Line #23 YMMV/Homeland


1	* {{Asspull}}: The plot twist in the Season 3 episode, "Game On". [[http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/review-homeland-game-on-say-hi-to-your-mother-for-me As some critics will point out, the twist does not work]] if it has no logical basis from previous scenes.
2	* BaseBreakingCharacter:
3	** Around mid-season 2, Nick Brody has become this as some see him as flawed, but ultimately sympathetic considering everything hes been through with stress and being manipulated but also really appreciated his HeelFaceTurn. Others think he merely changes from a hardened survivor who's able to keep his secrets from everyone to a weak and whining pawn between the CIA and Abu Nazir, but then again he could only stand keeping his secrets for so long.
4	** By Season 3 onwards, Carrie herself has become this. She goes from an [[AwesomenessByAnalysis analytically genius]] CowboyCop [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight who takes own initiatives off-protocol because she knows she is right]], to having moments of [[TheMillstone genuinely jeapordizing]] CIA's operations (in particular when she tries to get proof of [[spoiler:Brody's innocence]]). It doesn't help that her moral ambiguity increases and her rapid change from a CowboyCop to a rather UnscrupulousHero weren't appreciated by everyone. For instance, she sleeps with VagueAge year-old Ayaan (who is also a devout Muslim who doesn't believe in premarital sex) just to get information out of him and later use him as a pawn to get closer to his terrorist uncle, and she is almost willing to [[spoiler: reduce Saul to collateral damage just to kill Haqqani after he killed Ayaan]] which whould have happened if Quinn didn't talk her out of it. While all of that is supposed to make her a flawed, but well-meaning AntiHero, some viewers find her more [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic unsympathetic]] than she is supposed to be because of reasons like these. There are also those who don't necessarily dislike her, but merely finds her not as interesting as she used to be back in Seasons 1 & 2.
5	* BrokenBase:
6	** As the series goes on, Carrie's bipolar condition has become this. Some fans consider it an essential part of Carrie without which her character wouldn't be the same, while others would like the writers to just do away with it.
7	** Season 3 has been this for many fans, as the increased reliance on twists, romance melodrama with Dana and Carrie's pregnancy, and the continued survival of Nicholas Brody have caused much debate about the shows quality.
8	* TheChrisCarterEffect: Brody's arc could have been satisfyingly resolved at the conclusion of season one, or season two at the latest. Instead the writers kept him around until season 3, and a significant number of fans consider that resulted in a steady decrease of the series' quality.
9	* CreatorsPet: Dana in season 3, mostly because of the writer's decision to devote 35% of every early season episode ("Tower of David" excepted) to her RomanticPlotTumor despite how pointless and unpopular it's been to date.
10	* DesignatedHero: Carrie, by Season 3. She drinks heavily despite being pregnant, and nearly compromises national security while pursuing her love affair with Brody. [[http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/sunday-night-tv-precap-carrie-mathisons-terrible-at-her-job-rick-vs-the-guv-and-50-years-of-the-doctor/ As noted by Andy Greenwald]], Carrie is quite bad at her job. It goes FromBadToWorse when she sleeps with Aayan, repeatedly, despite him wanting to be pure and keep his beliefs (his age is left vague, but he's a devout Muslim who doesn't believe in premarital sex) all to turn him against his father. Many fans were rather Squicked by this.
11
12	* DiagnosedByTheAudience: It's implied early on that Max has some manner of spectrum disorder. Carrie rather cruelly describes him as Virgil's "weird little brother".
13
14	* HamAndCheese: Jake Weber is having a ball portraying the right-wing America-loving TV host Brett O'Keefe with his overly-American accent. You can almost ''feel'' him ChewingTheScenery.
15	* HarsherInHindsight:
16	** The Season 2 finale, "The Choice", aired two days after the Newtown, Connecticut elementary school massacre. While the real-life tragedy was not the exact same as the fictional attack depicted in the episode, the Newtown attack did provoke similar reactions to that of prior actual terrorist attacks.
