The middle part of this second season of Homeland has helped me remove my rose-colored glasses, and stopped me rather blindly and emphatically praising the show’s every move.  I’m still not used to really criticizing the show’s choices though, and “Two Hats” left me confused.  It was a greatly entertaining hour, with a ton of twists.  But in many ways felt like a completely different show from last week’s “I’ll Fly Away.”  It reminded us what is supposed to be important (that Carrie’s main target is Abu Nazir, not Brody, and that Brody’s loyalties are always questionable), and opened up a few new plots that seemed to come out of nowhere.  Was this genius or a desperate move?  Hit the jump for the many sides of “Two Hats.”

Since everything Homeland-related is pretty spoilery this week I’ll talk for a moment above the cut here about the surveillance van in Brody’s neighborhood.  CIA, you don’t have a better, more discreet idea?  An unmarked van with blacked-out windows sitting in front of a house for days would certainly cause curtains to flutter.  I guess I’m just used to the presumption that the CIA is smoother than that, and yet here they are camped out on Brody’s lawn and sending Carrie to do all of his related errands (which I predicted would backfire).  Omnishambles.  In any case, hit the jump for the details of what has been the first truly heart-pounding Homeland in a few weeks.

Last week fellow critic Tim Goodman said of Homeland that he hoped his fears of the series turning into 24 weren’t coming true.  Yes, “A Gettysburg Address” did have the distinct tone of a show turning from a complex emotional drama into a CIA spy fest, and admittedly that episode was not the series best (not to say it wasn’t good, it just wasn’t quite to the standard to which we’ve grown accustomed).  “The Clearing,” another strange episode, didn’t feel like 24, but did feel for the first time like Homeland is just buying time.  There’s a difference between a building-block episode that starts moving key players into place and a filler episode, though “The Clearing” seems to belong somewhere in between — some interesting general points were raised, but our characters remained fairly stagnant.  Hit the jump to join my prison wine and cheese party.

This week’s Homeland was mostly the payoff from last week’s emotionally explosive episode, where alliances seemed to genuinely change and create a new trajectory for the back half of the season.  And then, orbiting out on its own, is Dana’s story, a terrible tragedy that has to be kept a secret.  Dana, who has always seemed to share more with Brody than Jess (including his ability to lie) has found herself a little too close to things that Brody knows — like what it’s like to take an unexpected car trip and end up killing someone.  Yes Finn was driving the car, but it was at Dana’s behest that they do something reckless.  Ultimately the fault lies entirely with Finn, but Dana simply being there and witnessing and being able to do anything (or rather, choosing not to do anything because of other factors) weighs heavily upon her.  Hit the jump for more on what went wrong in Gettysburg and elsewhere in Brody’s emotional Civil War (see what I did there?)

“Q&A” may be the quietest Homeland episode yet, but it packed a powerful emotional punch.  I’ll admit, my attention span is not what it used to be, but for the full hour of “Q&A” I was riveted, unable to look away, and not once tempted to cast a stray eye to my nearby phone.  If Claire Danes‘ acting tour de force this season so far was in “State of Independence,” Damien Lewis certainly came close to matching it in “Q&A.”  Brody’s spectrum of emotions as he went from standing firm, to being incredibly frightened (but still lying) and finally to the immense relief of telling the truth was captivating stuff.  It was calm (for the most part, minus Peter’s Bad Cop routine, which was brilliant — he really is a great interrogator), but there were turgid rivers of emotion underneath everyone’s skin, and moving forward, things will only get more complicated.  For more on that and why you are drowning in lies! … hit the jump.

Good news for a couple of popular series.  First up, hot off the network’s biggest ratings in years, The CW has picked up the superhero adaptation Arrow for a full season.  Much like Smallville, the show puts a television spin on the Green Arrow comic book character and has been met with a relatively enthusiastic audience response.  The series had an impressively strong hold from its premiere numbers of 4.02 million viewers and a 1.3 rating in the coveted 18-49 demo to the second episode, so the order was a no-brainer.  The CW’s pick-up is for a full 22-episode season.

Hit the jump for renewal news concerning the best show on TV, Homeland.

Finally it was a quieter week on the Homeland front, which more or less equates to me having two or fewer strokes during the episode. “New Car Smell” was the payoff for this season’s biggest revelation (which I will discuss more after the spoiler jump).  Aside from all of the Carrie and Brody action, we spent a lot of time this week with Dana, who is probably one of the most (if not the most) naturally portrayed teenager on TV today.  Her circumstances can be extraordinary (like going up to the top of the Washington Monument at night because you’re flirting with the Vice President’s son), but her character somehow remains grounded.  She’s sulky and petulant, but she’s also sincere and mature.  Her relationship with Xander is, naturally, crumbling as she gets to know Finn better, and strangely that storyline remains interesting despite everything else going on.  It also is a reminder that Brody is not disposable as a character, because we have too much invested in not only him but his family.  For more on that and why this is not a booty call, hit the jump.

I didn’t take as many notes for this week’s Homeland as I usually do, probably because my hand was tremoring more than Claire Danes‘ chin.  After “Back to Beirut’s” jaw-dropping final moments, it seemed inconceivable that the show could — or would — do anything but back off of the action and take another route before coming back to what Saul had discovered in the bag.  And yet, Homeland did not shy away from addressing that issue in the opening moments at all.  Then to top thing off, it then pulled a twist that made the action double again.  How is it possible that in only the third episode of the season I’m already needing to consider blood pressure medication?  There are so many episodes left in front of us, yet Homeland continues to keep things amped to the maximum drama at all times.  For more on this and why every time you have an argument you can bet Dana is creepin’ in the shadows listening, hit the jump.

