Homeland: Season 5 (2015)

*CONTAINS SPOILERS* 

What I liked:

• The whole technology aspect of this season was really good – modernisation can make for a fascinating watch if the material is handled properly, and not in some slap-dash kind of way.
• Astrid getting more screen time. I really liked her in the last season, and was glad to see her have a bigger starring role in this one.
• Not having to watch Quinn and Carrie in a romantic relationship. Really, I think that would have been the last straw for me, so for them to forego it here was a major bonus.
• The European setting – it makes for a different feel to the show. A little disconcerting initially, but when you settle into it, it is really great.
• Touching on the Syria/ISIS issue is ballsy. Just saying.
• Allison Carr’s wheeling and dealing. While I might not have appreciated her as a character (nasty piece of work), I really did like watching her and her games, though they were not as in depth as they could have been. Maybe I am just prejudiced when it comes to Otto – haven’t really been a fan of her since she tried to poach Aragorn from Arwen. Just saying.

What I didn’t like:

• Not having enough time with Quinn or Saul, cause let’s face it, nobody watches this show for that blonde bitch.
• Carrie. Fucking. Mathison. Goodness, it would not be a Homeland review without me complaining about this woman. Granted, she is not as psycho as some of the other seasons, but she in no which way endears herself to me at all. Ugh. Plus, how does Carrie always manage to ingratiate herself to someone with power, and then use them, always play the victim, and somehow always manages to make everything about her?! Die, bitch, die. I think the show would be way better without that crazy bitch. And let me not forget to mention her really hideous ugly crying. Oh my word!
• The sloppy continuation from the end of the last season. It just didn’t flow well, and left way too many unanswered questions.
• Laura Sutton, that reporter. I never, ever thought they would be able to write in another character as annoying as Carrie Mathison, but they did when they wrote about Laura. This woman has no qualms, no morals, nothing. I get that journalism can be a grey area, but what she did? It’s like terrorism in its own right. Ugh. Made me sick to my stomach. And even more annoying was the fact that she was wreaking havoc in a country that wasn’t even her own. How disgusting is that?
• Okay – so Carrie Mathison is out, and yet when the biggest scandal possible breaks out, she is somehow the central character to it all and fixing it? What? I have missed something fundamental here. Really. She just always seems to have license to do whatever the hell she likes.
• The way this show will just not let go of the Carrie/Quinn thing. Makes me sick to my stomach.

Rating:
So after the brilliance that was season four, I was very interested to see what the show would come back with. Especially seeing how they ended it on that horrifying Carrie/Quinn note, something I don’t ever want to see happen. Moving along, two years have passed, Carrie is on her meds, Quinn is soldiering on in Syria, Dar and Saul are still playing games, and not much has changed. I really liked the new setting of Homeland – having it go down in Berlin and especially incorporating that Russian storyline gave it this whole super spy, Cold War feel, and I liked that. Like all old school, but on the other hand very modernised, what with the hacking, and throwing in a dash of terrorists, too. I liked it! The terrorist section was relatively underplayed in this one, which was also alright, seeing as they focused on other things, but I think that it could have been so much more interesting, because whenever we got to see that, I was engrossed. On the other hand, maybe it was time to explore how the people that work for these varying agencies feel and how they can be used, how the threat can come within. All the other seasons have focused on external threats. Last season started exploring how someone from within can be just as bad. I thoroughly enjoyed that Astrid got more screen time, that woman is great, and I am never complaining when Saul gets to dominate, but I did have issues with, again as in season three, an underulitised Quinn, which is annoying as hell. I watch for him and Saul, hands down. Quinn’s character is so layered – when the show chooses to work on him, which is a pity, because we want to know so much more! Again the show danced on the Carrie/Quinn thing, which was something I was initially relieved about (them not being together), and then they went to play with it again. Stop it, writers! Immediately. We don’t need to see this. This season initially tried to give us a semi normal, much less grating Carrie, but naturally that is not a character that can be maintained because what the hell is Homeland without the hysterical, vitimised Carrie? Ugh, that character works on my last nerve! Nothing’s changed – she can still do what she want without dealing with the consequences, she still has strong people in her corner she doesn’t deserve, she’s still dropping her panties at a whim, wrecking people’s lives, driving me mad… nope, no changes. I mean, just look at the whole Jonas thing. Did she really think she could just do what she wanted, break his heart, endanger his kid, the whole katoot, and when she was finished doing all that, go back to him, bang him, and then everything is back to normal? Oh yes, of course she did! This is Carrie Mathison, after all! I really feel that her character is the show’s biggest downfall, and Claire Danes is way too good, because I freaking hate the character. Well, then, of course, they introduced Laura Sutton, and she got on my last nerve, too. Journalism can be a real grey area, for sure, but sometimes… oh, this is one of those subjects that can rage on forever. My biggest issue is that she, herself, was not even German, and there she is, making big decisions that affect the lives of the German people. Who the hell is she?! I appreciate how Homeland always tries something new for the story, and introduces new characters and situations. The cyber aspect of this season was very intriguing, though I wish more had been done with it. Season five is definitely not as solid or as gripping as the last season, that being said, it is still excellent.

Just so you understand why I cannot deal with her, she does plenty of this (again, as always):

It was totally not counteracted with enough Quinn, for real! I would just like to take a moment to appreciate the man for all his… virtues.

His deadpan delivery is also hot as hell.

Waiting around and looking damn fine while doing it.

Goodness, that lip licking should be illegal.

Nice smile, too, when he does bring it out.

Just saying…

Even though there is the icky potentially kicking it again with Carrie aspect, it’s pretty hot when he calls her on her bullshit.

This. Quinn. Avenging. With a gun. Scheming or avenging. It doesn’t matter. This is it.

When you can march out somewhere/to somewhere and look like that? Winning.