Homeland, Seasons 1-8

Starring: Claire Danes, Damien Lewis, Mandy Patinkin, Rupert Friend, F. Murray Abraham

Showtime TV MA (language, sexual situations, nudity, violence)

2011-2020 

This is another outstanding TV series that I can’t stop watching.  Home grown terrorism with so many twists and turns that you really don’t know whose side people are on! 

Claire Danes plays CIA agent, Carrie Mathison.  She is the top spy agent who has spent many hours in the field working cases.  Damien Lewis plays Nicholas Brody, an American Marine Sniper who has been held hostage for 8 years in Iran.  He has come home to a hero’s welcome, but all is not right with him.  This is the start of an 8 season run for this show. Seasons 1-3 deal with the relationship between Brody and Carrie and her quest to prove that he has “turned.” That he is working for al-Qaeda.  She becomes obsessed with proving the truth about Brody but no one in the CIA will believe her. 

Mandy Patinkin plays Carrie’s boss, Saul, who is amazing!  The working and personal relationship between all these characters are so intertwined it makes you wonder how much of the story is “real world spying.”  There’s a lot of revolving characters and story lines.  There’s love and loss.  Betrayal and redemption.  But you’re never really sure who the good guys are! 

What’s exceptional about this show, besides telling intriguing spy stories, is it gives you a view into a world that’s not black and white.  Sometimes the good guys have to do bad things to stop the bad people.  Is that ok? Is it justified?  By what means and how far will someone go for the truth or to create their version of it? 

Homeland is so easy to binge because the storylines are crazy insane, but yet you know this stuff happens!  If you’re bored with TV like I am and need something to help pass the cold winter nights – this show will get you through! 

Library Link: Homeland, Season 1 (DVD)

Library Link: Homeland, Season 2 (DVD)

Library Link: Homeland, Season 3 (DVD)

Library Link: Homeland, Season 4 (DVD)

Library Link: Homeland, Season 5 (DVD)

Library Link: Homeland, Season 6 (DVD)

Library Link: Homeland, Season 7 (DVD)

Breaking Bad, Seasons 1-6

Starring: Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Dean Norris, Anna Gunn

AMC TV MA (language, sexual situations, nudity, violence)

2008-2013 

I always seem to be late to the party of watching series.  But with the way TV is lately, there’s nothing to watch, which gave me a really good reason to watch some series that I’ve heard so much about. 

I THROUGHLY ENJOYED THIS SERIES!!  Who wouldn’t watch a show about a high school chemistry teacher that tried his hand at cooking meth and became the biggest drug lord! 

Bryan Cranston, “Walt,” is the typical, boring, high school chemistry teacher.  He has a wife, a teenage son and a baby on the way.  It may not have been what he really wanted out of life, but he left the business he helped build to spend more time with his family.  He finds out he has terminal lung cancer and just a short time to live.  His brother-in-law, Hank, just happens to be a DEA agent who takes Walt on a ride and shows him the dirty side of his job - busting drug dealers.  What’s Walt to do when you want to leave your family financially well off when you’re gone?  You cook meth.  Aaron Paul, “Jessie,” (who is now my favorite actor) is a former student of his, but also becomes his meth partner.  Between the two of them, they cook up the cleanest meth around town.  What started as a simple, one time deal, turns into a living nightmare that Walt didn’t see coming. 

What an intense show!  There are dealings with the Mexican Cartel that go bad. Dealing with other drug lords that go bad.  There are crimes that are committed that they thought they would never do. Everything centers around Walt trying to do the right thing for his family.  But along the way, Walt loses the reason of why he was cooking and becomes an alter ego with power.  Walt and Jessie go down the rabbit hole and when the story ends – you’re not sure who’s going to be the last man standing.  Superb show with superb actors. 

Library Link: Breaking Bad, Season 1 (DVD)

Library Link: Breaking Bad, Season 2 (DVD)

Library Link: Breaking Bad, Season 3 (DVD)

Library Link: Breaking Bad, Season 4 (DVD)

Library Link: Breaking Bad, Season 5 (DVD)

Library Link: Breaking Bad, Season 6 (DVD)