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In case, anyobody forgot, this is back on Sunday. What a difference a year makes, right? Last year, this was my most anticipated fall premiere; this year, it's just another show that's on. I don't even feel all that conflicted about it premiering at the same time as the BREAKING BAD finale. I'll get around to watching it whenever.

I will say that I'm interested to see how the turnover on the writing staff affects the show. After last season, I'd say fresh perspectives were definitely needed, but, man, writers like Henry Bromell (who wrote the best episode of last season) and Meredith Stiehm (who basically handled Carrie's character) will be tough to replace. My gut tells me that this season will be another step down the road of becoming like DEXTER in terms of spinning it's wheels narratively and wasting time on side stories nobody cares about.

Based on several interviews I've seen, it seems clear that Showtime is NEVER going to let them kill Brody. And I kinda think that's what went wrong last season: They had penciled in Brody to die, but Showtime balked, and they had to kill somebody, so we ended up with the goofiness of Abu Nazir coming to America, stopping at 7-Eleven, flying around in his untrackable helicopter, turning into a horror movie slasher, etc.

So it's on. I guess I'm going to keep watching. I just have to keep reminding myself that all the action and suspense is secondary to the romance...

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The more press I read, the more inclined I am to give Gordon & Gansa a pass, because they clearly wanted Brody dead a long time ago, and it's only interference by the network that brought us seasons 3 through 8 of DEXTER that has kept him alive. The whole "doomed romance" angle is just Gordon & Gansa trying to make the best of Showtime sabotaging their show. And I have come to terms with that.

That said, I'm still not sure that's a show I want to watch, and it will be up to them to convince me otherwise this season.

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Carrie and Saul are too good for me to just dismiss this completely but fuck...  last season went down some roads that I rather they not travel. I don't have a great feeling about it.

 

Yeah, the Carrie and Saul relationship is plenty interesting enough that they could kill Brodie and still have the show be anchored by Carrie-Saul.  But noooooo, TV execs refuse to allow the show to have a main relationship other than "two hot people fucking".

 

They're the same people who think we're clamoring to learn more about Brodie's daughter.

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Pretty great.  They turned really effectively away from the action/invisible-helicoptor bullshit (despite the one scene with the skinny dude) going all Splinter Cell.Somehow, Congressional Committees and beureaucratic setups (with the added threat of assassination) are more terrifying than Abu Nazir running around an old factory.  And seemingly turning Saul full heel, at least for now, was brilliant and realistic.  In fact, it was pretty much a big kick to the stomach...like it sucked...but in a good way.

 

It also re-injected a note of realism that all this ridiculous sneaking and shooting is happening in a real world and on a pretty public level.  I flinched when the "immunity" document showed up because the very concept of that so reeked of 24 fantasy writing...like that "deal" would ever have happened...could ever happen.  So bringing it up as a subject of outrage and as a clearly criminal tactic was a nice way to blow that stuff off.The stuff with the family was perfectly fine as well.  If you see this as the aftermath of three women whose lives were destroyed by Brody, I think it's a nice bit of B story to have the mom and daughter's stuff break up Carrie's story and run alongside it.At least as a follow up to last season, this was as good as it could have been...and way better than anything I wold have come up with, even though nothing was really surprising in retrospect. 

 

You can almost see what direction the show would have gone with Brody dead.

 

However I flinch at the thought that in a few week's we'll be finding out that the Congressman-guy interrogating everyone is working for New Nazir or something ridiculous like that.  Please, just let that not be a thing!

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The stuff with the family was perfectly fine as well.  If you see this as the aftermath of three women whose lives were destroyed by Brody, I think it's a nice bit of B story to have the mom and daughter's stuff break up Carrie's story and run alongside it. 

I even think that the scene with Dana returning home might be the best scene of the whole episode. The way everyone was behaving and how the scene was shot you could really feel Dana's emotions from returning to reality.

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So far, the Brody family stuff is better this season.  However, I fear it's going to turn back into last season with Dana and her sexty boyfriend.

 

I like Carrie's dad, so it was nice to see him return.

