My so-called bipolar life

When last seen in Homeland, Carrie Matthison (Claire Danes) was willingly strapping herself in for electroshock therapy, trying to frag any remaining memories she had that her recent fling, recovered war prisoner Marine Sgt. Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis), was actually a sleeper terrorist bent on destroying America. She was about to do an Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (or, for older readers, a Randle Patrick MacMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) and viewers were mesmerized by season one’s cliffhanger finale.

Now Homeland’s back for a second season. Does Carrie still have all her marbles? That remains to be seen. Danes, fresh from an Emmy win, is definitely enjoying her flawed, juicy role: almost every episode in Homeland features Danes in full-blown twitch mode. Playing a bipolar CIA agent whose instincts about the enemy are almost always right — until she gives in to her emotions with Brody — Matthison is a fascinating creation. Whether gobbling lithium on the sly or cursing a blue streak, her cat-and-mouse game with Brody in season one offered some of the most gripping television since, well, the first season of 24. Based on an Israeli TV series, Homeland plays to a post-24, post-Bush environment, yet it’s even more paranoid and, at times, more reactionary than Keifer Sutherland’s hit show. From the opening jumbled credit sequence — full of jump cuts, noise bursts and inverted TV clips of Barack Obama — it depicts an America still searching for the enemy, sometimes right at home, sometimes within.

It’s tempting to think that TV has grown up since the torture-endorsing zeal of Jack Bauer in 24, but Homeland, for all its lip service paid to Muslim sympathy and understanding, still plays on people’s lingering fears and suspicions. And in doing so, of course, it makes for riveting television.

In season one, Agent Matthison spent her days watching Brody — recently rescued from captivity in an al-Qaeda cell in Iraq — on surveillance TV, going about his daily business: reconnecting (not without difficulty) with his wife Jessica (Morena Baccarin), son and surly daughter, getting a political nod from Washington kingmakers who see him as a patriot and war hero and, quite frequently, sneaking into the garage to pray in the direction of Mecca.

Carrie’s wacky suspicions are taken with a grain of salt even by her mentor, Saul Berensen (Mandy Patinkin), the CIA’s Middle East Division chief; yet she insists Brody’s hiding something. At times guided by the very bipolar condition that causes her to eventually crack up (her “manic” phases are often triggered by jittery jazz, that chaotic, improvised music that usually signifies mental imbalance in popular culture), she pieces together Brody’s true purpose and plans. And then her mental illness is revealed, she’s drummed out of the CIA… and given a dose of electroshock to boot.

Damian Lewis, looking suspicious as usual, in Homeland Season 2.

Part of the fun of Homeland’s first season was seeing the endless ways in which Danes could contort her facial features. You haven’t seen this much acting anguish from Danes since, well, she had a season-long crush on Gordon Catelano in My So-Called Life. It’s a role she can really sink her angst into.

Everyone likes a good underdog, so now Carrie’s back, though only as a reluctant consultant to Saul in the opening of season two. Far from frying her brains, Carrie’s managed to keep a fragile balance in her life, post-electroshock: tending to her sister and bipolar father, cooking vegetable lasagna on Sunday nights. But when a CIA asset in Beirut wants to talk about a fresh plot against America, nobody else on Team USA can do the job. So who you gonna call? Before you know it, Carrie’s back undercover, dyed as a brunette and wearing brown contact lenses. Sure, she’s nervous and twitchy at first; she doesn’t think she can sneak her way into Beirut with a fake passport; all the angst of being Carrie Matthison is etched in the furrows of Danes’ face. Combing through a Beirut bazaar, looking for her asset, she realizes she’s being followed. When she manages to slip away, Carrie allows herself to display that beaming expression we’ve come to know so well — manic enjoyment — like a familiar jazz tune. It won’t be long before she starts skipping those meds again and seeing patterns everywhere like A Beautiful Mind. Just you wait and see.

Meanwhile Damian Lewis — who also scored an Emmy — is back as the wishy-washy sleeper who can’t decide how far he’ll go to bring jihad to America. He’s an interesting character to watch as well, full of duplicity and fronts, one lie replaced by another, yet somehow, like the best Hitchcockian villains, partially gaining our sympathy.

Expect another showdown between these two gonzo characters in season two of Homeland, and pass the popcorn.