The new Showtime series, Homeland, takes an interesting approach to the whole good guy/bad guy dichotomy that we’re so used to on TV or in movies. Whereas that line is usually pretty clearly delineated (although not always; see Denzel Washington’s Detective Alonzo Harris in Training Day), Homeland presents two characters, either one of whom might be in the right.
On one side we have Marine Sergeant Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis), newly freed from eight years of captivity and torture in Iraq. On the other is CIA officer Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes), who’s convinced that Brody’s been turned and is helping plot a terrorist attack on the United States. Let me tell you something: even if Brody is a terrorist, I’d still side with him over Carrie. She’s crazy.
While we’ve witnessed Brody doing plenty of questionable, as well as unstable, things — but don’t forget that even if he was eventually turned, he was a tortured prisoner for a long time, so some imbalance is understandable — Carrie is just nuts. Yes she’s suffering from some sort of illness (multiple, I’d guess), but I don’t think anyone’s trying to angle that as an eventual explanation for her behavior. She’s just naturally out-of-control.
Unfortunately that means that the return of Mandy Patinkin (as Carrie’s mentor, Saul Berenson) is kind of wasted, because he spends most of his time with her. And for the most part he’s focused on trying to control and/or calm her down. I really wish Brody had discovered the surveillance that Carrie had set up in his house, and reported it. Maybe she could have been fired! Can you believe she spent all of her time watching him on a monitor? And she kept watching during intimate or private moments? Super.
More disturbing is the fact that Carrie’s hell-bent-to-prove-herself-right attitude doesn’t serve the show. By ramping up how out-of-control she is, Homeland only succeeds in making Brody look more and more innocent, or at least wrongfully targeted. The truth is that for a long time even we hadn’t witnessed him doing anything suspicious, yet Carrie had already spent weeks monitoring his every move. Is it questionable that he’s become a Muslim? Yes. Does that prove that he’s a terrorist? Do I need to answer that question? Does the timing of Abu Nazir’s (Navid Negahban) first appearance in years raise questions? Yes. But how would anyone make the leap from there to Brody (even with Carrie’s “tip” in the pilot)?
Even Brody likely having slipped Hamid (Waleed Zuaiter) the razor (the latest episode I’m caught up on) proves nothing given how Carrie’s been targeting him. But especially given the way she’s been after Brody, I find myself instinctively coming up with all sorts of wild scenarios to explain it: 1) Brody knew Hamid would commit suicide if given the chance, so he gave him the opportunity because he hated him so much that he wanted him dead. Not to protect himself or the cause. 2) Carrie slipped it to Hamid to frame Brody. She was there alone for hours after Saul left. Ridiculous, no? But Carrie’s behavior drives me everywhere but the alternative solution.
Which is where the disservice to the show comes in. Homeland set out to present a story that would keep us thinking and questioning all along. But Carrie not only makes me think that she’s after an innocent man, but it also makes me not care if Brody is, in fact, a terrorist. I just want her to stop.
Know what I mean?
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Nov 16, 2011 @ 15:00 EST5EDT
No, I don’t know what you’re saying at all. I don’t think that you understand the themes or nuances of this show in the least. The last episode clearly, cleverly, and succinctly demonstrated what the nature of these characters are truly about.
This article makes me think you either a) haven’t watched much of this season, or worse, b) don’t understand storytelling on a deeper level than whatever generic crap CBS has on every night.
Aryeh: Why can’t she ever take a step back and think for a minute!
She can’t because that is not in her character and I like that about her. It gives her the ability to do her job. If she would have stopped and thought about it, she may not have gone to see her informant before he was executed and she wouldn’t have found out about the turned US POW. But, that is just one thing she has done.
Is she a bit or a lot crazy — definitely. But, that’s what makes her such a unique and intriguing character.
Even if Brody had found out about the surveillance, Carrie wouldn’t have been fired. She had approval and a FISA warrant. And, her watching the private moments … it was shown from the first episode that her sex life is as impulsive as the rest of her life(dressing up, pretending to be married, coming home and wiping between her legs). But, watching him provided her perspective on his acclimation back home.
Based on your comment, I’m guessing you are at least 2 episodes behind. You may want to give up and not watch more, because what Carrie does next will annoy you to no end. But, if you can get over your “Carrie-irritation,” the story gets much better over these two episodes BECAUSE Carrie doesn’t think and just acts.
