10:35 PM V: Homeland is the smartest show on television
10:37 PM V: I'm actually too tired right now to go into why this show is so offensive
Not just intellectually offensive
I'll just give you an example
10:38 PM The first few episodes are all about this is-he-or-isn't-he-a-terrorist for Damien Lewis's character.
This is a Showtime show, so it's hour-long episodes forming a season-long arc.
10:39 PM Viewership is driven by cliffhangers.
So the cliffhanger at the end of one of this episodes is that Lewis's character, a recently returned POW whose motives are suspect, goes into his garage, takes out a prayer mat... and prays to Allah.
10:40 PM How offensive is that?
OMG, he's a MUSLIM... THAT answers it: he MUST be a terrorist
10:41 PM Additionally, the season-long arc is that there is this incredibly detailed and complex terrorist plot to target senior political figures.
Now, recall that this show is trying to be `The Wire' of the technothriller terrorism genre
So we, as an audience, are supposed to believe that what we're seeing is real
10:42 PM So the aesthetics are out of `The Wire' but the sensibilities are straight out of `24'
Again, extremely offensive (intellectually)
In the newest episode, it turns out that Damien Lewis (who we now know to be a repentant terrorist) has become a congressman is being put on the vice presidential ticket
10:44 PM I can't tell if this is intellectually offensive (lazily ripping of `Manchurian Candidate') or offensive to our sensibilities (I seem to recall a certain political figure subject to such accusations as a result of little more than peurile racism)
10:46 PM Even the political scenes are like watching CNN political coverage
10:48 PM The writers are way too impressed with their ability to present thoughts that would be controversial and counterintuitive if they weren't already so mundane and so hackneyed
`Veep' is a better look into the political process than `Homeland' and it's a comedy!
10:49 PM You should watch this show to see modern, post-colonial racialism at work
10:50 PM The entire cast is this supposedly hyper-competent white CIA analysts who are experts on intelligence and the middle east
10:51 PM Also, what a bad actress, Claire Danes
| 6 minutes |
10:58 PM V: Her only acting mode is bitchy high school girl
| 17 minutes |
11:15 PM V: hahahaha
So Damian Lewis's character, candidate for vice president, is a secret muslim
hmm
Not quite offensive enough yet
