"Homeland" Is Running Out of Time

When I was first introduced to "Homeland", the show was already in the early episodes of its second season.  I knew the praise awarded to the show for its impressive acting and gripping storyline.  Claire Danes and Damien Lewis had already won Emmys for their performances as Carrie Mathison and Nicholas Brody, respectively.  Prior to starting, I also knew that Mandy Patinkin, the actor behind one of my favorite characters ever, Inigo Montoya, played a central role in the show.

I briskly finished the show's first season and was instantly impressed.  I watched "24" as a high schooler and heard the comparisons between the two programs. Let me be clear, "Homeland" is no "24".  Showtime's censorship privileges made the show more interesting in many facets, most notably, in their ability to effectively demonstrate Brody's sexual tendencies and failures.  In addition, the storyline was gripping and featured many of those signature heart pounding moments that made me such a huge fan of Jack Bauer and "24" years before.  However, the far more realistic timeline of "Homeland" made these moments (and the scenes that built up to them) far more believable.  All-in-all, the show featured highly-impressive acting and a truly riveting storyline making it one of my new favorite's on TV.

After one season, I dubbed myself an avid fan of "Homeland".  

The show's second season was able to provide the same formula for success.  Brody's character had become even more dynamic as it became nearly impossible to decipher what side of the CIA vs. Abu Nazir conflict he sided with.  In addition, I began to become more invested in Brody's daughter, Dana, and, newly introduced character, Peter Quinn. Both characters emerged as a new personal favorites alongside, indubitably the show's best character, Saul Berenson.  I thought the young Morgan Saylor played the role of the distraught and confused teenager impeccably as she became more and more central to the story throughout each episode.  I thought veteran actor Ruper Friend transitioned brilliantly to television as he took on the role of Peter Quinn, the shady CIA operative/trained assassin.  The show slightly lost its gripping storyline, but that is to be assumed of almost any TV drama.  Whenever a show has so many peaks, like "Homeland", there is a natural tendency to diminish some of the series' slower, but valuable moments.  Fortunately, "Homeland" picked up nicely toward the end of season two and, with the addition of the season's thrilling finale, I was already eager for more.

After two seasons, I continued to consider myself an avid fan of "Homeland".

Three Sundays ago, September, 29th, the second to last day of September, "Breaking Bad" came to a fitting end.  On the same day, the third season of "Homeland" kicked off.  I didn't watch the first episode of "Homeland" on that Sunday night.  I was emotionally drained by "Felina" and the end of "Breaking Bad".  Instead, I saved the show for the following Monday night.  

I finished episode one, "Tin Man is Down", incredibly disappointed.  Maybe it was just the hangover from the end of "Breaking Bad" that made me so critical of the first episode of season three or, maybe, it was simply a bad episode.  I mulled the thoughts over and decided that, because I had enjoyed season one and two, I would continue to give "Homeland" a chance.  

I think this is the moment where I have to throw in one of my mother's favorite expressions, "Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me."

As quickly as the bomb exploded in the finale of season 2, so did my attitude toward "Homeland" and its characters begin to "explode". Dana had suddenly become an unbearable character to follow (a situation that only worsened in the show's 3rd episode).  Quinn had hardly shown any character development as his character wrongly shoots a child on a covert operation leaving him...well, quite obviously, sad.  In three mere episodes, I suddenly was annoyed with characters I had liked so much a season before.  Luckily, Claire Danes and Damien Lewis did not lose their abilities to act, however; nothing would have surprised me considering how quickly and drastically my opinion of "Homeland" shifted.  

How did I get to this point? How did I suddenly dislike a show and its characters? I wasn't sure if there was a definitive answer and I thought, "Hey, maybe, I am just overanalyzing things".  Carrie and Brody's stories will always be the foundation of "Homeland" and they are truly what made the series a great one.  Unfortunately for "Homeland", last Sunday's episode, "Tower of David", even threw this notion for a rocky curve.  