You also will see Saul outside of his relationship with Carrie and get a much deeper understanding of him.
By far the best new show of the season because the characters are unique and well-developed. The show has allowed us to see these characters for who they really are on all different levels. While they definitely aren’t perfect and some are deeply flawed, that’s what makes me love watching the show.
*POST AUTHOR*
Carla, I’ve been catching up on your reviews, and I have to say that I agree with a lot of your take. And I generally am a fan of Claire Danes. But I just can’t get on board on with Carrie.
I get that this is her, and this is how she does her job. But I find Carrie so offensively abrasive that I groan every time she gets in someone else’s face to yell about how she’s the only right one out there. That line of hers that’s quoted in the opening credits, that everyone’s not her? I think it encapsulates what it is that I don’t like about her: she’s right, and she’ll do anything in the world just to prove it. We got it!
Yes, I’m two episodes back, but I’m enjoying the show too much to give it up. I know that sounds strange, given the fact that I don’t like anything that involves her — why did she have to make contact with Brody?! Every time we focused on him we got a reprieve from her! — but I think the concept of the show is really interesting. I just think the side of the coin that Carrie’s on would be better portrayed by someone else.
Thanks for the Saul tip. I assume it has to do with Mira, and I look forward to that. I’ve missed Mandy Patinkin a lot since he left Criminal Minds.
You’ll have to let me know what you think of the next 2 episodes. They change the show’s direction.
I found Carrie an enthralling, engaging character from the start. She’s bitter, curious, smart and at the same time tremendously stupid. I don’t know why some people can’t handle abrasive, complex female characters, yet they heap praise upon abrasive, complex male characters. She’s not meant to be likable, and her emotions and motivations aren’t always easy to decipher. She’s an obsessive wreck, and that’s why I find her so interesting.
Also, Carrie’s actions are what drives the show. Without her obsessive nature this wouldn’t be much of a series.
*POST AUTHOR*
I think it’s impossible to definitively say one way or the other, but I’d tend to disagree with you. Her side of the equation could be held up just as well by someone less nuts … plus I’m enjoying the show a lot in spite of her. So clearly it works “without” her.
Aryeh, you obviously do not understand her character because you don’t understand her illness. She is bipolar (manic depressive), and Claire Danes and the writers do an excellent job of portraying that. One of the main points of the show is her struggle with her illness. You can actually look at everything she does and connect it to her disorder.
Read up on the disorder before you bash the character. She’s supposed to be that way. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipolar_disorder
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001924/
*POST AUTHOR*
I don’t think you can explain her actions away by her illness, and I don’t think the show wants us to believe that that’s the case. It’s an obstacle she’s dealing with (and should technically be keeping her from being allowed to do the job), but if she acted the way she did because she’s bipolar, well, part of the time she’d act differently.
I think you are taking the name of her illness, “bipolar”, way too literal. If a person is bipolar it does not mean that they have two distinctly different personalities. Bipolar simply means that a person goes through alternating states of up and down or manic and depressive conditions. How that affects thier personality can vary greatly from one person to another suffering from the illness. She has supposedly been taking medication and we have yet to see her illness in a full uncontrolled state and I have yet to see that her psychiatric illness has been labled as bipolar. It may be some mild type of psychosis or a more common stress related depression.
IMO Danes is playing the role as someone who is “batshit CRAZY,” so I don’t find her irritating. In her state of mind she will never take that step backward to think.
Aryeh–from your comments, I would think you have not seen much of the show. If you plan to review it, I would recommend that you keep up! As John points out, without Carries’ actions, there would be no show. As it is, it is certainly one of the most interesting on TV at this time. Brody (Damian Lewis) continues to be the other key, and complex player. Base–I am also one of those who happens to enjoy both the scripted dramas that CBS puts out, along with those of USA, and TNT. SYFI, and “Reality” shows–not so much. I do try the Comedy attempts, but really have not been able to get past more than 2 shows of any of the present selections. I don’t expect a “Seinfeld”, or even a “Friends”, but at least something with a little real humor.
