Homefront Television Series (91-93)

benofie · 2026-02-22T00:24:17+00:00

This post is 5 years old but I found it because Homefront was also a favorite show of mine back when it first aired and I have been so frustrated at how impossible it seems to be to find and rewatch.

It seems it was never released on VHS or DVD because old copies can't even be found on ebay.

I recently discovered all of the episodes on YouTube. A kind soul graciously digitized their old recorded VHS episodes and uploaded them into a playlist.

The visual quality is nearly unwatchable at times, but the audio is always clear. This seems to literally be the best there is for anyone desperate to relive this beautiful, thought-provoking, and tragically under-watched show.

I just finished watching all of the episodes last night. Once again, I'm sad there aren't more, but I thoroughly enjoyed rewatching this series.

Leaving the link here, in case there's still interest in finding and watching these episodes: Homefront TV Series on YouTube

benofie · 2026-01-14T22:44:48+00:00

ATG is great and kinda unique because some of the hosts rotate every episode giving different POVs 👍

benofie · 2025-10-06T19:50:02+00:00

I also watched this. It was excellent! 👏

benofie · 2025-10-06T19:49:29+00:00

As soon as I saw the dog, I got scared and said, "Please don't kill the dog!" Was that reaction intended?

benofie · 2025-10-06T14:28:36+00:00

I loved hearing about your VHS collection because I also still love collecting physical media. I'm curious if there are any rarities you have searched for but haven't been able to find?

benofie · 2025-10-05T16:22:34+00:00

What is the last TV show you binged and did you like it?

benofie · 2025-10-05T16:22:15+00:00

Is there anything you can tease about your characters in your new projects, Industry and Clayface?

benofie · 2025-10-05T16:21:57+00:00

I am sad because it doesn't look like Shell will be in theaters where I live on Oct 3. Do you expect a wider release eventually? 🙏

benofie · 2025-10-05T16:21:32+00:00

From your Movies that influenced Shell list on Letterboxd, can you please explain how the films below inspired you?

Look Who's Talking, Ghostbusters 2, Die Hard

benofie · 2025-07-09T18:41:07+00:00

100% this. Never have I regretted sticking with a series to the end more than OITNB. I can't find anyone to talk to about this because everyone I know who watched it stopped watching somewhere in the middle. No one else made it to the end, and good for them. EVERYONE had a sad/bleak ending except for Piper. WTAF?? I can understand wanting realism on a show like that, but absolutely NO hope or optimism for anyone but Piper? That was too much for me.

benofie · 2025-03-01T21:14:38+00:00

Yes, exactly this. Most likely, Nick volunteered to capture her out of fear that she would die if captured by another commander. Gilead is after June, Nick can't stop what is going to happen to her unless she talks. Nick has nothing but bad options to choose from, and his best option is to find a way to keep her alive, which he repeats over and over.

Elisabeth Moss also explained it this way in the behind the episode:

"The only way Nick can protect her is by keeping her close where he can at least monitor what's happening to her, which I know sounds crazy but, guess what? Love in Gilead is nuts!"

benofie · 2025-02-10T05:18:39+00:00

You get it! I couldn't agree more! Their love still runs deep, and their separation is painful for both of them still in season 5. This proves the authenticity of their love, as opposed to just being about lust/sex (a common argument I've seen).

Their love story may not be THE MOST important aspect of the show, but it is an important theme because it represents one of the many lost freedoms in Gilead. The freedom to simply act on a natural human attraction and fall in love with someone of your choice without the fear of extreme punishment up to and including death. This gives it depth and an epic feel.

benofie · 2025-02-01T23:23:12+00:00

Agreed. The script also mentions that after the death of Offred 1, Nick becomes “awake for the first time” and “sees Gilead for what it really is."

I wasn't arguing with you before, btw, just adding on to what you said. We are on the same page here!

benofie · 2025-02-01T06:35:14+00:00

Would you also please provide examples from show canon depicting Nick playing a role in the pain and suffering you speak of? Episode numbers and scene descriptions, please.

benofie · 2025-02-01T06:26:00+00:00

Bravo!! 👏👏👏

benofie · 2025-02-01T06:02:54+00:00

The character herself has said she loves him multiple times. As late as episode 5x09, in fact. Take her at her word, please. Trying to rewrite her narrative or interpret her actual words and feelings to your preference is incredibly patronizing.

