Prime Video’s 2-Part Psychological Thriller Is Worth Binging for One of TV’s Best Performances

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Published Apr 17, 2026, 2:07 PM EDT

When Chris isn’t working on a new article or exploring the best nature spots nearby, he's gotten into making TikTok edits. While he works on other personal projects, he has turned his attention to these edits for social media. They can be just for fun or get a little weird, but each one is to dust off his editing skills.

Rainy movie scenes set to a Spanish indie pop for a cozy vibe. A Mission: Impossible crossover with Halloween -- it somehow works with all the stunts Jamie Lee Curtis got put through. And a Saltburn theater reaction where not every dramatic theatergoer clutched their pearls, some understood it the erotic thriller it was. These are just to name a few.

Despite running for two seasons, the nearly decade-old series Homecoming is ultimately defined by its first, and Julia Roberts is the biggest reason it works so well. In the criminally underseen Sam Esmail-created Prime Video thriller, Roberts plays Heidi Bergman across two timelines: a caseworker at a mysterious facility in 2018, and a waitress in 2022 with no memory of the job that changed her life. People forget things all the time, but Heidi can’t remember a major part of her own story, and that absence becomes the driving mystery of Homecoming’s best part, on top of a stellar performance.

What Is Sam Esmail's ‘Homecoming’ About?

In 2018, Heidi was a caseworker at the Homecoming Transitional Support Center, helping soldiers transition back to their home life. Her busy day is full of taking frequent calls from her agitated boss, Colin (Bobby Cannavale), or holding therapy sessions with the soldiers. Away from work, her personal life is lackluster, including her boyfriend Anthony (Dermot Mulroney), where the romance has gone well past the expiration date.

Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like? Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky

Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.

🏜️Paul Atreides

🖖Capt. Kirk

✊Princess Leia

🔦Ellen Ripley

🔥Max Rockatansky

FIND YOUR HERO →

How do you lead when the stakes couldn't be higher? The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.

AI absorb everything — every variable, every pattern — and move only when I know the path forward. BI read the room, make the call, and own the consequences. Hesitation costs more than mistakes. CI rally people. A cause needs a voice, and I refuse to let fear be louder than conviction. DI assess the threat, establish what needs doing, and get it done without waiting for permission. EI don't lead. I act. Others can follow or not — I'm already moving.

NEXT QUESTION →

What is your greatest strength in a crisis? The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.

APrescience — the ability to see further ahead than anyone else and plan accordingly. BImprovisation — I'm at my best when the plan falls apart and I have to invent a new one. CConviction — I know what I'm fighting for, and that certainty doesn't waver under fire. DComposure — I stay functional when everyone around me is falling apart. Panic is a luxury. EEndurance — I outlast things. I take the hit and keep moving long after others have stopped.

NEXT QUESTION →

What is the thing you'd sacrifice everything else for? Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.

AThe survival and dignity of my people — even if I have to become something frightening to ensure it. BThe safety of my crew — every single one of them. No one gets left behind. CFreedom — for my people, for every world still crushed under the weight of an empire. DThe truth — what actually happened, what's actually out there, whether anyone believes me or not. EThe one person — or the one memory — that still makes any of this worth surviving for.

NEXT QUESTION →

How do you relate to the people around you? Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.

AWith intensity and distance — I care deeply, but the weight I carry makes closeness complicated. BWith warmth and irreverence — I take the mission seriously, not myself. CWith directness and trust — I say what I mean, and I expect the people I work with to rise to it. DWith professional care but clear limits — I'll protect you, but I won't pretend we're family. EWith wariness that slowly becomes loyalty — I don't trust easily, but when I do, it holds.

NEXT QUESTION →

You're facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do? How you respond when you're the only one who sees it defines everything.

APrepare in silence. If they won't listen, I'll be ready when they finally have to. BKeep pushing until someone listens — and if no one does, handle it myself. CBuild the case, find the allies, and make the threat impossible to ignore. DDocument everything. The truth matters even if no one believes it yet. EStop trying to convince anyone. Survive it. That's the only argument that counts.

NEXT QUESTION →

What has your heroism cost you personally? Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they'd pay it again.

AMy innocence — I've seen what I'm capable of, and I can't unsee it. BPeople I loved — the command chair has a view, but it's a lonely one. CA normal life — I gave up everything ordinary the moment I chose the cause. DMy sense of safety — I know exactly what's out there now, and I can't pretend otherwise. EAlmost everything — and I'm still not sure what I'm carrying it all for. But I keep going.

NEXT QUESTION →

How do you feel about the rules of the world you're in? Every hero has a relationship with the system. What's yours?

AI understand them deeply — and I know exactly which ones must be broken, and why. BI respect the spirit of them and bend the letter when the situation demands it. CThe system is the problem. I'm not here to work within it — I'm here to dismantle it. DI follow protocol until protocol stops being useful. Then I make the call myself. EThe rules collapsed a long time ago. What's left is instinct, and mine are reliable.

