Movie Review: Now You See Me

Now You See Me (2013)
115 minutes
Rated PG-13
Directed by Louis Leterrier
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Melanie Laurent, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine

Grade: B-

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Movies about magicians can be great (The Prestige), good (The Illusionist), or bad (The Incredible Burt Wonderstone). Now You See Me falls in-between these movies but for different reasons. First, the film doesn’t have an identity. Second, many events that happen aren’t believable and instead are extremely coincidental. Third, it sure is a lot of fun. Now you make your assessment whether you want to see it or not.

Boasting an impressive cast for a summer blockbuster, we’re acquainted to a handful of street magicians in the opening scene. Soon they’re contacted and a year later they’re performing together under the name The Horsemen. Daniel Atlas (Eisenberg) is the leader of the four and is arrogant but no doubt talented with his sleight of hand tricks. Merrit McKinney (Harrelson) is a mentalist that has the ability to read people as well as hypnotise them. Rounding out the Horsemen are Henley Reeves (Fisher), the flashy escape artist, and Jack Wilder (Franco) the quick and savvy youngster.

During the Las Vegas performance, The Four Horsemen are suspected of stealing $3 million from a bank in Paris, but it’s just supposed to be a magic trick, right? In comes more important players to the winding plot that loses its focus halfway into the film. Dylan Rhodes (Ruffalo) is the FBI detective put onto the case with the help from Alma Dray (Laurent), an Interpol agent. Then there’s Thaddeus Bradley (Freeman), an ex-magician who is known for his TV specials debunking magic tricks. Everyone has an important role in the movie, and while it might present some surprises along the way, it’s never as engaging as it believes to be.

There are problems here and one of them is the size of the cast. There are four magicians, two detectives on the case, one ex-magician meddling with the cops, a wealthy sponsor to the Horsemen, and a story about a magician who died performing a dangerous trick. Not one of these talented actors ever gets to break free from his or her stereotype. They’re all one-dimensional characters in this plot-heavy movie… which isn’t always a bad thing but when the plot is full of impossible leaps of faith (one of the many themes Now You See Me attempts to throw in), you simply just stop believing altogether.

But despite its problems, Now You See Me is a lot of fun to watch. The visuals that make up the magical illusions are very good and the actors are able to sell the flashiness very well. Only for a few dull moments, the film moves at a very brisk pace. It’s no surprise that it was a surprise hit during the summer, but this still doesn’t hide the fact that unless you suspend your expectations, Now You See Me is nothing more than a magic trick that you’ve seen before.

Movie Review: Twelve Years a Slave

Twelve Years a Slave (2013)
133 minutes
Rated – R
Directed by Steve McQueen
Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong’o

Grade: A

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Note: This review contains spoilers

Steve McQueen has separated Twelve Years a Slave from other films about slavery. Here, there are scenes to make you cringe and scenes that are difficult to understand. It’s a movie that reminds us of such an era and how cruel humanity can be. There is pure power that stems from the heart of film through to the tear-jerking conclusion. Every element from the dialogue to Hans Zimmer’s score intensifies each moment. It’s also a film of hope and that even though our current society isn’t out in the clear yet from racial issues, we’re getting there.

Based on Solomon Northup’s autobiographical writings of the dozen of years he spent as a slave from 1841 through 1853, this film doesn’t hold back with shock-value and dialogue censorship. There are some very gruesome scenes involving rape, hangings, and whippings. All to justify what Solomon went through and saw as he bounced from one slave owner to the next. Specifically, the scene when Solomon is left hanging in the yard until his owner returned while the other slaves ignored him… that extended scene was extremely difficult to watch with Solomon tip-toeing to stay alive as he struggled for a breath of air. It’s one of the most effective scenes in the movie.

As the story goes, Solomon Northup was a free man who lived in Saratoga, New York with his wife and two young children. When he traveled to Washington D.C. to play violin, he was drugged, kidnapped, and sold as a slave to Louisiana. His first slave owner, Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch), was a decent man who benefited from Solomon’s intelligence and skill set. But his vicious friend, Tibeats (Paul Dano), grew furious of Solomon over time where Ford knew his property was no longer safe for Solomon to stay. He gets sold to Edwin Epps (Fassbender), a cruel, drunken slave owner who takes pride of controlling his slaves. Here, Solomon doesn’t stand a chance.

