New Articles for the Week of June 24th: Glorious Return Edition

Well, I guess it's been a little while, hasn't it? I should really consider just live-updating this thing with links instead of getting into a big rigamarole over doing a whole write-up just to say, yes, Mad Men happened this week, here are some thoughts. Then again, it's been a pretty busy month, one spent sampling, digesting, and then regurgitating thoughts on a whole host of things not strictly related to TV. Let's start with old business first: -Mad Men: The season finale is tonight, so if you've been using my reviews as a guide to the season, then my humblest apologies for dumping not one, not two, my God, not even three, but four recaps mere hours before Don Draper and company take their bow for 2013. Then again, that's a pretty odd way to be involved in one of TV's best shows, so don't judge me for working up a review backlog.

-Hannibal: I had the pleasure of reviewing a third episode of this year's biggest surprise, as well as share some thoughts on the season as a whole with the finale that aired a few days ago. The short version is that Hannibal will likely show up on my Top 20 for the year, based on its haunting aesthetic, terrific performances, and total commitment to being the most twisted and Goddamn insane network TV show since Twin Peaks. I have been legitimately more creeped out and frightened by Hannibal's 13-episode first season than any other piece of media I've viewed in the last 5 years, and the fact that it's often a really compelling drama doesn't hurt either. NBC left the show to die during the spring burnoff season, but they at least had the decency to pick it up for a second season, the time until which will hopefully involve many people discover this bloody little gem on streaming and DVD.

That's all from the world of TV recapping, and you can expect a Mad Men finale review in the evening hours tonight, as well as a review for CBS's Under the Dome pilot tomorrow. For now though, let's move on to a few odds and sods.

-Orphan Black: Got 10-hours to spare watching one of the most gleefully insane, and best acted TV sci-fi series in ages? Well you're in luck, because I caught up with the cult BBC series a couple weeks back and can now say I see what all the fuss is about. I won't get much into spoiler territory, but the basic premise allows for Canadian-born actress Tatiana Maslany to give five of the best performances on TV,  and with that in mind, you can probably guess that Orphan Black isn't your average cup of tea. It's a complete tonal fruit salad, shifting from sci-fi, to thriller, to mystery, to comedy and back between and within scenes, and is a BBC production shot in a Toronto masquerading as New York. Needless to say, those expecting the production values and laser focus of an HBO drama should look elsewhere. Those, however, looking for an exceptionally fun, thought-provoking, and blisteringly-paced little series should go out of their way to seek this out.

-At the Movies: Haven't spent much time in the local theatres lately, though when I tell you that the TIFF screening of "R. Kelly's Trapped in the Closet Sing-Along" was the best thing I've seen in cinemas the last month, it's confirmation that this summer has been pretty awful for movies. This is the End, a surprising critical high-water mark for the season, was packed when an attempt to see it was made this week, so a viewing of Now You See Me was had instead. Seeing as the trailers made it look one of the year's most obnoxious and irritating offerings, it was unlikely this would ever be my jam, and sure enough, it wasn't. I can't remember the last time a film so completely fucked up the idea of identifying someone to root for, as in this case, my options were the asshole magician thieves, the asshole Interpol detective, or the asshole millionaires and shysters funding them. It's reductive, and more than a little mean to call it Ocean's Eleven for stupids, but that's the movie they made. At least I wasn't disappointed by it, unlike...

Man of Steel. Oh man, this one hurt. That's not to say that it's abhorrently awful, but, after resisting it for so long, I got swept up in the zeitgeist (read: marketing) for the film in the last weeks before its release. Based on what had been shown it really, really looked like Snyder and Nolan might have cracked the Superman nut. This was the movie that was supposed to save the summer, which is an unfair expectation on my part (I can really only blame myself for going to tentpole blockbuster films lately). Turns out, what we got was a movie more dour and joyless than even Nolan's Batman pictures, which could afford to be so. Superman, on the other hand, can fucking fly and lift mountains over his head: he's the last character that should be weighed down with a script so leaden with ponderous dialogue, pacing so manacled by the obligatory origin story, and a structure that weights all the action toward a numbing and concerning third act. Again, it's not reprehensible, or utterly awful, but Man of Steel is perhaps the biggest misfire in a summer season that's all but been dedicated to them.

