I like it when Mr. Price asked our hero (I can never remember his name) if he “served,” and the guy says yeah, two tours to Korea. Then Mr. Price asks him what outfit and he says, “MASH 4077,” 
and that shuts Price up.
Anyone still watching?
Bringing Bill along seems like a really bad idea as he appears to be as dumb as a box of rocks.
This is going to be slow going…
Episode three did seem a little “fillerish”, but we got to see some crazy Oswald action so there was that.
Also, I think this thread isn’t getting the action we thought it might because a lot of folks are waiting for the whole thing to be available before watching. That’s kind of the model these days.
I just haven’t had a chance to watch this week’s ep yet – it’s in my queue. Maybe I’ll get to it tonight.
I know they’re going to have to condense a lot of the book to fit into eight episodes, but I hope they don’t add/change too much. Like I said, I haven’t seen the episode, but hearing “bringing Bill along” (not in the book) and “filler” (they should be condensing, not stretching) make me a little concerned.
Spoilers for the book [spoiler]In-story, there’s a reason, which is that he’d had to wait around quite a while. I’m pretty sure he comes through sometime in 1957 or '58, and he has no way of getting to Oswald for several years. So doing what you suggest might take him much longer. That’s a slightly weak reason, though.
Of course, the real reason is that it’s awkward to write that way. There’s already a decent amount of repetition. If King has there be another shooter, then the meat of the book isn’t about the Kennedy assassination as it was, but about some totally alternate universe and characters that King just makes up. If he doesn’t, then he shortcuts to his ending without most of the story.[/spoiler]
Besides it’s easier to have one man (Franco’s character) against one man (Oswald) that to have him take on a shadowy conspiracy by himself.
And it may well be that he’d waste years of lifespan waiting for Oswald to come back from Russia and then be physically older “next time around”.
I’ve watched two episodes so far. I did not read the book so my viewing was sort of an experiment to see if I liked it.
I like it enough to watch the remaining episodes.
After episode 2, I found myself wondering if we’ll find out in the end how Harry’s life is different now that Jack killed Harry’s father before the family was murdered. Since I understand (from this thread) that if he goes back to his present time and then back down the rabbit hole everything resets, I guess he won’t be coming back until he succeeds or fails to stop the assassination.
Or, alternatively, I suppose if he fails then he could reset everything and kill Harry’s father again. And again. And again if necessary. The show could reveal all that in a few minutes of montage (like in The Edge Of Tomorrow).
Book spoiler:
In the book, after Jake kills Frank Dunning he does go back to the future to see if it worked - and learns that as a result of not being injured by his father, Harry ended up dying in Vietnam. Then Jake goes through the portal again, kills Frank again (more quickly this time), and then goes on to Dallas to tackle Oswald.
Did anyone stick it out and watch the whole thing? After watching episodes 1 & 2, I cheated and skipped right to episode 7. So sue me.
It just ended without telling us if Jake was successful! (Apparently he wasn’t.) Is that how the book ended? I’m glad I didn’t put in all those hours watching just to get the rug pulled out from under me at the last second.
Can someone tell me about the scar on the side of Sadie’s face? Did that happen in the show?
The eighth episode will be on next week. I don’t like where ep 7 ended; I don’t think one episode is enough to wrap it up (I read the novel so I know what’s supposed to happen)
Sadie got her face slashed by her husband to punish her for sleeping with Jake. Of course you’re not gonna know what’s going on if you skip most of the episodes, you casual.
Oh. I thought Episode 7 was the last one. It would have been very irritating to have it end with Oswald setting up his sniper’s nest.
The “you’re not supposed to be here guy” had a poignant story. If there were time travel, it would probably be just like that-- an endless loop of trying to change something.
I’m not interested in what’s going on in general (except Sadie’s scar caught my eye). Just curious about the assassination.
Yellow Card Man (you’re not supposed to be here) is in the book but that sad story was made up for the tv show
It was a good story.
From the book: Jake was concerned that there might not be a complete reset; he thought about the Dunning family and wondered if they might somehow be affected by getting killed in the past, even if they’d survived in the new timeline he created.
episode 8 was good. it was almost exactly the ending of the novel
eps 1 and 8 were good. i thought some of the eps in the middle weren’t paced well and filler. I guess the pacing just works better in the novel
I didn’t like how they introduced the Bill sidekick thing and then just got rid of it. Everyhing with Bill just seems like a waste of time now. I guess the producers thought they needed Bill to make the middle eps more interesting, but then wanted to keep the ending of the book so they just got rid of him
Yellow card man explained a little more about the time travel mechanics in the book but I thought it was ok how he was in the show too
eta: I also liked the parts where they did James Franco mugshot in the style of Oswald’s and paraded him through the police station and they shot it in black and white. that was cool
I’m about to watch the final episode. I read the book, and thought this series did a great job with the source material, considering. Bringing Bill along was a bit jarring at first, but then I see why it was necessary for TV narrative. I love the opening credits. Sort of reminds me of the opening for Wayward Pines.
I just wanted to comment on the actor who’s playing Oswald; what a dead-ringer! Though he’s from Wales, I think, and his American accent sounds like he’s from Boston. Not sure what Lee actually sounded like, but wasn’t he born in Louisiana? However, he looks so much like LHO, it’s not a major distraction.
Haven’t seen Ep. 8 yet, but I agree they did a good job of compressing the book (at least through ep 7). There was a thread here on the SDMB about the book which I’m too lazy to search for right now, and one common criticism was that the book meandered too much in the middle. King really stretched out Sadie’s injury and recovery, and then did it again when Jake got beat up. Not to mention that it seemed to take ages for him just to get to Dallas in the first place. King could have used a good editor.
Still not sure I like the addition of Bill to the story, but I thought the whole cast was pretty good except for Franco. He always seems to me to have a kind of sleepwalking demeanor.
Ha! When they break into the book depository, while running up to the 6th floor, there’s an easter egg scrawled on the wall of the staircase:
REDRUM
Yeh. Episode 8 was good. A nice resolve, very much like the book.
Great mini-series.