I don’t think I missed much by skipping the middle episodes.
I was bracing myself for Jack Ruby to step out and shoot him! :eek:
I liked the ending a lot. The way when Jake saved Kennedy, the future was crap, so he had to go back and re-set everything. (Wallace as President?? Does the book give any more history about how that and the bombs and the camps happened?) When he gave up Sadie after talking to Yellow Card Man so she wouldn’t die (again). Loved the romantic ending with her at the dance–very satisfying. The fact that she was so beloved showed him he had done the right thing. Sometimes it’s nice when movies just give you the dessert at the end of the film instead of another helping of bitter veggies *for your own good. *
Did the mini series ending include “ripping sounds” and talk of how the Earth was going to be destroyed by 2080 because of supernatural (or undefined) reasons?
Just finished the miniseries. I’m glad I saw it, and thought the casting - esp. Franco as Jake Epping, and Chris Cooper as Al - was quite good. The period details were well-done and there was a very potent undercurrent of menace throughout. That said, I still prefer the book.
Yes - nice touch. Also, when he’s telling Sadie that he’s in the Witness Protection Program, he uses the plot of The Godfather to explain why.
Bill Turcotte did help with the surveillance of Oswald for awhile, but otherwise was annoying and eventually an active hindrance - even a threat - to Jake. Expanding Bill’s role so much was one of the biggest departments from the book and a mistake, I think.
That was a nice touch, I thought, and a definite improvement over the book. And did you notice the ouroboros on the yellow card in the opening credits?: Ouroboros - Wikipedia
Yes. Although I can’t find a pic online, they even gave Jake the same booking number as Oswald!
Yes, Oswald was born in New Orleans, but moved around a lot during his life. In appearance and voice, I think this actor was a pretty good match (the actor who played Oswald in Parkland is also very good).
One other that they didn’t catch - the kid dressed as an evil bunny on Halloween night in 1960, which was a shout-out, I assume, to Donnie Darko.
Book spoilers:
Wallace did become President in 1968 and eventually used nuclear weapons in Vietnam IIRC. No mention of camps that I recall, although there were even worse race riots than in our timeline, both when JFK’s civil rights program was filibustered and defeated in Congress, and when MLK was killed by a former FBI agent (perhaps on Hoover’s orders). I wonder if Harry’s memory wasn’t quite on the mark - why would Kennedy establish camps that were named for him after he was President?
Elendil’s Heir said: " I wonder if Harry’s memory wasn’t quite on the mark - why would Kennedy establish camps that were named for him after he was President?"
Our only problem was that Jake only goes back to substantially change things once, and does a complete run through. In the book, he goes back several times in an attempt to change things prior to Kennedy’s assassination; in so doing the reader is given the foreshadowing knowledge that attempting to change the past has unexpected consequences in the future. That builds up to the Kennedy assassination resulting in global catastrophe. It’s a logical progression from the book, where we find out saving Harry’s family, for instance, gets him killed in Vietnam. In addition to foreshadowing the disaster to come, it lends more weight to the idea Jake would go all the way on the Kennedy mission - a motivation not very clearly explained in the miniseries.
The Bill storyline lent nothing, really, to the plot at all; his affection for Marina Oswald went nowhere. It was time better spent on exploring the mystery and danger of the timeline. I was waiting for a “JIMLA!” moment and we never got it. We should have.
I’m familiar with Hoovervilles, but Harry specifically said that JFK founded them after he left office - perhaps as a charitable gesture? I would think they’d be called “Wallacevilles” or the like if they sprang into existence only because of President Wallace’s disastrous policies.
there’s no mention of them at all. I’d forgotten, though, that the late Bill Clinton’s widow (presumably Hillary, although King doesn’t specifically say so) is POTUS in the alternative 2011.