Homeland Season 2: State Of Independence And A Look At Episode 4, New Car Smell

Sundays really are an embarrassment of riches and sure make you appreciate the invention of the DVR. All six Drama nominees at the Emmys air on the last night of the weekend (not to mention three of the comedies) with the newly crowned champion, Showtime's Homeland, returning for its highly anticipated second season only a few weeks ago. The series quickly demonstrated why it took him the top prize at the TV awards show with two great installments before finally faltering with last night's "State of Independence." Yes, even great shows have off days but hopefully Homeland can quickly recover with next week's "New Car Smell."

Before getting to the preview for Episode 4, I should probably defend my position that "State of Independence" was a less than stellar example of the recent Emmy winner and the problem mostly lies with Brody's storyline. I just don't think anyone is stupid enough to use the greatest asset in the history of terrorism (a sleeper so close to being Vice President) as a glorified chauffeur. Abu Nazir's cell doesn't have anyone else to send on these small errands? You think they would protect Brody as much as possible and only contact him in dire circumstances not to clean up your loose ends. We don't know whether the 'safe' house was safe but they had to know the Tailor would be wary of going after supposedly being outed by the CIA.

Carrie's thread, however, was much more grounded and typical of the (seemingly) realistic character driven drama. It's hard to watch her suffer from week to week, especially when we know she was right all along, so the vindication she receives at the end of the episode was not only well earned but pretty emotional. Danes is incredibly to watch in the role and sells every single moment Carrie's onscreen (not that Lewis isn't equally great, the writers let him down this week). It only took three shows but Homeland has managed to bring her character back into the Company fold and, for the most part, in a really believable manner. Although, I still doubt they would reinstate someone who's bipolar. But what do I know about the CIA?

Here's the aforementioned preview for the Episode 4, "New Car Smell" that not only shows Carrie back on the case but also crossing paths with Brody for the first time this season. And the path seems to lead to his hotel room...

Homeland returns with Episode 4, “New Car Smell,” Sunday at 10 p.m. ET on Showtime. It stars Claire Danes, Damian Lewis, Mandy Patinkin and Morena Baccarin. It was adapted for American television by Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon from the Israeli series Prisoners of War (or Hatufim) by Gideon Raff.