OMG, still posting about the Homeland finale :P
I was just saying to enjoyingjoy over at ao3 that while I really enjoyed writing the Seasonal Snippets fic and for a time, the fluffiness helped to distract me, I now find myself back to my original state of post-season blues and fretting (very irrationally) over fictional characters.
It feels like it's going to be a really, really long time before we find out what happens next.
I remember that I had a similar feeling at the end of season 3 - to be honest, it was kind of worse because at that time, I had absolutely no idea how things were between Quinn and Carrie at all. She was clearly oblivious but they kept hinting that he felt more but we didn't know for sure .. it was all very ambiguous …
Thus, I feel kind of ungrateful for my sense of mild mood indigo right now given how much we were given from a character development perspective in this season. It was a great season for soooo many reasons.
1. No Brody. Sorry, but much as I loved Damian Lewis in Band of Brothers and in Life, I really detested the Brody character. I thought he was pitiful, pitiable and a victim of circumstance, but I did not like his character at all … I really did not like the person that Carrie was around him … I hated the way he treated people … he had suffered so much and gone through so many awful things that just the sight of him made me feel uncomfortable. When he was beaten up, threatened, bullied, mistreated - I just felt bad … Stand-out moments for him where in the episode in Caracas … I felt like the Tower of David episodes and finale where his true stand-out moments. He had a certain bittersweet tragedy about him in the Tower of David episodes and he was amazing in the finale … He definitely faced his death with more dignity, fortitude and valour than I think he ever really displayed in his life - which is incredibly sad.
Having him around meant that we had to have the Brody family who were all pretty appalling and it meant that Carrie's whole universe revolved around Brody and so the whole show ended up revolving around him even though the show should have been more about Carrie and her job … From a shipper perspective, it meant that no matter how much I rationalised/fan wanked, deep down I knew that no matter how much I tried to write a romantic angle to the Carrie-Quinn dynamic in season 2 and 3, it did not have any hope of being truly plausible because Carrie Mathison could never love another man so long as Nicholas Brody was still alive.
With his death, he was freed, she was freed and the show was freed to actually explore some pretty interesting stories and also explore some really interesting characters.
2. Other characters. I loved the development of characters like Max, Fara, Lockhart, Astrid, John Redmond, Tasneem Qureshi, Aasar Khan, Martha Boyd … It wasn't possible to have compelling supporting characters before because it was so much about Brody.
Lockhart. Seriously, if you had told me last season that I'd come to like and respect Lockhart, I'd have thought you were crazy. I never thought that I'd like Lockhart as a character, but I came to find him incredibly funny, with comic timing and also a sense of compassion and morality that was completely unexpected.
Yes, he made a pretty bad misstep of judgment in handing the list over to Haqqani but I can't blame him - he's much more human and emotional than I had expected. I will never not find his startled What the fuck. What the fucking fuck???" look and facial expression not funny. I really hope he's still around next season because to be honest, at present, I like him way more than Saul whom I find to be a traitorous, hypocritical snake right now.
Fara and Max. No idea why they ditched Virgil (whom I love) but I'm happy with the development of Fara and Max. Not sure why Fara ditched her head scarf when actually living in a Muslim country but she was a great character. Sympathetic, smart and relatable. The bond between her and Max was heart-warming and I was genuinely sad to see her gone as a character especially given that she was one of the show's very few sympathetic female characters. Much as I like Maggie, she's very much there as Carrie's Jiminy Cricket and doesn't really have her own personality/story arc etc. Fara actually had her own journey and story … yes it was subordinate to Carrie's but she very much was her own person.
I wonder if Max will ever recover - probably not. I get the sense that he's the sort of person who feels things very gradually but they are very deep and then he never recovers. I hope he's in season 5.
John Redmond. A minor character. A boozer. Obnoxious. I thought I'd hate him but I ended up liking him. He's a spy, he knows shit. He genuinely comes to respect Carrie despite his resentment. I thought he was cool in the end and I was sad to see him go … He really had that convincing jaded, cynical air that so many Western diplomats/ex-pats have in third world country postings. The actor totally nailed it and major kudos for his performance.