The prime brilliance of Homeland is its duality, which is part of every aspect of the show.  It’s Schrodinger’s Cat on TV — things are both alive and dead, so to speak, at the same time until the next related action confirms the choice — an impressive narrative feat.  It’s also what makes it just more than a spy show or a thriller or even just a mind fuck, because everything is (seemingly) planned and connects and has reasoning.  Homeland is a lot like its Emmy competitor Breaking Bad, in which nothing is ever arbitrary or accidental.  Whereas Breaking Bad uses color patterns and visual references to enhance its story, Homeland keeps us guessing by leaving every major action open to interpretation, which is a particular kind brilliance.  Brody and Carrie are the two most caught up in this internal conflict (and their relationship is another example of duality), but it also encompasses the minor characters as well.  What is truth?  How do we find it?  Will we even recognize it once we do?  For the specifics of the episode and why “I’m not your guy,” hit the jump.

In lieu of one massive TV ratings article for the week, we’re going to start bringing you daily updates on the goings-on in the TV world.  We’ll report ratings estimates the day after shows air, and today we’ve got the numbers for Sunday night’s programming.  Briefly:

• Showtime had a great night as Dexter scored its highest-rated season opener ever with 2.4 million viewers for its season seven premiere.
• Coming off a near-sweep at the Primetime Emmy Awards, Homeland was up 60% for its second season premiere with 1.73 million viewers.
• ABC’s Once Upon a Time returned incredibly strong with 11 million viewers and a 3.8 rating in the 18-34 demographic.
• Also on ABC, the series premiere of the “haunted hotel” drama 666 Park Avenue couldn’t pull in big numbers, as the Terry O’Quinn-fronted show netted a 2.2 rating for 7 million viewers.
• Hot on the heels of the news that creator Seth MacFarlane will be hosting this year’s Oscars, the season premiere of Fox’s Family Guy was down 20% from last year’s season opener with a 3.3 rating and 6.5 million viewers.

Hit the jump for all of Sunday’s ratings including Revenge, American Dad, The Simpsons, The Mentalist, and more.

The exciting thing about reviewing a show like Homeland that is in its sophomore season is that it’s so incredibly full of potential.  Unlike a new show finding its footing (which Homeland never had to do — it had one of the best drama pilots I’ve ever seen) or a show struggling to keep up with interesting narratives past its prime, I don’t think anyone would believe that Homeland had already peaked, or that it would provide any disappointments this year.  Admittedly, it’s a show that might struggle to keep its central conflict (between Carrie and Brody) going for many seasons longer, but for now it’s still deep in verdant storytelling.  After the first season’s heart-pounding finale, some (myself included) may have suspected that this year would start off with a slow roll or a subtle build.  But nope, Homeland has returned with the stakes as raised as ever, getting our blood pressure up much too high for an opening episode.  For more, hit the jump.

Those of you who just marathoned the first (and newly minted “Emmy award winning”) season of Showtime’s exceptional psychological thriller Homeland won’t need much of a refresher course since your mind is probably racing as fast as Carrie’s trying to connect the dots about who’s lying, who is working for the good guys versus the bad guys, who isn’t sure, and the biggest question of the season: does Morena Baccarin look better with chin-length hair or a pixie cut?  Still, maybe it would be helpful to organize our thoughts into a rainbow chart of time anyway.

Hit the jump for a few reminders of the biggest points from the end of last season, and a few questions that may get answered in season 2 (spoilers abound!).

The 2012 Primetime Emmy Awards were given out last night, and longtime favorite Mad Men had a pretty rough evening.  Matthew Weiner’s AMC drama was shut out in every category in which it was nominated (Christina Hendricks was robbed), denying the series a record-breaking fifth consecutive Best Drama Series Emmy in favor of Showtime’s excellent freshman series Homeland.  The cable thriller nearly swept the drama series category, even landing Damian Lewis a surprising Best Actor win over perennial favorite Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) and Mad Men’s way overdue Jon Hamm.  It’s hard to complain, though, as Homeland had a positively stellar first season and star Claire Danes gave a powerhouse performance as a psychologically plagued CIA analyst, for which she was awarded Best Actress.

On the comedy side of things the awards were a tad more predictable, with ABC’s Modern Family pulling off another sweep in the genre. Julia Louis-Dreyfus took home the Best Actress award for her hilarious work on Veep, and Jon Cryer inexplicably won Best Actor in a Comedy for his role in Two and a Half Men despite that show not being funny.  Hit the jump to read the full list of winners.

The 2012 Emmy Awards air Sunday at 8pm on ABC during all of your other programming (set those DV-Rs!), so is the show worth watching?  Will there be any upsets?  Or will it just be worth it to sit there smugly as Bryan Cranston wins again for Breaking Bad, turning to your friends, significant other or Siri and saying “I totally called that.”  Hit the jump to see my predictions for who will win and whoshould win Sunday night based on Vegas odds, rumors, secret handshakes, the predictability of Emmy voters, with maybe an upset or two thrown in to keep things interesting.

One of the best shows on television returns later this month with the second season premiere of Showtime’s Homeland, and the cable channel has now made available the first 20 minutes from the episode to entice fans even further.  We last left Claire Danes’ CIA operations officer in a rather shocking position, and this sneak peek opens with a rather lengthy recap of the events from season one.  If you haven’t seen the first season, I highly suggest you do so.  And if you have, then hit the jump to check out the rather curious first 20 minutes from the season two premiere.

Season two of Homeland premieres on September 30th.