Homelands Notes

HOMELAND NOTES:

Episode 1:

• Carrie is in Baghdad negotiating the release of a prisoner with information about the terrorist group 
• Though unable to have him released, he tells her that an American prisoner of war has been turned 
• Sgt Brody is found after 8 years of being missing in action and presumed dead 
• Brody is welcomed home by his family (wife Jessica, daughter Dana and son Chris) 
• Brody is not aware his wife has begun a relationship with his best friend, Mike 
• CIA agent Carrie is back in Washington, she suspects Brody is the turned soldier and sets up cameras in the Brody house in order to get evidence against him.
• Brody has flashbacks to Iraq when talking to the wife of Tom Walker, a marine who was captured with Brody, they show him beating Tom Walker to death

Episode 2:

• Brody wakes up in a panic which is watched by Carrie through surveillance, for the rest of the day he stays in a corner of his house as if he is in a cell 
• Saul gives Carrie a temporary warrant for her surveillance for 4 weeks 
• Lynne is a CIA informant for Carrie, she gets video evidence of 'The Prince' meeting with Abu Nazir, Carrie tells her boss Estes about this development and asks for Lynne's protection - he cannot do this but needs Lynne to download contents of the Princes phone 
• Brody sees a reporter on his property and hits him, this is viewed by his son 
• Later in the day, Brody goes into his garage with a duffle bag, Carrie is angered as she cannot see what he is doing because no cameras were installed in the room 
• Carrie gets pills off of her sister Maggie 
• Brody has flashbacks to his time as a prisoner, he walks freely around the compound and finds a room of people praying, in present day Brody is in his garage praying 
• Later on, Brody goes outside in full uniform ready to talk to the media 

Episode 3:

• Prince leaves the room after having sex with Lynne who takes the opportunity to download contents of his phone, he comes back in the room and gives her gift of a diamond necklace 
• A TV crew is at Brody's house preparing for the interview, Dana is out with her friends talking about sabotaging the interview, on the way back home in the car with her mom Dana tells her she knows about her affair with Mike 
• Brody has an interview on his own, he talks about how his captors tried to make him lose faith, in a flashback that he doesn't talk about in the interview it is shown how Abu Nazir saves him from a beating; after this, the whole family is interviewed 
• Carrie briefs a team at HQ and reports that her asset has the data on the Prince's phone, she meets the asset (Lynne) later in the day who doesn't think the Prince has terrorist connections, which is proven by the analysts at the CIA 
• Lynne is instructed by one of the Prince's advisors to visit his new business partner, she is suspicious and calls Carrie about the situation - she lies to Lynne and tells her she has CIA protection 
• Lynne is being tracked by Carrie to make sure she is okay - she leaves the club and is shot dead by her driver who takes her diamond necklace, Carrie arrives on the scene too late and finds her dead 
• Prince is interviewed about the death of Lynne and appears genuinely devastated, there is doubt of his terrorist involvement 
• Saul notes that the necklace has been stolen and thinks that it was used as a payment method, proven correct when Latif negotiates its sale for $400,000. A young couple witnessed buying a new home with cash, they are pleased it is by an airport. 

Episode 4:

• Elizabeth Gaines talks to Estes about the possibility of Brody running for office.
• Mike gives Brody a lift home from his speech to troops, they talk about his family; Brody thanks Mike for being there for his family especially his wife, implying he knows about the affair, he later makes similar remarks to Jess (implying the same)
• Carrie is left with one day on her warrant, when the Brody family are at church she goes and removes the cameras - using the opportunity to search the house
• At Langley Carrie delivers briefing suggesting the money transfer happened at a laundromat 9 hours after Lynne's death - since then 51 people had entered the building all of whom are suspects of receiving the $400,000
• Faisel who bought a house near the airport is a suspect, attention is drawn towards him when Carrie learns about his 3 recent trips to Pakistan, she begins to look into his past and also follow his home from work. He doesn't act suspicious and is taken off the list.
• Brody family are hosting a party when gunshots are heard in the garden, everyone runs outside to see Brody has killed a deer shocking everyone especially his son. Jess and Brody argue and Jess demands he gets counselling.
• The next night Brody attends a veteran's support group meeting, Carrie has followed him there and pretends to bump into him. The two talk before Carrie begins to leave, Brody follows her outside and they have a flirtatious conversation. 