17	** Reviewers have long criticized the show for making Al-Qaeda more competent than they really are, though the writers tried to justify this deviation by implying that Abu Nazir's network is actually a Qaeda splinter group. Several months after the conclusion of Abu Nazir arc, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria came to prominence. For those not keeping up with the news, ISIS started off as a franchise of al-Qaida until they broke off completely in mid-2014, and they have proven to be far more powerful and dangerous than their former parent organization.
18	** The last few episodes of Season 5 feature [[spoiler:Peter Quinn]] almost dying on ''several'' occasions, and the finale itself implied that Carrie was moments away from [[TakenOffLifeSupport pulling the plug from his hospital bed]]. Nevertheless, the Season 6 premiere reveals he survived. ...And then the Season 6 finale happens [[spoiler:and kills off Quinn anyway]] under similar circumstances where he sacrificed his life for the greater good.
19	* HoYay: Brody and Abu Nazir.
20	* IronWoobie: Saul. He risks his life, career and professional trust to support and vouch for Carrie countless times.
21	* MagnificentBastard:
22	** [[VisionaryVillain Abu Nazir]] is an al-Qaeda commander who longs to destabilize the American government. After capturing soldiers Nicholas Brody and Tom Walker, Nazir forced Brody to seemingly kill Walker, before later halting his torture so he could nurse Brody back to health. After his son, Issa, and dozens of other children are killed in a drone strike launched by Vice President Walden, Nazir used the incident to expose America's hypocrisy to Brody. Seeking revenge, Nazir allowed Brody to be rescued by American soldiers so he, and Nazir's other agents, would gradually dismantle Walden from within and eliminate anyone in their path. When Brody fails to kill the Vice President, he instead has Brody try to influence Walden's policies against the Middle East. As he plans another terrorist attack, Nazir kidnaps Brody's LoveInterest, and forces Brody to assist him in killing the Vice President in exchange for freeing her. Once Walden is dead, [[ThanatosGambit Nazir allows himself to be caught and killed by the police]] so his followers can later set off a bomb during Walden's memorial service and frame Brody for the attack.
23	** [[ColdSniper Tom Walker]] is a former soldier turned terrorist. After being captured alongside Nicholas Brody, Nazir forced Brody to beat Walker to death. In reality, Nazir helped Walker fake his death, and Walker snuck back into Washington D.C. to carry out most of Nazir's plans. Posing as a wandering vagrant, Walker routinely delivered messages to and from Nazir's agents, all while managing to elude various law enforcement officials. When Walker is finally exposed, he evades multiples police officers chasing after him and kills a hunter before the man can report him to the authorities. He also lures multiple CIA agents into a trap by pretending to meet with one of his contacts, only to have him killed in an explosion upon realizing he betrayed Nazir. Walker later assassinates Vice President Walden's chief aide as part of Nazir's elaborate plan to have the Vice President murdered and escapes without the police ever finding him.
24	* MemeticMutation:
25	** Chris Brody's lack of importance.
26	** [=#NotOurHomeland=] and [=#NoQuinnNoHomeland=][[note]]A small but very vocal portion of the fanbase was so upset over [[spoiler:Peter Quinn's death]] that they blew up Twitter with these two hashtags and even put an ad in ''The Hollywood Reporter'' voicing their complaints[[/note]].
27	* {{Narm}}: Some of Creator/ClaireDanes' overacting approaches it, especially when the sultry jazz kicks in.
28	* NarmCharm: Jake Weber's overacting as Brett O'Keefe. His accent is so American that it's blatantly obvious ''it's not'', but given that Weber is portraying an exaggerated version of Alex Jones, somehow that makes it work even more.
29	* NightmareFuel: Of all the horrible scenes that have happened in this show, an overwhelming chunk of the audience agree that Carrie's near-drowning her own baby terrifies them the most. Does she mean it? Is she just careless? Or is it an illusion entirely? We'll never find out.
30	* OlderThanTheyThink: The concept of a homecoming American MIA convert to Islam has been explored much earlier in 2006, in Literature/JohnWells' spy novel series. Coincidentally, the author of the series is a friend of Howard Gordon's. In fact, Saul Berenson is named after the author.
