Clients who truly commit to the program can expect positive results in as few as six weeks.
In 2018, it makes no sense to provide full-length reviews of each individual episode for shows released all at once on the streaming services. Sure, there are some shows out there that value the power of the episode. They do make a point in differentiating each episode to ensure it's not just one big slog to the finish. However, the ability to watch the entire season at one's own viewing pace has largely changed the way we consume and discuss these shows. So, some brief summary thoughts are really all that's actually necessary with these seasons. As such, here are my latest thoughts on the next episode of Amazon's Homecoming.
"Redwood" was written by Micah Bloomberg and directed by Sam Esmail
There has been a flirtatious energy coursing through Heidi and Walter's dynamic throughout the season so far. Part of it may just be Heidi presenting as a comforting and nurturing face to allow this soldier to let his guard down. And yet, she actually has a meaningful relationship with him. She isn't seen interacting with any of the other soldiers at the Homecoming facility. Walter is special. Heidi has fought for him to stay in the program. She has been able to argue the importance of the optics of his inclusion. Of course, the audience is fully aware of just how damaging those optics will eventually become. Thomas has already connected the pieces about Walter and Heidi leaving the program the same day in 2018. He wants to know if there is a direct correlation there. The audience already gets the sense that there has to be considering how close they have gotten in such a short period of time. Walter was able to speak so elegantly about the pros and cons of taking a road trip with someone. And now, he shares that he actually did hit the road and drove to Yosemite once. He believes that if he would have stopped in any of the towns along the way he would have had a completely different life because those communities felt so foreign and different to him. Instead, he was focused on his central goal. He wasn't able to complete it though. His new car broke down. It couldn't carry him across the finish line. So instead, he took the traditional path of going to basic training and then being deployed. It has led him to this moment. He is plagued with dark thoughts. He is haunted about what happened to his unit overseas. He sees the value of this program because he doesn't understand the thoughts currently plaguing his mind. He is comfortable here even though Shrier and his own mother have been trying to get him to question the program. Gloria just wants her son back. She doesn't understand why she can't see him or speak to him in private now that he is back in the states. He is able to rationalize it all by saying it's a part of the program. He is able to find peace just putting up a map and tracing the path from Georgia to Yosemite. He is highlighting all of the towns he could have passed by all those years ago. It's a simple gesture. The same goes to Heidi for retrieving Shrier's harmonica and giving it to Walter. That should inform him right away that Homecoming is doing something to the soldiers. Shrier wasn't able to take any of his possessions back home with him. Instead, they are locked away in storage on the site. The best thing that could happen with it was Walter having this memory of his good friend around him at all times. But he's also distracted by Heidi in the moment. She is a very smooth operator. She is able to get Walter talking while maintaining intimacy with him. Whether or not something more happens between them, the suspicion is already there. Craig sees the two of them together in Walter's room. He sees her breaking from protocol. Forming this kind of close, personal relationship could be so devastating when it comes to the moment they both leave the program. Heidi has no memory of being in the hospital. Her mother does and can rationalize it with her daughter never wanting to talk about what happened. It wasn't until Ellen fell that Heidi suddenly had purpose in her life once more. That was the moment she reemerged from the fog and back to an active life. It was the life she left to go to Homecoming in the first place. And now, it's the life condemned to her by Colin who wants to keep a lid on all of this. He can sense the walls closing in on him even though the Homecoming program shut down. But he remains a very smooth operator as well who can't give Heidi or Thomas any clues as to what happened in May 2018.
