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Homeland on Ch4 (UK Pace) - No Spoilers! (Part 2)


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Old 15-12-2013, 21:06
Goaty
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Ahh so Saul got plans for Brody's escape!
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Old 15-12-2013, 21:18
juliancarswell
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Have you noticed how she manages to look like a spy where ever she goes?
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Old 15-12-2013, 21:26
Goaty
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Have you noticed how she manages to look like a spy where ever she goes?
Yeah but she is Frenchwoman this time...


And I been wonder about Iran men don't wear ties as I google, good information;

Neckties - and bowties - were said to be decadent, un-Islamic and viewed as "symbols of the Cross" and the oppressive West.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6528881.stm
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Old 15-12-2013, 21:40
juliancarswell
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I always wondered why " Iwantmedinnerbad use to do that.
Ithought it was just him doing the old "Man o "f the people" pitch.
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Old 15-12-2013, 22:04
Goaty
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Oh that's so brilliant ending! Knew Brody would be upset to find out he was just be used by Abu Nazir! I knew he would do that!

So must to watch final episode next week to see how he get out of it and CIA would help?
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Old 15-12-2013, 22:09
OffTheCuff
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I have never been to Iran before but is it possible for a European woman with a particularly fair complexion and blonde hair to wonder around Tehran without arousing any suspicion?

Interesting episode still..
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Old 15-12-2013, 22:23
feeVerte
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did anyone think that there was an odd sound like a gunshot and Brody paused for a second? What if Javadi thought he is now been exposed and shot himself? That is what I thought, gonna watch the ending again on +1
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Old 15-12-2013, 22:24
shya100
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I have never been to Iran before but is it possible for a European woman with a particularly fair complexion and blonde hair to wonder around Tehran without arousing any suspicion?

Interesting episode still..
Ah but she had brown hair. Brown hair. That makes all the difference. In honesty I don't know but I assume that in Tehran they have the usual expat white crew: diplomats, NGO and charity workers etc that hang out. So it may be fairly unusual to see a white person but not enough to raise suspicion. In the pilot she was running around some city in Iraq with blond her.
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Old 15-12-2013, 22:25
Darth-Habib
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I have never been to Iran before but is it possible for a European woman with a particularly fair complexion and blonde hair to wonder around Tehran without arousing any suspicion?

Interesting episode still..
I think she was pretending to be Swiss (they speak, Inter Alia, French)

The Swiss are one of the very few Western Countries to have a normal diplomatic relationship with Iran, and represent the interests of other countries, sans diplomatic relations with Iran, though there have been a deterioration in relations between the Swiss and the Iranians.
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Old 15-12-2013, 22:40
jammoon1
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I really enjoyed this week's episode. I was so hoping that Brody would go through with it and it's left a great cliffhanger for next week.
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Old 15-12-2013, 22:51
catsitter
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I knew as soon as I saw that ashtray that he would use it as a weapon. I didn't get why they thought they needed to supply Brody with a weapon in the first place!
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Old 15-12-2013, 22:56
slouchingthatch
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I knew as soon as I saw that ashtray that he would use it as a weapon. I didn't get why they thought they needed to supply Brody with a weapon in the first place!
Because they didn't know where they would meet and whether there would be a weapon to hand. The ashtray was just a nice piece of improvisation by Brody.

Plus, of course, if they hadn't given him the needle then he couldn't have destroyed it to set up doubts about whether he'd turned again ...
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Old 15-12-2013, 22:59
slouchingthatch
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I really enjoyed that. Felt like a season 1 episode.

Even though I kind of knew Brody wouldn't betray his mission - after all, Carrie still believed in him and the first rule of Homeland is that Carrie is never wrong - I thought the writers did a really good job of planting the seeds of doubt and giving him every possible reason to turn.

Good tension throughout, and still lots of questions to answer next week. It's been a long time in coming, but the last few episodes have gotten progressively better.

My usual weekly thoughts:
http://slouchingtowardstv.com/2013/1...man-in-tehran/
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Old 15-12-2013, 23:35
shya100
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I really enjoyed that. Felt like a season 1 episode.

Even though I kind of knew Brody wouldn't betray his mission - after all, Carrie still believed in him and the first rule of Homeland is that Carrie is never wrong - I thought the writers did a really good job of planting the seeds of doubt and giving him every possible reason to turn.

Good tension throughout, and still lots of questions to answer next week. It's been a long time in coming, but the last few episodes have gotten progressively better.

My usual weekly thoughts:
http://slouchingtowardstv.com/2013/1...man-in-tehran/
Yeah I think they really suffered this year with the predicament. Brody gone but not gone and then because of that being unable to invest in another mystery so some episodes just felt like filler.
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Old 15-12-2013, 23:47
catsitter
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Because they didn't know where they would meet and whether there would be a weapon to hand. The ashtray was just a nice piece of improvisation by Brody.
What I meant was, I am sure Brody can kill a man with his bare hands if need be so they didn't need to send him a weapon.
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Old 15-12-2013, 23:48
slouchingthatch
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Yeah I think they really suffered this year with the predicament. Brody gone but not gone and then because of that being unable to invest in another mystery so some episodes just felt like filler.
For me, I think the basic premise was okay but the pacing was off. If they had crammed the first five episodes into three and stretched the final three episodes out over five, it would have felt better balanced.

