Paul Levinson's Infinite Regress

reviewing 3 Body Problem; Black Doves; Bosch; Citadel; Criminal Minds; Dark Matter; Dexter: Original Sin; Dune: Prophecy; For All Mankind; Foundation; Hijack; House of the Dragon; Luther; Outlander; Presumed Innocent; Reacher; Severance; Silo; Slow Horses; Star Trek: Strange New Worlds; Surface; The: Ark, Day of the Jackal, Diplomat, Last of Us, Way Home; You +books, films, music, podcasts, politics

George Santayana had irrational faith in reason - I have irrational faith in TV.

Monday, November 24, 2014

Homeland 4.9: Hitchcock Would've Loved It

Alfred Hitchcock said he preferred suspense to surprise in his stories - surprise being a bomb explodes out of nowhere on a bus, suspense being we see the bomb ticking with the passengers talking unaware on the bus. Homeland 4.9 had both bases covered, in one of its all-time best episodes - something I've been saying about a lot of Homeland's episodes of late.

The suspense came with the prisoner exchange for Saul, and the events leading up to that. Carrie suspected there was something more going on. We thought it was the boy with the suicide vest, but Carrie, in one of her best scenes, was able to overcome both that and Saul's desire to end his own life.

But there had to be something even more. And, as emotionally wrung out as everyone on both sides of the screen were after Saul's release, the last thing we expected, which made perfect sense in retrospect, was the attack on Saul's convoy of cars. And, the kicker, was that this, too, was just prelude, to Haqqani attacking our embassy, as Marines left it to go see what happened to Saul and Carrie.

Both are highly likely to have survived the blast - not because the blast was not strong enough to kill them, but because Homeland is not likely to end Carrie or Saul's life, at this point. Well, maybe Saul's - and that would be a kick in the stomach indeed, if he died after all of this - but, as I've saying in previous reviews, Mandy Patinkin is unlikely to leave yet another hit show.

Still, he could well be out of commission for the rest of this season. Carrie, on the other hand, is not likely, somehow, to even be badly hurt. But that other guy in the CIA, who was in the car, and was the first agent to question the ambassador's husband, well, he could end up dead. I actually hope not, because he is/was a pretty solid character.

But the reinvention of Homeland after the death of Brody continues apace and has proceeded so well that I'm not likely to even mention Brody again. Homeland is a better show, a much better show in many ways, than it was the first three seasons. The potent mix of suspense and surprise has never been better - and, indeed, has been achieved on this level only in the best seasons of 24. In my book, that's high praise indeed.