Homeland 202 Review - Via Text Message

After only two episodes of its second season, it is crystal clear that Homeland is going to keep coming at viewers with non-stop pulse-pounding and surprising television.

Between the meet-gone-bad with Abu Nazir, Carrie running for her life through the streets, the Marines questioning what happened with Tom Walker and that final video clip Saul started watching, "Beirut is Back" was a perfect example of this show at its Emmy-winning best.

Let us begin with the fact Carrie was indeed right about her intel. Her instincts were correct, which means she's even closer to her old self. That certainly isn't to say that she's back at the top of her game. As she noted, being wrong about Brody f*cked her up.

Listening to her talk about that, and then watching her go up on the roof during a major freak out, was disconcerting. In just one short season, it has been incredibly easy to let Carrie Mathison into our lives. Witnessing her struggle so much shouldn't be easy on us.

To read the rest of my review of last night's Homeland, head over to TV Fanatic.

Homeland 201 Review - Locations, Locations, Locations

Between the critical acclaim, its abundance of fans and one of the most impressive nights at the Emmys ever*, Homeland is coming off of one of the best seasons in television history. That's a lot to live up to.

"The Smile" did an astounding job, not only at returning with the excitement, suspense and heart we were used to from last fall, but also at sidelining some of my worries that the idea of season one was so good that the writers might not be able to re-imagine the magic a second time around.

* Homeland was the first show since Cagney & Lacey in 1985 to win four out the big five drama awards (Garnering series, actor, actress and writing, but failing to earn directing honors). There have been a lot of great series over the last 25 years or so that failed to accomplish what Homeland did at last Sunday's Emmys.

The season premiere wasn't in-your-face impressive in the way most pilots have to be in order to grab our attentions. Rather, it dropped us back into this world with characters that we grew to know, love and/or hate last season. Most of them were in new situations, but because all of them were strongly written and acted, everything felt very familiar.

To read the rest of my review of last night's season premiere of Homeland, head over to TV Fanatic.

The Samantha Marquez Award- Female in Action

Named For: Samantha Marquez (Las Vegas)
Awarded To: The best female character in an action series
2009 Winner: Sarah Walker (Chuck)
2010 Winner: Sarah Walker (Chuck)
2011 Winner: Mags Bennett (Justified)

10. Regina Mills (Once Upon a Time) 0 points

9. Jessica Hamby (True Blood) 5 points
3rd by Matt

8. Ava Crowder (Justified) 7 points
2nd by Tyson

7. Sarah Walker (Chuck) 9 points
3rd by Jack, 2nd by Me

6. Fauxlivia (Fringe) 12 points
1st by Jaydon, 3rd by Me

5. Dany Targaryen (Game of Thrones) 14 points
1st by Tyson

4. Olivia Dunham (Fringe) 14 points
1st by Jack, 1st by Me

3. Cersei Lannister (Game of Thrones) 15 points
2nd by Matt and Jack, 5th by Me

2. Arya Stark (Game of Thrones) 20 points
1st by T-time

and the Poolie goes to...

1. Carrie Mathison (Homeland) 26 points
1st by Cecil, Larry, Matt, Mags, and Bonz, 4th by Me

This is Carrie Mathison's first nomination and win for the best female character in an action series.  Here to discuss her talents this year is Poolie voter Larry.

________________________

Homeland came into our lives this past Poolies season, and given I haven’t heard a person say they couldn’t get into it, I would say it has been a pretty big hit for Showtime. How rare is it that a show with a definitive woman lead has been this well-liked by Poolie voters? Of the shows nominated in Action and Drama, only a couple even qualify (and Revenge is not even good).  Claire Danes does such a good job portraying an emotional, bipolar CIA analyst that it seems like she is cheating, and you know what, she is. Being a woman is like taking HGH and being bitten by a werewolf when playing a character like Carrie. My guess is she just plays herself, making sure to respond to “Carrie” instead of “Claire” and she is good to go. No man could play this role, it just wouldn’t be believable. The award is well deserved, but when we look back in ten years this will most likely have an asterisk next to it.

by Larry Avitabile

The Borgias 210 Review- One Wedding and a Funeral

Vanozza- "So Cesare, what exactly are you celebrating? Your sisters betrothal, or the death of your brother?"

