspects it, finding that some wiring has become disconnected (likely from a Secret Service agent tackling him when gunfire rang out). He works on repairing the vest. While this is happening, Carrie arrives at Brody's house. She tells Dana that her father is in league with Tom Walker, and is involved in the attack on the State Department as they speak. Dana reacts with hostility. Carrie hands over her cell phone and asks Dana to call her dad and "talk him down" because "he'll listen to you". Dana instead dials 911 and reports that there's a crazy woman in her house. The confrontation escalates, Jessica gets involved, and the police soon arrive to arrest Carrie. After Carrie is taken away in handcuffs, Dana takes a long look at the cell phone that is still there.

Brody has repaired the vest, and is back among the politicians, trying to gather up the nerve to hit the switch for a second time. As he appears to be about to do it, he gets the call from Dana. Brody says he's busy and tries to get Dana off the phone, but she won't let him go. She tells him that Carrie was at their house, accusing Brody of being a terrorist. Dana insists that her father tell her that he is coming home tonight. After much agonizing, he says the words and, at least momentarily, he no longer seems ready to trigger the explosion. The 'all clear' is given, and everyone starts filing out of the bunker.

Day three

Saul meets with Vice President Walden. He demands to know the story behind the covered-up drone strike, and has brought along a big bargaining chip in the form of evidence of Walden authorizing torture when he was head of the CIA. As Walden cannot allow that to be publicized, Saul is shown footage of Walden and Estes ordering the drone strike that killed 82 children, which was deemed to be acceptable collateral damage in their attempt to kill Abu Nazir.

Carrie is released from police custody. Her sister Maggie is there to pick her up, but Brody is also there to confront her. He reiterates to Carrie that he is not a terrorist, and berates her for terrifying his family and continuing to harass him. This conversation is Carrie's breaking point. With her life and career in shambles, she now even doubts her own sanity as nothing came out of her theory about Brody (she has no idea she actually stopped his attack). Clearly in distress, she stumbles into her sister's car and asks to be taken to the hospital.

That night, Brody goes to retrieve the recording he dropped off, but it is gone. He goes home, gets his gun, and goes to meet Walker, who doesn't believe the vest didn't work and is hostile towards Brody. Walker has Abu Nazir on his cell phone, who wants to talk to Brody. Brody explains to Nazir that his vest malfunctioned, but that maybe it's a good thing that it did, as he's now a trusted ally of the man who's going to be the next President, and will be able to influence him. Nazir seems amenable but tells Brody that he must eliminate the "wild card". Brody shoots Walker in the head.

Two days later

Saul barges into Carrie's hospital room, where she is being prepared for electroconvulsive therapy in hopes of treating her bipolar disorder. Saul tries to put a stop to the procedure, but Carrie is undeterred, feeling that she has no choice with her life in ruin. She mentions that short term memory loss is a side effect, but it's usually temporary. Saul tells her she was wrong about Brody but right about Abu Nazir; Walden ordered a drone strike that killed 82 children, including Abu Nazir's youngest son. Carrie is anesthetized before beginning the ECT. As she begins to fall asleep, she recalls the moment where Brody was shouting Issa's name in his sleep. She now realizes that Brody had a connection with Abu Nazir's son who was killed. The thoughts are fleeting as she falls asleep and the doctors begin the ECT, which induces a seizure in Carrie.


The show won 4 top Emmys this week:

Outstanding Drama Series;
Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series;
Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series;
Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series.

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Started Sunday October 7th in the UK on Channel 4, you can chat about it here if you're watching it in the UK - viewtopic.php?f=17&t=29529
Renewed for a 3rd season - http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watchi ... r-season-3

Re: Homeland: Season 2 - US pace, starts Sunday in the US

Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2012 12:24 pm
by Mr Yoshi
Can't wait. Last season was brilliant. Fingers crossed they can make it happen again.

Re: Homeland: Season 2 - US pace, starts Sunday in the US

Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2012 7:04 pm
by chalkitdown
I hope they don't cop out with the finale this season. It was the only negative about S1.

Re: Homeland: Season 2 - US pace, starts Sunday in the US

Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2012 8:39 pm
by Crimson
Looking forward to it. Hope they can match the high standards set by last season.

Re: Homeland: Season 2 - US pace, starts Sunday in the US

Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2012 10:33 pm
by Ironhide
Was going to download a full DVD rip os the 1st series but its over 20gig so I'll probably just buy it.

Re: Homeland: Season 2 - US pace, starts Sunday in the US

Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 12:08 am
by Osito
Why not just download in avi/mp4/mkz, which should only be a few GBs in total?

