Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison (Showtime) More

There's a moment in Sunday's Homeland season premiere where we fully expect Carrie Mathison to cry.

For three seasons now on Showtime's sometimes thrilling, sometimes frustrating espionage drama, we've seen the bipolar CIA agent cry so often, we can recognize the signs: First, her chin quivers, then her brow furrows, then finally her face crumples as she dissolves into jagged sobs. It's such a Homeland staple that Emmy winner Claire Danes's "cry face" became an enduring online meme. (Heck, it was even a Halloween costume.)

But not this time. Carrie doesn't break down. She stares at herself coldly in the mirror, calmly and resolutely pulls herself together, and simply moves on.

This is a very different Carrie Mathison… and this is a very different Homeland. And thank goodness for that. After watching the first three hours of Season 4 (which kicks off Sunday with a two-hour premiere), we're happy to report that the show has gone back to doing what it does best, mixing pulse-pounding action with geopolitical moral quandaries. We never thought we'd say this after last season, but Homeland is actually good again.

Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison in Homeland (Season 4, Episode 03). - Photo: Joe Alblas/SHOWTIME More

If any TV show needed a hard reboot, it was Homeland. The first season was propulsive, thought-provoking entertainment, with Carrie chasing (and falling for) Marine-turned-terrorist Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis). The show even beat out Breaking Bad and Mad Men in their respective primes for the Best Drama Series Emmy — a remarkable feat, in retrospect.

Season 2 certainly had some hard-to-swallow plot developments (the pacemaker!), but it was still compelling, as Carrie and Brody teamed up to neutralize terrorist baddie Abu Nazir. The wheels really fell off in Season 3, though, as Brody fled the country and got hooked on heroin in a Venezuelan slum. The once-breakneck narrative became sluggish and disjointed, and we spent way too much time watching Brody's sullen teen daughter Dana mope around. This was not the show we signed up for.

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But Homeland set itself up for a fresh start with the Season 3 finale, as Brody was publically executed in Iran, leaving behind Carrie… and their unborn child. It was harsh, but necessary: The Brody storyline had long overstayed its welcome (he was originally supposed to die at the end of Season 1, but producers lost their nerve), and his death finally allows Carrie — and Homeland — to move on.