A Guardian leader today is commending the series Homeland as a political thriller that keeps you guessing. Matter of taste really. Speaking for myself, I started out interested, especially in the has-he-been-turned? aspect of the situation. But, you know, there are only so many turns in the turned question that I'm willing to go with: he hasn't, he has, he hasn't, oh, he has again, he hasn't... er, who gives a schlucket? If it's only about playing the audience, include me out. Then there's also this:
The presentation of good and evil is far more nuanced than in a conventional political thriller. One minute, the war on terror is depicted as a sad necessity; the next, terrorists show their human side. Herein lies Homeland's strength: it is difficult to know where one's sympathies should lie.
What, you mean terrorists are also human?! There was I thinking they were some strange robotic mutants hailing from the fifth moon of Znaglar.
It's now rather familiar that killers and such are of our species. And there's more than one view about feeling sympathy for people who coldly plan the mass murder of innocents. One is that because they're human, you have to, sob, feel for them. Another would be that, aside from saints, most ordinary folk can't feel sympathy for absolutely everyone, so there are what you might call priorities as far as sympathy is concerned.