‘Homeland’ Returns: Post-Bombing Fallout Tests the Show’s Thrills
By TV Critic The Daily Gazette September 28, 2013
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Promotional images for Season 3 of Showtime’s “Homeland,” premiering Sunday.
Many fans of Showtime’s Homeland felt the series veered into overly preposterous territory last season. Yet plausibility has never been the show’s top priority—not when the central drama revolves around the intense, tangled relationship between Claire Danes’ brilliantly unhinged CIA officer Carrie Mathison and Damian Lewis’ Nicholas Brody, the Marine sergeant turned POW, converted terrorist operative, Carrie’s lover, rapid-rise Congressman, potential Vice President, and now international fugitive, framed by Al-Qaeda for the devastating car bomb attack on CIA headquarters in Langley that closed Season 2.
The burning question as the series returns Sunday night: Can Homeland sustain its gripping fantasy, or has it exhausted its best twists?
Based on the first two episodes provided to critics, the answer is a qualified yes—and a cautious no.
With Brody now on the run and his political ambitions shattered (more definitively than, say, a certain disgraced politician’s), the Manchurian Candidate-style intrigue that hooked viewers from the start feels officially played out. Nearly every possible complication from Brody’s divided loyalties has been explored exhaustively. The core suspense—that delicious uncertainty about trust in a post-9/11 world—has lost much of its bite. Amid the high-stakes action and sharp insights into the human cost of national security, what’s left often resembles a high-end soap opera: Will Carrie and Brody ever find a path to happiness? Meanwhile, a strong ensemble of supporting players remains far from overstaying their welcome.
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Damian Lewis as Nicholas Brody in “Homeland.”
The brightest spot in these early episodes is the elevated role for Mandy Patinkin’s Saul Berenson, Carrie’s longtime mentor and now, post-attack, the CIA’s Acting Director. Season 3 picks up two months after the Langley bombing, and Patinkin’s portrayal of a man weighed down by grief is masterful. Saul moves through the scarred headquarters like a mourner at a mass funeral, pondering retaliation with quiet sorrow. Patinkin brings a depth of burdensome responsibility and private melancholy that elevates the material—an American take on John le Carré’s weary George Smiley, stranded in a flashier but shallower spy thriller. His performance is so compelling, it almost single-handedly anchors the season’s emotional core.
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Mandy Patinkin as Saul Berenson.
Carrie, meanwhile, is off her bipolar medication and spiraling dangerously. Claire Danes remains riveting, capturing the raw vulnerability and intensity that earned her Emmys. But after two seasons of manic episodes, explosive rants, and tear-streaked breakdowns, there’s a risk of diminishing returns. Danes’ expressive face—those wide eyes and quivering features—is still a marvel, but repeated hysterics could soon elicit groans rather than gasps from viewers.
From the outset, Carrie lands in trouble, insisting on Brody’s innocence during testimony before a congressional committee (portrayed somewhat unconvincingly—do the writers ever tune into C-SPAN?). The CIA faces its own reckoning, with a leaked memo about Brody’s immunity deal fueling the fire. One moment draws an unintended laugh: Saul’s genuine worry that Congress might abolish the agency entirely. Outlandish plots are Homeland‘s stock-in-trade, but that stretches even this show’s elastic credibility.
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Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison.
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Scenes from the Season 2 finale bombing at Langley that reshaped the series.
Ultimately, these opening episodes suggest Homeland is pivoting toward new ground: more focus on institutional fallout, moral ambiguities in intelligence work, and the personal toll on its operatives. The Brody-Carrie romance takes a backseat (at least initially), allowing Patinkin’s Saul to shine and refreshing the dynamics. Whether this shift sustains the addictive tension of earlier seasons remains to be seen, but the strong performances and timely themes keep it compelling viewing. Homeland may have lost some of its original paranoia-fueled magic, but it hasn’t lost its pulse yet.
