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11.22.63 |OT| James Franco in Stephen King's JFK Time-Travel Miniseries
- Thread starter Ape Gone Insane
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GodParticle
Member
I liked the final bit of the episode. I was half expected him to end up going back and being manipulated into killing kennedy in order to reset things, which would have been interesting. Never understood the whole time fighting back bit since it happened so rarely and there were infinite ways time could shut him down early on. Overall, I wish it had a longer time to set things up, as it seemed rushed at the end
I understand why Jake didn't go on an endless loop journey to save Sadie but he should have at least tried because I'm positive he would have succeeded. The yellow card guy has been trying for who the fuck knows how long to save ONE girl from drowning in a pool and he always fucks up, YC guy sucks at time traveling.
Lets take a look at Jake and what he did. On his first try he not only saved a whole family from being murdered but he did it while the guy was trying to kill him. Then he saved the president's life while Oswald was trying to murder him. To even get to this point he spent years dodging time's attempts to murder him and he still was successful after only one try. Why is Jake even listening to yellow card guy? Yellow card guy doesn't know how to do this job correctly.
Are you trying to tell me that if Jake went back in time and the only thing he did was marry Sadie that she'd end up dying? Bullshit, Jake could totally deal with that.
Hell, he could go back in time, mary Sadie and then take her back to 2016 to protect her from time. He was able to safely travel from Maine to Texas with Bill without time killing them both, I'm sure he could do the same with Sadie.
This Reddit user summarized it for us non-book readers.
https://www.reddit.com/r/112263Hulu...de_8_the_day_in_question_post_episode/d1p37ya
Lets take a look at Jake and what he did. On his first try he not only saved a whole family from being murdered but he did it while the guy was trying to kill him. Then he saved the president's life while Oswald was trying to murder him. To even get to this point he spent years dodging time's attempts to murder him and he still was successful after only one try. Why is Jake even listening to yellow card guy? Yellow card guy doesn't know how to do this job correctly.
Are you trying to tell me that if Jake went back in time and the only thing he did was marry Sadie that she'd end up dying? Bullshit, Jake could totally deal with that.
Hell, he could go back in time, mary Sadie and then take her back to 2016 to protect her from time. He was able to safely travel from Maine to Texas with Bill without time killing them both, I'm sure he could do the same with Sadie.
This Reddit user summarized it for us non-book readers.
https://www.reddit.com/r/112263Hulu...de_8_the_day_in_question_post_episode/d1p37ya
That was awesome thanks!
Grizzlyjin
Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
Yep. 100% done.
Green Embers
Member
Thanks Einchy for sharing that reddit link, now I don't have to read the book!
Discotheque
Banned
sadie's gorgeous. reminds me of grace kelly in here.
Overall a good watch.
Some middling episodes in the middle. Finale was great.
Sad. Happy. Kind of a downer, though.
Would love to see more about the homeless man in the loop.
OH fuck! That's awesome.
Some middling episodes in the middle. Finale was great.
Sad. Happy. Kind of a downer, though.
Would love to see more about the homeless man in the loop.
OH fuck! That's awesome.
Jack Remington
Banned
So that was one of the best series ever. Just outstanding.
although the story in my view could use some work, one thing i really admired about this series is that the pacing went along very nicely and there wasn't really scenes or moments that lingered on too much. the show got to the point pretty quickly and didn't try to hold the viewer's hand
Although everything reset, I don't think he wasted three years of his life. He time travelled back to the 60s, stopped Kennedy being assassinated, and fell in love with a beautiful woman. It's not as if he missed his kids growing up or anything, he popped right back to where he was. Better to have loved and lost etc. I do wish they'd have shown more consequences of his actions though.
Overall I enjoyed it. One of the better King adaptations.
Overall I enjoyed it. One of the better King adaptations.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
I dunno. None of it mattered in any meaningful way. Hell, even Sadie is fine without him interfering in her life... so what did he actually learn?
