10. The Twists Are Amazing
When you start watching Homecoming, you know that Heidi Bergman, played by Julia Roberts, is working as a waitress in the present day but in the past, she was working for a place called Homecoming and had the most interaction with Walter (Stephen James). It seems innocent and altruistic as she’s helping soldiers get rehabilitated and return to their normal life.
Well, the first major twist is that isn’t what she’s doing at all. Instead, Homecoming is part of the government and they’re actually making it so the soldiers will return to duty. It turns out that the employees are giving the patients pills so they won’t have PTSD and so they won’t think about war in such a negative way. The twists only get better from there, and it’s so good.
9. It’s Shot In An Interesting Style
The show is shot in an interesting style, most notably when Shea Whigham’s character, Thomas Carrasco, is doing research into what’s going on at Homecoming. The scenes are shot from above and it looks like he’s in a maze. The show makes researching look interesting, which is a really hard thing to do (and something that the amazing Oscar-winning film Spotlight managed as well).
8. It’s Both A Mystery And A Character Study
On the one hand, Homecoming is a mystery as it becomes clear to viewers that something shady is going down at Homecoming and it’s not what it seems. On the other hand, it feels like a drama as a lot of time is spent on Heidi and why she left the facility and where she is now.
Since Heidi seems like she has some PTSD of her own from working there, the show is both a mystery and a character study. You root for her right from the beginning, even if it’s a little unclear at first if she was aware of what was going on and if she was just as morally wrong as everyone else.
In the episode “Toys,” Heidi makes a good point about her identity: she says, “Just every day, I go to work, I pretend to be this person, this waitress. I serve people and I smile, and then I go home, and it’s the same thing. I pretend to be a good daughter, and sometimes I convince myself this is me, this is real.”
7. It Has Great Dialogue
The dialogue on Homecoming is also amazing and it can feel like you’re watching a thriller more than a half-hour drama. The characters volley with one another back and forth, and the dialogue is sparse and mysterious.
The show has done a great job of combining more technical language with metaphorical ideas. For example, when the employees are talking about the psychological assessments that they’re doing of the soldiers, it’s so fascinating.
6. The Episodes Are Concise
How long should TV episodes be and how long should a season be? These are some big questions now that we’re living in the golden age of television and there has literally never been so much choice from various streaming services to old-school cable.
The episodes of Homecoming are concise and each season one outing is around half an hour. It’s the absolute perfect amount of time because just as you’re getting even more invested in the story, the episode is over and you’re ready and excited for the next one.
5. It’s Reminscient Of Thrillers From The ’70s
It’s not every day that a current TV show will nod back to the ’70s or even a more recent decade. But that’s exactly what Homecoming feels like sometimes and that’s another reason that it’s so good.
With the way that the show is shot, the story, and characters, it really feels like an old conspiracy thriller like The Manchurian Candidate.
4. It Brings Up Some Interesting Moral Questions
Is it okay that this is what the employees are doing to the soldiers? No, of course not. Should they have more free will than they do? Definitely. These are just some of the questions that fans will ask themselves while watching season one, especially when Walter’s mom, Gloria Cruz (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), starts looking into what’s going on and wondering if the government is spying on people everywhere.
3. The Season One Ending Is Smart
It’s tough to make fans and critics think that a season finale is well-crafted, but that’s where Homecoming really shines. In the episode “Stop,” Heidi and Walter see each other again at a diner. Heidi isn’t sure that he remembers her but then he starts moving her knives and forks around, which was always one of his quirks when they would spend time together in her office. This little moment is so sweet and heartwarming, and it makes a huge impact.
2. It’s Julia Roberts At Her Finest
Julia Roberts has always been a talented actress but she overdoes herself in Homecoming. In one episode, when Heidi realizes that the soldiers are eating food that has pills with memory suppressants in them, she has a perfect poker face that is so fascinating to watch.
Later, viewers realize that she didn’t remember what she had been doing at the facility as she found out what was happening and then took the pills herself. Heidi is a strong, kind character with a rebellious spirit, and it’s hard to think that anyone else would have portrayed her as well as Julia Roberts.
1. It Sets Up A Second Season Well
Thankfully, there will be a second season of Homecoming, but even though it won’t have Julia Roberts, it still seems like it’s going to be amazing. Season one was so well-crafted that it feels like we got a great introduction and now we can really dig into the themes of the show.
The showrunners Micah Bloomberg and Eli Horowitz have said that the show isn’t part of the anthology TV genre and it’s not going to be an entirely fresh plot, which makes us think that we’re going to learn more about the happenings at the Homecoming facility and there will be more secrets and intrigue. We can’t wait.
