review of Homeland 4.11 

Homeland this season has been looking more like 24 at its best, which in my book is strong indeed. Important people being killed, people like Max therefore moving up into more prominent positions, characters from the almost-past coming back in pivotal roles - all of that keeps the story a little dangerously off-balance, never quite allowing us to get our bearings as viewers, which makes for fine television indeed.

Consider, for example, Dar Adal.  He seemed something of a snake last season, ostensibly supporting Saul but also always on the verge of knifing him in the back, or so it seemed.  In tonight\'s episode he resurfaces at the very end.   But as what?

At very least, he\'s the reason Carrie doesn\'t take a shot at Haqqani, after she stops Quinn from killing Haqqani to save Quinn\'s life (we just knew Quinn couldn\'t succeed, because he never quite does, however well he plans), and after that Pakistani military guy who seems not that bad but somehow never or rarely does the right thing gets in Carrie\'s face right there in the street with Haqqini\'s car driving slowly by, slowly enough for Carrie to shoot. But what stops Carrie is the sight of Dar Adal in the backseat of the car - the car with Haqqani.

Doing what?   Is Dar the new CIA chief, or on his way to becoming that, and the U.S. is now negotiating with Haqqani?   Hard to believe.  Or was Dar in league with Haqqani all along, that is, working with a terrorist, against US and even some Pakistani interests?   That\'s a little easier to believe, but also doesn\'t seem quite right.

What is clear is that Carrie\'s fate is to some extent, and against most odds, more in Dar\'s hands now than anyone else\'s.   Whatever Dar\'s ultimate motives, his presence in this pit severely restricts Carrie\'s range of action - that is, unless Dar is somehow, and after all of this, a good guy.

Homeland, especially this season, which is a large part of what is making this season so good.

See also Homeland 4.1-2: Carrie\'s State of Mind ... Homeland 4.3: Quinn and Carrie ... Homeland 4.4: Carrie\'s Counterpart ... Homeland 4.5: Righteous Seduction ... Homeland 4.6: The Biggest Reveal ... Homeland 4.7: The Manifestation ... Homeland 4.8: Saving Someone\'s Life ... Homeland 4.9: Hitchcock Would\'ve Loved It ... Homeland 4.10: The List

And see also Homeland 3.1: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 3.2: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 3.3: Two Prisons ... Homeland 3.4: Twist! ...Homeland 3.6: Further Down the Rabbit Hole ... Homeland 3.7: Revealing What We Already Knew ... Homeland 3.8: Signs of Life ...Homeland 3.9: Perfect Timing ... Homeland 3.10: Someone Has to Die ... Homeland 3.11: The Loyalist ... Homeland Season 3 Finale: Redemption and Betrayal

And see Homeland 2.1-2: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 2.3-5: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 2.6: What Brody Knows ... Homeland 2.7: Love Me Tinder ... Homeland 2.8: The Personal and the Professional ...Homeland Season 2 Finale: The Shocker and the Reality

And see also  Homeland on Showtime ... Homeland 1.8: Surprises ... Homeland Concludes First Season: Exceptional

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Paul Levinson, PhD, is Professor of Communication & Media Studies at Fordham University in New York City.  His 8 nonfiction books, including The Soft Edge (1997), Digital McLuhan (1999), Realspace (2003),  Cellphone (2004), and New New Media (2009, 2nd edition 2012), have been the subject of major articles in the New York Times, Wired, the Christian Science Monitor, and have been translated into 12 languages. His science fiction novels include The Silk Code (1999, ebook 2012), Borrowed Tides (2001), TheConsciousness Plague (2002, 2013), The Pixel Eye (2003), The Plot To SaveSocrates (2006, ebook 2012), and Unburning Alexandria (2013).  His short stories have been nominated for Nebula, Hugo, Edgar, and Sturgeon Awards.  Paul Levinson appears on "The O'Reilly Factor" (Fox News), "The CBS Evening News,"  “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” (PBS),  “Nightline” (ABC), NPR, and numerous national and international TV and radio programs. His 1972 album, Twice Upon a Rhyme, was re-issued in 2009 (CD) and 2010 (remastered vinyl). He reviews the best of television in his InfiniteRegress.tv blog, and was listed in The Chronicle of Higher Education’s “Top 10 Academic Twitterers” in 2009.

Chronicle of Higher Education puts Paul Levinson in Top 10 (#7) of Academic "High Flyers" on Twitter ... Online University Data puts PL in "Top 50 Online University Professors on Twitter Worth Following"...

Dear Paul, I just dreamed of airships flying between raindrops. I just returned from 2042 CE, where I sold my hardcover copy of The Plot to Save Socrates for seventy million Neo-Euros, because it had your response to this e-mail from way back in 2007 scotch-taped onto the inside of the cover. A Paul Levinson collector paid top Neo-Euro, because of the authentic archaic e-mail printout from you. It turns out that not many of your e-mails from before your tenure as CEO of HBO/Cinemax and terms as United Nations Secretary General will survive that far into the future. So, please respond to this e-mail, to help found my great-grandchildren\'s fortune. My Will will stipulate that they must share with your great grandchidren. Thanks! Tom

President, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, 1998-2001

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Twice Upon a Rhyme reviewed in Jan-Feb 2011 Shindig Magazine

Paul Levinson appears on "The O\'Reilly Factor" (Fox News), "The CBS Evening News," "Nightline" (ABC), the "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" (PBS), "The Dylan Ratigan Show" (MSNBC) and frequently on NPR and all-news radio...