Astrid; Aasar Khan. Season 4 gave us minor characters like these two who while they were new introductions and didn't really have their own storylines, still managed to be intriguing and engaging. You wondered what their origin stories were - why they were where they were, where they were headed. I enjoyed Astrid's interactions with Quinn and Carrie.
While I at first dismissed Aasar Khan because I didn't like the actor in Smash and then I thought he was kind of creepy for bringing Carrie home to his house and into his bed instead of e.g. taking her to the hospital/back to the embassy (WTF??) he redeemed himself in my eyes when he helped Carrie out, gave her the information about Dennis Boyd etc. I didn't see ship potential between them. I think he might have been attracted to her but Carrie was her usual oblivious self. Come on it's taken three seasons and a lot of pig-tail pulling for even the Mighty Quinn to get her attention …
Tasneem Qureshi, , Martha Boyd. Two of my favourites for different reasons. Girl power - strong female characters who were well-acted and very convincing in their roles. The actress who plays Martha Boyd was just perfect - strong, grim, smart, sophisticated. I completely bought that she could navigate the treacherous waters of international diplomacy, balancing political interests with economic interests and liaising with the CIA and others. At first I thought she was a damned fool for not suspecting her husband but what I LOVED was that instead of having her in denial about her husband and being wilfully blind, she was under no illusions about him and was part of the plan to try to catch him out. That was quite unexpected to me because I had really imagined that she'd resist the idea of him being the leak …
Tasneem Qureshi, much as I hated that she 'won' was also an awesome character. We have a strong, smart, capable Islamic woman (apart from Fara). She's interesting and engaging instead of boring and snoring like the unfortunate Mira who I really find very unappealing except for her lovely hair … A female character who is more than Carrie's match - calm and resourceful, ruthless and kind of evil but not in a caricatured way. I like that she was never portrayed as a foam-at-the mouth crazy zealot like Roya Hammad was in season 2. She was also cool as a cucumber and in control. Unlike Carrie she doesn't seem to need to use sex to get her way so bonus points for that.
*
The not so good? Aayan was a terrible character. I really could have done without his disingenuous, mouth-breathing naïveté. He was the innocent tragic, the lamb to the slaughter. This season's Brody if he hadn't gone bad … I didn't dislike him, I just didn't like him and I HATED the fact that Carrie exploited and manipulated him. I hated that she slept with him. When Quinn accused her of fucking a child, I felt the same disgust … I knew why she did it - I just wish she hadn't.
Haqqani's also another one that I'm not sure about. So far my favourite bad guy has to be Javadi. He was so nuanced. So educated, cultured but completely ruthless - but I loved his insights into Carrie's personality, Brody's personality … he just understood people. By comparison, Haqqani sometimes came across as looking a bit like a caricature - literally, too. Sometimes with his curls and his muahahaha mannerisms, he looked like he wanted to be Fagin from Oliver …
I hated Saul this season. So many characters are described as the moral compass in this show but really they've always touted Saul as that main compass. He's always so holier than thou, reciting his Jewish prayers and benedictions and seeming like he had genuine compassion and goodness in him when really he's just as morally bankrupt and contemptible as Dar Adal. Yeah I'm harsh. Let's see if season 5 can redeem him.
3. The storytelling. I loved the story they told us this season. Fictionalised, dramatised, it was still a fascinating story about CIA work overseas and I liked the different storylines and developments.
4. Acting. The acting is pretty much almost always excellent on Homeland and this season was no exception. They're very good at picking people who can be convincing.
5. Action. I loved the action and the suspense. It was genuinely thrilling in parts although I did wonder why Carrie did keep getting out of her car and walking in streets that were dangerous …
6. Carrie-Quinn. Saving the best for last. How could I not love this season when it finally answered the question definitively for fans like me.
Does Quinn care about Carrie Like That? Yes he does. Absolutely.
Does Carrie care about Quinn Like That? Yes - not sure when it started but it's definitely there by episode 4.11.
I loved their friendship and dynamic in seasons 2 and 3 and really, really wanted that to develop. If it stayed friendship and the relationship of trusted colleagues, I was ok with it but the fact it became romantic as well, was just icing on the cake for my shippy heart and I was ecstatic.
