Homecoming season 1, episode 1 recap: Mandatory

Homecoming is a new series from Sam Esmail. The first episode sets the tone for the season.

Homecoming revolves around the government program of the same name. Heidi Bergman is the point woman for it and she’s also a counselor to the soldiers who are transitioning back into civilian life. The show begins with a wonderful shot that gives us a look at Heidi in her office. The first client that Heidi sees is a man by the name of Walter Cruz. He states that he’s there voluntarily and Heidi begins recording the session.

As we jump to the future, the frame size changes and there’s a stark difference with these scenes. Heidi is working at a diner when she gets a visit from Thomas, who works for the Department of Defense. She’s left Homecoming by this point and is reluctant to talk about it inside.

More from Amazon Originals

• Will Your Christmas or Mine 2 come to DVD and Blu-ray?
• The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3 release updates, cast, and everything we know
• Them Season 2 release updates, cast, and everything we know
• The Boys Season 4 release updates, cast, and everything we know
• What time is Dating Santa coming to Prime Video?

Back at Homecoming, Heidi is very honest with Walter about what will happen at the facility. The building was an office space that has been transformed into housing for the soldiers. We see this as Heidi is on the phone with Colin, who seems to be in charge, but isn’t really around. The whole conversation seems sketchy and Colin makes it a point that they’re in this for the information.

Part of the process for the soldiers is to go to workshops. The first one we see has the soldiers going through a practice interview. Walter nails his but Rainey doesn’t care to play along as much. Rainey gets angry and engages with Walter, but it’s Walter who feels bad about punching Rainey. He talks to Heidi about it and it seems like he honestly just wants a normal life.

Back at the diner, Heidi chats with Thomas outside and doesn’t give him much information at all. She knows more than she’s letting on, but we don’t know why she won’t talk about it yet. However, when Thomas asks about Walter, she quickly shuts the conversation down. Clearly something goes wrong along the way, we just have to wait and see how it plays out.

This episode is a solid start for Homecoming. Visually, the show looks great. Julia Roberts puts on a great performance in this episode as we see how Homecoming has affected her without knowing the full story. I’m looking forward to what comes next with the show.

What did you think of Homecoming Episode 1? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Homecoming is now available on Amazon Prime Video.