OT - Homeland Finale
April 27th, 2020 at 10:33 AM ^
I'm reading lots of positive chatter on the finale. I stopped watching in season 4, not sure I made it to the end. I might jump back in since we've got a lot of time on our hands. I heard the show improved considerably.
Homeland is the show that educated me to the fact that, oh, about a dozen people work at the CIA.
April 27th, 2020 at 10:36 AM ^
Loved the ending. It was both an unexpected twist and exactly what you would expect of Carrie. Great show.
I was kinda disappointed, but that's just me. I loved the series and I thought it wrapped up without any questions, but it wasn't one of my favorite shows of the series.
April 27th, 2020 at 10:36 AM ^
Loved the ending. It was both an unexpected twist and exactly what you would expect of Carrie. Great show.
April 27th, 2020 at 10:40 AM ^
I thought they wrapped things up very nicely, with one exception. My one quibble was they did not explain why Carrie was moving around so freely, especially the international travel, after the crimes she allegedly committed. I thought it might be explained by Saul being in on it, but clearly he was not. I'm going to assume she used one of the passports she picked up out of Franny's room.But I wish they had shown her shaking surveillance or using her surviving tech team to forge and ankle monitor signal (not that she had one). Something that acknowledged she would not be able to roam the globe unfettered.
April 27th, 2020 at 11:32 AM ^
Yeah, I think it was the passports. But you're correct that you had to suspend belief a little bit because if she was arrested in Kabul, brought back to the US for an FBI investigation and then also on Saul's radar as working with Yevgeny, she would have had eyes all over her. There wasn't enough screentime to show her evading surveillance (it was already a 12 episode season) if that even would have been possible so you just had to assume she was doing that, I guess.
Still a really good season. Excellent finish. And to the OP's point, once they got out of the weird middle seasons in which they spent a lot of time exploring her mental illness, familial relationships, etc. it picked back up again. Once they just focused on her being a bad ass spy, it became more enjoyable to me. I think the showrunners wanted to make it about mental illness but that was choppy and not received well and they regrouped and just made it a spy show.
That last season was a million times better than the last season of Jack Ryan (which was essentially a spy parody).
April 27th, 2020 at 10:42 AM ^
Stopped watching in season 2 for whatever reason. I will need to pick it back up.
April 27th, 2020 at 10:44 AM ^
I honestly had no idea this was still going! Season 2 went off the rails for me about half way through so I stopped tuning in. Crazy.
I shouldn't be surprised though, Showtime tends to let these things run. Its wild to me that there are more seasons of Californication, Dexter, Shameless, Homeland, Weeds, Nurse Jackie, etc. than there ever were of the Sopranos or The Wire.
April 27th, 2020 at 11:01 AM ^
That's probably more a product of the show's creators vs. network keeping them on a short-leash. You think HBO was telling David Chase or David Simon that they just couldn't carry another season of Sopranos or The Wire, respectively?
April 27th, 2020 at 11:20 AM ^
I'm pretty sure this is exactly what happened with the Wire.
In the case of The Sopranos it was the other way around. The network convinced David Chase to divide the final season into two seasons. There was more filler than necessary toward the end.
I loved season 1 but season 2 also went off the rails for me. I thought this show had an amazing premise for a season or two but im pretty impressed it was able to adapt and keep going past the initial story.
April 27th, 2020 at 11:03 AM ^
I thought the finale was great. Kept me at the edge of my seat, my wife was yelling at the TV for Carrie not to do it. I was disappointed she did but very satisfied with the last few scenes.
The show ended completely different how it started and after Brody's death I wasn't sure how they'd pivot but they ended up reinventing itself and while obviously shifting focus and in a way becoming a completely different show, it didn't stop being a good show.
April 27th, 2020 at 11:41 AM ^
Indeed. The only criticisms I've read of the Finale (or season 8 at large) are that certain details aren't realistic. But it was all great storytelling, and did an impressive job of reflecting our government and foreign policies. If you missed seasons 4-7, I think you can jump back in at season 8 without missing too much.
April 27th, 2020 at 11:54 AM ^
Yeah, you could almost say that for any of seasons 5-8. They pretty much all stood alone and resolved story arcs from start to finish I feel like.
April 27th, 2020 at 11:43 AM ^
Long time homeland viewer. Excellent writing, plot development, etc.
perfect ending, it was all about Carry and she risked it all for her country while keeping Sal’s intel intact.
April 27th, 2020 at 12:16 PM ^
We stuck with it throughout the "lean" years and felt like we were rewarded with a great run the past few years.
Loved the ending. The relationship between Carrie and Saul was the heart and soul of the show.
April 27th, 2020 at 12:24 PM ^
My wife & I are huge Homeland fans. Plenty of twists and turns over eight seasons. Most of the time, the writing has been good to excellent. Acting is always excellent. We thought the final show was very disappointing at first, then the ending was a cool. We will miss the show. Good spy stories are not easy to find especially if they are current with the times.
Interesting to see what the show runners are going to do next.
Wife and I are huge fans. Enjoyed the series finale. Our experience was the same as Harbaughs Lef.
Agreed with much of the above. The series was totally bimodal. The first and last two seasons were great. The middle was yuck.
Also, the final season was one of the best TV endings I have seen.
We took advantage of the free Showtime to catch up. Unfortunately, they took it away from us with two episodes left! I'm thinking we're going to have to due a free trial to get the last two episodes. We'll see.
April 28th, 2020 at 12:34 PM ^
I thought it was a great ending, especially given how difficult it is to end a show and not have everyone hate it (GOT, Seinfeld, etc.).
Plus, the ending perfectly sets up a potential movie down the road someday...