Finally, just thought I'd mention I managed to finish The Last of Us yesterday, and I'm already planning another big ol' essay/bout of thought-diarrhoea about it like I did for Bioshock: Infinite, and what Sony's latest tentpole release says about how storytelling works within the framework of a videogame. Bottom-line: while it shares many of Infinite's faults, The Last of Us attempts (and often succeeds at) the kind of bold gameplay design, and narrative focus I was begging for in my last video game diatribe, and for at least trying to do so, I'm kinda in love with it. Even bottom-er line: I have never cried because of a video game, but within 15 minutes, The Last of Us nearly had me bawling like an big dumb baby over a bunch of pixels. That's some straight up Pixar shit right there, and I can't wait to dig deeper into what's made this game something special.

That's all for now. Play me out, wistful, and depressing video game soundtrack!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJVgzGD-04U]

New Articles for the Week of May 20th: TV's Over Forever Addition

You hear that faint, dying buzz coming from your TV, the one that's getting fainter and fainter the nicer the weather outside gets? Yes, it's the sound of reruns, because TV is now officially over for the year. There's no more, it's all gone; it's time to unplug the cable box and start being a productive member of society again. Reruns are all that's left, which is actually worse than blizzard static, because at least randomly bouncing white and black pixels are bound to make something new appear every now and then. Might as well take the batteries out of the remote, because it's not like you'll need to turn on the TV for another four months.

And THANK GOD. I might not get summer vacations anymore, but Jesus Christ, I need a vacation from TV, or rather, new TV. There are a few stragglers hanging about (I'll keep reviewing Mad Men, of which the last two recaps can be found here, and here, and will follow up my 2nd Hannibal recap with a few more this season), and some summer series that will definitely be worth checking out, but any sort of halt to the rising tide of great TV is a godsend to someone already so far behind shows they'd normally be up to date on (I'm 5 episodes behind on Parks and Rec for crying out loud). So with so much more time these next few months available for getting caught up on what's been on and off my radar (it's time to finally see if the fuss about New Girl is justified, and the new Arrested Development season is mandatory), now's the time to do a bit of house cleaning, and wrap up a few series and season I've finished in the last few weeks. We're going have to lightning-round things this week, so let's not waste another minute.

-Arrow: This is a mini-milestone for me, as Arrow wrapping up its first season these last two weeks makes it the first show I've ever covered from pilot to finale. While I never thought my first consistent TV reviewing gig would involve writing more than 30,000 words on a show I originally had no interest in watching, you gotta start somewhere, and I'm glad Arrow was such a starting point for me. It's really, really tempting when you do freelance writing to only concern yourself with shows that align with your tastes, and tunnel-vision can develop as a side effect. Biasing your viewing habits only towards programs that are critically well-regarded will make you lose perspective on the wide range of stories available on any given night of TV. I would never argue in favour of someone watching Arrow instead of The Wire, or Louie, but it's important to give a change to shows that aren't inherently your type of jam, and to be able to recognize their strengths just as readily as their faults. Speaking of which...

-...Spartacus!!!!!!!! If ever a truly excessive number of exclamation points were warranted on this blog, this would be the case, because Spartacus, on its surface, ignores all the classically accepted hallmarks of great television. It's violent, libidinous, grimy, gory, unabashedly sex-crazed, and honest to God Great Television. There is so, so much worth celebrating about Spartacus, the most important thing being how it defies expectations at every turn; over its first season, a 300-knockoff looking like it was shot on a shoestring budget, morphed into one TV's best dramas, at once lean and spectacular. The show never looked back after that meteoric rise in quality, even after the untimely death of its star Andy Whitfield; Stephen S. DeKnight, his writing staff, the incredible production team, and a host a talented actors made every single minute of this series count, bowing out after their fourth season last month, and going out on their own terms. I've never watched another show that could dazzle the action-living, lizard part of my skull, while keeping the rest of my brain so engaged by the momentous plotting and unforgettable cast of characters. Oh, and it also happens to be one of the most sexually progressive shows of recent memory, just to round out why it is I'm so in awe of everything Spartacus has accomplished. Make no mistake; this brawny jock has more brain and heart than many of TV's most praised series.

