The episode opens with a clip of a charming, self-deprecating young woman talking about her glioblastoma multiform to her webcam followers. She dined on “applesauce du jour with broken-up pentabarbitol mixed in. My last supper.” She starts to cry and says she can’t live with the pain.
If Homeland functions as a spy thriller, an in-depth character study, a critique of post-9/11 paranoia and the War on Terror, and occasionally a smushy star-crossed love story, this episode had the high-octane, 24-esque element back in full force (and maybe a tiny bit of the bathetic romance as well).
No, I don’t mean these two.
As always after a great episode of Nashville, I’ve got whiplash. So many decisions made, unmade, then remade! So many fights and makings-up! I love it.
Also, a PSA: I skipped recapping 4×04 because I was so woefully behind. From now on I will be doing every week. Now, on to the recap!
We open on Alison waking up alone in Noah’s bed, right after her perspective is introduced as “Part Three,” which establishes this episode as a direct companion to the premiere. I wonder if this season will continue to tell four-part narratives, or whether some stories will only be told from two characters’ perspectives. In spite of the lackluster quality of this episode, I thought exploring this day from four different viewpoints allowed for richer and more challenging storytelling, especially since several scenes in this episode dropped hints about whether Noah or Helen’s accounts were closer to the truth (hint: it’s literally never Noah), but we’ll get to that.
Waking up alone is never symbolic of anything good, let’s just put it that way.
This week’s The Good Wife made me kind of disappointed, as entertaining as it was. Why did it seem like Alicia was making so many incredibly obvious mistakes? Did this bother you?
On the other hand, a healthy dose of Stockard Channing in top form and a couple of fabulous Diane scenes may have more than made up for it.
I liked this episode a lot. Very exciting and funny, too. I also felt it really provides a nice rebuttal of the whole “Carrie is the worst spy evah” theorem that so frequently floats around the internet, by having Quinn do even more absurd things.
Alicia and Lucca are back playing the numbers game at bond court, and Alicia has fully embraced being the kind of lawyer that provides living proof for Marx’s alienation theory. That is, until Lucca passes off a case involving a nice-looking young man with big brown eyes, and I get Serial flashbacks. Continue reading →
Previously: Juliette left Avery, Scarlett pretended to hate Gunnar, Luke dropped Will from his label, Teddy went to jail and was “a total criminal,” and Bev had a big old aneurysm … again.
“All that suffering and nothing changes.” Homeland’s degree of success as a critique of American foreign policy has varied wildly over the last four seasons, but this one devastating admission almost made up for all of its stumbles. Continue reading →
Last week on The Mindy Project, we met the practice’s new hires, Colette and Jody. This week, they each get more lines than Jeremy, surprising no one.
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