Response to Homecoming episodes 2, 3, and 4.

In the “Pineapple” episode, Heidi is still hiding something. The episode starts off with a phone call between Anthony (Heidi’s boyfriend) and Heidi. In this phone call they break up because Anthony doesn’t feel she is trying enough. That phone call quickly gets interrupted by a phone call from Collin, and the conversation is never finished. Collin was concerned about a conversation between Walter Cruz and Stryer, where Stryer began to question the program. The content of this conversation is considered to be a threat to the program, so Stryer moves out of Walter’s bunk. Collin is once again frustrated by the way Heidi is running things even though he can barely send a file. In between the recording of Walter and Stryer, the podcast goes to a scene of Heidi and her mother. They seem to be in a nursing home where Heidi’s mother stays. Heidi’s mother begins to question why Heidi came home from her job. After the conversation between Walter and Stryer, Heidi’s mother tells a story that Heidi has heard before. I think this was a way of showing how Heidi has to deal with chronic brain conditions in multiple ways. The episode ends with a funny story about a Titanic sequel, and how some soldiers convinced another that there was an actual sequel. This I think was meant to show how easy it is to make someone seem crazy. Sometimes it isn’t the person who’s gone crazy, but it’s the people around him, who make him seem crazy.

In the “Phony” episode, Walter tells a recent story of when him and Stryer left the facility. Walter had the intention of showing Stryer that they are fine, so he stole a van and drove away. They ended up in a town where nothing seems real, and when Stryer freaks out on a guy, he finds out that it is just a retirement facility and everyone is asleep. Stryer feels bad about it, but he needs to go. Collin does not want him in the program anymore and yells at Heidi about it. Heidi fights for Walter Cruz to stay, and wins. When the scene goes back to Heidi and Walter, they get a bit flirtatious and an obvious connection is made. This could be foreshadowing how strongly Heidi cares for Walter. At the end of the podcast, Anthony meets Heidi for drinks. This is after Heidi has quit her job. She begins to ask Anthony very specific questions about their conversations at the time, but Anthony gets emotional and barely puts thought into his answers. This scene made me question Heidi’s memory. Maybe she is the one with a memory problem. Maybe the writer put this in to show the unreliability of one’s own interpretation of an event.

In the last episode, Stryer leaves the facility. Walter gets upset and talks about a harmonica Stryer once played. He got the harmonica from Lesky, who died in battle.  Later in the episode, Collin calls Heidi and plays a recording of her giving Walter Cruz a harmonica. He yells at her, and she nearly loses her job. This whole episode is trying to show how soldiers are treated in this program. Upper administration clearly does not care about actually helping the guys recover, and the people on hands with the patients do. Heidi cares about Walter and thinks he can and will get better. She treats him like a human which is apparently frowned upon by her boss. Walter seems to be just another number in the program in the eyes of Collin.