DJariya

Synopsis:



Episode 7 of 12

gp1086

Show remains strong. While I like these various little subplots/stories (similar to 24), I don't really sense the tension of an imminent terrorist attack.

PopcornTreeCt

I love this show so much.

RocShemp

Nice to hear the passing comment that Carrie's friend isn't dead (yet). Although gp1086 is right that the imminent terrorist attack isn't really building much tension, the actual character moments are firing on all cylinders.

It was fascinating to see Brody trying to be a good man in even the slightest way, only to be blocked by everyone . I like how the writers managed to find an interesting wat to tie the hit and run back to Brody's personal storyline.

mcnabb

Another great episode last night. As I say every week, I love that this show throws you a curveball each episode so you kind of don't know where it is going. I think this episode was really symbolic about each characters life and how they are all conflicted in some way. That's what I love about this show is even though the macro story is about terrorism, the characters inner-struggles are really what keeps it interesting.

Geofferson

I didn't expect Saul to get so emotional with Aileen at the end.

CRM114

Yeah, the attraction/romance between Carrie and Brody is fucking lame already. Give it a rest.

I can't help but think of the episode in which Carrie called him a disgrace to the nation, etc and watched him taken in disgust. Now she's groping him in the woods? Lame.

Dave99

well, she was 99% sure he was a disgrace at the cabin, but that didn't stop her from falling for him. I think part of her little speech when he was arrested was for the cameras in the room.

CRM114

I just don't buy it. Seems contrived and nonsensical and really makes me dislike her.

And does anyone actually LIKE Brody or feel compassion for him? The writers were trying it with Aileen too but sorry, I don't feel for them. At all.

gp1086

I actually really like the Carrie / Brody romance. Think it keeps things interesting.

mcnabb mentioned how this show throws curveballs at you and I completely agree. For example, the whole storyline of Mike investigating Walker's death was just put to rest (at least for now) pretty suddenly last night. As a viewer, you expect a bigger payoff, but I think it makes the story more life-like in the sense that not every issue always turns into a big ordeal.

CRM114

More like finishing off a loose end. They did it with Aileen too.

mcnabb

I love that this show doesn't drag any plotline out during Season 2. I thought the cover-up between the kids would last the whole season, but last night the daughter fesses up and now a new plot develops on who does and doesn't want to cover it up. What has happened in the past few episodes was what I thought would be the build up all season to the season 2 finale. There are so many possibilities for this to shake out, whereas originally I thought Brody would be exposed and Carrie would get back in the CIA at the END of the season.

And for people to question Carrie's judgment with Brody, that has been her personality for 2 seasons! She had great instincts on certain things, and horrible judgement on other things. That is what makes her so fascinating is that you never know what she is going to do? In the end she cares about this country and will do anything to protect, but in the same vein, she will compromise her on impulses to get what she wants.

adamblast

I think I disagree on both counts. At least at the moment.

I saw the snog-in-the-woods more as Carrie working it--make Brody feel powerful in some way right now or he'll crack. And I love that he's not really buying it, and that she can't even sell it cleanly. They both know what's going on; the first one to delude themselves and trust will be the loser.

I've *always* liked and had compassion for Brody, for me that's exactly the miracle of this show. (OK, at some times more than others.) Not sure if I'd have bought it with anyone other than Damian Lewis--he has a way of reeking of integrity even when he shouldn't. They seem to be inching their way toward repairing him, which I hated in the abstract but am loving in the execution. It helps, I suppose, that everyone around him seems to be growing steadily more corrupt as he tries to find a way out.

MikahC

"Everyone" around him was always corrupt, that's a big part of why he was going to do what he was going to do. It's simple and convenient to settle on labels like "good" and "bad" but one of the fascinating things about this show is that it doesn't play such games. It rightly settles on acceptable and unacceptable. That's really what people often mean when they say "good" and "bad" anyway. Like if a kid has to go to the bathroom and gets up and runs to the bathroom without stopping to ask a teacher for permission, it might be unacceptable, but is it really "bad"? Sure that's a simple example, but it's a simple example to make my point. Brody didn't think the VP and his cronies were "right" in what they did, so it was going to provide cosmic justice. He was not a crazy person without honor intent on dying and taking as many people with him as possible. There will always be some who see him that way, but that's their failing.

