So, the season finale to Homeland ran last night. Despite being a longtime fan of the spy genre (the more paranoid and morally grey, the better), I have yet to get into this particular show yet. However, my partner and her mother have been avid fans of Homeland from the beginning, and let me tell you, they were not happy with how this season ended. From a cursory glance at Twitter and Facebook, they’re not the only ones. Opinion seems to be divided rather sharply between “brilliant!” and “WTF?” One tweet referenced the perplexing finale of Dexter by saying “I’m just glad they didn’t fast-forward 5 months and show Brody as a lumberjack.”
If the criticisms start to dominate public response to season three, there’s a way that Homeland‘s creators can avoid having to go the lumberjack route: replace all the actors with dogs. That might sound a little nuts at first; after all, Claire Danes and company have amassed an extremely devoted following with their performances, and it would be hard to find the exact right canine to fill their shoes.
But before dismissing the idea completely out of hand, take a look at the video below, courtesy of the folks at The Bark Post. Consider it a trial balloon, if you will. I have to admit that I’m not entirely sold on the idea myself. There might have to be some casting changes. I’m not sure, for instance, that a Scottie is a good replacement for Mandy Patinkin. They’re too small and high-energy for his modern-day persona. Maybe if we were recasting The Princess Bride with dogs, I could see putting a Scottie in the role of Inigo Montoya, but that was twenty-five years ago. The older Patinkin is more like a big Saint Bernard: heavy, gruff, and always watchful.
What do you think? Are canines just what Homeland needs to spice up Season Four? Is it fine the way it is? Or is the entire cast doomed to morph into Dexter-style lumberjacks?
