Edward Homm

**Edward Homm** is a character on the Paramount+ original series *Rabbit Hole*. He is portrayed by Rob Yang.

Edward Homm is a leading financial investigator for the US treasury with an encyclopedic knowledge of tax code law and also all the best food trucks in town. With a preternatural understanding of business markets, Homm predicted some of the biggest shake-ups in the financial sector. But when one of his investigations gets too close to a prominent figure, it just might cost him everything.

## Profile

Edward Homm is an official with the United States Treasury Department. John Weir finds himself involved in a global conspiracy after being falsely implicated for Homm's murder. Homm is a man who knows where all the bodies are buried but is, unfortunately, himself dead, or so it has been made to appear.

## History

### Kidnapped

Following an op gone wrong, John Weir is framed for the murder of Edward Homm. In truth, Weir has only kidnapped Homm, hoping that the evidence Homm can provide will help to bring down Crowley, a man who is attempting to seize control of the U.S. government.

At first, Homm refuses to cooperate with Weir, not sure that he can trust him and uncertain of the position he finds himself in. This is not helped by the presence of Dr. Ben Wilson, an intimidating man and Weir's father, whom Weir had once believed to have committed suicide. Nevertheless, the two of them plead with Homm to listen, telling him that they saved him from being killed, that he had discovered something big enough to make him a target.

Homm finally opens up at an unexpected moment. He overhears Weir and Wilson discussing Weir's friend Miles Valence. Weir tells Wilson that Valence war purchasing NFTs, something which doesn't make any sense, as Valence was conservative and didn't like art. Wilson tries to argue that people hide their true selves, but Weir insists that it doesn't make sense, that it's out of character for Valence. Homm then shouts from the other room "It's how he was being paid!"

Weir and Wilson go to Homm, discovering that due to the thin walls of the safe house Homm could hear everything they were saying, so long as they weren't mumbling. Weir asks him to tell him what he knows, but Homm tells him that he first wants to talk to his wife, to make sure that she's safe. Weir rejects the idea out of hand, but Homm insists he's not giving away anything until he can talk to her. Wilson declares him to be bluffing, but Homm comments that he's guessing that the e-mails they discovered are from somebody named Elliot Gao, daring them to tell him he's wrong.

### Cooperation

Wilson insists to Weir that they just can't let anyone know that Homm is alive yet. Weir then tells Homm that he seems like a nice guy and that there are people who want him dead and will finish the job if they find out he's alive. He tells him that he can talk to his wife if he finishes the job, and he asks if he could at least see her. Weir asks him how this would work. Homm then patches them in to security footage of his wife at home, explaining that they had installed security cameras at home because they didn't trust the housekeeper. He watches his wife, who appears sad, though he's glad to see she's not crying. Satisfied for the time being, he agrees to talk to Weir.

Homm explains that Elliot Gao is a high-end money launderer and that he uses the NFTs as a means for those who want to move large amounts of money anonymously. Weir senses an opportunity, telling Wilson that Gao can be how they draw their target, a mysterious man named Crowley, out into the open. While the two of them put into action a plan to ensnare Gao, Homm continues to monitor his wife through the security system. He watches as his neighbor, Kevin, arrives at the house. He is shocked as Kevin and his wife share a passionate embrace. Watching dispassionately, Wilson tells him that dying a fake death is a special kind of hell. As he moves to leave the room, Homm asks him who he can talk to with him gone. "God?" suggests Wilson.

Homm, disgusted by what he has just seen and desperate for action, agrees to aid Weir and Wilson in their plan to ensnare Gao. This involves joining Weir as he enters the building where Gao is attending a party, posing as elevator inspectors with the Department of Buildings. The two enter, bypassing the checkin process. When the man at the desk tries to force the issue, Homm shouts, asking him if he's trying to impede them. The man protests that he's not and Weir tells him that's good. The two of them then briefly split up, Homm stopping a couple of men by pushing all of the buttons on the elevator in order to make it stop at every floor and force them to take the stairs. He then rejoins Weir and the two of them are stymied by another guard, who this time does not buy their excuse of being with the Department of Buildings. Homm is forced to clock the man with a clipboard, Weir assuring him he will be fine, even though he is most likely actually dead.

Ultimately, the operation has mixed results. On the downside, Crowley learns that Wilson is alive, having previously believed him to have committed suicide. The positive, however, is that they learn two names connected to Crowley that are new to them: Intaverse and Ledger. They ask Homm if he's ever heard of Intaverse, and he asks incredulously if they ever watch the news, explaining that half of D.C. signed up for the company based on an ad they aired - "Have an affair on us." A congressman who signed up for it was outed as a member of WikiLeaks, forced to resign, and later said that he was being blackmailed. Weir and Wilson realize that Crowley is collecting dirt on politicians, waiting for one them to camera-ready.

