CliqueClackHomeland’s unanswered and important questions from season one
Two episodes into season two of Showtime’s ‘Homeland’, and I’m convinced it’s as good as ever. To add to the thrill: there are at least two unanswered and important questions from season one not touched upon yet.
I know there were some people (*cough*Ivey*cough*) who were somewhat disappointed with last season of Showtime’s Homeland. In particular, there were those who felt Brody should have gone through with the task of blowing himself up to bits in the name of all he now believes in. Though that didn’t happen, there’s no doubt the scene where he came VERY close to literally pulling the trigger was one of the most tense scenes to watch on television in recent memory. I’m sure that scene lent some hand in Damian Lewis’s recent Emmy win, in fact. Despite any of that disappointment in what Brody did (or, rather, didn’t) do, the jumping off point to the series’ second season so far has not left much to be wanted. In fact, it’s been pretty damned stellar.
Because the season’s started off on such a high point, I realized recently that there are a few unanswered things from the show’s first season that haven’t been touched upon or even hinted at yet. Does that merely mean we’re in for a shocking surprise later in the season — or series — or do the writers find these things unimportant enough to keep them danglimg forever?
First up, the mysterious slipping of the razor blade to Hamid in the interrogation room. Recall that last season an old guard from Brody’s stay in Afghanistan, Hamid, was in custody by the CIA, and Brody had the opportunity to confront his once captor. There was a scuffle in the interrogation room, and shortly after Hamid was able to use a razor blade someone slipped to him to do himself in. The unanswered question, of course: who slipped Hamid that blade? Many assume it was Brody, as he had the most direct contact with Hamid in that fight. After looking over the interrogation video more closely, though, my money would be on David Estes. There’s a point where his hand slips under the table, where he could have easily placed a blade. After watching the first two episodes of Homeland, though, it’s starting to make a lot less sense that Estes would be any sort of internal mole, so I’m completely stumped. However, there is another suspect, which birings us to the other big question. …
What’s Saul lying about? Recall that he underwent a polygraph test, only to fail it spectacularly when asked about some things that make one unable to help wondering where his loyalties lie. Seeing Saul’s actions up to this point make me believe this is more of a red herring than anything else, and Saul really has no involvement in the assistance of terrorist activity against the U.S.. Will we learn why he failed that test, or will it become unimportant enough that we’ll never really know the truth?
Regardless of whether or not we’ll ever have these questions answered, I’m happy with the progressing of the new season so far. I’d be disappointed if these things remain unanswered when the series makes inevitable end one day — I won’t deny that. I believe they are important enough ones to not let lie. For now, though, it’ll be fun to try to figure them out.
4 Comments on “Homeland’s unanswered and important questions from season one”
One thing that still bugs me: the married couple who rented a house near the airport.
How were they involved in the whole conspiracy? If you think about it, their supposed job was to guard the house until “someone” arrived. This “someone” was actually Walker, who, we are led to assume, was apparently scouting the nearby airport, more accurately, the place where Marine One lands, which makes everyone believe and alert on possible terrorist alert to kill the president.
Thing is that, “Marine One” turned out to be Brody. In anyway, the whole ruse of the “Marine One” landing and using the house as a sniper spot was beyond fake, as we learned from the end of the first season.
What as the point of the couple having the house and Walker visiting it? Just red herring to keep us wondering through the season? And the writers didn’t find a way to tie it into the real conspiracy?
Keith! You missed the extended beauty shot of Brody shaving with an old fashioned razor before the visit to Hamid. What other reason is there for that scene?
I went back and watched that scene just now, and the razor Brody was using was not at all old fashioned. It was a modern-style one, with the blade cartridges. The blade used in the room was an old style and not one used in the type of razor Brody was using.
Thanks for double checking it…I wondered why the shaving scene was there at all, and then remembered it when the razor blade came up and thought he had been using a full blade razor. I guess the shaving scene was only a red herring to me.