“It f—ed me up, Saul. Being wrong about Brody, it really—it f—ed me up. I have never been so sure…and so wrong. And it’s that fact that I still can’t get my head around. It makes me unable to trust my own thoughts. Every time I think I see something clearly now…it just disappears.”

In the first season of Homeland, Sergeant Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis) returned home after eight years in captivity in Iraq. Bi-polar intelligence officer Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) suspected that Brody had been turned by terrorist Abu Nazir, and her obsession to prove this caused her to lose her sanity and her career.

The second season of Homeland picks up some time after Carrie’s shock treatment. She no longer works for the C.I.A. and is now teaching English as a Second Language classes. Carrie has her condition under control and is trying to forget about Brody, who is now a U.S. Congressman. However, one of Carrie’s former assets tells the C.I.A. she has news of an attack on the U.S. but she will only speak to Carrie. So Carrie is dragged back into the world that she had been avoiding. Meanwhile, Brody is also being forced into getting his hands dirty for Abu Nazir even though he only agreed to help steer things politically.

The first two episodes of the second season of Homeland are truly amazing. Shot on location in Israel, the series starts off with a tense, cinematic thrill ride taking place in the streets of Beirut. (Seeing how well these episodes turned out, I would love to see an entire season filmed abroad—although that wouldn’t really serve the title of “Homeland”.) The rest of the season that follows is a tense spy game as the hunt for Abu Nazir continues, and this time its even closer to home. With a lot of twists and turns, you can never be sure where loyalties lie, or what’s going to happen next.

Danes and Lewis continue to give amazing dramatic performances this season—this is especially evident in a pivotal scene between Carrie and Brody in this season’s fifth episode, “Q&A”. The second season also introduces some interesting new characters like C.I.A. agent Peter Quinn (Rupert Friend) and Brody’s Abu Nazir go-between Roya Hammad (Zuleikha Robinson).

While overall I found this season to be really action-packed and exciting, it was not without its missteps—and I chalk much of that up to the fact that the show comes from the folks behind 24. Near the mid-to-latter half of the season, things go a bit off track—something that I also found true in seasons of 24. From characters rushing into dangerous situations unarmed, to hit-and-run accidents, there are some plot lines that could have been a little more thought out. I also found the penultimate episode of the season to be rather slow. However, that may have been by design, to give the viewer a lull before the shocking, unexpected season finale that changes everything.

It was great watching Homeland on this Blu-ray set because the episodes tend to end on a cliffhanger, and it was so nice to just continue the action immediately and not have to wait a week for a resolution! The Blu-ray’s Season Play option allows you to keep track of where you left off as you make your way through the season.

The show looks beautiful on this Blu-ray—the picture quality is great and detailed. Similarly, the audio track successfully captures all of the dialogue, action and jazzy score. The bonus features included on the discs are a little slim. There are no audio commentaries this season, but there are two interesting behind-the-scenes featurettes—one for the season premiere and one for the season finale. There is also a handful of deleted scenes, a Damian Lewis video diary (which I wish had been done in a more modern style), and a short prologue for the third season.

The second season of Homeland is dramatic, tense, and exciting—this Blu-ray is definitely worth checking out.

What’s Included on the Blu-ray:

Episodes: (10:29:52)

• All 12 episodes of Season 2
  Disc 1: “The Smile”, “Beirut is Back”, “State of Independence, “New Car Smell”
  Disc 2: “Q&A”, “A Gettysburg Address”, “The Clearing”, “I’ll Fly Away”
  Disc 3: “Two Hats”, “Broken Hearts”, “In Memoriam”, “The Choice”
• Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French

Extras:

• Deleted Scenes (5:12)
  Four short deleted scenes spread across the 3 discs.
• “Return to the Homeland: Filming in Israel” (7:52)
  For the season premiere, the production was taken to Israel where Tel Aviv doubled for Beirut. This featurette contains behind the scenes footage and interviews from the set. The cast and crew talk about the challenges and advantages of shooting abroad, and what is is like working with the local crew from Hatufim, the series on which Homeland was based. Those interviewed include Producer Michael Klick, Creator of Hatufim/Executive Producer of Homeland Gideon Raff, Co-creator/Executive Producer Howard Gordon, President of Entertainment at Showtime Networks, Inc. David Nevins, writer/executive producer Chip Johannessen, and Director/Executive Producer Michael Cuesta and actors Mandy Patinkin (“Saul Berenson”) and Navid Negahban (“Abu Nazir”).
• “THE BORDER: A Prologue to Season Three” (1:40)
  A short scene to fill in the gap between the second and third seasons of Homeland.
• A Super 8 Film Diary by Damian Lewis (11:05)
  Damian Lewis narrates grainy behind-the-scenes footage of the cast and crew. There is no audio from the footage, and I’m not sure if this was really shot in Super 8 or if effects were added to make it look that way. While Lewis has fun talking about the cast and crew, I would have preferred a more traditional behind-the-scenes featurette with crisper footage and the actual audio included.
• “The Choice: The Making of the Season Finale” (15:41)
  The cast and crew give their reactions to and discuss Homeland‘s second season finale—they talk about the loss of characters, alternate endings/plot points, and give a few hints as to what to expect in season 3. Those interviewed include actors Damian Lewis (“Nicholas Brody”), Mandy Patinkin (“Saul Berenson”), Claire Danes (“Carrie Mathison”), Morena Baccarin (“Jessica Brody”), Morgan Saylor (“Dana Brody”), David Harewood (“David Estes”), Rupert Friend (“Peter Quinn”) and Timothee Chalamet (“Finn Walden”). Crew members interviewed include Co-creator/Showrunner Alex Gansa, Co-creator/Executive Producer Howard Gordon, Writers/Executive Producers Meredith Stiehm, Alex Cary, and Henry Bromell, Production Designer John Kretschmer and Director of Photography Nelson Cragg.

Final Thoughts:

The second season of Homeland starts with an amazing two hours of television that should not be missed, and closes with a shocking game-changing finale. While the Blu-ray contains a minimal amount of bonus features, two of these are interesting behind-the-scenes looks at the the season premiere and finale. Fans of the series will want to pick up this Blu-ray set as the show looks/sounds better than ever. New viewers will want to check out this Blu-ray to catch-up before the third season premiere.