Homeland (season 4)

Homeland (season 4)
Blu-ray cover art
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	12
Release
Original network	Showtime
Original release	October 5, 2014 – December 21, 2014

The fourth season of the American television drama series Homeland premiered on October 5, 2014, and concluded on December 21, 2014, on Showtime, consisting of 12 episodes.^[1][2] The series is loosely based on the Israeli television series Hatufim (English: Prisoners of War) created by Gideon Raff and is developed for American television by Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa.^[3] The fourth season was released on Blu-ray and DVD on September 8, 2015.^[4]

Cast and characters

Main cast

• Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison, a CIA intelligence officer assigned to the Counterterrorism Center.
• Rupert Friend as Peter Quinn, a CIA SAD/SOG (black ops) operative.
• Nazanin Boniadi as Fara Sherazi, an intelligent, young, and professional Persian analyst.
• Laila Robins as Martha Boyd, the United States ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
• Tracy Letts as Andrew Lockhart, the new director of the CIA.
• Mandy Patinkin as Saul Berenson, formerly the CIA's Middle-East Division Chief and interim Director. He is Carrie's old boss and mentor.

Recurring cast Nimrat Kaur as Tasneem Qureshi, a member of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence. Michael O'Keefe as John Redmond, a CIA deputy station chief in Pakistan. Mark Moses as Dennis Boyd, husband of Ambassador and a political science teacher at Islamabad's Quaid-I-Azam University. Raza Jaffrey as Aasar Khan, the counter-terrorism chief of Pakistan's ISI. Numan Acar as Haissam Haqqani, a high-priority target and Taliban leader. Suraj Sharma as Aayan Ibrahim, a Pakistani medical student. Shavani Seth as Kiran, Aayan's girlfriend and fellow medical student. Maury Sterling as Max, a freelance surveillance expert. Amy Hargreaves as Maggie Mathison, Carrie's sister and a psychiatrist. F. Murray Abraham as Dar Adal, a retired black ops specialist. Art Malik as Bunran "Bunny" Latif, a retired Pakistani general. Sarita Choudhury as Mira Berenson, Saul's wife. Alex Lanipekun as Hank Wonham, a CIA officer at the Kabul station. Akshay Kumar as Rahim, a Pakistani medical student. Emily Walker as Quinn's landlady with whom he has a brief relationship.

Special guest cast Damian Lewis as Nicholas Brody, who appears in a hallucination of Carrie's. Guest cast Corey Stoll as Sandy Bachman, the CIA station chief in Pakistan. Adam Godley as Jordan Harris, a CIA case officer. Nina Hoss as Astrid, Quinn's former lover who works for the German embassy. Victoria Clark as Ellen Mathison, Carrie's mother. John Getz as Joe Crocker

Plot

In season four, Carrie is working as a CIA station chief in Kabul, Afghanistan. Pakistan station chief Sandy Bachman tips Carrie to the location of one of her target terrorists, Haissam Haqqani, in Pakistan. Carrie orders an air strike, apparently killing Haqqani, and also killing 40 civilians attending a wedding at the strike location. A survivor of the air strike, Aayan Ibrahim, after losing his family, returns to medical college where his friend uploads the wedding video from Aayan's phone. This causes an uproar and Carrie is recalled to the United States by CIA Director Lockhart. Carrie contacts another agent who reveals that Sandy was trading state secrets in exchange for target information and Lockhart was aware of it. Carrie blackmails Lockhart into sending her back to Islamabad, Pakistan as the new station chief. Once there, Carrie sets up another secret base with Max and Fara and convinces Quinn to join. Saul arrives at the embassy to oversee private security. Carrie asks Fara to recruit Aayan, but she fails because Aayan is too scared. Carrie then makes contact with Aayan, offering help to smuggle him to London. Fara later follows Aayan to a mosque where it is revealed that Haqqani is alive and being helped by his nephew Aayan with stolen medicines.

Meanwhile, ISI official Tasneem Qureshi contacts the ambassador's husband, Dennis Boyd, revealing the latter as Sandy's source, by stealing info from his wife, Martha. Tasneem forces Dennis to continue working for her. Aayan confesses to Carrie that Haqqani is still alive. In a staged attack set up by Carrie and her people, Aayan flees the safehouse and makes contact with Haqqani. Carrie monitors Aayan via drone as he is leading them to Haqqani. Dennis gives information about Aayan to Tasneem who alerts Haqqani. Haqqani's men have kidnapped Saul and Haqqani meets Aayan in the mountains where Saul is shown to be captive. Haqqani blames Aayan for the drone tracking him and kills Aayan. Carrie, enraged by Aayan's murder, orders a drone strike despite Saul's presence, but Quinn intervenes. Haqqani demands five prisoners to be released in exchange for Saul. Lockhart arrives at the embassy to manage the situation. Saul escapes from captivity and calls Carrie who leads him to a nearby town for extraction, but he is later surrounded with Haqqani's men and is recaptured. Lockhart concedes to the demands of the exchange. At the embassy, Dennis is caught as the leak and imprisoned. Saul is successfully exchanged, despite not wanting the deal to go through.