With Carrie confined to a psych ward and Brody to a Venezuelan prison, I was so bored by their stories that I felt like I, myself, was in some sort of prison-like confinement.  Brody, who finally made his first appearance all season, is held up in a prison where the guards and their leader, El Nino, played by Manny Perez, desperately need acting class more than anything.  Not even the introduction of Erik Dellums as Dr. Graham captivated my interest.  (And trust me, Dellums is a great actor especially in the role of a doctor.  See his character as Dr. Frazier in "The Wire" as evidence).  I was dissapointed after the season's third episode.  Dissapointed that the show was losing my interest, frustrated that there had been minimal storyline development and confused as to why the costume designer chose to continually dress Brody in Bill Belichick/Joe Maddon's signature cut-off hoodies.  

After three episodes of the third season, I was wondering if I was a fan of "Homeland" at all.

Nine episodes remain in season three of "Homeland" and, in the TV world, nine episodes is a long time.  The chance for "Homeland" to make things right exists.  The chance to revitalize the essential story lines of Carrie and Brody lives in these next nine episodes.  There is an opportunity to mend my opinion of characters like Dana, Quinn and, even, Saul.  There is also a chance for the show's writers to reintroduce that heart pounding drama into a otherwise dull start.  However, the occasion by which "Homeland" can maintain its status as one of TV's best drama series lives and dies in these final episodes.  The show's creators, Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa, have their chance, but with a show where time is always against the clock, I guess the question becomes...How much longer am I willing to give them?

Breaking Bad Series Review

There are only three television programs that belong on the list of "Greatest Television Dramas of All-Time". (In no particular order)

1- "The Sopranos"
2- "The Wire"
3- "Breaking Bad"

Each series had incredible strengths that has allowed them to be revered as some of TV's greatest series.

"The Sopranos" included exemplarily writing and remains, undoubtedly, the best written television show of all time.  In fact, The Writers Guild of America recently placed "The Sopranos" at number one on their list of 101 Best Written TV Series.

"The Wire" introduced viewers to the best characters ever from any TV show, comedies included.  Characters like Bodie Broadus, Stringer Bell, Jimmy McNulty and, of course, Omar Little, are honored as some of TV's most interesting and riveting personas.  Add in characters like; Nick Sobotka, Bubbles, Lester Freamon, Tommy Carcetti, "Snoop", Randy Wagstaff and Prop Joe, and you have a not only a more extensive list of characters from "The Wire", but also a list that includes even more of TV's greatest characters.

The brilliant writing in "The Sorpanos" and the numerous characters from "The Wire" give the two series firm positioning in the conversation of "Greatest Televsion Dramas of All-Time"

So, what puts "Breaking Bad" on the same echelon as these TV shows?  Sure, the writing and characters are outstanding, but not comparable to the likes of these two HBO dramas.  No, there's something that "Breaking Bad" has that places the series in this company. In fact it is this same attribute that distinguishes the AMC drama from these other two series.  Can you guess it?

Yes, it is the story.

"Breaking Bad" has, indubitably, the best story out of any TV series, ever.  The story of the journey Walter made from Mr. White, a cancer stricken high school chemistry teacher, to Heisenberg, a criminal mastermind and feared drug lord, laid the foundation for the single greatest story in Television history.

This prompted me to think.  What makes a great story? 

My research directed me to Andrew Stanton, the writer and director behind some of Pixar's most popular and significant animated tales. Stanton wrote and directed all three of the "Toy Story" films as well as "Finding Nemo" and "Wall-E". Stanton surely understands how to put together an amazing story [do not deny that these Pixar flicks are not some of the best stories to ever hit the silver screen], but Stanton also understands what a great story needs.  Stanton says,

"The greatest story commandment is, make me care- please, emotionally, intellectually, aesthetically - just make me care"

We all know what it truly means to "care". If you don't, you probably consider TV's greatest series to be "American Idol" and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia".  These are the shows we skip as we flick through the channels of our TV set. Why? Because they do not allow us to care and, certainly, do not allow us to care in the same fashion that we do when we tuned in each and every Sunday to appease our perpetual "Breaking Bad" addiction.

"Just make me care".

Vince Gilligan's "Breaking Bad" made me care- emotionally, intellectually and aesthetically- throughout the duration of the series' 62 episodes.

