One month ago today – Monday – is when she had the baby. A BABY. She was completely and totally pregnant (and striding around Toronto, I thought he was going to be Canadian) and then this is the result a week later. I mean, I don’t know what to say except that’s genetics and discipline and commitment to your goals, and this happens sometimes. Full Story

Homeland Season 2 Episode 12 (season finale) recap We knew it would be dramatic.  There was no way things could go on as they had been, when every story was played out as far as it could go – especially in this episode where a lot of people had a lot of conversations they wouldn’t have otherwise had, thanks in large part to the extra 10 minutes designed to lull us into a false sense of security. Full Story

Homeland Season 2 Episode 11 recap (Or:  The one where you could tell Claire Danes was pregnant) I’m so tired.  Aren’t you?  I’m not the only one, either.  I mean, the episode was full of tired imagery.  Carrie had been up for two days.  Saul was almost lying on the interrogation table. Full Story

Homeland Season 2 Episode 10 recap He would never.  He would absolutely never say “at least several” martinis, along with something else in that same speech that’s now lost to my memory.  Are you kidding me with this?  I don’t think CIA members are perfect, but I think they have to be able to get around the basics of speaking well. Full Story

Homeland Season 2 Episode 9 recap Look at Carrie.  Did you see that beautiful face, that calm in the face of Brody maybe (obviously not) dead?  That was the face of a woman devastated but determined,  broken-hearted but resilient. This episode gave us the immensely satisfying experience of finally realizing that those f*ckers you thought were slimy were, indeed, wearing two hats. Full Story

Homeland Season 2 Episode 8 recap I know we have our heroes that we love on this show, but I really would love to talk about Roya for a second.  Now, whether you agree with her politics or not, this is a woman who really cannot be flapped, can she?  No matter what’s going on, what version of a crazy, cracked-out Brody she’s going to get (and I worried seriously for both her and for his spinal cord when he played out their whole meeting by the fountain with his shoulders around his neck), she is calm and utterly focused on her task – though you’d think she’d get tired of saying “it will be soon”, no? How did she get such nerves of steel?  Like, what is the specific training in Abu Nazir’s camp that not only includes journalistic training (I sincerely hope she’s supposed to be an on-air reporter because I choked when I saw her in a TV Truck) but also allows her never to flinch?  Or is that a personal trait that is the reason she was chosen for the mission? I ask, of course, because this episode is all about showing us how much of a poker-face Brody doesn’t have and never did. Full Story

(Like the title was going to be anything else.)  Homeland Season 2 Episode 7 recap I remain convinced that a threat is closer than ever, mostly because the show keeps telling me so – but in an episode that had a lot to do with marking time, we remember why Homeland is such a phenomenon: it understands not only the dramatic lives of CIA agents, but also the relatively banal internal lives of teenagers and families. Full Story

Homeland Season 2 Episode 6 recap Do you not wish you had a Virgil you could yell for when the going got kind of rough? Like what a liberating thing, to be able to literally be in two places at once, to be on both the planning and the execution side? I have missed Virgil and, as Lainey and I discussed last night, he remains pretty sexy. Full Story

Homeland Season 2 Episode 5 recap Most important things first: let’s talk Chris. Did they replace that actor? Or just allow him time off to grow up and let his voice change? Because that is a very, very different kid from the one we were mocking just a few episodes ago, you know?  Ain’t puberty grand? Also, why do we need Chris again? I spend very little time wondering about Chris overall, though, and much more contemplating Dana, because she’s more interesting and smarter and I wonder how much of what she’s doing now will shape who she is. Full Story

Homeland Season 2 Episode 4 recap What was it like, do you think? When she was going to shock therapy every three days, undoubtedly driven by her father or her sister, then escorted home to…what? Nap on the couch? A little TV with the nieces? Was she back to normal the next day? I can’t picture Carrie then, because I believe we’re just beginning to get pictures of the “real” Carrie now. Full Story

Homeland Season 2 Episode 3 recap Herewith my ignorance on sleeper agents – are they not trained for certain situations like these? Is there really no further qualification for being the man on the inside beyond “He appears to be affable to the people we’re trying to infiltrate?” Some suspension of disbelief where Brody is concerned is not only necessary but probably a good thing. Full Story

Homeland Season 2 Episode 2 recap I am writing this after a long weekend with family and turkey and contentment. I feel good – anything but cynical. So, though I sometimes have to check myself, I feel like I can ask with impunity … How great is Carrie for Saul’s career? Think about what we’ve seen of him. Full Story

Homeland Season 2 episode 1 recap You can only do it once, what I just did. No matter how many seasons of a show there are, you can only once catch up so that you’re ready with the rest of the world.   After that, you have to wait between breaks like everyone else. I do know this – and yet I still feel like I got the best gift of all. Full Story

Homeland Episodes 9-12 Oh, Isa. Oh ,Brody.   This was a tough, tough four episodes to watch.  Only 12 episodes to tell this story – and I completely understand why they went the way they did. Learning about Brody’s plans any earlier would have made us more and more sure that he was going to remain one of the “good guys”, or made us more convinced that Carrie was going to be ineffectual. Full Story