Hailed as TV's best new drama by critics everywhere, the award-winning Homeland delivers compelling characters, thrilling twists and breathtaking suspense. Carrie Mathison (Golden Globe winner Claire Danes), a brilliant but volatile CIA agent, suspects that a rescued American POW may not be what he seems. Is Marine Sgt. Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis) 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. Packed with multiple layers and hidden clues, Season One offers something new every time you see it... watch carefully.
I heard that Homeland was a great show, but I knew very little about it before the set arrived. I like knowing little about some shows, as it makes watching them more enjoyable for me (I like surprises). I knew Claire Danes was a CIA agent, that Damian Lewis was a POW brought back to the US, and that it was a psychological thriller from some of the 24 producers. Honestly, that's enough to get me interested in a show.
This 3-disc set includes all 12 episodes from the first season:
Disc 1 (4:20:08)
Pilot (55:19)
Grace (50:27)
Clean Skin (49:00)
Semper I (49:46)
Blind Spot (55:36)
Disc 2 (3:25:51)
The Good Soldier (49:02)
The Weekend (57:55)
Achilles Heel (49:31)
Crossfire (49:23)
Disc 3 (3:06:47)
Representative Brody (48:09)
The Vest (54:16)
Marine One (1:24:22)
Video
This show looks superb on Blu-ray. The 1080p picture captures all the details in the scenes, and only suffers from a bit of noise here and there; black levels are great. There's a chapter placed after the opening of the episode, allowing you to skip the credits. The coolest feature is the "Season Pass" that Fox has implemented. Select this and you can watch each episode, one after another, with the player telling you when to insert the next disc. It also picks up from where you left off if you need to shut the player down before a disc is complete. It's very nice, and probably the best implementation of playing a season I've seen.
Audio
Homeland isn't an action show that demands a lot from the audio, but that doesn't mean it can't make great use of the English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. This thing sounds great; crystal clear dialog, nice sound effects and ambient effects, and when it's needed, the sub delivers a ton of bass. Subtitles are available in English, French and Spanish.
Commentary on Pilot Episode
Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon, Claire Danes and Damian Lewis provide commentary on the pilot episode. It's quite entertaining, when the people are actually talking (there were a number of silent spots).
Deleted Scenes (12:41)
A bunch of deleted scenes appear on each disc.
Week Ten: Prologue to Season Two (3:53)
A short piece that occurs right after season 1.
Homeland Season One: Under Surveillance (33:46)
An excellent featurette on the first season. I really appreciated them delving into the characters in this, as they're the most fascinating part of the series.
Summary
Wow, wow, wow! This show was amazing, and it's quite clear why it won the Golden Globe award for "Best Television Series, Drama," and why Claire Danes won for "Best Actress." It's been a few days since I finished the season, and I'm still thinking about it; the sign of a great show. I definitely want to track down Hatufim, the Israeli show that this is based on (it's for sale in Region 2) to see how the two compare, though it sounds as though they made some drastic changes for Homeland. I loved seeing Clark Johnson's name in the "Directing" credits for a few episodes. He's one of my favorite TV directors alongside Jon Cassar and David Nutter.
Fox put together a decent set for this show; the commentary track is interesting to listen to, though there were lots of dead spots, and while the deleted scenes and season 2 prologue are nice, the real gem is the "Under Surveillance" piece. It's amazing the amount of detail they crammed into the 33 minutes, and it made me appreciate the show even more after watching it.
If you haven't seen Homeland yet, definitely get this because the show is quite amazing. I wouldn't be surprised if Homeland walks away with the Emmy award for "Outstanding Drama Series" and Claire Danes wins for "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series," an award she was previously nominated for when she was only 16.
