Brody FINALLY turns up in his own series... but not in the way we wanted: JIM SHELLEY on the demise of Homeland
By JIM SHELLEY
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The good news was that, after two disappointing, mystifyingly tame episodes of series three, the hero of Homeland, Nick Brody was finally back in his own show.
The bad was not only was ‘Tower of David’ even worse, it was easily the weakest hour of Homeland there’s ever been, confirming fears that, for the third series, the writers would run out of ideas and Homeland would turn into a variation of its creators’ previous show, 24.
What had once been a gripping thriller about terrorism, paranoia and deceit was now more like a dull, indulgent love story about, well, nothing.
Brody's back: Three episodes in to the new series of Homeland, Damian Lewis' character Nicholas Brody returned to the screen
Where am I? A badly injured Brody turns up in Caracas in Venezuela
Let’s start with Brody.
It had been so longer since we had seen the bugger, executive producers Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa felt the need to use the ‘Previously, in Homeland...’ prelude to remind us where we last saw him.
This was near the border with Brody and Carrie (for no obvious reason) whispering their goodbyes after a bomb in Brody’s car had blown up the CIA’s HQ killing 219 people.
Purely on the basis of his assurance ‘it wasn’t me’, Carrie had activated her ‘insurance policy’, arranging for an unspecified (and seemingly unique) ‘friend’ to drive him to Montreal where a fishing boat would take him to Newfoundland.
Getting to work: Brody is looked after by a 'doctor' - a ludicrously louche weirdo called Graham
Easing the pain: The medics inject heroin into Brody to help him through the pain
When he re-appeared, all the classic/clichéd signs were there that Brody was in Big Trouble:
- He had turned up in Caracas, universally recognised across Hollywood as the ultimate emblem of a violent, corrupt, lawless hell - although HOW he had come to be there was evidently too much for even the writers of once-great Homeland to explain.
- There was talk Brody had been ‘nearly killed’ by ‘the Colombians’ – something that perhaps you might have expected could have been in the show.
- Brody arrived in the back of a jeep, unconscious, his stomach bleeding heavily, rolling his eyes, and, worst of all BALD.
- He was taken by a gang of gun-wielding South American bandits from type-casting whose leader was a goateed gringo called El Nino with a tattoo of a spider on his neck that was disproportionately, ostentatiously large even for a criminal in Caracas.
- El Nino’s gang took Brody into a Scary Compound that even Prison Break would have rejected as nonsensical and stereotyped even for its fourth series.
Agonising: Brody wakes up in a bed in an empty room, with no idea where he is
Aid: He is looked after by one of his captor's daughters, to whom he quickly forms a close bond
‘What happened to him?’ asked a ludicrously louche weirdo called Graham, as he examined him.
The explanation ‘an ambush across the border - something went wrong’ was all that he (and we) were given, although this didn’t explain Brody’s haircut.
The explanation ‘an ambush across the border - something went wrong’ was all that he (and we) were given, although this didn’t explain Brody’s haircut.
‘Are you a doctor ?” Brody groaned as the ghoulish Graham began attending to Brody’s wounds.
‘Interesting question,’ mused Graham - played by Erik Dellums, plunging his hands into Brody’s insides and signalling that he was going to act Crazy in the manner of Jeff Goldblum or John Malkovich.
‘Interesting question,’ mused Graham - played by Erik Dellums, plunging his hands into Brody’s insides and signalling that he was going to act Crazy in the manner of Jeff Goldblum or John Malkovich.
If we had any doubts, we realised this was going to be the Caracas equivalent of Casualty when Graham gave a young boy a hands on role in the ‘operation’. Not good. But of course Brody was fine.
In the middle of nowhere: The location of Brody's tower block is revealed with a wide shot
We saw El Nino’s gang were based in the half-built carcass of a skyscraper known as the Tower of David after the banker that had commissioned it and then gone bankrupt. This left it to become over-run by squatters, thieves, prostitutes and children (something of a mixed message there).
Sadly, despite his predilection for children and drugs, Graham had none of the menace Dellums conveyed so memorably as Luther Mahoney in Homicide: Life On The Street.
‘We’re here because the world outside can be judgemental and cruel. We’re here because this is the place that accepts us. We’re here because we belong here,’ Dr. Graham purred in a manner that was presumably meant to be exotic or disturbing but just sounded silly.
Gradually, Brody was nursed back to health by the combination of regular fixes of heroin and El Nino’s daughter Esme, who as luck would have it, mixed sultry good looks with revealing vests.