*POST AUTHOR*
I’m not looking to assume Carla’s coverage; she’s doing an awesome job. Just airing something I’ve felt while watching the show. And I knew I couldn’t stand her thirty minutes into the pilot; it didn’t take much time to figure that one out, and the more I’ve gotten to know her, the worse she’s gotten. :)
I agree with you the Carrie character drives me nuts. She is manic depressive we know but that doesn’t explain her other weird obsessive behavior. Apart from her unethical work persona, she lies and manipulates her family and friends. Everything she does has a pay off for her
You mentioned her watching the surveillance tapes non-stop during extremely private moments which was just creepy. And without a warrant…Carrie was doing it from the start illegally until she convinced Saul the hand gestures were incriminating and he okayed further surveillance and got a warrant. She is like a dog on a bone and if it doesn’t fit she will make it fit. The only thing worse than a terrorist is a bad law enforcement agent and that’s exactly what she is. I’ve always liked Brody’s character and the best line in the show so far has been “Fuck off, Carrie”. I loved it, she deserved it and she should be fired because of her behavior. But I guess she’ll just have to go steal some more of her dad’s meds and get over it.
I do completely understand someone not liking Carrie, but if you watch a large range of TV shows (esp ones on cable) there are so many aggressively flawed, indecipherable, and flat-out unlikable leading men. Some of those men are great, engaging characters. I think Carrie may be the first woman on cable to fit into that cloth. I want more shows to be brave enough to feature such irrevocably screwed up, complex female leads.
*POST AUTHOR*
Nancy Botwin (Weeds), Jackie Peyton (Nurse Jackie), Cathy Jamison (The Big C), Amy Jellicoe (Enlightened), Margaret Schroeder (Boardwalk Empire), Sookie Stackhouse (True Blood) — all complicated, all flawed, all potentially unlikable … and all much easier to spend ten minutes in a room with than Carrie. And that’s just HBO and Showtime! :-)
I really don’t like any of the women on that list, mainly because I don’t like their show’s writing, but that’s beside the point. Comparing Carrie to any contemporary female character would be a mistake. Most of those women shoot out one-liners, and they’re all mostly reasonable characters who are often victimized, and therefore, easier to root for. Carrie is much more damaged and obsessive and just flat-out crazier than those women. She’s more comparable to Walter White or Tony Soprano.
Stop and think a minute: ‘ Nuance ‘.
If Carrie were a perfect Secret Agent Man (woman), how dull would ‘ Homeland ‘ be? Her flaws give the show its pizazz and keep the emotional juices flowing.
i’d gladly roundhouse kick carrie right in the kisser with metal-heeled cowboy boots. a woman can hardly be more bitchy and nervous than her, as field agent she’s too emotional and as a human being too irrational. carrie actually makes me physically sick. but the show is entertaining.
I find Carrie’s emotional outbursts unrealistic for a secret agent. I don’t think an agent would be able to last if they act they way she does.
I think what you are missing with this review is what Carrie’s illness ADDS to the character she portrays. Yes, her actions are questionable. Yes, her methods are obsessive. Yes, she often says or does the wrong thing at exactly the wrong time, but it is all of these flaws that make her probably the most well-rounded and interesting female character on television.
It is impossible to fully root for Carrie on this show, just like it is impossible to fully root for Brody. Homeland does what few other spy shows have managed to pull off: expose the inherent creepiness involved in spying. You want to bug your enemy to save the world? Get ready to watch him have sex with his wife for the first time. You want to set up 24 hour surveillance on somebody? Be prepared to become slightly empathetic when your enemy stops being a nameless figure and starts being a person.
I think a comparable male character to Carrie is Jack Bauer. Jack consistently used *extremely* questionable methods to stop the bomb, save the president, etc etc, but he was portrayed as a bad ass so we all just sat back and enjoyed the ride. Homeland takes greater risks, which ultimately makes it a better show. It makes us question if Carrie is doing the right thing. With 24, we just assumed because it was *Jack* so of course it was just.
Carrie is great at her job and a big reason for that is because she bends the rules to her advantage. Love her. Hate her. I don’t really care, but at least *appreciate* her. You are witnessing a truly well-rounded female character, one to which Sookie or Nancy don’t even come close to representing.
This is by a reviewer who thoroughly detests the Carrie character.
The comments by readers who either disagree with the reviewer are very intriguing. Wonder if the reviewer is a man or woman?
Personally, I think her performance in Homeland puts her acting skills up there with the acknowledged great actresses (or actors, too.)