Homeland recap: 'Still Positive'

Homeland's uneven third season rockets back to life with a gripping, bloody thriller of an episode

Carrie
(Image credit: (Kent Smith/SHOWTIME))

A long-awaited payoff is a powerful thing when it's done right — and occasionally, even when it's kind of wrong. Tonight's bloody, chilling episode of Homeland still falls short of TV's other top dramas by various measures of plausibility. Some plot elements in tonight's episode pop up out of nowhere, and the more wrenching moments of "Still Positive" lack sufficient backstory to justify the tragedy Homeland is clearly trying to evoke. In many ways, the episode is fundamentally flawed in the way the show has always been flawed.

But confidence and energy can get you a lot of rope, and with tonight's strong episode, Homeland has finally regained momentum in its uneven third season.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

John Hendel writes about technology and media policy on Capitol Hill for Communications Daily. He has published articles for The Atlantic, The Millions, Splitsider, and elsewhere.