Homecoming Podcast Season 1

The podcast discusses the audio book "Homecoming" and focuses on the resilience of the characters, Walter and Heidi. Walter, a former military member with PTSD, shows resilience by participating in the homecoming project and opening up about his past. Heidi, despite dealing with a difficult boss and personal stress, remains resilient and dedicated to her job. The relationship between Heidi and Walter demonstrates kindness, listening, and progress. The story reveals darker elements and paranoia, but both characters continue to show resilience. Colin, the boss, suggests doubling medication, but Heidi resists and prioritizes the well-being of the patients. The episode ends with Heidi giving a harmonica to Walter as a memento of their journey. Welcome to the let's do it podcast. We got myself Adam Cha Cha Drew Allison and Brooks Armstrong. We're going to be talking today about the audio book We've been listening to in class called homecoming. We're going to be talking about today The resilience of the characters that were introduced in the beginning of the show Heidi and Walter one Walter a former ex-military and is a patient now at homecoming and Heidi who works at homecoming and It's helping him talk through his PTSD that he's learned through before I think we should start by just talking about like from our perspectives earlier in the show. So maybe episodes one and two We're kind of just still getting introduced there's a lot of mystery and vagueness in the show I think There's not a ton of resilience shown yet. But I think Walter showed some resilience when Just going to the homecoming project in general and opening up to someone about your like personal life in your past and Talking to someone about it and it's it's it's like deep it could be PTSD It's it's bad memories and you're having to bring it up. Yeah for sure. Just add about on about Walter like that's uh, that's Like a life comparison to you know, when soldiers come back from the military It's really hard like every soldier has different experience of what they had in war and just for Walter to come back and go to this Program, you know, it shows a lot of resilient in the in the character So I'm going to talk about what I thought Heidi had some resilience in this in the season So we're gonna start off early, you know when Heidi's always on these phone calls we call and Collins always yelling at her telling her to do these things and Collins always he's never in a good mood and Heidi just deals with that. She's like, okay. Yes Yes, she gets all the information and she goes on with their daily life after she you know, she She doesn't get mad. She doesn't Go home and cry. She she sticks to her job and she does it good Even though Colin is giving her all this bad feedback and pushing her to do all these things But you know Heidi is always bouncing back and I just think that's a lot of resilience from her and she does She's really good at that. So yeah She really has to push through with Colin yelling at her all the time being a the jerk of a boss He is you know, she's uh, she's been so working so hard She's actually had to push her family away like her mother and later down She even has to break up with her boyfriend because all the stress from work It's just overloading her and she can't even deal with all that Yeah, and add on onto the onto the Heidi part with the calls and stuff, you know We find out that he's always on vacation. He's never actually in there in Florida where where Heidi's She posted up so he's always in Dubai and he's always he seems to be distracted when he's on these calls So Heidi's not really getting you know, a lot of help from Colin. She's she's struggling to get To get work with these patients up in Florida, but Colin's still on vacation giving her no help and that's a it's another thing that Heidi has to deal with and she's always and she's still going and doing her job and she's doing it really well So yeah, I wanted to just extend on that point a little bit more with Heidi Even though my guys Walter on in class. We talked about intrapersonal and interpersonal protective factors relationships between yourself and others Reproves improves the likelihood of resilience and um, I just want to talk about Heidi in the eyes of Walter It's representing an altruism the definitions to receive kindness or one a moving experience for anyone at any age Human beings need to seem reminding to bring altruism forth and have a battle that fear opposes it I think this is a great example in this relationship so far in the show that we have between Heidi and Walter. She's um She's portraying kindness and like listening and hearing to Walter and what he has to say He has some pretty dark things to say sometimes He talks about having some bad thoughts about self-hurt And yeah, Walter really starts off from getting a show is kind of like a cold weft through war Really having a lot of troubles from his past times But as we get farther like into episode 2 he starts talking a little bit more He starts saying that he's given self reports almost every day talking about how his day was and he's starting to get better And he's showing a lot of progress But as we get even farther into the show within the beginning episodes You see that there might be something darker within this within the story that we're not seeing so far Yeah, so Brooks anything to say about Walter and guys part on yeah, I just had one more Intrapersonal factor at this point in the show when you know what he's talking on I think it's episode 3 ish around there There's this story about how the Titanic rises with his friend and they keep making fun of him because he's like he's so in love with the show Titanic and There's an intrapersonal factor that sense of humor, you know to be able to laugh or be amused by one's own Like frailties, it's real good for him. I think the way that he laughs at things and It kind of shows how he's optimistic about things in life, and he's looking forward So I think that that kind of wraps up like, you know around the first two episodes