Episode 5:

• Carrie visits her Dad with the intent to take some of his pills, she gets some but her visit is cut short when she gets a call about Hamid being in custody - he was the lone survivor of the raid where Brody was rescued
• Saul is at the airport picking up his wife who has just come back from India, upon learning bout Hamid he has to leave and isn't able to take his wife home
• Carrie and Saul arrive for Hamid's interrogation where Brody has also been summoned, Brody recognises Hamid and has flashbacks of Hamid beating him. Saul conducts interrogation as Carrie and Brody watch on camera. 
• Brody feeds Saul details of his captivity so he seems omniscient, Saul offers protection for Hamid's family in return for information; Hamid is left alone in the room with the AC on full and music playing loudly - after hours of this, he finally agrees to cooperate. 
• From the information he gives, a link to Raqim Faizel is found, his home address is ascertained. 
• Brody asks Estes to go face to face with Hamid, he agrees. Brody taunts Hamid who spits in his face. They begin to fight before it is quickly broken up. 
• Saul calls Carrie to reveal Hamid is dead, he had obtained a razor blade and cut his wrists. Carrie is at Faisels house at the time which is now empty this makes her suspect there is a leak within the CIA especially with Hamid now being dead. 
• Saul is at home with Mira who is tired of her life revolving around Saul and his work. Carrie shows up at their house - furious Brody had contact with Hamid, their fight happened in a blind spot so Carrie does not know who gave Hamid the blade but suspects it was him. Saul argues with Carrie about her claim and tells her she will be fired - Carrie storms out. 
• Carrie cleans out her office at Langley and shows up at her sister's house, she is an emotional wreck and is unable to sleep. 

Episode 6:

• Carrie arrives at Langley she proposes that a polygraph test should be done on everyone who came into contact with Hamid - Carrie is excited as she is confident Brody will be unable to pass the polygraph. Carrie takes the test first, passing every question apart from one asking if she had taken any illegal drugs whilst working for the CIA.
• Faisel and his wife are now on the run and arrive at a safe house before they're about to enter Aileen spots a booby trap; Faisel thinks they should turn themselves in but his wife refuses, they take off in the car.
• Saul takes the polygraph, agitated from the beginning the polygraph indicates he is lying when denying he gave the razor blade to Hamid - he leaves the test in order to redo it the next day.
• There is a memorial service for Tom Walker were Brody delivers the eulogy whilst fighting memories of beating Walker to death. Carrie meets him after the eulogy and tells him that he needs to take the polygraph. 
• Brody and Mike talk to other Marines at the reception, one drunken Marine says that when Brody was gone all the men wanted to have sex with Jess but only one of them did. Mike attacks the Marine, Brody realises that it was Mike who had an affair with Jess and starts punching him saying 'You were my friend', afterwards Brody gets in his car and leaves.
• Carrie gets a call from Brody, they meet up and get drunk, stumbling to the car park Carrie admits the reason why Brody has to take the polygraph - they then begin to kiss and have sex.
• Raqim and Aileen are staying at a motel, their room is suddenly sprayed with machine gun fire and Raqim is killed as Aileen escapes.
• Saul takes the polygraph again and passes, Brody then takes it and passes. Carrie is flustered, convinced he gave Hamid the blade, she gets the interviewer to ask Brody if he has ever been unfaithful to his wife - he replies no and the polygraph doesn't budge.
• Carrie goes outside, Brody drives up to her and tells her to get in his car, they drive off.

