Oh, what a downer that season was. On the other hand, Homeland Season 1 was one of the best bits of television I’ve seen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn0ylNZhOJI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2-NkZ8lGsA
And it's still consistent with the "institutional ineptitude of conservative western cultures" (as @ddek puts it above) theme.
It's disappointing, because the season's focus on journalism and public optics was really interesting and educational and in many ways well-executed. But the serial murder stuff just made it kind of goofy.
Seasons 1 - 4 are so good that it's not a big deal, but it seems so rare that multi-season shows stick a graceful landing.