Homeland

[thistlechaser]

When I first heard about Homeland (a new series on Showtime), I didn't think I'd like it. The whole "terrorists under the bed" thing that a certain political party pushes annoys me endlessly.

I was wrong. Homeland has hooked my attention like nothing else.

A marine, captured eight years ago, is rescued.

A CIA investigator, the most brilliant one they have (and also secretly bipolar and perhaps possessing other mental illnesses as well) suspects he's been turned. (She got a tip that some captive had been.)

The show is so interesting because it tells you so little. It's such a wonderful change from shows and movies that hand you every detail on a silver platter. I have no idea if the CIA woman is just totally insane and seeing clues and hints because she wants to see them. But she had a good point: The informational value the prisoner/marine had faded fast, it would have been out of date within weeks. Why'd they keep him alive that long?

Plus the marine has the most interesting flashbacks. While of course the CIA woman doesn't know of them, they give us viewers enough information to wonder. Wonder a whole lot.

I just wish I hadn't found this show so early. (The pilot only aired this week.) I don't know how I'll wait week by week for new eps.

Edit: Also, um, did you guys mistake this as a compliment of religion?

Comments

[gmth.livejournal.com]

Oh, dear. You and I seem to have similar tastes in a lot of things, I may just have to check this out. I wonder if it's available on On Demand...

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I hope you like it! My copy must have been from some On Demand-like place. There was a clip at the beginning saying something like 'edited from original version, to see unedited version, subscribe to Showtime...'. Curses were bleeped and nudity was blurred.

[redtangents.livejournal.com]

'Daring to believe'. I think what they're saying is they're believing in spite of rationality.

Which... doesn't appeal to people like me anyway! Yet I'm still religious. Just not Christian.

[voidmagus.livejournal.com]

Yea, that was my thought. Rational arguments don't work with dumb people, religious or not. Though I'm not atheist, I rather like Penn Jilette's take on this. At some point, our knowledge ends. Beyond that, theists tend to attribute things to god(s). Penn-like atheists prefer to admit that they don't know.

I definitely know some irrational people on all sides of the theism debate. That's why I tend to preface any debate I'm involved in with "Will you, if I prove through logic and/or experiment that the point you're arguing is incorrect, change your personal view? If the answer is 'no', then the debate will not continue as I'm not willing to waste the effort."

[bastets-place.livejournal.com]

I would like to believe that I am both rational and religious - and as it happens, Christian.

No, that is not my cue to try to get you all to believe as I do. That's both rude and ineffective. Why would any sane human being want to change religions to be more like the arrogant, contemptable people that are the most "out there" of my fellow believers, and why on earth would *I* want to be more like them, anyway?

[quistie.livejournal.com]

I am not sure if the ad is suggesting House is validating the value of religion or not. Maybe it is just making a comparison between "rational arguments" and "wanting to believe."

If the point of the ad is to provoke a reaction, I think it succeeded.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Oh, good point, hmmm.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Am setting up the DVR to record Homeland as we speak! I didn't realize it had Damian Lewis or I'd probably have been all over it even before your rec.

(Oddly I just picked up Penn Jillette's God, No! from the library tonight.)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Let me know what you think of Homeland! (And of this week's big clue, ARG it's killing me! :D )

I should get a copy of that, too. He's such a smart man, I love reading his stuff.