31	* RetroactiveRecognition:
32	** Creator/MelissaBenoist playing a secondary character in Season 1, before her fame in ''Glee'' and ''Supergirl''.
33	** Creator/TimotheeChalamet, who appeared as Finn Walden, before becoming an Academy Award nominee.
34	* RomanticPlotTumor: Opinions among the lines "Get on with the CIA's War on Terror and please do show Nick Brody every now and then, because personal dramas pertaining other characters are of little concern" are not uncommon, especially regarding the beginning of Season 3.
35	* TheScrappy:
36	** Lauder is a jerk who, without his war wounds and occasional {{Cassandra Truth}}s, has absolutely no redeeming value whatsoever. Of course, one could say that ''without'' his war wounds, and the ensuing alcoholism, he wouldn't be such a jerk.
37	** The Brody family is in general a group of [[TheScrappy scrappies]], with Brody himself becoming a BaseBreakingCharacter.
38	*** Jessica's affair with Mike tends to be one of the the weakest storylines of any given episode. Her racist anti-Muslim rant in "The Smile" didn't do her any favors either.
39	*** Dana in Season 3, due to her [[RomanticPlotTumor boring romance storyline]]. Viewers are annoyed that a series who calls itself a spy thriller invests so much time on a teenager's angst.
40	*** Last and not least, Chris. He just isn't there.
41	* SeasonalRot: A common view among the fans is that the series' writing quality gradually declined after a universally celebrated Season 1. The general consensus is that the third season is the worst, but the quality of the rest of the series is quite divisive between critics and fans.
42	%%** Viewers started to [[BrokenBase divide a little bit about the show's quality]] as early as Season 2. While many aspects of the season is considered to be improved from Season 1, such as having higher pacing to the main plot, more action scenes and thrilling moments, it is also considered to spend too much time to weak/underwelming [[TrappedByMountainLions sub-plots]] (such as [[spoiler: Brody helping [[TheLoad Bassel]] escape, Mike's investigation of Walker's death, Aileen being BackForTheDead, Mike and Jess' relationship, Brody's [[HeroicBreakdown nervous breakdown]] to name a few]]).
43	* SophomoreSlump: The first season is universally loved. The rest... not so much. However, which seasons are good and which seasons are bad is a divisive issue on fandom.
44	* TakeThatScrappy: A lot of fans were getting sick of the Brody family as a whole by Season 3, especially with Dana's infamous romantic subplot. So the writers not only wrote Jessica and Chris out the season, but they also had Dana move out the house to live in some crappy motel with a roommate, and [[spoiler:hanged Nicholas Brody in the season finale]]. From Season 4 onwards, the Brody family is never brought back up.
45	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: After the discovery of Brody's suicide video in Season 2, the writers could spend the whole season milking out Carrie's new operation on Brody and working out their relationship in a Manga/DeathNote chess game-style. Instead they blew it right at the end of the episode.
46	* TrappedByMountainLions: Dana Brody's storyline takes several notes from Kim Bauer's book, especially in Season 3. In the middle of a gigantic geo-political game, the show focuses on her relatively meaningless teen, angsty problems with her also troubled boyfriend.
47	* VocalMinority: The [=#NotOurHomeland=] group only consists of a few thousand fans who were unhappy over [[spoiler:Peter Quinn's death]], whereas the rest of the fanbase, while unhappy over this event, still kept watching the show. Nevertheless, this group still managed to make a few headlines where they publicly criticized the show over [[spoiler:Peter Quinn's]] treatment.
48	* WinBackTheCrowd: Season 4, for many fans. After the problematic season 3, Carrie is now in a new spy plot and a new location. Also, TheScrappy Brody family don't return after taking so much valuable screentime in Season 3.
49	* TheWoobie: Nicholas Brody. He comes back to his family eight years after leaving them, tortured and broken and struggling to return to normal life--while also being forced to lie to them. Then he thinks that he's found someone who understands him--nope, she's been spying on him the whole time. It gets worse in the second season after the CIA finally finds evidence that he is a terrorist, and forces him to work with them. He has to keep lying, and even more than he did before.

Context YMMV / Homeland