### #EdIsNotDead

The group returns their safe house, where Homm begins looking into Intaverse's finances. He reports to Weir that trying to track a pattern from them is difficult, as they own a total of 35 different companies and while their donations are all publicly available, they donate to a total of 141 different candidates and organizations on all ends of the political spectrum. Later, however, he reports having had a brainwave, explaining that while the corporate donations would be hard to track, it might be easier to identify a pattern by examining those of individual employees, specifically those at the executive-level. Having done so, he discovered that almost all of these went to a single PAC: the America SOS Committee. He reports that this committee has been contributing almost exclusively to a single politician: Senator Nora Evers of New Jersey. This confuses Weir and Wilson, as she isn't even running for president, but Weir guarantees them that based on the size of the donations, she will. He tells them to take it from a Top Five forensic accountant as well as the #1 trending topic on Twitter two days running: #EdIsNotDead, bragging that he's going viral.

Just then, a canister comes flying through the window. Weir shouts at Homm to cover his ears, but it is too late. Homm is temporarily deafened by the noise of the explosion and the room is breached by arm men, who manage to clip Homm in the arm. They manage to escape, but in the car, Homm shouts about being injured and states that he doesn't want to die, regardless of his wife's cheating. Thus begins a pattern of them repeatedly moving to another safe house, only to be found. They eventually realize that they are being tracked by a valuable bottle of whiskey that they stole during the Gao operation, that it has a microchip on it. They leave the bottle behind at one of the safe houses, Homm declaring that it was worth it, calling it "monstrously epic shit." With no other leads on Crowley, they decide to go after Senator Evers as their best chance of getting at him. As they are deciding this, Evers appears on television announcing, as Homm predicted, a run for the presidency.

Weir and his team run another op, succeeding at kidnapping Senator Nora Evers. Weir tells her that they can prove that somebody has been illegally feeding millions of dollars to her campaign. She tells him, however, that they don't have enough to stop her. She says that what they have will dominate the news for a single cycle, that it can delay campaign until the next election, but this is it. She tells him it's nothing compared to what they have on her: that she was blindfolded, taken to a location and shown a safety deposit box filled with materials so compromising that anyone with her last name would change it something else if they got out. She tells him that she knows the number of the box, but nothing else.

Weir brings her back to Homm. He asks her some questions about what she heard and where she was when they took her. Based on this and his knowledge of the smells of local food carts, Homm is able to deduce that Evers was taken to 1550 Girard, which he describes as being an ultra-secure private depository used by shady rich people, such as cartels and money launderers, that it's kind of famous in his world. With this information, Weir puts together an op to retrieve Evers's briefcase. Meanwhile, while the op is in play, a man named Morgan Shaw continues to discuss Homm on his podcast, fanning the flames of the #EdISNotDead rumor. He reports on seeing grainy footage of Homm after his death, as well as having learned from the morgue where Homm's body was taken that his body was "accidentally cremated" before an autopsy could be performed. Homm revels in listening to the coverage. Though Wilson dismisses him as a lunatic that nobody listens to, Homm points out that he has 23,000 hits. He asks Wilson if Shaw really has an informant feeding him information, but Wilson tells him not to worry, that they aren't where Shaw thinks they are.

### Ed's breakthrough

Weir's op ultimately succeeds, Weir even navigating around Evers's attempt at having her own man betray them and steal the briefcase on her behalf. Before, however, they can meet up, Evers is assassinated during a stump speech. As news of the assassination comes on television, Homm wonders why Crowley would kill his own candidate. Weir, however, tells him that this was never what this was about, indicating the other big story on television. Evers was the main proponent of a bill known as the Shared Data Act, which if passed would provide government data to three major corporations, one of them being [[Arda Analytics], which Crowley has infiltrated. Though the bill was once unpopular, Evers's assassination has turned her into a martyr, all but assuring the passage of the bill. The news coverage continues, revealing the shooter as supposedly having been Eliza Wells, a lonely woman who struggled with mental illness. They recognize her as having been the perfect patsy for the murder.

With Evers dead, the group sets to reviewing the contents of the briefcase they secured. Homm is at first disappointed, wondering just where the incriminating pornography that Evers had insinuated is. Weir, however, tells him that there is none, that Evers had simply used them to try to get the case. As Homm continues to review the documents, he realizes that they contain corporate ID and bank routing numbers. Upon further analysis, he strikes gold. He discovers that the contents are, in fact, a roadmap to Crowley's operation: that they contain a real who's who of CEOs, journalists and more, even Supreme Court judges that Crowley owns. Evers didn't want the case because its contents would embarrass her, but rather because whoever owns it controls everything. Hailey Winton, a man met by Weir in a chance encounter and who is now part of the team, asks why they don't just turn this in to the authorities. Homm, however, tells her that so many have been compromised that they have no way of knowing that if they do this, whoever they turn it over to might not just turn it back over to the authorities.

