Marine One (Season 1 | Episode 12 – Season Finale)

Before watching the Homeland finale I had feared that the season might end in a disappointing way, either through a lack of answers or resolution, or by killing off one of it’s two leads. The season has done well so far to keep a constant pace with enough injections of drama and conflict to keep it’s levels of intensity up. Although, we didn’t get all the answers we might want (like who did plant that razor blade or who the mole, if there is one, maybe) we still got a lot of big reveals and a highly paced finale that was near perfect in the end.

Let’s jump straight in where it matters – the bunker. The whole bunker scenario was truly amazing to watch but the scene that really epitomised the level of intensity was Brody’s second attempt at detonation. Damien Lewis was simply phenomenal. Thankfully, he didn’t go through with it, now we can look forward to many more seasons with this greatly troubled character

It was a bit ‘convenient’ that his vest malfunctioned, a bit of a cop-out if you like on the writers part. It shows us that he believes in his cause so much so that he is willing to sacrifice himself but it also stops him leaving the show in a 1000 pieces. It still doesn’t take much away from what was a breathtaking set up and for the majority of fans this will have had enough excitement to end the debut season of this award winning show.

The final exchange with Walker has set the road map for the coming seasons – it’s all about the politics. Another convenient way of subliminal laying the groundwork for the future but I’m not going to criticise it too much because it’s what audiences need to know if they intend to keep on watching. Now we can expect all the is he/isn’t he a terrorist stuff to go and most of the suspicion will have been buried along with Walker’s body (when it’s found). The road ahead looks clear for Brody and I for one am really anxious to see his sleeper cell politics interact with those of people in the White House.

What then for Carrie, she was bed ridden for part of the finale and seems to have completely lost it. I felt so sorry for her in the scene outside of the police station, Brody just sounded off with the entire BS you’d expect and Carrie lapped it up believing in her insanity. After checking herself into the hospital and subjecting herself to the ‘cuckoo’s nest’ treatment there was a small glimmer of hope and realisation before the credits. Will that crack in her understanding still be there when she wakes up in Season 2?

Saul played an interesting part in this episode, when push came to shove though he bet against Carrie. Was this purely based on her insanity or is he somehow involved in proceedings – surely not, right? As for Jess and Dana, well Jess seems all set to walk the political path alongside her husband, the real question mark lies with Dana and her interpretation of events. After discovering the truth about her father’s new religious beliefs and watching back that video of a static Brody, how much does she believe in what Carrie told her and that phone call?

Plenty of questions are still to be answered but overall I think we we’re given enough for now to keep this shows integrity and mystery intact. The next season will be back on in the US in September so we’ll probably be seeing it over here in early 2013.

9.5/10

Scene of the Episode | Take Two – Lewis gave a storming performance in his second shot at hitting the button. The tension inside that bunker was enough to cause an explosion all by itself, luckily Dana’s phone call ensured we’d be seeing Brody for another season and rightly so, they can’t just blow up one of the most dynamic characters on TV…can they?

Reviewed by Rich Jepson, cult TV enthusiast and author of 24: Terrorism Through Television.