Episode 7:

• Aileen attempts to flee to Mexico but is caught when she gets off the bus, Saul takes her into custody and begins their 30 hr car ride to Virginia hoping in that time she will reveal her involvement in the terrorist plot
• Carrie and Brody go away for the weekend to Carrie's family cabin, they have sex when they arrive and spend the rest of the day together
• Dana gets drunk with her friends at her home and falls through a glass door, Mike is called upon to help, he repairs the door whilst Jess takes Dana to hospital. Mike and Jess express that they miss each other but Dana wants Mike to stay away
• Aileen begins to cooperate with Saul and tells him everything she knows, her job was to buy the house and to wait for a visitor. Estes is informed about this by Saul, he sends Galvez to investigate; he discovers that there is a direct line of sight to a landing pad for Marine One within an expert snipers range
• Carrie and Brody are sleeping when Brody wakes up yelling 'Issa! No!', Carrie hears this and tries to calm him down. The next morning at breakfast Carrie slips up and mentions Brody's favourite brand of tea, he asks her how she knows that and accuses her of spying on him.
• Carrie directly accuses Brody of being involved with Al-Qaeda, he responds to this by getting Carrie to ask him anything she wants, she discovers Brody has converted to Islam and prays in his garage, he says Issa is the name of a guard that treated him well, he also reveals he did kill Walker and that he had met Abu Nazir
• As Brody leaves, Saul calls Carrie, he reports that Aileen has identified the visitor who was on the roof of her house as Tom Walker. Carrie rushes out to  Brody and apologises - he leaves and Carrie is left in tears

Episode 8:

• Tom Walker is homeless in Washington DC, he is begging for money when Mansour Al-Zahrani (Saudi Diplomat) passes him a key and a note that is written on a dollar bill. 
• Carrie and Estes go to talk to Walker's family, his wife Helen says that her son Lucas reported having seen his dad - but as she thought he was dead didn't believe him. Brody is questioned by Saul, he is convinced he killed Tom.
• Brody and Jess talk about Mike, Jess says she regrets moving on but she waited for ages for him, Brody says that he does not blame her.
• Saul shows Carrie his lead: Tom Walker calls his home when his family are not in so he can hear their voices on the answering machine 
• Elizabeth Gaines invites Brody and his wife to 'the party of the year'
• Carrie admits to Saul that she had personal relations with Brody but insists that contact is over
• Task force has to track Tom Walker's call, the first attempt fails as he hangs up. The second time Helen begins to talk to him as the FBI track him, she begins to think she has betrayed him so warns him to run. The FBI chase him into a mosque where they accidentally kill two men and Tom escapes to a storage facility where a sniper is waiting for him.
• Carrie tells Brody that Tom is alive and the turned prisoner of war
• Saul rushes to see his wife before she leaves for India, she is packing her things into a taxi, she doesn't like how her relationship is with Saul, she says goodbye and Saul returns to his house alone.
• Al-Zahrani comes home to find someone waiting for him, it is Brody who then attacks him, furious because Abu Nazir's people told Brody that he killed Tom Walker. He tells him to tell Nazir that 'it's over'.

Episode 9:

• Begins with a flashback to 3 years ago, Brody has been put in suitable living quarters by Abu Nazir. Nazir introduces his son, Issa, to Brody - he is asked to live with Issa and teach him English. Through time Brody forms a close relationship with Issa.
• The school Issa attends is destroyed in a drone strike that kills him and 82 other children, leaving Brody devastated.
• Nazir and Brody watch a speech made by VP Walden, he claims a missile struck Abu Nazir's compound and that images of dead children were fabricated by terrorists for propaganda purposes.
• Carrie meets with Special Agent Hall from the FBI at the mosque, they review actions of the SWAT team and conclude that Walker must've had prior knowledge of the mosque in order to escape. 
• The Imam is outraged that two innocent men were killed and is publicly disputing the claim that the agents were returning fire. Carrie thinks the Imam may have information on Walker but knows the only way for him to cooperate would be for the FBI to admit the truth about the mosque shooting. 
•  Brody is attacked parking lot by two men who knock him out; when he wakes up he is alone in a room where Abu Nazir appears on the screen and Brody confronts him about Tom Walker being alive, despite his anger Nazir is able to reaffirm Brody's faith. 
• Walker is practising shooting in the woods, he is spotted by a hunter - they talk briefly before he returns to his car. The hunter recognises Walker as the wanted man on the front of his newspaper and goes to call the police but is shot by Walker.
• Carrie visits the Imam at his home and warns him about the potential backlash facing him and the mosque if he was harbouring and protecting a man who committed a terrorist act, he still reveals nothing but later his wife calls Carrie and reveals that at the mosque Walker frequently talked to a man with a diplomat license plate on his car. CIA find out it is Al-Zahrani but they can't do much about it as he has diplomatic immunity.
• Nazir ends the conversation with Brody when Al-Zahrani walks into the room and tells him that the VP wants him to run for office - Brody has to accept.

Episode 10:

• Carrie and Saul begin looking into Al-Zahrani's past, they find out his is heavily in debt but is making large deposits into a Swiss bank; they also find out he is living a closeted gay lifestyle with photos to prove this. 
• Al-Zahrani is cornered by Saul and Carrie and threatens to reveal the secrets about his life, he is unfazed and begins to leave - Carrie tries a new approach and threatens to have his daughter deported; he finally agrees to cooperate and tells her that he is going to meet Walker tomorrow at Farragut Square
• Brody finds Mike and tries to make amends, he apologises and forgives Mike; Brody also calls Carrie, they meet at Carrie's house and tells her that he is running for Congress, he wants to make sure no one knows of their affair
• Al-Zahrani arrives at Farragut Square, various agents are around to seize Walker when he arrives, a man who looks like Walker arrive carrying a briefcase but no one can confirm it is Walker.
• Carrie realises the man is not Walker, as this man approaches Al-Zahrani, Carrie tries to evacuate the area whilst Walker watches through a window before remotely detonating the bomb in the briefcase - it kills Al-Zahrani, the lookalike and three bystanders, Carrie is severely concussed
• Jess fully supports Brody's run for Congress
• Saul visits Carrie in the hospital and tells her the man carrying the briefcase was hired by Walker, he concludes that Walker was tipped off so there must be a mole somewhere in the government.

Episode 11:

• Saul goes to the hospital to pick up Carrie, he is in shock when she is acting completely different. Maggie explains to Saul that Carrie is bipolar and that the trauma from the explosion has caused a manic episode, Saul agrees to stay overnight to care for Carrie
• Estes meets the VP who is being kept at a safe house, he is going to run for President and is frustrated that he is not out campaigning 
• Brody takes his family to Gettysburg, he shows his family where the battle of Gettysburg took place and tells them stories of Civil War heroes, they later go to a diner where Brody excuses himself to get something at the drugstore, instead he goes to a clothing store where waiting at the back is a man who has tailored an explosive suicide vest for Brody.
• Saul spends the night going through papers that Carrie had been working on all day, he groups everything by colour and makes a timeline. The next day Saul and Carrie analyse the timeline focusing on a period of inactivity
• Brody family returns home, Dana finds the vest but Brody claims it is a gift for Jess. Dana shows her boyfriend some unsettling footage that she recorded of Brody where he just stares blankly at the battlefield.
• Carrie calls Brody and describes the period when Abu Nazir went silent, he offers to come over and discuss it. Carrie opens the door expecting to see Brody but instead, it is Estes who reveals Brody talked to him, he confessed to the affair and says that Carrie was spying on him. He discovers the timeline and fires Carrie.

