Top Fives: Homeland Season One Most Memorable Moments


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As for those of you that enjoyed the first season of Homeland, you have come to the right place. Here is a look back at the five most memorable moments of last season's Homeland.

#5 - The backyard fight

The first victim in Brody's backyard was the nosy reporter. The next was the deer. Considering that Mike kept coming back to Brody's house, it was bound to happen that Mike would be the next victim. This took place in the backyard on the day of Walker's memorial.

Lauder, the angry and inebriated legless ex-marine, went on a rant about Brody selling-out. He had a point to what he was saying, so Brody let it slide. Where Lauder crossed the line, was when he alluded to Jessica having an affair with one of the marines, which prompted Mike to attack him.

The beauty of this scene was in Brody waiting for his wife to walk out and to see what was going on, before he intervened to give Mike a beating. Despite having been conscious of the affair for a few weeks, Brody chose this one moment to act on it. This demonstrated his patience, self-control, and perfect timing.

#4 - The parking lot

Carrie has a severe case of bad boundaries. She took her work home to the point where did far more than her employer ever required her to do. It even went to the point that she had to hide what she had done from her employer. Carrie did this because she was hellbent on proving that Brody was a terrorist.

Carrie watched Brody religiously. Everything from him putting on his clothes, coming out of the shower, and getting it on with Jessica. After Carrie had to take the cameras out, she even sat outside Brody's house, and followed him to the veteran's support group.

On the evening of the memorial, Brody took up Carrie's offer to call her if he ever needed to talk. Carrie delivered by paying Brody a visit at the bar. The two of them drank excessively, and left the bar completely drunk. After they stumbled their way to Carrie's car, she blurted out the classified information about the polygraph and the suicide, which led to a long kiss between the two, which led to...

Carrie and Brody in the backseat.

Now this is just so wrong on countless levels. But considering what the two of them have been through, it also made too much sense. Both Carrie and Brody would get a feel of the consequences of this the next day at the polygraph testing.

#3 - Northeastern Iraq 3 Years Earlier

The first mention of Issa's name came up as Brody was talking in his sleep, while he was as at Carrie's family cabin. Carrie asked Brody about Issa, only for Brody to lie about Issa being the name of a guard. In this flashback, Issa was revealed to be Abu Nazir's young son, and also the remaining piece of the puzzle.

After five years of imprisonment, Abu Nazir had personally opened the prison door for Brody, and given him proper accommodations. In exchange, Brody was to teach Issa to be fluent in English. Although Brody had no idea how to teach, he found that the best way to start off was to create a meaningful relationship between him and Issa.

Over time, Brody and Issa bonded, and Brody became proud of Issa for learning English at a remarkably fast pace.

Leave it to the American military and government to ruin this in the worst possible way. It was so bad, that it turned Brody against his own country.

The American military had bombed the school that Issa was attending, killing him and many other children. But the American government would not stop there. It would go so far as to deny it, and claim that the enemy made up the story about the school getting bombed. Brody knew better, and had decided on his own volition to carry out a mission in Issa's name.

#2 - Worth living for

Imagine being Brody, coming home from being away for eight years. His wife had an affair with Mike. Mike has become the father figure to Chris. Chris barely even remembers his father. Brody's mother had died four years ago. The military and the government are a bunch of scumbags. The politicians want to use Brody for their own gain. Some CIA lady has been incessantly and inappropriately following Brody around. On top of that, a soldier's very point of existing -- that of defending the rights of humanity, had been taken away in Issa's death. When life is hell, an act of insanity can look like the most rational thing to do.

The sole person that has consistently remained loyal to Brody is his daughter, Dana. She had been vocal enough to challenge her mother for having an affair, and to tell Mike to leave the family alone. To Brody, she is the one thing from the past that has stayed steadily genuine towards him. Dana is the only character on the show that has the combination of clarity, strength, and a real connection to Brody.

While on a family trip, Brody had started to act strangely, and Dana picked up on this. She became increasingly suspicious of her father, when he disappeared to pick up the explosive vest, which he claimed was a gift for Jessica. When Brody had a moment alone with Dana, he gave her a veiled good-bye speech, which left Dana with even more questions about her father.

On the day of the summit, Dana had noticed her father continuing to act strangely. The garage prayer, the locked door conversation, the regretful good-bye with Chris, and an armed Brody denying Dana a hug -- it just did not add up. Out of nowhere, an unstable Carrie showed up and told Dana that she had to call her father off from his mission. So she did.

After fixing the vest, Brody was interrupted by an emergency phone call from Dana. She made him promise to come home. When he said it in a quick and agitated way, Dana made her father say it like he really meant it. With the mission on the line, but not able to leave a lie to his daughter as his final words, he promised her that he would come home, thus failing the mission and sparing the lives of everybody in the room.

#1 - "It's not cuckoo's nest."

Due to the stigma of mental illness, Carrie was forced to keep her Bi-polar Disorder a secret from her employer. She had her sister enable her by giving her sample pills, and Carrie even went so far as to steal her father's medication. To make things worse, Carrie's job is extremely stressful, and Carrie's complete unwillingness and inability to separate herself from her work only made coping with a mental illness even harder.

Things got bad when Walker detonated the briefcase bomb from afar. The shock wave hit Carrie, and gave her a concussion. While in the hospital, she found herself going through a compulsive and manic state, that attracted the attention of Saul.

In her manic state, Carrie had been able to put together the pieces of the puzzle with incredible accuracy. In attempting to cover all her bases, she phoned Brody, only to get betrayed by him, resulting in her getting terminated from her position. When Saul went to visit Carrie, she was in a regressed state, wondering why she had been betrayed. At that moment Saul observed, "My god. You're in love with him."

Not even unemployment could stop Carrie from pursuing the terrorists. When Carrie had to flee the summit, she rushed to the Brody house to try and convince Dana to phone her father. Instead, Dana called 911 to report an emergency, which led to Carrie getting arrested.

In the closing scene of the season, Carrie decided to get shock treatment for her mental illness, even at the risk of memory loss. As she was going under, she had flashbacks to her weekend with Brody. Carrie remembered how Brody kept saying Issa's name during his sleep, which made Carrie realize that Issa was the final piece of the puzzle. The next season should answer the question of when and if Carrie remembers how Issa fits in.

Tags: Homeland, Claire Danes, Damian Lewis, Morena Baccarin, David Harewood, Diego Klattenhoff, Morgan Saylor, Mandy Patinkin, Hatufim, Prisoners of War

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