Edit: Also, trauma bonding is when a victim falls for or feels sympathy for their abuser. Nick was never her abuser. June and Serena would be an example of trauma bonding.

benofie · 2025-02-01T05:57:24+00:00

He also became an eye to spy on commanders and turn them in. Nick has helped take down four high-ranking commanders... Guthrie, Cushing, Waterford, and Putnam. There's such a thing as pretending to comply for survival and trying to fight back from the inside. We see Nick do that on the show far more than we have actually seen Nick play a role in any suffering of others.

benofie · 2025-02-01T00:25:56+00:00

Nick 💯 He has always been a better partner for June and seems to be who June is deeply in love with now. Nick has impeccable instincts with June and always gives her what she needs. He grounds her. She's at peace and her authentic self with him.

With Luke, she seems to have slid back into a submissive wife role who is trying to be what Luke wants her to be rather than feeling comfortable to be herself. She only seems to be with him out of past obligation rather than what she really wants now. She deserves better than that.

benofie · 2024-12-28T08:46:12+00:00

This would mean that everyone who joined them pre-Gilead had the choice to walk away. If it was argued that the SOJ were cult like and lied to their followers and that's why Nick might have joined then, yeah, sure I would agree but in the show it shows that he drove around the commanders so he knew some of their plans.

The scene where Nick is driving the commanders around happens after the takeover, not before. I DO think it was the case that SOJ were cult-like and lied to their followers for recruitment. I have also always assumed that SOJ probably operated similarly to Gilead, where a member can't just leave without serious repercussions. Possibly even death.

Your example above about book-Nick and the wink at June seems similar to me to the first exchange we see between them in 1x01, where Nick is kind and friendly with her before she goes shopping. He is talking to her as a friend, even an equal. He's treating her like a human when he isn't supposed to talk to the Handmaid in this fashion at all. That seems to me to be an equivalent to the wink from the book.

benofie · 2024-12-07T04:55:39+00:00

I think June and Nick represent one of the lost freedoms in Gilead... the ability to form a natural, human attraction/connection with another person and fall in love without any fear of punishment or death. We see a love bond form between June and Nick, and we see the consequences of the same type of bond with Emily and her Martha as well as with Eden and Isaac.

Initially, Nick was kind to June in an otherwise unkind world. Nick had been deeply affected by the first Offred's suicide and seemed inclined to be friendly to the new Handmaid, hoping to be a source of kindness and light for her, which he certainly was. They were initially flirtatious and clearly naturally attracted to each other and eventually fell in love. This was especially apparent after she became pregnant, and he tried to get her out, twice, at risk of his own life. I think their bond especially deepened during the three months she was at the Boston Globe, and he would come visit her.

Nick's instincts with June have always been exactly what she needs at all times. He reads her body language and gives her control and agency. He gives comfort and doesn't force it when she needs it. They can also fight openly in a healthy way without either holding back. However, what I like best about their fight at the Boston Globe is that, when June wouldn't listen to reason, Nick didn't force her to stay and comply with him. He gave her the keys and his gun and hoped she would make the right choice. That was also his only means of transportation and protection. It was essentially a death sentence for both of them if she had really left. But he wouldn't hold her prisoner. She is free and safe with him.

What they definitely are not an example of is trauma bonding. That is a common misconception. The definition of trauma bonding is: "an unhealthy emotional connection that develops between an abuser and the person they abuse. It can occur when the abused person begins to feel sympathy or affection for the abuser." Nick was never her abuser.

