4. Sudden Character Changes
Speaking of the characters, they dont seem to be themselves, particularly Carrie, who by Ep.3 is a few pen-stabbings away from a straight-jacket, due to being off her meds. Claire Danes has always played the slightly psychotic side of Carrie to perfection, letting facial tics and flickering eye-movements convey her inner battle to conceal her true self. Of course you could argue that the depths the writers are taking her character are meant to be arduous and repetitive, as through the exceptional circumstances of losing her job alongside the man she loved, coupled with being witness to an explosion that killed many of her friends, would have lesser people going to live in the woods. However three episodes in and the Carrie of previous seasons who always seemed to have a backbone of rationality and understanding of her condition in relation to others is yet to pull herself together, instead the third episode ended on the opposite, drawing a parallel between Carries imprisonment inside a psychiatric facility, and that of Brody locked up in a Venezuelan tower block. Then theres Saul, a man with enough bearded-charm to make a few anti-protagonist remarks and still keep fans on his side. However Im not sure what were meant to make of him in the new season after his comments to the new Muslim intern, being that he was always the most respectful of other cultures in the previous seasons. Then weve got Rupert Friends Peter Quinn getting his Jack Bauer on to become a much more likeable guy whilst standing up to Sauls burying of Carrie on public television, providing someone well happily root for amongst this deluge of blank stares and depressingly glum interactions.