Tonight’s Homeland season 4 premiere will leave you gasping throughout the night, but perhaps the biggest gasp of all will come when you realize that Homeland can still deliver the goods.

Remember the excitement when you fell in love with the show during the first season of Homeland? While that feeling waned a bit in the following years, season 4 – which airs tonight at 9 p.m. eastern/pacific on Showtime – proves that Carrie and company can still deliver a compelling drama. This is what we felt after watching the premiere earlier this week.

Tonight’s Homeland season 4 premiere is actually two brand new, hour-long episodes back-to-back. The set up for the season naturally occurs in episode 1 while episode 2 shows the start of how the CIA is handling a major new issue.

Reads the synopsis for episode 1, “Season 4 begins with Carrie, the CIA Chief of Station in Kabul, making a critical decision when her counterpart in Islamabad delivers urgent intelligence on a high-value target. Back in the U.S., Saul struggles to adjust to the private sector.”

The synopsis for episode 2 reads, “An official inquiry brings Carrie back to the U.S., where she struggles with her ambivalence towards motherhood. Meanwhile, Quinn spirals out of control; and a disgraced former case officer reveals disturbing new information.”

While we don’t want to spoil what happens during tonight’s episode, viewers can look forward to a new face joining the show: House of Cards alum Corey Stoll. His character presents a tip to Carrie which she acts on in the early moments of episode 1.

In this clip from episode 1, Carrie and Quinn discuss a tip from Stoll’s character Sandy which ends up doing more harm than good. Also in this scene, Quinn hints that he’s disgusted by his job:

Homeland season 4, episode 1 and episode 2 premiere tonight at 9 p.m. eastern/pacific. Check back after both episodes air for our recap of both storylines.

Watch ‘Homeland’ online

New episodes of Homeland can be watched through the pay channel’s Showtime Anytime app for mobile devices. Showtime Anytime recently joined Apple TV, and episodes are released through the streaming service as soon as they premiere on the east coast (9 p.m. local time).