OK, so if Brody had gone through with the bomb plot and not chickened out, would you have liked the episode a lot more? I ask because I really liked the finale and yet realise that I'm definitely in the minority in my opinion. It's always interesting to discuss this sort of stuff (at least I think so!) especially when it comes to something like TV. The Carrie stuff I can understand the ambivalence towards - even if, again, I completely lapped it up, given that she ended up being right despite not knowing it herself - but I thought the Brody stuff was really well done from a cinematic standpoint. When they were in the bunker, I genuinely didn't know what was going to happen, and I felt the show did a good job of rationalising the call from the daughter (whose name I'm blanking) and, thus, ramping up the tension.
With regard to the second season: a) it was always going to happen, given the great ratings it received; b) my theory is that it's going to become more of a political thriller, given the affection for both Danes and Lewis; and c) the change of conscience worries me, but I have faith in the writers that it won't turn into that... hopefully!
Aaaaaaand this is the longest VM I've ever written. Sorry for the tl;dr!