S07.E01: Enemy of the State

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

Season 7 begins with Carrie and Franny living with Maggie's family in D.C. Meanwhile, Saul and the federal employees detained after the attempt on the President-elect's life are in prison; and President Keane's administration comes under scrutiny.

Promo:

[grommit2]

Oh boy...season 7 begins.
The "Bannon" character is back...
And the President is royally annoyed that a General tried to assassinate her.
But, in a really important development:  it appears that we may have a whiny, disgruntled teen to bring reality to this show.  
What would really, really be great is if they brought back Quinn...oh well. 

[TimWil]

Jake Weber’s accent is as irritating and inauthentic as ever. Oh well.

Good season premiere, though.

Edited February 12, 2018 by TimWil

[LoveLeigh]

This show, this show. Why am I so confused? I can't keep track of who these characters are when they are brought back from so many past seasons. Can somebody please give a quick Cliff notes version referencing who in tonight's episode these key players are and a brief synopsis of their background and from which seasons they last appeared? Thanks.  

[parandroid]

Ahhhhhh.....its back! What am I going to do when the show wraps?

What a crackler! The writing reminds me of the smarts of season 1. The only perhaps false note, for me, was the COS guy (Linus Roache - forgot the name of the character) going to Saul and offering him the job. I can't see him doing that without Keane's knowledge. Or maybe, it was with her knowledge....Hmm....

[Rock knocker]

2 hours ago, grommit2 said:

Oh boy...season 7 begins.
The "Bannon" character is back...
 

I would say he's really more of an Alex Jones of "InfoWars", right down to the voice

https://www.infowars.com/watch-alex-jones-show/

[Pallas]

3 hours ago, parandroid said:

The only perhaps false note, for me, was the COS guy (Linus Roache - forgot the name of the character) going to Saul and offering him the job. I can't see him doing that without Keane's knowledge.

I think he felt he needed to know Saul would accept, before bringing up the idea with Keane. 

[scrb]

I forget the preposterous plot from last season.  Brett, the fake Alex Jones guy, was working with Dar and they had a social network bot farm or something?

But wasn't there someone else bankrolling the whole thing?  Brett wanted to go farther and was involved in the assasination plot?

Ridiculous to think some radio guy, a rogue general and his unit could get so far.  But now, the conspirators find a way to poison the general in federal prison?

Ok, Keen is portrayed as some threat to democracy, abrogating the rule of law.  But if there was some plot to kill the POTUS involving some elements of the military, you better believe they will use emergency powers.  And since the conspirators can do a credible job of framing Keen, she's right to want to root out this conspiracy.

Thing is, Brett doesn't have to go on the run to do his little show on the road.  They showed that social media was far more effective for propaganda.  He could have posted videos from Russia.

[pfk505]

1 hour ago, scrb said:

 But now, the conspirators find a way to poison the general in federal prison?
 

My take on it was that it was the President's doing, since once Wellington said there's nothing he could do about the verdict, she said "then I'll find someone who can"..

Not too thrilled about any of this, to be honest. Instead of a reset with some background continuity we get Season 6 part 2, complete with sweaty O'Keefe and President Paranoid. None of it remotely interesting and a little too "ripped from the headlines" for my taste.. I did like the nod at realism with Carrie's $38k in credit card debt. No job but can run spy games with the best of em.

This show ain't what it used to be but I'll be watching.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Showtime has posted the season premiere on their official YouTube channel (as per usual, this means any nudity or swearing has been censored):

[numbnut]

That was good. I liked the family drama stuff. And they killed off the sexual predator as a bonus. Nice.

[dwmarch]

Carrie's entire family is like season 1 Skylar from Breaking Bad.

So Carrie is getting deep background from an FBI agent she worked with in Kabul but it's not enough for the senator. Carrie, in her infinite wisdom decides to force a meeting between the two and it goes about as well as could be expected. But now the senator knows the FBI agent's first name so I'm imagining this source is going to be compelled to testify if the Deep State goons don't bump him off first.

Is everyone at the Podunk PD a fan of Brett Blowhard? There was a squad car or two out front and two covering the alley. That's a lot of cops for a tiny town, someone is bound to notice that entire department surrounded Second Amendment Sleep Solutions and then hustled out of there before the Feds could arrive.

