Homeland Season One - Ended Okay

A believable female hero in Homeland

So, yeah, I watched the season one finale last night, and it didn't disappoint. But it wasn't a "wow" type of episode either. I couldn't believe the dude would go through with blowing himself up, and he didn't. The way it was written was that he tried to, but the bomber vest malfunctioned. And his attempt to fix it took so long that a call from his daughter delayed him just enough so that the opportunity to blow everyone up passed.

But it could be argued that the call from his daughter did, in fact, change his mind. Whatever. He didn't go through with it just as I believed he wouldn't. All in all it was okay.

But I'm not without problems. Besides the one about how I can't believe a Marine would commit suicide by blowing himself up "terrorist fashion" like the chumps in the Middle East.

Another problem I'm having with Homeland is the same kind of problem I've been having with Blacklist. That is the on-again, off-again, on-again, off-again, back and forth with the MC Carrie who at first believed the marine dude was a traitor, then she didn't, then she did, then she didn't, and now, once again, she does. Sheesh.

I had to go through that, (and am still going through that) with the ever-dizzy and ever-fickle Lizzy Keene in the Blacklist. First she hates Red, then she loves him (as a father), then she hates him, then she loves him, and now she hates him once again. I can't stand this. Can't anyone make up their mind? Apparently not these two chicks.

But unlike Lizzy Keene, Carrie does come across as a hero, and I still consider her a hero. And I mean a realistic hero. A real true life-like hero. Not some super-chick who beats up dudes by the dozens every episode. When shows do that it makes it look like Hollywood is glorifying violence with women physically fighting, not with their minds but bare-knuckle, knock-down, drag-out fighting with bloody noses, broken bones and death blows.

I never believed women were made for that type of thing. I never believed women would WANT to be involved with that type of thing. And they shouldn't. Why? That's easily answered. It's because a woman would stand no chance against a trained male fighter. None. I've explained why many times already. And when I see it happen in almost every action show nowadays, it turns me off.

But Homeland is giving us a real believable woman hero. Not because she's not beating up people, but because she's smart and clever, and oh so flawed. As I touched on in yesterday's post. She's bipolar. And even though I don't think it was necessary to make being bipolar a part of the show, they did anyway, and they are making it work.

So yeah. Season One of Homeland gets a passing grade in my book. As I recall, Season One of Blacklist got not just a passing grade, but a stellar grade. And it got better in Season Two and it peaked in Season Three. Season Four, however, was hard to watch and Season Five completely tanked. I don't expect it to rebound with Season Six. Although it could. We'll see.