History YMMV / Homeland

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: As Season 1 has progressed, the show's premise of tracking down domestic terrorists becomes very HarsherInHindsight when you remember the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. The perpetrators had no ties to an outside organization.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Possibly used at the end of "Clean Skin". A young couple, a Middle Eastern man and a white woman, are seen buying a house near an airport. In a previous scene, a diamond necklace that a Saudi prince gave to his mistress [[spoiler: [[XanatosGambit for the end purpose of clearing customs without drawing suspicion]]]], was sold to a jeweler for $400,000. One of the prince's handlers retrieved the necklace from the mistress [[spoiler: by arranging her murder]]. It's heavily implied that the couple was able to buy the house with funds from the necklace sale. The scene of the young couple could be a subtle Lampshading of the case of Faisal Shahzad, the man who attempted to set off a car bomb at Times Square in 2010. Shahzad bought a large house in Connecticut several years prior to the attempt.
** And in the next episode, we learn the man is named Raqim ''Faisel''. A later episode plays with this trope when the CIA starts investigating [[spoiler: Faisel's partner, who may be a terrorist herself and leading their particular mission the whole time.]]

* TearJerker: In the first episode, Sergeant Nicholas Brody is reunited with his family after eight years in captivity. He hugs his wife and two children in turn. His wife, Jessica, tells [[spoiler: his mother died four years prior to the reunion.]] Doubles with MoodWhiplash considering that his wife, Jessica, was [[spoiler: in bed with Mike, Nicholas's best friend, when the call came in that her husband, presumed dead, is alive]].

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: This troper was uncomfortable with the obvious MacGuffin of the explosive vest in "The Vest". In particular, [[spoiler: Brody puts the vest in the trunk of the family station wagon, where it could have very well been set off by driving through a pothole or if someone rear-ended the vehicle.]] The vest is left alone, whereas in the episode, Brody could have [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel easily staged, deliberately planned or accidentally tripped his own family's car bombing]] and it could have been spun into an attack from extremists.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: YMMV on this one. In the sixth episode of Season 1, Lauder, a member of Brody's unit, gives one to Brody that questions why Brody came back alive. Tom Walker, another member of the unit who was tortured along with Brody, did not return with Brody. [[spoiler: At least, not at the same time. A subsequent episode reveals Walker is back in the U.S. and working for Abu Nazir.]] Lauder unravels his argument by outright saying that any member of the unit wanted to sleep with Jessica, Brody's wife, while he was away.

* SpiritualSuccessor: The show's premise is on finding domestic terrorists. Carrie Mathison draws comparisons to Jack Bauer. The show could easily be mistaken as a spinoff or continuation of "24," just without the melodrama.

* TearJerker: In the first episode, Sergeant Nicholas Brody is reunited with his family after eight years in captivity. He hugs his wife and two children in turn. He tells his daughter, "Look how beautiful you are." It's implied that his son [[spoiler: has either never seen his dad before, or was too young to remember him before he left]]. His wife, Jessica, has to tell him that [[spoiler: his mother died four years prior to the reunion.]] Doubles with MoodWhiplash considering that his wife, Jessica, was [[spoiler: in bed with Mike, Nicholas's best friend, when the call came in that her husband, presumed dead, is alive]].

** Exceedingly averted in the same episode. [[spoiler: Brody uses a family vacation to Gettysburg as a pretense to pick up an explosive vest.]]

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: Used in "The Good Soldier" with UnfortunateImplications. Shown when Brody and Carrie meet again after the encounter at the Veterans support group. [[spoiler: The moral given is: "It's OK to cheat on your partner if your partner did it first." Brody and Carrie have drunken sex in the back of Carrie's car. Incidentally, Brody has had trouble getting aroused around his wife, Jessica.]]
** This is continued in the subsequent episode. [[spoiler: Brody and Carrie continue their affair minus the drinking.]] The Aesop turns against them though. [[spoiler: Carrie accidentally reveals something about Brody that Brody hadn't told her, thus tipping Brody to Carrie's prior spying on him. Brody thinks Carrie is a HoneyTrap as a result.]]

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: YMMV on this one. In the sixth episode of Season 1, Lauder, a member of Brody's unit, gives one to Brody that questions why Brody came back alive. Tom Walker, another member of the unit who was tortured along with Brody, [[spoiler: did not return.]] Lauder unravels his argument by outright saying that any member of the unit wanted to sleep with Jessica, Brody's wife, while he was away.

