Game of Thrones Made a Powerful Statement About Educational Access in Season 7 Premiere (Game of Thrones S7.01)

As one would expect with Game of Thrones, there was a lot to be excited about within the Season 7 premiere. Arya is continuing her mission of revenge with one of the bloodiest season openers of the show while Dany and Cersei are drawing up their strategy maps (quite literally in Cersei’s case), Jon attempts to take the reigns in the North, and Samwell is almost literally knee deep in shit. We even had a cameo appearance from Ed Sheeran who, along with his merry band of soldiers, seemed much too kind to be rocking Lannister colors. Without doubt, this premiere is setting us up for what is sure to be an epic season.

Redemption (Homeland Rewatch S5.09-S5.12)

If I could sum up the last episodes of Homeland season 5, I would have to argue that the overarching theme is that of “redemption.” This theme manifests in ways that are relevant not only to the narrative but also to the show in general.

All the Little Children (Homeland Rewatch S5.01-S5.04)

While last season of Homeland seemed to try and push all mention of home life and children to the side so Carrie could live her exciting life as a station chief in the middle of a war zone, season five is pushing the exact opposite agenda. Now that Carrie has flipped her switch from an emotionally turned off, hesitant mother to a figure of devout maternity, every fiber of the Homeland narrative in the first episodes of season five seems to be driving home just how much Carrie’s role as a mother is raising the stakes.

Homeland and Modernist Poetry (Homeland Rewatch S3.05-S3.08)

The thing that struck me the most about this middle batch of episodes in Homeland’s season 3 where two titles that were references to modernist poetry. I admit that this might not resonate with just anyone, and I fancy myself more of a media scholar these days, but with my roots in English Literature, this two episode sequence stood out to me immediately. So, this week I would like to look a bit at these two episodes (Season 3, episodes 7 & 8) and talk a bit about how they might relate to the poems they reference and the movements out of which these poems come.

The Mother Type (Homeland Rewatch S3.01-S3.04)

Although I admit that I have spent quite a lot of time focusing on the women of Homeland during my time writing through this Homeland rewatch project, I think it is important to understand how a show like this one deals with a strong female lead protagonist and how this protagonist aligns not only with other women in media, but also with other women within the show. As a result, I will be taking up this topic again this week as it relates to the strong comparisons that are coming up between both Carrie and Jessica in the first episode of the third season.

The Small Screen Scholar

small screen, big ideas