[TV Edition] Homeland S03E01: Tin Man is Down

The first episode of the new season has given us more that what we expected. We just sit there in awe. With Clare Danes’ superb acting, all we can say is that we can’t wait for next week’s episode. We seriously hope there are leaked episodes out there. We are so desperate to go that route

The CONS

The only con we can think of is the fact that they didn’t include the lead character, Brody, on the first episode. Surely, it goes along with the story. Brody doesn’t seem to be needed in this episode. They may be trying to give the audience some hint of mystery. Or elude the poor audience to long for a glimpse, a quick glimpse of Brody, get an idea of his whereabouts. Whatever the purpose is, we still think it would be nicer to have at least a quick clip and show us Brody. Otherwise, we’re fine

The PROS

EVERYTHING… from start to finish. When season two ended, we were thinking of possible ways to open season 3. We thought they would show Brody doing some farm work at some remote land in west Asia. Or a scene showing Carrie looking at her GPS and trying to track down Brody. Or Brody’s wife in a wedding gown, getting married to ex-lover Mike. Our best bet was the first scenario. But we’re overwhelmed with surprise seeing how the first episode turned out. Another adrenaline-packed episode. Each time we see Carrie we automatically grab the coffee mug, we feel we have to supplement the intense and gripping moment with a dose of caffeine. The interrogation part was really intense. We start to have predictions that the senator looks very much like the next antagonist, but we can be wrong, because this is a TV series where things don’t seem what they look like, and characters behave so unpredictably. The only predictable thing is perhaps Claire Danes’ giving out superb performance as Carrie. In this episode we saw her in an emotion-filled scene. We knew it was not just the desire for an Emmy award that drove her to be at her best in acting, but it was that passion for the role and the ability to challenge the contemporary status quo of American cable TV

VERDICT: 9 out of 10 rating on the Likely to be Remembered scale

[TV Edition] How I Met Your Mother S09E03: Last Time in New York

OK let’s go straight to the CONS

We hate the running joke on elderly people. We didn’t think it was funny. Not one shred of laughter, not even a hiccup, was elicited. It was not to say that the jokes were disrespectful, because, it is just a sitcom anyway, but the idea they were honing around old people and selling that idea to us as something funny; we didn’t buy it. We thought it was a desperate attempt at comedy. The comparison to zombies and that Mandy Patikin reference didn’t appear funny to us.

The PROS

The cliffhanger ending was just superb. We have seen HIMYM does cliffhanger endings, and even cliffhanger season enders, but not to this degree of anticipation and the feeling of being left hanging. At first, we thought that the Waldo outfit was too much. But it did work for Mosby. As the show centered around Barney and Robin’s romances, the Mosby in us still longed for that Ted Mosby moment. There hasn’t been enough Ted moment in the last few episodes of the series. Many times they showcased Marshall and Lily, Barney and Robin, actual conflicts and things that happen between the two couples. And Ted stands silently at the background, bit much like a supporting player in a show where his future self is the narrator. We’re hoping that this episode would kick it in and put the spotlight back to Ted

VERDICT: 8 out of 10 rating on the Likely to be Remembered scale