It’s impossible not to mention the great (and Oscar-worthy) performance by Chewetel Ejiofor, who dominates the film at every corner of every scene. He takes advantage of a handful of extended close-ups where he’s able to portray a variety of deep emotions as he’s living the life of a slave. His interactions with the other slaves and the slave owners is essential to moving the story forward and for sympathizing for Solomon. And at the very end, Ejiofor lets it all out with a heart-crushing, controlled moment when he’s reunited with his family. It’s the perfect finale for an outstanding performance.

In addition to Ejiofor, the supporting cast matches the intensity making Twelve Years a Slave as one of the best ensemble casts of the year. Particularly, Lupita Nyong’o who plays Patsey, the slave who Epps takes a specific liking to and who Epps’ wife detests. Her handful of scenes opposite of Ejiofor make for some of the most riveting of the entire film. Then there’s Michael Fassbender who plays Edwin Epps with the passion of being a slave owner. There’s never a doubt watching Fassbender that Epps only considers his slaves as properties, not people. Make no mistake that he seems to show a sense of compassion, but it’s really a show to control what he believes belongs to him. This could not have been done without Fassbender’s memorable performance.

Twelve Years a Slave is one powerful piece of cinema that will have your mind replaying certain scenes well after the movie has ended. Unlike last year’s Django Unchained, it doesn’t glorify anything with vengeance and violence. What you’re left with is an uneasy feeling of guilt and the compassion for Solomon and the millions of other slaves from the past. McQueen has accomplished a great feat here.

How I Met Your Mother – “No Questions Asked”

Season Nine, Episode Seven

Grade: B-

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So last week’s conclusion informed us that Marshall’s road trip buddy Daphne sent Lily a text using Marshall’s phone about him accepting the judgeship, something Marshall hasn’t told her yet and has been dreading the moment he has to tell her. But to no one’s surprise, Lily hasn’t read the text yet. This sets Marshall off to ask everyone he can think of to intercept Lily’s phone and delete that text message so she doesn’t find out. Yeah, it sounds like a typical HIMYM episode.

From its title, Marshall exploits a number of “no questions asked” favors from his friends to delete that text message. What ends up happening is we get Ted, Barney, and Robin in Lily’s room without her phone while she complains to the Farhampton Inn night clerk. What’s the meaning of all this? To finally get Marshall to look back and realize he’s never asked Lily of a “no questions asked” favor because he always tells her everything. Just like that there’s no more hiding from it. Marshall tells Lily the news and she doesn’t take it well, but at least the cat’s finally out of the bag.

The episode is fine on all levels. We get all of the quick cuts, ridiculous situations, friends acting crazy for the length of the episode, which is what we expect HIMYM episodes to do. But throughout I just wanted something more from the gang. Just a little more heart or a little more over-the-top shenanigans, or even a little more from Ted’s future wife (seriously, just a small sliver more of Cristin Milioti will make me a very happy man). But this winds up being a filler episode where the gang accomplishes one small task that presents a bigger conflict in the near future. Yes, now Lily’s pissed and Marshall’s going to worry about that… we’re just passing the baton to story-lines that are the least important involving the gang.

But this is the seventh episode of the season. I’m guessing we’re going to have to deal with plenty of distractions until we get to the finale, though it’s not like this is any different from past HIMYM seasons.

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Last but not least:

• Here are the “no questions asked” favors from the episode: Ted needs help getting out of a mailbox he locked himself inside on 53rd and 8th; Barney needs Marshall to sign his release at the hospital where he ate real versions of Lucky Charms items; Robin needs Marshall to catch her in an alley at 22nd and 2nd while she’s being chased by a group in unitards who refer to her as “Nigh Falcon.”
• Oh, and Ted brings two dozen cupcakes and a box cutter to meet Lily’s class’ hostage demands.
• And the ways the friends thought were best to steal Lily’s phone even though the door is unlocked: Ted climbs the drain pipe and opens the window with a coat hanger; Barney climbs the air ducts just like the “bad guy” from Die Hard (Bruce Willis); and Robin sneaks in through room service.

Revolution – “One Riot, One Ranger”

Season Two, Episode Five

Grade: B+

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Miles still wants to start a war with the Patriots, but not until a handful of Texas Rangers gallop into Willoughby did Miles really believe he had a chance at winning. Led by the engaging John Franklin Fry (Jim Beaver), they fit the bill because they, too, are suspicious about these Patriots. But what Miles finds out by talking to Fry is that his commander in chief wants to sign a peace treaty with the Patriots to avoid conflict, unless there is hard proof that these Patriots aren’t who they say they are.