So many moments that made me go yay! In no order:
- saving her instead of Sandy .. I know, it was bad to choose but he had to choose
- coming back to Islamabad even though his heart said no
- continuing to help her even though she was pissing him off no end
- being angry that she got poisoned
- always being honest with her, calling her on her nonsense
- always caring about her
- showing up at the funeral
- the hugs
- always being there to help her. Yes he didn't go with her to Kabul but I notice he was only an hour away in Islamabad. There's no way that was a coincidence. He was there if she needed him….
- being kind and accepting of Frannie
- Quinn saving Carrie, Carrie saving Quinn, both stopping each other from doing stupid things …
- wanting to have a normal life and being able to be 'normal' in that sort of setting. The scenes of him being at her house, helping clean up … smiling and talking, they were heart-warming for me. I know people bagged out the finale but the season had plenty of action. From episode 1 onwards, it was almost non-stop action, I think it was fair enough that the finale dialled it back and focused on the people again
- the tenderness and the intimacy - the kiss … the glances, the shared understanding and respect
There are way too many moments to describe. It's interesting because I extract my own Quinn, Quinn-Carrie clips so I can make vids/do fics and they look like so for seasons 2 and 3:
2.04 - 2.07.mp4
2.08 - 2.09.mp4
2.10 - 2.12.mp4
3.01 - 3.05.mp4
3.06 to 3.11.mp4
3.12.mp4
Yet for season 4???
4.01 & 4.02.mp4
4.03.mp4
4.04.mp4
4.05.mp4
4.06.mp4
4.07.mp4
4.08.mp4
4.09.mp4
4.10.mp4
4.11.mp4
4.12.mp4
Yup, one per episode. The Quinn character got a lot more screen time in season 4, not just with Carrie but on his own and with each of the other main characters. I think the only characters he didn't interact with were perhaps Khan and Tasneem which is a shame because I actually think he would have been a pretty worthy adversary for Tasneem.
So yes, many shippy, rewatchable moments from season 4 for me .. But now I have an annoying sense of being cliff-hangered emotionally. When season 5 starts, I'm guessing it will be like other seasons with a time jump. Quinn will either be missing in action for a period of time or he'll already be back in the US for a time. Will he be even more traumatised than he is? Will the show back pedal on the relationship and keep doing a will they won't they routine on us? Part of me wants season 5 to be the last season so that the writers actually give us closure on this relationship. If they think there are more seasons, then they are more likely to feel the need to introduce drama and Great Misunderstanding.
Worst case scenario - would they kill him off? I sure hope not because despite all the negative feedback about the finale, almost everyone says that the Quinn character is great. He's not perfect and a super hero. He's flawed and he hurts but his devotion to Carrie is humbling and I think Carrie is a better person around him …
When season 3 finished, I found writing Fragments very, VERY therapeutic. It kind of devoured my brain for a period of time and when I had finished typing it all out, I felt better and then as people like enjoyingjoy will tell you, I kind of vanished for a period of time off tumblr because real life devoured me up. Work's been crazy …
I hope I don't disappear again but that's kind of why I'm typing madly right now with all the fic that's in my head. enjoyingjoy just stunned me by kind of describing it perfectly. S he said: "it's inside you and it has to come out somehow". That's exactly how it is. When I wrote the Harry Potter fic The Boy Who Died, I wrote more than 25,000 words in just a few days because it was kind of consuming my thoughts and really had to be written as a form of therapy.
When I'm in the midst of that kind of 'madness', I can write and write and write… That's what happened to me post season 3 for a bit… I wrote so many Homeland fics in that time. That's why I keep asking for prompts, because if the right prompt comes along, it just triggers something in my head and then I can write it.
The problem is, when the madness goes, I just can't write anymore … not even 100 words … and it's frustrating, so I've learned from bitter experience, that I just have to type as much as I can while I'm still gripped by madness, while the 'feelings' I have from the season finale and the season are still fresh and accessible.
There is no point to this rambling except that I think that like last season, I shall just have to continue to rely on scribbling fan fic to alleviate the post-season blues. I have been doing vids as well but the sites keep blocking the video … I have no idea how other vidders manage to keep their videos up …
And gosh.. I've just written more than 2,700 about a tv show :P I am ridiculous :)
Yet again, I am so incredibly grateful for internet fandom. There as a time when this post-season, post-movie, post-book woe was such a solitary and lonely experience ... My offline friends and acquaintances truly do not understand how i invested I get in fiction ... If it wasn't for the post-season blues of fellow Homeland fans, I think I'd been feeling much worse than I do :)
It feels like it's going to be a really, really long time before we find out what happens next.
