musings about the actor and the characters he brings to life
“The Silence of a falling star lights up the purple sky.”
Hank
Season Three of Homeland is one of it’s darkest and not only for the obvious reason.
Carrie learns what Brody has known for a long time: mission before the man applies to her, too.
In a very busy, noisy season, in the background is the silence between the lovers. We wait for their reunion. They wait for a sign, a word, with ever encroaching despair.
I left Carrie and Brody suspended in a golden light near the end of episode 11 in season 2 but I think maybe Brody will never leave me be. So will you go with me into the shadows?
Nazir is dead. Brody has left his family. He and Carrie are together in peace that “is a rare thing for me”. They are back at the cabin; the place they first discovered that peace with each other. This time it’s different: “no secrets”. They have a fascinating conversation about that. Scarier and easier. Carrie says “That should be a good thing, right?” Well, yes it would seem it should but with these two people that’s a reasonable question. The ambiguity and tenderness with which they approach each other is a touchstone of their relationship. They are finding their way moment by moment. These two actors show us characters we’ve only seen in flashes: vulnerable, amazed. It’s beautiful. Continue reading “Falling Star, Part One: Into The Shadows”
If you missed Homeland Season 2 Part I, you can read it here.
STAR ASCENDANT
“ Go to Brody .. empower the guy.” Peter Quinn
At the Brody home chaos ensues. Dana has taken off, Jessica is raking her husband over the coals for the events at the police station, Brody is due in half an hour to meet with Roya, and Carrie is right outside with her team listening to it all, worrying.
Jessica, how has she made it this far? It’s unbearable. There is no way she can understand any of this. “Tell the CIA to back off, that your daughter matters more!” “I CAN’T I CAN’T I CAN’T!”
JaniaJania gave us a wonderful “Carrie and Brody: Was It Love?” series covering every single scene with Carrie and Brody in Homeland Season 1 followed by a discussion between NotLinda, a wonderful reader and an occasional Fan Fun contributor, and herself. And now we are thrilled to leave the stage to NotLinda for her to give us Carrie and Brody in Season 2. We MISSED them, didn’t we?
Please ENJOY!
Welcome to an examination of the relationship between Damian Lewis’ Brody and Claire Danes’ Carrie traveled in Season 2 of HOMELAND. It’s a wild ride with hairpin turns. However, as importantly, this season is a mesmerizing character study of Nicholas Brody. The character is pulled by opposing, coerced, and uncontrollable forces. The repercussions of his commitment to Abu Nazir, the unexpected bond to his family, and his deal with CIA. At the top of his game, I’ve never seen Damian so compelling. Please enjoy – Continue reading “Homeland Season 2: Star Ascending”
When Brody died on Homeland, I was one of those fans who searched high and low, scrambling to find somewhere to talk about him and about the show. At one point I ended up on the Facebook page for Homeland and tried fruitlessly to sift thru all the flat “No Brody No Homeland” pointlessness to find someone who saw what I saw in the character and in the show. Brody will never die, I thought. So why rage into the void, begging for him to come back from the dead? Shows do listen to such things, I suppose. But, even if they did listen to all the pleas from fans, what would Brody come back for? To be a dad to his new daughter? To live happily ever after with Carrie? Really, fans?
No. Brody was dead. In fact, he was dead from the minute he got off the plane and saw Jess for the first time. I spoke at length of this aspect of the character before, here and here and here. The remarkable thing about the character was this very thing, that he was a dead man walking. A cipher, a mystery, an empty vessel filled with nothing except what various people put in his head. The fact that Damian played that emptiness so FULLY is the remarkable thing, the memorable thing, the thing that compels us to never let go of the character. Characters written so completely and played so fully never die, do they? The truth and the reality of Brody lives on and will never die.