As far as I could tell, nobody was monitoring Brody's conversation with the financial big wig. So it was all Brody trying to convince Mr. Moneybags that he isn't That Guy. I think he was honest when he was saying he wishes he were That Guy, but it is what it is.

They don't need to "redeem" Brody in my eyes. He's a guy who will soldier forward in the face of significant odds to attempt to do what's right in his eyes. He's brave. Most people who would call him coward in that world are themselves the cowards who cannot accept any true degree of personal sacrifice and would likely cave at the slightest hint of being out of favor. Most people are sheep. Just because you do what everyone else does doesn't make you brave or "right". It just means you fit in.

A challenge of the show (and indeed, life) is when it's "right" to go against the grain. It's a complex question with complex answers. The fact that the show even attempts to raise the questions earns it my on-going support.

Anyway...

The VP covering up the hit & run is riddled with subtext since him covering up doing bad stuff is what made Brody want to blow him up in the first place. EVERYTHING is just collateral damage to this man. And Estes is in bed with him.

I like the attraction between Brody and Carrie and think it's quite realistic. Are we seriously questioning this after Petraeus? But I also know that his daughter has seen Brody with Carrie after Brody told his wife that Carrie wasn't involved. That is going to be a headache on the home front.

Another good episode.

Shannon Nutt

That's because she's CRAZY. And it looks like the crazy is starting to infect Brody as well.

gp1086

Random aside - the acting from Danes and Lewis is Oscar caliber at several points in the series thus far.

adamblast

I love listening to folks who I keep forgetting are British.

CRM114

The only person I like in the show is Saul.

Who's calling him a coward? He's a terrorist who was intent on killing innocent Americans. Sorry, this show is not going to get me to sympathize with American traitors. He should have gotten Aileen's old cell.

adamblast

...but serial killers and mafia bosses are totally cool.

gp1086

Holy crap! I had no idea he was British!

adamblast

Just to be clear, I'm not criticizing you or any one else for this POV. It's why I haven't recommended this show to some family members, for example, in spite of how good I think it is. So much moral grey, around something (unlike serial killers) people actually have a decent reason to be sensitive about.

Similar reason several people I know have refused to ever "give in" to Breaking Bad.

Love him. He's certainly the closest thing the show's got to a moral core--but will it stay that way?

MikahC

I don't applaud the show because I expect it to get you (or anyone else) to be more open minded. I applaud the show because it provides something for people who are already open minded to complex issues. I'm OK if people who don't enjoy it stop watching.

If I see a rapist help an old lady across the street, I'll say, "He's a rapist, but it was nice that he helped that old lady across the street." My brain doesn't require me to ignore any good deeds in order to sufficiently brainwash myself as to the complete evilness of a person (the easier to dish out cold retribution). Nor would I ignore that he's a rapist because he helped an old lady across the street.

What's fascinating to me is that we are all capable of both bad and good, and the more courageous we are, the more we'll battle with that. Because if we're sheep, we won't have a battle at all -- we'll just go along with the flow of whatever's around us (bad or good).

As I said...
I would just add that the challenge isn't just when to go against the grain, but also to what degree. Brody has been struggling with that since Episode 1.

Josh-da-man

A lot of women tend to fall for complete assholes.

uteotw

This. The guy said, "Well then, make him feel powerful," and in almost the next scene she's meeting him in the woods. Even her look after he said that seemed to indicate, "OK, I'll use what I've got." I really don't think she's falling in love with him; she's just playing him. He knows it, yet he's willing to run with it for a while.

The scene w/Brody commenting on the Vietnam vet, that seemed genuine. He seemed to really regret breaking, turning. Yet that's the great thing about this show: SO much of it is in shades of grey you're never quite sure what's what.

Bill Needle

Yes. And until he was caught he had no concern for whatever the next plot to slaughter people by his best bud Nazir was going to be either. He is a complex and interesting character, but he was also a willing and for the most part indiscriminate would-be mass murderer.