lvbalgurl

I don't get why Helen gets more say on what happens to the kids. Because Helen lays down an ultimatum about Allison not being in contact with the children, all must obey? Noah gets just as much say in who he wants around the children as Helen does, and he feels that Allison poses no threat to them and should be allowed contact. Noah was stupid for even tacitly giving in to Helen's demands, and a doucheface for trying to get his kid to lie about it. But Helen's decree that Allison not be around them had everything to do with making Noah suffer, not about the best interests of the kids. The kids are not being traumatized by Allison (she has not even been around any child but Whitney since the split); they are upset because their parents are in the middle of an acrimonious divorce and they feel the family that they once knew has fallen apart. Noah and Helen are both focused on fucking the other one over, not on the best interests of the kids. As parents, they should each be reassuring those children of their love and affection, and that they will remain a presence in their lives. Disappearing Allison is not going change anything if the parents continue to use the children as weapons to one up the other.

Helen is the one who initiated court proceedings because she found out that Noah was living with the woman he cheated on her with and she didn't like it. She doesn't want Allison around the kids because she's hurt and devastated, and wants Noah to suffer by not being allowed to live with her. Not because Allison is "traumatizing" the children. If she had legitimate examples of Allison behaving in such a fashion, I could support her wish but, all I see is Helen being led by her own emotional devastation over the collapse of her marriage. The children are upset because the family as they know it has fallen apart. The BEST thing she and Noah could do for them is to reassure the children that they still love and adore them, to be consistently present in their lives, and to resolve their custodial issues amicably and out of court. Making ultimatums about Noah's fiancee and going to court will just make an unfortunate situation even worse. (Which is what is happening.)

It was odd and strange, and, yes, there was beauty in the gesture. I like Carrie & Quinn together, mostly because I like Carrie (most of the time) and I LOVE Quinn. I think Homeland has done a wonderful job of showing the progression of their relationship as colleagues, to trusted colleagues, to good friends. They are 100 grand as a friendship, fiercely loyal to each other. There was a rather abrupt shift from friendship to romance early last season, but I suppose I can believe that Quinn was unaware that he had developed feelings for Carrie (until Dar, the psychologist, and the hotel manager he was fucking pointed this out.) However, I'm not sure I buy that Carrie's feelings for Quinn have grown much past that of a close friend and highly capable, valued colleague. There was a window in which she seemed to regard him with different eyes in last year's finale and then it was gone. And now she's with the boring boyfriend. So I'm not really certain what Homeland is showing us other than the fact that Quinn is really in love with Carrie, and Carrie really values Quinn as an ally and friend. I suppose things can progress to more in the future, but Homeland always fucks up romances (Carrie/Brody, Mira/Saul, Dana/anybody) so I'm not sure I'm even looking forward to that.

I agree. Helen is ONLY doing this because she's hurt and angry that Noah cheated and left her. Allison has not done anything to traumatize the children; there's no real reason there needs to be a court order barring her from having contact with them. Helen is not being reasonable. She's not putting the best interests of the children first, she's allowing herself to be guided by the devastation she's feeling over her failed marriage. Both Noah and Helen are trying to stick it to each other. If they were thinking of the children, they would listen to that judge, and figure out an amicable custodial agreement out of court. And, yes, that would involve Allison being around them because she is Noah's live-in fiancée.

I don't find Noah, Allison, or Helen particularly likeable. I probably enjoy Noah's POV the most because he's such a complete and total doucheface that I find it almost comical. I cannot stand Allison in any of her POVs; she is a woe-is-me martyr. Everyone is mean to her, everyone victimizes poorpoorAllison. There is something cold and detached in Helen's depictions that prevent me from finding her sympathetic. In certain spots, I do, as in her scene with Max last ep (another raging asshole). But, other times, I just...don't. OTOH, I effing LOVE Cole. He's such a mess, but I adore him. Maybe it's JJ's performances, I'm not sure. But I've loved him from the start, and I'm rooting for his happiness. The others, not so much. Re: this episode, I friggin ADORED Jennifer Esposito's character. SING IT, SISTAH. Noah is a spoiled effing BRAT. It's no wonder his children are holy terrors - they are simply younger versions of himself. (Except Stacy, who must be adopted or something.) Those children are exactly what he deserves, may they keep on bratting for all eternity. Helen is an utter mess and I sympathized with the folks who had to deal with her crap in her POV (except Noah, Trevor, & Max). I think this is the first time I've found her mom remotely likeable. I'd have been okay with her knocking her upside the head and telling her to STFU for five seconds about her failed marriage, because, you know, her HUSBAND LEFT HER, TOO. Poor Stacy. Poor sales rep. Poor random woman in the store, who got called a bitch because...Helen's life is failing apart? Yeah. I don't like Helen.