-The Shield: Where Spartacus is bloody opera, The Shield is Shakespearean tragedy. I was sadly unable to follow up my digestion of the first two seasons with complimenting thoughts on the rest of the series, so i'll have to give the 10 cent review instead. Long story short, while I don't think I would argue The Shield is essential viewing for your average audience, for fellow TV writers, I'd consider it a must. With each season, The Shield added another act to its tragedy in six-parts (with the scattered Season 1 acting as a prologue), and the further you step back from the show, the more you have to applaud how Shawn Ryan and company managed to tell a complete story that had almost no fat to it. Rock solid consistency across 70+ episodes is a nigh impossible feat, but really, it's the finale that gave the show its legacy, as that final hour gave weight and meaning to all those that came before it. Take note, showrunners: a bad ending won't necessarily ruin your show, but a great one can change the narrative completely.

-Top of the Lake: A nice little Jane Campion mini-series breaking up all the macho stuff, Top of the Lake is not the sort of show you will devour like candy, and leave you hungry for more. It's a slow, winding, but intensely intriguing and ultimately rewarding bit of mystery fiction set in the New Zealand countryside. Elizabeth Moss is terrific in the lead role as detective Robin Griffin, kiwi accent and all, as her investigation into the seedy side of a lake-bound small town uncovers numerous oddballs and dark secrets across the seven episode series. The off-beat pacing will be off-putting to many, and there's a noticeable wonkiness to how the show's original six episode length was split into seven for Sundance Channel. I can't say I'm terribly well-versed in Campion's work other than The Piano, but her talent for spoiling gorgeous landscapes with disturbing sexual undercurrents is on full display here, making for a hypnotic, and unsettling little series that will likely find a place in my year end list of best series. I'm looking to taper off of the show's uniquely low-key high with a similarly contemplative series from Sundance, Rectify, the pilot of which I watched last night and see plenty of promise in.

New Articles for the Week of May 6th: Playoffs Edition

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnuHO0IoHZc]

You know it’s been a while since you added an update to your blog when actually making one gets delayed further by forgetting your Wordpress login info. Here’s what I've had time for writing up in the last couple weeks, in between stuffing myself on the smorgasbord of hockey that is the first round of NHL playoffs:

-Two Arrows, no waiting. With the season wrapping up a week tomorrow, the recap load each week is about to get a lot lighter. The rest of May is barren for new show premieres, but June should pick things up, so their might be something worth covering weekly around that time. In the meantime, I might have to start popping in for check-in reviews, like the one I did for…

-…Hannibal, which, surprisingly, is turning out to be one of the best new shows of the year. You wouldn’t think a series based off a successful novel and film franchise would be an underdog, but considering it’s the umpteenth serial killer drama in recent memory (and on NBC no less), Hannibal entered the scene with bomb bunker-low expectations. Leave it to wunderkind showrunner Bryan Fuller, a strong cast, and the show's capacity to be legitimately creepy, to make this 2013’s most pleasant surprise. My review catches up with the show midway through its first season, and I’d recommend you do the same. Seriously though, despite being on network TV, this is not one for the squeamish. The jury’s still out for me on whether the show is making a commentary on senseless and gratuitous violence that you'll find in drek like The Following, or if Hannibal is just better at making said violence entertaining, but check it out for yourself, and see how it settles your stomach.

-Mad Men manages memorable moments mourning Mr. MLK, and major movements are made, as magnificently manic merger melts away morbid motifs.  I’m now realizing almost no one on this show has a name that starts with “M”, and I think that’s to prevent sentences like the last one from being even more tempting to write. 

