No Damian Lewis - again. Carrie is pregnant, Saul's ineptitude has tragic consequences and even Dana has had enough of The Brody Bunch. Another bonkers episode of Homeland, By Jim Shelley

PUBLISHED: 17:36 EST, 10 November 2013 | UPDATED: 17:36 EST, 10 November 2013

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It was another bad week for the CIA’s finest agents, Carrie, Saul and Quinn, as well as Nick Brody’s family, the Brody Bunch.

How Nick Brody himself was getting on wasn’t made clear as, yet again, Damian Lewis failed to make an appearance in his own show.

Considering that when we last saw Brody (three weeks back in the only episode of Season Three to feature him) he was shooting smack in a derelict tower block/squat in Caracas, we can safely assume they’re probably not going great. That said, if any of Homeland’s scriptwriters are reading, I wouldn’t mind checking on him from time to time. It’s just an idea. (Call me crazy.)

Dana Brody decided she'd had enough of being vilified for ruining Homeland and announced she was leaving The Brody Bunch and changing her name to Dana Lazaro

Last week, Carrie Mathison was adamant that if Brody DID come out of hiding, it would be by ‘reaching out’ to Dana.’ This week indicated that if he did, he would be disappointed.

It seemed even Dana – the most hated character on American television for the way she’s ruined Homeland – had had enough of The Brody Bunch and was quitting.

She told her mother, Brody’s Hot Wife Jessica, that she wanted to change her name to Lazaro (Jessica’s maiden name).

‘I can’t be Dana Brody anymore,’ she whined.

‘How about being Dana Brody but just not being in Homeland?’ viewers cried.

Jessica duly accompanied her to the necessary appointment but that wasn’t the end of it.

Dana was leaving home with Angela, not, as her mother thought, 'going camping' - a comment which perhaps showed why Jessica had found it so hard to find a job

She may not be very bright but at least Brody's Hot Wife, Jessica, managed to keep her clothes on for the sixth episode in a row. And she has some lovely kitchenware

When Dana’s friend Angela came to pick her up and Dana appeared with her bags, Jessica asked: ‘where are you guys going, camping ?’ – which perhaps showed why she’d had so much trouble finding a job.

‘I’m moving to Angela’s,’ Dana declared. ‘I told you mom. I can’t be Dana Brody anymore.’

‘You can’t just leave. We haven’t even talked about this,’ Jessica insisted feebly.

‘Mum, I can’t live this life anymore. I just cant!’

It was like a soap opera and not even a very good one.

Giving up almost instantly, and without asking for Angela’s address, Jessica offered Dana the family’s last $300, which Dana refused it, pledging earnestly: ‘I have to do this on my own.’

Let’s hope this doesn’t mean literally – in her own spin-off series.

She left with Jessica in tears but – with no Dana to worry about - with more chance of getting back in to accountancy.

Her gormless son, meanwhile, made his usual contribution, silently consoling her, without having made a farewell speech to his sister or giving her a goodbye hug.

Brody's Hot Wife Jessica and her gormless son watch Dana leave The Brody Bunch, waiting for her car to be out of sight before starting the celebrations

It goes without saying that life also continued to go awry for Carrie. The only surprise was how.

Her large collection of positive pregnancy tests indicated she is going to have a baby although whether it is Brody’s or the Brody lookalike that she picked up in the booze section of the local Mini Mart remains to be seen.

Then again, it will be hard to tell. The baby will probably look the same either way.

The drawer full of tests explained why the agency’s best bi-polar agent has stopped taking her lithium but suggested Carrie was having difficulty in accepting the news. She really is a walking catastrophe.

Carrie's collection of positive pregnancy tests suggested she was pregnant, though whether the baby was Brody's or the Brody lookalike she picked up remains unlike. And will be hard to tell anyway

Claire Danes demonstrates she go do Carrie's repertoire of frowning and fretting facial expressions lying down as the pregnancy tests give her something new to worry about

She’s almost as bad as Saul.

Last week, he seemed to be amazed and appalled that the President had decided against making his role as acting director of the CIA permanent.

This was despite the fact that he had not taken Carrie’s advice that Brody was a terrorist (allowing him to smuggle a bomb into the bunker of the White House and attempt to kill the Vice President) and he had then failed to prevent a former Iranian contact Majid Javadi from blowing up Langley, the CIA headquarters, implicating Brody, who Saul was running against Javadi as a ‘double double agent.’

Saul, Carrie and Quinn showed once again why Lockhart was right about the CIA with their brilliant operation on Javadi, which only resulted in the bloody death of only two innocent civilians - which for them is actually pretty good

This week, Saul confidently told Quinn, Farrah, and their colleagues tailing Javadi that Javadi would turn up for his rendez-vous with Carrie as planned.

Unfortunately, Javadi then proceeded to give them the slip, killing his daughter-in-law by shooting her point blank through the head and murdering his ex-wife, jabbing a broken bottle repeatedly into her throat.