Yeah. He's still painfully in love with Carrie. I thought perhaps he'd gotten past it, with the hitting on Astrid last ep, but, no. He could barely look at her when she was going on about trying to find him and such. Kept staring daggers at those fucking passports. It's interesting that Carrie doesn't grasp the extent of how much he does care for her. She actually thought for a moment that he would kill her at the start of the ep. It's kind of strange that no word would reach Allison about her dead hitman. Especially since there were tons of people around, including the contact inside the post office. All of this happened in the morning/afternoon, yet it was night time when she picked up her phone, expecting him to tell her that he'd taken out Quinn.

WOW, the plane blew up! Did not see that coming! Damn. This was good stuff. And because it's fucking Homeland, I have no idea if Quinn will survive this. I just need him to. When he laid his head on Carrie's shoulder, it was as if he'd found some kind of (sleepy) peace. It was nice to see, particularly since we rarely get those kinds of moments from Peter Quinn. Thank you, show, for giving me the Carrie I love. Smart, intuitive, questioning, instinctive, capable. I really enjoyed her this ep, loved her reaction at the drop spot. Ramming the car, grabbing the phone, taking the pic, dragging Quinn away to safety. She was awesome. Goodbye, Hacker #2. Should have gotten out of the car when you were warned. Ah well. I'm anxious for Saul to find out what's up with Allison. He thinks he's holding the cards but he really has no idea what's going on. Would not surprise me if Dar was in bed with Allison, but I hope not.

Another Carrie-off-her-meds episode. I'm just grateful it happened early on in the season so it's over and done with. Whatever Quinn injected Carrie with, I hope it contained lithium. I like Astrid and Quinn. Nice chemistry and she totally wanted to go with him. Don't blame her at all. Cuz he's charming as hell in a darkly, dangerous way. If it was me, I'd have left dude at the restaurant and jumped on top of Quinn. He is really, really smoking hot. That said, hated seeing him kidnap a child to get to Carrie. Not sure why the show needed to go there, especially after how distraught he was that he'd accidentally killed a child in S3. I guess they're trying to show how far gone he is but I wish they hadn't taken it there. Saul & Allison? Wha? WhereTF is Mira? Way too much Carrie/boyfriend stuff in this ep. He is such a friggin stiff. I really hope he's gone. When Off-her-meds-Carrie bitched about his pulling a Clark Kent and being boring-boring-boring! I had to laugh, and agree.

Astrid is Quinn's ex. She let him stay with her when he went badass/rogue and built the bomb to take out Haqqani, and checked out the phones he found on Haqqani's men, which led to Quinn tracking him down. She also told Carrie a story about how she and Quinn "drank a bar dry" once in Copenhagen and that he swore he'd leave the agency. Said he says this ever so often to make himself feel better but has no intention of leaving. I like her. It's nice to have someone on the show with a connection to Quinn and his past.

Just saw two gifs on Tumblr from what appears to be episode 5, I think. Quinn's been shot/hurt, looks like a side wound, and Carrie (in a bad wig) is helping him walk. In the other one, it looks as if he might pass out and Carrie is trying to hold him up. Oh, Quinn. :/

Quinn deciphering the code and jotting down Carrie's name was something several of us saw coming -- (Carrie's name being in the "Kill box") -- yet the scene managed to grab me and pull me in completely. It's moments like these that keep me tuning in -- I had a "whoooooa!" reaction, even though it wasn't really a surprise. That's the beauty of Homeland. Someone obviously fucked with Saul's drop to Quinn because there's no way he would ever order Carrie's death. But, who? Interesting. The show should have hooked Carrie up with During instead of the bland/nondescript Brody wannabe. Their scenes in Lebanon were more interesting than any of her scenes with the boyfriend. I can't hate on Allison for trying to save her ass. Laura's stance is completely valid but she is really loud and smug. I'm glad to see more of Astrid; I like her.

