HOMECOMING Dance

Article first published as TV Review: HOMECOMING on Seat42F.

One might think it would take a unique series to lure Julia Roberts to the small screen. While crossing over from film to television is anything but uncommon these days, there are still some stars that seem too big to make the move. Well, Amazon’s HOMECOMING is definitely unique. And if you’ve forgotten just how good Roberts is, this series will remind you of that.

Roberts stars as Heidi Bergman, an administrator and counselor at Homecoming, a facility to help soldiers reintegrate into society after traumatic active duty. Heidi truly seems to want to help, though she has to balance that desire with the strict, demanding instructions of her boss, Colin Belfast (Bobby Cannavale, Ant-Man). We learn early on that whatever she intends doesn’t pan out, and four years later, she’s working as a waitress. But why? What happened?

HOMECOMING is a twisty, suspenseful tale. Most of the plot is set at the facility in 2018, with the 2022 flashforwards making up only a few minutes of each episode. The tone is that of an old Kubrick or Hitchcock drama, with bizarre directing shots to match. It feels out of time in sort of a semi-reality where you can’t trust anything you see. The paranoia is purposeful and not unique to the viewer, as at least a couple of characters share it, too. The closest thing I can compare it to on the modern landscape is Mr. Robot, which makes sense because it has the same creator, Sam Esmail. The mystery plays out slowly in a way that begs to be binged. Thankfully, Amazon dropped all ten episodes of season one at once (though I’ve only had time to view three so far).

The cast around Roberts is every bit as good as she is, pulling together a remarkable ensemble. Shea Whigham (Boardwalk Empire) is Thomas Carrasco, the man following up on a complaint about the facility in 2022, and gently nudging the spilling of secrets. Sissy Spacek (Bloodline) is Heidi’s mother, Ellen, who tells her daughter she’s lying to herself. Alex Karpovsky (Girls) is an employee at Homecoming. Dermot Mulroney (My Best Friend’s Wedding) is Heidi’s boyfriend in 2018, pushed aside in favor of her work.

Then there are the patients themselves. Stephan James (Selma) plays Walter Cruz, the main patient we see and the subject of Carrasco’s inquiry. Walter seems well-adjusted, like he doesn’t belong in the program, but is happy to go along with things. He gets along well with Heidi, developing a camaraderie that is more intimate than I imagine most doctors and patients share (though completely chaste, at least three installments in).  Their bond is immediate and interesting.

The thing that interrupts Cruz’s peaceful stint is his loyalty to fellow soldier Joseph Shrier (Jeremy Allen White, Shameless). Shrier is suspect of everything Cruz takes for granted, insisting that they aren’t even in Florida. Shrier is painted as the crazy man who is probably right, though only time will tell if he’s close to the truth. More importantly, he complicates Cruz’s tenure and treatment, keeping the story quite colorful.

HOMECOMING is based off of a scripted podcast by Gimlet Media starring Catherine Keener as Heidi. Which may explain why the episodes are less than half an hour each, despite being far more drama than comedy. And it’s probably the best adaptation of a podcast I’ve seen. It takes the best elements of that format, and even without having listened (yet, though I definitely will), I can see what parts have been carried over. However, it isn’t distracting as the show also makes full use of the visual medium, seamlessly blending the two in a beautiful, near-perfect marriage.

(Disclosure: I am the creator / head writer of a long-running, scripted, serialized comedy podcast called It’s All Been Done Radio Hour, so I might be a bit more enamored with the medium than most.)

I love HOMECOMING. I think it’s a stellar effort, well done on every level, and the perfect vehicle for Roberts and the rest of the cast. Check out the whole first season on Amazon Prime streaming video.

Failing WATER

Article first published as FALLING WATER Review on Seat42F.

Following the critically acclaimed, ratings-challenged Mr. Robot, USA seeks to copy that, um, I guess you could call it success, with the new, trippy FALLING WATER. (That was not a knock on Mr. Robot, which I love, but a musing as to why a network wants to replicate a show that almost no one is watching.) Like Mr. Robot, FALLING WATER is high-concept drama that blurs the lines of reality and attempts to build a mysterious mythology that will spark much debate and predictions. But it is definitely a whole different show in a lot of ways.

As episode one begins, we meet three separate protagonists, each with their own pain. Tess (Lizzie Brochere, Versailles, American Horror Story: Asylum) is a trend-spotter who believes she may have had a child, though most people think she’s crazy. Burton (David Ajala, Black Box, The Dark Knight) is a fixer who has lost the woman he loves (Anna Wood, Reckless). Taka (Will Yun Lee, Hawaii Five-0) is a cop whose mother (Jodi Long, Sullivan & Son) is in a coma.

The connections between this trio are not immediately apparent, but it isn’t long before it’s explained to us. They are having very vivid dreams, or rather, pieces of the same dream, and if their experiences are combined, they could herald a very real danger.

To this end, the cast includes Bill Boerg (Zak Orth, Revolution, Wet Hot American Summer) and Woody Hammond (Kai Lennox, Legit, Beginners). Woody is bad news, jumping between dreams, and definitely seems like he can’t be trusted. Bill may be no less noble, a tech guy clearly wanting to profit based on his dream research, but at least he’s offering to help Tess in exchange for her assistance. So these are our shady peeps who pull the threads together.