** And whose plotting is actually halfway intelligent.

** This is continued in the subsequent episode. [[spoiler: Brody and Carrie continue their affair minus the drinking.]] The Aesop turns against them though. [[spoiler: Carrie accidentally reveals something about Brody that Brody hadn't told her, thus tipping Brody to Carrie's prior spying on him.]]

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: YMMV on this one. In the sixth episode of Season 1, Lauder, a member of Brody's unit, gives one to Brody that questions why Brody came back alive. Tom Walker, another member of the unit who was tortured along with Brody, [[spoiler: [[OrIsIt did not return.]]]] Lauder unravels his argument by outright saying that any member of the unit wanted to sleep with Jessica, Brody's wife, while he was away.

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: Used in "The Good Soldier" with UnfortunateImplications. Shown when Brody and Carrie meet again after the encounter at the Veterans support group. [[spoiler: The moral given is: "It's OK to cheat on your partner if your partner did it first." Brody and Carrie drunken sex in the back of Carrie's car. Incidentally, Brody has had trouble getting aroused around his wife, Jessica.]]

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: Used in "The Good Soldier" with UnfortunateImplications. [[spoiler: It's OK to cheat on your partner if your partner did it first.]] Shown when [[spoiler: Brody and Carrie have drunken sex in the back of Carrie's car. Incidentally, Brody has had trouble getting aroused around his wife, Jessica.]]

* SpiritualSuccessor: Carrie Mathison draws comparisons to Jack Bauer. The show could easily be mistaken as a spinoff or continuation of "24," just without the melodrama.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: YMMV on this one. In the sixth episode of Season 1, Lauder, a member of Brody's unit, gives one to Brody that questions why Brody came back alive. Tom Walker, another member of the unit who was tortured along with Brody, [[spoiler: OrIsIt did not return.]] Lauder unravels his argument by outright saying that any member of the unit wanted to sleep with Jessica, Brody's wife, while he was away.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: YMMV on this one. In the sixth episode of Season 1, Lauder, a member of Brody's unit, gives one to Brody that questions why Brody came back alive. [[spoiler: Tom Walker, another member of the unit who Brody killed while under torture, did not.]] Lauder unravels his argument by outright saying that any member of the unit wanted to sleep with Jessica, Brody's wife, while he was away.

** And in the next episode, we learn the man is named Raqim ''Faisel''.

* TearJerker: In the first episode, Sergeant Nicholas Brody is reunited with his family after eight years in captivity. He hugs his wife and two children in turn. He tells his daughter, "Look how beautiful you are." It's implied that his son [[spoiler: has either never seen his dad before, or was too young to remember him before he left]]. His wife, Jessica, has to tell him that [[spoiler: his mother died four years prior to the reunion.]] Doubles with MoodWhiplash considering that his wife, Jessica, was [[spoiler: in bed with Mike, Nicholas's best friend, when the call came in that her husband, presumed dead, is alive]].

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Possibly used at the end of "Clean Skin". A young couple, a Middle Eastern man and a white woman, are seen buying a house near an airport. In a previous scene, a diamond necklace that a Saudi prince gave to his mistress [[spoiler: [[XanatosGambit for the end purpose of clearing customs without drawing suspicion]]]], was sold to a jeweler for $400,000. It's heavily implied that the couple was able to buy the house with funds from the necklace sale. The scene of the young couple could be a subtle Lampshading of the case of Faisal Shahzad, the man who attempted to set off a car bomb at Times Square in 2010. Shahzad bought a large house in Connecticut several years prior to the attempt.

* TearJerker: In the first episode, Sergeant Nicholas Brody is reunited with his family after eight years in captivity. He hugs his wife and two children in turn. He tells his daughter, "Look how beautiful you are." It's implied that his son [[spoiler: has never seen his dad before]]. His wife, Jessica, has to tell him that [[spoiler: his mother died four years prior to the reunion.]] Doubles with MoodWhiplash considering that his wife, Jessica, was [[spoiler: in bed with Mike, Nicholas's best friend, when the call came in that her husband, presumed dead, is alive]].

* TearJerker: In the first episode, Sergeant Nicholas Brody is reunited with his family after eight years in captivity. He hugs his wife and two children in turn. He tells his daughter, "Look how beautiful you are." It's implied that his son [[spoiler: has never seen his dad before]]. Doubles with MoodWhiplash considering that his wife, Jessica, was [[spoiler: in bed with another man when the call came in that her husband, presumed dead, is alive]].