Yeah, dad on on that story with a Titanic, you know We get a little sneak peek of how the story also ends up into one of his friends Lusky He ended up dying and you know that it can be a sad story But he thinks of it as a positive a story to laugh at and that's that's good for me That shows that he's dedicated to learning learning and trying to overcome this PTSD He had from war and you know, this is this is a great character development of Walter trying to show resilience and just you know overcoming it So yeah, and as we get farther down into episode three and four we get to learn about His good buddy Schreier who happens to be his roommate and they were in the military together for a long time it was often he was also part of that look that Lusky joke and we actually start to learn kind of a more stark part of the story that Schreier starting to think something's funny up and he's kind of getting paranoid It kind of seems and you know Heidi with him being so paranoid and dumb spying on them We find out that to Collins kind of honing down on Heidi and Heidi has to really show How resilient she can be with all this pressure gaining on her because Schreier's Talking about how thinking there's something going on something bigger than what's actually happening He's starting to talk to Walter about it starting to influence other people. So how do we think Heidi's dealing with all this? Yeah, we how we talked about how Chaucer's point on Schreier being a little bit paranoid about the facility they're in And I think it was episode three or in between in the middle of episode three and four where they actually escaped their facility and stole the van and Eventually, they found out that they are truly are in Tampa And they there I think there was a line that just talked about Schreier's sign of the lease on a relief on his face And so I think there was a lot of questions and conflict But I think it shows a relationship between Walter and Schreier and how they kind of have a brotherhood and they're the roommates They're helping you out Just for sleep Yeah, we also thought on that when they sneak out, you know Walter knows that they're in the they're in the right place. They're in, Florida They're not try thinks they're back in Arizona as he says it looks exactly like it They were there before so it reminds him of it, but you know Walter takes him in He's like, you know, this is actually the place we want to be. It's actually, Florida and He takes him out. They steal the van. They do some bad things But in the end it helps so Schreier that it helps overcome his PTSD as well. You know, it's not only Walter It's it's just building into Schreier and trying to overcome him and when he finds out that it really is, Florida His total perspective on the whole homecoming is Completely changed but Heidi and Colin, I guess don't want to deal with that and they Quickly send them home. So yes, I totally agree with you guys They're definitely developing way better and like actually learning about their environment trying to change a little bit but from the outside Colin just does not see that he thinks of them as rebelling think of them as Not following the system and he wants them out of there. He's not he's not taking any of that and he even goes on to say he wants to start doubling the medication and We're not really too sure what that's about. Maybe something they're doing within the food or something but Heidi shows a lot of resilience telling him no and Resisting all the pressure from Colin. Yeah, but that point Charger just made is just another bounce back of the point I made it to start, you know calling suggesting all these crazy things like doubling the medication But Heidi's the one dealing with all these patients and Colin's making all these calls But he really has no background and information of what can actually go into these Heidi says that if they double the medication it'll cause major setbacks and like it'll cause more side effects Which in reality they do not want that for the whole program and it'll mess things up So, you know how he's always looking out for other patients as well But at the same time she's always making good out of a bad situation and she's always Overcoming these bad situations calling and making them into good things. So I think that's another sign of resilience Friday Yeah a little bit ago drew talked about finally sending Schreier back home and I think a huge emphasis point for from episode 4 was the deal with the harmonica and Heidi giving it to a Walter as like a membrance of Schreier and I think this was where we kind of got to see a little bit more into the ideas of the homecoming project because there's got to be something more because They showed a recording from Walter's private quarters his living quarters Heidi's becoming like a lot more aware and she's probably knows that something's going on now and then Along with Chacha's point on the double medication I think I think we're leaning towards that something being in the food because that's really the only thing we can think of for them To apply it. Yeah to kind of build off on that how there's always cameras in these spaces and Heidi She keeps on finding out all these things. She's never knew before. She's like, she's kind of creeped out She's like, why did I never know this, you know, but from Heidi knowing this you can see her character Development kind of change she's kind of Figuring what she's trying to figure out what homecoming is herself And she's kind of you can see she wants to help out Walter, but Colin's not letting her So she goes on her own ways you can see in the recordings when they're in the therapy, you know She double thinks of she kind of pauses she waits she controls what she says But she's always you can kind of start to tell now that she's starting to find out the truth And it's definitely gonna be a dark truth that she finds out yeah, we get this kind of parallel between Walter and Heidi working together trying to make the best of their situation and You know Walter is very stressed about Shrier and was very upset about