Homeland - Season 1

What a brilliant tv series with a compelling story line and a great cast it's absolutely addictive I don't know how I've not come a cross this before looking forward to see where the story goes from here

If you look at the other reviews, you'll see most people love the show and a few really dislike it. How to tell if you're likely to be in the majority or minority? Three things I think. First, as US dramas go, it's fairly slow paced. Compared to, say, 24 the plots moves along at a snail's pace. I think that works really well, as it makes the moments of drama and action that much more shocking and enjoyable to watch. (With 24, much though I loved it, after a while you get punch drunk: 'oh, what's the amazing twist that is going to be coming up any moment now as we're nearly at an advert break...?'). Second, most series like this run into the issue that nearly all the times the good guys close in on the bad guys you just know something is going to go wrong as you're not yet in the final episode, so you have a lot of false climaxes. I find that irritating, and really liked the way Homeland mostly avoided that. On the other hand, if you find those false climaxes tense and fun, you'll probably miss them in this show. Third, Damian Lewis comes over as rather wooden. Bad acting that you dislike? Or good acting that shows someone struggling to get to grips with their emotions? To enjoy the show, you need to pick the latter. Hope that helps you make your choice!

I bought season one years ago, and decided to start watching it now. I am surprised that some of the one star reviews are SO scathing because after finishing watching it I decided that it was not bad at all. Other reviewers awarding it one star gave their reasons as 1) wrong region so could not watch it - entirely their own fault and 2) the discs would not work properly. This surely would be something for Amazon and its market place to sort out. However, I would like to point out a few things. Someone described the family as unpleasant -even the boy? Come on. And the girl- it is called adolescence- happens to many. There was far too much use of the "f" word, common in many American films. I thought that the sex scenes were a bit obvious and slightly embarrassing, but the worst thing of all is that the characters are SO difficult to understand because they speak too quickly and mumble!!!!!!!!!! This really annoys me. I think that the criticisms of the hysterical outbursts by Claire Danes 's character were unjust. First because she was bipolar, and second, she is working in a male dominated environment and has to prove her ability to equal the men, and no doubt try to be one step better. On the strength of season one, I have now ordered the rest, and if they are as good as season one, then I shall not complain. I did enjoy the background music as it as entirely appropriate and unobtrusive.

One of the best intelligent and subtle programmes I have seen recently. Made me watch it far more quickly than I planned to as I was so keen to see the next episode. This deals with the complexities of human experience, especially in the modern era of 'terrorism' - it debates what is terrorism; religion; what is justified; it admits US mistakes of accidental mass murder; it looks at the cult of political power and what people will do to gain it - what is one person's pain, is another person's triumph. What it means to be a traitor or a hero. As well as complex ideological issues which some viewers may not get, or want to get as it sometimes challenges our US/euro-centric view of the world - reading some of the low-star reviews, there are complex and subtle characters. Both Brodie (Damien Lewis - whose performances are always phenomenally complex and three dimensional) and Carrie's characters were superb - both very complicated and dealing with intelligent brokenness in different ways. It is this superb acting that keep the movie in such suspense - not being able to tell what might happen next, as real people work in very complex and sometimes contradictory ways. No one can say that the characters are simplistic - and all the characters did bring empathy and interest - including the personal sadness of Saul and his costly support of Carrie. The balance between current and past timelines was excellent - and produced just at the right time to keep the suspense going. It was great to genuinely have no idea which way the plot was going to turn - certainly until we are given more information through-out the series. A worthy follower of 24, without quite so much gore. Now for series two...

If you enjoy Thrillers, and this has passed you by, you've just got to see it. It is brilliant, gripping, and exciting! Great acting, writing and a great production. The story is utterly captivating and really makes you think. I bought it as I was recovering from surgery on my feet. I ordered it Thursday afternoon, and by Friday lunchtime it had arrived. The plans for the weekend? To sunbathe and read with my feet up. The reality? 3 episodes on Friday night. Three on Saturday morning with a (prolonged) breakfast. Couldn't resist another episode at lunchtime. Saturday night heaven with 4 more episodes. Final episode on Sunday morning with (a much shorter) breakfast. Then I couldn't resist telling everyone about it. Honestly, it is one of the best TV series you'll ever see. And the good news? Series 2 is currently being broadcast on Channel 4. You'll find that Homeland lives in your mind long after you've finished watching it. A truly great story.

This is a briliiant piece of drama which is really well acted and superbly directed, following a story line which introduces startling surprises and new layers of tension throughout. It is one of the best video drama series I have seen in the last decade, and bears watching over and over again. Moral, ethical, political and religious issues are addressed within a tightly written script and it is easy to drift (if sometimes uncritically) into this world of international conflict (sometimes played out violently,at other times diplomatically) as well as personal and institutional dilemmas. The characters struggle with loyalties to family, ideology and country and every viewer will bring their own take on the issues to the unfolding series of events. The story line leaves you wanting to know what happens next and it compels you to empathise with the main characters and really care what happens next. It doesn't take sides (unless you do) and it doesn't take prisoners

