Homecoming (Masters of Horror episode)

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“Homecoming”
Masters of Horror episode

Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 6
Guest stars	Jason Emanuel Robert Picardo Jon Tenney Thea Gill
Written by	Sam Hamm Story: Dale Bailey
Directed by	Joe Dante
Production no.	106
Original airdate	December 2, 2005
Episode chronology
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"Chocolate"	"Deer Woman"

"Homecoming" is the sixth episode of the first season of Masters of Horror. It originally aired in North America on December 2, 2005. It is loosely based on the 2002 novelette Death & Suffrage by Dale Bailey.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

An unnamed president is running for reelection during a divisive war, and one of his speechwriters, David Murch (Jon Tenney), goes on TV to speak with talk show host Marty Clark (Terry David Mulligan) and strident right-wing sexpot (and Ann Coulter-like) Jane Cleaver (Thea Gill of Queer as Folk). Another guest is Janet Hofstader (Beverly Breuer), the Cindy Sheehan-like mother of a fallen soldier, who demands to know what her son died for. Murch gets a bit teary-eyed and explains that he lost his older brother in Vietnam.

"Believe me," he tells the grieving mom, "if I had one wish, I would wish for your son to come back, because I know he would tell us how important this struggle is." Cleaver is so impressed with Murch's handling of the situation that she takes him out for a drink later, picks his brain, and eventually seduces him. The Karl Rove-like Kurt Rand (Robert Picardo) interrupts their tryst, calling to let Murch know that the president plans to make his line part of his stump speech.

Well, as they say, be careful what you wish for. Soon, the soldiers killed in the war do start returning from the dead, and it doesn't go the way Murch predicted. They're not back to feast on the living, but unhappily for the president and his supporters, they just want a chance to vote in the upcoming election. "We'll vote for anyone who ends this war," one explains. The spin machine goes into overdrive, but the dead are determined to make their voice heard.

The progress of the movie also reveals a shadowy mistake from Murch's past. He believed that his brother Philip was murdered in the Vietnam War only to discover that it was he who unintentionally killed him long ago with a gun in a game of "friend or foe". After Cleaver attacks the soldiers with her shotgun, Murch kills her and fails to kill himself. Murch is countered by a soldier that asks him to join them, saying "we're looking for a few good men". Philip is among those returning from the grave and he forgives Murch for killing him...and then snaps Murch's neck.

Now one of the zombies, Murch announces that he will show anyone who sends their brothers and sisters to die for a lie the true face of war...the true face of hell...