So… where do we go from here?
For the last twelve weeks, Sunday night has meant a date with stricken genius Carrie Matheson, sad ‘n’ stoic Saul Berenson, grouchily ambitious David Estes and the conflicted traitor-cum-instinctive hero Nick Brody (although, like Inspector Morse, he rarely uses his first name), along with his frequently naked wife, perceptively profane daughter and karate-kicking son.
The ride from the release of ginger Jerry Garcia to Carrie’s seizure from the kind of electroshock treatment that led to Lou Reed making Metal Machine Music has been utterly captivating, a joyride in a deadlocked muscle car with a driver you don’t know very well: frightening, fascinating, frustrating and frequently fraught, but for the most part, fantastic.
The adventures of Carrie, Saul and the Brody Bunch ended with so many questions that a second run felt overdue the moment the credits rolled at the end of Season 1’s feature-length finale. Each week, CultBox has had queries about plot points, and while some were deliberately snarky (we’re still not sure what the hell VitaminWater is), others had deep significance – and they remain unanswered.
Fortunately for all fans of swearing teens, global terror plots and Saul’s cap, said second season of Homeland is already in production in the US for transmission this autumn – hopefully, we’ll get to see it before 2013 – and unsurprisingly, the creative team behind the show haven’t disregarded the matters that need resolving. In fact, they’ve even made a handy teaser listing them – including a few we’d overlooked.
Who has the video?
The memory card containing the video Brody made in anticipation of his (ultimately aborted) blowing up of the Vice-President and the Chiefs of Staff was left in a nook behind a bench for someone to collect… and somebody collected it. Who? Well, we think that must relate to…
Who is the mole?
…the identity of the person who has been leaking crucial data from within the CIA. Somebody kept Abu Nazir’s people on the ground – Aileen Morgan, Tom Walker, perhaps even Brody himself – in the know from the very beginning, and it’s almost certainly this informant who now has Brody’s confessional home movie in their possession.
But who is it? Even before his dodgy polygraph tests, we were suspicious of Saul, even though it felt dirty and shameful to be questioning his integrity. Yet our doubts about the beardy brooder remain.
Where is the vest?
We assumed Brody had binned his bombing apparel from Gettysburg after failing to use it, but we never saw him chuck it in the trash.
Come to think of it, it’s not exactly the kind of thing you can leave out for the bin men, not even if they keep spilling rubbish up your garden path. We think Dana Brody will find it and probably drop a few F-bombs into the bargain.
What will Carrie remember?
This is perhaps the most crucial point of all. As the anaesthetic she ingested in preparation for her ECT took hold, Carrie worked out that Brody really was working for Abu Nazir after all. Will she remember when she wakes up?
Our bet: not straightaway, but it’ll definitely occur eventually – and probably at the tensest, most inopportune moment possible. Soundtracked by Miles Davis.
Is it really over?
No, of course not, we’ve already said, the second season is already in being… oh. They mean the romance between Brody and Carrie.
Well, the chemistry between them was as explosive as the Gettysburg vest, but do we really need to see a continuation of the affair in Season 2? It’s bound to happen, but on balance, we’d rather it didn’t. Jess Brody would be back in the arms – and bed – of Mike Faber before you could say ‘gratuitous boob flash’, and the subsequent familial upheaval could cause Chris to stop grinning for a second.
> Buy the Season 1 boxset on Amazon.
What are you hopes and theories for Season 2? Let us know below…