Meanwhile, Morgan Shaw continues his podcast, claiming that he was promised proof that Edward Homm is not dead from a man named Zaius. He describes Homm as being an American hero. Taking his in, Homm asks Winton if it might not all be a bit much, noting that Shaw compared him to Jesus. She tells him she's heard crazier things, asking how many viewers the broadcast has. He tells her that it's 2.35 million and that just the day before it was only 300,000.

### The Homm Plan

The Shared Data Act is signed into law by the President of the United States. With it, Crowley gains access to the data and quickly uses it to arrange the assassination of 3 federal judges on the D.C. circuit court, those who are not in his pocket. Weir and his team realize that it has begun and they must make their move if they are to have any chance of preventing Crowley from seizing total control. Homm asks what's next and Weir explains that if unchecked, Crowley will build the country he's always wanted, creating a permanent underclass, that Crowley felt the one thing India had right was a caste system. He tells Homm that if they're going to get anywhere, they need to control the narrative and this means moving to the "Homm Plan." "There's a Homm Plan?" asks Homm, and Wilson chuckles, asking if he's blind. He and Weir tell him that the plan is to reveal that he's alive and have it go viral, Wilson saying that the breadcrumbs they've been throwing to Morgan Shaw will pay off in a viral moment.

Homm realizes that Wilson has been Zaius the whole time. He and Weir then contact a journalist named Debra Wyman-Massey of *The Pulse of the Nation*, planning to have Homm go on her broadcast to reveal both his survival and the information obtained from the briefcase. They then entrust Homm with Winton, giving her a plan for the next day. As they head out in the morning, Homm tells Winton that he doesn't know what's real anymore, that he feels like everything is a lie - his death, his marriage and even his being alive. "I killed someone," he tells her. "What's that?" she asks and he tells her that he's not stupid, that he knows that he killed the security guy during the Gao op. She tells him that had he not, the security guy most likely would have killed him. He asks her if she thinks the security guard had a family, or at least even a dog, and she tells him to stop doing this, that things will be fine. Homm notes the presence of black SUV that's been tailing them, but Winton dismisses it, telling him she knows what she's doing.

As the ride continues, Homm asks Winton just where she's going. She tells him she has something she wants to show him. They pull up in front of a crowd of people waving signs and cheering his name. She tells him that they all believe in him. "Oh my God," realizes Homm, seeing someone with a sign reading "He's not dead" with a picture of Homm with an American flag over his mouth. He opens the door of the car and accidentally tumbles out. Winton curses, stopping the car. "It's him!" the crowd shouts and as Winton pulls him back in, she tells him that he was only supposed to wave at them. As the video starts going viral, Homm tells Winton that it was kind of amazing. She is forced to agree that it was.

"4 o'clock on the nose, we made it," declares Winton as they pull up in front of a building labeled Federal Fleet Services. Homm comemnts that he thought the studio was uptown. "It is," agrees Winton, as the doors of the building open, Weir emerging along with FBI agent Josephine "Jo" Madi, who is in on their plan. "Let's go," Weir tells Winton and Homm, getting in the car. They pull away, and make their way to ANB, where Debra Wyman-Massey reports that the Internet is ablaze with sightings off Homm. She asks if this could be possibly true, before stating that Homm is, in fact, alive and will be there in the studio.

As Homm is prepped for his interview, Weir and his team fight a battle on two fronts. One involves a group of individuals posing as DoJ agents who are attempting to shut down affairs at AWN. The other involves Crowley, who has kidnapped Wilson as well as Weir's ex-wife in the hope of using them as leverage against him. Winton, however, assures that this is none of his concern, helping him to get prepped and seeing to it that he is dressed in a crisp suit and tie. Ultimately, Crowley's plans to stop the broadcast are unsuccessful. Wyman-Massey goes on the air, declaring that there have been many times in history when people have heard pundits and politicians speaking of vast conspiracies, but very few, if any, have had evidence to back up the claims. She states that this is until now, that she has with her Edward Homm, someone who was considered officially deceased but now sits with her, very much alive. Winton mouths to Homm, who begins speaking, telling the audience that his team has accumulated enough evidence to bring thousands of indictments and arrests against them most powerful people in the country. He talks of how people place trust in many things, often without stopping consider whether they have really earned it. They surrender data, information that can be used against them, that we've always done it because we don't really have a choice. He continues that now, however, we have evidence of just how powerful people and corporations manipulate us and compromise our trust. "It's time for them to pay," he tells the viewers. "#EdIsNotDead."

## Behind the scenes

According to show creator John Requa, Edward Homm is one of only two trustworthy characters in *Rabbit Hole* along with Josephine "Jo" Madi and everyone else has split motives.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Snierson, Dan (January 6, 2023). 'Things are not what they seem' in first look at Kiefer Sutherland's thriller *Rabbit Hole*. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on February 25, 2023.