Even though the breathtaking act of Cesare murdering Juan left most of us wondering what could possibly happen next, just as François Arnaud assured me last week, the season finale of The Borgias was not without its own surprising and tension-filled moments.

The "new Cesare" that Arnaud teased to TV Fanatic was born, Lucrezia continued her ascent to the Lady of supreme confidence, the Friar Savonarola was finally put to death in front of all of Rome, the Pope struggled with the news of Juan's death and then succumbed to Della Rovere's poison plan in the final seconds of "The Confession."  Yeah, it was quite the hour.

Much of the final installment of the year felt like a sneak peek at what's to come. Nothing accomplished that more than Cesare's new stone cold attitude. He has always been the man that wanted to be the tough guy, but now it's seems like he is.

He shed no tears for the brother he just murdered. In fact, he celebrated his sister's marriage instead of mourning the loss. He forged Savonarola's confession so that the friar could be burned in the street. Cesare even admitted to his father that he murdered dear Juan, and there was not an ounce of emotion coming out of him.

To read the rest of my review of last night's The Borgias season finale, head over to TV Fanatic.

The Borgias 210 - "The Confession"
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The Borgias Exclusive: François Arnaud Teases New Cesare In Season Finale

"I can assure you that Cesare's drive and anger isn't diminished in any way," François Arnaud assured me over the phone earlier this week.  The star of The Borgias went on to say that his character, after murdering his brother Juan last Sunday, has "grown into the warrior that he will be."

Arnaud said that Cesare killing Juan "was a beautiful moment."  Although it was indeed the horrible act of one brother gutting the other, Arnaud believed "there is that final embrace that I think helps letting go in a way."

We will all have to let go of Juan, and the great performance by David Oakes, as Arnaud realized, "It's very hard to imagine The Borgias without him.  He's been the one who drove Cesare to become what he is now."

Who is that? The aforementioned warrior? "In the finale, you see a new Cesare," Arnaud teased.

To read the rest of my The Borgias exclusive with Francois Arnaud, head over to TV Fanatic.

The Borgias Exclusive: David Oakes on Juan Borgia's Rise and Fall

"The last thing I did on The Borgias, was literally throw myself off a bridge," David Oakes reminisced on Monday afternoon.  One of the stars of the Showtime series, Oakes' run as troublesome brother Juan Borgia was fantastic, but it sadly came to an end with the character's inevitable death on Sunday's penultimate episode of the year.

It was a moment that Oakes knew was coming. "I always knew I was going to die in season two," he said. "That was never in doubt, but I didn't know when I was going to die." After Juan's failure at Forli, and his subsequent syphilis, gangrenous leg, and opium addiction, everyone saw this character's end in sight.  As Oakes says, "There really wasn't much keeping him alive."

That is truly sad, because Juan Borgia was an extremely compelling character over the past two years.  Oakes was brilliant at playing both the on-top-of-the-world leader of the Papal armies, and also the down-on-his-luck coward.

"I enjoyed the contrast," Oakes told me. "You got this wonderful meeting between what [creator] Neil Jordan wanted initially for Juan to be, and what they ended up with having cast me in the role.  I was always trying to show Neil that behind the arrogance and uselessness, there sort of was this true human being that desired to impress people. Towards the end you ended up with this great, great clash of the two."

To read the rest of my exclusive with David Oakes of The Borgias, head over to TV Fanatic.

The Borgias 209 Review- Nowhere Else To Go

Vanozza- "What happened to you Juan? You were such a lovely child."