I'm picking Ramsay Bolton. GET HIM, QUINN. Honestly, I'd be thrilled if Homeland decided to spin Quinn off onto his own show. I effing love him, and find him its most fascinating character. Killing "the bad guys" is what he's good at, and he seems to have given in to it more than ever. He seems almost on autopilot now, as opposed to the tormented figure he was after he accidentally killed a child. Or is he? "He's a martyr in paradise, and I'm stuck here." I think if someone put a bullet into Quinn, he'd be all right with that. He'd finally be freed of this hell he can't seem to escape. But I don't want anyone to put a bullet into Quinn. Damnit.

I gotta say, I loved the Sam/Spin/Maxie/baby scenes. It seemed like the actors kind of broke character, and it came across as KeMo & BA cooing with KS over her adorable child. Really cute. Ric and Sonny hating on Jake was kind of hilarious. I actually laughed out loud when Sonny asked how Jake's "chip" worked and whether you used a remote with it. (I'm just glad some writer out there understands how ludicrous this whole brainwashing nonsense is.) If I have to choose between Sonny & Ric getting along, and Ric locking Sonny's wife in a panic room and obsessively scheming to take down his brother, I'll choose Option A. TeCa is very cute with the baby but I can't get down with Sabrina being a Nanny to Avery after that history. I'm hoping she steps down after the commotion with nuKiki tomorrow. Dante and Nathan, and the gratuitous shirtless scenes. Yeah. I'm with that. Can't even remember what the hell they said.

I may need someone to explain this Nikolas thing to me like I'm three. How does withholding the information about Jason help him get ELQ? I'm not making the connection. Didn't Jason give his ELQ stock to Sonny long ago (I have no idea what happened to it after that)? Why would Jason's existence stop him from getting ELQ? Why does he want ELQ anyway?

Yeeeah, I keep watching this custody battle with the sidest of side eyes. Michael, the former red headed menace, who was perfectly fine with Sonny's mob life, even after being shot in the head and going to prison, now believes that Sonny is a danger? So all those mob hits he called before, all the times he ordered Jason to kill his ENUH-MEEZ, all those lives lost, those fathers taken from their families, THAT was okay, but because his biological dad was at the receiving end this time, NOW he's a danger? Now he can't raise a child? Like I said: SIDE.EYE. Not that I believe any of this will last. In a few months, he'll be apologizing for being upset with Sonny for killing AJ and he'll shove Morgan out of the way and take his rightful place as chief son asskisser. NuKiki reminds me of that Maxie in between Robyn Richards & Kirsten Storms. Danica something or other? She was so bad it was hilarious. Jake is soooooooo boring. He is straight buzzkill, as are he & Liz. They threw LiRic away for this? Whatever. Ric needs to shave. I keep thinking he'd be really good with Ava. Wonder if they'd go there at some point.

Hmm. I guess I'm deeply in the minority but I don't believe the show means to present Regina as anything more than bitchy and irrational due to being hurt and heartbroken over losing Robin. I don't believe for one second that she is being presented as righteous, or that the show believes anything she spews on Emma is actually logical. This is just Regina lashing out from her hurt/bitter perspective. Emma laid it on a little thick with the whole "I want to be bffs" spiel but I think it's more about identifying with someone who is in *some* ways like her and who can teach her magic. Like she said, it's not like she can take online courses to hone her gifts, and I can't see her going to Gold. I think Emma is looking for a kindred spirit in all of this craziness and I guess I don't have a problem with that. Even if Regina deserves a swift kick right now. On another note, I have never been much of a Hook/Emma fan but they were really adorable tonight. When Hook picked up that picture of Emma/Neal, there was a moment that passed between them that I can't describe. But I liked it. I'm not sure I've ever taken Hook seriously as a romantic interest for Emma until very recently but the cuddling at the end was uber-sweet. He truly loves her.