Maybe the Sadie scene parallels the divorce he gets in the first episode, but I'm not sure what the message would be. Relationships are doomed to fail? lol
It's possible that she met Jake in the past and realized that her future husband (were they married yet then?) wasn't right for her or something similar, and didn't end up marrying him/divorcing him earlier.
obin_gam
Member
Not to be cliched but it was really the journey not the destination-ultimately nothing changed for him in the end history-wise, except the realization that he couldn't change his own personal history to have a happy life with Sadie. I mean...theoretically he *could* have....just go back to that town, get a job in the school and fall in love with her all over again-but there's still the danger of her ex-husband, etc.
In the end, he learned to become content with what happened. He wasn't able to change his student's difficult life either, but ultimately that student was the one that reassured him that he was a good man-even if he couldn't change the past.
The Yellow Card Man was there to remind him that this portal would always be there as a cheat to change the past and try to always make it perfect-but it would consume his life trying to make history perfect.
Why not just go back in time, kill Oswald and De Mohrenschildt right off the bat, go back to the future and see if Kennedy was assasinated.
If he lived you know they were the killers and your mission was a success, and if Kennedy was still assasinated you just go back again and start investigating for real this time.
Just seems like a risk and potential waste of time to put all your eggs into one basket that is Oswald, spend 3 years trailing him, just to find out after 3 years that he wasn't the one or that there were other shooters.
Haven't finished the season yet btw.
If he lived you know they were the killers and your mission was a success, and if Kennedy was still assasinated you just go back again and start investigating for real this time.
Just seems like a risk and potential waste of time to put all your eggs into one basket that is Oswald, spend 3 years trailing him, just to find out after 3 years that he wasn't the one or that there were other shooters.
Haven't finished the season yet btw.
After having a love/hate relationship with the series for 7 weeks, final episode left me fully satisfied. I am glad the entire episode unfolded exactly the same as the book, and that they concluded with a heartwarming scene to close the book fully.
Sure, we could have used about 5 more minutes of explanation from Harry, as well as from the Yellow Card Man, but it's OK.
In the end, I wish they had not skipped the high school football kids and their theatre play, and I wish that Bill had gotten left behind in episode 2. They tried to use him instead of internal monologues while surveilling Oswald, but I think they could have pulled it off with a few carefully constructed scenes (because, honestly, in the book his surveillance helped him very little in the end).
Again, this last episode really helped me finish the show on a positive note, i give the series a solid 7/10 overall.
Sure, we could have used about 5 more minutes of explanation from Harry, as well as from the Yellow Card Man, but it's OK.
In the end, I wish they had not skipped the high school football kids and their theatre play, and I wish that Bill had gotten left behind in episode 2. They tried to use him instead of internal monologues while surveilling Oswald, but I think they could have pulled it off with a few carefully constructed scenes (because, honestly, in the book his surveillance helped him very little in the end).
Again, this last episode really helped me finish the show on a positive note, i give the series a solid 7/10 overall.
redrum was also painted on the stairwell when Jake and Sadie were running up to stop Oswald.
Great, now I want Franco in a new The Stand miniseries.
While I do agree-I think the actor who played Bill was fantastic. The whole cast in fact was fantastic-I can't think of a weak link. Even the minor roles were well played. That's one of the great things about King is that even if his plots can get bad and fall apart at the end-you really grow to love the characters. Dark Tower really falls apart at the end, but I cried like a baby at the fate of some of my favorite characters.
Jack Remington
Banned
I really, really don't like that they went with a whole "Sadie will die no matter what if you try to be with her" deterministic bullshit story beat. It was done in the shitty Time Machine film adaptation, and also in Steins Gate, where it was the worst part of the series. It's so incredibly cheap. Find some other reason for him to make his decision.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
The weird thing is that we don't see any real evolution. From the first episode we see him as a failed husband and failed author... so maybe the series could have at least shown him writing a book about his experiences, like even if he couldn't change the past maybe he could take some important lesson from his experiences and try to convey it to the present. In fact when he started typing on the computer, I thought that was exactly what he was going to do... until it just turned out to be a google search for Sadie.
