Loving Miss Hatto, BBC One/ Homeland, Series 2 Finale, Channel 4

Some say that Homeland lost its bearings somewhere in the middle of series two, and last night's closing episode suggested that the show is at a crossroads and is dithering about which direction to take. I'd agree with viewers who feel that once it was clear that Nick Brody (Damian Lewis) had indeed been brainwashed into terrorism by Abu Nazir, and would have blown himself up with all the vice president's men had his suicide vest not malfunctioned, it was as if something had broken inside Homeland's machinery. Gone was the inner darkness and sense of psychological turmoil suffered by a man kept in brutal captivity for eight years (David Harewood's Estes and Mandy Patinkin's Saul fail to agree to differ, pictured above).

Instead, the show became a more routine covert-action drama (maybe there's a little too much 24 pedigree within the production team). Plausibility has taken a major hit, and series two had far too many scenes of Brody, a war hero feted by the media and a high-profile politician running for Vice President, rushing around the countryside carrying out errands for Nazir or his journalist sidekick Roya (Zuleikha Robinson), somehow without anybody recognising him. The guy is supposed to be a major terrorist asset working his way into the top echelons of American politics, not some low-grade bagman for hire.

Brody has been left hanging in a Sarah Lund-style limboRecent episodes have been turning the Brodie/Carrie relationship into a melodramatic romance, glossing over the fact that with what they know about Brody, the CIA would be perfectly justified under the draconian anti-terror laws in carting him off to jail, house arrest or Guantanamo as the whim took them. Yet here were Brody and Carrie (Claire Danes), shacked up in her family log cabin where they had their original illicit shag-fest in the first series, daydreaming soppily about clean slates and fresh starts. Perhaps he could be a builder or a teacher, mused Brody. "You're a good person," Carrie reassured him, despite having had a ringside view of how he was instrumental in bumping off Vice President Walden. OK, he was a scumbag, and Brody did it partly to save Carrie's life, but aiding most-wanted terrorists to murder the VP is not a recipe for a life of domestic bliss.

Our lips must remain sealed regarding the show's ending, but clearly a new broom and new characters are in the offing. Damian Lewis himself has said he doesn't know whether he's coming back for series three, and for now he's been left hanging in Sarah Lund-style limbo. But I reckon we'll be seeing a lot more of Saul Berenson (Mandy Patinkin) in series three. A few murky secrets there, surely.