The end of the third season of Homeland brought an end to the series as we’d known it since the beginning. The strange, twisted relationship between troubled but brilliant CIA Agent Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) and equally troubled Sgt. Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis) had come to a brutal end, with Brody’s death—publicly hung for all the world to see. While the Brody character started out as the center an intriguing spy story, it ultimately turned into a misguided attempt to create a love story between Carrie and Brody that went on way too long.

While the fourth season contains remnants of the Brody storyline, his death allows the writers to move away from Carrie’s personal life and return to the spy thriller roots that made Homeland such a hit during its first season. Set six months after the close of the third season, Carrie has apparently left her baby back in the States and is now a CIA station chief in Kabul. CIA operative Sandy Bachman (Corey Stoll) has a hot lead on a terrorist who’s been on the United States kill list for a long time. They believe they have him sighted, which leads to Carrie calling for an airstrike. While the airstrike supposedly kills the terrorist, it also kills forty civilians attending a wedding at the location. This leads to the search for a survivor who uploaded a video of the wedding from his phone.

While Brody was the figure of mistrust in the past, this season of Homeland makes it clear no one is to be trusted from the opening moments, whether it be Sandy Bachman or Carrie’s longtime mentor Saul Berenson (Mandy Patinkin), who ends up with Carrie in Pakistan, as does the Emmy nominated F. Murray Abraham who returns as the duplicitous Dar Adal. The season ends with a genuine cliffhanger that makes me anxious to see what happens when the series returns for a fifth season in October.

It’s great to see Homeland return to the form that made it such a great show in its early seasons. The scripts are tightly written and once again, there’s a greater emphasis on the mission of the ‘Agency.’ Danes, Patinkin and the rest of the cast have all been given quality material to work with, and shooting the series in Cape Town, South Africa only adds to the feeling of authenticity.

Presented in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio, this 1080p transfer from Twentieth Century Fox is sharp and well defined, with a nice level of detail. Depth is handled nicely and blacks are deep and inly. Colors are accurate and bright throughout, while flesh tones look natural. There are no artifacts to report.

The English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is a solid one, providing strong dynamics and fine surrounds. Dialogue is clean and clear throughout and the LFE is active when called upon.

English SDH, Spanish and French subtitles are included.

The following extras are available:

  • Deleted Scenes (HD, 10:52) seven deleted scenes from several episodes.
  • Character Profiles (HD, 16:56) of Peter Quinn, Aasar Khan and Fara Sherazi.
  • From Script to Screen (HD, 23:17) Three featurettes looking at various aspects of the plot development this season.