NEXT QUESTION →

When everything is on the line, what keeps you going? The answer is the most honest thing about you.

ADestiny — or something that feels so much like it that the difference no longer matters. BThe people on my ship — their faces, their trust, the fact that they're counting on me. CThe belief that what we're fighting for is worth every sacrifice, including this one. DSheer refusal to let it win — whatever it is. I don't stop. That's just who I am. EI'm not sure anymore. But the road is still there, and I'm still on it.

REVEAL MY HERO →

Your Hero Has Been Identified Your Sci-Fi Hero Is…

Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.

Paul Atreides

You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you're capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.

You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn't ask for but can't escape.
Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won't, is exactly you.

Captain Kirk

You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you've always believed there's a third option nobody else has thought of yet.

You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you've earned it.
Kirk's genius isn't tactical — it's human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.

Princess Leia

You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you're fearless, but because giving up simply isn't something you're capable of.

You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you've never looked back.
Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.

Ellen Ripley

You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone's hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.

You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
Ripley's heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn't have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn't there.
When it counts, you don't flinch. That's everything.

Max Rockatansky

You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.

You don't ask for help, don't need validation, and don't wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it's earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

Homecoming is where Heidi is at her best, knowing how to say the right thing to gain someone’s trust, but something is not quite right. In 2022, Heidi is now a waitress when she’s questioned by an investigator, Thomas Carrasco (Shea Whigham), who doesn’t believe her dismissive remarks that she doesn't remember her time at Homecoming. This begins a slow-burning plot that unravels across half-hour, practically bite-sized episodes, leaving viewers to wonder what Heidi is hiding.

Julia Roberts’ Heidi Bergman Can’t Be Trusted

Julia Roberts’ performance in the 2018 timeline is similar to the heroines of her career: someone a viewer can root for. She’s under tremendous pressure from Colin, who demands she gather data on the soldiers and not form relationships. While Heidi is overwhelmed by her duties, she is tenacious about handling the stress. After all, she doesn’t know how to have a life outside of work. It may break the hearts of fans who watch the chilly, awkward scenes between Roberts and Mulroney, but much like in My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997), these characters aren’t meant for each other. Heidi bottles up her emotions, breaking things off with Anthony to focus specifically on work. This makes the therapy sessions with Walter (Stephan James) feel all the more intimate.

They form a connection effortlessly. Roberts puts on her iconic smile as she sits behind an office desk, trying to make probing questions sound casual while discussing Walter’s painful memories of his time in the military. Ignoring her boss’ rigid data-based approach, Heidi chooses to bond with Walter. They form a playful, flirty relationship as they move away from talking about his PTSD and onto a hypothetical road trip they could take. It teeters into being inappropriate due to the power dynamic between them, but it shows Walter’s desire to leave Homecoming, and Heidi's gradual realization that she wants a life outside of her career. In 2022, she’s isolated with no special connection to anyone.

Whatever happened in the time gap loosened the cap on her abrasive side, too. Instead of treating people like she did with Walter, this version of Heidi pushes everyone away. When Carrasco arrives to poke at the blank parts of her memory, Roberts’ performance is entirely absent of her once inviting decorum. She gives blunt, short responses during the interactions, clearly wanting to get away from him as quickly as possible. It’s not just because this is a harsher, impatient version of the character, but because she’s scared about why she can’t remember. A pervasive feeling of paranoia in Homecoming isn’t just focused on Heidi’s amnesia; director Sam Esmail lets it seep into every part of the show.

Julia Roberts Nails Two Sides of the Same Character

Stephan James as Walter and Julia Roberts as Heidi in Homecoming

One of the best parts of the series is the soundtrack, plucked from the films Esmail was influenced by. In Episode 1, the first few minutes have sweeping, fluid camera work that introduces Heidi’s office at the Homecoming facility. The theme of Dressed to Kill (1980) plays, and the lush and dream-like score by Pino Donaggio sets up a picturesque first meeting between Heidi and Walter. There is a narrative theme that Dressed to Kill and Homecoming share in how both explore the double lives of their characters. In 2018, Heidi may care for Walter, but she also plays a part in the secretive agenda behind Homecoming. As early as Episode 3, it’s revealed she knows something the soldiers do not.

Their daily meals are medicated with an experimental drug that will delete their PTSD memories, and she accepts this by focusing on the good intentions behind it. This makes the office talks between Walter and Heidi all the more complicated. He easily opens up to her, and soon begins to have feelings for her. While she never oversteps, Heidi can’t stop herself from sharing these feelings. Their conversations in Heidi’s office are charged with this chemistry. Keeping quiet about the drugged meals leads to one of Julia Roberts’ best moments when she learns the complete truth about the facility. The drug in the soldiers’ meals is to allow PTSD-free soldiers to then be redeployed. Once Walter begins to be affected, Heidi panics. In Episode 8, she struggles with her guilt while in front of a new group of soldiers joining Homecoming.