Meanwhile, Aaron’s freaking out about his ability to set people on fire. I loved the interaction between Aaron and Miles, but I didn’t get why Miles was so cold and off-putting when Aaron admits his unique skill. It’s like Miles wants to just imagine it happened randomly or he was just really lucky to have two guys pointing guns at him burst into flames. This is all too much for Aaron to take and we learn through a number of useless flashbacks that this phenomenon happened before. Put that power to good use Aaron! Set the Patriots on fire!

Last week we saw Charlie and Monroe traveling to Willoughby. Well they finally made it. Sometime in-between Charlie finally jumped on board that Monroe can be very useful in stirring things up against the Patriots, but things don’t go smoothly when Miles, and then later on Rachel, see Monroe again. While Rachel still isn’t in agreement with the plan, Miles buys into it (for the time being). It was actually really fun watching Miles and Monroe reminisce a bit and take on several armed Patriots on their own. Poor Charlie doesn’t get their inside intelligence, “You’re just naming cities!”

I must say that the show has accomplished making Monroe a character that audiences want to see every episode. In the first season he was just a lunatic with power, and his story-line with Miles wasn’t as compelling as it should’ve been. Now, we have the whole gang finally back together and they’re fighting together for a larger cause. It’s making some real kick-ass television and I know I’m not the only one thoroughly enjoying Revolution on a weekly basis.

Anyway, at the end Miles’ plan falls through and he’s unable to gather any hard evidence for Fry, which results in Monroe shooting Fry in the back and killing him. Though Miles freaks out at first, Monroe is right here, implying that if they pin Fry’s death on the Patriots, you know a war will occur. Miles isn’t happy (neither is Rachel), but what they want is coming to life.

Oh, and there was the B-story involving Neville traveling with Secretary Allenford who gets ambushed. Neville and Allenford survive the attack, but Neville’s about to abandon her to die until she sheds some light to where Jason is. Looks like we have another odd couple on the road for the next episode or two.

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Last but not least:

• The story of how Aaron and Cynthia meet is cute, but there were too many flashbacks to convey something they could’ve done in much less time.
• We’ve been waiting for when Miles and Monroe would meet, and that scene did not disappoint. But really, is there an alternative motive for Monroe?
• Too bad for Fry, because he could’ve made a great cowboy bad-ass in Revolution. There’s nothing wrong adding some Western flair.
• While Aaron ended up making a good teacher, he sure needs to work on his interview skills.

Homeland – “The Yoga Play”

Season Three, Episode Five

Grade: B-

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Last week we find out that Carrie being called out by Saul and then staying at the psych ward was all a plan to extract the Magician from wherever he’s been staying. This week we get a closer glance at what kind role Carrie’s playing, and it’s a lot of fun.

Carrie’s being watched by Javadi’s men, plus Quinn who’s just trying to keep her safe. By the way, Quinn’s reaction when Saul tells him about Carrie is priceless. For the most part, Carrie’s half of the episode was real good. She’s obviously still going through all the mental trauma of the psych ward, but she’s also doing her best to prepare herself for when she’s going to be face-to-face with the man they suspect to be in charge with the Langley bombing. She’s distracted though, by Jessica Brody knocking on her door asking her to help find Dana. Did you roll your eyes as well?

While it’s believable that Carrie would go out of her way to help Jessica find her daughter, like Quinn and Saul commented it simply put the mission at such an unnecessary risk. The only good part about this was seeing Virgil and his brother again. What this also meant was that we’d be spending more time with Dana and Leo as they cruised to nowhere. The two teens in love hit a major roadblock when Dana hears about Leo’s suspected homicide of his brother at a gas station. Like typical dramatic Dana style, she blows up on Leo, jumps out of the car at an intersection, and thinks her life has just hit rock bottom. Do I feel bad for Dana? A bit, but not when she’s her whiny, teenage self like she’s been displaying all season.

So with Dana finally reunited with her family at home, Carrie can worry about her own misfortune of possibly tipping off the guys who were tagging her from Javadi. What ends up happening is she’s stripped and searched for wires, then bagged and transported to meat with Javadi. Dramatic, yes… but it makes for good television and I enjoyed it thoroughly. There was also a story-line that involved Saul going geese-hunting only to find out he won’t become the new director of the CIA. Tough one for Saul, but he doesn’t have time to sulk because he’s got some Magician-hunting to do!

