1) The patronising, "You're not a muslim. You're a terrorist!" line. The show really doesn't need to hit us with the obvious stick, nor does it need to keep apologising or overcompensating to remind us that not all muslims are terrorists. Which brings me to the introduction of the new character.
2) Thoughtful, intelligent Saul turning into a bigot all of a sudden. Really? This was a cheap shot to make us feel sympathy for the new girl (who seems nice) so that we will more readily accept her character. And also so we understand that the writers really do not want us to think that all Muslims are terrorists, in case they weren't obvious enough with that yet.
3) Clare Dane's hysterical goggle-eyed overacting when she freaks out: It is tiresome to watch after a while. Previously it was flash in the pan stuff, but her prolonged hysteria is starting to grate on me.
4) The Dana show: First of all, the only significant thing that ever occurred with the character (her suicide attempt) happened OFF SCREEN between seasons. As an aside, a lot of people would actually love to see Dana's (successful) suicide attempt, if only to get rid of the discordant mini teen drama that they're trying to play out on the show. Who are they trying to attract as an audience? The Dana narrative (in fits and bursts) is like fragments of episodes of One Tree Hill (No disrespect to One Tree Hill fans for the unfavorable comparison). The problem is I do not feel involved or sympathetic, nor do most viewers, who seem to regard her as an irritating distraction in terms of the plot and screentime. The actress's voice and mannerisms coupled with Dana's bytchy egocentricity make her seem like a hemorrhoid on the show. Less, not more. Now her improbable conversion to Islam (which we saw coming a mile away when her father spoke to her about his beliefs last season) threatens to give her even more screen time. Also, she is promiscuous and rebellious, how are we expected to believe that she would turn to a conservative belief system, even in rebellion? Is she going to continue to have sex with her boyfriend, eat bacon (like Brody!) and act extremely Western whilst at the same time manage to accommodate Islamic beliefs? To re-iterate, Brody was an Islamic fundamentalist (not a moderate or secularist) but he managed to have an affair and drink, and not just to cover his tracks.
5) Chris: The lad acts like a tree. Not his fault, he is just furniture (like Mike) standing in the background for Dana's episodes. Thankfully Mike got out of there and got himself a new show, while he will return to cameo as Mrs Brody's shoulder to cry on. Likewise, Chris's lack of characterisation jars terribly with the overemphasis on Dana (during the domestic Brody family scenes.) I get that the family scenes are important, but they are discordant and the writers don't seem to know what to do with the rest of the cast.
6) Mrs Brody: Surely as the person most affected by Brody's actions we should see more development of her character, not less. Sadly she has become an extra after being sucked into the black hole of viewer indifference known as the Dana show.
7) Brody and his new setting: Ok, he's not in every episode. Though thanks for reminding us what he looks like with a photo in every episode, we'd almost forgotten. Now in terms of plot credibility, I have a bigger boggle: Are we supposed to believe that this guy, who has had the misfortune of being captured and brainwashed by one group of religious extremists only to (apparently) break free and turn to the side of the good guys now finds himself in the improbable situation of being taken hostage by a completely different group of extremists, this time a group of anarcho-communists who are going to brainwash him again. Please tell me that the writers are not going to make him become radicalised towards a completely new and contradictory world view, it's too much. I feel that they are running out of ideas with the character since he lost his ambiguity. Now he seems like a blank slate, an unlucky Joe who is so incredibly impressionable that any group is able to turn him to their side with a bit of torture. Now that Brody has been taken out of his home (where he had to keep up a facade) and now that we know where his loyalties lie (he seems to be a good guy, an innocent fugitive), he has lost all intrigue. No longer is he mysterious and dangerous, a player with a double life like Walter White or Don Draper. He is a pathetic man, a victim of increasingly improbable circumstances foisted on him by capricious and unimaginative writers who have ran out of ideas. Brody's characterisation is the hub of the show, the intrigue is gone, his context has changed from a place where he needs to be duplicitous to get by (hence the need for the home scenes, which don't work without Brody, nor does Brody work without them) to the place where he is struggling to merely survive in a world where he is the most wanted man. This could be interesting in itself if he kept changing locations, but now he is tied to this boring group of anarcho-communists in a dire concrete block of flats. I felt relieved when Brody escaped them because I was bored already, but when they recaptured them I thought great, this is going to drag on now as they indoctrinate him. The last season only gave us flashbacks of his previous capture and indoctrination and was wise enough not to bore us with details. This reminds me of season 2 (or was it 3?) of Lost where they get captured by the mysterious Others, who then lose all interest the more we find out about them, it became really boring from there and played its last card too early.
8) Peter Quinn, assassin extraordinaire: Quinn is the only interesting guy on the show right now, but at the moment we only get tidbits. Now his tortured "I killed a kid" line threatens to taint his scenes with yet more overwrought drama instead of the vital injection of action and mystery that he gives to the show. No, I don't want 24, but there are enough tortured souls on the show already, enough emotional pulp. Boring. I'd prefer Quinn to show up every now and again and do something dangerous and shadowy. He's not the ideal choice for the show's conscience (that role is supposed to go to Saul) but now it seems to have switched to him.
9) Dar Adul, middle manager: The scenes where Saul followed Quinn were electrifying. Who is this mysterious man? What is his agenda? Now he's bumming around the office with Saul, he has lost all intrigue.
10) Plot progression: The last season set us at ground zero, so to speak. A huge clear out of characters ended two main storylines - the killing of the show's main adversary and David Estes ended the sense of impending threat and also the moral dilemma of the drone strikes and who would be held accountable. It felt like a cheap resolution that should have happened in the final episodes. Now the show has to build up a new threat and new plotlines. It feels constipated, out of ideas, while the pilot episode immediately immersed us in this threatening scenario. Now they have to start again and the characters have been removed from the only contexts (and interplays) in which they were interesting. It should have ended in Season 1. Or Season 2. I think it will end with a whimper and not a bang, with a sudden cancellation and hasty tie-up of loose ends that will anger the fans that were faithful enough to stick with the show and ride it out. It's like Prison Break after they changed the basic premise. Only a matter of time.
up perfectly
