Homecoming manages to make a half hour feel like two hours. Yet, despite feeling quite long, its first episode, “Mandatory,” leaves much unexplained. In fact, only two things are established.
The first is that Heidi Bergman (Julia Roberts) used to work at Homecoming Transitional Support Center, a facility meant to help soldiers readjust to civilian life. While there, she was a jack-of-all-trades. Officially, she was a counselor. However, the typical counselor doesn’t also perform background checks and focus on getting information out of patients for the sole purpose of giving it to the government. Heidi is uncomfortable with this aspect of her job. She doesn’t approve of how her boss isn’t concerned about helping patients like Walter Cruz (Stephan James).
While it was never stated outright in “Mandatory,” this may have been part of the reason why Heidi is, in sequences set further in the timeline, works at a restaurant as a server. Once this second plot line is established, Thomas Carrasco (Shea Wigham) finds her and asks her questions about her time at Homecoming. As the line of questioning continues, it becomes clear that Heidi is hiding something. She answers brusquely without providing details.
The main problem with this episode is that it gives too much background and not enough action. It assumes that once someone starts watching, they will remain invested and binge watch the whole series. That’s not the case. The series does not provide compelling enough reason to keep watching the rest of the ten-episode season, which Amazon has already ordered a second season of. That’s a big commitment to ask of an audience when the pilot can’t quite pull viewers in.
Unless you’re a huge Julia Roberts fan, there’s no reason to continue watching. We know Heidi is hiding something. It’s not established what that is in the first episode, but there’s a good chance it’s either corruption, abuse, fraud, or any combination of the three. Is it worth sticking around to find out? No.
Rating: 1 out of 10
