Reviewed: Homeland (Tuesday, RTÉ2); The Walking Dead (Monday, Fox); Euro 2016 Qualifier: Republic of Ireland v Germany (Thursday, RTÉ2); Euro 2016 Qualifier: Poland v Republic of Ireland (Sunday, RTÉ2)
Some shows are quite traumatic, and not just for the characters. Quite often the viewers suffer too. Take Homeland (Tuesday, RTÉ2) for example. It took me quite a while to get over the daft and awful season two. So much so, I skipped season three with a vengeance and merely ignored season four, where the show, by all accounts, made something of a comeback. So I decided to give the opening couple of episodes in the new fifth season a look. Here we go: hooked again.
While the opening episode set things up nicely - Carrie's got a new job and life in Berlin - a succession of unconnected events cause things to spiral to a point where by the end of the second episode it's all gone to hell for her, all over again. And she's back in the Middle East, dodging bombs and bullets in Beirut.
The huge positive so far is that the daft factor is gone. I have no idea how realistic this taut, paranoia-fueled, depressing look at the so-called war against terror is, but it is convincing, which is at least half the battle. And I'm back caring about Carrie, who's now being targeted by persons or persons unknown. She's like a magnet for the malevolent forces out there.
Like The Wire - whose central theme was that the war on drugs is unwinnable - Homeland is borderline nihilistic, telling us that what's going on in the Middle East is both chaotic and futile and a war that can't be won. There are no good guys here, just lots of people motivated by religious zeal, greed, sociopathy or self-righteousness. The sour milk of human kindness is simply overflowing. So, yes: more please.
Back for a sixth season, The Walking Dead (Monday, Fox) is another show that I gave up on, but for a very different reason. After around a million splattered zombies I plum got bored and stopped caring at the top of the fifth run. But I'm a big fan of Andrew Lincoln, who plays group leader Rick, and decided to give the show another go.
The season six opener was excellent. A brutal, bloody, relentless ballet of death, it was a dizzying experience. Rick became a cold-blooded executioner at the end of the show's fifth season, and this week's opener saw him organise a plan to divert a massive number of walkers (zombies) away from Alexandria, as the camp comes to terms with aftermath of the deaths of Pete and Reg, while Rick reacquainted himself with Morgan Jones.
Using monochrome flashbacks to differentiate between the then and now, the episode showed how far Rick has descended into the darkness that must follow as a result of the massive levels of murder and mayhem that can only occur during a zombie apocalypse.
It was a bit convenient that the only one questioning Rick's practical approach - kill or be killed - is new face Carter, who ends up having half a cheek chewed by a walker before Rick finishes him off. But the big deal is that the attempt to divert the army of walkers is a disaster and legions of zombies are heading for Alexandria. So my plan for next Monday is an early dinner - no red meat, for sure - and a bit of Dead. Hooked again, part two.
There was plenty of sport on offer – nothing new there, really – but the last week was one that had the civilian, non sport-fixated population getting very excited, especially after what happened during the Euro 2016 Qualifier: Republic of Ireland v Germany (Thursday, RTÉ2).
Soccer host Darragh Maloney
The usual suspects were in studio with Darragh Maloney, who has reached the stage where he's not just the best sports anchor on Irish TV, he's arguably the best broadcaster in the land. The man's seamless, and it can't be easy when you've got the Statler and Waldorf of Irish football pundrity (Giles and Dunphy) in studio, ably assisted by Calamity James, aka Liam Brady.
Before the game, Dunphy was the only one who felt Martin O'Neill's boys could do the business against the reigning world champions. As the entire planet now knows, Shane Long struck just into the last quarter of the game to record an astonishing Irish win.
"I thought we needed a miracle and I've just seen it," Brady said afterwards, looking genuinely shocked by the outcome. Dunphy was beside himself. "I always believed," he insisted. "You never go around saying you can’t beat teams. Germany came here with arrogance, they didn't have a go."
As for man of the match Wes Hoolahan, Dunphy struggled to find appropriate superlatives and joked: "He's my love child!"
And so the scene was set for Sunday's final group game, in Warsaw (Euro 2016 Qualifier: Poland v Republic of Ireland,Sunday, RTÉ2). I had great fun explaining the permutations to my football-hating wife, it was the younger son's birthday so pizza and cake lined the table in the front room, and even our dog seemed to be aware that this was a bit of a moment.
Before the game, Dunphy was back in his more familiar 'spitting feathers' mode as his beloved Weso was on the bench. He fell just short of accusing Ireland coach Martin O'Neill of committing treachery. "He doesn't trust Hoolahan," he barked. "He said in public he should play Wes at home, implying it should be against the lesser teams." The mood in the studio was less than optimistic. I just kept eating pizza and hoping for the best. It never works, but I do enjoy pizza.
A frantic first half saw Ireland down 1-2 at the break and not posing much of a threat to the Poles, but still they were just one goal away from the 2-2 that would nail down second place and automatic qualification. But sure you know what didn't happen next.
Afterwards, the mood in the studio was a mixture of anger and indignant disbelief. Dunphy, of course, is the High King of Indignant Disbelief. "We saw the rugby team today being magnificent," he said. "I saw an Irish team tonight with a number of players copping out, not taking on responsibility to get on the ball - John O’Shea repeatedly fouling Lewandowski."
Giles and Brady were a little more subdued, but still looked like they'd just heard bad news about a close friend. "We have to put our hands on our heart and say we didn't deserve to finish second," said Brady.
Still, the upside is that we can do it all over again with November's play-off games. Unlike everything else in life, football never ends.
John Byrne
