Homeland season 1 box set

I don't really watch that much TV and I missed this series on the UK run (it's shown on Channel 4 in the UK) but heard a lot about it, with several of my friends falling under its spell and becoming addicted to the storyline. I was always going to get the DVD - I much prefer to watch entire seasons over a few days or a week or so,depending on how long the season was. Homeland's first season was twelve episodes and I watched the entire series in a week.

The plot, courtesy of the Wiki - "The series follows Carrie Mathison, a Central Intelligence Agency operations officer who, after conducting an unauthorized operation in Iraq, is put on probation and reassigned to the CIA's Counterterrorism Center in Langley, Virginia. In Iraq, Carrie was warned by an asset that an American prisoner of war had been turned by al-Qaeda. Carrie's job grows complicated when her boss, Director of the Counterterrorism Center David Estes, calls Carrie and her colleagues in for an emergency briefing. Carrie learns that Nicholas Brody, a U.S. Marine Sergeant who had been reported as missing in action since 2003, has been rescued during a Delta Force raid on a compound belonging to terrorist Abu Nazir. Carrie comes to believe that Brody is the American prisoner of war that her asset in Iraq was talking about.However, the federal government and her superiors at the CIA consider Brody a war hero. Realizing it would be nearly impossible to convince her boss to place Brody under surveillance, Carrie approaches the only other person she can trust, Saul Berenson. The two must now work together to investigate Brody and prevent another terrorist attack on American soil."

It's a cleverly written series with twists that take the viewer by total surprise and we are left guessing if Brody has been turned or not until late into the run, and when the reveal comes it is shocking. The writers threw us a curve-ball when we discovered that a character we previously assumed dead was alive and working for the terrorists, and for some time we are led to believe that although Brody converted to Islam while in captivity he is still loyal to America. And the final episode in which Brody, wearing an explosive vest, is locked in a bunker with the Vice President as well as other dignitaries is truly nail biting.

The season wrapped up nicely leaving viewers eager for the second season which is now screening in both the UK and US - I'll wait for the DVD though as I don't want to come into this mid season. The writing is excellent, the acting flawless and the pacing just right for an episodic TV series - One word - excellent.