Homeland Season 5 Blu-ray review

Jan 12, 2017- Permalink

I recently had a chance to take a look at season five of Showtime’s Homeland, which is now available on Blu-ray. Its events take place about two years after those in season four. Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes), the former CIA intelligence officer, is living in Berlin and working as part of the security team surrounding Otto Düring (Sebastian Koch), a wealthy German philanthropist. Carrie finds herself interacting with her old co-workers as the twelve episodes deal with themes like Edward Snowden, ISIS, and the migrant crisis.

This 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment release has an AVC encoded 1080p transfer that is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. Colours are very good, especially in the European locales, though some of the darker scenes that are stock for spy stories have some loss of definition. Fine detail on fabrics, skin, etc. are quite good.

On the the audio side of things, viewers get an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack as well as Japanese, Spanish and Italian DTS 5.1 tracks. Subtitles are available in English SDH as well as French, Italian, Japanese and Spanish. The surround tracks are put to good use, immersing you into the crowds and camps Carrie finds herself in. Low frequency effects are also put to good use in some of the more explosive action scenes. Dialogue is clear and easy to understand.

Extras are a little on the thin side, which is par for the course for most TV releases until you finally get the complete series box set. Season 5 gives you The Evolution of Carrie Mathison, a short look at our heroine’s background, and a look at the season’s main locale in Homeland in Berlin: Beyond the Wall.

Fans of Homeland will want to add this technically well done Season 5 release to their collection.