'Homeland': CIA thriller starts with a whisper

In Showtime’s "Homeland," a terrorist about to be executed in an Iraqi prison whispers something to CIA analyst Carrie Mathison, and those hushed words form the entire basis for the new series.

Ten months later, American POW Nicholas Brody (Damien Lewis) is found in Afghanistan after being missing in action, and presumed dead, for eight years.

Given what she was told back in that prison, Carrie (Claire Danes), who is haunted by 9/11 and thinks she missed something that could have prevented the attacks, becomes convinced that Brody has switched sides and is now working for al-Qaeda.

With no hard evidence, she knows she can’t go to her bosses. So Carrie goes rogue and decides to prove that he is a traitor on her own.

"If I’m right, if he is a terrorist," she says, "we need eyes and ears on Brody from the minute he steps off that plane."

A lot is left up to interpretation during the first episode.

Did Carrie hear the prisoner right? Is she just deluded and obsessive? And what are those blue pills she keeps popping?

As for Brody, he certainly comes back a changed man, but who wouldn’t after what he’s been through?

We get some pretty brutal, but only partial, flashbacks and, upon his return, some awkward interactions with his wife Jessica (played by recent "V" star Morena Baccarin, who feels woefully miscast; I’m sorry, but I had a hard time accepting her as a normal human being and not a vicious alien).

I thought Danes was miscast at first, too, but she gets better as Carrie’s obsession and desperation grow.

Mandy Patinkin, sporting spectacles and a salt-and-pepper beard, is great as Carrie’s mentor, Saul, who knows she’s unraveling but can’t stop himself from helping her anyway.

As I watched the episode, I couldn’t decide how I wanted things to shake out. Brody actually being a traitor would make for some great TV, but Danes’ character is so annoying and unhinged that part of me doesn’t want to see her vindicated.

This seems like the kind of show that will raise more questions than it will answer, but I think I’m OK with that.