I'm also wondering if that cork board that was behind O'Keefe will give him away. His friend took it off the wall but she didn't move it very far to the side.

And of course Carrie is happiest when she's got a surveillance package on someone!

[parandroid]

5 hours ago, scrb said:

I forget the preposterous plot from last season.  Brett, the fake Alex Jones guy, was working with Dar and they had a social network bot farm or something?

But wasn't there someone else bankrolling the whole thing?  Brett wanted to go farther and was involved in the assasination plot?

Why did you find this preposterous? It couldn't happen in real life? It seems like it did. Bannon. Russian propaganda bots. FBI agents with political agendas. The stretch bit, for me, was that all those events would result in an attempted presidential assassination . I want to say that it couldn't happen in the US, but I don't know my country any more it looks like. Every day, I wake up and I see a new normal reflected in the headlines. And all those events have certainly been crafted and coached by US sponsored agents on many a third world country.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Once again Carrie gambles on her ability to convince someone to do what she wants, but this time Dante refused to fall for her pleas of "Pretty pretty please? Do it for your country!"

I had to laugh when Wellington tried to tempt Saul with the National Security Advisor job and Saul refused to take it unless all 200 people were released. Say what you will about Saul, but once he decides to do something on the principle of the matter, he doesn't budge.

One thing I will nitpick, not as a reality thing but as Bill exaggerating was when he said that Carrie had Josie driving around in the middle of the night. Dude, you said you left a play. Unless you were at the midnight showing of Rocky Horror, that means you were at a play that started at 7 or 8pm. That doesn't even remotely qualify as the middle of the night.

I know Saul said that Keane needs to get over it, but dude, someone tried to kill her. And it wasn't one crazy guy with a gun on a rooftop. There was obviously a pretty huge conspiracy that involved lots of people - and that was just in the execution of their assassination attempt. Who knows how many other people were involved in planning it? I can't blame her for being a little bit paranoid right now. I'm not defending her decision to arrest two hundred federal employees (especially in light of the fact that Dante's interrogations so far have shown that none of them had anything to do with the assassination plot), but I can see how knowing that this was not the result of a single crazy person is causing this. It's also a believable way for the show to flip Keane's character from more sympathetic (as she was last season) to one of the antagonists. And I'm not sorry to see both McClendon the character and Knepper the actor leave my screen.

I do not understand why this Sharon person is still helping O'Keefe. How could she listen to the garbage he was saying and think it was worth being on the run, sleeping in non-beds, and missing her cat? And he knows he's being an ass, as evidenced by his apology to her about the menopause comment. He already told Sharon he wouldn't say shit like that before but he clearly doesn't keep his word about things like that. Even if you take away his actual personality and politics, how can you support someone who keeps making promises to you and breaking them? Sharon, go home, take a hot shower, and sleep in your own bed. You deserve better.

Carrie needs a paying job ASAP. How does she think she's going to make even a dent in $38K of credit card debt without any income? Even if she's living at Maggie's house rent-free, how does she think she's going to pay for any of Franny's expenses like school tuition, clothes, etc. without a job?

Heh, OF COURSE Carrie had Max install surveillance in Wellington's house. How long before that box with Franny's winter coats also has a folded up Wall of Crazy?

Edited February 12, 2018 by ElectricBoogaloo
Typo

[Ina123]

9 hours ago, TimWil said:

Jake Weber’s accent is as irritating and inauthentic as ever. Oh well.

It's terrible and makes me wince it's so bad. It detracts from every scene he is in.

[weaver]

Last year I swear the Alex Jones character had a very bad southern accent.  Now it seems Aussie has crept in.  What accent exactly is he attempting?

Hate the character and hope he doesn't have a huge presence this year.  

Elizabeth Marvel really nailed the character last night; last year I didn't like her.  I think Linus Roache is promising as well.  

 

WHEW, Saul will be in the government.  Now how do we redeem Dar just a bit so we can see some or preferably a lot of him.

Carrie's manic energy carried me through the show.  Hated the opening; bring back the old opening please.   Don't make us see Carrie on the treadmill every week.  