I don't mind the bittersweet ending. It's more that Jake just seemed static after losing all that time being obsessed with a mission that he wanted nothing to do with in the first place.
BigBossVanzetti
Member
This was one of the campiest shows I have ever seen. So many stupid moments, so many dumb plot escapes, and James Franco hammed it up hard.
Pretty darn good cinematography though.
Pretty darn good cinematography though.
Grinchy
Banned
As I started watching, I came up with a million better plans that revolved around the rules of the time portal's reset than what Al and Frank Franco came up with. After a while I just kinda gave up and enjoyed the story for what it was.
I mean even at the beginning, he makes a bad mistake within the first hours of being back in the past. He could have just reset it right there and not made the same mistake instead of just saying, "Oh well, I'll continue this 3 year journey and hope this doesn't come back to bite me in the ass at any point!"
You just have to let go of logic and enjoy it.
Yeah I really expected a lot more "Do-overs" on the show. But like you say you just have to roll with it.
Lactose_Intolerant
Member
I hope they get some more books to do. I thoroughly enjoyed the series.
kopitarrulez_11
Member
She's a damn cutie
NightShift
Member
Fantastic show. It did get tiresome halfway through but the ending was so fucking worth it. I got so hyped when
because I thought they wouldn't go there. I'm not even one for romantic subplots but Jake and Sadie were so good together it only made the end hit even harder.
Jake entered alternate 2016
D
Deleted member 80556
Unconfirmed Member
I see why the world got fucked up now at least. I do wonder now if JFK hadn't been assassinated if he would have pushed for a civil rights reform like LBJ did.
Anton Sugar
Member
Yeah, something about the ending left me unsatisfied. I never thought the entire series would eventually end with the message of "enjoy the life you are invited to partake in" and that's it.
I also feel like the final episode did a disservice to Jake's character. I know he's supposed to be
"numb" to everything after the assassination attempt and he just needs to get back to 2011
didn't care about Sadie's death as much as he obviously did,
break down afterward, and not just mistakenly see her in the station.
Anton Sugar
Member
I am glad the ending is bittersweet. I could have sworn I read a gaffer spoiler here that indicated Sadie
but maybe it was just speculation.
I'm actually kinda surprised that Jake
I wonder if that would have had weird time loop implications, though. EDIT: After reading that reddit summary, it's more apparent that Jake simply being there would fuck shit up in the future, in some way.
would travel through the portal with him,
I'm actually kinda surprised that Jake
didn't just go back in time and live his life there with Sadie until his death.
I think that was his plan when he returned and followed Sadie into the restaurant. But the yellow card man warned him and that changes everything.
Just finished it and as a book reader the final episode left me satisfied. There are obviously a lot of cuts and changes when you adapt such a long book but it still worked for me as its own thing. Actors, cinematography and overall production values as well as the pacing were all pretty good.
One of the better King adaptions (definitely better than Under the Dome).
One of the better King adaptions (definitely better than Under the Dome).
Yes and the set design and costumes were fabulous too - i felt like i was transported back to a different time. Very impressive for a TV show.
Basically, an 8 hour long episode of Quantum Leap with a modern budget.
Jack Remington
Banned
I'd watch the shit out of a Stand or Salem's Lot adaptation along these lines.
BenjaminBirdie
Banned
They fucking nailed the ending. Feels.
In the book it's kinda the point of the plot. Most of the conspiracy nonsense revolves around not reality, but people trying to deal with the reality that some nutjob could buy an old rifle down the street for $20 and 6 months later kill the most powerful man in the world on a whim. It's easier for people to cope by saying the CIA did it, or castro did it, USSR, etc than to face that we live in a world where our societies, laws, and borders are nothing more than imaginary lines drawn in the sand and the order these imaginary lines impose on society is equally imaginary.
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