Homeland has returned to its core over the course of the last two episodes, with a focus on Carrie, Saul, and the complexities of their roles in the CIA.

Last night’s episode, “Halfway to a Donut” was Homeland at its very best.

In this episode, Carrie eventually realizes that she can trust Aasar Khan, who takes her in and protects her after her meds are tampered with. She doesn’t remember anything from the night before, including her hallucination of Brody – a scene from the previous episode that also brings the show back to its core.

Of course, it takes Carrie a while to believe that she truly can trust Aasar, and by extension, it’s a struggle for the audience to trust him as well. But his character proves to be a nice addition to the story, and he’s likely to be an important ally as the season progresses.

Saul remains one of my favorite characters on the show, and his struggle in this episode is powerful and heartbreaking. When he’s put on video to for proof of life to his government, he screams out for them not to make the trade – he’d rather sacrifice his own life than to be the reason that so many heinous criminals are released. But as the guards drag him away to lock him back up, he fights hard and manages to grab hold of a nail he’d had is eye on before.

The guy is resourceful, watching him nervously work the nail into his handcuffs was just one of many moments I held my breath for during this episode.

As for the scene when Saul fakes his own hanging long enough to take down a guard and kill him with his bare hands, I still can’t figure out how he pulled it off. But it’s just one example of why Saul is such a fantastic character.

And he’s been a father figure to Carrie in sort of an odd way throughout the series, so her betrayal of him in this episode is that much more painful to watch. Granted, Carrie doesn’t have a great track record of doing what’s best for anyone, especially Saul, but in this episode she tries her damndest and still manages to get it wrong. When Saul realizes he’s defeated, he pulls a gun with every intention of shooting himself in the head, but Carrie convinces him not to. Her intention, of course, is to save Saul’s life, but what happens next is exactly what Saul made her promise she wouldn’t allow. As he’s recaptured, he curses Carrie, screaming out in anger and misery.

Later, Carrie tells Quinn that she knows she made a mistake, and she decides that no matter what decisions they make, they’ll always be wrong. Honestly, that’s probably true. There are so few times when there is a clear “right and wrong” choice in this show. This is a theme that Homeland handles in an amazing way. When an audience is hoping that a beloved character will just kill himself right there on screen, it shows that a complex, thoughtfully developed story is being told.