Homeland Season 6

DVD Wholesale Quick Overview:

Carrie Mathison, a brilliant but volatile CIA agent, suspects that a rescued U.S. POW may not be what he seems. Is Marine Sgt. Nicholas Brody a war hero…or an Al Qaeda sleeper agent plotting a spectacular terrorist attack on U.S. soil? Following her instincts, Mathison will risk everything to uncover the truth – her reputation, her career and even her sanity.

I have mixed feelings about Season 6. HOMELAND seems to be dragging its story on and on. The names and faces may change but it’s more of the same with terrorism, bombings, Middle East intrigue and it goes on and on. Where this series has always excelled is with its phenomenal cast and stylish photography and special effects.

Claire Danes continues her role as the troubled Carrie Mathison, an ex-CIA agent, who somehow always ends up working with or for the CIA. Danes is a fine actress as she plods through a season of intrigue and dealings with former coworkers and alleged friends. There are so many storylines and characters in HOMELAND that it can get confusing. It’s easy to get wrapped up in a confusing plot just to see where it will all end.

This season it is Rupert Friend’s turn to sign in an award caliber performance as Peter Quinn, Carrie’s former CIA co-worker and friend. Season 5 ended with Quinn’s near death and stroke. He is now physically, mentally and emotionally disabled and still trying to save the world. Friend is able to convey a troubled and in pain Quinn as he struggles to speak and move his broken body. It is amazing.

As usual, expect the unexpected. No one is who he or she seems and don’t trust anyone. I loved Seasons 1 and 2 with Nicholas Brody and the show has kept its story going. They sure do make the world out to be a dangerous place and even intelligence and government officials can’t be trusted. The story continues. I’ll probably watch Season 7 but I feel the show is losing steam and is mainly worth watching for the amazing actors and special effects.

– Jack E. Levic

The liberalization of Homeland has arrived. I have enjoyed some of Chip Johannessen’s work, but the writing this season is eye rolling. The invasion of liberal politics is ham-fisted throughout the season. It’s like being struck in the head with a pan. It’s actually frustrating to watch. I can forgive a series for slowing the pace of things down if the story was better written but this season shoehorns every headline grabbing story into its framework and its maddening to see the lead work as a mouthpiece to liberal writers. Painful. The first four seasons were very good to excellent. I even found the much maligned third season to be my favorite but season six is a step down from the only average season five. Some of the writing is naïve and agenda driven and truly difficult to watch play out because it doesn’t even feel authentic as the show did in previous seasons. This is standard operating procedure for much of Hollywood but I definitely expected more of Homeland. As it stands the series is sliding into the abyss of one-sided politics where the liberals are the good guys and the hawks are the villains. Slow and poorly plotted. The portrait of American soldiers as dishonorable in Episode 8 putting politics before honor is downright disgusting. These writers have written a bizarro world. And this is a bore pushing naïve liberal politics simply not true to reality. It’s a dreadful fall from grace. What a disappointment. It’s the first time I’ve walked away from a show I loved at the end actually angry with what the creators did to it. This season betrays everything that came before it in the series and the way it sees this country. WOW.

-The Sci-Fi Fanatic

You really have to marvel at how much “Homeland” has evolved from the early Nicholas Brody era to present day. Somehow the writers keep coming up with new ways to re-invent the characters putting them into ever changing situations keeping the show fresh. No other player in the “Homeland” universe has endured more changes than Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes). She’s gone from relentless CIA terrorist hunter to the “Drone Queen” to defender of persecuted Muslims (huh?) working for a non-profit. On paper it doesn’t make much sense but the writers and Dane’s performance make it work somehow and it remains a compelling series to watch.

This season we catch up with the unfortunate Peter Quinn, the ex-Delta turned CIA black ops agent who had the misfortune of being used by terrorists as a guinea pig for nerve agent testing last season. Quinn apparently has suffered a stroke due to being awakened from his medically induced coma on Carrie’s authority when she and Saul were hoping he could give them some vital intel. Now Quinn is a mess; living in a VA facility in NYC, squandering is disability check on prostitutes and drugs, suffering from hemi-paresis and expressive aphasia on top of his raging PTSD. Ultimately Carrie feels responsible for him and takes Peter in to live with her and Franny in the brownstone she’s renting. Predictably, this doesn’t go well and an incident results in Child Protective Services taking Franny from Carrie and placing her in foster care. Prior to that though Quinn observes a man spying on Carrie’s place and follows him leading to evidence that suggests one of Carrie’s clients isn’t guilty of a terrorist act. It gets worse, Quinn winds up in Bellevue psych ward, gets sprung by Dar Adal (F. Murray Abraham) of all people and sequestered at a remote lake house under the care of old German spy gal pal Astrid. There’s nothing altruistic about this arrangement as it becomes clear when a hit man kills Astrid and tries to do the same to Quinn who escapes (in his paranoia he earlier took the bullets out of Astrid’s hidden pistol in her car leaving her defenseless) and goes after the hit man. Rupert Friend who plays Quinn reportedly wanted off the show after this season and he turns in an Emmy worthy performance bringing new depth to his damaged character.

Saul (Mandy Patinkin) continues to be a misguided optimist; much of this season’s plot revolves around Dar trying to manipulate the agenda of new president elect Keane (Elizabeth Marvel) against the Iranians by making it look like they’re reneging on the nuclear arms deal. Saul believes that Iran is sticking to the deal which he helped broker where Dar has the opposite view and goes to astonishing lengths to mislead the incoming POTUS. His Machiavellian schemes impact Saul, Carrie and Peter to name just a few and leaves a trail of bodies in its wake. In keeping with the ongoing trend to be ‘inclusive’ we get the subtle reveal that Dar is gay which does nothing to advance the plot and seven seasons in certainly does not feel organic to his character.

Part of Dar’s plan is a misinformation campaign led by an alt-right talk show pundit named Miles O’Keefe (Jake Weber). In the episode titled “Sock Puppets” one of the more disturbing scenes from this season is when surveillance free lancer Max (Maury Sterling) infiltrates O’Keefe’s complex posing as a new tech hire. We see this underground facility filled with computers and giant wall sized monitors and a huge staff of people. It becomes apparent that all of it is a massive social media ‘boiler room’; a content generating machine with hundreds of fake profiles on virtually every platform posting scripted talking points that O’Keefe (and presumable Dar) want flooding the internet and shaping public opinion. Want to know how the Russians allegedly influenced the last US presidential election? Here’s you answer. Another reason I shun social media.

Dar’s plans to discredit the president-elect and protect the CIA spin out of control evolving into virtual coup d’etat leaving Carrie, Peter, and Saul to save the day in an exciting climactic finale. Quinn goes out a hero which is a fitting way for him to exit the show. Season 7’s done and Season 8 is to be the conclusion for “Homeland”, I plan to watch this excellent series to the bitter end and will be sad to see it go.

– Colonel D

DVD Wholesale Main Features :   

Actors: Claire Danes, Mandy Patinkin, Rupert Friend
Format: Box set, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
Dubbed: French, Spanish
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only.)
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Number of discs: 4
Rated: NR-Not Rated
Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Release Date: February 6, 2018
Run Time: 153 minutes
ASIN: B01LTICAIG