Homeland Insecurity: Season 2 just as good as season one - bring on # 3

Season 2 of Showcase Homeland is just as taut, suspenseful, surprising as Season 1, and therefore maybe even better than that great season in that now we know the characters better and we don't need as much exposition. The plot is a little less baroque as we now understand that Brody was a terrorist who backed off at the last minute and is now being played for by both sides. There are many great scenes and dialogues throughout the season: all of the interrogation scenes are great, esp Carrie (Claire Danes) with bringing Brody around to become a spy for the CIA and Carrie/Danes in a powerful interview that goes very wrong with the journalist/terrorist who'd been handling Brody. The secondary plot involving the Brody daughter, Dana, and her relationship with the veep's son, Finn, is played very well - I think the actress playing Dana is perfect as a smart but somewhat sullen and misguided teenage girl. The early episode when Brody is in Gettysburg with the terrorist tailor while his wife expects him at a fundraiser is one of the best as well. The plot clicks together in a satisfying way at the end - resolving some questions, opening some new ones, and leading on very well toward a Season 3 I hope - as [ spoilers] Brody gets framed (or so it would appear) by Nazir and the terrorists and has to escape from the U.S., leaving open the question not only of what will happen to him but also: how they hell did they get his car and fill it with explosives? Could he really not have been in on that? I've even gotten to like the mumbly, mannered Mandy Patinkin as Saul. I do have a few quibbles: I really don't buy into the love relationship between Brody and Carrie  - esp in the last episode, I was like a little kid, thinking enough of the mush let's just move this story - their relationship is entire sexual and iconoclastic; as a romance, it couldn't last for more than a weekend. I also wonder why Nazir would ever come to the U.S. and, if so, why he was so reluctant to kill Carrie when he had the opportunity. And is the death of the veep by remote code to his pacemaker in any way possible? Those quibbles aside, Homeland remains an entirely engrossing series with some fine acting, writing, directing, and production values - even the score, which I usually find I detest these days.