Review: Claire Danes and Damian Lewis riveting in Showtime's 'Homeland'

They seem too good to be true at first, the two leads of Showtime's "Homeland," the best new show of the fall season. One is Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes), a tough, smart, dedicated CIA agent who can only be held back by her by-the-book superiors. The other is Sgt. Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis), a Marine sniper who went missing in Iraq 8 years ago and was long presumed dead, only to be discovered alive and (relatively) well during a special forces raid on his captors' base. 

The two could be poster girl and boy for the War on Terror, but almost immediately "Homeland" (it debuts Sunday night at 10) begins showing cracks in the facade. 

We see quickly that Carrie may be more damaged than your average professional who just cares too damn much - that this may be a case where the by-the-book superiors know what they're doing when they try to rein her in. 

Carrie's so twitchy and has so many skeletons in her closet that you can't blame mentor Saul (Mandy Patinkin) for being skeptical when she presents an alternate theory about Sgt. Brody: that he was kept alive for years - when any useful intelligence he could have provided would have expired within days - because he was turned by his captors and is now a terrorist with an All-American face and backstory. But because we get to watch Brody have awkward, at times unsettling, reunions with his wife (Morena Baccarin) and kids - reunions that Carrie herself is watching after setting up illegal surveillance of the Brody home - we can see some of the danger signs she does. Read More...

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