Amazon’s Homecoming premiere review: Julia Roberts pulls us into the mystery

We weren’t initially sure what to make of Amazon’s new show Homecoming when we first saw it since it’s rare for a drama to be a half hour, but after watching the first episode we now feel that it really doesn’t need to be more then 30 minutes and that other long, drawn out dramas might want to take a page from this show and tighten the reins.

The first episode brought us into a facility created to help young men coming home from military service in hopes of getting them ready to be reintegrated into every day life. Sounds like a simple concept right? The cool thing about this idea is that there’s something else working behind the scenes with this facility that feels very sinister and has a deeper purpose for having these military men there.

Julia Roberts plays the character of Heidi and she was a counselor at this facility, working with the young men to help get them ready to be back in society. We are following her work with a young man named Walter who seems like a pretty normal, nice guy that just wants to be ready for the next stage of his life.

There is a lot of timeline play in this episode as we see what was going on with this mysterious facility in the past when Heidi worked there and where she is now – working at a diner back in her home town to help her mother. Back when she was working at Homecoming, she seemed to have it all: A great job, nice apartment, and even a guy that she was dating (but didn’t really want to commit to), but now she’s looking haggard and is unhappy with her work.

Things start to get interesting when a man confronts Heidi at the diner and starts asking questions about Homecoming, her time there and whether or not she knew of a man named Walter. She’s cagey about her answers and says that she doesn’t know Walter at all, which is a complete lie. An anonymous source has a claim against the company on Walter’s behalf saying that he was held there against his will even though participation the facility was said to be voluntary, but Heidi isn’t giving up anything… and with that we are all in on this series.

Related – Check out our Homecoming episode 2 review!

CarterMatt Verdict

The thing that immediately drew our attention to Homecoming is that it stars Julia Roberts who has long been an A-List celebrity in Hollywood, so to see her on television for us was going to be a treat and she did not disappoint. Add on top of that a really great mystery with a concept we haven’t really seen anywhere else before and this is going to be a very fun show if you’re looking for something quick to binge watch.

Let us know what you thought of the Homecoming premiere in the comments section below and whether or not you are going to continue watching. Also you can follow CarterMatt on Facebook for more reviews and scoop on the show. (Photo: Amazon)