I've written about it at length over the past couple of months, but it's worth noting again that the feud between brothers Cesare and Juan Borgia has been the most compelling material The Borgias has produced in its first two seasons. Said conflict came to a head in "World of Wonders," and it produced an absolutely gripping penultimate episode of the Showtime series' second season.

Since failing to come out victorious against Catharina Sforza at Forli, Juan's downward spiral has been both sad and magnificent. That did not change this week, as I was equal parts upset and excited watching the Borgia boy talk to himself, get high to the heavens on opium, throw it in Cesare's face that the Pope loves him more and finally hold Lucrezia's baby over the edge of the balcony.

Then it happened. Cesare and Micheletto retrieved Juan from yet another Opium session, and the family feud was finally settled. Even as it was happening - Cesare's knife going in and out of his brother's stomach, and eventually throwing him off of that bridge - I couldn't believe it. Was this it? Was this the end of Juan Borgia? Dying by the hand of his own brother?

It was yet another moment in which I was glad that I don't know the history behind the series. I'm assuming The Borgias isn't straying too far from the historical story between these two brothers. Even if they are, I'm glad I didn't see this event coming, or wasn't disappointed by it being different from history.

To read the rest of my review of last night's The Borgias, head over to TV Fanatic.

The Borgias 209 - "World of Wonders"
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The Borgias 208 Review- Oh Brother Who Art Thou?

Hernando- "God gives you riches, and you kill for more."

After a week off for Memorial Day, The Borgias returned with an installment that worked much like a setup episode for things to come.  Other than Lucrezia's betrothing process coming to a conclusion, "Truth and Lies" was filled with stories that remained just on the edge of arriving to the party.

Like a number of chapters in this second season, a major theme running through the hour was that of feuding brothers.  Not only did Juan and Cesare's ongoing battle continue to heat up, but it seems like Lucrezia - with the help of her mother - might have created another brotherly feud between her two related suitors.

While it has been nice to see Lucrezia's strength and confidence develop over the course of this season, I wasn't nearly as interested in what those bros were up to as I was watching Juan and Cesare square off, the former get booted from command, and the latter commit his act of mercy on Catharina Sforza's son.

After having said all that, I'm still not complaining about that passionate sex scene between Lucrezia and brother number two.  Also, it will probably be fun seeing how that entire situation plays itself out as the season comes to an end.  Will the two brothers begin hating each other like Juan and Cesare, or will they come to some sort of an understanding?

To read the rest of my review of last night's The Borgias, head over to TV Fanatic.

The Borgias 208 - "Truth and Lies"
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The Borgias 207 Review- We're Gonna Have To Take The Boy

Juan- "If you don't have the stomach for this spectacle, you'll find that Spain lies that way."

Since Francois Arnaud and David Oakes have both been so fantastic during The Borgias second season, it's a shame that the series has had such a difficult time showcasing them in the same episode.  "The Siege at Forli" was yet another example of this mishap as Cesare Borgia was sidelined for the majority of the hour.

From his triumphant return, to his battlefield tactics, Juan Borgia was quite the standout once again.  It felt so good to have him back, especially when his return meant a pet panther and cigars for the pope.  I'm not sure which was more fun, watching the then unheard of cat bite the finger of Lucrezia, or watching Juan explain to Rodrigo and everyone else what the then unheard of cigars were and did.

It wasn't all panthers and puffing for the second son, though.  He also made his way to Forli to take out the great Catherina Sforza in battle.  What made his inevitable failure, and the quasi betrayal by his brother Cesare, so epic, was the feeling of superiority he and Rodrigo had going during their fireside chat early in the hour.

The father, sorry Holy Father, was proud that his boy had become a man, and truly felt that Juan was going to wipe out Catherina and take her back to Rome completely compliant.

To read the rest of my review of this week's The Borgias, head over to TV Fanatic.

The Borgias 207 - "The Siege at Forli"
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The Borgias 206 Review- Do You Perhaps Take Gold?

Rodrigo- Save your thoughts. Say nothing."