Oh, and I could have lived without the Dana sexting storyline altogether too.

On the positive side, I've enjoyed the last four episodes rather a lot. It's all a bit preposterous - seriously, why does Saul let Carrie get anywhere near Brody when he knows full well she's going to go rogue at some point? - but then Homeland has always been preposterous, no more so than 24 or indeed any other action/espionage-based series.
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Old 15-12-2013, 23:51
slouchingthatch
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What I meant was, I am sure Brody can kill a man with his bare hands if need be so they didn't need to send him a weapon.
I know what you meant - my response was meant slightly tongue in cheek.

Seriously though, could Brody have killed Akbari with his bare hands? Probably. But could he do it quietly enough not to attract attention? Unlikely. The cyanide needle made sense to me - silent but deadly and 100% sure to succeed.
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Old 15-12-2013, 23:54
shya100
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For me, I think the basic premise was okay but the pacing was off. If they had crammed the first five episodes into three and stretched the final three episodes out over five, it would have felt better balanced.

Oh, and I could have lived without the Dana sexting storyline altogether too.

On the positive side, I've enjoyed the last four episodes rather a lot. It's all a bit preposterous - seriously, why does Saul let Carrie get anywhere near Brody when he knows full well she's going to go rogue at some point? - but then Homeland has always been preposterous, no more so than 24 or indeed any other action/espionage-based series.
They do okay but I do think they got a little lost this year. Carrie always was a live wire and they seemed to just work around her and the demands of drama means that she needs to do these things.
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Old 15-12-2013, 23:59
koantemplation
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For me, I think the basic premise was okay but the pacing was off. If they had crammed the first five episodes into three and stretched the final three episodes out over five, it would have felt better balanced.

Oh, and I could have lived without the Dana sexting storyline altogether too.
Definitely agree about the pacing and Dana's 'storyline'.

The first half of the series really felt like filler. I couldn't tell if it was because the actors were not available for film so they had to make stuff up or if they meant to do it this way.
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Old 16-12-2013, 00:01
slouchingthatch
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They do okay but I do think they got a little lost this year. Carrie always was a live wire and they seemed to just work around her and the demands of drama means that she needs to do these things.
Of course. All TV drama requires a degree of suspension of disbelief. Homeland perhaps needs a bit more than most, but it's hardly alone in that respect nor is it the worst offender by any means. If I like the show, I'm happy to go along with the ride and enjoy it for what it is - and then giggle at the silliness of it all afterwards ...

With any drama series, really, if you bear five little words in mind, you can never go too far wrong: Don't. Try. This. At. Home.
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Old 16-12-2013, 00:03
koantemplation
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Of course. All TV drama requires a degree of suspension of disbelief. Homeland perhaps needs a bit more than most, but it's hardly alone in that respect nor is it the worst offender by any means. If I like the show, I'm happy to go along with the ride and enjoy it for what it is - and then giggle at the silliness of it all afterwards ...

With any drama series, really, if you bear five little words in mind, you can never go too far wrong: Don't. Try. This. At. Home.
I can't believe that Carrie get shot for disobeying orders, and STILL does it.
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Old 16-12-2013, 00:05
Casmana
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Pretty sure that Saul knows by now that whatever he orders Carrie to do she will do the opposite.
Is it an arranged plan ? He speaks an order so that she actually knows he means do the opposite to what I'm saying ?
Tonight's episode so tension fuelled. Brilliant stuff .
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Old 16-12-2013, 00:07
shya100
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I can't believe that Carrie get shot for disobeying orders, and STILL does it.
That had to be the funniest. I quite admire the fact they did that. It was definitely the harshest way they have ever dealt with her. Poor Carrie.
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Old 16-12-2013, 00:09
slouchingthatch
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Definitely agree about the pacing and Dana's 'storyline'.

The first half of the series really felt like filler. I couldn't tell if it was because the actors were not available for film so they had to make stuff up or if they meant to do it this way.
Looking back on the first 4-5 episodes I think Carrie and Saul's long con could have been played out more quickly - but equally it did need some time to unfold to draw us in. As I said above, compressing the first 5 eps into 3 would (for me) have been a better balance.

But perhaps more than anything the thing that irked me about the opening episodes was the Dana storyline, which is what made those hours really drag. It wasn't really necessary - other than to give Morgan Saylor and Morena Baccarin something to do - and it was absolutely 100% filler.

Overall, I do think the writers were trying to do the right thing in setting up the long con and gently adjusting the direction of the series. They just took a couple of episodes too long to do it.

I did think tonight's episode was great (if a little ludicrous even by Homeland standards), but I also think it would have been even better with the uncertainty over Brody and Carrie's general paranoia if it had played out over two episodes, with the cliffhanger of the first episode being Brody passing his vetting, being greeted by the crowd and then breaking the needle.

(Shrugs.) All that matters, though, is that we're building up to a tense final episode and I'm still not 100% convinced that Brody will survive it. (Staying resolutely spoiler-free for now, la-la-la-la-laaaaaa ...)
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Old 16-12-2013, 00:45
Mark.
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Must. Not. "Acquire". Finale.

After a reasonably slow season, tonight was brilliant. It showed that Javadi, for now at least, is still co-operating with the CIA (he stands to benefit from Akbari being dead so might just be playing along). Then the swinging back and forth of "is-he-isn't-he" with Brody was a throwback to the previous two seasons.
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