Spoiler alert: was Saul saying a Jewish prayer for the dead or a Muslim prayer on Homeland?

For what it’s worth, it sounded Jewish to me. I am a musician. I may not know how to speak languages, but I think I have a sense for how they sound. So based on that, it sounded Jewish, not Islamic.

I’ve wondered if Saul is a double, but now he’s head of the team, now that Estes is gone. Don’t know how long that will last. It opens all kinds of possibilities for the next season. Hooray!

I wonder if they will let the Danes character go crazy again. I’m getting tired of her bloodshot eye routine. I want to see her do something truly nuts.

Also, I have to say I’m not fond of her relationship with Brody. It doesn’t feel right to me. I mean, I’m just not convinced there are sparks there. It doesn’t feel right acting wise. Story wise, I can believe it. They just need to sell it to me better.

Youtube link?

Spoiler alerts should say what they’re spoiler alerts for prior to giving the spoiler.

Example: “Spoiler alert (Homeland, Season 2): was Saul saying a Jewish prayer for the dead or a Muslim prayer?”

@Patton He said the prayer in season 1 also. You can flag it if you think it is a real problem and I’ll change it. It isn’t a spoiler to say Saul said a prayer.

@zensky I hadn’t thought to youtube it. Now it does sound Hebrewish to me. Here is the link.

@wundayatta Saul does seem to get lucky with right time right place. Plus, he has trouble with the lie detector tests. And, the way he was freaked out when Estes sidelined him, which is understandable, but then also this explosion is pulled off, and makes us wonder if Saul was also very anxious because he knew this would go down. He prays for the enemy, so we don’t know who is his enemy.

Could hear the ad but not the prayer. If it started with “Ysgadol v’yisgadosh….” it was Kaddish.

Saul was saying the Kaddish.

^ Is correct. You can hear him say…Yehey shmey raba… amen.

Ok thanks. It was so muffled, but I hears shmey in there also, and that is why when I had listened again I thought it was probably Kaddish. I just got so wrapped up in thinking he might be a double agent.

@wundayatta Still, he prays for everyone who dies, even the terrorists, so can’t be sure with Saul. I watched the episode again, because my husband had not seen. Now I am suspicious of more people. The CIA guy sent to kill Brody, can’t remember his name. He doesn’t kill Brody when he sees him pray. What he said to Estes sounded really good, but still that is suspicious.

Also, what if it is someone like Max, Virgil’s brother? Someone we have not suspected at all. Or, even Virgil. They didn’t put cameras in the garage and Brody stopped the news reporter from moving his coach that would have revealed the house was bugged.

Hahaha, now paranoid of everyone.

Then they have done their job well. But you can’t think like a spy here. You have to think like a writer. How do I keep my main characters alive, yet under suspicion? How can they clear their names, yet not really clear them? How many more seasons can I keep these balls in the air? How long before people tire of Claire Danes’ overwrought facial twitching? She is losing it, you know. Last season, she was great. This one, she seemed a bit overdone.

No. What we really need is for her to be promoted to some leadership position, and then find Brody turning her, or something.

@wundayatta Brody turning her? I was thinking more Brody entangling her in a terrorist plot, but her not realizing it. But, actually I trust Brody is not trying to blow up America anymore. Not part of a master plot. But, I do think he will still kill a particular person when push comes to shove, like how he allowed the VP to die. I feel like he almost has no allegiance. When I say trust, I don’t mean anyone should fully trust him.

I guess two things could happen. Now that Brody dissappears Carrie will not be in a relationship with him, so she can continue with the CIA. Maybe Saul will promote her. If he is the bad guy, he probably likes keeping Carrie close, and she tells him everything she is thinking for the most part.

I’m obsessing about it being Virgil or Max.

If there is another mole… ick. That’s too much. That’s like saying the terrorists have our whole society infiltrated. Already, we’ve seen too many terrorist sympathizers in high places for me to believe this. I never believed the Brody turning was remotely realistic. For purposes of the story, I was willing to go along with it. And so now we are in story logic land, not real logic land.

And while we’re at it, what do people see in Brody—or the actor who plays him? I’ve heard people think he is attractive and a good actor. I’m not seeing either of these things. He always looks like he is smirking, to me. Very unpleasant. I don’t see much emotion on his face, either. Is he supposed to be emotionless?

@wundayatta I didn’t mean multiple moles, just trying to figure out who is the one mole.

I think, Brody the actor who plays him, plays “nervous” very well. His stress when doing something he does not want to do, or his stress over making a decision I think he plays very well. Like when he wanted to save Carrie by killing the VP. But, killing the VP was still attractive to him, so it is hard to know what is going through his mind (meaning the mind of the character). Maybe he has his own master plot, and Nazzir was forcing Brody to put himself at risk to free Carrie and so Brody was worried it would trip up his own plan? But, I think that is too complicated,

Yes, it is true we don’t understand Brody. The story of him being turned because of the little boy being bombed never felt right to me. That’s a liberal story. It’s not a soldier story. Soldiers are very rarely liberals.

Killing the VP is a truly anti-American act. For him to do it to save Carrie is also difficult to believe. I don’t understand what he sees in Carrie, anyway. Nor, precisely, what she sees in him. Comfort in one night? Sure. I see that. But an ongoing relationship based on mutual trauma? Even though I’ve been in relationships like that, I don’t see it in this case.

@wundayatta I don’t know exactly what you mean by a liberal story?

Brody all along hated the VP, because of the attack that killed the little boy, and then the lie the US told saying children were not killed. Along that same thought process, remember how angry the Imam was when the CIA would not publicly announce they had killed two innocent civilians? During that time when they were trying to find the black guy who had been turned also I forget his name) the one Brody thought he had beaten to death.

Brody says in his suicide tape he wants to kill who he perceives to be a threat both foreign and domestic. I kind of believe that is his truth. The truth for him.

I did not see the episode, but yes, the Kaddish is in Aramaic – not Hebrew.

Good writing doesn’t use deus ex machina. The mystery person gets introduced early and is left for observant viewers/readers to find.

Ok, so some of the writing on “Homeland” isn’t good; the show can be implausible and frustrating (Nobody but Brody could deliver the tailor to a safehouse? Brody, a Member of the U.S. Congress, seldom goes to his office or does any work?). But, the overall story arc is very well-written.

Given that, the CIA mole should be someone we’ve seen all along. I’m guessing Virgil or his sidekick, both of whom are 100% trusted and seem to be involved in everything.

Do we even know if Virgil & Pal survived the bombing? Were they conveniently elsewhere? If yes, that would be very convincing.

@answerjill So’s my Kettubah.

@PaulSadieMartin Your Kettubah is in Aramaic?

JLeslie – Ketubahs are in Aramaic.

@answerjill I didn’t realize, I am so glad @PaulSadieMartin mentioned it. My Ketubah is beautiful. I have it matted and framed and hanging on a wall in my house. Scary how much I don’t know. Thanks.

@JLeslie and @answerjill I, too, framed and matted my Ketubah and hung it on a wall. I really enjoy inventing fake translations. Examples: “She will have weekly manicures” and “It is her right to spend every August on Martha’s Vineyard.”

My ketubah has the English also. I love it. I love what it says. I wonder if all religions make documents like that for marriage? I have never noticed something like that framed in the homes of my friends who are Catholic or some other Christian faith.