it But then then the following episodes we get more into it We get a little time skip and it seems like everything's gotten a little better But then as Heidi started to talk to Walter again from being as close as they are Walter's truck started to forget some things and you see that he's forgetting about the story he once told about Lasky being ran over by a truck and like The Titanic story like he's not really remembering any of it and it's kind of just weird like we've never seen this from him He's always had that story as like a let a let loose or like something to think about At a bad time because it was always kind of his release We I want to focus a little bit more on the present Heidi's actually waiting Colin at the restaurant she works at and from what we can see She doesn't even recognize Colin like there's the talking between the waitresses and like they're kind of saying like Collins kind of cute and like I Get his number for me and like so it's kind of showing an example that she doesn't remember anything about Colin and she Takes it like a normal order And so I think we're drawing parallels between Walter forgetting things and Heidi also forgetting things now So I think at this point in time something big is going down from our perspective Soon that we're going to find out about a little bit later Yeah, we also find out or we kind of know the answer to the start of the season You know the DOD agent comes asking for questions and Heidi really has no clue Now now we know that she really doesn't remember She doesn't remember her boss that she used to talk with work with all the time And now we know like she really had nothing to say except she worked with Soldiers coming back for from war with PTSD So we really know that Heidi's Heidi's been doing the right things and we'll find out soon that she was doing the right thing so in the present day while Heidi's on this quote-unquote date with Colin He's starting to bring up little things that give us some foreshadowing and so kind of what's happening first He talks about wanting to do an accounting course Which also Walter was talking about doing in the past during his time at homecoming And it's kind of weird that that parallel was there and then he also brought up later About road trips and how great and fun they are and how how much? bonding you can gain from going on them and that was one of Walter's favorite things to do and he had a really long conversation with Heidi about it and Her kind of got into her personal life even talking about road trips And so I was kind of like a big a bigger moment between Heidi and Walter's Relationship and it's kind of weird that Colin Is kind of bringing this up to her when she really doesn't really remember anything But it's kind of foreshadowing that maybe something bigger is happening here Yeah, no both. I think Colin's trying to say these words that she remembers because She's trying to get Heidi to remember what she was actually doing at the program Maybe saying these things that Walter said like with the road trip They talked about about that a lot and they maybe in the future they're going to do it So maybe by saying these things and going on these road trips, you know It'll spark a memory in her brain and then she'll finally remember Remember everything about the program and what they're doing so right now we actually get our first Introduction of what homecoming is really about all these dark moments being brought up We get to realize that homecoming is really just a facility to make these Ex-military people forget about their past and get redeployed eventually So through the phone call with um, Heidi and Colin we finally find out what the actual purpose of it is Is to redeploy them Colin's Exalted that the results are finally getting there. They're forgetting things And like even PTSD they're forgetting I think their initial plan was just to try to forget and make them want to go back. But now they're forgetting And essential things and I think we this is where like our big reveal is on what truly is the homecoming project and I think it's something bigger here even because Yeah, I would like to just add on to what Adam said about with Heidi finding out You know when she's on the hype on the phone call with Colin Colin tells her that they're gonna be redeployed soon And Heidi kind of she's shocked. She freaks out. She's like what they're gonna be redeployed Like she's been talking with Walter that he wants to have a normal life after he's done with homecoming He wants to go travel the world. He wants to go on vacation He wants to do normal people things and not go back to war But you know Heidi Heidi shocked because this is the first time she's ever heard about this so she's she's kind of like what you never told me about this and she's gonna She's super shocked and you can you can see now that she's totally against the idea of homecoming This is like at the start. She was all with it because she knew nothing about the background But now she knows she's like what we can't be doing this Like it's not it's not a good thing to send them back after they've already been back So Yeah, what was being done was some of them completely unethical and like shouldn't have been done at all Like it's really just a terrible situation that she was put into She was going just there to thinking that it was all good Just trying to help out ex-military be kind of this therapist for them But we really realized that it's way darker than we actually thought and now skipping into the present day I would like to add one thing just um, you know This really shows about how I and she's being super resilient in this and at the start She knew nothing and now she's overcoming all this information She's her feet receiving and now she's trying to do a good thing for all the bad things. She's done, but she never knew she did Yeah now back to the present day We get this we're still on this scene with the date and then they finally arrived back at homecoming the original project the place for the project and As soon as we get there Heidi's already