The surprising twist at the end of season six of “Homeland” was not the death of one of the major characters. Truth to yell, Quinn was on the point of death for most of the season and giving him a heroic end was more of a kindness than letting him linger from the after effects of being gassed in season five. No, the real twist was the revelation about who the real villain was.
The most annoying character, besides Carrie, in the now finished season of “Homeland” was the president election, a younger, more attractive version of Hillary Clinton named Elizabeth Keane who was going to stop the war on terror by essentially stop fighting the terrorists.
The series hinted that she had become unhinged by the death of her serviceman son. In any case, various intelligence and military factions inside the government attempted to either undermine or, failing that, kill the incoming POTUS. Carrie and Quinn helped to thwart those plans, and right seemed to triumph over evil.
However, the twist came when Carrie, now the president’s senior advisor, finds out that Keane is arresting everybody, using the assassination attempt to scoop up anyone who might be an opponent of her policies whether or not they were actually guilty. Even Saul, the left-leaning spymaster who had been Carrie’s mentor, finds himself in federal lockup.
Of course, the development is another bludgeoned lesson about becoming the monster we fight against.
No real president in the modern era, even Obama who seemed to regard the Constitution as a set of suggestions, was brazen enough to lock up political opponents on trumped up charges. It looked suspiciously like the people who wanted to stop Keane by any means necessary may have had a point.
The show has especially gone bold by making the liberal politician the big bad for the next season.
The courage is especially telling because when the season was in production, many people expected the outcome of the presidential election to be different than what actually transpired. Imagine the media commentary if President Hillary Clinton was in power and her fictional counterpart turned out to be a paranoid tyrant trampling on civil liberties.
What this means for season seven is anyone’s guess. Carrie is now in the seat of power of a president who is going to need stopping. The former spy has never been particularly stable and, during the season, she seemed to have all but switched sides in the war on terror. But now she has an enemy more threatening than any jihadi with a bomb. Is she up for what needs to be done? We’ll see next year.
