Homecoming

one of the decade's best, Homecoming is currently streaming in Australia on Amazon Prime Video, and in the US on Amazon Prime Video with a 7/10 audience score that speaks for itself. 17 episodes — the right length to tell the story it is telling. Television that earns its era label is rarer than the number of shows attempting it suggests — most of what gets called prestige TV is really just expensive TV. Homecoming is one of the genuine examples: the craft is there in the writing, the performances, and the way it handles its subject matter. Janelle Monáe's involvement signals the kind of production that attracts serious talent and uses it properly. Available now on streaming — no excuses left for not watching it.

Originally commissioned by Prime Video, Homecoming quickly became exactly the kind of show that viewers rearrange their evenings for. Heidi Bergman is a caseworker at Homecoming, a Geist Group facility helping soldiers transition to civilian life. Years later she has started a new life, living with her mother and working as a waitress, when a Department of Defense auditor questions why she left the Homecoming facility. Heidi quickly realizes that there's a whole other story behind the story she's been telling herself. The series ran for 2 seasons (2018–2020), building a story that gave its audience time to invest properly. The writing trusts the audience to sit with ambiguity rather than wrapping every episode in a tidy conclusion — it is the approach that separates good drama from great. It delivers reliably on what it promises, which is more than most of its competition manages.

The show you recommend to people who say they do not really watch TV. Homecoming tends to convert them. The complete run is available and worth treating as a single long film if your schedule allows. The quality of the character writing is the reason it holds up on rewatch, when you can see the groundwork being laid in early episodes for things that only pay off much later. The patience it asks of you in the early episodes is paid back with interest. Janelle Monáe is the centre of it, and it is one of their strongest performances on record.