Directed by Joe Dante (The Howling); written by Sam Hamm (Batman), based on the short story "Death and Suffrage" by Dale Bailey, starring Jon Tenney, Thea Gill and Robert Picardo.
As Gene Roddenberry, Ray Bradbury, Lester del Rey and renowned sci-fi authors could tell you all the way back to H.G. Wells and further...there is no better way to discuss whatever is ailing society, no matter what time period it is, than to couch the discussion in a satirical or fantasy-based context. It's a lot easier to engage the audience into reflecting and commenting on such hot-button topics as racism, sexism, fascism, what have you, if the characters caught up in the dramatic scenarios addressing these topics aren't "real".
It's in this spirit that director Joe Dante took Dale Bailey's award-nominated short story, "Death and Suffrage," and turned it into what has to be (so far) the series' finest hour, "Homecoming." Giving vent to the anger, anguish and frustration that so many people are feeling about now, he uses the buffer of pitch-black humor to put a spin on the often-asked question: "What if...?" As in "What if the many war dead from Iraq were so galvanized by the dishonor of The Great Lie they died for, that they actually came back to life to vote the President out of office during the next election?" A game cast, including Jon Tenney (where the heck have ya been, Jon???) QAF regular Thea Gill and the always-excellent Robert Picardo, do a number on death and politics that would make Stanley Kubrick, John Frankenheimer and Paddy Chayefsky nod in approval. This is not your regular Masters' episode, but something very close to the filmic equivalent of Jonathan Swift's classic piece of satiric prose, "A Modest Proposal." To some, it will seem like ham-handed preachiness, bordering on shameless propaganda. To others, it will seem unnecessarily watered down by the horror/fantasy elements. But like Yosemite Sam in the Warner Brothers' cartoons, trying to get the attention of his stubborn jackass by beaning it with a two-by-four, this may be the most effective method (and possibly the only one) to get a lackadaisical, enervated public to sit up and take notice.
That is saying a whole helluva lot, but that's I good I felt this installment was. It's just too bad that it won't be viewed by the people who really need to see it...Right, Georgie?
