Since the events of 9/11, spy fiction has provided an eerily
astute reflection of the US's response to terrorism. The aftermath of 9/11
brought foreign wars, extraordinary rendition and 24. The public's appetite for an aggressive military response was
expressed almost to the point of parody by 24
and the carte blanche attitude of its protagonist, Jack Bauer. After a
decade public fatigue with endless conflict is reflected in a nation's politics
and choice of spy dramas. The US has withdrawn from Iraq and 24.
To fill this gap we now have Homeland, in which the portrayal of spies and intelligence work is
much closer to Tinker, Tailor, Solider,
Spy than 24. John Le Carre cut
across the grain of his genre when he showed the intelligence world to be
filled with incompetent and petty bureaucrats rather than uniformly filled with
heroic men of action. Homeland
follows in Le Carre's tradition, showing us a talented but damaged heroine, in
Carrie Mathison, as part of a still talented but damaged CIA.
Played by Claire Danes, Carrie Mathison is a brilliant cypher for all of our concerns about the powers and capabilities of the intelligence services in the post-9/11 era. That she's brilliant and talented there is no doubt. Mathison's perceptions of the world are dark, paranoid and unfortunately often correct. However we find out her abilities are linked to her own bi-polar disorder. Yes she sees darkness and plots where no-one else does, but how many are real or merely projections from her fragile mind?
Mathison's fear of failure is all consuming. Her obsessive
nature has caused her to focus her entire life on the validation provided by
her job. There has been little time for a personal life as a result. She takes
any failure by the agency personally and the audience sees the damage this does
to her already damaged psyche.
This fear of failure is mirrored in her employer the CIA.
The agency has absorbed the failure of 9/11 and the self-inflicted damage done
to its reputation by its involvement in rendition and torture. As a result the
CIA is easily manipulated by officials in Washington, who use the agency's
failures as leverage. They ensure that the agency adopts a 'play it safe'
counter-terrorism strategy which is heavy on the drone strikes at the expense
of the nuances and risks of intelligence work.
Mathison's foil is Sergeant Nicholas Brody, a Marine who was
held captive in Iraq by Al Qaeda for 8 years. Returned after a successful raid
frees him from an Al Qaeda safe house, Brody is given a hero's welcome by the
public and White House officials who see his return as a public relations coup.
Tortured and isolated during his time in captivity, Brody carries as many
mental scars as Mathison. While the public perceives someone who made it
through captivity unscathed, the audience sees the damage done to his memories
and temperament. Both Brody and the audience come to realise they can't really
trust his memories of captivity, giving the early episodes the feel of the Manchurian Candidate.
The first series hinges on Mathison's distrust of Brody when
America as a whole is sweeping to embrace a hero returning home. Only Mathison
with her condition would question the return of a POW after so long. What follows
is one of the most engaging story driven series since The Wire as Mathison pursues her suspicions about Brody firmly
against the grain of expert and popular opinion.
Homeland has
already picked up some unexpected praise as President Obama referred to it as
among his favourite television programs. It's not hard to see why as Homeland creates one of the most
realistic portrayals of intelligence work on screen. In contrast to 24, in which uber-spy Jack Bauer
tortures until he gets the information he needs, in Homeland information is uncovered through long conversations with
terrorists who happen to be real people as well. The spies do their best work
by manipulating the human anxieties of their suspects to get information rather
than trying to waterboard their way to a corrupted truth. When violence is used
it is shown to be a crude instrument which often results in negative side
effects that come back to haunt the agency.
The contrast with 24
is striking throughout. It is interesting to see that it was adapted by two
former 24 writers, as Homeland refutes so much of the ethos
that 24 tried to impart. One of 24's biggest failings is that it rarely
showed the consequences of the violence used by its protagonists in the pursuit
of terrorists. Homeland doesn't shy away from this, showing that the
repercussions of the CIA's methods are complex and at times disastrous.
Homeland is a
television series which portrays the realities of the intelligence world,
sophisticated characters and one of the tensest finales you're likely to see on
television. Le Carre himself would recognise instantly the world created here
with its flawed protagonists, twisted allegiances and spy craft. It's hard to
give higher praise.
