Homeland Recap: Season 2 Premiere!!!

Recaps

By MrsMiaWallace | Wednesday, October 3, 2012 | 6:28 pm | 8 Comments
Tagged: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in: Homeland, Recaps

She heads to her room, leading us to believe she is now living with her sister and we see her taking a shitload of pills with a resigned and annoyed look.

If that glass is straight vodka, we have how MrsMia starts her day

Her mirror displays a childishly drawn “breathe” sign that tells me that even the niece is in on the group therapy effort.

Thanks, Freud. Why don’t you go choke on a Bratz doll?

Carrie sits down to grade what look like elementary school writing assignments after briefly and wistfully looking at a news report on her laptop. Things seem to be stirring in the Middle East. Shocking!

Cut to the American Embassy in Beirut. Protesters are amassed at the gates and the Israeli flag is being burned. As a side note, I have actually been there and this is so laughably NOT what the US Embassy in Beirut looks like or how it is situated. This scene is literally impossible. I think Showtime does a good job but it’s always tough to watch a show about a certain arena that you have past experience in. I will try not to be too obnoxious but, wish in one hand, print my recaps out and burn them in frustration and collect their ashes in the other and see which fills up first.

We find out that Sal is stationed there and watching the protest out the window. One of the staff lets him know there is a woman at the gates requesting an audience. The protest is apparently over Israel bombing five Iranian nuclear sites recently. I can’t wait until this show starts dovetailing with reality and we all get a little Wag the Dog.

“Shall we play ‘Friend or Infidel’?”

The woman contacted them using a valid code and things are getting too hairy to ignore tips, but none of the field agents recognize her so Sal is off to solve the mystery.

Mandy Patinkin might be a real SOB to work with, but he’s at least half of why this show is awesome

The lone embassy car he is in drives out the front gate unescorted and has to wade through a mob of protestors shouting and burning an American flag. Again, completely not realistic and now I’m also wondering where on earth they filmed this. The buildings look more like Egypt and neither those nor the countryside is at all Beirut or even anywhere in Lebanon. A car is discovered to be following them so Sal does some evasion and even hops out to terrorize an old lady for a quick minute.

“Hey, some actor just wandered onto the wrong studio lot!”

They lose the tail and continue on to find the woman from the surveillance photo in a courtyard alone, but she is freaked out and reluctant to talk.

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MrsMiaWallace is an east coast girl with a  penchant for travel, libations and great cuisine. She is not known to turn down a mimosa or a martini and finds the transition between the two a good way to mark the passing of time since she can never remember to wear a watch. Her secret love for reality tv and addiction to Bravo have drawn her like a moth to the glittering snark of TVGasm,  where she finds there are others like her... hopefully also nursing Bloody Marys.

8 Comments

  1. 1
    JKW
    Posted October 4, 2012 at 1:02 am

    I LOVE this show. Carries big ass smile at the end was great. I had a big smile and was laughing . One thing I remembered when I saw the previous season re-runs they had on. When Sol took the lie detector test the needle spiked when they asked about slipping the terrorist a razor blade. He ran out of the room and never finished the test. I hope he is a good guy but it’s something to think about. So great to have this show back. Good job on the recap…I am sure it’s tough to recap with everything going on. Carrie and her dad are bipolar.

  2. 2
    MrsMiaWallace MrsMiaWallace
    Posted October 4, 2012 at 6:48 am

    @JKW – I loved that moment of her being back on her game too! I had forgotten about Saul (spelling correction alert!) having a possibly shady backstory, but as her only supporter it makes sense that he has an unorthodox story somewhere too.

    Also thanks for the correction! I don’t know why I was thinking schizophrenic, I even read recently that Claire Danes did an extensive amount of research on the behavior and affectations of bipolar people to study her role. She’s getting major kudos from the medical and mental health community for her portrayal.

