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Homeland 2.06 A Gettysburg Adress
In which I wonder when Dana did become my favourite teen on tv and the holding of hands on this show starts to get into Doctor Who territory in terms of emotional significance and ambiguity.
Seriously, Dana breaks my heart. She's so earnest and young and real, and she gets it, she gets the reality of others, that what happens to other people matters as much as what happens to yourself, especially if it's your fault. Of course she goes to the hospital to check for herself what became of the woman Finn hit with his car. (Handwaving here the likelihood of Dana finding the right room with the right accident victim.) Not so coincidentally, imo, the woman - and her daughter - turn out to be people of colour. Why not coincidentally? Because as I said last week, this accidental hit and Finn's reaction to it - the panick exclusively on his own behalf - mirrors his father's attitude on a "small" (not that every life isn't big, but you know what I mean) scale, and the general "stuff happens" privileged policy which in terms feeds the anger and terrorism in a vicious circle. Of course Dana pointing out the dead woman's daughter is their responsibility is met by disbelief and ignoring by Finn.
Meanwhile, among the adults: at first I thought that after the intensity of the last epsiode this would be where everyone recuperates, so to speak, and in a way it is, early on, but of course this show lives by providing suspense. Brody does come clean about Our Friend The Tailor, which leads to what looks to the CIA by the end of the ep very much like a trap with lethal results but to the viewer not as much, instead putting us in the same position as Carrie, guessing but not knowing for sure that Brody didn't know this would happen, and second-guessing herself. But before I get to the last scene: the dynamics keep shifting through the episode. Having told Jessica one version of the truth (with a spectacularly big lie of omission), Brody lies to her agan when being asked whether "working with the CIA" also means "working with Carrie Mathison". There is a rational reason for this: I don't see how he could explain the CIA taking Carrie back (which btw they haven't officially done, which makes me worried for Carrie, because this freelance thing means they can throw her to the dogs even more if it becomes inconvenient) and specifically making her his handler without admitting everything she accused him off on the lawn had been true. But on an emotional level, it's also the not wanting to tell your wife that the woman you had an affair with is back with you. And then there's the juxtaposition of the two hand holding scenes; in one case, Brody openly vents his resentment over the power Carrie now has over him, in the other, well, that's the big question - is he manipulating her with her own gestures or is he simply responding emotionally to her the way she did to him? Both? Ambiguity, how I love thee.
Also, being Carrie sucks again. First Quinn more or less accuses her of being a softie on Brody, and then she really is given reasons to wonder whether or not her breakthrough with Brody was genuine, or whether Brody is lying to her again. Trusting your instincts is all very well but not if your and everyone else's confidence in your judgment has been so thoroughly shattered before, and with the same person. Plus having been right about Brody once doesn't mean being right about Brody always. This being said, I think Brody genuinenly had no idea, not least because as far as we've seen, he really gets minimal information from Nazir & Co., only when they want him to perform a specific task. (Let's not forget Brody was never meant to live in freedom beyond a short limited time before blowing himself up. He wasn't trained to be a long term operative, and this it makes sense he's not yet treated or trusted as one.) However I think Roya was doing what Carrie tried to do in the episode - passing on information to see what it stirs up, setting a trap.
Sidenote: I hope we get more about Roya now in terms of fleshing out the character.
Quinn: I had a moment of wondering whether the show was doing a Spooks (i.e. making one believe a character is in for the longer haul, then killing him/her off early on), but no. Am not sure how I feel about that. I'm Dexter-traumatized re: characters named Quinn (where I was rooting for their demise/show departure in every season more, but no such luck).
Mike and Lauder: have now managed to finger Brody for the death of Thomas Walker, resulting in Mike being told by Estes and Saul to cease his investigation but telling Jessica what he found out anyway. Given Brody's nebulous "I work for the CIA", she can ascribe it to this reason, but I wonder whether this is where Jessica's backstory with Mrs. Walker will come in. (Remember, she felt very guilty because she'd felt judgmental about Mrs. Walker moving on back when Walker and Brody were still missing.) Which brings me back, in a way, to the Dana and Finn storyline: the show has a for me appealing habit of not dismissing deaths once they've done their shock purpose but showing the enormity of them, not just when they happen to main characters. Walker was a person to Mike and Lauder, and so they can't let it lie. Jessica's first reaction was denial, but armed with the bit of the truth she has, I wonder whether after thinking it over she won't be able to let it go anymore, either.
Lastly: a few years back when I watched Heroes, the show created itself a problem (among many others) by making the Bennett family consist not just of parents and adopted daughter Claire but also of son Lyle. This had the result that the show insisted on telling us Noah Bennett was the most dedicated father ever, changing sides and performing miracles for his little girl, but as the show wasn't interested in developing Lyle it meant Noah Bennett never showed a smidgeon of interest in his son, either. Chris Brody so far also drew the short straw; he's there, he's around, and that's it. I'm all for the show not doing the obvious and mirroring Brody's attachment to Issa with his relationship with his son, instead focusing on his relationship with his daughter, but the occasional acknowledgement, both by the narrative and by Brody, that he has another kid would be nice.