Episode 12:

      

          DAY ONE

• Brody records himself, explaining his future action as an attack against domestic threat namely the Vice President - he leaves the cameras memory card at a drop off point
• Carrie is visited by Saul, she asks Saul to continue her investigation into Abu Nazir, she also wonders aloud why Brody betrayed her by turning her in; this leads Saul to realise Carrie is in love with Brody
• Tom Walker commandeers an apartment overlooking the State Department, he ties up the resident and sets up a vantage point at the window for his sniper attack. 
• Brody is discovered by Dana as he is praying, he admits to her that he converted to Islam and asks it to be a secret from the rest of the family

          DAY TWO

• Saul presents Estes with a heavily redacted CIA document believing it to concern a drone strike against Nazir. Estes dismisses the document. 
• Brody is getting dressed for the summit and conceals his explosive vest under his Marine uniform, Dana becomes uneasy and asks him not to attend.
• Carrie hears about the summit on the radio and recognises it as a possible target for Walker and Nazir; she asks Virgil to drive her there and witnesses Brody's arrival.
• People convene in front of the State Department and Walker opens fire, Elizabeth Gaines is shot in the back and killed. He continues to fire into the crowd as the surviving VIPs are rushed into a secure bunker, this includes Brody who then doesn't have to go through the metal detectors so his vest goes undetected.
• Carrie contacts Saul and tells him the sniper attack is merely a diversion from the actual terrorist attack, Saul doesn't believe her and thinks her theory is to do with her obsession with Brody - he dismisses her and sends a Secret Service agent to contain her. She realises what is happening, escapes in Virgil's car.
• Brody approaches Walden inside of the bunker and attempts to detonate his vest but it doesn't work, he goes into the bathroom to rewire.
• Carrie arrives at Brody's house to get Dana to talk to her dad, talking him out of the attack, instead, she calls 911 and reports Carrie. After being confronted by Jess she is arrested.
• Brody repairs the vest and prepares to enter the bunker to carry out the attack, he receives a call from Dana who tells him about Carrie's accusations, she makes him insist that he will be returning home that night, he makes the promise and doesn't detonate the vest.
• An all-clear is given and everyone leaves the bunker.

          DAY THREE

• Saul meets up with the VP and demands to know the story behind the covered-up drone strike and brings a bargaining chip with him. Saul is shown footage of Walden and Estes ordering the drone strike that killed 82 children, this was deemed to be acceptable collateral damage.
• Carrie is released from police custody; Maggie is there to pick her up, Brody is also there to confront her. He tells Carrie he is not a terrorist and scolds her for continuing to harass him and his family.
• Carrie is distressed and stumbles into her sister's car, asking to be taken to the hospital 
• Brody goes to retrieve the recording he dropped off but it is gone, he goes home to get his gun before meeting Walker who doesn't believe his vest did not work and pulls a gun on Brody.
• Walker has Abu Nazir on call, he wants to talk to Brody who explains what happened with the vest and says that it was a good thing as he is now a trusted ally of the next President.
• Brody shoots Walker in the head.

          TWO DAYS LATER

• Saul barges into Carrie's hospital room where she is being prepared for electroconvulsive therapy to treat her bipolar disorder.
• Saul tries to stop the procedure but Carrie still wants to go ahead with it as she has no other choice, her life is already in ruin.
• Saul tells her she was wrong about Brody but right about Abu Nazir - he was mourning the death of his youngest son in the drone attack
• Carrie is anaesthetized before beginning the ECT as she begins to fall asleep she realises Brody had a connection with Abu Nazir's dead son, that was the Issa he was shouting for in his sleep, her thoughts are fleeting and the doctors begin the ECT, she is induced into a seizure.

The relevance of Neale's genre theory to Homelands shows an important one as what Neale states is exactly right. We can see typical narratives in Homelands that that follow crime drama conventions to support repetition within Neale's theory. During Homelands we can see narratives of a crime drama, a political drama, a military drama and a psychological drama. The fact that the hybrid has changed during Homelands makes this particular tv drama different. Homelands was aired soon after 9/11 and had been cleverly changed to cater to terrorism without offending or upsetting the public.

