Homeland
The Smile
TV Flash files “The Smile” as a desk essential hour — Homeland (2011–2020) on Showtime, season 2, episode 1, aired 2012-09-30, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S02E01: listed hour 13 of 96 in the Homeland guide, first listed hour of season 2. It aired 2012-09-30 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Marine One” (S01E12). Next is “Beirut is Back” (S02E02).
Essential hour: “The Smile”. The Smile still rides early-Emmy heat — suspicion as weekly appointment, not yet the flagship's later roving years.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
In the Season 2 premiere, Brody learns he is the political "future of the party," and receives a tantalizing offer from the vice president, while a recovering Carrie receives a disturbing request from a surprising source. In Beirut, Saul gets involved in some cloak-and-dagger doings.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Smile sit in the Homeland guide?
S02E01 is listed hour 13 of 96 — first listed hour of season 2, season 2 episode 1.
When did Homeland S02E01 air?
The Smile aired 2012-09-30 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Where should I start?
Season one — the Brody suspicion loop is the tightest craft. Later seasons shift missions and regions; the early run is the rewiring of cable espionage people still mean.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Claire Danes's bipolar CIA officer as the camera's heartbeat: Brody suspicion, Saul's counsel, a decade of wars and administrations. Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa's Showtime flagship dominated early-2010s Emmys, then went roving. Post-9/11 prestige as long-form nerve damage — watch the first loops of doubt, then the foreign-policy anxiety tour.
October 2, 2011, Showtime: a bipolar CIA officer suspects a rescued POW has been turned, and trust collapses into geopolitics. Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa developed *Homeland* from the Israeli series *Prisoners of War*. Claire Danes's manic intelligence is the camera's heartbeat — multiple Emmys as Carrie Mathison — with Damian Lewis's Brody as the early cat-and-mouse, Mandy Patinkin as Saul, Rupert Friend as Quinn. Rex's beat is not the app. It is the long nerve: **eight seasons as a national anxiety diary.**
Filed against
- Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison
Claire Danes’s Angela Chase narrated My So-Called Life like a wound that had not scabbed — 1990s catalog one perfect canceled season, then Homeland turning the same nerve into a CIA heartbeat. TV Flash files her as the sophomore who…
- Damian Lewis as Nicholas Brody
Damian Lewis’s Richard Winters walked Band of Brothers from training ground to the Reich’s end — 2000s catalog Easy Company, prestige miniseries as a template, then Homeland recasting the composure as Brody suspicion. TV Flash files him…
- Mandy Patinkin as Saul Berenson
Mandy Patinkin’s Jeffrey Geiger brought intensity to Chicago Hope’s prestige white coats — ER’s rival across the dial, David E. Kelley’s ethics machine — then counselled a decade of wars as Saul on Homeland. Nineties doctor speeches;…
- Rupert Friend as Peter Quinn
Rupert Friend's Peter Quinn carried Homeland as field-agent nerve damage — Claire Danes's bipolar CIA officer as the camera's heartbeat, Brody suspicion, Saul's counsel, a decade of wars and administrations. Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa's…
- Morena Baccarin as Jessica Brody
Morena Baccarin’s Inara Serra gave Firefly’s ragtag Serenity a Companion’s poise — space western as found family, fourteen Fox episodes canceled out of order — then entered Homeland’s Brody-suspicion decade. Browncoat treasure; Showtime…