Seriously, Dana breaks my heart. She's so earnest and young and real, and she gets it, she gets the reality of others, that what happens to other people matters as much as what happens to yourself, especially if it's your fault. Of course she goes to the hospital to check for herself what became of the woman Finn hit with his car. (Handwaving here the likelihood of Dana finding the right room with the right accident victim.) Not so coincidentally, imo, the woman - and her daughter - turn out to be people of colour. Why not coincidentally? Because as I said last week, this accidental hit and Finn's reaction to it - the panick exclusively on his own behalf - mirrors his father's attitude on a "small" (not that every life isn't big, but you know what I mean) scale, and the general "stuff happens" privileged policy which in terms feeds the anger and terrorism in a vicious circle. Of course Dana pointing out the dead woman's daughter is their responsibility is met by disbelief and ignoring by Finn.
Meanwhile, among the adults: at first I thought that after the intensity of the last epsiode this would be where everyone recuperates, so to speak, and in a way it is, early on, but of course this show lives by providing suspense. Brody does come clean about Our Friend The Tailor, which leads to what looks to the CIA by the end of the ep very much like a trap with lethal results but to the viewer not as much, instead putting us in the same position as Carrie, guessing but not knowing for sure that Brody didn't know this would happen, and second-guessing herself. But before I get to the last scene: the dynamics keep shifting through the episode. Having told Jessica one version of the truth (with a spectacularly big lie of omission), Brody lies to her agan when being asked whether "working with the CIA" also means "working with Carrie Mathison". There is a rational reason for this: I don't see how he could explain the CIA taking Carrie back (which btw they haven't officially done, which makes me worried for Carrie, because this freelance thing means they can throw her to the dogs even more if it becomes inconvenient) and specifically making her his handler without admitting everything she accused him off on the lawn had been true. But on an emotional level, it's also the not wanting to tell your wife that the woman you had an affair with is back with you. And then there's the juxtaposition of the two hand holding scenes; in one case, Brody openly vents his resentment over the power Carrie now has over him, in the other, well, that's the big question - is he manipulating her with her own gestures or is he simply responding emotionally to her the way she did to him? Both? Ambiguity, how I love thee.
Also, being Carrie sucks again. First Quinn more or less accuses her of being a softie on Brody, and then she really is given reasons to wonder whether or not her breakthrough with Brody was genuine, or whether Brody is lying to her again. Trusting your instincts is all very well but not if your and everyone else's confidence in your judgment has been so thoroughly shattered before, and with the same person. Plus having been right about Brody once doesn't mean being right about Brody always. This being said, I think Brody genuinenly had no idea, not least because as far as we've seen, he really gets minimal information from Nazir & Co., only when they want him to perform a specific task. (Let's not forget Brody was never meant to live in freedom beyond a short limited time before blowing himself up. He wasn't trained to be a long term operative, and this it makes sense he's not yet treated or trusted as one.) However I think Roya was doing what Carrie tried to do in the episode - passing on information to see what it stirs up, setting a trap.
Sidenote: I hope we get more about Roya now in terms of fleshing out the character.
Quinn: I had a moment of wondering whether the show was doing a Spooks (i.e. making one believe a character is in for the longer haul, then killing him/her off early on), but no. Am not sure how I feel about that. I'm Dexter-traumatized re: characters named Quinn (where I was rooting for their demise/show departure in every season more, but no such luck).
Mike and Lauder: have now managed to finger Brody for the death of Thomas Walker, resulting in Mike being told by Estes and Saul to cease his investigation but telling Jessica what he found out anyway. Given Brody's nebulous "I work for the CIA", she can ascribe it to this reason, but I wonder whether this is where Jessica's backstory with Mrs. Walker will come in. (Remember, she felt very guilty because she'd felt judgmental about Mrs. Walker moving on back when Walker and Brody were still missing.) Which brings me back, in a way, to the Dana and Finn storyline: the show has a for me appealing habit of not dismissing deaths once they've done their shock purpose but showing the enormity of them, not just when they happen to main characters. Walker was a person to Mike and Lauder, and so they can't let it lie. Jessica's first reaction was denial, but armed with the bit of the truth she has, I wonder whether after thinking it over she won't be able to let it go anymore, either.
Lastly: a few years back when I watched Heroes, the show created itself a problem (among many others) by making the Bennett family consist not just of parents and adopted daughter Claire but also of son Lyle. This had the result that the show insisted on telling us Noah Bennett was the most dedicated father ever, changing sides and performing miracles for his little girl, but as the show wasn't interested in developing Lyle it meant Noah Bennett never showed a smidgeon of interest in his son, either. Chris Brody so far also drew the short straw; he's there, he's around, and that's it. I'm all for the show not doing the obvious and mirroring Brody's attachment to Issa with his relationship with his son, instead focusing on his relationship with his daughter, but the occasional acknowledgement, both by the narrative and by Brody, that he has another kid would be nice.
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And I think it highlighted an implausibility in an earlier episode - given that Nazir's organisation appeared to be able to produce several operatives in Gettysburg at short notice, why did they have to send Brody to collect the tailor? I seem to remember Roya said he was the only person the tailor would recognise, but given his response to Brody that didn't seem to help much.
By the way, there was a literal here which I wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't done it several times recently - a third N keeps turning up in "genuinely".
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I can see that, yes.
re: how Dana found the hospital - actually they bothered with this part in as much as Finn says there is one, hospital x, only x miles away from where it happened, and surely they helped her there, etc. Everything else is unexplained.
why did they have to send Brody to collect the tailor?
I never thought they did; I assumed the real reason was that they needed to keep giving Brody incriminating tasks so he doesn't lose his emotional connection to them. Again, since he wasn't originally supposed to survive beyond a fixed point, there is no reason for them to believe he could be a long term sleeper agent on his lonesome without constant reinforcement/supervision.
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