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Last but not least:

• Is this the last we’re going to see from Leo? I sure hope so.
• And once again, Mike is absent from the show. Where does he stand with the whole Brody family? They spend enough time with Dana’s terrible choices and situations, why not just explore Mike and Jessica’s?
• Quinn’s still bad-ass, but he’s letting his emotions run a lot higher than he showed last season. For one who doesn’t express any emotion on his face, he sure does feel a lot.
• How terrible was Saul’s speech? Awful.

The Walking Dead – “Isolation”

Season Four, Episode Three

Grade: B-

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One again The Walking Dead deals with the issue of losing a loved one. Yeah, it happens all the time in the world they live and therefore it’s necessary to show it, but at this point I feel the audience is getting as tired of it as Rick and Carl. Even Beth, who claims to never get upset about losing someone, gets emotional when thinking about losing Herschel. But most importantly, Tyreese goes on a mad rampage when at the event that someone murdered Karen, pressuring Rick to find out who did it so he can seek vengeance.

We’ve seen this sort of rage before in earlier seasons of The Walking Dead, but even though Tyreese is a character that we do like as an audience, there hasn’t been that level of closeness accomplished in establishing his character. This results in being at a distance in understanding his rage and sympathizing for him. Last week I was surprised that Tyreese even had a girlfriend, and within that episode she dies. There’s not much time to feel for the couple if that’s what we’re being manipulated to feel. Sure, it sucks, but I’m feeling much worse for Tyreese because Sasha is sick instead of for the loss of Karen.

That being said, it’s a pretty big deal that Glen is also one of those who are affected by this virus. We get some effective emotional scenes with Maggie, especially when she tries to prevent Herschel from serving tea to the sick. I doubt that Glen is going to be written off the show since he’s one-half of the only couple on the series, but this makes for a somewhat engaging story arc.

The big reveal at the end of the episode that immediately cuts to black is when Carol admits to being the one who burned the bodies. Did you buy this? The Walking Dead has struggled in its past for making sense of its characters’ decisions. Is this just another one to add to that list? I get it, Carol is becoming the logical, ruthless one by teaching the children how to hold knives and for putting her own life at risk so there’s water available. She even lectured the young girls who just lost their father to be strong and not weak! But burning the bodies… that’s where I draw the line and say the caring, thoughtful Carol wouldn’t ever do that. So she was trying to stop the spreading of the virus… since that obviously didn’t work you’d think she’d feel somewhat horrible for what she did.

Through a very slow paced episode we do get a scene full of tension as Daryl and his team run into what looked like thousands of walkers on their way to retrieve antibiotics. And there’s that moment when you believed that Tyreese has given up hope and wanted to go out on his own, swinging that hammer until he’s engulfed by walkers. I’m happy to say that doesn’t happen and Tyreese is still very much alive, but for that moment while Daryl, Michonne, and Bob looked on, they just knew he was long gone. So what does this mean for the infected? There’s no way they can travel 50 miles any longer. Unless Herschel’s tea cures instead of delays the inevitable, a lot of characters are in great danger of becoming undead.

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Last but not least:

• The beginning to this third season has been really freaking sad, right? Like a lot of slow scenes full of people crying.
• Carol seems to really care when Tyreese asks her to check in with Sasha, and when one of the little girls is sick. Would she have burned those bodies as well? Maybe she’ll just take a flamethrower to the entire isolated block.
• Daryl and Michonne have a moment. Wouldn’t they just make the strangest couple?
• Carl is back to his overzealous ways with his gun by his side.

 

New Girl – “Keaton”

Season Three, Episode Six

Grade: B+

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Remember how I’m always complaining about why Schmidt and Nick are friends? Well, we get a fresh reminder of exactly how good of friends they can be during New Girl’s Halloween episode. We also finally push the whole Nick and Jess story-line to the side for a moment to really address Schmidt and the misery he’s experiencing.

Max Greenfield gets to mope around a lot, specifically sitting on the couch and eating cold cuts, which is just really freaking sad in itself. But Jess wants to cheer him up, not entirely because she’s a good roommate but because she’s throwing a Halloween party and his depression will most likely ruin it. When it seems like nothing will get through to Schmidt, Winston suggests that a “certain friend” come into play. Nick is completely against it. Obviously, Jess is intrigued.

What follows after is something that you either hate or love while watching New Girl. It gets incredibly silly and cartoon-ish, but it works because it’s part of the foundation these characters have established ever since the first episode. What ends up being the driving force of the episode is that Schmidt has been getting cheered up his entire life through letters of optimism by Michael Keaton, first written by Schmidt’s mom but passed to Nick when they became college roommates. Pretty crazy right? I won’t say that I loved it, but it just felt right in place for this New Girl episode.