I remember that I had a similar feeling at the end of season 3 - to be honest, it was kind of worse because at that time, I had absolutely no idea how things were between Quinn and Carrie at all. She was clearly oblivious but they kept hinting that he felt more but we didn't know for sure .. it was all very ambiguous …
Thus, I feel kind of ungrateful for my sense of mild mood indigo right now given how much we were given from a character development perspective in this season. It was a great season for soooo many reasons.
1. No Brody. Sorry, but much as I loved Damian Lewis in Band of Brothers and in Life, I really detested the Brody character. I thought he was pitiful, pitiable and a victim of circumstance, but I did not like his character at all … I really did not like the person that Carrie was around him … I hated the way he treated people … he had suffered so much and gone through so many awful things that just the sight of him made me feel uncomfortable. When he was beaten up, threatened, bullied, mistreated - I just felt bad … Stand-out moments for him where in the episode in Caracas … I felt like the Tower of David episodes and finale where his true stand-out moments. He had a certain bittersweet tragedy about him in the Tower of David episodes and he was amazing in the finale … He definitely faced his death with more dignity, fortitude and valour than I think he ever really displayed in his life - which is incredibly sad.
Having him around meant that we had to have the Brody family who were all pretty appalling and it meant that Carrie's whole universe revolved around Brody and so the whole show ended up revolving around him even though the show should have been more about Carrie and her job … From a shipper perspective, it meant that no matter how much I rationalised/fan wanked, deep down I knew that no matter how much I tried to write a romantic angle to the Carrie-Quinn dynamic in season 2 and 3, it did not have any hope of being truly plausible because Carrie Mathison could never love another man so long as Nicholas Brody was still alive.
With his death, he was freed, she was freed and the show was freed to actually explore some pretty interesting stories and also explore some really interesting characters.
2. Other characters. I loved the development of characters like Max, Fara, Lockhart, Astrid, John Redmond, Tasneem Qureshi, Aasar Khan, Martha Boyd … It wasn't possible to have compelling supporting characters before because it was so much about Brody.
Lockhart. Seriously, if you had told me last season that I'd come to like and respect Lockhart, I'd have thought you were crazy. I never thought that I'd like Lockhart as a character, but I came to find him incredibly funny, with comic timing and also a sense of compassion and morality that was completely unexpected.
Yes, he made a pretty bad misstep of judgment in handing the list over to Haqqani but I can't blame him - he's much more human and emotional than I had expected. I will never not find his startled What the fuck. What the fucking fuck???" look and facial expression not funny. I really hope he's still around next season because to be honest, at present, I like him way more than Saul whom I find to be a traitorous, hypocritical snake right now.
Fara and Max. No idea why they ditched Virgil (whom I love) but I'm happy with the development of Fara and Max. Not sure why Fara ditched her head scarf when actually living in a Muslim country but she was a great character. Sympathetic, smart and relatable. The bond between her and Max was heart-warming and I was genuinely sad to see her gone as a character especially given that she was one of the show's very few sympathetic female characters. Much as I like Maggie, she's very much there as Carrie's Jiminy Cricket and doesn't really have her own personality/story arc etc. Fara actually had her own journey and story … yes it was subordinate to Carrie's but she very much was her own person.
I wonder if Max will ever recover - probably not. I get the sense that he's the sort of person who feels things very gradually but they are very deep and then he never recovers. I hope he's in season 5.
John Redmond. A minor character. A boozer. Obnoxious. I thought I'd hate him but I ended up liking him. He's a spy, he knows shit. He genuinely comes to respect Carrie despite his resentment. I thought he was cool in the end and I was sad to see him go … He really had that convincing jaded, cynical air that so many Western diplomats/ex-pats have in third world country postings. The actor totally nailed it and major kudos for his performance.
Astrid; Aasar Khan. Season 4 gave us minor characters like these two who while they were new introductions and didn't really have their own storylines, still managed to be intriguing and engaging. You wondered what their origin stories were - why they were where they were, where they were headed. I enjoyed Astrid's interactions with Quinn and Carrie.