This goes against my proven policy of improving productivity (okay, fine, I'll stop the alliteration) by not making any promises, but expect a big ol' hashout post about a number of series I just happened to finish within spitting distance of one another. Nothing super in-depth or all that analytical, mostly just a little baggage unpacking. The shows? I'll leave it a surprise, but the article's working title at this moment is Snakes, Lakes, and White-Male-Antiheroes. Now if you'll excuse, I need to get back to watching the Canucks lose. 

New Articles for the Week of April 22nd: Vide-ya Games Edition

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzyhpigFMKE] Sorry every other contender for the title of Summer Jam 2013, but we already have a winner.

A week late, but it's time for another portfolio dump, this time with more video game-ary in one batch than pretty much ever. I don't get around to playing many games these days, mostly because the average playtime to clock-in a complete title is well over a single season of television. When you start breaking down the numbers, and you don't have a lot of free time at your disposal, the only thing I'll get out of bed for when it comes to games is a really good story...or something that's free. Both of which are present this week, so let's jump right in:

-The mystery project I teased two weeks back is out and about, and it's yet another sprawling think-piece, the informatively titled essay, Bioshock: Infinite, Choice And The State Of Storytelling In Game. Like my Bond article from last year, this was a case where the predicted length and time investment for the piece was a gross underestimate. Luckily, that let the article hit right around the time a lot of other really thoughtful analyses of the year's biggest game were coming out. I've been meaning to hash out some thoughts on the gaming industry's continued inconsistency in storytelling, and Bioshock: Infinite was the perfect catalyst for getting all those thoughts out in the open. Check it out if you've played the game, want to know what exactly is so wrong with video game storytelling, or see both those things made all the nerdier by an extended analogy based on the "Han shot first" meme.

-A decidedly less ambitious new addition to the site is my more meat 'n potatoes review for Injustice: Gods Among Us, a new comic book fighting game that I was fortunate enough to get a review copy of. This was only my second game review, and I really enjoyed both playing the game, and writing about it. And the review confirmed a lot of what I suspected about certain, let's say, more vocal, parts of the gaming community. Whereas to me, a 3 out of 5 says "fun, but flawed," to others, that can apparently read like "THE THINGS YOU LIKE ARE TERRIBLE AND YOU SHOULD HATE YOURSELF." Getting into a whole "Scores as a Review Metric is Fucked" article is something for another day, but sometimes the gaming community can really bum me out. Guys, video games are pretty well accepted in this day and age, so criticism of a single game is not damning of you, or your interests. The war for whether video games can be respectable or not is over: we won. Now start acting like it.

-And finally, it's a Mad Men, Mad Men, World, so here's a double dose to tied you over until next time. I gotta say, I'm loving this assignment, despite literally having nightmares about watching episodes, and coming away with nothing to say. Luckily, that hasn't happened for real just yet; in fact, it's been easier to spit out 1500+ words on Mad Men within 2 hours of its airing than anything else I've written under a time crunch. I'm pretty happy with how the reviews for weeks 2 and 3 turned out. I mean, I got to spend all last Sunday comparing the show to Game of Thrones, and even forced in the word "genuflecting" again. Plus, I hit the minor milestone of 1,000 views on a recap in under 24 hours. What's not to love?

That's all for this week. Slate is looking pretty clear at the moment, but we'll see what the new week brings. Sundance's Rectify is picking up some good buzz, and Amazon just clusterbombed the internet with about three dozen pilots, so there's probably something to review in all that. Or maybe I'll just go see Pain and Gain this week. I may not be a huge fan of the guy's catalogue, but I feel like Michael Bay is finally using his powers for good, instead of Transformers.

Oh, and just for good measure, here's the link to that Daft Punk song again. Mankind doesn't deserve something this joy-inducingly groovy, so it's a good thing we have French robots to make it for us.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzyhpigFMKE]

New Articles for the Week of April 8th

Whooooooooo! Break out the champagne everybody: it's the second update in as many weeks! What'd I tell you: zero promises=unstoppable productivity. Alright, well, admittedly it doesn't look like much has changed; there are only two recaps to spotlight this week, but one's a new addition to the weekly rotation, and it's a biggie. And in between all that, the groundwork for a much bigger, rambly-er article was laid, on a topic transcending genres, mediums -the very fabric of time and space! Prepare to be dazzled, and set expectations to genuflect!