Can't remember the finale at all, will need to recap at some point. It was a fairly good opening season from what I remember, but I wasn't blown away by it, certainly wouldn't have tipped it for success that it has had.

Re: Homeland: Season 2 - US pace, starts Sunday in the US

Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 1:51 pm
by Grumpy David
Had no idea season 2 started tonight! Loved last season despite the cop-out ending. Pretty much agree with this:

chalkitdown wrote:I hope they don't cop out with the finale this season. It was the only negative about S1.


Personally I thought they should have gone real dark with it and just made it one season ending with Brody suicide bombing everyone in the room, which happens minutes after the electrotherapy. Maybe show a little montage scene of the next few days with reports on the news.

Ironhide wrote:Was going to download a full DVD rip os the 1st series but its over 20gig so I'll probably just buy it.


OM'd with NZBmatrix link to complete s01 XVID weighing in at a more reasonable 7.73gb.

Re: Homeland: Season 2 - US pace, starts Sunday in the US

Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 2:03 pm
by Crimson
Grumpy David wrote:Had no idea season 2 started tonight! Loved last season despite the cop-out ending. Pretty much agree with this:



Personally I thought they should have gone real dark with it and just made it one season ending with Brody suicide bombing everyone in the room, which happens minutes after the electrotherapy. Maybe show a little montage scene of the next few days with reports on the news.


It's Showtime, they'll milk it until there's nothing left. Would have been a terrific ending though if Brody did it, I agree. The 'cop-out' didn't actually bother me too much, I think mainly because of Lewis's fantastic acting and how it was written.

Re: Homeland: Season 2 - US pace, starts tonight in the US

Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 4:46 pm
by chalkitdown
My worry is that they turn it into what Dexter has become.

Re: Homeland: Season 2 - US pace, starts Sunday in the US

Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 3:22 pm
by Ironhide
Grumpy David wrote:
Ironhide wrote:Was going to download a full DVD rip os the 1st series but its over 20gig so I'll probably just buy it.


OM'd with NZBmatrix link to complete s01 XVID weighing in at a more reasonable 7.73gb.


Says I need to be a VIP member to access it, I would pay the $10 fee but they don't accept paypal so no sale.

Re: Homeland: Season 2 - US pace, Episode 1 out now

Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 9:07 pm
by Kanbei
That was a great first episode :wub:

Re: Homeland: Season 2 - US pace, Episode 1 out now

Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 11:25 pm
by Monkey Man
Very good 1st ep. Sensible way to get Carrie back into the field, she was the highlight of the ep. Brody family stuff was pretty good but the safe part was a bit outlandish.

I assume for the future we've got Carrie's memory issues and her finding out about a plot. Who's the mole in the CIA? What happens with the reporter? What happens next for Brody?


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Ratings were up 60% from the season 1 premiere.

Re: Homeland: Season 2 - US pace, Episode 1 out now

Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 11:53 pm
by Grumpy David
Yeah, very solid start to the season, more so given that season 1 finale was so lame.

Re: Homeland: Season 2 - US pace, Episode 1 out now

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 10:57 am
by Mr Yoshi
I didn't think the finale was lame. The tension was immense.

Re: Homeland: Season 2 - US pace, Episode 1 out now

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 4:26 pm
by chalkitdown
The finale wasn't lame, just the cop-out towards the end. It was incredible up until that point.

Re: Homeland: Season 2 - US pace, Episode 1 out now

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 6:56 pm
by Grumpy David
Yeah, by finale being lame, I didn't mean the whole episode, I assumed it was obvious I meant the cop-out scene.

Re: Homeland: Season 2 - US pace, Episode 1 out now

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 7:17 pm
by satriales
Good first episode.

One thing I hope they don't forget from the 1st season finale is that recording that Brody hid, and had disappeared when he went back to retrieve it.

Of course there is still a mole out there too...

Re: Homeland: Season 2 - US pace, Episode 1 out now

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2012 3:39 pm
by Mr Yoshi
Solid first episode. I found the last scene quite affecting. Everything, and really, everything, looks to be heating up next week.

Re: Homeland: Season 2 - US pace, Episode 2 out now

Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2012 4:28 pm
by chalkitdown
Great second episode. :wub: Carrie being a strawberry floating idiot again. :fp: That ending! :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :o :o :o :o

Re: Homeland: Season 2 - US pace, Episode 2 out now

Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2012 7:32 pm
by Grumpy David
DAT ENDING. :datass: