latimes.com: As Brody,
Lewis, last seen here on the tragically short-lived police drama “Life,”
uses his extraordinary gift for radiant stillness to create a man who
may be Carrie’s perfect contrast but is equally riveting to watch. That
Brody has been broken by his experience is clear; what version of
himself he has managed to rebuild is not.
WSJ.com: Ms. Danes herself has no
problems filling the role of this character. Her portrayal of a woman
regularly on the edge of desperation is impressive in its assurance. So
is the performance of Mr. Lewis, perfect for the part of the stone-eyed
Sgt. Brody, a man who looks as though he’s harboring secrets. All this,
of course, we can attribute to his years of torture and isolation while
a prisoner. He’s also given to flashbacks, a kind that raises our
suspicions.
Aol TV: Given that
he’s playing a career military man who plays his cards close to his
medal-covered chest, Lewis (‘Band of Brothers,’ ‘Life’) has less scope
to work with, but he does deft and even heartbreaking work as he takes
us through Brody’s difficult return to a very changed family. Lewis has
to depict a man of few words who may be plotting to bring down the
country he had sworn to defend, and it’s to the actor’s credit that he
makes both scenarios — Brody as terrorist and Brody as loyal but
troubled American — equally plausible.
CharlotteObserver.com: While Danes delivers a
convincing portrait of an intense but unhinged CIA case officer, it is
Lewis who stretches the most in his role. He is calculating and
enigmatic as the returning hero, but in flashbacks to his hellish
captivity, he reveals a disintegrating character to chilling effect.
The Boston Globe: Who
is the hero? The sustained ambiguity is awesome. And the actors make it
fly. I can’t think of many other actors who could play Brody as
convincingly as Lewis, who hides his British accent as thoroughly as
Hugh Laurie in “House.’’ The red-headed Lewis knows how to bring so many
layers to the same inscrutability he used to a more comic effect in the
two-season series “Life.’’ You really can’t ever quite nail down Brody’s
true intentions with his fellow Marines, with his kids, or with Jessica,
who had begun another relationship when she thought Brody was dead. You
just keep watching him for clues.
TV Guide: An even more fascinating mystery of duality can be found in the psychological thriller Homeland (10/9c), from the producers of 24, which offers two tortured heroes for the price of one. In the case of Marine Sgt. Nicholas Brody (the electrifying Damian Lewis), we’re talking actual torture. Rescued after eight years in grueling Al-Qaeda captivity, Brody is beset by alarming flashbacks and night terrors as he faces an uneasy hero’s homecoming to a world of secrets and lies and an awkward period of adjustment with a family that barely knows him.
TV Worth Watching: In Homeland, the
returning POW is Marine Sgt. Nicholas Brody, a sniper specialist missing
and presumed killed since being captured in Iraq in 2003. Brody is
played by Damian Lewis, an electrifying actor that’s long earned raves
from me, for NBC’s Life, HBO’s Band of Brothers, and the imported dramas
The Forsyte Saga and Friends & Crocodiles. Here, he embodies, and
amplifies, what may be his most multi-layered and challenging character
yet.