Series 6 of ‘Homeland’ has arrived, which means Carrie Matthison (Claire Danes) is back in action, seemingly back on her meds, reunited with her daughter... but this time nowhere near the CIA that previously barely managed to accommodate her lone wolf counter-terrorism skills.
The season debut found her ensconced in Brooklyn, working for a foundation that helps Muslims unfairly targeted in the US - “small potatoes” for Carrie, according to her patron Otto.
Of course, this being the award-winning spook-filled thriller that first graced our screens in 2011, it wasn’t long before Carrie rubbed up against her former colleagues.
So far, so ‘Homeland’... but one new element will have undoubtedly caught the keen eye of many a viewer, and tickled political watchers, that being the introduction of a brand new President-Elect, about to embark on “the most difficult transition of power on the planet today” according to the reporters camped outside her hotel room.
Yes, it’s a female President-Elect. In a pantsuit. And she previously worked as a Senator. For New York. Which all sounds a bit like...
The series was filmed in August last year, before the Americans went to the polls in November 2016, so the show-runners here were only a few million votes short of turning history into art.
However, even if they called it wrong, the show still emerges as eerily prescient, depicting a President-Elect grappling with her options for foreign policy in Syria, pondering the choice of sending in more troops, as suggested by her military chiefs, or withdrawing altogether, something her CIA chiefs, our favourite spooks Saul and Dar, think she may find the favourable option following the death of her serviceman son.
In his inauguration speech, Donald Trump promised he would rid the planet of Isis, something Elizabeth Keane was told in the show could happen within six weeks if American troops were allowed to land in huge numbers.
We know President Trump likes to watch TV and comment on what he sees - watch this space for his reaction to ‘Homeland’s version of foreign policy. Meanwhile, the fictional CIA’s reaction to all this reflection in the show? “I’m not sure the American people are getting what they bargained for.”
We also know that ‘Homeland’ has form when it comes to nailing it on the head in describing the frustrations of US foreign policy. Remember Quinn’s impassioned retort to top military brass when asked about the prospect of a solution to the ISIS problem...