getting really nervous. She started to get scared even though she doesn't remember it there's just kind of this feeling within her and we start to get and then they finally arrive and she really doesn't want to go in at all and Colin says no, it's alright. I have the key and she's already very suspicious of that so they get out they start walking in and She starts hearing the bird from the first one of the first episodes a very significant part That we've learned actually and immediately after she heard that bird She instantly thought of Walter and it brought back all the memories of what just happened and that kind of transition us into our season finale episode 6 she runs in the road and then the DOD agent finds her and picks her up and Now she's kind of getting questioned She says she wants to hear the tapes with Walter and then we're kind of left on this weird little parallel Why did she forget all this information? Why is she just remembering it? So we get a little jump back to the past After that scene jump back to the past and when Heidi finds out that Walter is going to be redeployed She kind of thinks she's like this should not be happening. You know, she has to do something about it So the next day they're in therapy and she asked should we go to the cafeteria for lunch and the cafeteria is where? medication is given it's in the food, right and So they both go to the cafeteria and they both start eating the food Which is bad for Walter because he's that means he's he's already completed his eight-week cycle and he's just about to be redeployed So he's technically overdosing on the medication and with Heidi it'll affect her because then still start losing her memory so She knows she was doing this because now Walter's overdose and he'll take a lot of time in the hospital to recover from these side effects And he won't be able to get redeployed. So in this it shows that Heidi, you know She's finally figured out what she's doing and she's doing a really good thing Helping out Walter saying he doesn't get redeployed because Walter doesn't remember anything now and all he wants to go Do is get redeployed again But in reality the real Walter where he remembers things really just want to have a real life and just you know Travel the world and be a normal person. So Heidi shows a ton of resilience and You know, the character development in this story is just huge on Heidi and how she she starts out bad She doesn't know a lot of things now. She's Overcoming all these things. She disobeyed She's done a lot of bad things to help Walter and so that he can live his dreams and travel the world Yeah, Colin even said that Walter taking these extra doses would make it so bad. He'd be forgetting everything He wouldn't even be able to point the rifle straight all this Completely messed up his mind and put them in a terrible state which makes it impossible for him to go back Which is Heidi actually doing him a big favor Trying to go against everything she's been working for because she doesn't want this end for him this unethical end and so after that we're jump back to the present day where We're back with Colin and he's on the phone with one of his bosses. Yeah, I I wanted to point out how Colin has a boss now So I think this is some we're finding out there's something even bigger going on than homecoming So if Collins not the top dog who is and it was a phone call with called temple and we saw there's like a little Procedure that he had to do before he could get it even on the phone with them So I think there's something bigger going on and she was not happy with Colin on how she talked about Heidi and it was like five years ago and it's like if this comes up now she has nothing to do with it So I just want to bring up doubt. I think that was a huge point leading into season two So now that we've kind of talked about how this first season when we get both sides of characters and how they've been growing we got to talk about the resilience and Personally, I think it's Heidi she's had to overcome so much more having the boss and Colin and all these things learning about all this information in the past and then having to redo it again in the present makes it very tough on a Person's mental health and it's just a lot of stress Boiled over through all those years of pain and suffering and then having to go through it again Yeah, totally. I agree with Chacha as well. You know, she's overcome a lot of things in her life and Joseph's had some other things going on like her mother She's been very injured and she's still dealing with their work when she's done with it after four years She's dealing with their work. She's now she's not brought into another situation We're calling her boss wants to bring her back and kind of remember all the things he shit she did But she overcomes that she wants to shut the whole program down So her resilience in this season has been awesome, and I think she's the most resilient But the reason why I wouldn't go with Walter is because he is starting to overcome his PTSD really good at the start But then we find out that the medicine just makes you forget about everything. It loses your memory So he's not really overcoming it. He's just forgetting all about it Yeah, I just want to end off on Walter how he does show resilience, but I don't think he really outmatches Heidi But I think his main factor of resilience through the throughout this show so far has been his consistency His openness to Heidi about his stories and his past traumas I think that's a really hard thing to overcome and to really open up to someone on a really deep personal level But as Drew pointed out at this point, he's losing his memories and In a way, it's you're losing your resilience to overcome something if you can't even remember what you're overcoming Walters he's been a good character so far and I like him a lot I'm interested to see what we see in season two, but I think Heidi outmatches Walter throughout season one All right, so we've came to a conclusion that Heidi is the most resilient and you know Thanks for listening to the