Shit. Now I've gone and promised too much...Oh well, it was nice while it lasted. On to the update!

-Old business first: the weekly Arrow recaps keep on keepin' on...except this coming week, and pretty much the rest of the month, thanks to a brief hiatus for new episodes.  That's for the best though, because I need focus every iota of critical juice I've got right now on...

-Mad Men: Yeah, this was a bit of a surprise for me as well, seeing as I thought someone at the site was already going to be covering it. But in a dramatic turn of events, the big red phone rang Sunday morning, and coach put me in! As a lover of both mixed metaphors, and drinks, I was ecstatic at the chance to review Mad Men...and then legitimately kind of terrified that most of the practice I'd had in TV recapping was from covering a CW superhero soapopera. Considering Mad Men is in the running for All-Time Best Drama of Ever and Always, this was like deciding to try your hand at cracking Saturday's New Yorker crossword after months doing the word jumbles on the back of Cap'n Crunch boxes.

Or at least that's what I was worried about, as the actual writing turned out to be less of a struggle than initially feared. It was surprisingly fun to take a run at, and I actually think my recap for the premiere turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself (and I do). We'll see how that enthusiasm holds up for the rest of the season; I mean, jumping into the Mad Men review game is basically setting a weekly reminder for yourself of how decidedly not hot your shit is compared to the dozens of amazing recaps being done elsewhere, but it feels good to be a part of the conversation.

And finally, one conversation I won't be getting in on is the passing of Roger Ebert. Don't get me wrong; the guy embodied everything about the career of "critic" that makes it legitimate, and the worlds of cinema, critical thought, and general human spirit are lesser places without him in them. But you can't look both ways crossing the street without spying another deeply heartfelt, and moving tribute to the man from critics and writers more skilled than I. I'll simply let my condolences join their's in celebrating Mr. Ebert's life, by doing my damnedest to live up to the high-bar for productivity, insight, and passionate love of shared experiences that he set for the rest of us.

Recap: Homeland S2E01 "The Smile"

The near unstoppable success of Homeland in its first year was less a story of the little Showcase drama that could, than it was the little bomb that didn't go off, and I'm not just talking about the suicide vest that we all held our breath over during the first season finale. Despite proving week after week that a serialized post-9/11 conspiracy-thriller could be a nail-biter in the vein of Breaking Bad, -as well as a thought-provoking, often ambiguous, political drama- a lot of viewers maintained a "sure, but" attitude for all twelve episodes. Sure, the pilot was a textbook example of how to launch a premise and establish interesting characters, but pilots are rarely representative of an entire season. Sure, showrunners Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa kept the story moving at a pace that made their last series, 24, seem flat-footed, but by burning up more plot points in six episodes than some shows do in a season, would there be anything left for the second half? Sure, the finale deftly brought all the intricate plot lines and elements together into the most sweat-inducing scene of any show that year, but were there enough stray threads left hanging to turn into a second season? Toppling perennial Emmy favourites Breaking Bad and Mad Men in both the acting and best overall drama categories last week was no doubt sweet vindication for the creative staff, seeing as half the reason some viewers watched Homeland was to pinpoint the exact moment when one slight misstep would bring the whole apparatus crashing down. The show winning over critics and audiences alike meant that it got to go into its premiere last night with a lot more trust on the part of the viewer than was given at the start of season one, but that question of "when is Homeland going to blow up in everyone's face" still remained, and likely always will. If the newest episode, "The Smile", is any indicator though, then we've still got plenty of time left on the countdown clock.

