Homeland Season 2 Episode 2

When I finished Homeland Season 1 about a week and half ago, I was so excited about the soon-to-start Season 2. After all, Season 1 did end on a pretty high note and it had just won the 3 biggest Emmy Awards. Unfortunately, the euphoria from Season 1 did not last very long into the second season.

The second episode of the 'critically lauded' series is a classic example of how absurd Homeland has gotten. Major plot hole after plot hole appeared throughout the episode. Here are some really glaring ones:

Major Plot-hole #1:
Brody getting invited into a top secret live broadcast of DoD operation without proper vetting, removal of electronic devices and what-not. Are we talking about the Pentagon here? Or is this some random police station? Are we talking about a 6-month old Congressman here or a 20 year US Army General?

If Abu Nasir is that big a terrorist they talked about in Season 1, this has got to be a pretty serious operation attended by the President, Army General, Special Ops Director, all the major bureaucratic leaders of the Pentagon. How am i supposed to believe that a 6-MONTH OLD CONGRESSMAN has got a seat reserved for him near the head of the table? Right opposite of Vice President Walden? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

How could Brody be important enough to deserve a seat with the other Army generals and the Vice President himself?

Major Plot-hole #2:

Hey, obvious much?

Oh jolly, Brody just managed to send a text message across the Pacific Ocean, African continent, and length of the Mediterranean Sea to warn Abu Nasir of the assassination attempt, all within the space of a few seconds. It basically happens within a few seconds, that's gotta be pretty amazing. There will definitely be questions asked about how and why Abu Nasir was warned off at the last minute, and direct telecommunication traffic right into Beirut, outside of the CIA/Pentagon's secured channels of communications, will be the first to raise suspicions, if those hunchos in CIA has got any experience at all.

The alternative being a message being bounced around through several people so that it is less likely to be traced back to him, but this would be nigh impossible to warn Abu Nasir on time.

Looking at the speed of message transmission, Brody has to have had Abu Nasir on speed dial. If its that easy and undetectable, why bother with making Roya the middleman? Just continue sending messages in code, why don't you?

Major Plot-hole #3:
Dear Brody, if you voluntarily let Abu Nasir 'live another day', you should be prepared to face the consequences. Why would you get upset about having to continue to act as one of his puppets? Did you ever consider, if he had died, you would have been freed immediately to execute your own version of morally justified retaliation on the US government, free from constraints and dictations from the fucktard?

No? Well then, your amazing lack of intellectual powess certainly disqualifies you from a congressman position. Ah wait, I remembered Sarah Palin had been running for Vice President a while back. Look at what kind of influence you have, Palin, politicians in every show don't have to be smart no more.

Major Plot-hole #4.1:
Carrie, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING? I mean, there's no way you would think she's CIA trained looking at how rashly she jumped out of the vehicle. Option 1: Leaving your companions amidst hostile forces to go into an unknown area blind looking for God knows what, with minimal chance of finding anything. Option 2: Stay with your companions and get out of the area ASAP. No prize for guessing which option smart Carrie picked. Such brainless actions fully justify why she deserves to be kicked out of the CIA. She is a danger to other agents and herself.

Definitely someone with a problem

Major Plot-hole #4.2
Related to Plot-hole 4.1, is the amazing turn of events following Carrie's rash action: Leaving your companions to hostile forces, entering an unknown area without facing any resistance (the building and specific apartment just so happens to be abandoned by inhabitants. No matter that Muslims are polygamous and it is impossible for that Muslim lady to be the only wife of a Hezbollah COMMANDER.) Such a conspicuously blonde lady was able to move unmolested around a Hezbollah stronghold when America is having major tensions with the Muslim Middle East. (though the hostile people did come after her after some time later) A group of foreign looking individuals driving a GENERAL MOTORS COMPANY hatchback into and stopping in a Hezbollah controlled area.

Then the most amazing thing is Carrie is taking all these risks to grab some random documents from a table top in a freely-accessible study room. I mean, if this isn't a show, there's no way a CIA agent would be this STUPID, right? You just have to consider the odds to know random documents lying around is not gonna be worth the risk. Can you imagine dying for some electricity bills? I got plenty of those lying around on my study table.


There's are other more minor plot holes, such as Saul's never-ending blind faith in Carrie and the Brody family's meteoric rise in economic and social standings. But those simply pales in comparison to the above developments. With some of the most  absurd plot lines involving Brody, it will take an actor with significant charisma and conviction to pull them off convincingly. I for one, was not sold by Daniel Lewis' 'critically acclaimed' subtle (read: bland) acting.