#ifhf

Unfortunately, our efforts have also elicited a negative reaction — for some reason — from a once-prominent Homeland blog who have accused us of running a “smear campaign.”

Coming from the group who founded the “NoQuinnNoHomeland” hashtag movement, we find this accusation hypocritical and ridiculous. After three months of relentless negativity from fans and radio silence from anybody on Homeland’s production team, we created Not Our Homeland to focus our attention on something positive — memorializing Peter Quinn — and we are challenging Showtime to do the same.

Members of this movement have made efforts to include members and followers of that former blog. Many have participated in the #NoQuinnNoHomeland Twitter events. People want to do more.

We have two separate funds. One that donates directly to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, which we chose for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, this charity supports soldiers who have become disabled in service to their country, and they maintain a center with a specific focus on TBI (traumatic brain injury). They also support the family members of soldiers whose lives were lost. Second, this is a charity that we know that Rupert Friend has, in the past, supported, and we want to honor him, and Peter Quinn, with this donation.

The reason we are doing this via Crowdrise, and not directing you to donate directly to IFHF, is so that we can isolate donations made via this campaign.

It is our hope that, ultimately, Showtime will match this contribution.

The other fund, which we refer to as the “cause a ruckus” fund, incorporates elements of successful fan-run protest campaigns. There is no ill intent; we are attempting to make ourselves heard. 

It is not necessary to donate to both funds. If you want your money to go straight to IFHF, donate only at the Crowdrise site. If you want your money to go to the “cause a ruckus” fund, donate at the Fundly site.

No money will be diverted from IFHF to the “cause a ruckus” fund, though any extra money from the latter will be donated to IFHF. 

Please help us channel the negativity into something positive. And maybe some good can come from this fucked-up situation.

Firstly, thank you for having created and sustained Homeland as a truly exceptional, sometimes brilliant show. I feel privileged to be among the show’s huge fandom. I have only recently connected with the social media presence and Homeland community and am thrilled to find many highly intelligent, devoted people with whom I can share my passion for the show. This letter writing initiative is welcome to me as offering a chance to express my deep appreciation for Homeland, but also, sadly, my even deeper disenchantment.

My Homeland journey is in many ways not unusual. I fell in love with seasons 1 and 2, stunned by their boldness and magnificent acting. There were always lulls (in such an intense, gutsy show there have to be) but the writing was so sharp and the characterisation so stunning that I became hooked. Carrie Mathison engaged me as a flawed, multi-dimensional figure far from the mould of stereotypical heroine, beautifully embodied by Claire Danes. New avenues of subtlety and exploration opened up with the arrival of Quinn, thanks to the astonishing chemistry between the two actors, so that seasons 3-4 were fascinating. I was gripped by season 5 but found the plot rather melodramatic and something of the coherence faltered for me; as the torture increased, I found it harder to watch, and couldn’t bring myself to watch the final hour or so. The killing of Quinn seemed gratuitous and cheap.

This proved to be an ominous prelude to season 6 and its relentless, pointless sadism. The show seemed to lose its vision spectacularly, with ever duller backdrop and ever more tedious padding. The plot became incomprehensible and dull beyond endurance. Spasmodic secondary characters clogged up the episodes. Established characters felt extraneous. Only the heartbreaking, fearless performance from Rupert Friend kept me at all interested. He embodied Quinn’s agony and fierce resilience with extraordinary commitment. Carrie simply shrivelled up as a character, with no dynamicism, no spark of genius, nothing of her former self in fact. But above all, I was revolted by the final episode’s pointless despatch of Quinn, and shocking treatment of his character as utterly inconsequential. After so many years of investment and development, a whole arc was casually shut down. Gratuitous and cheap all over again, but this time, much worse, in that real issues of profound seriousness had been raised concerning PTSD, child sexual exploitation, and psychological abuse, only to be curtly dismissed. The potential for something extraordinary to light up the show was simply squandered. Quinn dying believing himself to be devoid of feeling, unlovable, a ‘monkey’, sent out a brutal message about the disposability of those perceived as ‘less than’. The handling of his death was crass in the extreme (e.g. Carrie stuffing his meagre belongings into a rubbish bag in a scene of horrific callousness). There was nothing satisfying about the plot with its dead ends and general lack of direction. All that was left was a sick taste in the mouth.

Suddenly it seems as if Homeland is set on self-destruct.