Six months after getting some of the crazy electroshocked out of her, Carrie Matheson is back in the field. Well, it's more of a garden, where she's collecting veggies for the dinner she'll be cooking for her sister and father. Upstairs, a stack of ESL papers wait for her to be graded. It's the terrifying mundanity she knew waited for her if the C.I.A. ever found out about her mental problems, and it's strangely more depressing than encouraging to see that she might be enjoying it. Sure, there's the occasional glance at news stories covering unrest in the Middle East, but it's as harmless as seeing what an ex is up to on Facebook. If ever there were a Carrie more at odds with the fiery, bulldozer we were first introduced to, this is it.

Homeland's never been coy about putting its characters through the wringer, and despite all the punishment Brody endured during his eight years of captivity, at least he wasn't the one who got terminated from the job they lived for, their heart broken, and a yet unknown amount of their memory wiped out through electroconvulsive therapy. And yet, despite having found a modicum of peace amidst the routine of suburbia, the world just isn't through with making Carrie's life hell.

When Danny (the guy who who was always around helping Carrie with C.I.A. grunt work) crashes her class and asks her to come in to Langley, she shoots him down, mostly out of spite, but perhaps also because she actually agrees that she never belonged with the C.I.A. to begin with. It takes a call from Saul before she even gives Estes the time of day, and he lays out the situation for her on the family front porch. Fatima Ali, an asset in close with a Hezbollah district commander that Carrie recruited years ago, has information about an imminent attack on U.S. soil. The only problem: she won't talk to anyone but Carrie.

We see why once we check in with Saul, who's dusted off the pork pie hat and is now back in the field, having gotten that transfer he asked for last year. He couldn't have picked a worse time to do so it seems; a series of bombings on Iranian nuclear sites by Israel's military has caused massive protests across the region. Simply leaving the U.S. embassy in Beirut without being followed becomes a quick little game of cat and mouse, which Saul proves more than up to the task for, but it's all for not. Fatima will only cough up the information if Carrie meets her, in person, in Beirut.

Estes' plan is made to sound simple, though is anything but: have Carrie learn a cover ID, sneak into the country, make contact with the informant, and get back home in 72 hours. He doesn't sugarcoat it though, and makes no attempt to bait Carrie (with something, it turns out, she doesn't want) by telling her "this isn't you getting your job back, this is you being a good citizen." Despite the protestation of her sister, Carrie packs up, head to Cyprus, and gets to work on being Kate Morrissey, from Calgary, Alberta.

The other half of Homeland's equation also starts the year on a high note, as Congressman Brody might soon be upgrading to Vice President Brody. Yes, it seems that the recall election went about as well as Vice President Walden could have hoped, so much so that he's started floating Brody's name for the convention ticket (which party's convention that is still remains a mystery). Brody's pragmatic about it, telling Jessica that Walden just wants to leverage his Marine background to look strong amidst all the unrest in Iran.  All the same, the Brody clan seems to have finally found normalcy, and Brody himself seems like he's enjoying it…

Which is why probably why Abu Nazir is wondering just what exactly he's getting out of the mole he spent eight years creating. Despite killing his best friend again to prove his loyalty at the end of last season, Brody's rather nebulous plan to influence government at the highest levels isn't helping Nazir's cause fast enough, and he makes his displeasure known via an alluring news reporter. Brody smartly feigns ignorance when she claims to be an emissary of their mutual friend, but he starts to believe her once she name drops Isa. Seems that old wound hasn't healed just yet.

Brody's crash-course on the oval office includes a meet and greet over homeland security at Langley, and the reporter gives Brody the combination to Estes' office safe. In it is an encryption key that will provide a laundry list of sites vulnerable to attack, which doesn't cotton to Brody's more passive approach to changing the U.S. Their microcosmic debate on the difference between a nation defending itself and getting revenge as determining Brody's decision to play along is largely irrelevant, since we know the character at this point, and equally important, what makes for good TV.

Brody gets some alone time with the safe the next day when Estes is distracted by the reporter pretending to have a scoop on the Iranian nuclear site bombings, only to buy more time for Brody by offering Estes a dinner date. It's a fun little sequence of Brody debating his choice for a moment, only to quickly scramble around the office and write down the key code in a ledger that will no doubt be of importance later. Granted, Estes getting personally involved with a reporter seems a little hokey, but nothing stopped him from cheating on his wife with Carrie, so perhaps he has a thing for mixing office and bedroom politics.

