Homeland Season 2, Episode 11

Season 2, Episode 11

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  • Coutesy of Showtime
  • SO WHO’S JOINING ME FOR SEASON THREE? ANYONE? BUELLER? Claire Danes in “Homeland”

The wonderful, terrible, predictable thing about the Internet is how easily anything can be a fiasco. I don’t know if the presidential election ramped up the emotions of journalists and normally thoughtful on-line commentators, but lately it seems that any mass media mistake or disappointment gets interpreted with the outrage and gravity worthy of a real Mayan apocalypse, from Barack Obama’s performance in the first debate to The Hobbit’s 3-D frame rate. The likes of Salon and The Vulture wrote about last week’s “Homeland” as if it were a shark-jumping disaster that should require the producers to resign in disgrace. The Vulture had a think-piece, “Why Everyone Is So Mad at ‘Homeland?’”

Chill, people. Granted, “Homeland’s” recent episodes have marked a puzzling change of direction to a more conventional TV espionage series, compared to the show’s first season and a half. My fellow critics seem all too eager to throw out the baby with the bathwater, as if they’ve become clones of Ratatouille’s Anton Ego, demanding perfection at every turn. I don’t want to knock high standards, and a show like “Breaking Bad” certainly sustains a level of excellence, but most serial dramas have creative peaks and valleys.