‘You must stop him going in that house. For Christ sake, hurry!’ Saul cried, seconds before Quinn and Carrie arrived to find a bloodbath.

Having given the CIA the slip, instead of meeting Carrie Mathison, the Iranian terrorist Javadi stopped off to murder his ex-wife's daughter-in-law shooting her in the head point blank

'You must stop him going in that house!' cried Saul as Javadi was repeatedly stabbing his ex-wife in the throat with a broken bottle

He may not sound it, but Javadi was a pretty cool customer – like an Iranian Bryan Ferry, all dapper suit and suave smoker.

‘Now I’m ready to see Saul,’ he told Carrie as she received a taste of her life ahead and picked up the only witness to the killings – a baby – and put it in its cot for the police to find. (Saul had ordered her and Quinn to take Javadi and the murder weapon and flee the scene.)

No wonder the new director, Senator Lockhart, told Dar Adal: ‘the agency is a mess. As far as I can see it’s been driven into the ground, by poor decision-making and Godawful leadership.’

‘You OK?’ Quinn asked Carrie back at Langley.

‘I don’t know what I am,’ she said.

Saul on the other hand had told Quinn, Farrah (who seems to have extended her role as a Transactions Specialist) and the other CIA colleagues using a drone to follow Javadi: ‘I know this man.’

He assured them that Javadi would be concentrating on survival after Carrie had turning the tables on him by revealing that they knew he had embezzled $ 45m from the Iranian revolutionary guard ‘using the name of the goalkeeper for the 1978 Iran world cup team.’ (Don’t ask. It’s a long story. And one I couldn’t follow.)

Carrie thought the CIA had the upper hand with Javadi when she revealed that they knew he had embezzled $45m from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard using the name of the goalkeepers in Iran's 1978 World Cup team (don't ask)

Saul also knew Javadi’s ex-wife, having helped her and her son escape to the West himself - principally in revenge for Javadi reneging on his agreement to help Saul smuggle four hostages, who he had promised to protect, out of Iran in 1979. Instead Javadi had shot them, thus securing his entry in to the higher echelons of the new regime’s security services.

You might think it would have crossed Saul’s mind to protect Javadi’s ex-wife – especially given that, as luck would have it, she living just up the road. Or rather she had been.

Either way, when he finally met Javadi again, back at the CIA’s HQ, Saul punched him on the nose.

It’s a shame Saul’s own wife Mira wasn’t there to see it. She had implored him: ‘stop this detached routine. Get angry at something! Get angry at me!’

This was because not only had he lost the job of CIA Director, he had come home to find Mira ‘entertaining’ a dishy Frenchman.

Saul's wife Mira insists on interrupting his work protecting the world from international terrorists by telling him how she met her French lover, Alain

‘We met in Mumbai,’ Mira began, unprompted in dialogue yet more reminiscent of The Young & The Restless, or The Old & the Slightly Agitated.

‘He was researching an article on police corruption. When I met him, you and I had separated.’

Was Saul’s personal life really that compelling?

Frankly about as much as The Brody Bunch. Even Saul didn’t seem that interested.

‘Do you love him?’ he asked, as if for something to say.

‘We have fun,’ Mira glowed. ‘He makes me laugh. The day is better with him in it. How about that?’

Well, if it wasn’t love, it sounded like a good start.

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cozmik, RIP-UK, United Kingdom, 27 minutes ago

No Damian Lewis - again. Can't say as i've missed him to be honest. LOL

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jan hammond, london, 1 hour ago

I am pleased to hear I'm not alone in detesting the Dana character. She is such a moping IRRITATING waste of time-- GET RID OF HER PLEASE !!!!

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NDB, Houston, 1 hour ago

The pregnant test were negative!

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Sarah, London, 1 hour ago

If you're going to be so critical then try paying attention - Saul did think to protect the ex wife, he said she was meant to be in the witness protection programme in California, and the brother did hug Dana

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yve, UK, United Kingdom, 2 hours ago

Lasted 20 minutes into this female soap opera. Carrie sounds like Donald Duck acting hysterical.

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Azulle, San Diego, United States, 3 hours ago

I loved season one but season two was a bit disappointing... haven't even bothered watching season three. Just let me know when Carrie hooks up with Quinn. That's all I care about. lol :P

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Ian_S, Whiteley, 5 hours ago

Series 1 was epic, series 2 was pretty good, but this series is utter rubbish. Boring, no storyline and character development appears to have been given up on.

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issabellababy14, Toronto, Canada, 6 hours ago

Hilars review and on point as usual. Still love Homeland though!

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Rach_Owl, Berkshire, United Kingdom, 7 hours ago

I actually stopped watching Homeland about 2 eps into Season 2 because it all started getting very confusing. I love Damian Lewis but the acting from all of them is pretty poor and I just lost the plot. Sounds like its getting worse now. BTW Jim, presumably the "hot wife" hasn't got naked for 6 episodes because she was preggers during filming IRL but it wasn't written into the story. Not because anyone actually thought her acting was better than her satin nightie-clad figure a la Season one.