‘Homeland’ season 2 spoilers: First look at ‘State of Independence’

Is Damian Lewis’ Brody a “great American story,” or the likes of an American tragedy the likes of which even Theodore Dreiser would not have been able to dream up? This is a question that we are see ourselves asking often throughout the second season of “Homeland,” and we will be doing so yet again with the new episode airing Sunday night.

The two stories that are going to be the primary focus of the episode really each stem from the same thing: the revelation that came from the video card Saul played at the end of last week’s episode. There will be suspicion everywhere, and really the issue now is just what Mandy Patankin’s character decides to do with the information that he has now been given.

When it comes to Carrie (Claire Danes), the answer here seems to be relatively simple: even though we don’t know how much Saul has told her, she has still seen and done enough to know that she cannot stay away from her old position no matter how hard she tries. This leads her to turning back up at a place that she is no longer “wanted,” at least in terms of giving her a paid position. Meanwhile, Brody is going to continue down a tailspin following the near-death of Abu Nazir last week, and some of his decisions will be thrown into even more question by his family. The fact that he converted to Islam while being held captive is a warning sign that he developed a form of Stockholm Syndrome, and is now seeing his former captors as sympathetic rather than a force for evil in America. Like with Saul, however, the question here is that we don’t know what anyone is going to do about it.

What are your predictions for this week’s episode?