The final season of Homeland is premiering February 9 and, I for one, am ready to watch. Think what we will about the story of Carrie Mathison post-Brody, we can all agree that Homeland was the show that had the most impact on Damian’s fame around the world and his career going forward. The show certainly had not a minor impact on us either, your friendly bloggers of all things Damian! So even if Brody is long dead and is not likely to return even as hallucination, Homeland remains one of the big topics of conversation and writing on this blog.
The first teaser for Homeland has been released, and the show had its TCA panel, where we learned a bit about the upcoming season from friendly intrepid reporter Diane Gordon. You can read all her live tweets from the Homeland event here: Showtime #TCA20: Homeland.
Recall at the end of last season we left Carrie Mathison newly released from being held captive in Russia for several months. In the teaser, we get a taste of what happened to her in those months. She was holed up with Yevgeny Gromov and he did some things: refused her medication, played with her mind, and other nefarious deeds we have yet to learn. Color me intrigued as heck that the character of Yevgeny Gromov lives on this season and will be a part of it till the end. The scenes between Claire Danes and Costa Ronin are going to be electric, I’ll bet my blogger’s salary on it. 🙂
Furthermore, from the panel discussion at TCA, we hear the tantalizing news that Carrie may or may not have been “turned.” Diane Gordon tweets:
Alex Gansa says the really big idea of the season is that Carrie Mathison steps into Brody’s shoes – she’s the one under suspicion & her memory is fragmented from her time in captivity.
See, Brody fans: As I’ve said before and always, Brody NEVER dies. At least to those of us who have imaginations. He remains alive in the show’s imagination till the very end. It all comes full circle, with Carrie now in Brody’s position, an American patriot possibly working for the enemy. Gordon tells us:
Claire Danes says the story this season fuses Carrie psychically, with Brody which felt right.
Psychic fusion? Yes, please, and thank you.
Sounds like it will be a hell of a story and bring the perfect closure to this tremendous feat of a series. And I’m not at all offended that they didn’t go with my fanfic idea for this season. 🙂 Now about a revisit to that fanfic? Here it is linked all in one place with excerpts for your reading enjoyment.
Another Turn: A Homeland Fanfic
Chapter One
The counselors would periodically share small details about where he was and who they were just for the purpose of maintaining his trust, keeping him open and talking. Eventually, Brody realized that all he learned from them had come from a script they had been given to follow. It didn’t matter, because he was free. A new man: cured.
Chapter Two
Great leap of faith they took in training a man to wrangle the information highway knowing he had been holed up in a cave through most of the internet revolution. A leap of faith for which he was now indebted to them.
Chapter Three
“Yevgeny Gromov!” Alex exclaimed, still whispering.
Brody looked to where Alex had gestured. A group of people were walking so rapidly that he didn’t see any of their faces, just arms and legs swinging down the hallway. Were they the same men he had seen in the office earlier? Hard to tell, but it was clear that most of them appeared to be men. Except for one: a petite woman with messy tangled hair, the color of corn silk, hunched over and being led by the elbow.
Chapter Four
He’d seen the same thing on the field in Iraq and Afghanistan, this knack he had for getting the guys to listen to him like he was some god. He had no idea where it came from or what to do with that kind of power. Nothing, that is, but give his guys the best of himself. In this job too, he was here to give the best of himself, the ethics of the thing never really occurring to him. Maybe those questions would come up later, but right now it was the job, that’s it. It was a mystery to Brody that most people didn’t operate the same way. Well, one person did. A firecracker wisp of a woman with corn silk hair.
Chapter Five
Brody found his way to the area designated on the map. Gromov had an entire barrack all to himself, it seemed, with hallways all around his central lair. Brody entered the northern hallway and confirmed that it was clear. He walked along the wall of the central room until he got to a window and waited there, listening. Was that music? Aretha Franklin’s Respect, at low volume at first but then turned all the way up. Brody glanced in to the window to see a tall bearded man, his back turned, dancing and singing along to the song.
Chapter Six
All the unknowns. All the things he could have known about her if only his story hadn’t taken precedence. The Turned Marine tattooed across every second of the little time they spent together. She never got to show him all of herself. The craziness surrounding him was enough to keep them both busy. She never had the chance to just be. Yet, she still managed to be so totally herself, the inside of her soul worn on the outside. Despite the subterfuge her job required, she never held any of herself back. She was trained to not show everything she was thinking, but she always let you know what she was feeling.
Chapter Seven
“I’ve missed you too,” Brody breathed. The words just barely came out. He had a hard time wrapping his head around this entire thing. Being gone for so long, and, now, finding Carrie here, of all places. He’d said goodbye so many times to so many lives. Once when he was stuck in a hole for 8 years, then when he was back but not as himself, and now after ending it all again after Iran. How many incarnations was one man allowed? Insane the way time and space just rolled up to nothing with her touch, as if the years hadn’t passed, as if they’d never said goodbye at all. “Help me. Tell me how to get you out of this place.”
Chapter Eight
“Now here,” Gromov gestured widely. “Here is where soldiers across the world can come to learn state of the art warfare. Much more sophisticated, much less messy. Why worry about taking out bodies when you can control minds? Win over the enemy from the inside out. Don’t you agree Sergeant?”
Thank you for reading! I’ll meet you all in front of your TVs and monitors for Homeland, the Final Season, starting February 9 on Showtime.
