TV Review: HOMELAND: Season 3, Episode 1: Tin Man Is Down

Showtime‘s Homeland Tin Man is Down TV Show Review. Homeland: Season 3, Episode 1: Tin Man Is Down featured good CIA intelligence officer Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) inquisition bookends, especially considering what was revealed during both sessions.

These were strong sections of Tin Man Is Down, led by United States Senator Andrew Lockhart (Tracy Letts) in both instances, even as the respondents changed. Senator Lockhart showed a similar level of intelligence as the people he was questioning, knowing something was wrong or missing from the responses to his questions without knowing what.

Season 3 of Homeland also began with something extremely far-fetched, almost as far-fetched as Mathison driving U.S. Marine Sergeant Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis) to get a fake ID, money, then driving him almost the entire way to Canada after a terrorist attack at the end of Season 2.

Dana Brody (Morgan Saylor) had always been one of the strongest characters on Homeland, always speaking her mind and making herself heard.

Mental strength-wise, she was far stronger than her brother and at least equal to her mother (impressive for a girl of her age), able to deal with secret knowledge of her father without a shoulder to cry on. Nicholas Brody knew that, which is why he was able to tell her certain things and trust her with secrets. How is it that this person, arguably the second strongest person in the household behind Nicholas, tried to commit suicide while the weaker ones stood-fast?

I know why.

Homeland‘s writers couldn’t have Nicholas’ son, Chris Brody (Jackson Pace), do it because he was too underdeveloped as a character for his suicide to be narratively impactful. No one knows Chris and if he tried to kill himself, not many would care. He is completely underwritten and has no personality. What limited personality he had was derived from Nicholas and now that he is gone, that small glimmer is gone as well.

Jessica Brody (Morena Baccarin) was out of the suicidal running because she had already been through three high stress, highly painful situations: she had given birth twice and had to deal with a husband that was MIA for eight years. Her threshold for pain was higher than her children and her new reality broke against those fortified walls. In addition, she was her children’s sole parent again and had to stay strong for them. If she killed herself, they would have no one except Jessica’s mother and what a treat that would be.

Since the two aforementioned characters were unqualified to carry the burden, it fell to Dana, who saw her former impulsiveness magnified exorbitantly to account for her near monolithic character shift.

CIA Counterterrorism Center Director Saul Berenson (Mandy Patinkin)’s betrayal was terrific, surprising, and perfectly placed within the structure of the episode. Saul was Mathison’s one true, non-blood related friend and the televised knife he shoved in was huge. It was wonderful to see Saul embrace his new role as head of CIA and choose the agency’s well being over Mathison’s reputation. Saul had warned Mathison repeatedly about the dangers of being emotionally and sexually involved with Brody. He made her pay for it and then some.

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