Roberts’ performance has her eyes failing to focus on anyone while stumbling over her words. When an employee tries to step in, she suddenly regains control. “I wrote the script,” she tells him sharply. She greets the new batch of test subjects, but a close-up of her face can’t hide the heavy emotions swirling about. The beaming smile she can usually put on with ease is strained, and her eyes fill with concern. The score by David Shire from the paranoid classic The Conversation (1974) takes over the scene as the camera stays on Roberts, forcing the viewer to watch the sinking realization as she experiences it. Her job is based on a dangerous lie, and to redeem herself, she sees one option. Heidi overloads Walter’s dose of the memory-wiping drug, leaving him incapable of being redeployed. She medicates herself too, hoping it can delete her guilt (the answer to her amnesia in 2022), but it merely suppresses it.

‘Homecoming’s Supporting Cast Elevates the Series

It's not just Roberts who makes Homecoming such a rich thriller series; the supporting characters effectively fill out such a mysterious and sophisticated world. Stephan James plays Walter as a sweet guy who wants to be a good soldier even away from active duty, but his laidback demeanor and Heidi’s attempt to keep everything on track at Homecoming are met with challenges in 2018. Jeremy Allen White brings the intensity he does so well on The Bear into his role of Shrier, a friend to Walter, who is instantly suspicious of the Homecoming program. Then Gloria (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), Walter’s mother, gets involved, fearful of the facility that has isolated her son. The problems aren’t limited to this timeline, either.

In 2022, Sissy Spacek plays Ellen, Heidi’s mother, who isn’t too happy her daughter has returned to live with her, but when it seems Heidi is in trouble, Ellen never wavers to protect her. Shea Whigman adds another nosy investigator to his resume with Thomas Carrasco, who can’t help but get pulled into the mystery of Homecoming’s agenda. He’s an ally, but with paranoia running rampant on this show, Heidi keeps her distance until she has no other options left. In both timelines, Bobby Cannavale’s Colin is a terrible boss who rarely listens to Heidi, unless she tells him what he wants to hear. He reaches sleazier heights when he confronts her and, realizing she doesn’t remember him, manipulates her to benefit himself.

'Homecoming's Season 1 Finale Is Chilling

A stylized element of the show is the different aspect ratios, which represent how Robert’s character is restricted from the truth. The 2018 timeline is seen in widescreen, while all the scenes in 2022 are confined to a boxed 1:1 aspect ratio. By the Season 1 finale, Heidi unlocks her memories in 2022, and the boxed aspect ratio breaks free by switching to widescreen. As the memories flood back, Julia Roberts unleashes anger at herself and the facility for lying to the soldiers, and then it quiets down as she’s left with pain and sadness, sobbing as the regret returns. To right the wrongs of the past, Heidi decides to go find Walter.

Her final encounter with him is both a mirror image and in stark contrast to their first meeting. Walter runs into her at a roadside diner, and they fall into conversation as if no time has passed, but the difference is that he doesn’t recognize her. For one last time, she knows more than the ex-soldier she’s sitting across. Heidi has always bottled her emotions and vulnerabilities, and viewers can practically feel how much Heidi is struggling to keep herself together. This time, she wants to open up. Her voice is quiet while talking to Walter, as if she’s afraid she might say something that will trigger a return of his “lost” memories. She isn’t overwhelmed by work pressure or guilt; she’s overwhelmed by seeing Walter happy, and she wants him to stay that way.

Losing their connection is a small sacrifice on her part, compared to the lies Walter and other soldiers have been told. But the final image for the episode seems to put a peaceful future for Walter in doubt. He leaves behind a sign that only Heidi would recognize from their office conversations. She watches him go with an ambiguous expression that can be interpreted in a few ways. She might be happy that his memories of her aren't gone, or she might be worried that everything would return to him at some point. More likely, it's both of these. Heidi never turns into a heroic whistleblower, and that’s for the best.

As the timelines reveal the truth, the murky side of Homecoming's caseworker provides Julia Roberts with the chance to play a complex role that is tough to pin down. She brings out her “America’s sweetheart” side from the rom-coms and the guest spot on Friends, in her scenes that develop the relationship with Stephan James’ Walter. She gets to be abrasive in a way that is less courageous than Erin Brockovich. and closer to the meanness of Leave the World Behind. And she gets to portray the kind of raw vulnerabilities she would dive into with Gaslit. She blends all of this on screen as Heidi Bergman in her best TV role yet.

Homecoming is available to watch on Prime Video in the U.S.