Thank you for this! All the scenarios are interesting and every turn is possible. If I can sum up the initial purpose, or message of the show, that would be Brodys’ words …“I was fucked the moment I left for Iraq. We all were.”… I’m not an easy believer but I’m a hopeless idealist. I understand that Brody was meant to be “fucked”. This is what the war do to people… But as an idealist I think the show deserves the best. The best character is Brody. Brody is the Homelander. The complexity of the character is beyond words. The intensity that Damian gave to the character is beyond words. Last, but not least – that 8th wonder of the world called Carrie (whom I love more than anyone I’ve watched on screen) deserves the best. The best for her is Brody. Yes, Queen was wonderful, and he did great things but come on… If there is a tiny piece of hope that Brody is alive, for me this is Javadi. A terrific…terrific character! We should never trust that guy.In season 6 he was flirting with Carrie, when he told her where Brody is burried.( Does anyone here remember his exact words? Did he say “the body”? I can’t remember in which episode was that conversation and don’t have time right now to watch the whole season.
Absolutely! I agree with everything you’ve said!
I wrote a post about that scene from season 6 when Javadi tells her where he’s buried. Looked up the place myself and found a pic of it. (not really of course, but, in our imagination we must have all the details possible!!) http://www.fanfunwithdamianlewis.com/?p=20048 But, yes, who knows if Javadi was telling her the truth? We can dream!
Since he died all I’ve wanted for Carrie is someone to look at her the way he did in The Weekend. She never really had that again with anyone. Yes, the best for her was Brody.
Your fiction is a perfect cap to the Brody Countdown and great to revisit. I remember well how you calmed me down right after I saw the aftermath of Brodys death. I was so angry that I couldn’t see that Carrie had not “just moved on” till you pointed it out. Yes I believe Nicholas Brody is the love of her life. Peter Quinn was wonderful (and Rupert Friend a great actor) but I can’t think believing “one of the reasons I was put on this earth was for our paths to cross” happens more than once. So I’ll be on my sofa Sunday night to take that final trip with our spectacular maniac Carrie Matheson! Thanks dear JaniaJania!
Aw, I’m just so glad I was able to effectively communicate that Brody was more than another mission to Carrie. Thank you!!
I think Quinn loved her deeply but she didn’t feel the same for him and she had a good mutual thing with the German guy, the first guy she tried normality with. But, alas, she learned she can’t do normal. (also, normal is just not all that fun)
Looking ahead, I’m imagining some stuff happening between her and Yevgeny, whether it’s consensual or not will be for us to decide. Just as we had to decide who was the most pernicious liar, Carrie or Brody, whenever they were together. I’m envisioning Yevgeny falling for her, at least a little bit, for real, despite the fact he’s a hardened mobster. But, on the other hand, I’m also envisioning they’ll stay away from any and all romantic complications this last season. Sad to acknowledge, but I think love will have alluded her forever. We’ll see!
BTW, Costa Ronin is live tweeting the premier, eastern time. If you’re on Twitter, join in!
I second NotLinda – thanks JaniaJania, this fan fiction is brilliant beyond words and it’s the perfect cap to our Brody countdown. How can you miss a fictional character years after he died on TV? It’s crazy but I do miss Brody!!!!
Hey Brody widows! Damian’s comments in this LA Times article seem to confirm my growing suspicion that Homeland was not as good for Damian as Damian was for Homeland.
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2020-02-07/homeland-showtime-claire-danes-mandy-patinkin-final-season
To go from the golden boy to the problem may have been a huge disappointment. Our loyalty remains unshaken. However mistreated he may have been Damian Lewis gave his very best.
I’m disappointed with the writers who told him he was the problem if they did so! I’m quite sure they could write it better. I think this happened because they had the original storyline in their minds (that Brody would die in the season season) but then because he was the golden boy and his chemistry with Claire Danes was off the charts, they changed the route and got stuck for some reason that I cannot comprehend. But they wanted the commercial returns with Brody so they kept him around and could not handle it. I think they all thought it would be Claire Danes’ show and it turned out to be a show which a two-season actor owned… If it had been some other actor, Brody would have died at the end of Season 2. Oh well… I could talk about it forever so I’d better shut up!
Right, the studio wanted to keep him for the commercial appeal. The writers wrote a story, and sure they wanted to make money off it, but not at the expense of the story. Writers who are asked to change courses on something they’ve written and are passionate about are bound to “get stuck” because they’re no longer telling the story they want to tell.
You read that he was mistreated in this article? He said he was the problem in that his story arc should have naturally ended and it didn’t due to pressure from Showtime. The writers wrote a story and executives wanted to change it. Damian is all about story, not executives, so he knew it was pushing it to keep Brody going. The weakness of everything that came after Q & A is attributed to the writers being forced to do something they didn’t plan on doing. Brody was the problem, not Damian! 🙂 There is no indication that he was mistreated by the showrunners because of the decision.
Sure, it could be argued that the writers could have gone more creatively on the route the studio wanted them to. But, I know if I were a writer, I wouldn’t want some suits telling me where to take my story. The story suffered for not killing Brody at the end of Season Two. Season Three was hard to watch for many reasons. It was dark as hell and Brody didn’t even appear in the first three episodes. I know it’s hard for Damian fans to take, but in the end, in all his projects, I think Damian knows that The Story is paramount and must drive everything.
Also, I’d take this article with a grain of salt. The showrunners have said repeatedly that they had Claire Danes first and went looking for the actor for Brody, rejecting a few along the way till they found The One.
Also the article says Brody tried to kill the President: it was the Vice President.