Homeland: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Homeland: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray Movie Review

Crazy for him.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 10, 2014

Has it really been a mere three years since Homeland was lauded as one of the finest dramas to emerge in what many have called a New Golden Era for television, an era spawned by the relatively larger budgets and more relaxed shooting schedules fostered by various cable outlets? Homeland was cited for having almost magically captured the cultural zeitgeist of paranoia spawned by terrorism with its tale of returning al-Qaeda POW Nicholas Brody (Damien Lewis), who may or may not have gone over to the “dark side” during his captivity. Trying to ferret out the truth was psychologically fragile CIA agent Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes), herself a prisoner of sorts of various emotional imbalances that may or may not be playing into her perception of Brody’s true allegiances. Well, that was season one, anyway. Which brings up the next salient question. Has it really been a mere two years since Homeland was decried for having wasted much of its promise (and maybe even its premise) with an overheated sophomore year that saw a number of developments that didn’t require suspension of disbelief as much as perhaps levitation. So is this third season a tie-breaker? Probably, but perhaps not in the way that might initially be imagined. There’s no doubt that Homeland struggles mightily, maybe even heroically, to right a somewhat scuttled ship during this third season, but there are still so many troubling issues that whatever patina the series once seemed to have attained is now badly bruised at best. That means that perhaps the only proof on display is that struggling is the operative idea. For those wanting a recap of some elements of the series so far, our reviews of previous seasons can be found here:

Homeland: The Complete First Season Blu-ray review

Homeland: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray review

Note: It's impossible to discuss developments in this season without revealing some minor (and maybe even major) spoilers. If you haven't yet seen this season, you may want to skip down to the technical aspects of the review, below.

Despite the many patent artifices that peppered the second season of Homeland, I had perhaps a bit more positive view of the series than many who felt that if it hadn’t officially jumped the shark, it was at least out in blood drenched water waiting for the inevitable. One aspect that I did have at least passing issues with was the doomed romance angle that started to assume more importance in the second year and which threatened to push the entire series into terrorist tinged soap opera territory. How you personally feel about the relationship between Carrie and Brody will probably color at least some of how you respond to the third season, for the one real through line here is the almost obsessive zeal with which Carrie pursues her quest to be with Brody, while tangentially clearing his name.

The romance—and even the appearance of Brody, who’s on the lam—has to wait for several episodes, however, as the third season kicks off in the aftermath of the devastating explosion that rocked the CIA and which Brody is suspected of having participated in, despite Carrie’s adamant insistence that he wasn’t involved. The opening couple of episodes rely on a convoluted gambit that sees Carrie apparently sidelined and ostracized by Saul (Mandy Pantinkin), to the point that she’s re-institutionalized and forced to go back on a series of medications which leave her little more than a semi-aware zombie. The key word in that foregoing sentence is apparently, and without posting any major spoilers, let’s just say that everything is not as cut and dried as it appears, though the revelation that crops up after this opening series of melodramatic developments may actually annoy some viewers who had invested their dwindling supply of empathy for Carrie as they watched her struggle against a seemingly monolithic conspiracy to silence her protestations about what really has been going on vis a vis Brody and the CIA for years.

The series’ penchant for melodrama is exacerbated not just by outright cheats like the opening episodes and Carrie’s supposed predicament, but also later, once Brody has reentered the picture, albeit as a wounded hostage of sorts. Instead of playing up that predicament alone, Homeland indulges in something like adding insult to injury by saddling Brody with a drug addiction. A number of other plot elements are at times similarly hyperbolic, including some admittedly effective but still mannered interplay between Saul and a Muslim analyst who comes to work at the CIA to track down laundered money in the terrorist organization run by this season’s chief villain, Majid Javadi (Shaun Taub), an Iranian intelligence master and erstwhile nemesis of Saul. Javadi’s story also plays into the opening circumstances Carrie is forced to endure, and to the show’s credit, the two initially disparate plotlines of Carrie and Brody end up dovetailing in the series’ endgame.

And it’s in the season’s wrap up that most fans felt both shocked (perhaps even betrayed) but then perhaps a bit hopeful. For those of you who ignored the warning above about spoilers but who might be skilled at not reading between the lines, it might be obliquely stated that Variety was able to include Homeland in its list of fictional obituaries for certain central characters who died in several different shows this past season. What this admittedly shocking death finally provides is an irrevocable course for Homeland. This is obviously no longer going to be the Carrie and Brody Show, unless Carrie really goes off the deep end and begins a relationship with an imaginary friend (and/or lover). That means a rather radical reimagining for Homeland, which after all gleaned a lot of its anxiety ridden zeitgeist capturing based on the character of Brody. But one thing this series has made clear is that if modern terrorists aren’t quite as cheap as a dime a dozen, they’re still unfathomably numerous. Carrie is obviously going to have her work cut out for her.

Homeland: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Homeland: The Complete Third Season is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The series continues to be an extremely sharp, well defined and stable looking presentation, one that exploits its native HD roots with some excellent fine detail in things like patterns and weaves on costumes and even some wrenching close-ups of Carrie's bloodshot eyes in some early episodes. Colors continue to be nicely saturated and accurate looking, and pop especially well in some of the locations utilized for this season. There's also perhaps a bit more color grading going on this year, with things like harsh fluorescent lighting adding a blue tint to some office sequences, while other moments, including Brody's stint as a prisoner, are often cast in earth tones, with a subtle amber hue. Detail is never materially affected by these changes. There are no egregious compression artifacts to cause any worry, and aside from a few pieces of stock footage utilized for establishing shots, Homeland continues to be a very solid high definition viewing experience.

Homeland: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Homeland's third season doesn't quite have the explosive impact of at least some of season two, and so the lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track may seem relatively restrained by comparison. That said, there's still a wealth of subtle surround placement. Listen to the nicely rendered ambience in the institution Carrie finds herself in, or, later, in the barren environment where Brody is held captive. Dialogue is very cleanly presented, and fidelity is excellent throughout the season.

Homeland: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Homeland Season Three: Recreating the Tower of David (1080p; 7:33) is an interesting piece on some of the big locations of this season.


• The Last Days: Filming the Season Finale in Morocco (1080p; 13:06) is an oddly scenic piece looking at this particular location as well as the tragic events that conclude this season.


• Deleted Scenes (Disc One) (1080p; 2:11)


• Deleted Scenes (Disc Two) (1080p; 7:25)


• Deleted Scenes (Disc Three) (1080p; 4:35)


• Audio Commentary on the Season Finale "The Star" with Damian Lewis, Alex Gansa and Joe Hobeck

Homeland: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There are still a number of issues confronting Homeland. For a series that jettisoned one major character, an ungainly amount of time this season was spent not just on that character, but on at least one relative, whose future in the show seems tangential in the light of how things ended up. That said, the epochal decision made by the show's writers was probably the right one, at least for the series' continuance. Whether Carrie as a modern day terrorist fighting working woman (and soon to be mom) is (not to be too glib about it) "gonna make it after all" still remains to be seen, but the die is cast for Homeland to move in a new direction in its fourth year. Whether that's closer to or further away from that vicious shark remains to be seen. Technical merits continue to be extremely strong on this series, and with caveats noted, Homeland: Season Three comes Recommended.