Homeland at the TCA press tour: [Spoiler] doesn't [spoiler] in the first [spoiler] [spoiler]!
The producers of Homeland might say they don’t particularly care about the backlash to the last few episodes of the show’s second season. They might say that the only proper response to backlash is for them to keep making the show they want to make or that the show’s increased ratings throughout season two and its 11 Emmy nominations (including five acting nominations, writing and directing nominations, and a nomination for the show) stand as the perfect sort of response to anyone who feels the show lost a step in those episodes. But they also made sure to send out the first two of season three to critics—rather unusual two months ahead of the new season’s première—and those first two episodes have a markedly different tone from the end of season two, while also steering into the skid of the giant can of worms opened by that season finale. They’re very good, even as just enough of the season two hangover exists to make that praise a touch cautionary. They also sort of feel like a different show entirely (in a good way).
The show’s Television Critics Association summer press tour panel was heavy on questions specifically pertaining to events in those first two episodes, so we’ll steer clear of talking about those things in particular, but showrunner Alex Gansa did tell us one bit of information we can reveal to you that you might consider a spoiler, even as he thinks it’s not. On the one hand, if you were disheartened by the end of season two, this is information you might like to know. On the other hand, if you don’t want to know anything, you should probably stop reading.