One of the early defining elements of Homeland was its lead's affinity for jazz music. Does jazz emulate Carrie's freeform, occasionally erratic mental energies? Does it score her lust for Brody? Or is it just a cool element of an otherwise tense drama series, daddy-o? Whatever the reason, Homeland emerged as one the jazziest shows on television. And yet, this season — with the exception of an unfortunate jazz incident that went down after Carrie fiddled with her car stereo — has been less jazzy. Why has the series de-jazzed itself? Is it a coincidence that this sub-jazzed arc has been more grumbled about, critically? Maybe all the complaining about the hard-to-swallow plot arcs is misplaced, and the real issue is that it needs to be re-jazz-ified? In this video, Vulture's Julie Klausner talks to a jazz singer, Marianne Solivan, about these pressing, jazz-related issues and then, with the help of some students from the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, offers a new, jazzy-riffic theme song for the producers to consider swapping in under the credits. You can even sing along!
