Homeland, episode 7, Channel 4, review The best episode yet. For all the series' promise, it has suffered slightly from erratic pacing. Bits of plot have been introduced, dangled tantalisingly in front of us, and then ignored. Key among this is Brody's Muslim faith. His first prayer in the garage, hidden from Carrie's cameras, was electrifying, but since then has had scarcely a mention. Tonight changed all that, exploring for the first time the idea that being 'turned' in one way might not necessarily mean terrorism. It was about journeys. Brody whisked Carrie off first to a bar, where they had a brawl with a white supremacist, and then to her country cabin for a dirty weekend. Perhaps unsettled by a genuine attraction to Brody, she made a mistake, revealing that she knew what sort of tea he liked (Yorkshire Gold). Turning the tables, she accused him directly of working for Al Qaeda. He invited her interrogation, and admitted his faith. If you lived in despair for eight years you might turn to religion too, and a King James Bible was not available. He even told her about punching Tom Walker to death, which clearly upset him. But as Brody proved with his performance against the polygraph last week, he is a master of dissembling even while he seems to be opening up. We can be sure his confession by the lake won't be his full story, but the confrontation was completely gripping. Would he really have nightmares about a prison guard, even if 'Issa' had been kind to him? Lewis and Danes together on screen are at least twice the sum of their parts. They're both masters at suggesting dark depths, even when they're at their most charming, and watching them dance around each other is a joy. Dana, banned from going out, ended up making a trip to hospital after falling, drunk and high, through a window. "There's no place for my dad when you're here," she told Mike while clutching her newly stitched arm. It would have been less controversial had he not just kissed her mother on the sofa. Saul's trip was south, to track down Aileen in Mexico. On the 30 hr drive back to Virginia she looked as if she wouldn't open up, but he eked information out of her by discussing his own troubled upbringing in Indiana. Aileen's story, of an oil daughter turned middle-class terrorist, has been one of the least unconvincing. Her final revelation, however, was completely shocking: a cliffhanger conclusion to a terrific hour-and-a-bit of television. If the remaining episodes keep it up, Homeland will have fully deserved the prizes it has been showered with.