Alex Gansa, one of the executive producers of the critically acclaimed Homeland, speaks of the challenges that arose when writing “Broken Hearts.”

Alex Gansa, now one of New York’s most well known executive producers and show runners, gives his thoughts on Homeland‘s latest television episode, “Broken Hearts.” The episode that aired on Sunday evening, over on Showtime, posted a record breaking 2.2 million viewers, with a high of 2.5 million for the evening, surprisingly beating the ever popular Dexter, also another installment of Showtime’s excellent autumn television lineup.

In light of Homeland‘s latest episode, Gansa declares, “To put our main antagonists with each other and have these very dramatic stakes play out, and to have everybody true to their character, what they would be doing in these situations…it’s Homeland at its best.”

Gansa relates to the scenes of Carrie vs Nazir and Brody vs Walden. These were the two integral scenes of the show, whereby Carrie and Nazir clash head on whilst Carrie is being held captive. They are both true to their beliefs, and the acting and writing for these scenes were second to none. Claire Danes really held the patriotic American heroine role down, staring into the eyes of Nazir, Homeland‘s main antagonist, who speaks of all the pain and hurt he and his people have felt with the war on terror.

Gansa explains, “The scene between Carrie and Nazir was probably one of the most difficult scenes that this writing staff had ever had to write. It was a very, very, very fine line to walk. We wanted both Carrie and Nazir have compelling and understandable reasons for where they fell in this antagonism between them. It broaches arguments on both sides of this epic struggle that’s been going on between the east and the west.”

Additionally, there is a slight parallel between the scene with Brody and Walden. Both are standing for their causes, a scene that is again fantastically directed, acted and written, but Brody takes a man’s life, whereas Nazir spares Carrie’s.

Prior to this, the writers show one side of Brody, which is the side that feels for Carrie by ensuring that Nazir spares her life with his cooperation. But again, it’s cleverly written so that it ties up a storyline we’ve been following since the beginning of Homeland. Brody swears on Isa’s life that he wants revenge, and cooperates with Nazir, to provide Nazir with a serial number of Walden’s pacemaker that will inevitably kill Walden.

Gansa comments, “In the company of Walden over the course of the season, Brody realises what a terrible president Walden would make and Brody gets to fulfil the mission that he accepted. It’s that final moment between these two mortal enemies that is tying up that storyline.”

With episode 10 now complete, it’s justifiable that we are well and truly into the final moments of the second season with only two episodes remaining. With Walden’s plot now complete, the focus is solely on the capture of Nazir. “The search for Nazir becomes paramount,” explains Gansa, as Brody has fulfilled his immunity deal with the attorney general. This however, is not the end of the line for Brody as he still has plenty to deal with regarding his family and his mental state. The pressure that has been on Brody through the second season has began to define his character, a much more fragile persona than what was seen of him in the first season. “Broken Hearts” gave little airtime for Brody’s family, but enough to cast further doubt into both his relationship with his wife Jessica, and his that of his children, Dana and Chris.

The full interview with Alex Gansa, can be found here, but be sure to check out this Sunday’s episode of Homeland over on Showtime at 10PM ET/PT. Here’s a trailer for this Sunday’s episode down below.