But the big scene of the night goes to Jessica, often the most under-utilized player in season one, who gets a bombshell dropped on her thanks to a misplaced word from Dana at her fancy new school. After almost outting her dad as a muslim, Dana tries to cover her tracks, but Brody comes clean to Jessica, and she does not take it well. No small part of her reaction is due to the fact that its one of the last lies Brody has maintained since getting his marriage back together, but what's most surprising is how Jessica's indignation comes with a huge dose of xenophobia. "These are the people who, if they found out Dana and Xander were having sex, they'd stone her to death in a soccer stadium," she yells angrily, before throwing Brody's Qur'an on the floor.

It's an unnerving sequence, partly because it relays the show's shift in focus away from surveillance and the military, to a larger arena of politics and religion, which were mostly background elements last year. It's not quite as jarring as going from the slums of West Baltimore to the docks in Season 2 of The Wire, but already, there's a greater sense that Homeland is taking off the kid gloves with regards to how reflective of the real world it wants to be. Sure, Brody was working for Al-Qaeda all last season, but as an institution, they're treated not that differently from any of the off-brand terrorist groups 24 would use every season. Howard and Gansa seem emboldened to start using more real geography, more bits ripped from the headlines (the massive protest scenes will be familiar to any viewer who's turned on the news in the last month), and the result could make the tightrope they walk on even tighter. Part of Homeland's appeal has been its ability to traffic in moral grey areas, but it's a lot less dangerous to play in that traffic when you're talking fiction, not fact.

It's represented best by the episode's final scene, where Brody and Dana bury the damaged Qur'an, but whether that's meant as a funeral, or the seeding of something meant to grow, is unclear. Brody's conversion seems like the kind of secret Walden asks about earlier, the kind that can kill a political career, as well as a campaign. And yet, it seems possible to envision circumstances where, as an act of global harmony, a golden boy, true-blooded American, comes out as Muslim, and the world doesn't end. The season starts with our two leads happier than we've ever seen them, now that they've escaped the duties and missions that drove them in the first season, only to get pulled right back in against their will. In Brody's case, we're unsure of which side of the war that the reporter alludes to he'll end up on.

Carrie though? If that last shot of her tells us anything, it's that she truly didn't have a choice about coming back into the espionage fold. Despite looking rusty after six months on leave, and perhaps missing some of that mojo her illness provided, Carrie gets thrown right into the deep end when her meet with Fatima gets interrupted by a tail. A costume change and a swift kick to the groin later, and suddenly the Carrie Matheson we fell in love with last year is back in action. And that's certainly something to smile about.

• Stray Thoughts

-I can confirm that if you don't know who Calgary's hockey team is, you're not really from Alberta.

-Some new images pop up in the credit sequence, which slowly went from a bizarre montage to one of my favourite intros for any show. Where else do you get to hear two of the lead actors say "fuck" two minutes into every episode? Looks like a shot of Tehran and a news broadcast are some of the new things.

-So who got Estes' safe code? It was a relief that the temptation to have a mole be exposed late game last season was avoided, but the longer Nazir keeps getting sensitive intel, the more likely it seems that the reveal has just been delayed.

-Virgil Watch: No signs this week. Here's hoping for an episode-long flashback to catch us up on what he and his creepy brother have been doing the last six months.

-Having never been to a Quaker meeting, I hope that's how they actually go down. Otherwise, that scene felt like some uncharacteristically overt laying out of themes, although if anyone has to do it, get a snot-nosed trust fund punk. Douche is an understatement.

-The continued presence of the prep school boy who bails out Dana after her "my dad's a muslim" gaffe seems almost certain.

-Update on Chris: He's got 300 more Facebook friends. Good for him.

-Carrie details to Saul the vegetable dinner she's making for her family, as well as refuses a kebab in Cyprus, claiming she doesn't eat meat. Something to watch for in the future, or has Compulsive Homeland Conspiracy Syndrome already taken hold of me?