Homeland: Season 3

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 413 Ratings

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7.1

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7.1	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 413 Ratings

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Homeland

Now Playing: Homeland

Season Details & Credits

SHOWTIME | Season Premiere Date: September 29, 2013

Starring: Sarita Choudhury, Mandy Patinkin, Claire Danes

Summary: The incident from the end of season two causes major changes for Carrie, Saul, Brody, and his family. New cast members this season include playwright Tracy Letts.

Genre(s): Drama, Suspense

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Season 3 Episodes

tbd
S3:E12. The Star
Air Date: December 15, 2013
tbd
S3:E11. Big Man in Tehran
Air Date: December 8, 2013
tbd
S3:E9. One Last Thing
Air Date: November 24, 2013

See all Seasons and Episodes

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

100

Robert Bianco

Sep 27, 2013

Imagine 24 devoting a substantial block of time to exploring the repercussions of one of its attacks, without moving on to the next threat, and you get the idea. Read full review

Verne Gay

Sep 26, 2013

Foremost, getting Brody off-screen turns out to be an inspired move. In his absence, there's a new world order, or disorder, with a lot of people left to assemble the pieces, including Saul, Carrie, and most of all, Dana. Read full review

Mark Dawidziak

Sep 28, 2013

The show has lost none of its expert knack for building suspense and tossing surprises. Read full review

Tom Gliatto

Sep 27, 2013

The first two episodes of season 3 are reassuringly grounded in believable intrigue. [7 Oct 2013, p.49]

Jeff Jensen

Oct 2, 2013

The business of powerful men demonizing a strong, if suffering, heroic woman makes for layered drama. As usual, Danes throws mind, heart, and jittery chin into making Carrie feel real.... For now, Homeland sans Brody feels too safe, too conventional. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine Matt Roush

Sep 27, 2013

Homeland has its own rebuilding to do, and while some may miss the faster pace of last season, these are dark times, and the show is better for dealing with that reality in uncompromising terms. Read full review

Alessandra Stanley

Sep 20, 2013

The third season doesn’t just stretch credulity, it tries patience. Read full review

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User Score

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7.1

User Reviews

danielhalak

Sep 29, 2013

This show just keeps getting better. Season 3 doesn't disappoint at all. Dramatic, surprising and amazing actors and actresses. It's even better than season 1 and season 2.

5 of 19 users found this helpful514

MyName

Sep 29, 2013

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Homeland is back! Following the events of the season 2 finale, the show feels different, but it is still great. Claire Danes will win another Emmy and Golden Globe award for her performance in this season. I am interested to see how the Brody storyline will play out once he is back.… Expand

3 of 13 users found this helpful310

Jones9434

Oct 13, 2013

Season 3 takes it's time to deal with the emotional fallout from the devastating ending of season 2. Despite the slower pace and more interpersonal bend, this represents a show attempting to confront the atrocities of aftermath (other shows do it better, such as Top of the Lake, andSeason 3 takes it's time to deal with the emotional fallout from the devastating ending of season 2. Despite the slower pace and more interpersonal bend, this represents a show attempting to confront the atrocities of aftermath (other shows do it better, such as Top of the Lake, and Rectify) instead of continually denying the pains and repercussions of war. So far, my hats off to an action show who shows a little humanity.

(This review might display extreme bias, I really like this show.)… Expand

3 of 9 users found this helpful36

MovieMasterEd

Mar 22, 2016

Third season begins seeking to right itself after the second's maddening narrative turns

Few programs have experienced the explosive trajectory of “Homeland,” an Emmy winner for its first season before vaulting headlong into its second, wildly veering off course and, almost literally,Third season begins seeking to right itself after the second's maddening narrative turns

Few programs have experienced the explosive trajectory of “Homeland,” an Emmy winner for its first season before vaulting headlong into its second, wildly veering off course and, almost literally, blowing the whole thing up in the season finale. The third flight thus finds the series back on somewhat more sober terrain in addressing the fallout from those events, while suffering from big absences initially. Smart, watchable and extremely well cast, “Homeland’s” creative roller-coaster ride ultimately illustrates the gap between a popcorn show like “24” — not a bad option, but more limited — and the tougher-to-execute hairpin turns of a “Breaking Bad.”

For those who haven’t caught up (and spoilers will only apply to them), the explosion at the CIA has left the world assuming former POW Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis, absent from these initial episodes) is dead, while the CIA agent who hunted and bedded him, Carrie (Claire Danes), must deal with the fallout, including congressional scrutiny regarding how this mess could have happened.

Carrie’s mentor, Saul (Mandy Patinkin), is also trying to steer an agency decimated and devastated by the blast — eager for both answers and, perhaps less helpfully, revenge.

Showrunners Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon, who adapted the original Israeli series and gave it an electric turbo-boost that made even President Obama a fan, have demonstrated this is a world where very bad things might happen, which is helpful in keeping the audience off balance.