Cesare- I haven't uttered a word."

Rodrigo- No, but we can hear you thinking."

Similar to Sons of Anarchy at its best moments, the second season of The Borgias has done a fine job at showcasing both the outside and inside threats to its protagonistic family in concert.

While those coming from elsewhere - such as the Sforza forces or the Friar Savonarola - have been pushing the story of the season along, it is those issues close to the heart of the Borgias that has interested me most since the premiere.

The epicenter of the series' success continued to be Francis Arnaud's work as Cesare Borgia during "Day of Ashes." The eldest son of Pope Alexander kept striving towards earning the armor fit for the leader of the Papal Army, but per the usual, Rodrigo still didn't agree.

Watching Cesare use his "stray dogs" to take out the caravan, and steal all of the Medici gold, was fun, but it wasn't enough to change the Pope's mind. At the end of the day, that was all that Cesare was looking for. He wants to be the "one son in amour."

To read the rest of my review of last night's The Borgias, head over to TV Fanatic.

The Borgias 206 - "Day of Ashes"
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The Borgias 205 Review- Sex and Death 101

Rodrigo- "Know your enemy, Cardinal. Know him better than your friend."

Following four episodes that had me singing the praises of The Borgias, the fifth installment of season two - "The Choice" - was markedly worse in terms of episodic entertainment.

The hour continued to drag on and drag on until Catherina turned down Cesare and Pope Alexander's offer to come to Rome willingly.  The best moment of the entire episode was probably watching Catherina toy with the Cardinal after pleasing him many a time in the bedroom.

Her simple way of skirting around the subject, and continuing to mention how much she was enjoying her duck, was irresistibly charming. The fact that we had just watched the two of them enjoy each other's company so much, and then do so again after dinner, made Catherina's eventual "no" that much more intriguing.

She was fun to watch, and could make for a great foe in the future. Unlike her cousin Giovanni, who was never interesting to see on screen and will be doing nothing in the future thanks to the amount of times Cesare stabbed him in the gut and neck.

To read the rest of my review of last night's The Borgias, head over to TV Fanatic.

The Borgias 205 - "The Choice"
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The Borgias 204 Review- Sure, I Like Dags

Cesare- "She chose God, Micheletto, and God repaid her with mutilation."

Not only have the brothers Borgia been literally fighting over the past couple of weeks, but Cesare and Juan have now begun coming to figurative blows about who is going to have the more interesting start to season two of The Borgias.

Thanks to the absence of the latter, and a superb performance by Francois Arnaud, "Stray Dogs" swayed things back in favor of Cesare as being the brother all viewers should have their eyes glued to while watching this captivating Showtime series.

As soon as his nun was found murdered, and he announced that he had lost all emotions but vengeance, we should have all known what kind of thrill ride Cesare was about to embark on. Unsurprisingly, the ride began in style with Micheletto gathering up the rest of Rome's stray dogs, and Cesare rallying them to get revenge on the French through whatever means necessary.

Unlike the Duke of Mantua, Cesare didn't care about fighting with honor. Cannon was too barbaric for the good Duke, so I wonder what he would have thought of our favorite Cardinal's torture techniques... or the way he said he would let the man go after getting information from him, and then just had Micheletto stab in the gut.

To read the rest of my review of last night's The Borgias, head over to TV Fanatic.

The Borgias 204 - "Stray Dogs"
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The Borgias 203 Review- Say Hello To My Brittle Friends

Lucrezia- "You must cry for me, for I have no more tears."

The second season of The Borgias is not taking its time out of the gates. Following last week's exciting installment in which Juan figured out what was going on between Lucrezia and Paolo, and subsequently murdered the latter, "The Beautiful Deception" played as a thrilling next chapter.

There were two major arcs driving the story of the hour: Lucrezia and Juan's family feud, and Cesare's bold strategy to fool King Charles into retreating.

The former was a fantastic continuation of the main focus in "Paolo," and continued the running theme of the season thus far that the Borgias are fighting just as much with themselves as they are against those outside the family.

