By Drew Grant and Noam Cohen 12/11/12 8:46am

Homeland

"Posing like you are in a men's catalog is a sign of strength."--David Estes (Showtime)

Five Essay Prompts for Homeland 2×11: ‘The Mother…With the Turban’

These questions regard last night’s episode of Showtime’s Homeland. Please answer the prompts with specific examples from SUNDAY’S EPISODE, though supplementary material will be accepted as a secondary source. Please write legibly. No. 2 pencils only. You have an hour to finish this test. See below for questions and sample responses.

1. In last week’s episode, Dar Adal expressed nostalgia for the Cold War, when it was obvious who the enemy was. Conventional wisdom has it that militarized societies will turn on each other in the absence of a clear antagonist. And yet it is only now, when Nazir is right before them, evident and nearly in their grasp, that the CIA is really attacking itself, from Carrie tackling Galvez to Estes discrediting Saul “The Bear” Berenson. What does this self-hatred express and why is it all coming out now? Read More

By Noam Cohen and Drew Grant 12/04/12 8:40am

Homeland

jamey-sheridan-damian-lewis-homeland_202

Five Essay Prompts for Homeland 2×10: “Broken Hearts”

These questions regard last night’s episode of Showtime’s Homeland. Please answer the prompts with specific examples from SUNDAY’S EPISODE, though supplementary material will be accepted as a secondary source. Please write legibly. No. 2 pencils only. You have an hour to finish this test. See below for questions and sample responses.

1. Homeland is known for asking from its viewers a heroic amount of suspension of their disbelief (except for the parts which looked semi-plausible after the Petraeus scandal broke). But this episode may have taxed even the most engrossed fans. Out of the following plot developments, which was the most balls-out absurd and why? Please phrase your answer in the form of an under-medicated conspiracy theorist. Read More

By Drew Grant and Noam Cohen 11/26/12 8:47am

Homeland

Brody finds a payphone! (Showtime)

Five Essay Prompts for Homeland 2×9: ‘Two Hats’

These questions regard last night’s episode of Showtime’s Homeland. Please answer the prompts with specific examples from SUNDAY’S EPISODE, though supplementary material will be accepted as a secondary source. Please write legibly. No. 2 pencils only. You have an hour to finish this test. See below for questions and sample responses.
1. The only personal item in Quinn’s bare-bones apartment is a copy of Great Expectations in which he keeps a picture of his newborn son, John Jr. There is a character named John in Great Expectations: Mr. Wemmick, the man with “a post-office of a mouth” who serves as the go-between for Pip and his lawyer, Jaggers. How may Quinn be comparing himself (John Sr.) to Wemmick here? What other similarities might he see between his current situation and the plot of the Dickens novel? Read More

By Noam Cohen and Drew Grant 10/02/12 9:00am

TV recaps

The face of completely normal, happy person Carrie Mathison (Showtime)

Five Essay Prompts About Homeland 2×1: ‘The Smile’

These questions regard the second season premiere  of Showtime’s Homeland. Please answer the prompts with specific examples from SUNDAY’S EPISODE, though supplementary material will be accepted as a secondary source. Please write legibly. No. 2 pencils only. You have an hour to finish this test. See below for questions and example responses.

1.  The first season repeatedly suggested that Carrie’s mental illness is part of what made her a good CIA agent. But Carrie’s gleeful smile in her last scene in the season premiere seems to flip that around: is being a good CIA agent being portrayed here as good for her mental health? Or is it just that it is giving her a sense of purpose that gardening and teaching English couldn’t? Read More