Two episodes into season two of Showtime’s ‘Homeland’, and I’m convinced it’s as good as ever. To add to the thrill: there are at least two unanswered and important questions from season one not touched upon yet.

I know there were some people (*cough*Ivey*cough*) who were somewhat disappointed with last season of Showtime’s Homeland. In particular, there were those who felt Brody should have gone through with the task of blowing himself up to bits in the name of all he now believes in. Though that didn’t happen, there’s no doubt the scene where he came VERY close to literally pulling the trigger was one of the most tense scenes to watch on television in recent memory. I’m sure that scene lent some hand in Damian Lewis’s recent Emmy win, in fact. Despite any of that disappointment in what Brody did (or, rather, didn’t) do, the jumping off point to the series’ second season so far has not left much to be wanted. In fact, it’s been pretty damned stellar.

Because the season’s started off on such a high point, I realized recently that there are a few unanswered things from the show’s first season that haven’t been touched upon or even hinted at yet.

Because the season’s started off on such a high point, I realized recently that there are a few unanswered things from the show’s first season that haven’t been touched upon or even hinted at yet. Does that merely mean we’re in for a shocking surprise later in the season — or series — or do the writers find these things unimportant enough to keep them danglimg forever?

First up, the mysterious slipping of the razor blade to Hamid in the interrogation room. Recall that last season an old guard from Brody’s stay in Afghanistan, Hamid, was in custody by the CIA, and Brody had the opportunity to confront his once captor. There was a scuffle in the interrogation room, and shortly after Hamid was able to use a razor blade someone slipped to him to do himself in. The unanswered question, of course: who slipped Hamid that blade? Many assume it was Brody, as he had the most direct contact with Hamid in that fight. After looking over the interrogation video more closely, though, my money would be on David Estes. There’s a point where his hand slips under the table, where he could have easily placed a blade. After watching the first two episodes of Homeland, though, it’s starting to make a lot less sense that Estes would be any sort of internal mole, so I’m completely stumped. However, there is another suspect, which birings us to the other big question. …

What’s Saul lying about? Recall that he underwent a polygraph test, only to fail it spectacularly when asked about some things that make one unable to help wondering where his loyalties lie. Seeing Saul’s actions up to this point make me believe this is more of a red herring than anything else, and Saul really has no involvement in the assistance of terrorist activity against the U.S.. Will we learn why he failed that test, or will it become unimportant enough that we’ll never really know the truth?

Regardless of whether or not we’ll ever have these questions answered, I’m happy with the progressing of the new season so far. I’d be disappointed if these things remain unanswered when the series makes inevitable end one day — I won’t deny that. I believe they are important enough ones to not let lie. For now, though, it’ll be fun to try to figure them out.

Photo Credit: Showtime