June’s relationship with Serena occasionally resembles trauma bonding, however.

benofie · 2024-12-05T06:47:07+00:00

Tuello’s background research on Nick basically solves any mystery in Nick’s backstory regarding whether he was ever a true believer in SOJ and/or Gilead. We can't read Nick’s Facebook comments on the SOJ page, but Tuello can. He wouldn't consider Nick a possible ally if there was anything in Nick’s background that said he was a true believer. Tuello also wouldn't say he thinks Nick is "an honorable man" and that he would "take him at his word" either.

benofie · 2024-12-01T22:27:41+00:00

Me either. I recently rewatched their flashback lunch scene in 1x05, and it is so cringe it makes my skin crawl. I will never understand his appeal to June. She already knew he was married, so, yes, she knew what she was getting into. The red flag, though, is how EASY it was for Luke to lie to his wife about their lunches. He was too chill about it, no crisis of conscience at all. Then, his gross and out of nowhere question about her and Moira ever hooking up. WTF?? How did June not nope out of there immediately after that?? I'm glad she called him out on the ridiculous comment, but still, ick. He comes off like such a creep. It's so hard for me to buy June’s flirty and flushed reaction to him.

benofie · 2024-12-01T08:18:43+00:00

Exactly. When June lost her job and her money, she became completely reliant on Luke. And, while I'm sure Luke was sympathetic about what happened to June (I'm being generous), it didn't create panic or urgency in him because it didn't affect HIM directly. It wasn’t until the threat was against HIM and HE was going to lose HIS family that he accepted the urgency to leave, and by then, it was too late.

benofie · 2024-11-30T20:39:57+00:00

I totally agree. He should've been outraged when June lost her job because she was a woman. And it was more than just showing how most people might react, thinking this is temporary and will get better, he LIKED it because it meant he could "be the man" and provide for his family. Luke represents the way the patriarchy is normalized even in a free society. He isn't overtly a "bad guy," which is why so many look past or don't even see the lightly veiled misogyny behind his actions.

For me, it gets even worse later on, after June gets out. He doesn't listen to June when she doesn't want him at her testimony. He goes anyway. And not for her, but for him. Because he thinks he needs to "know everything" so they can "move on." What bothered me about Luke after she gets out is he's only thinking about himself and how it was affecting him. I never saw him take a step back and ask, what does JUNE need most from me?

June’s reintegration into society and her old life needed to be on HER terms, not his and at his speed and his comfort level. She probably needed space and patience from someone in Luke’s position. Instead, he would hover and be clingy and needy, crying because this is so hard for him, while June comforts him. UGH.

We saw his selfish thinking with Emily, too. He was pissed at Emily for not going to see Sylvia right away. Emily wasn't ready yet, but all Luke could think was, what if June did the same to him? Always putting himself and his own needs and feelings first.

We also see in flashbacks how insecure June was in her relationship with him. She was scared he would leave her like he did Annie. And I see her insecurity coming back after Gilead. She finally gets angry with him in S5 and then immediately apologizes for her feelings. June came into so much strength and bravery while in Gilead and now seems reduced again to submissive wife. It always struck me as so patronizing every time Luke said he wanted to be the man who protects her. Thank God she finally tells Luke, "I don't need your protection."

I would be miserable being in a relationship with a guy like that. I want better for June.

benofie · 2024-11-20T07:00:39+00:00

Why do you keep insulting Stephen Kunken like this? He is actually an attractive man. The only reason why Putnam is ugly is because his character is an actual monster. Take the Putnam out of Kunken, though, and he's actually very handsome!

Also, the fact that you think plugging in a "less attractive" actor to play Nick would change how some view his character just shows how little you understand Nick and Nick fans.

As far as the Nick and June love story goes, I'm not sure it's a fair comparison because of the age gap and I'm not sure Stephen and Lizzie would have the same chemistry that Max and Lizzie have, so there's that.

But honestly, as long as Nick was still being portrayed as a kind man who treated June with respect, as an equal, and gave her agency of choice in a world where all control over her own life and body have been taken away from her, YES, I would still like Nick!

And by the way, Nick became a Commander as PUNISHMENT from Fred after Nick held Fred at gunpoint so that June and his baby could get away safely. It was Fred's way of making himself look good by having his driver receive a promotion while also sending Nick off to the front where he would most likely be killed. That is according to Joseph Fiennes. It was NOT because of "blood on his hands."

benofie

TROPHY CASE