'11.22.63' Recap: 'The Rabbit Hole'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

As we grow older and the world continues to change around us, our priorities and goals begin to change as well. For one, we start to realize that what we leave behind in this world and what kind of difference we make matters and that lesson is taught to us by the most important one of all...there's no going back and fixing past mistakes.

Oh but what if we could? Where would we go and what would we fix? It's a game we like to play in our minds, and it's something that prolific writer Stephen King decided to explore in the most epic of fashion with his novel, 11.22.63, and it just so happens that his book was exciting and fascinating enough to make it to the small screen since Hulu has adapted the book into an eight part miniseries and well...after having the chance to view the pilot episode the other day, this series completely and utterly has me hooked.

This series introduces us to Jake Epping, a schoolteacher who tries to make a difference in his students lives, and while he is clearly a good man, who cares about the people in his life...he seems to be in a rut. There's little for him to be excited about outside of a tasty burger at the local diner, he's staring down a divorce and it's clear he's starting to wonder if he's even reaching his students. But one fateful day at the diner, it's owner; Al Templeton steps into the backroom and immediately comes back to the restaurant extremely ill. He reveals to Jake he has advanced cancer, something Jake finds to be unbelievable since Al was gone for only a couple of minutes. But Al has more secrets to reveal, for in the back of his diner, is a portal to 1960. Those that enter it can spend as many years in the past as they like, and only lose two minutes of time in the present and he is revealing all of this to Jake for one simple reason...he needs his help finishing what he started. He wants Jake to return to the 1960's...to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Outside of a klunky start, this turned out to be one solid pilot for several reasons. For starters, it's a wonderful cast so far, and I say so far because I'm expecting to see more performances like this as the story progresses, and James Franco does a wonderful job of bringing a timid yet sometimes bold Jake Epping to life and Chris Cooper does a phenomenal job playing the tortured and determined Al Templeton. In fact Chris is the true highlight of this episode since his obsession on changing the past and the angst that comes with it instantly commits the audience to the story. We want to see if this can even be accomplished and we want to see if the world will indeed be a better place if Jake is able to pull this incredible feat off, and well...it's even more wonderful that this will be no easy task.

After all, leave it to Stephen King to find a way to make time travel dangerous and the fact that the past is a character unto itself, and doesn't like to be changed is an outright genius stroke of storytelling since now there will be some serious obstacles for Jake to overcome in his mission to change the future, as evidenced by what the past does to Jake for pushing forward in trying to uncover more secrets on who is responsible for the death of JFK.  Either way, this is through and through a refreshing take on the time travel genre of storytelling. There's no science here, just an every day man, caught up in incredible circumstances and trying to make a difference and he has truly taken on one monumental task, and I can't wait to find out where this story is headed. Until next time.

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