Carries character is not fully stereotypical as she doesn't follow typical stereotypes of personality ( went loopy) 

How does Episode 1 Season 1 of Homelands follow or disrupt Todorov's narrative theory?

Todorov described narratives as having a state of equilibrium which is present at the start of a narrative. In Homeland this equilibrium is set in Washington around a spy espionage thriller. This is established in the setting and the location (Washington DC is the capital state of the U.S). What becomes the equilibrium is the story set post 9/11 which focuses on how well Homeland security can deal with terrorist threats. I much prefer watching a TV series than a film as the story carries on over time instead of across 2 hours. The fact that there is an ongoing story as well as small character changes make a TV drama a lot more interesting than a film. I feel as though by having multiple equilibrium's and disruptions it can differ from a film as there is only so much you can have in one film meanwhile a series or box set can carry through multiple series/ seasons.
In applying Todorov's concept of equilibrium to long form TV drama, disruption to the community or state of affairs takes place. In Homeland the discovery of Nick Brody who has been missing in action for 8 years is the jolt that drives the narrative, which gives the audience a story and narrative are for the lead character Carrie Mathieson. The narratology revolves around a strong female character that are represented as the investigator of the crime un each episode. Todorov argues that a realisation of disruption occurs next in the narrative structure and sometimes this is the same as the disruption itself. These suspicious unravel in episode 1 where Carrie has to uncover the evidence that Nick has been turned. Here it is the female intelligence officer that realises that something has gone wrong.

 Todorov's ideas regarding recognition of disruption are relevant here and although they appear differently in the narrative structure of the two dramas, his ideas help us to analyse just how the recognition occurs and, as they are both crime dramas, when the recognition of disruption is revealed, it helps to create further suspense and engagement with the narrative.

Todorov's theory applies to Homeland to an extent, his ideas around the original equilibrium and disruption are applicable but the theory is less relevant in terms of resolution and the new equilibrium. The theory is disrupted and it shows how Homeland doesn't reach a full resolution and therefore doesn't have a new equilibrium in order to create a story arc that follows the conventions of a long-form TV drama in order for the audience to keep watching.

HOMELANDS RASICM 

In the US TV drama Homelands, the representations offer an appeal to a primary American audience but also aim to appeal to a wider global audience, the show has representations that appeal to a broader audience whilst still focusing on a key american values. In this essay i will be discussing how representations in Homelands appeal to its primarily American audience.

 The narrative of Homeland focuses on a storyline that revolves round Carrie Mathison, a CIA officer with bipolar disorder and Nicholas Brody, an American Marine who has just returned to the US after being held as a prisoner of war by al-Qaeda for 8 years. TV Drama explores the historical trauma of 9/11 in the USA: the protagonist is haunted by her failure to prevent the terrorist attack, the returning ‘hero’ perhaps represents an American culture struggling to come to terms with faith-based terrorism. What this particular TV drama does is that it also reflects socially-contested gender and racial/ethnic relations: it represents a world in which apparent conformity to social norms masks underlying tensions and conflicts; in particular, as in Van Zoonen’s argument about gender being performative, we see Jessica rehearsing being ‘the good wife’ and the army desperately trying to persuade Body to perform as the masculine ‘hero’. The CIA management are male, reinforcing patriarchal power, but the narrative follows the agency of a female protagonist playing the central role of the ‘the maverick’ who is proved right. Racial and ethnic representations are simultaneously both stereotypical and anti- stereotypical: a black man is poised to become Director of the CIA, the ultimate ‘insider’, but the ‘enemy without’ is an Arab. The episode shows the influence of social anxieties about the contemporary terrorist threat and about the state’s response to that threat.