[Nic330]

A classic start to Homeland as usual..

Where you have no effin clue wtf is going on and an intro of characters never seen before.

[Joimiaroxeu]

Starting out with some straight ahead jazz. Aw yeah, Homeland is back, baby.

Ditto comments upthread, still not loving hearing the British guy mutilate a cornpone southern accent. Gotta hope it's deliberate.

Sigh, Linus Roache. Boy could we use you back on L&O: SVU.

He took. It out. #elainebenes

In what Bizarro world would someone go from federal prison to director of the NSA? But then again, Saul's professional history is almost as implausible as Carrie's.

"Collaborator"? Was "complicit" too hard to work into the dialogue?

Quote

But now, the conspirators find a way to poison the general in federal prison?

And the way they poisoned him. Yikes.

[attica]

Ah, the classic tradecraft of losing a tail by accusing them of public nudity/sexytimes! Gotta hand it to ol' Carrie; she remembers Spy 101.

It's a good thing Max signed his email (srsly, wtf? that's bad tradecraft!), because I kept mis-remembering him as Virgil. Thanks, show! Also: I refuse to believe I'm the only one who was hoping one of the rooms he bugged was a room with a big-assed bath. (#ForeverEcbert)

20 minutes ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

In what Bizarro world would someone go from federal prison to director of the NSA? But then again, Saul's professional history is almost as implausible as Carrie's.

Nobody knows Saul is in the clink, right? I mean, it's totally ridick in the extreme, but if they keep him disappeared, showing up later as NSA director could be sold. In the Homeland universe, anyway.

[teddysmom]

I'm really wondering if I want to re up for Showtime for this mess. 

No place other than sis's office for a meeting? if she lost the tail couldn't they go anywhere? 

Are we supposed to remember the FBI guy? How did Max get on the team checking for whatever they were checking for. 

Can you imagine if we found out IRL an FBI or CIA agent used their niece to secure a meeting site?  Just go meet in some isolated part of town FFS. 

And an entire small town PD in VA is willing to risk being arrested to keep that Alex Jones wannabe safe?  Why did they wait til not Jones and his GF made a run for it?  Why not get them out of there before they tried to take off? 

Oh, that's right DRAMA!!! 

[Pallas]

On 2/12/2018 at 7:57 AM, weaver said:

Hated the opening; bring back the old opening please.   Don't make us see Carrie on the treadmill every week.  

That was the opening of the episode but not the opening credits. HOMELAND usually doesn't use an opening credit sequence for the season premiere, just the title card. I expect we'll experience a new yet familiar maze-and-jazz montage next week, ending with a shot of the capital building -- or maybe the White House this year?, no, the capital building, for continuity and emphasis on "We the People" -- and an epithet from Carrie. I'm still moved by the last moment of the season 4 credits: Brody's whispered, "We have to say good-bye now." 

[numbnut]

1 hour ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

He took. It out. #elainebenes

ROFL!

[navelgazer]

Glad we only got "almost Carrie crying" face instead of "full-on Emmy-reel crying" face. 

I miss Quinn as well and also do not remember the FBI agent who was supposed to be such a good spy with Carrie in Kabul. 

Carrie needs to get out of her sister's house.  The "it's your sickness, not the world" lecture was premature.  I didn't see Carrie swilling down gallons of chardonnay or Merlot and I didn't see her bringing random redheaded Brody lookalikes home to fuck on the stairs, two of unmedicated Carrie's favorite activities. 

6 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Once again Carrie gambles on her ability to convince someone to do what she wants, but this time Dante refused to fall for her pleas of "Pretty pretty please? Do it for your country!"

This!!  I did enjoy seeing Carrie run her spy-craft games, even though I was not at all surprised when the meeting between the potential witness and the senator went to total shit.  That's our Carrie. 

Edited February 12, 2018 by navelgazer

[dwmarch]

3 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

In what Bizarro world would someone go from federal prison to director of the NSA? But then again, Saul's professional history is almost as implausible as Carrie's.

The NSA as an agency is not the same NSA which is an acronym for National Security Advisor. The National Security Advisor is a cabinet post and gives advice to the President. Saul's fulfillment of the role is probably going to be much more... fluid than the boring bureaucratic position that it's supposed to be.