While I at first dismissed Aasar Khan because I didn't like the actor in Smash and then I thought he was kind of creepy for bringing Carrie home to his house and into his bed instead of e.g. taking her to the hospital/back to the embassy (WTF??) he redeemed himself in my eyes when he helped Carrie out, gave her the information about Dennis Boyd etc. I didn't see ship potential between them. I think he might have been attracted to her but Carrie was her usual oblivious self. Come on it's taken three seasons and a lot of pig-tail pulling for even the Mighty Quinn to get her attention …
Tasneem Qureshi, , Martha Boyd. Two of my favourites for different reasons. Girl power - strong female characters who were well-acted and very convincing in their roles. The actress who plays Martha Boyd was just perfect - strong, grim, smart, sophisticated. I completely bought that she could navigate the treacherous waters of international diplomacy, balancing political interests with economic interests and liaising with the CIA and others. At first I thought she was a damned fool for not suspecting her husband but what I LOVED was that instead of having her in denial about her husband and being wilfully blind, she was under no illusions about him and was part of the plan to try to catch him out. That was quite unexpected to me because I had really imagined that she'd resist the idea of him being the leak …
Tasneem Qureshi, much as I hated that she 'won' was also an awesome character. We have a strong, smart, capable Islamic woman (apart from Fara). She's interesting and engaging instead of boring and snoring like the unfortunate Mira who I really find very unappealing except for her lovely hair … A female character who is more than Carrie's match - calm and resourceful, ruthless and kind of evil but not in a caricatured way. I like that she was never portrayed as a foam-at-the mouth crazy zealot like Roya Hammad was in season 2. She was also cool as a cucumber and in control. Unlike Carrie she doesn't seem to need to use sex to get her way so bonus points for that.
*
The not so good? Aayan was a terrible character. I really could have done without his disingenuous, mouth-breathing naïveté. He was the innocent tragic, the lamb to the slaughter. This season's Brody if he hadn't gone bad … I didn't dislike him, I just didn't like him and I HATED the fact that Carrie exploited and manipulated him. I hated that she slept with him. When Quinn accused her of fucking a child, I felt the same disgust … I knew why she did it - I just wish she hadn't.
Haqqani's also another one that I'm not sure about. So far my favourite bad guy has to be Javadi. He was so nuanced. So educated, cultured but completely ruthless - but I loved his insights into Carrie's personality, Brody's personality … he just understood people. By comparison, Haqqani sometimes came across as looking a bit like a caricature - literally, too. Sometimes with his curls and his muahahaha mannerisms, he looked like he wanted to be Fagin from Oliver …
I hated Saul this season. So many characters are described as the moral compass in this show but really they've always touted Saul as that main compass. He's always so holier than thou, reciting his Jewish prayers and benedictions and seeming like he had genuine compassion and goodness in him when really he's just as morally bankrupt and contemptible as Dar Adal. Yeah I'm harsh. Let's see if season 5 can redeem him.
3. The storytelling. I loved the story they told us this season. Fictionalised, dramatised, it was still a fascinating story about CIA work overseas and I liked the different storylines and developments.
4. Acting. The acting is pretty much almost always excellent on Homeland and this season was no exception. They're very good at picking people who can be convincing.
5. Action. I loved the action and the suspense. It was genuinely thrilling in parts although I did wonder why Carrie did keep getting out of her car and walking in streets that were dangerous …
6. Carrie-Quinn. Saving the best for last. How could I not love this season when it finally answered the question definitively for fans like me.
Does Quinn care about Carrie Like That? Yes he does. Absolutely.
Does Carrie care about Quinn Like That? Yes - not sure when it started but it's definitely there by episode 4.11.
I loved their friendship and dynamic in seasons 2 and 3 and really, really wanted that to develop. If it stayed friendship and the relationship of trusted colleagues, I was ok with it but the fact it became romantic as well, was just icing on the cake for my shippy heart and I was ecstatic.
So many moments that made me go yay! In no order:
- saving her instead of Sandy .. I know, it was bad to choose but he had to choose
- coming back to Islamabad even though his heart said no
- continuing to help her even though she was pissing him off no end
- being angry that she got poisoned
- always being honest with her, calling her on her nonsense
- always caring about her
- showing up at the funeral
- the hugs
- always being there to help her. Yes he didn't go with her to Kabul but I notice he was only an hour away in Islamabad. There's no way that was a coincidence. He was there if she needed him….