After all the hype of how good it was and how its the new 'best thing on TV' and on the back of that 'Best Drama' win at the Emmys (breaking the stranglehold of 'Mad Men') I finally decided to give it a go and bought the DVD of Homeland season 1 so I could have a good binge-viewing weekend, or so I thought. This show is an interesting one. There are many things about this show that I like, but then again there are more things that I dislike. Firstly the acting: Damian Lewis is very good as Sgt Brody, the soldier who could or could not be a terrorist. He displays everything you would expect to see in any actor cast in the role, giving Brody a humanity and humility that we, the viewer can sympathise with, such is the situation he has been placed into, yet never knowing whether we can really trust him or not. Claire Danes on the other hand is not so good as Carrie Mathison, the CIA agent determined that Brody has indeed been turned and is now a terrorist. I found her to be a very annoying character. She just didn't grip me as much as I expected she was supposed to. Although you are supposed to sympathise with her, due to her a predicament she is in(which is revealed towards the end of the series), she constantly found ways to irritate me such is her rashness in certain situations. The stand out character and actor in the show, in my opinion, is Saul, Carrie's CIA mentor played by Many Patinkin, who blows every other actor in the show out of the water with his understated yet enthralling portrayal of his character. Positives of the show: It is fast paced for the most part and does contain a storyline that is interesting to watch and does keep the viewer very much guessing right until the end. However, the writers of the series play their trump card way to early in my opinion and from that point on the season loses its appeal. Negatives of the show: Whilst it is fast paced and the plot is complex and interweaving I found myself becoming bored at certain times whilst watching the show. I didn't feel as if I could emotionally invest myself into the characters as much as I would have liked and as a result found myself not really caring what happened to them from episode to episode (which is never a good thing when watching a series). Another qualm I have is that the show lacks believability. After watching shows such as 'The Wire', 'The Sopranos', and 'The West Wing' which pride themselves on having the authenticity that is so near to true life, I found 'Homeland' a huge let down. As a result I found the writing of the show to be lazy, which therefore made it hard for me to fall in love with it. In conclusion, don't get me wrong, Homeland is a good television show that will give a certain amount of entertainment to anyone who watches it but if you are looking for a show that contains a high amount of quality drama week in week out, that grips you from beginning to end, you're probably better off going down the road of 'The Sopranos', 'The Wire' or 'Breaking Bad'.

The twists in a political thriller of this kind can be criticised as 'unlikely', or 'over the top' etc., but I wouldn't dream of picking possible holes in this show. For the simple reason that gripping and ingenious dramas like this are definitely not thick on the ground -and 'Homeland' is just so enjoyable ! In all departments it is skilfully-made, but there is a particular ingredient in this roller-coaster which stands out: the one-off character of 'Carrie', the government investigator played by Claire Danes. A female-lead like Carrie is a role that any actress would probably die for -she is original, risky, and complicated- and Claire Danes seizes it with both hands! Carrie is written as 'on-the-edge manic', it would be easy to overplay this part but Danes judges it perfectly, she is sympathetic and there is subtlety, and when she is on screen naturally you can't keep your eyes off her. 'Homeland' is well acted overall, beautifully photographed and directed, and looks brilliant in Blu-ray. Five stars from me, no question about it.

tres bien

Original box set. Mint condition. Played the 1st disc as a test and no issues. Oh and it's anamorphic it seems, loaded as full screen in 16:9

Homeland ha uno spunto di partenza intrigante: un militare disperso in Iraq torna a casa, ma in realtà ha subito il lavaggio del cervello e torna a casa come terrorista islamico. C'è quanto basta per un thriller che tiene incollati alla poltrona, ma Homeland ha molto di più. In primo luogo, una grande attenzione al lato umano della vicenda, eredità dello show originale israeliano Hatufim (Prigionieri di guerra) da cui la serie è liberamente tratta. Il sergente Brody, convertito all'Islam, non è una macchina di morte, ma un uomo come tutti, con contraddizioni, dubbi e incertezze: sulla sua missione, sul suo Paese natio, e sulla sua famiglia che, dopo averlo creduto morto, si trova frastornata dal suo ritorno e dall'inevitabile clamore mediatico. In secondo luogo, Homeland presenta una singolare coppia di "buoni" che seguono la pista di Brody: l'agente della CIA Carrie Mathison e il suo mentore, Saul Berenson. Carrie - dotata di un intuito senza pari - ha però un leggero problema personale. E' bipolare, e dipende dai farmaci. A Saul spetta l'arduo compito di sovrintendere alla missione di Carrie - l'unica a sospettare di Brody - e di proteggerla, nascondendo il suo segreto ai vertici della CIA, intrecciando con lei un rapporto che a momenti, più che quello tra mentore e allievo, sembra quello tra un padre e una figlia. Le cose si complicheranno quando, a sorpresa, tra Carrie e il terrorista Brody nascerà un'attrazione... E tutti i protagonisti dovranno scegliere, in qualche modo, tra fedeltà e tradimento: nei confronti della patria, della famiglia, degli ideali. Strapremiati, meritatamente, gli interpreti, Claire Danes/Carrie, Mandy Patinkin/Saul e Damian Lewis/Brody, ma i co-protagonisti non sono da meno (in particolare Morena Baccarin nella parte di Jessica, la tormentata moglie di Brody). Infine, impossibile non elogiare una scrittura (Howard Gordon e Alex Gansa) sorvegliatissima, che tiene il ritmo e la tensione, mai cadere in eccessi truculenti "HBO-style". Per chi scrive, serie consigliatissima, da vedere assolutamente.

テレビ放送やDVDと違い、画質が良いです。DVDレンタルを何回もするより買って良かったです。

¡Qué buena fue la primera temporada de Homeland! Te crea una intriga al estilo de la primera de Prison Break, con mucho cliffhanger y muchas ambiguedades. Una pena que la 2 y 3 temporada bajasen un poco la calidad. Si la línea argumental de la historia de la hija se la cargasen, la serie ganaria todo.