20th February 2012 11:39:00
We Recommend: Homeland
Review of Homeland from Showtime and Channel 4, starring Claire Danes, Damien Lewis and Mandy Patinkin.
New on Channel 4 last night, it's US import Homeland, hailed as the debut series of the year from that continent. From Showtime, the people who brought you Dexter and Weeds, this is a thriller set squarely in the world of post-9/11 US anti-terror policy: A soldier returns from eight years terrorist captivity to a hero's welcome - but one CIA analyst suspects he might have been turned.
So, do they pull it off? Without waving too many flags? Well, President Obama apparently endorses Homeland, is that a good sign?
Because, yes, the danger of a series like this is descent into either unintelligent flag-waving or bitter anti-government cynicism. The US government has been portrayed so badly in the last few years of TV that, to be honest, it's an exciting change when they appear in a slightly positive light.
Homeland, so far, gets the balance right. It seems to have mastered the idea that the military can contain not just sympathetic and unsympathetic characters, but people with nuance who could be both. In fact, the ambiguity is the main point here. Most of this show is an exercise in deciding who to trust.
Our possible heroine (Claire Danes, excellent) is clearly a paranoid, but the possible villain (Damien Lewis, also excellent) keeps giving us reason to suspect she might still be right. In the opening minutes, you could mistake this for a 24-style gungho flagfest, but it looks like it's going to be a lot better than that. Stick with it through the first episode at least, there are a couple of twists towards the end which definitely hooked me in properly.
There are a few moments where it flirts with cliché, especially in the domestic storylines, but this is only the pilot, they've got time to go somewhere more interesting with them in future weeks.
In short, yes, based on the first episode alone, this has potential to be a great action-thriller series. I'll be back next week. The first episode is available on 4OD for another month, so there's plenty of time to catch up.
More information available on the official Channel 4 Homeland site.
So, do they pull it off? Without waving too many flags? Well, President Obama apparently endorses Homeland, is that a good sign?
Because, yes, the danger of a series like this is descent into either unintelligent flag-waving or bitter anti-government cynicism. The US government has been portrayed so badly in the last few years of TV that, to be honest, it's an exciting change when they appear in a slightly positive light.
Homeland, so far, gets the balance right. It seems to have mastered the idea that the military can contain not just sympathetic and unsympathetic characters, but people with nuance who could be both. In fact, the ambiguity is the main point here. Most of this show is an exercise in deciding who to trust.
Our possible heroine (Claire Danes, excellent) is clearly a paranoid, but the possible villain (Damien Lewis, also excellent) keeps giving us reason to suspect she might still be right. In the opening minutes, you could mistake this for a 24-style gungho flagfest, but it looks like it's going to be a lot better than that. Stick with it through the first episode at least, there are a couple of twists towards the end which definitely hooked me in properly.
There are a few moments where it flirts with cliché, especially in the domestic storylines, but this is only the pilot, they've got time to go somewhere more interesting with them in future weeks.
In short, yes, based on the first episode alone, this has potential to be a great action-thriller series. I'll be back next week. The first episode is available on 4OD for another month, so there's plenty of time to catch up.
More information available on the official Channel 4 Homeland site.
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