2 hours ago, teddysmom said:

Are we supposed to remember the FBI guy? How did Max get on the team checking for whatever they were checking for.

The FBI agent is a new character. As for Max, Carrie must have set it up somehow but it is strange that Max didn't end up in jail too considering he did work at the Troll Farm last season and he did give them his resume complete with the "meth and masturbation" line on it.

[slowpoked]

Welcome back Homeland! I missed you. Carrie losing her tail, and going through kitchens and multiple hotel rooms and getting the message out to Max was classic Homeland when Carrie was still a field agent. I missed that part of Homeland when they decided to make Carrie more like a desk person and an outsider the last few seasons. Like the senator staff said "Do we really need to do this spy shit?!" I say, hell yeah!

 

9 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I do not understand why this Sharon person is still helping O'Keefe. How could she listen to the garbage he was saying and think it was worth being on the run, sleeping in non-beds, and missing her cat? And he knows he's being an ass, as evidenced by his apology to her about the menopause comment. He already told Sharon he wouldn't say shit like that before but he clearly doesn't keep his word about things like that. Even if you take away his actual personality and politics, how can you support someone who keeps making promises to you and breaking them? Sharon, go home, take a hot shower, and sleep in your own bed. You deserve better.

Every time a male complains about women's hormones or women being too emotional, whether in the fake or real world, I would like to remind everyone the gender of people who do these things when their favorite sports team lose a game:

 

 

So Bret O'Keefe can suck it with the menopause references. 

[mrspidey]

18 hours ago, Rock knocker said:

I would say he's really more of an Alex Jones of "InfoWars", right down to the voice

https://www.infowars.com/watch-alex-jones-show/

Nah, Jones just uses this shtick as a front for his snakeoil-type offers. 

This guy, however, means what he says. I don't see Jones going underground continiung his show with impromptu sessions in the middle of nowhere.

Edited February 12, 2018 by mrspidey

[LoveLeigh]

Was this the first season that the senator and Dante appeared? 

[Pallas]

3 hours ago, DakotaLavender said:

Was this the first season that the senator and Dante appeared?

Yes: Senator Paley, played by Dylan Baker; Dante Allen, played by Morgan Spector; and Carrie's brother-in-law Bill, played by Mackenzie Astin (son of Patty Duke and John Astin), are all new characters.

[KaveDweller]

Overall, I liked the opening...I like that this show does a bit of a reset every year so it doesn't matter if I don't remember every single person/even from a year ago. Because it stopped being so good it stays in the front of my mind a few seasons ago. I remember the president was almost assassinated. That seems to be enough.

Didn't Carrie's sister have two kids in the past? Not that I want more teen drama, I just hate inconsistencies.

[ruby24]

Sigh. I really don't want a season of Carrie's family being antagonistic and yelling at her all the time for being a bad mom, etc. I also am not thrilled about having another teenager on the show- that did NOT work out well last time around.

Can't her sister be on her side for a change? That'd be nice.

Yeah, I also could have sworn Maggie had two little girls before. That's annoying.

[pfk505]

3 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

Didn't Carrie's sister have two kids in the past? Not that I want more teen drama, I just hate inconsistencies.

 

13 minutes ago, ruby24 said:

Yeah, I also could have sworn Maggie had two little girls before. That's annoying.

The second (younger) kid was present during the first family scene where Carrie was making breakfast.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

7 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

Didn't Carrie's sister have two kids in the past? Not that I want more teen drama, I just hate inconsistencies.

 

3 hours ago, pfk505 said:

The second (younger) kid was present during the first family scene where Carrie was making breakfast.

Yes, Maggie has two daughters. Ruby is the older one who we did not see in this episode. Josie is the younger one. The younger girl we saw while Carrie was making breakfast was Franny, Carrie's daughter.

[Pallas]

5 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Yes, Maggie has two daughters. Ruby is the older one who we did not see in this episode. Josie is the younger one. The younger girl we saw while Carrie was making breakfast was Franny, Carrie's daughter.

Given that Josie is now old enough to hate her parents for ideological reasons (and drive), Ruby is probably off at college. 

