TV Show Review: Homeland

Showtime's Homeland Season 5 starts off with a bang.  Carrie Mathison quits the CIA, lives in Germany with her daughter, and works for a billionaire philanthropist.  She has a new boyfriend too.  Her life appears to be at peace until her boss wants to take a trip to the border of Lebanon to supposedly deliver food and supplies to the refugees escaping brutal regimes and ISIS.  Carrie tries to reason with him about the dangers of the Middle East and his lack of proper security.  He needs more of an army than a private staff of ex-CIA.

Through past connections, Carrie finds out that Hezbollah is running things in that specific area and through connections she gets permission to go to the refugee camps with her boss.  But getting from point A to point B is one hell of a ride.  Carrie is kidnapped, roughed-up, and threatened.  In the end she gets the permission needed to make the trip.

Peter Quinn has been stationed in Syria and Iraq for the last two years and tells a panel of American politicians how messed up it is.  He, like so many ex-military on the news, tells them they have two choices to get rid of these U.S. haters-1) put tens of thousands of troops on the ground and fight to win or 2) turn the desert into a parking lot.  Harsh words and not exactly what politicos want to hear, but that's Quinn.  He's as direct as DirectTV!  He will stay in Syria and train the Syrians to fight.  And he's not too optimistic about this plan.

Another side story involves a computer hacker in Germany who likes to hack into radical Islamic websites and make fun of the religion.  One night he hacks into a site at the same time the C.I.A. is perusing around illegally.  Through some savvy computer maneuvering, he manages to download 1300+ of the CIA's files, all of them about the backdoor deal made with Germany about spying on people without warrants.  Sal flies to Germany for damage control.  A writer at Carrie's work gets a hold of one of the many files and publishes it.  All political hell is about to break loose.

My Review: The writing, the acting, the directing, the special effects, the suspense...One of the greatest shows on TV still has not jumped the shark.  This season looks even more exciting than the previous others if possible.  

I was on the edge of my recliner the whole hour and saddened once the show was over.  Last season had a Benghazi feel and now this season has a Snowden/Syrian refugee feel.  

One of the many things I love about this show is the reality of our ongoing problem with the Middle East, a subject that most of Hollywood shuns away from.  The writers never fail to produce fearless, unapologetic, topical episodes that tie in the news with the story line.  5/5 Stars!  Can't wait until next Sunday!