On their way back to the embassy, Carrie's convoy is hit with RPGs by Haqqani's men. Haqqani infiltrates the embassy by a hidden tunnel (information given by Dennis to Tasneem) and kills several people. Threatening to kill more people, Haqqani demands the list of assets, which Lockhart eventually gives up. However, Haqqani kills Fara, and Quinn attacks, forcing Haqqani to retreat and escape. The convoy gets help from the Pakistani military after a delay. The White House cuts relations with Pakistan and orders an evacuation of the remaining embassy personnel. Quinn escapes the embassy and plans on killing Haqqani. Carrie stays behind to find him. During a rally of Haqqani supporters, Carrie forces Quinn to abort his plan to kill him and discovers Dar Adal in Haqqani's car. Back in the U.S., Carrie reunites with her estranged mother. Quinn accepts a dangerous assassination mission in Syria. Later, Carrie confronts Dar Adal who reveals Saul as a supporter of a deal made with Haqqani to take him off the CIA kill list in exchange for Haqqani no longer harboring terrorists in Afghanistan. Carrie leaves in anger and confusion.

Episodes

No. in series	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Production code	U.S. viewers (millions)
37	1	"The Drone Queen"	Lesli Linka Glatter	Alex Gansa	October 5, 2014	4WAH01	1.61[5]
38	2	"Trylon and Perisphere"	Keith Gordon	Chip Johannessen	October 5, 2014	4WAH02	1.61[5]
39	3	"Shalwar Kameez"	Lesli Linka Glatter	Alexander Cary	October 12, 2014	4WAH03	1.22[6]
40	4	"Iron in the Fire"	Michael Offer	Patrick Harbinson	October 19, 2014	4WAH04	1.35[7]
41	5	"About a Boy"	Charlotte Sieling	Meredith Stiehm	October 26, 2014	4WAH05	1.52[8]
42	6	"From A to B and Back Again"	Lesli Linka Glatter	Chip Johannessen	November 2, 2014	4WAH06	1.54[9]
43	7	"Redux"	Carl Franklin	Alexander Cary	November 9, 2014	4WAH07	1.55[10]
44	8	"Halfway to a Donut"	Alex Graves	Chip Johannessen	November 16, 2014	4WAH08	1.66[11]
45	9	"There's Something Else Going On"	Seith Mann	Patrick Harbinson	November 23, 2014	4WAH09	1.77[12]
46	10	"13 Hours in Islamabad"	Dan Attias	Alex Gansa & Howard Gordon	December 7, 2014	4WAH10	1.95[13]
47	11	"Krieg Nicht Lieb"	Clark Johnson	Alexander Cary & Chip Johannessen	December 14, 2014	4WAH11	2.11[14]
48	12	"Long Time Coming"	Lesli Linka Glatter	Meredith Stiehm	December 21, 2014	4WAH12	1.92[15]

Production

On October 22, 2013, Homeland was renewed for a fourth season, consisting of 12 episodes.^[1] Production and filming for the fourth season began in June 2014, shifting production to Cape Town, South Africa.^[16] Executive producers for the fourth season are Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon, Gideon Raff, Alexander Cary, Chip Johannessen, Meredith Stiehm, Avi Nir, and Ran Telem.^[17]

Casting

Nazanin Boniadi, who had a recurring role in the third season as Fara Sherazi, was promoted to series regular for the fourth season.^[18] Several actors were cast for the fourth season in June 2014, including new series regular Laila Robins, as well as Corey Stoll, Suraj Sharma, Raza Jaffrey, and Michael O'Keefe, who all have recurring roles.^[19][20][21] In July 2014, Nimrat Kaur, Mark Moses and Art Malik were additionally cast in recurring roles.^[22]

Reception

Critical response

The fourth season has received generally positive reviews from critics. On Metacritic, it has a score of 74 out of 100, based on 22 reviews.^[23] On Rotten Tomatoes, the season received an 82% rating based on 49 reviews with an average rating of 8.0/10. The critical consensus reads "Homeland is back on top, with a renewed energy and focus not seen since its first season."^[24] Verne Gay of Newsday gave it an "A+" grade and wrote that the season "feels as fresh, important and relevant as yesterday's news -- or tomorrow's news. A bracing, intelligent start."^[25] Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe noted it has improved over its previous seasons, and wrote, "The rebooted Homeland promises to be an engaging, streamlined CIA thriller with a few big ideas about America and the war on terrorism."^[26] Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times also noted the series improvement and wrote, "Early episodes are strong, if not as shattering as the inaugural season."^[27] The season finale was well-received, with Rotten Tomatoes giving the episode a 100% rating based on 12 critic reviews, saying "Subverting expectations, "Long Time Coming" makes for a smart, sharp, and satisfyingly subdued finale for an excellent season of Homeland."^[28]