[Joimiaroxeu]

Quote

And the way they poisoned him. Yikes.

Just quoting myself to admit I misinterpreted that scene. I thought the poison was introduced when he was doing the "bend over and spread 'em" part of the intake exam. I forgot the guard had handled his tongue first. Guess it was an untasteable poison.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

1 hour ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

Guess it was an untasteable poison.

Iocane powder!

[Pallas]

2 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Iocane powder!

Ha!  "I am not Inigo Montoya. I am not even Saul Berenson. Nevertheless. You tried to kill my President-Elect. Prepare to die."

[Joimiaroxeu]

2 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Iocane powder!

Hah, learn something new every day. I never saw The Princess Bride so I had to google that. Is it "locane" or "iocane"? I'm finding references to both spellings. Whatever, it'd be funny if Keane consulted with Saul on that matter but we'll probably never found out. (And ugh, I have to wonder whether giving Knepper such a humiliating final scene was deliberate given the sexual assault allegations that have been publicly waged against him by several women.)

[KaveDweller]

10 hours ago, Pallas said:

Given that Josie is now old enough to hate her parents for ideological reasons (and drive), Ruby is probably off at college. 

That makes sense if Josie is the younger one. I was thinking she must be older because it didn't seem like that much time had passed since they were both little kids.  But I guess passed on how old Frannie's looking I miscounting how many years have passed show time.

[Jextella]

I'm not as big a fan of this show as many.  I binged all seasons the last few weeks.   The ideas of the stories are good and they play out well for a time but then they either go on too long or get cut off two quickly.   The best way I can describe it is that it's shaky.  Very little depth and consistency.  It actually reminds me of a day time soap opera.

Still, the storytellers are good at building drama and it's kept me in the game.

However, I have major issues with Carrie using Maggies office for a secret meeting and having her niece drive her to the secret meeting.  If something happens to Carrie's sister's family - any of them - I might bail.  That would be too much of a cheap and easy trick by the storytellers.

I will say the casting has been impeccable.   Claire Danes, Mandy Patinkin, and F. Murray Abraham are perfectly cast in their roles - as are most of the secondary characters.

Edited February 14, 2018 by Jextella

[Bannon]

Last season's Presidential assssination plot wasn't as bad as the dreck endured from about halfway through season 2, through season 3, but it was pretty bad. So I had low expectations for this season's premiere. I am happy to say it was better than expected. 

No. It wasn't great. A surly teen is never a positive plot development. Having Carrie be too dumb to wait for Ms. Surly Teen to drive out of sight, before popping the trunk for the FBI agent was unfortunate. I'm worn out with the plots surrounding Carrie's illness. However, the writers have put forth a premise which may make the season intetesting; what to do when no major faction is righteous, when both are embarked on evil path?

[ElectricBoogaloo]

4 hours ago, Jextella said:

I have major issues with Carrie using her brother-in-law's office for a secret meeting

It was Maggie's office that Carrie used. When they arrived, Dante saw the nameplate on the door and said, "Who's Maggie Mathison, MD?"

Carrie's brother in law Bill works for the Treasury.Secretary.

[Ina123]

7 hours ago, Jextella said:

5 hours ago, Bannon said:

Having Carrie be too dumb to wait for Ms. Surly Teen to drive out of sight, before popping the trunk for the FBI agent was unfortunate.

 

But necessary, apparently, for plot development. There's a reason the niece had to see it and we'll find out in future episodes. The show must go on.

[Ina123]

From Twitter. LMAO.

[Jextella]

6 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

It was Maggie's office that Carrie used. When they arrived, Dante saw the nameplate on the door and said, "Who's Maggie Mathison, MD?"

Carrie's brother in law Bill works for the Treasury.Secretary.

sorry.  Posting too late at night!  Corrected but the point remains.  It would be a cheap and easy, soap-opera-ish maneuver to have any of Carrie's family get harmed.

 I can see the daughter getting the daughter getting taken away, but that was plenty.

