Forgot password
Enter the email address you used when you joined and we'll send you instructions to reset your password.
If you used Apple or Google to create your account, this process will create a password for your existing account.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Reset password instructions sent. If you have an account with us, you will receive an email within a few minutes.
Something went wrong. Try again or contact support if the problem persists.

Rob Batchelor’s Top Ten TV Shows Of 2013

2013 has been a grand year for television. As we'll soon see from my list - perhaps the definitive on the subject - this year has been a rare treat in terms of televisual treats.
This article is over 10 years old and may contain outdated information

8. Homeland

Recommended Videos

homelandclearing2

This year I reviewed the latest season of Homeland for this very site, and if I’m honest, I found it to be a slog towards the end. In my opinion the shocking finale reinvigorated the show, taking it back to the dizzying heights of the epic first season, but for much of the season before that I just wasn’t that interested.

In terms of my “favourite” shows this would be pretty damn low on the list, but I appreciate the ambition and scope the season strove for. Towards the end, the threads that had been deliberately spun out in disparate directions were gradually shorn away without much explanation until it drew focus back to all that truly mattered – the relationship between Carrie, Saul, and Brody. That’s the heart of this show, and all its ever been about. Every effective storyline, every key moment, involves at least one of those three people. Quite how the next season will function, given the loss of one of these three characters, is hard to say.

The show has been a big success on both sides of the pond, however, drawing in big audiences wherever it shows. It has the benefit of cultural zeitgeist attached to it, dealing as it does with international terrorism, the machinations of secret governments, and CIA spying – all hot potatoes that are covered in the news everyday. Dynamic and captivating performances from Damien Lewis, Claire Danes and Mandy Patankin as Nicholas Brody, Carrie Mathison and Saul Berenson respectively make it easy to get hooked on the show, and its refusal to shy away from moments of extreme violence, and extreme tension, mean that most episodes contain at least one sequence that gets your pulse racing to dangerous levels.

Brody barely featured in the first half of this year’s run, being on the run for the Langley bombing at the end of last season. We eventually found him holed up in a squat in the carcass of an abandoned Venezuelan skyscraper (of all places),  but throughout Season 3 we followed his journey back to the US, then into Iran, where things went from bad to worse. It was exciting in the end but the show lost its way in places, following rabbit holes that ultimately led to nowhere – Dana, Mira –  thankfully jettisoning these as the show reached its stunning denouement. It was the only way the season could finish, but where does the show go from here?


We Got This Covered is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more about our Affiliate Policy
Author
Image of Rob Batchelor
Rob Batchelor
Male, Midlands, mid-twenties.