Rodrigo has made numerous announcements to his children that the family would not tear each other apart, but recently that seems like all they want to do. This recent battle between brother and sister may have been my favorite yet.

To read the rest of my review of last night's The Borgias, head over to TV Fanatic.

The Borgias 203 - "The Beautiful Deception"
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The Borgias 202 Review- Sans Paolo

Vanozza- "Affections can be lethal in this Rome of ours."

Vanozza's words could not have been a better reflection of "Paolo." The Borgias continued its strong start to the second season with a twisted tale of love, family and betrayal this week.

As much as I have commended Francois Arnaud for his performance as Cesare over the course of the first season-plus, darn it if David Oakes didn't steal the show as Juan Borgia during this hour.

I kept finding myself so intrigued by what he was doing and the feelings he was emoting. The character has so much pride and it showed up in spades during that scene at the fountain.

How great was it seeing Juan immediately come to his sister's defense? He was so disgusted by the fact that a commoner would even think about coming near him and his sister; it made for very strange moment out of Lucrezia.

To read the rest of my review of last night's The Borgias, head over to TV Fanatic.

The Borgias 202 - "Paolo"
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The Borgias 201 Review- Sibling Rivalry

Juan- "A cleric prays. He doesn't fight."

Cesare- "Well this cleric does both."

It may not have had as much pomp and circumstance, or as much energy, as the first season premiere, but "The Borgia Bull" may have been a more promising beginning for The Borgias.

The second season premiere set up a number of new situations, and began to develop in more depth the important relationships we got to know over the course of the first season.

Jeremy Irons may be the name used in promoting the series, but Francois Arnaud proved to be the star of the show throughout last season and in this year's opener. His Cesare Borgia is all kinds of engaging, a master of deception with a number of intriguing relationships.

The way that Cesare and Lucrezia act together is interesting for all the wrong reasons. I mean, they are a bit too close for brother and sister, right? The way he is treated by his father continues raise questions about where their relationship may lead in the future.

To read the rest of my review of last night's season two premiere of The Borgias, head over to TV Fanatic.

The Borgias 201 - "The Borgia Bull"
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Homeland Season One Report Card

Now that many of our favorite shows are either on hiatus or have just finished up a season, TV Fanatic is handing out grades to various shows the way Santa hands out presents to good kids...in bunches.

On the heels of Matt Richenthal's report on The Good Wife's first half of season three, Dan Forcella now steps up to the plate in handing out what might be the easiest grade of the year. It's time for a TV Fanatic Report Card on the first season of Homeland...

Quick Out of the Gate: Critics and fans alike noted early and often that the Homeland pilot was the most promising of the fall. The compelling story of a prisoner of war returning home, and the CIA agent tasked with finding proof that he had been turned by terrorists, made that evident from the start. The Showtime drama became appointment viewing from the word go.

Best Episode: "The Weekend" was not only the best episode of Homeland's first season; it may have been the best hour of television that aired in 2011. At the midpoint of the season, this was when Carrie Mathison and Nick Brody maybe got a bit too comfortable with each over a weekend at a cabin. It was incredible watching their chemistry together just before Carrie spilled the beans about spying on Brody and thinking he had been turned. Brody's anger in the aftermath - which we now know was because Carrie was correct in her assumption - was equally exciting and scary.

To read the rest of my report card on Homeland's first season, head over to TV Fanatic.

Homeland 112 Review- Bomb In A Bunker

Carrie- "The world is about to end and we're standing around talking!"

With an extended Homeland season finale comes an extended Homeland season finale review here at TV Fanatic. I will attempt to keep my thoughts contained, but since "Marine One" was such a tremendous end to this almost perfect first season, I make no promises.

No show in recent memory has combined such interesting character studies with such amazing storytelling as well as Homeland has done over its first 12 episodes.