[Kel Varnsen]

On 12/02/2018 at 6:27 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I know Saul said that Keane needs to get over it, but dude, someone tried to kill her. And it wasn't one crazy guy with a gun on a rooftop. There was obviously a pretty huge conspiracy that involved lots of people - and that was just in the execution of their assassination attempt. Who knows how many other people were involved in planning it? I can't blame her for being a little bit paranoid right now. I'm not defending her decision to arrest two hundred federal employees (especially in light of the fact that Dante's interrogations so far have shown that none of them had anything to do with the assassination plot),

I had the same issue with the finale. A conspiracy to kill the president from inside the government is a pretty big deal. Does Carrie personally know that all of the people arrested are totally innocent. I am not even sure Saul is 100% innocent.

On 12/02/2018 at 2:13 PM, dwmarch said:

The FBI agent is a new character. As for Max, Carrie must have set it up somehow but it is strange that Max didn't end up in jail too considering he did work at the Troll Farm last season and he did give them his resume complete with the "meth and masturbation" line on it.

And apparently something went down at the Kabul embassy, that Carrie was involved with that sank this guy's career? And i guess that would be on top of the shit that went down at the Islamabad embassay when Carrie was station chief there.

15 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

It was Maggie's office that Carrie used. When they arrived, Dante saw the nameplate on the door and said, "Who's Maggie Mathison, MD?"

Carrie's brother in law Bill works for the Treasury.Secretary.

I was just surprised that a big medical office wouldn't have some sort of security system. I mean it is not like people like to break into doctor's offices to steal shit.

[Milburn Stone]

@Bannon wrote:

Quote

the writers have put forth a premise which may make the season interesting; what to do when no major faction is righteous, when both are embarked on evil path?

I kind of agree, but rather than seeing both sides as evil, I'm seeing both sides as being correct, in their ways. This episode did what good dramas do: make you see the validity of both sides of a conflict.

President Keane is right that extreme measures are needed when our very democracy is under threat of being overthrown.

O'Keefe is right that what Keane is doing is a violation of our most fundamental civil liberties.

I can forgive some implausibilities in the plot when the drama involves the playing out of two such powerful positions thrown into opposition.

Edited February 15, 2018 by Milburn Stone

[scrb]

The only reason the civil liberties are under attack is because O'Keefe plotted to overthrow a democratically-elected president.

He's not talking up civil liberties, he's talking about a civil war.

 

It's highly doubtful the show is trying to make O'Keefe or his views sympathetic in any way.

[Milburn Stone]

3 minutes ago, scrb said:

It's highly doubtful the show is trying to make O'Keefe or his views sympathetic in any way.

All I can say is, it's an ironic paradox that Carrie, Saul, and O'Keefe are now, in terms of perceiving the threat, all on the same side.

So whether or not O'Keefe the person is sympathetically portrayed--no way, he's scum--the views he's now expressing are ones that I believe the show asks us to take seriously. The show has now put the audience in the position of saying, "Wait a second...I think I'm actually agreeing with this a-hole!" And that's a very interesting position for us to be in.

[scrb]

1 hour ago, Milburn Stone said:

All I can say is, it's an ironic paradox that Carrie, Saul, and O'Keefe are now, in terms of perceiving the threat, all on the same side.

So whether or not O'Keefe the person is sympathetically portrayed--no way, he's scum--the views he's now expressing are ones that I believe the show asks us to take seriously. The show has now put the audience in the position of saying, "Wait a second...I think I'm actually agreeing with this a-hole!" And that's a very interesting position for us to be in.

I don't care enough to go back and see last season's episodes but he started opposing Keane for political reasons.  Didn't like that she won.  So during the transition, he was attacking her with that made-up video of her son running away and then running the troll farm.

So there were no civil liberties concerns then.

He was going to find any reason to oppose her and pile them on top of the other reasons.

Carrie's civil liberties concerns are genuine but O'Keefe's are not.

[Kel Varnsen]

4 hours ago, scrb said:

Carrie's civil liberties concerns are genuine but O'Keefe's are not.

Speaking of civil liberties, I almost had to laugh when Carrie said that Keane locking up 200 government workers who may or may not have been part of the conspiracy was the biggest civil rights violation in the history of the United States. I mean i am Canadian and I can still think of a bunch of instances in history that were bigger civil rights violations.