Homeland ‘The Good Soldier’: Drinking Too Much

(Note to readers: I didn’t have a lot of time to study Sunday’s episode of Homeland, so this will be a shorter recap than usual)

A lot of people have been weighing in on the Saul ‘Is He or Isn’t He’ debate the last few weeks, and last night, Saul was given another scene that you could construe as revealing. I’m talking about the first polygraph of course, which may or may not have been a sign that he is or isn’t working for the other team. I said last week I didn’t think Saul was the mole, and I’m hesitantly sticking to that for now, though the writers are certainly keeping the idea plausible if it is eventually revealed to be true. But right now, those moments are not when Homeland is at its greatest: that of course, is any scene involving Claire Danes, Damien Lewis, or both.

Their relationship took quite a turn last night, and although many of us expected this to happen, did we expect it so soon? I guess it’s worth noting Carrie’s not really the mark of professionalism – as we’ve seen since the opening scene, she’s not one for the traditional rules – and now she’s taken this game of cat and mouse with Brody to another level. Another sex scene used to reveal something about Brody’s character, and even a little something about Carrie, too (besides the fact she can hold her liquor pretty well). For once, Carrie didn’t look so stressed out and uptight, and both in the bar and in the car, seemed to open up a little bit. Then again, she’s playing the spy game, so it might just be Queen Batshit getting a little too excited about her work, but it made for a great moment later in the episode, when Brody stares into the camera when asked about his fidelity during his polygraph.

Couple other thoughts:

-We also get a nice chunk of unstable Brody, this time beating the hell out of the man he knew was sleeping with his wife when he was presumed dead. A well-acted scene framed with a nice vocalization of this season’s questions by a disgruntled drunk veteran; “Why did you come back alive?” and my favorite “Why are you being the fucking poster boy to get more kids legs blown off?” (I’m paraphrasing here).

– I thought the show did well to rid us of the terrorist professor. I thought Aileen was quickly becoming the interesting character, while the husband was merely a distraction the point: she is the one we need to be watching. Interesting casting choice, and although I don’t think her run on this show will be long, it’s nice to see a different type of terrorist being drawn. Homeland is a show with multiple strong female personalities, and the more the merrier.

– Claire Danes makes major strides in this episode towards her imminent Emmy nomination, and so does Patinkin and Lewis. Fantastic cast, all of which are surrounded by a number of strong supporting acting. What a great cast.

– I thought the departure of Saul’s wife was a bit rushed. I would’ve liked to have seen their relationship fleshed out a bit more, though I appreciate that his wife isn’t a preachy, overly remorseful female character. Too many of those soft female presences on television.

Overall, a pretty good episode, and the show is really coming together for what look to be an exciting second half of the season. What did you think?