Accolades

For the 21st Screen Actors Guild Awards, the cast was nominated for Best Drama Ensemble, Claire Danes was nominated for Best Drama Actress, and the series was nominated for Best Stunt Team.^[29] For the 72nd Golden Globe Awards, Danes was nominated for Best Actress – Television Series Drama.^[30] For the 67th Directors Guild of America Awards, Lesli Linka Glatter won for Outstanding Directing – Drama Series for the episode "From A to B and Back Again", and Dan Attias received a nomination in the same category for directing "13 Hours in Islamabad".^[31][32] For the 5th Critics' Choice Television Awards, the series was nominated for Best Drama Series and Mandy Patinkin was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.^[33]

For the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards, the series received five nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series, Claire Danes for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, F. Murray Abraham for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series, and Lesli Linka Glatter for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for "From A to B and Back Again".^[34]

Criticisms

BuzzFeed alleged a list of 6 inaccuracies starting with how Carrie dressed and contrasted it with how Hillary Clinton among other diplomats dressed during their tours, depictions of security protocols, the Pakistani capital, as well as the ethnic characterization of Pakistanis as Arab rather than Indo-Aryan.^[35]

Laura Durkay of The Washington Post criticized the show for perpetuating cultural stereotypes and Islamophobia.^[36]

According to media reports, Pakistani officials were unhappy over the depiction of Pakistan in the fourth season. Nadeem Hotiana, spokesperson of Pakistan Embassy, said, "Maligning a country that has been a close partner and ally of the US is a disservice not only to the security interests of the US, but also to the people of the US."^[37] A source was quoted as saying, "Islamabad is a quiet, picturesque city with beautiful mountains and lush greenery. In Homeland, it’s portrayed as a grimy hellhole and war zone where shootouts and bombs go off with dead bodies scattered around. Nothing is further from the truth."^[37] The officials also lashed out at "absurd" portrayal of terrorist treatment in Pakistan, saying, "Repeated insinuations that an intelligence agency of Pakistan is complicit in protecting the terrorists at the expense of innocent Pakistani civilians is not only absurd but also an insult to the ultimate sacrifices of the thousands of Pakistani security personnel in the war against terrorism."^[37]

Washington, D.C. based journalist Chidanand Rajghatta, while describing the controversy, wrote that despite these claims by the Pakistani establishment, US officials have directly accused Pakistan of fostering terror groups, a policy that has been well-chronicled and well-established over the years.^[38]

