In my opinion the most egregious
omission of last years Emmy nominations was the near complete shutout of
Amazon’s extraordinary series Homecoming.
Based on a famous podcast, Season 1 dealt with two timelines: the
relationship between a therapist and her patient (Julia Roberts and Stephen
James) and an investigation into a complaint filed about that patient four years
later – only by now, the therapist has no memory of any of her experiences four
years later. Tautly written, superbly directed by Sam Esmail, and performed
exquisitely by the entire cast from Roberts on down, the early buzz was such
that Roberts’ nomination for an Emmy was considered a certainty from the minute
it premiered. It’s easy enough for me to rant at the Emmys for ignoring Roberts
in favor of that standby Viola Davis or either of the leads from Game of Thrones, but the entire series
was one of the great accomplishments of 2019, and to see everybody – Esmail,
Roberts, James, Bobby Canavale and Shea Whigham, all shorted was a travesty
than could only be explained by the work of the evil corporation at the center
of Homecoming sending out meals to the
Emmy voters weeks in advance. (Then again, I’ve railed about their
inconsistencies for so long, I don’t think they need any help.
Understandably, I was more than
willing to see what happens when Season 2 finally dropped last week on Amazon.
We all knew there would be no Roberts, and there doesn’t seem to be any sign of
Esmail behind the camera either. Good news, the series hasn’t been missing any
of them so far.
If the first season of Homecoming hinted at Hitchcock at times,
the second season sees writers Micah Bloomberg and Eli Horowitz embracing it
whole-heartedly. The episode begins with a woman awaking in a canoe with no
memory of how she got there or even who she is.
Helped by a passing stranger to retrace her steps (up to a point) she
finds herself in a motel roof with a wad of case, and a photograph of an army
unit with every face but hers x-ed out. Finding a vial that belongs to the
Geist Corporation (the evil force behind all the darkness in the first season)
she finds herself tracing things back to Audrey Temple (Hong Chau, who has in a
very short time become one of the most astonishing actresses in TV) the
secretary who in the final episode of the first season made a power play – and
now reveals that she seems completely unsuited for the job.
The second episode showed the
parallel paths of the two women – Audrey, trying to fix things for the new
path, and clashing with the angry head of the Geist Corporation (Chris Cooper,
once again demonstrating why he is one of the most undervalued actors anywhere)
and the amnesiac, trying to figure out her connection to Audrey. The episode
with the amnesiac walking right up to Audrey – and Audrey kissed her, called
her Jackie, and asked: “What happened to Walter Cruz?” – the man at the center
of the action of last season, and the only character directly linking the two
seasons together.
If Julia Roberts was the central
draw of Homecoming initially, you’d
think Janelle Monae, a relatively new sensation would be an odd choice to
succeed her as the lead. But in the first two episodes of the season, Monae
plays Jackie much in the same way Roberts played Heidi – a lot like the
audience trying to figure out what had happened to her, who she was before the
main action, and what she has to do with the Geist Corporation now. She plays
it very carefully, measuring everything she does. Chau is just as good,
revealing that she is more the meek secretary than the power player she was in
the finale of Season 1, utterly unequipped for the massive undertaking she’s
apart of.
How did Jackie end up in that
canoe? What happened to Walter Cruz (I guess the happy ending we saw in Season
1 isn’t the end for him). Just what’s in the Geist air freshener? I don’t know
how many of those questions will be answer in the mere seven episodes of this
season, but I can’t wait to find out. And If the Emmys don’t recognize some of
the people behind Homecoming this
time, that’s another crime Geist corporation has to be convicted of.
My score: 4.75 stars.
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