Three Quick Steps To Fix "Homeland" Although Its Probably Already Too Late

Step 1: Get rid of this bitch.

More of my plan after the jump if you’re caught up

Look by now I think its clear what happened with Homeland. They knocked it out of the park with an awesome story season 1. Double crossing and back stabbing and twists and turns all surrounding terrorism victims here and abroad. I think by the finale when Brody didn’t pull the trigger on his suicide vest, they realized they had a smash hit on their hands and needed to create multiple seasons now to fill out a series. I mean thats obviously not a fact or at least one that I can confirm, but it sure as fuck feels like that. (UPDATE: Confirmed. “Brody was originally to be killed off at the end of Homeland‘s first season, detonating a vest bomb to kill himself, the vice president and his advisors. But after the relationship between Brody and Mathison became a heavy fan favorite, the storyline changed.”) It actually seems like they are making shit up as they go along. How this series devolved from a savant CIA agent and her team chasing after 2 soldiers-turned-Al-Qaeda to a fucking CIA agent/terrorist love story and an angsty teenage daughter’s life is fucking beyond me.

So, yea, like I said, step one – get rid of Dana. I understand she’s supposed to represent how Brody’s family has been destroyed. Thats a very real thing that would happen to a the family of an American terrorist. But guess what? I just don’t give a fuck. I don’t fucking care about a teenage girl’s love life and her will to live when I tune in to a show about the CIA chasing terrorists. I’m not here to watch a soap opera. Unfortunately this season has already been filmed, so there’s obviously no chance my wish comes true this season. But you could honestly just cut her completely out of the show and not a single person in America would even bat an eyelash. Just cut her and her retarded brother out of the show and focus on the actual CIA and the terrorist and everyone would be happy. Make the show 30 minutes if you have to. I’d rather that than 20 extra minutes of Dana.

Step 2 – Pretend season 2 just didn’t happen. I thought Homeland season 2 was insultingly bad. Again, my theory being that they crushed season 1 and then were making shit up on the fly. The fact that anybody ever thought a relationship between an American Congressman terrorist and a CIA Agent was a plausible storyline is actually a joke. Season 1 with Carrie having conflicted feelings for him kinda made sense since she’s fucking batshit crazy. They fucked and it made a little bit of sense – he being the conflicted tortured veteran of war – her being the lunatic that she is. But having like a full blown romance in season 2 was just awful. Stupid, unrealistic, not entertaining. Just terrible. And it took up like 99% of the season. Only things from season 2 that really matter is the death of Abu Nazir and the explosion of the finale. Just remember those two things and jump back into season 3 with the same outlook you had on season 1 – Carrie is a crazy, emotional wreck that can’t really be trusted by the CIA or herself, but she’s right with a lot of her intuition and intelligence work. That was the bread and butter of season 1 – Carrie was right all along but didn’t know it. The CIA wouldn’t listen, Brody knew it, and the cat and mouse game was scintillating. Now that Brody is on the run and the suicide video has been released, the rest of the world knows Brody as a terrorist, but this time Carrie actually knows he wasn’t responsible for the latest bombing. The storyline has been flipped on its head, but its that angle that made this series awesome in the first place.

Step 3 – Focus on Quinn, Saul and the CIA. This should really be the most important aspect other than getting rid of fucking Dana. Quinn is an awesome character. Not a good character, a great character. He’s cold, calculated, ruthless, but also shows some semblance of a moral compass. At times his motives were unclear. He’s mysterious. But he seems like he’s actually a good dude. Focus on the top notch CIA agent who is torn between his work and his personal values. Focus on the CIA operations where 6 targets are taken out in a 14 minute window. Get back to the struggle between Saul and his trust in Carrie. And as fucking annoying as Carrie’s crying face has gotten, it really is tremendous acting. Get back to the inner struggle of a CIA agent who is amazing at her job but can’t control her bi polar compulsions. All that shit is what made Homeland great. Its what a fucking show about counter terrorism should be. Not a goddam soap opera about the love stories of a crazy woman and a teenage girl.

Unfortunately its probably too late. Season 3 is already in the books and even if they took all these steps for filming season 4, by the time that happens I’ll probably have bailed on the show. I’ll still watch because its the Sunday night Showtime offering but I certainly ain’t happy about it.