Aesthetic:  "Breaking Bad" is, visually, an artistic masterpiece. The camera work on the show is exceptional.  Lynne Willingham, the show's editor, is a two time Emmy winner for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series.  Deservingly, Willingham's attention to detail and edits are on display in the nearly every scene of "Breaking Bad".  For example, the show's tendency to highlight colors (Walter's green shirt or the one-eyed, fluorescent pink, stuffed animal floating in the White's pool) or the innovative camera angles (how the camera is seemingly under the sheet of blue meth before it's cracked into smaller crystals or how the camera is inside the pot of boiling water as Skyler adds uncooked pasta) are evidence of the show's aesthetic brilliance.  These aesthetic qualities kept us asking questions, which effectively represents how much we cared about the program.

Intellect: This is an easy one.  Just think about Walter White.  Think about how much smarter Walter White was compared to every character in "Breaking Bad".  Think about how much smarter Walter White was compared to, even, you.  The show toys with the brains of viewers regardless of their IQ level.  My smartest friends were intellectually aroused by "Breaking Bad" just as easily as my "not so sharp" friends were.  Furthermore, Vince Gilligan's ability to change the our feelings toward a certain character almost instantaneously marked "Breaking Bad" as one of the most intellectually riveting ever.  These attributes of "Breaking Bad" kept viewers on the edge of their seats and made us care about each and every scene as if it was the series' most important shot.

Emotion: 62 episodes, each episode ranging 45-55 minutes long (Yes, the last two episodes excluded), amounts to close to 3,500 minutes of "Breaking Bad".  In those three thousand plus minutes, we are exposed to a variety of emotions.  The series felt like one of those "How Are You Feeling Today?" posters you would find in an elementary schools' classroom.  Happy, confused, angry, frightened, fearful, hysterical, sad, surprised.  Through five seasons, we felt all these emotions and more as the show's characters experienced a variety of perplexing and trying situations.  I don't feel the need the outline all of these emotions and where they arose in the show, instead; I trust that you can recall a moment where you felt any one of these.  Point being, the emotional journey is, largely, what created care in us as viewers, but also is what made us "Breaking Bad" addicts. [Pun very much intended]

"Just make me care"

These three pieces made me care so deeply about "Breaking Bad" that the story, the brilliant story of Walter's journey from A to Z, could successfully position itself as TV's greatest story.

Everything from the first scene of the pilot episode to the last scene of Sunday's finale led to a singular goal; the telling of the greatest story ever told.  We all love stories.  They affirm who we are and we all are seeking affirmation.  "Breaking Bad" was delightfully successful at this.  It affirmed in some viewers that they were actually doing right.  It affirmed in others that they are doing wrong.  It reminded some of the power of money.  It reminded others of the power of family.

Nevertheless, the story (and countless other stories that we have been familiarized all our life) provide a necessity in our life.  They provide meaning. 

When you care about a story, that is when the meaning the story becomes that much more valuable.  In "Breaking Bad", the care - aesthetically, intellectually and emotionally- made the meaning of the story so immensely powerful that it currently resonates as the single greatest story to ever be told on TV.

However, Stanton notes that there is one last key factor to a great story.  He notes that this feature is as essential as the need to make viewers care.  This feature is the ability of a story to create "wonder" and it was the ability of "Breaking Bad" to make its viewers "wonder" that made the series' story so outstanding.

I used to joke; it's ironic a show about meth is this addicting.

It is this quality that truly seperates "Breaking Bad" from the countless of other stories on TV.  It is the show's addictive nature that proves just how "wonder" manifests in the program's viewers.

Wonder made us ask questions.
Wonder made us grip the edge of their seats.
Wonder made us "Breaking Bad" addicts.
Wonder made us care.

It is a magical feeling, wonder.  It is truly an emotion that is unique to some of the greatest stories ever and is, particularly, unique in the scope of "Breaking Bad".

Wonder is not awe and it is not joy.

Instead, it is a combination of fear and respect that develops into curiosity and intellectual exploration.

The ability "Breaking Bad" had in making its viewers care made it one of the best stories ever, however; the series' ability to make its viewers wonder made it the greatest story ever.

Thank you "Breaking Bad".
Thank you for making us care.
Thank you for making us wonder.
Thank you for your story.