It's taken six episodes but finally Homeland is back on its feet and back to its old ways, sending blistering plot twists, confusing u-turns and stunning revelations our way. Last night's episode in the UK, 'Still Positive,' saw Saul at an all-time low, Javadi's true ways exposed and Carrie turn the tables on her abduction.

Claire Danes Homeland
Carrie's Role As Double Agent Has Worked Well So Far.

The acting director of the CIA was still reeling after last episode's revelation that the gung-ho Senator Lockhart was in line for the permanent CIA role despite weeks of praise for keeping the organisation steady after the Langley bombing. He also resigned himself to accepting that his wife was still seeing the lover that she met in India. Another man may have stormed out or shouted; Saul had bigger fish to fry as Majid "The Magician" Javadi had captured undercover agent Carrie.

The beginning of the episode sees Carrie wired up to a lie detector to check whether she was truly to an intelligence asset to Iran or an undercover CIA spy. Her heart races and she fails the polygraph but quickly reveals that she has a trick up her sleeve: she has damaging intelligence on Majid Javadi pertaining to the millions he embezzled from the Iranian government under the guise of a footballer.

Javadi has no choice but to play ball and agree to meet Saul but only after Carrie has provided some token CIA intelligence and been driven to the middle of nowhere to convince Javadi's associates that nothing underhand is going on. Meanwhile, Saul reveals that he and Javadi have old beef dating back to the 1979 Iranian revolution where Saul's agents were murdered in a betrayal. Saul explains that he sought revenge by smuggling Javadi's wife, Fariba, and son into America in an act that still infuriates Javadi.

Back at home, we saw Carrie take a pregnancy test which showed she was indeed expecting a baby. She added the test with its pink '+' sign into draw full of other pregnancy test sticks showing she has known about her baby for quite some time and could have been one of the reasons she stopped taking her psychiatric medication. It's bit a little over three months since Carrie last saw Brody so it's highly probable that the baby's his. That, or the slightly seedy tequila store guy she randomly picked up in episode one.

Homeland Cast
In A Manipulation Of Intelligence, Carrie, Saul & Quinn Manage To Ensnare Javadi.

Javadi fails to turn up at the planned meet point with Carrie prompting Saul to use surveillance to frantically follow Javadi's car through the leafy 'burbs. Majid arrives at the property we saw him eat that messy sandwich outside last week but he must absolutely not enter the house, shout Saul through comms to Carrie and Quinn.

It turns out that Javadi has arrived at the house of his escaped ex-wife, daughter-in-law and grandson. He guns down his son's wife Susan before stabbing his wife in the throat with a broken glass bottle in a mindless, gory bloodbath. Carrie and Quinn arrive to take Javadi out of the horrific scene and to finally reunite with Saul. Javadi is hauled to the safehouse where Saul greets him with a krav maga slam to the face with the promise of interrogation next week.

This episode also saw Brody's daughter Dana decide she couldn't "be Dana Brody" any more and change her name to her mother's maiden name, Lazzarro. This disconnect from her father is also followed by the sketchy storyline that she's leaving home with an apparent "friend" who has never featured in the series before. Many viewers are averse to the moody Dana storyline that has underpinned season three so far which means that her leaving home may finally mark a transition to more of the main action involving Carrie and Saul.

With little indication of when we'll see Brody again after that surreal third episode, Homeland's storyline has begun to weave and intertwine of its own accord meaning we're no longer hankering for a bit of good old Brody action. But will the capture of Javadi prove an asset for Saul and the CIA or has a bigger nest of wasps been kicked?