This season finale had me on the edge of my seat for the entire 90 minutes. A number of series can pull that off on finale night, but Homeland managed to do it every single hour over the course of an entire season. Bravo.

It started with Dana walking in on her dad praying in the garage, a moment I was so glad that Brody was somewhat upfront about. For obvious reasons he couldn't be honest with his daughter when she almost walked in on him again, this time with a bomb strapped to his chest.

To read the rest of my review of last night's Homeland season finale, head over to TV Fanatic.

Homeland 112 - "Marine One"
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Homeland 111 Review- Come To Life

Carrie- "You wait, you lay low and then you come to life."

Those words, uttered by Carrie Mathison in her fit of manic insanity during "The Vest," like most of what she said during that stretch, were absolutely brilliant.

Yes, the plants in the garden are definitely going to live by Carrie's law, but she was also correct in metaphorically comparing said plants to Abu Nazir and his terrorism plot. Ironically, and unfortunately, it also worked to explain Carrie's bi-polar disorder and its effect on her job with the CIA.

As sad as it was to watch Carrie spiral out of control, it was just as entertaining to watch her work (mostly the demand for the green pen), and just as interesting to realize that she was nailing Abu Nazir's plan down to a "t."

What she was missing, however, was the "i," as in Issa. The only missing ingredient from Carrie's timeline, which Saul so perfectly organized on the wall, was the period of mourning after Nazir had lost his son. If she could have only put the pieces together that Brody was just as heart-broken as Nazir, maybe this whole thing could have been solved.

To read the rest of my review of last night's Homeland, head over to TV Fanatic.

Homeland 111 - "The Vest"
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Homeland 110 Review- The Briefcase Bomb

Al Zahari- "So I'm bait?"

Saul- "You're bait."

What makes both Abu Nazir's plan of attack against the United States and Homeland's story of deception so successful is that they are both constructed from a number of intricate layers. The thought process that has gone into each has been incredible, and that was never more apparent than in "Representative Brody."

It seems as though Nazir has three Americans working for him that we know of: Tom Walker, Sergeant Brody and the apparent mole inside the government.

Walker is the short-term guy, the one who has been given violent tasks to perform in the States. We witnessed his efforts at their finest when he hired the homeless guy to deliver the briefcase bomb to Al-Zahari this week. His attack was smart, it was destructive and it caught the CIA by surprise. His time is going to run out quickly, I'm sure, but all Abu Nazir seemingly needs him for is to be the shooter at Marine One.

Because Walker knew that the CIA was following said rendezvous with the Saudi diplomat, it became more obvious that there is a mole within the American government. It's another layer to Abu Nazir's plot, and another way for him to complete his tasks.

To read the rest of my review of last night's Homeland, head over to TV Fanatic.

Homeland 110 - "Representative Brody"
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Homeland 109 Review- You Got To Win It In The Fire

Nazir- "Why not trust a man who would rather die than give information to his enemy?"

Would you feel sympathy for an American traitor doing what he can to help the leader of a terrorist organization? I wouldn't think so, but Homeland pulled that emotion out of me during "Crossfire."

The end of last week's hour delivered yet another twist in the story, as we realized that Brody was in fact working with Abu Nazir. When it was revealed that he was indeed the individual sitting in that chair, I was a bit surprised - and excited - but after pondering it a bit more over the course of the week, I came into this episode hoping that it was the final turn in the who is/who isn't saga.

Fortunately, we seem to be out of those metaphorical woods, as "Crossfire" focused mainly on Brody's thoughts and emotions now that the audience knows he is definitely helping Nazir. What exactly happened to him to make him want to turn against his beloved country? We learned that, too.

Like everything else that Homeland has done up to this point in the series, it was extremely captivating. As I noted above, it would seem difficult to feel for a man that is betraying his people, but with the way the show has built Brody as a character, and the number of layers they have given him, it was easy to do so here.

To read the rest of my review of last night's Homeland, head over to TV Fanatic.

Homeland 109 - "Crossfire"
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