‘Homecoming’ Recap: ‘Helping’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

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While examining thematic concepts is a norm for just about any television series out there, it’s rare to see those concepts interconnect in some form or fashion. Shows simply like to compartmentalize ideas into a single story, which isn’t a bad thing by any means, simply because it allows for the series to explore as many ideas as possible as the season rolls on. So, imagine my surprise when I settled in to watch the next episode of Homecoming, entitled ‘Helping’, only to discover that this particular series was going to continue on with something it started looking at in its last episode; an exploration on both the good and the bad that comes with searching for the truth.
 
Except this time around, there was no good to be explored in the matter, everything in this tale showed us the consequences that come forth from searching for the truth, and perhaps the biggest takeaway when it comes to that particular notion is that…sometimes others don’t want the facts to be revealed. Yet as this show is wont to do, it provided us with various extremes when it comes to this concept, and for proof, look no further than Thomas Carrasco’s storyline. Since he caught up with Shrier in this episode and well, dear Joe was a shell of his former self, afraid and unwilling to speak until he knew he wasn’t being watched and even then, he spoke in clues, mostly about ‘the trees’, and it was obvious he was terrified to spill the beans about Homecoming for fear of retribution and well, there’s good reason for that.
 
Because clearly, Colin wants to keep this incident as quiet as possible, and well, Colin’s literal journey in this tale provided us with perhaps the most terrifying bookend when it comes to the dangers of searching for the truth, since the man actually traveled to Tampa to have a little showdown with Heidi at the restaurant. Thankfully, Heidi didn’t recall him in the slightest, but make no mistake about it, the fact that he took the time to come down there and practiced potential threats to drop upon Heidi and asked home office for more information on Thomas, is chilling to say the least. He’s clearly willing to do whatever it takes to keep 5/5/18 a secret and his disturbing behavior in this episode, is starting to make me wonder just how dangerous Colin really is.
 
Because, the scary moments from Colin extended into the past as well. For just when it seemed that Heidi was gaining the trust of the soldiers and making them truly feel more comfortable at Homecoming by way of a hilarious prank war, Craig’s frustration with her not sticking to the script, led to a phone call to Colin about the time she spent in Walter’s room and that…led to one hell of a phone call to Heidi. For during this little chat, Colin unloaded on Heidi, in a way we’ve never seen before. Gone was the usual salesman talk or silly persuasion that Colin is so good at. Instead that chatter was replaced with dangerous threats and a fury we’ve never seen before and well, this was simply unexpected to say the least. But his fury cannot be ignored and I’m sure this anger and nastiness plays into the incident on 5/5/18.
 
But, in the here and the now, this was another episode full of surprises to say the least, since it started off in hilarious fashion, because who doesn’t love a good prank war? And I love that Heidi opened up a little bit and jumped into the fray for this. But alas, I doubt the good times will continue now that Heidi has been told to either get with the program or get out. Either way, it’s wonderful to see that this series can take a break from the mysteries of Homecoming and not miss a beat and now that we are at the halfway point of season one, I won’t be surprised if things ramp up from here as the mystery begins to unravel. Until next time.

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