Unfortunately, they don’t pull them together all that well. I’m not complaining about either character, or any of the cast; they all do a pretty good job, it seems to me, at least in episode one. Instead, my problem is that the series is boring, confusing, and I have no confidence that it is going anywhere neat. Granted, I’ve only viewed one episode, and plenty of great shows have poor pilots. It would just take a lot to come back from this one.

I give the series credit for not going procedural. I mean, they have a cop as one of the main characters, so I expected them to do so, but the plot seems completely serial instead. But it’s more a lack of cohesiveness and engagement that hurts it. We don’t get to know any of the characters very well before we’re distracted by all the dream stuff. And the dream stuff isn’t obvious, with viewers sometimes left wondering if what they’re seeing is reality or not.

Don’t get me wrong, on paper this sounds like a show I’d be totally into. I dig a cool premise that tells a new tale. Sure, it has similarities to Mr. Robot and Netflix’s Sense8, but FALLING WATER is far from a copy of either. Tess’s career of being the reclusive woman who sees patterns before anyone else makes sense for someone who sees the world a little more than the rest of us, and I can even extend a similar trait to the cop, as even though I’m burnt out on cop shows, it makes sense to use one here.

However, the execution leaves much to be desired, seeming more messy than anything, and not well thought or mapped out. I don’t know where things are going, and because of the haphazard way elements are introduced, I’m not sure the writers do either. More importantly, I don’t care to find out because I’m not drawn to any of the characters, who all seem like they could be bad people. (They could also be good people, it’s just not clear.) Even the title isn’t explained.

That’s just too much confusion for a series that doesn’t seem, on its face, worth the effort. There has to be some hook to bring people back, and there’s not in this one.

FALLING WATER premieres Thursday at 10/9c on USA.

Thank You Very Much, MR. ROBOT

Article originally published as MR. ROBOT Review on Seat42F.

USA’s latest series is MR. ROBOT, a conspiracy theory tale of the digital age. In a world where corporations can gobble up holdings, the rich at the top acquiring more and more wealth and control on a global scale, it’s hard to gauge the true range of the threat or mount a defense against it. Who stands up for the average person, unaware of their life being bought and sold out from under them, and without the tools to fight back? Why, MR. ROBOT, that’s who. Maybe.

The first hour begins by introducing us to Elliot (Rami Malek, The Pacific, Night at the Museum). He is not the title character, but he is the most important. Antisocial and not used to expressing himself, MR. ROBOT uses voice over a lot to have Elliot tell the viewer what he’s thinking. It’s an effective tool, really taking us into his head and letting events unfold from his perspective.

Elliot works for a company he dubs Evil Corp, which hilariously is what it is referred to by every other player and even signage because Elliot says he has adjusted his head to always think of it that way. Elliot doesn’t want to serve The Man, but he’s there for his best friend, Angela (Portia Doubleday, Mr. Sunshine). To ease his conscience, since he’s protecting the bad guys all day with his super cyber security skills, he moonlights as a vigilante, taking down one scumbag at a time.

Enter Mr. Robot (Christian Slater, Breaking In, Archer, etc.). Mr. Robot is a mysterious, smooth man who offers Elliot the chance to bring down the villain from the inside. In Elliot, Mr. Robot has found the perfect tool to accomplish his mission, and he seems to offer Elliot the perfect way to right the wrongs of the world.

But is Mr. Robot whom he says he is? Because the show is told purely through Elliot’s eyes, we only see what he sees, and Elliot’s impressions are skewed. Mr. Robot can certainly talk a good game, and the way he plays Elliot’s recruitment is with superb talent. But how much do we really know about him? His work is only hinted at, and while he has a cool lair and a delightfully abrasive sidekick, Darlene (Carly Chaikin, Suburgatory), is what he is offering genuine?

On the other hand, the face of the villains, Tyrell Wellick (Martin Wallstrom, Simple Simon), is as obviously slimy as Mr. Robot is cool. He is exactly the type of guy you would think heads up Evil Corp, and he is smart enough to be a fitting foe for our bold but naïve hero. Is this reality or just Elliot’s imaginative way of sorting the world?

Because MR. ROBOT lives in the world of conspiracies, there are bound to be many, many twists. With Elliot’s specific and unreliable guidance, the viewer is immersed in an individual, and subject to the limitations of such as well, which makes for an unpredictable ride.

I LOVE the MR. ROBOT pilot. It has the huge, almost mythological, arcs and a hero’s journey, coupled with a somewhat unique and very modern sensibility. The tone is incredibly consistent, the main character is much easier to relate to than one would think such a person would be because of the incredibly detailed way in which he is written and performed, and the story sucks you right in. It’s exciting, it’s entertaining, it’s smart, and it’s far from business as usual in the television landscape.

Will MR. ROBOT find an audience? I don’t know. It is offbeat and weird enough that it can’t possibly appeal to even a wide majority of people. Yet, it has quality in spades and seems extremely well done in pretty much every aspect, from score to casting to production design. I can’t imagine that most my friends won’t like it as much as I do. I hope you will give it a chance and be similarly drawn in.

MR. ROBOT premieres Wednesday, June 24^th at 10 p.m. ET on USA.