We do get some great comedy in this episode such as Nick putting on a wrinkled Batman mask and drinking Jack Daniels to motivate himself to write Schmidt a letter from Michael Keaton. But the laughs and few and far in-between, which would normally make for a poor sitcom episode but for this, I’m glad they went in the direction they did to re-establish the closeness of the group, specifically Nick and Schmidt. The chat they have on the curb when Schmidt finds out the letters weren’t from Michael Keaton is one of the stronger bonding moments on New Girl. And like usual, Winston isn’t anywhere to be found.

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Last but not least:

• So glad Cece was in this episode and actually had a great scene with Jess and her inability to say “Batmobile.”
• Schmidt moves out of 4D… right across the hall. He celebrates being by himself by doing a snow angel on the hardwood floor, dunking a basketball while yelling “touchdown!” and yelling at a make-believe Winston.
• Max Greenfield really goes at it with scenes with food in it. Squirting the mayonnaise and eating that huge block of cheese made me cringe.

Movie Review: Pacific Rim

Pacific Rim (2013)
131 minutes
Directed by Guillermo del Toro
Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi

Grade: B

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As a kid I was a big fan of the very popular Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series. To my delight, Pacific Rim turned back the clock as I soaked up the tale that involved enormous monsters fighting gigantic robots controlled by humans. Now that’s what I’m talking about! At the helm is Guillermo del Toro, who is no stranger to the comic-book, sci-fi, and fantasy genre. With a blockbuster budget, del Toro has crafted a mainstream CGI-heavy film with a decent enough story to give it more depth than say, Transformers.

Which is the good and the bad about Pacific Rim. Certainly, the box office results weren’t as successful as the Transformers franchise. Sure, it’s unfair to compare the two since Pacific Rim is an original, high-budget action involving giant robots that isn’t already established like Transformers, but you get what I’m saying. There was something that just missed with the American audience (which only counted for 25% of the film’s worldwide gross), and that was the attempt to do more than needed.

But in my opinion, this makes a hell of a better film than any of the Transformers movies. In the not too distant future, huge sea-monsters called Kaijus are destroying major cities around the world. Governments combine their resources and fight back with giant war machines called Jaegers, that function when two humans’ brains are linked. Del Toro and Travis Beacham explore some mythology to give Pacific Rim the back-story and twists necessary, but the true triumph here is the digital effects that are second to none.

There are some story-lines involving the main characters that keep you engaged when the beasts aren’t destroying everything in its path. Specifically protagonist Raleigh Becket is one to sympathize with for losing his brother while working a Jaeger. But the big picture events outweigh any potential power between characters, even the romance between Becket and Mako Mori, his eventual Jaeger partner. The one who does make an impact and steals plenty of scenes is Charlie Day as Newton Geiszler, a scientist who studies the Kaijus and has crucial information on how to eliminate them for good. Day is able to play the underdog of the film, whether it’s being the person no one believes or the one we naturally expect to be the first killed. Using these obstacles to his advantage, Day is able to display vulnerability during a time of crisis very well here.

Pacific Rim feels like a video game, which is to its benefit for all the fanboys who love del Toro. And while everything wraps up too neatly at the end, it’s still great popcorn fun for those who love big and loud action-packed movies. But this leads to the question whether or not del Toro will continue down the path to over-sized, big-budget flicks, or if he’ll scale things back for his next sci-fi/fantasy adventure. I hope it’s the latter.

How I Met Your Mother – “Knight Vision”

Season Nine, Episode Six

Grade: B

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So we’re now 45 hours until the wedding and this is a big deal to Ted, because this is the infamous Friday night of the wedding weekend where he’ll either be hooking up with a bridesmaid or as Barney puts it, performing the “self high five, and not the cool kind.” Barney and Robin are nice enough to narrow down Ted’s options to three potentials, but Ted is quick to pick the flirtatious Cassie (the always enjoyable Anna Camp). What I love about this story-line is 1. This is exactly what Ted would do, which makes it hilarious and 2. the running Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade gag of the Knight Templar declaring Ted is making a poor choice is very well done (You chose… poorly).

Ted’s choice of Cassie starts out great when she declares that she’d rather just get the meaningless sex over with at the beginning, and then conclude the rest of the night flirting, but as the Knight Templar chimes in, it all goes downhill from there. Cassie ends up getting fired from her job, has recently had her car stolen, sees her ex-boyfriend with a date, and is getting sick with the flu. Yup, have to admit that Ted picked a stinker as much as I’d definitely pick Anna Camp out of the three girls, but as the guy Ted is he sticks it out (also trying to prove the Knight wrong). But even Cassie’s parents don’t want to deal with her, which is usually a bad sign.

