Plot Club

10/12/2012

Last night was the best episode so far with the tension racking up - with Carrie at the hands of Nazir and then returning for more! And, Brody's involvement in the killing of the VP. A brilliant scene and all the more so because of the chilling ambiguity at the heart of his performance. Did Brody comply to save Carrie? Or to revenge Isa? Or out of loyalty to Nazir? Or a mix of all three? And what of Carrie - does she love Brody or is she too playing a game? Quinn, the roving gunman with an alternative agenda, adds more uncertainty and, now Saul has been brought in for questioning. With the ground shifting this much, the plot demands total attention - not helped by the sometimes baffling dialogue. But my money is still on Brody coming through in the end and saving Carrie, his family, America and Western democracy.

19/11/2012

HOMELAND: Compared to last week's Gettysburg shoot out, episode 7 was action-lite. Most of the dramatic twists turned out to be dead ends or dead beats like Aileen's fake 'terrorist' who was 'the musician, like the Coldplay'.

The CIA and the terrorists are performing a pincer movement on Brody - each involving him more and more in their plots and counter plots. For Brody, it's definitely 'not ok' - especially when he can't do the right thing by his daughter.

We still don't know where he really stands - does he love Carrie? Who is playing whom? Is he using her emotions or is she just reeling him in?

My hunch remains that Carrie loves Brody but he's still confused....and the plot will only resolve when he dies saving his country.

19/11/2012

We are now following The Killing III. So get plotting Lund Lovers!

15/11/2012

With Brody now supposedly working with Carrie and the CIA, the noose appears to be tightening on the terrorists. But is it? Or is Brody tipping them off about the latest counter -intelligence? The terrorist attack on the CIA operatives under Quinn points to very precise insider information - they knew exactly when to strike - with only an hour's window before the state troopers arrived to provide cover. Surely even Brody didn't know this? So there must be another informant within the CIA.

The sub plot of Dana and her boyfriend, the son of Brody's running mate, took an unexpected twist with the hit and run accident and death of a pedestrian. How will these plots tie up? Dana is tormented by guilt and will need to confess. But to whom? And will her confession be used to blackmail the VP? We shall see...

05/11/2012

So last night saw the outcome many of you clever plotclubbers long anticipated.

Brody, interrogated by the CIA and faced with the evidence of his own film, tries to maintain that he never actually wore the su***de bomb in the bunker with the VP, Walden. That is, until he is faced with Carrie and her loving appeal to him to stop lying and take the only option that will not put his family through hell: to become a triple agent and work with the CIA to uncover Nazir's plot against America.

But has he really gone over to the CIA? Or is he actually going to be a quadruple agent and continue working for Nazir. Brody - brilliantly acted by Damian Lewis - is inscrutable.

The episode ends with us all guessing what is going on in Brody's head - effectively the plot has been set to zero again and we have to wait and see.

Does anyone want to take a guess at the outcome? Is Brody working for the CIA or Nazir? My hunch is that it will go to the wire and Brody will die for his country.

28/10/2012

Well that was a surprise wasn't it? At last an episode that really moved the plot on AND culminated in Brody's arrest as traitor and foiled su***de bomber. Once again, Carrie disobeys orders, this time those of the head of the undercover operation, Quinn. She follows Brody to his room and tells him what she really thinks of him and his betrayal of her country. She does this because her instincts tell her that Brody is onto her and knows something is up and the whole terrorist cell will go to ground if she gives him time.

So what will happen next? My prediction is that Carrie will persuade the rest of the team that Brody can be turned and act as triple agent and bring down the whole Abu Nazir operation.

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28/10/2012

Hope all you plot clubbers out there have put your clocks back and will be glued to episode 4 of Homeland tonight. I certainly will be! I have summarised my previous comments to whet your appetites and get you commenting.

28/10/2012

What a disappointment! Episode 3 failed to deliver and just felt like padding. After the cliff hanger ending of Episode 2 when Saul finds the recording of Brody's confessional tape we are forced to wait until the very end for Saul to finally get it back to America and the CIA. Whatever happened to email? Surely the CIA must have safe ways to send top secret information back home via secure internet channels? The only reward we have is seeing Carrie discover that she was right all along about Brody being a terrorist and not just crazy (or only slightly crazy!)
What will Saul do with the information? Some have suspected him of being the mole? Or at least wondered at his motives? His next actions should give us a clearer steer on this.
Apart from this, which took all of 3 minutes to relay, we had to sit through Brody heading off on a ludicrous mission to help the tailor who made his su***de bomb belt escape. Doesn't Abu Nazir have anybody else who could do this rather menial job? Surely Brody is far too useful an operative to risk in this way? This whole sub plot was presumably designed to raise tension but actually just irritated by its implausibility.

Hopefully, next week will regain its credibility and move the action forward. Comments, please!

28/10/2012

Hooray, with the second episode this season is really getting going at last - Carrie has gone from Carrie, crazy woman to Carrie, intuitive genius. She was proven right to trust her operative whom she recruited 8 years ago - it was not a hoax that Abu Nazir was in Beirut - and right to go back into the Hezbollah building to get further evidence after she lifted her recruit.

And we finally have the answer to Q4: who has Brody's confessional tape? A memory stick of it has resurfaced in the bag picked up by Carrie from the Hezbollah leader's home.

It was a great dramatic moment when we see Saul watching it. What will Saul do with the evidence?

If, as we suspect, it is a pre-su***de confessional tape explaining Brody's motives to the world, then Carrie will also be vindicated. Her hunch that Brody was going to kill everyone in the bunker after the terrorist assassination attempt will be proven right even if he did not go through with his su***de bomb mission.

Brody's position is ambiguous. He tells Roya he's not "their man" but he warns Abu Nazir about the plan to kill him and saves his life (presumably jeopardising many US lives into the bargain). Where does he stand? What has he done with the information he stole about the US targets? The plot thickens...

28/10/2012

The first episode didn't shed much light on my questions from Season 1 - except for the last one: how will Brody influence Washington?

It seems that Brody looks set to become the running mate of the VP all the while trying to bring about Nazir's objectives by peaceful means.

Nazir's emissary, Roya, tells him that he must steal from the CIA information regarding 'potential' attacks on the USA. Brody refuses to do so saying he's not a terrorist. Roya tells him he must decide whose side he is on. When Brody has his meeting with Estes he takes the information Nazir wants.

So we are back to the question set in Season One: is Brody a terrorist?

The revelation that Brody is a Muslim sets up the seeds of a possible conflict with his wife Jessica who is disturbed by his secrecy and the threat this poses to his decision to run for office.

07/10/2012

Homeland starts at 9PM on Channel 4. I have posted my questions on our Plot Club website in the comments section. www.theplotclub.com

So leave your best guesses on the site and remember whoever gets it right first becomes Britain's first ever master plot clubber!

The Plot Club allows people to predict the outcomes of television series, create groups and compete against friends.