References

1. Hibberd, James (October 22, 2013). "'Homeland' renewed for fourth season". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 6, 2014.
2. Hibberd, James (July 18, 2014). "'Homeland' season 4 intense first trailer". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
3. "Homeland – Listings". The New York Times. Retrieved December 30, 2011.
4. Lambert, David (July 17, 2015). "Homeland - Street Date, Updated BD/DVD Box Art for 'The Complete 4th Season'". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Retrieved July 18, 2015.
5. Kondolojy, Amanda (October 7, 2014). "Sunday Cable Ratings: MLB Baseball Tops Night + 'The Strain', 'The Real Housewives of New Jersey', 'Alaska: The Last Frontier' + More". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
6. Bibel, Sara (October 14, 2014). "Sunday Cable Ratings: 'The Walking Dead' Wins Night, 'Talking Dead', 'Boardwalk Empire', 'Homeland' & More". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved October 14, 2014.
7. Kondolojy, Amanda (October 21, 2014). "Sunday Cable Ratings: 'The Walking Dead' Tops Night + 'Talking Dead', 'The Real Housewives of New Jersey', 'NFL Countdown', NASCAR Coverage & More". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved October 21, 2014.
8. Bibel, Sara (October 28, 2014). "Sunday Cable Ratings: 'The Walking Dead' Wins Night, 'Talking Dead', 'Boardwalk Empire', 'Real Housewives of New Jersey', 'Homeland' & More". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved October 28, 2014.
9. Kondolojy, Amanda (November 4, 2014). "Sunday Cable Ratings: 'Walking Dead' Tops Night + 'Talking Dead', 'Skyscraper Live', 'The Real Housewives of New Jersey' & More". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
10. Bibel, Sara (November 11, 2014). "Sunday Cable Ratings: 'The Walking Dead' Wins Night, 'Talking Dead', 'Real Housewives of Atlanta', 'Homeland', 'The Newsroom' & More". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
11. Kondolojy, Amanda (November 18, 2014). "Sunday Cable Ratings: 'The Walking Dead' Tops Night + 'Talking Dead', 'The Real Housewives of Atlanta', NASCAR & More". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved November 18, 2014.
12. Bibel, Sara (November 25, 2014). "Sunday Cable Ratings: 'The Walking Dead' Wins Night, 'Talking Dead', 'Real Housewives of Atlanta', 'Homeland', 'The Newsroom' & More". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved November 25, 2014.
13. Bibel, Sara (December 9, 2014). "Sunday Cable Ratings: 'Eaten Alive' Wins Night, 'Real Housewives of Atlanta', 'The Librarians', 'Homeland', 'The Newsroom' & More". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved December 9, 2014.
14. Kondolojy, Amanda (December 16, 2014). "Sunday Cable Ratings: 'Real Housewives of Atlanta' Tops Night + 'Kourtney & Khloe Take the Hamptons', 'The Librarians' & More". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
15. Bibel, Sara (December 23, 2014). "Sunday Cable Ratings: 'Real Housewives of Atlanta' Wins Night, 'Watch What Happens Live', 'The Librarians', '90 Day Fiance', 'Homeland' & More". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved December 23, 2014.
16. Bacle, Ariana (April 4, 2014). "'Homeland' moves production to South Africa for season 4". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
17. "The Multi-Award Winning Showtime(R) Drama "Homeland" Set to Begin Production in South Africa This Summer" (Press release). Showtime. April 4, 2014. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
18. Seikaly, Andrea (March 14, 2014). "'Homeland' Makes Nazanin Boniadi a Series Regular". Variety. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
19. Snierson, Dan (June 3, 2014). "'Homeland' recruits two actors for season 4, including 'House of Cards' alum". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
20. Snierson, Dan (June 5, 2014). "'Life of Pi' star Suraj Sharma joins 'Homeland' for season 4 -- EXCLUSIVE". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
21. O'Connell, Michael (June 11, 2014). "'Homeland' Adds 'Smash' Star, 'Roseanne' Alum for Season 4 (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
22. O'Connell, Michael (July 31, 2014). "'Homeland' Adds Trio to Season 4 (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 2, 2014.
23. "Homeland : Season 4". Metacritic. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
24. "Homeland: Season 4". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved April 15, 2015.
25. Gay, Verne (October 2, 2014). "'Homeland' review: A restart kick-starts the fourth season". Newsday. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
26. Gilbert, Matthew (October 5, 2014). "‘Homeland’ back on solid ground". The Boston Globe. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
27. McNamara, Mary (October 3, 2014). "'Homeland' and Carrie still fighting the good fight". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
28. "Long Time Coming - Homeland: Season 4, Episode 12". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved April 15, 2015.
29. Mitovich, Matt Webb (December 10, 2014). "SAG Awards: Modern Family, Thrones, Homeland, Boardwalk, Cards Lead Noms; Mad Men Shut Out; HTGAWM, Maslany and Aduba Get Nods". TVLine. Retrieved December 10, 2014.
30. Mitovich, Matt Webb (December 11, 2014). "Golden Globes: Fargo, True Detective Lead Nominations; Jane the Virgin, Transparent Score Multiple Nods". TVLine. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
31. Schwartz, Ryan (January 14, 2015). "OITNB, Game of Thrones, Transparent Among Directors Guild Nominees". TVLine. Retrieved January 14, 2015.
32. "DGA Awards: Alejandro G. Iñárritu Wins Best Feature Film Director For 'Birdman', TV Winners Include Lesli Linka Glatter 'Homeland' & Jill Soloway 'Transparent'". Deadline.com. February 7, 2015. Retrieved April 7, 2015.
33. Li, Shirley (May 6, 2014). "The Critics' Choice TV Awards 2015: And the nominees are...". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 7, 2015.
34. Hipes, Patrick (July 16, 2015). "Emmy Nominations 2015 – Full List". Deadline.com. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
35. Muniz, Frank (May 3, 2015). "A Pakistani Points Out 6 Homeland Fails". BuzzFeed. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
36. Durkay, Laura (October 2, 2014). "‘Homeland’ is the most bigoted show on television". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 5, 2015.
37. Schram, Jamie (December 27, 2014). "Pakistani officials furious over ‘Homeland’". New York Post. Retrieved December 29, 2014.
38. Rajghatta, Chidanand (December 29, 2014). "Pakistan is really upset with US TV series 'Homeland' Season 4". The Economic Times. Retrieved December 29, 2014.

External links

• Official website
• List of Homeland episodes at the Internet Movie Database
• List of Homeland episodes at TV.com