- being kind and accepting of Frannie
- Quinn saving Carrie, Carrie saving Quinn, both stopping each other from doing stupid things …
- wanting to have a normal life and being able to be 'normal' in that sort of setting. The scenes of him being at her house, helping clean up … smiling and talking, they were heart-warming for me. I know people bagged out the finale but the season had plenty of action. From episode 1 onwards, it was almost non-stop action, I think it was fair enough that the finale dialled it back and focused on the people again
- the tenderness and the intimacy - the kiss … the glances, the shared understanding and respect
There are way too many moments to describe. It's interesting because I extract my own Quinn, Quinn-Carrie clips so I can make vids/do fics and they look like so for seasons 2 and 3:
2.04 - 2.07.mp4
2.08 - 2.09.mp4
2.10 - 2.12.mp4
3.01 - 3.05.mp4
3.06 to 3.11.mp4
3.12.mp4
Yet for season 4???
4.01 & 4.02.mp4
4.03.mp4
4.04.mp4
4.05.mp4
4.06.mp4
4.07.mp4
4.08.mp4
4.09.mp4
4.10.mp4
4.11.mp4
4.12.mp4
Yup, one per episode. The Quinn character got a lot more screen time in season 4, not just with Carrie but on his own and with each of the other main characters. I think the only characters he didn't interact with were perhaps Khan and Tasneem which is a shame because I actually think he would have been a pretty worthy adversary for Tasneem.
So yes, many shippy, rewatchable moments from season 4 for me .. But now I have an annoying sense of being cliff-hangered emotionally. When season 5 starts, I'm guessing it will be like other seasons with a time jump. Quinn will either be missing in action for a period of time or he'll already be back in the US for a time. Will he be even more traumatised than he is? Will the show back pedal on the relationship and keep doing a will they won't they routine on us? Part of me wants season 5 to be the last season so that the writers actually give us closure on this relationship. If they think there are more seasons, then they are more likely to feel the need to introduce drama and Great Misunderstanding.
Worst case scenario - would they kill him off? I sure hope not because despite all the negative feedback about the finale, almost everyone says that the Quinn character is great. He's not perfect and a super hero. He's flawed and he hurts but his devotion to Carrie is humbling and I think Carrie is a better person around him …
When season 3 finished, I found writing Fragments very, VERY therapeutic. It kind of devoured my brain for a period of time and when I had finished typing it all out, I felt better and then as people like enjoyingjoy will tell you, I kind of vanished for a period of time off tumblr because real life devoured me up. Work's been crazy …
I hope I don't disappear again but that's kind of why I'm typing madly right now with all the fic that's in my head. enjoyingjoy just stunned me by kind of describing it perfectly. S he said: "it's inside you and it has to come out somehow". That's exactly how it is. When I wrote the Harry Potter fic The Boy Who Died, I wrote more than 25,000 words in just a few days because it was kind of consuming my thoughts and really had to be written as a form of therapy.
When I'm in the midst of that kind of 'madness', I can write and write and write… That's what happened to me post season 3 for a bit… I wrote so many Homeland fics in that time. That's why I keep asking for prompts, because if the right prompt comes along, it just triggers something in my head and then I can write it.
The problem is, when the madness goes, I just can't write anymore … not even 100 words … and it's frustrating, so I've learned from bitter experience, that I just have to type as much as I can while I'm still gripped by madness, while the 'feelings' I have from the season finale and the season are still fresh and accessible.
There is no point to this rambling except that I think that like last season, I shall just have to continue to rely on scribbling fan fic to alleviate the post-season blues. I have been doing vids as well but the sites keep blocking the video … I have no idea how other vidders manage to keep their videos up …
And gosh.. I've just written more than 2,700 about a tv show :P I am ridiculous :)
Yet again, I am so incredibly grateful for internet fandom. There as a time when this post-season, post-movie, post-book woe was such a solitary and lonely experience ... My offline friends and acquaintances truly do not understand how i invested I get in fiction ... If it wasn't for the post-season blues of fellow Homeland fans, I think I'd been feeling much worse than I do :)