Prisoners of War – Definately NOT a Homeland knockoff
Showtime’s Homeland, is one of the most popular and talked about premium cable original TV series. However, the critically acclaimed hit series was not an original TV idea. Prisoners of War is an Israeli TV series from which the show Homeland was based upon. At Savings Beagle, we don’t usually review TV series, but we wanted to make sure you heard about this little gem, and the fact that you can watch it free on Hulu makes showcasing it a charming and relevant fit for the site. The series starts out with a recognizable theme, soldiers whom had been previously captured, are now being returned to their home country. The soldiers have been detained in captivity by opposing forces for years, during that time they were subjected to very cruel and unusual punishment as POW’s.
The most interesting thing to look for in Prisoners of War, as a Homeland fan, is how Homeland adapted the various characters from the show on which it was based. A version of Homeland character Thomas Walker is portrayed and everyone will be able to see where Dana Brody first got her rebellious personality. The Israeli show uses three prisoners to tell it’s story unlike two for Homeland, but also brings in each of their families unlike Homeland being devoted to just Nicholas Brody’s wife and kids. This is also an uneven mixing of some of the players, combining traits from different characters in Prisoners of War into the Brody character in Homeland.
As much as the two shows differ on delivery, many scenes in Prisoners of War may seem like they are a walk down memory lane if you watched Showtime’s version first. At this point of the review you might be thinking that since you have watched Homeland, such a lower budget series with sub-titles will seem like a cheap knockoff, even if it is the original, this is just not the case! The story is dissimilar enough to keep you guessing, but really there is a completely different focus in the original version. Prisoners of War centers in on the lives of the characters, as the story line lays out what happened to the prisoners and their families during those 17 years in captivity and how they are reacting since they were freed. This is not an action drama where Carrie is narrowly escaping trouble spots in the Middle East or screaming at the top of her lungs to be heard among the non-believers. Israel’s version of the CIA, the Mossad, is in play, but not the prime driver of the show.
Prisoners of War provides so much more depth than Homeland does about the trauma a family goes through in a POW situation and the adjustment needed after they are free. You might like it even more than the Showtime series. Prisoners of War pulls you in and forces you to believe almost everything that is placed before you and you want to know how the story ends. It might not be fast-paced, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t intense. There are plenty of gut-wrenching flashback scenes and the acting seems superb due to the realism.
All 24 shows in both seasons of Prisoners of War are available on Hulu’s pay service, but are also offered on the Hulu Web version which is completely free. I just started season two and it looks like it might be more suspense-based. We didn’t want to give too much away, but the Homeland-like premise should be enough for you to give it a try. Both are great shows that share a similar story line and plot, yet each is unique in their quest to take you along a very different path telling that story. You can let us know if you mowed through the whole first season in a week like I did or if you felt it wasn’t enough like Homeland to continue. Either way, let us know.