Meanwhile, Lily tries to soften up the mean minister because I guess that’s something the maid of honor does? What we find out is that Robin and Barney lied about how they met each other just because the minister is so strict about who can use the church for weddings. Why do they want this specific church for the wedding? Well because it has “cute coming out the wha-zoo.” Eventually the couple comes around and is straight up with the minister, but this results in the minister dying. So good news, Barney and Robin can still get married at the church. Bad news, they need to find a new minister in two days.

Finally, the C-story consists of Marshall still riding along with Daphne. He’s trying to figure out how he’s going to break the news to Lily that he’s accepted the judgeship, putting off the move to Rome that Lily is looking forward to. Despite being called “The Convincer,” Marshall obviously needs to prepare what he has to say to let Lily down easily. Daphne lends a helping hand playing the role of Lily, but nothing seems like it’ll work out. This part of the episode is the weakest, and it’s not surprising because at this point of the season Marshall is still out of the loop from the group. As much as the writers try their best to keep him involved, it’s not working and Marshall just has to get to Farhampton now! Either that or bring back Marshall on the iPad!

Still no sign of Cristin Milioti, but at least we get to see the yellow umbrella at the train station. As Ted points at at the end of the episode, he might’ve chose poorly that night by picking Cassie, but if that choice led to meeting his wife then he chose wisely for once.

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Last but not least:

• I loved the flashbacks with the different characters in the place of the real characters’ stories: Robin knocking on Barney’s college dorm room and Ted falling for Lily at the bar.
• I also loved the scenes with Alyson Hannigan syncing to Sherri Shepherd’s voice when Daphne and Marshall are preparing for one hell of an argument.
• I wouldn’t call it a cliffhanger, but in an angry rage Daphne texted Lily of Marshall already accepting the job. It’s about time we get this story-line over with.
• Probably my favorite joke of the entire episode was the two second clip of Barney suggesting to perform Wedding at Bernie’s with the dead minister.

Homeland – “Game On”

Season Three, Episode Four

Grade: B+

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For all the frustration that existed in the first three episodes of Homeland, we finally get a pay-off and an end to Carrie’s residency at the psych ward. In the end, it was all a plan to attract the man behind the Langley bombing. Just wow. I didn’t see that coming and that is due to Claire Danes’ convincing performance as a woman under attack and betrayed by her own friends and agency. She is still the center of the series and shows exactly why. We walked in Carrie’s shoes and we’ve felt her pain, but in the end we finally have light on the one relationship that we truly want to see remain intact: Carrie and Saul.

I’ll admit that when Carrie ends up at Saul’s house I had no clue what to expect, but that scene unraveled so quickly until finally they embrace each other with a hug. I was also worried when thinking about the possibility of Carrie being a double-agent, simply because I didn’t like that possibility at all, but kudos to the writers for throwing a twist that I just didn’t see coming. The next step is having Carrie face-to-face with the Magician and then bringing him down. There’s still a lot of fun left in Homeland’s third season.

That was the good of the episode. Unfortunately, Dana’s back and she’s still stirring up more shit than she can handle (and apparently doesn’t even know it). She’s all ga-ga over Leo and helps him escape the containment he’s in. The two drive away smiling like they’ve just robbed a bank, and to continue being slick Leo throws Dana’s phone out the window (to make it difficult to be tracked), and even trades in Jessica’s car for what looks like a piece of junk. Whether it’s the Vice President’s son or this Leo guy, I just cannot understand why Dana is such a main character in Homeland. I’m way more invested in Jessica and Mike’s relationship than the whining, brat child that Dana is. By the way, welcome back Mike! The Blacklist got a full season extension and now he’s back as Mike Faber, Jessica’s “friend.” Diego Klattenhoff is doing quite well for himself.

If this wasn’t enough, we find out from some research on Mike’s part, that Leo possibly killed his brother and that’s why he was in the suicide prevention facility. Sure, it’s a minor twist and we’re supposed to feel like Dana’s in trouble, but at this point I doubt that many people care. The audience for Homeland isn’t interested in a teenage romance between an alleged terrorist’s daughter and a possible teenage murderer. That sounds like an episode of Revenge. And the most important question about this part of the episode is: what the hell does Brody and his family still have to do with what’s going on with the rest of the plot? I seriously have no idea.