It’s also a place where alliances and friendships are fungible and moral clarity remains elusive. Although “Homeland” doesn’t traffic in moral equivalency necessarily, it does pointedly drive home the notion that the threat of terrorism has a way of leading those charged with thwarting it into questionable thickets, which generally come with unpalatable tradeoffs and distasteful choices.

At the same time, the show hasn’t escaped some of the dead ends that arose and became groan-inducing during last year’s uneven ride, most notably the ongoing mini-drama surrounding Brody’s teenage daughter Dana (Morgan Saylor), whose plotline continues to command far more screentime than it merits.

Danes, by contrast, has made the most of a character whose paranoia is often justified, and Patinkin’s beefed-up presence to start season three (with F. Murray Abraham also hanging around) adds welcome edge and gravitas to the antiterrorism crusade.

“Homeland” has forged a strong enough bond with most of its audience — and built up enough prestige as Showtime’s first best-series Emmy recipient — that it can probably punch its own ticket, but what initially appeared like one of TV’s finest hours slipped several rungs as it aggressively (and to its credit, fearlessly) chewed through life-and-death scenarios.

These latest episodes represent a tentative first step toward seeing whether the show can re-ascend to those heights or, conversely, plummet into an abyss of implausibility. Like so much else pertaining to “Homeland,” at this point, it could go either way.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

AGiantMidget

Jan 26, 2014

Just started out waaaay to slow. They used the whole season to set up one event. I mean i like the long con and all, but come on. It seems like they had one good idea for the season and threw a bunch of crap in ther to fill time. I give it a 5 because in the end it really picked up, but iJust started out waaaay to slow. They used the whole season to set up one event. I mean i like the long con and all, but come on. It seems like they had one good idea for the season and threw a bunch of crap in ther to fill time. I give it a 5 because in the end it really picked up, but i mean really in the END.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

capeguy

Oct 6, 2013

Season three is like watching a balloon slowly deflate. Where's the eminent danger? This season has turned an exciting story line into a melodrama train wreck. How many more Carrie meltdowns are we suppose to endure? Hey writers it's time to catch some bad guys. Get on with it!

11 of 16 users found this helpful115

henrycool

Oct 31, 2014

simply appalling. an incredible decay compared to the previous seasons. little to no thrill. inconsistency in the portrayal of the characters (at the end of the second season dana realized that her father wasn't the author of the attack, and now she has forgotten about her intuition?).simply appalling. an incredible decay compared to the previous seasons. little to no thrill. inconsistency in the portrayal of the characters (at the end of the second season dana realized that her father wasn't the author of the attack, and now she has forgotten about her intuition?). inexplicable disappearance of mike (one would expect he'd move in with brodies' family and instead… nothing, just one, useless appearance; also useless the character of brodie's son: can't even remember his name!). the scene where dana tells her mother she wants to move out is ridiculous: first dana's mother is desperate, and one second later she's just like "ok, go, my sweet daughter, just don't forget to take some food". overall, the first part of the season gives the impression that they used dana's boring issues just to fill some space. the second part of is a bit better, but still much below the excellent level of the two seasons. also, the portrayal of iranians is outrageous, it is informed by the worst, ignorant propaganda (tehran's people are not bearded, hysterical terrorist fans!)… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

SEE ALL 39 REVIEWS

Seasons & Episodes

81

Series Overview
Season 8

71
- Season 8 Overview
  Air Date: February 9, 2020
Season 7

65
- Season 7 Overview
  Air Date: February 11, 2018
Season 6

68
- Season 6 Overview
  Air Date: January 15, 2017
Season 5

76
- Season 5 Overview
  Air Date: October 4, 2015
Season 4

74
- Season 4 Overview
  Air Date: October 5, 2014
Season 3

77
- Season 3 Overview
  Air Date: September 29, 2013
- tbd
  S3:E12. The Star
  Air Date: December 15, 2013
- tbd
  S3:E11. Big Man in Tehran
  Air Date: December 8, 2013
- tbd
  S3:E9. One Last Thing
  Air Date: November 24, 2013
- tbd
  S3:E8. A Red Wheelbarrow
  Air Date: November 17, 2013
- tbd
  S3:E7. Gerontion
  Air Date: November 10, 2013
- tbd
  S3:E6. Still Positive
  Air Date: November 3, 2013
- tbd
  S3:E5. Yoga Play
  Air Date: October 27, 2013
- tbd
  S3:E4. Game On
  Air Date: October 20, 2013
- tbd
  S3:E3. Tower of David
  Air Date: October 13, 2013
- tbd
  S3:E2. Uh... Oh... Ah...
  Air Date: October 6, 2013
- tbd
  S3:E1. Tin Man Is Down
  Air Date: September 29, 2013
Season 2

96
- Season 2 Overview
  Air Date: September 30, 2012
Season 1

92
- Season 1 Overview
  Air Date: October 2, 2011