  3. 3
    Bridget
    Posted October 4, 2012 at 6:56 am

    Now I am interested. What does the US Embassy in Beirut look like? I am always interested in how television shows or movies portray other countries especially when they get it wrong. Was the portrayal of Beirut at all factual? Okay back to recap.

  4. 4
    MrsMiaWallace MrsMiaWallace
    Posted October 4, 2012 at 9:16 am

    I am very biased because Lebanon and Beirut specifically is one my favorite places. Beirut is moder, metropolitan, diverse and developed. The cafes, clubs and shops are some of the best in the world. Beirut used to be called the Paris of the Middle East and has worked very hard to rebuild that since the war. The most “rustic” thing about the city is the bullet holes that still riddle many of the buildings.

    My guess is the filming took place in a smaller village outskirt in Israel or Jordan. It looks like Egypt but there’s no way they could have filmed there recently. Also Lebanon is very liberal. The offices we worked with had women in headscarves and also women who looked like they shopped at Bebe for work clothes. It was more conservative in more rural regions, but I travelled from Tripoli to Tyre and was never looked at askance in short sleeves, long shorts and an uncovered head.

    As for security, the US building there are extremely guarded. In general all embassies are compounds with perimeter walls that are mandated to be a certain height and thickness. There is also a regulation on how far from the first building the wall must be (space for people outside with rocket launchers etc), and how thick the outside walls of the buildings must be. In regions with strife the roads and entrances would be cordoned off and heavily patrolled and guarded. I was there in a relatively peaceful period 3 years ago and we still never left the hotel without a convoy of armored, tinted cars. Much less driving out of an Embassy in a single sedan through the front entrance. Its laughable.

    The regional unrest and deepseated strife is a shame because Lebanon is lovely and very lush. Their national symbol is a tree because of their dense forests. Beirut is located on the sea and has a lovely coastline and mountainous topography. The city is very hilly and views of the harbor are breathtaking. The food and hospitality of the Lebanese is fantastic and traditional dinners are a hours-long 50+ plate affair. The cost of war is dear in both lives and culture for us all.

  5. 5
    TiredinTacoma
    Posted October 4, 2012 at 5:34 pm

    Glad you caught the Schizophreniz vs Bipolar disorder diagnosis. Many people with Bipolar are very high functioning in high stress careers and remain stable with meds & stable schedules, big difference with schizophrenia! Love the recap, looking forward to the next episode!

  6. 6
    vallegirl vallegirl
    Posted October 4, 2012 at 7:50 pm

    Nice recap, Mrs. Mia. As a fellow “prestige premium cable” recapper, I know how hard it is to focus on being funny about a show you love. And you don’t even have Paul Sparks and Bobby Cannavale making a meal out of every piece of scenery they can find to make it a little easier.

    And while my own experience isn’t nearly as exotic as Beirut, whenever I watch Dexter I rupture tiny clusters in my brain spotting all the Long Beach landmarks that they use to sub for Miami, most egregiously the Long Beach convention center’s mural of blue whales. In Biscayne Bay. Really? Maybe it’s Showtime that doesn’t bother with continuity.

  7. 7
    JKW
    Posted October 4, 2012 at 10:34 pm

    Correction noted Mrs Mia. I was assuming Sauls name was short for Solomon. Hope her sister sent a load of her meds with her or she will be bouncing off walls. Claire Danes does a great job and so does Damian Lewis. It sounds so weird when he speaks in a Brit accent. He was great in Band of Brothers. I have watched that over and over for yrs.

    It will be interesting to see if Carrie goes off the map. After Saul turned her in at that VP affair, she may not trust him.

    I don’t know if anyone else saw this but….this was an original series from Israel.

  8. 8
    Goldie
    Posted October 5, 2012 at 8:21 am

    Wow, references to MSCL and The Game in one recap? I am impressed! Love this show, love Claire Danes. I am looking forward to the next episode like I used to look forward to seeing Jordan Catalano every Thursday!

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