Homeland 8

Fantasy Bob was riveted by last night's concluding episode of the purportedly final series of Homeland.  As with the majority of the episodes of this long running series, he had only a vague idea of what was happening at any particular moment, but he got the ending. It was very skilfully done.  FB has been a loyal fan of the show from Series 1 Episode 1 and will miss it.

FB has always been intrigued that the most viewed post on this blog is one which followed the conclusion of the first series of Homeland in 2012.  It is not just the most viewed post - it obliterates all competion.  Nothing comes close.  FB has no idea why - the post has no merit in itself (as if any of his posts does).  There is no great cricketing lesson to be learned from it.  Just jejune speculation about Damien Lewis' sporting loyalties.

FB has always imagined that this surge of interest can be attributed to the activity of Russian bots.  They must have been programmed at that time to respond to references in the internet to Homeland in order to test for possible spy material.  If so, FB failed the test.  Presumably the Russinas noted his weakness against leg-spin and concluded he was an unlikely candidate for the secret world.  If he can't eal with an 11-year-old's wrong 'un, how could he be expected to stand up to interrogation?  On the whole, FB is relieved not to have become a candidate for recruitment.  He has enough trouble remembering his own name, quite apart from having to deal with another secret identity.  Not so much an asset, in spy jargon, but definitely a liability.

Mind you, should the CIA be the source of this interest in his work, he will say (in an atypical act of self advocacy) that he is more mentally stable than Carrie Matheson, the heroine of the show and the US's top field agent.  Carrie suffers from bipolar disorder and has to make sure she has her 'meds' with her as she throws herself into all manner of tricky situations in hostile environments.  Without her 'meds' she is crumpled and useless - not unlike FB at the crease.  With them, she takes on the world single-handedly.

FB wonders whether this further mention of Homeland could lead to renewed interest by the Russian spymasters. Just to be on the safe side, he should declare unequivocally that the intervening years have seen no improvement in his ability against leg-spin.  Indeed the reverse is probably more the case.  Unlike Carrie's bipolar disorder, there appear to be no 'meds' that can correct this debilitating condition.