‘It feels good. To be walking,’ Brody told Esme when he was back on his feet. Good for him perhaps, but not that exciting for us.
Escape attempt: Brody's new friend helps him to get out of the precinct
Sanctuary: Brody, who was revealed to be a Muslim in the last series, is led to the mosque by his new friend
Making new friends: Brody is welcomed into the mosque by one of the leaders, but he is soon found
‘We’re WALKING,’ he taught the girl. ‘Walking. Walking with a stick.’ Bizarrely, by the time he asked her to help him escape, her English had become virtually perfect.
Perhaps surprisingly, Caracas does have a large mosque and The Tower happened to be near enough for Brody to become transfixed by its music and seemingly persuaded to return to being a Muslim and that the imam would take him in.
‘I can’t stay here,’ Brody would say every 5 minutes. ‘I need my passport. I need my passport for TRAVEL,’ Brody implored El Nino, as if he thought passports had some other purpose in Venezuela.
The man who had stolen his passport later travelled over the edge of the building courtesty of El Nino’s men.
The man who had stolen his passport later travelled over the edge of the building courtesty of El Nino’s men.
‘I just need to get to the next place,’ Brody pleaded. ‘There is no next place. This is it for you. End of the line.'
This was despite the fact that, El Nino had answered Brody’s (entirely reasonable) question ‘why are you trying to help me?’ by cryptically muttering: ‘you know Carrie Mathison. So do I.’
Ruined your chances: Brody is returned to his former home with a bloodied nose
Not so luxurious: But this time, Brody is put in a locked room to stop him attempting to escape again
Dr. Graham had also raised the question of why they had taken so much trouble to save Brody but not then cashed in on the $10million bounty.
‘Maybe someone did you a favour once,’ was the best El Nino/the writers could offer. ‘Must be some favour,’ Graham remarked.
It was all very vague and monotonous, continuing for a full 30 minutes before finally switching to another location or plot.
This, inevitably, belatedly, was Carrie who was still in the psychiatric ward doing One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.
The previous episode had concluded with Saul apologising for having sectioned her, only for Carrie to tell him: ‘f*** you.’
Now though, she was obsessing over Saul coming to see her and accepting that ‘removing her from a delusional terrorist suspect’ was the right thing to do.
Numbing the pain: Brody was then seen injecting himself with heroin as the reality of his situation set in
If her acquiescence was a ploy to get out of the hospital, the way she started banging her head against the bathroom mirror suggested she was still bananas.
Like Brody, somewhere along the line Carrie had acquired an ally to help her escape.
Like Brody, she was confronted by dubious types claiming to be on her side – in her case someone even worse than a South American gringo: a lawyer.
‘I heard you had a difficult hearing,’ he said. You could say that...
‘You tell whoever you’re working for – the Syrians, the Israelis, the Iranians... you tell them No,’ Carrie cried. ‘I would rather die in here.’
Like Carrie, Brody’s hopes of escape were short-lived. The imam turned him in, telling him: ‘you’re not a Muslim, you’re a terrorist’ only for El Nino to turn up, shoot the police and the Imam, and take him back to the Tower.
Pleas: Meanwhile, Claire Danes' Carrie is still in a psychiatric facility after being admitted
Let me go: Carrie was seen pleading with the doctor to tell Saul she is doing well
‘You’re a naughty, naughty boy,’ Doctor Graham languidly told him, ignoring Brody’s protests that he couldn’t go through the hell of his Iraq cell again.
‘Of course you can. Everywhere you go, other people die. But you always manage to survive. You’re like a cockroach, still there. You belong here.”
After Graham had gone, Brody duly, despairingly, picked up the heroin Graham’s young boy had left by his bed, and shot up.
Brody was Gene Hackman. This was The Caracas Connection.
Who's this? Carrie was visited in the centre by a mysterious man, who tried to turn her allegiances from the CIA
Meanwhile Carrie was in her room in the psychiatric hospital, sitting in the corner, in the dark. They were both captive, you see, both suffering in the same way.
Subtle it wasn’t. Entertaining it wasn’t either.
All those Homeland fans such as myself who had bemoaned Brody’s non-appearance and the way the first two episodes of this series had focussed on The Brody Bunch, particularly the teenage torments of his daughter, must have despaired.
The moral of Tower of David was: be careful what you wish for. Come back Dana, all is forgiven.
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