 

I don't hate the Senator.  The CIA *is* keeping stuff secret, and he has every reason to be tough on them.

 

Overall a decent start, and surprisingly Brody-less. 

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So far, the Brody family stuff is better this season.  However, I fear it's going to turn back into last season with Dana and her sexty boyfriend.

 

 

I kind of think they are building to some weird relationship (not exactly an "alliance" but a series of interactions) between Dana, Carrie, and Jessica, or at least between Dana and Carrie as the two people most likely to believe in Brody.

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That annoying little shit from the last season of Dexter is going to be an annoying little shit in this season of Homeland.

 

Other than that, I thought the premiere was more than solid and not really silly, which makes me happy.

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I still need to watch this, probably going to get to it tonight or tomorrow. What's the general verdict: nice start, or starting down the road to garbage?

 

The first season is riveting stuff. Nearly every episode is fairly mindblowing, especially the last two episodes of the season. I wasn't nearly as hard on season 2 as some people were. Yeah, it veered a bit too far into 24 territory, but it's still better than every season of 24, except for seasons 2 and maybe 3. Even despite some of the more unbelievable moments from last season, I felt like the drama was still really solid. Plus, they introduce this character named Quinn who is fucking awesome. The season 3 premiere did feel like a return to form and it set up some very interesting plotlines for this season to unravel. It's a must watch and is nowhere close to going down the same road Dexter went down.

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I still need to watch this, probably going to get to it tonight or tomorrow. What's the general verdict: nice start, or starting down the road to garbage?

 

The first season is riveting stuff. Nearly every episode is fairly mindblowing, especially the last two episodes of the season. I wasn't nearly as hard on season 2 as some people were. Yeah, it veered a bit too far into 24 territory, but it's still better than every season of 24, except for seasons 2 and maybe 3. Even despite some of the more unbelievable moments from last season, I felt like the drama was still really solid. Plus, they introduce this character named Quinn who is fucking awesome. The season 3 premiere did feel like a return to form and it set up some very interesting plotlines for this season to unravel. It's a must watch and is nowhere close to going down the same road Dexter went down.

 

 

Good to know. Loved season one, was pretty high on season two, and could really see season three rolling off the rails.

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I still need to watch this, probably going to get to it tonight or tomorrow. What's the general verdict: nice start, or starting down the road to garbage?

 

The first season is riveting stuff. Nearly every episode is fairly mindblowing, especially the last two episodes of the season. I wasn't nearly as hard on season 2 as some people were. Yeah, it veered a bit too far into 24 territory, but it's still better than every season of 24, except for seasons 2 and maybe 3. Even despite some of the more unbelievable moments from last season, I felt like the drama was still really solid. Plus, they introduce this character named Quinn who is fucking awesome. The season 3 premiere did feel like a return to form and it set up some very interesting plotlines for this season to unravel. It's a must watch and is nowhere close to going down the same road Dexter went down.

 

First half of season one of 24 is probably better than any stretch in Homeland. And season four of 24 is also tremendous. Season five was silly but a ton of fun in a Russo- at his best sorta way.

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That annoying little shit from the last season of Dexter is going to be an annoying little shit in this season of Homeland.Other than that, I thought the premiere was more than solid and not really silly, which makes me happy.

I was also annoyed by the dude from Dexter showing up. I'm sure they auditioned plenty of people for that role. To choose the guy who just came off the networks other signature show is an odd move.
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Okay, so I'm caught up now, and I never thought I'd say this, but....They need to bring back Brody ASAP. The first two episodes have been awful, and not even in the silly way season 2 was, where it could at least be goofy fun on occasion. It's just dreadful and boring and completely devoid of anything to care about.

I mean, the Heisenberg-esque simultaneous takedown of 6 different targets on multiple continents was 1000% less suspenseful and thrilling than Carrie kicking that one guy in the nuts in "The Smile." It's like they've even forgotten how to do the 24-type stuff.

Any ideas on when theyr'e gonig to reveal that someone replaced Saul with a Life Model Decoy? Because the guy behind the beard in the first two episodes was not the Saul I know from the first two seasons.

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