I have to be honest, while I didn't think the first two episodes were very good, I thought it wasmaybecool that Brody just wasn't going to be part of the show for a little while.
Anyway, I marathoned through this whole thing over the past few days and I agree with everyone else here. Season 1 was great. Season 2 was silly. I thought a Season 3 without Brody, even with how much I like Damian Lewis, would be an interesting way to take the show. Honestly, every second he's still alive just detracts from how meticulous Season 1 was.