Congratulations to Homeland

Congratulations to the crew from "Homeland," well-deserved best drama Emmy winner this week - though I'm still a big fan of Mad Men, the recent series seems to have lost of bit of its edge I thought. Homeland was a complete surprise - I've generally been down on Showtime series, which I find very formulaic and just a step up from Lifetime: all featuring a star actor from network TV or films, playing a: woman in distress (C Word, Nurse Jackie) or ordinary person suddenly found in extraordinary circumstances (Weeds) or extraordinary people are really "just like us" (Big Love, Dexter) or just plain exploitation of sex and rx (Californication) - but all of them pretty much two-dimensional and predictable (Dexter maybe an exception there) - and Homeland could have gone the same way (CIA agent with a drug problem) - but it's so much more, at least through the first 5 episodes of season 1: Claire Danes is awesome in the lead, dominating every scene she's in with her big eyes and her expressive features and her strong personality, yet she stays within the boundaries of the character - we genuinely feel we're watching Kerri Mathisson (?) and not C.Danes (not true of most of the other Showtime stars). The plot is suitably complex and tense without being gratuitous in its violence or overly clever or baroque with its plot twists - so far, it all makes sense, and we know just enough to stay interested and engaged, but not all that much more than the main characters. Is Sgt Brody a turned POW, or are Kerri's theories unfounded, or even products of her own drug-induced delusions? We have no clear answer, yet. I will share my suspicion and see how it plays out: I think K's boss, Estes, is the actual turned agent, that he slipped the razor blade to the prisoner - lots of evidence and clues point this way, but I'd be a little disappointed in that his guilt would perpetuate the stereotype: the black/ethnic characters always get the shaft.