So Many Questions, Homeland “Tin Man Down” 

Showtime’s Homeland is back. Finally. Claire Danes is fresh off another Emmy win for playing the beautiful, brainy and bipolar Carrie Mathison. Will the events that go down this season result in a three-peat at next year’s Emmys?

In “Tin Man is Down,” the drama doesn’t take any time to build. It starts off right away. Let’s recap where things pick up. It’s been almost two months since the Langley bombing:

• Brody is nowhere to be found. In fact, Damian Lewis doesn’t even appear in this episode at all. However, Brody’s presence seeps into every single crevice of this show.

• Carrie faces a surly Senate committee tasked with the purpose of finding out how badly the CIA blundered in being unable to prevent the Langley attack. The CIA is basically on trial here. There’s even a threat that the agency could cease to exist. Carrie gets the brunt of the committee’s brutality. She doesn’t always handle the questioning well. Hence, the perjury and the blurting out of Brody not being the one responsible for the bombing. That is something she needed to sit on for a while longer.

• Carrie is also off her meds. That can’t end well.

• Saul struggles in his new role as acting head of the CIA. He can’t find it within himself to make a decision. Until he does. And they’re big ones like 1. Signing off on that mission to kill those connected to the bombing. 2. There was the decision he made at the end of the episode. More on that later. Plus, Saul’s not sleeping with his wife who has returned to his side. Interesting.

• Dana is just getting out of some rehab center after trying to slit her wrists in the bathtub. She’s been through so much. And with what her family is going through now — the world thinks Brody is at fault for the bombing — it was too much. But now she seems like she’s in a better place. Well, mostly anyway.

• Jessica is trying to keep her family afloat. They’ve received death threats. There’s not much money coming in. She is trying to get a job. She doesn’t quite know how to deal with her just out of rehab daughter. Their world has closed in on them. I think Jessica needs some therapy. Now.

I really enjoyed the episode and am so glad the show is back. But having said that, I do have some questions:

• Why would Carrie go off her lithium? I know she explained herself in the episode but still, this is so bad. I know she says she’s under some doctor’s supervision. But she’s drinking. And she’s having sex with strangers. And she’s already looking a little manic. Or is that just me reading into things? I’m glad her dad is there to try and knock some sense into her. But, who am I kidding? Carrie will do what she wants to do. And sometimes an un-medicated Carrie leads to awkwardly, uncomfortably awesome scenes like when she raged at Saul and company in the restaurant after news of the CIA officer sleeping with Brody hit the news. So there’s that.

• Who is leaking information to the Senate committee and the public as a whole? Is it the same person? F. Murray Abraham’s Dar Adal claims it’s not him. The guy is suspicious as all hell. But, too easy, right?

• Is this Javadi/”The Magician” guy the new Abu Nazir? Should we start the drinking game now? Every time we hear his name we take a shot?

• How is Quinn going to deal with having killed a kid? First, let me say that I love me some Rupert Friend. And I loved seeing a Peter Quinn in action tracking down the bad guys and exacting permanent deletion (CIA-mandated deletion, of course). But when he found the body of his target’s son laying there — I was crushed for him. Will what he did have consequences? Not only for him but for the United States?

• Dana, Dana, Dana. What’s going to happen to that photo that you took of yourself? I hope I don’t have any reason to be worried here. But this is Homeland. I’m worried. A racy photo like that will probably make a comeback. And never in a good way.

• Did Saul really sell out Carrie to the entire world? I mean, I heard the words. But I’m still in denial. He didn’t name her outright but he did tell the Senate committee — and they definitely know who he’s talking about. He said this CIA agent was unstable and bipolar and she hid this fact for ten years. And on top of that, she hid the fact she was sleeping with Brody. And Carrie watched it all unfold on national TV. Ouch. What an ending. This show sure knows how to rip your heart out when it wants to.

• Did you watch the preview? I can’t even process it right now. Let’s just say I’m very much looking forward to seeing this season play out.

Homeland airs Sundays at 9/8c on Showtime.