Controversial theme, award-winning actress + 4 reasons to watch “Homeland”

Andries Viljoen
3 min readSep 18, 2020

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The return home of an American soldier presumed dead by the United States government appears to be more than just a successful army move. Agent Carrie Mathison knows that Sergeant Brody carries many secrets beyond the well-known hours of torture in enemy lands. Developed by Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa, “Homeland” is based on the Israeli series “Prisoners of War” created by Gideon Raff. Discover 6 reasons to see the series:

Reasons to be interested in “Homeland” “

1. Controversial theme

With an impeccable script, award-winning cast and well-crafted scenes, “Homeland” is a hit with audiences and critics. Its theme on a delicate subject such as terrorism, allows one to know, in some way, the secrets of international relations between the Americans and the countries considered at risk by themselves. In this sense, a series of positive reviews not only argues that this is a champion thriller series, but that it has also managed to say something significant about the war on terrorism.

2. Extraordinary cast

The search for the cast started in 2010, with Claire Danes being the first protagonist from the beginning. Danes plays Carrie Mathison, a CIA officer who faces her own psychological demons. The next to join the series was Mandy Patinkin as Saul Berenson, CIA Head of Division who is Carrie’s chief advocate for intelligence. Morena Baccarin as Jessica Brody, Damian Lewis as Nick Brody, and David Harewood as David Estes. Besides them, Diego Klattenhoff, Morgan Saylor and Jackson Pace.

3. Award-winning protagonist

Claire stars as Carrie Mathison, a bipolar CIA agent. His character came to believe that an American marine, Sergeant Nicholas Brody, played by Damian Lewis, who was an al-Qaeda prisoner of war, went over to the enemy and now poses a significant risk to national security. For her performance as Mathison, Claire Danes received several acting awards, including the Emmy for Best Actress in a Drama Series in 2012 and 2013, the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a TV Series — Drama in the same years. In 2012, Claire was considered one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine. She is the second actress to win all five major TV acting awards for her performance as Carrie Mathison in the Lead Drama Actress categories.

4. Engaging plot wins critical

The pilot episode was critically acclaimed, reaching an aggregate score of 91/100 in the Metacritic ranking, based on 28 reviews. The Washington Post critic Hank Steuver gave the pilot an “A–” rating, saying that the reason “Homeland” stands out from other post-9/11 dramas is Danes’ stellar interpretation. “Easily the strongest female character of this season,” he commented at the time. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly gave the series an “A–”, stating, “It’s the most intriguing and tense puzzle of the fall season.”

5. Quality of the scenes

Not only is the subject intriguing, but the quality of the elaborate suspense scenes in the spy series has won many and more fans since it debuted in 2011. For his controversial and so current theme at the same time, the former US president American Barack Obama would have gone so far as to claim that “Homeland” is his favorite TV series.

6. Psychological approach

Carrie is a CIA officer who, while on duty in Iraq, learned from a CIA asset that an American prisoner of war had been transformed by Al Qaeda. After a United States sergeant named Nicholas Brody is rescued from captivity, Mathison believes he is the prisoner of war described to her. Carrie’s investigation of Brody is further complicated by her bipolar disorder that results in an obsession with her suspect. To prepare for the role, Claire Danes met with CIA officials and also spoke to experts about bipolar behavior.

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