As the first half of the television season begins to wrap up, and some series with shorter seasons hurtle towards their finales, shows have started their usual ramp up in narrative pace. The stakes get increasingly a little higher, as audience adrenaline runs a little faster. This season of Homeland has filled my Sunday evening Twitter stream with variations on, “OMG HOMELAND!!!” — until two weeks ago, when it was all “WTF HOMELAND!?!” and then this past Sunday, where it was more: “Hmmm. Homeland?” This is not what we were expecting.

But the season isn’t over yet, and Homeland still has time to pull a fast one on us, then leave us hanging until next season. It’s been a shaky and oftentimes bizarre last few episodes, and viewers are starting to get nervous – spinning their own conspiracy theories about how the whole thing might play out. “The show has to be smarter than this,” is what they seem to say. As much as any TV fan is devoted to their shows of choice, the kind of devotion witnessed with Homeland viewers is its own special case. Since winning all the laurels of Best New Television Ever, the show has kept its cohort of intelligent viewers through its much lauded script, acting, and cleverly networked plotlines. Homeland can’t just end! It has to end with emotional and narrative realism, with political integrity. But when the pacing of Season 2 has been so sloppy, and even its use of technology so unrealistic, could that possibly be where it will end up? … Read More