'11.22.63' Recap: 'The Truth'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

It seemed that for a moment, 11.22.63 was about to undergo a major tonal shift, and take us into a realm where the story took its time to come to a boil, giving us deeper insight into Jake and his adjustment into the past as the day drew closer to save President John F. Kennedy. It seemed that way, because the fifth episode in the series ended up surprising the hell out of all of us, by bringing back the intensity and the scares with a final showdown between Jake and Johnny, and a crucial moment in history where Lee Harvey Oswald supposedly took his first shot as an assassin.  

'The Truth' did live up to its namesake and finally gave us the moment where Jake stopped lying to Sadie, but not where we expected it to. Because in those opening moments, we picked up right where we left off, with Sadie trying to figure out what she was hearing on those tapes before running out of Jake's house in the middle of the night to sort the matter out. The embarrassment of that late night tussle, the little incident at the whore house and the fact that Sadie heard Russian on those tapes was finally too much to bear for Principal Simmons, and he decides to let Jake go from his teaching position. At first glance, it seems as though Jake is finally freed up from any current obligations, allowing him to re dedicate himself to the mission at hand. Heck, he and Bill even had time to scope out Walker's place to prepare for Oswald's possible attack on the General.  

But alas, the past finally found a solid way to strike back at Jake and keep him off track from changing it...by going after the one thing he loves...Sadie. Right before he left his home to catch Oswald at Walker's house with Bill, a phone call came through that sent chills down his spine. Johnny had come home to Sadie, and well...he felt it was time for the three of them to have a little chat. The mere prospect of Sadie suddenly being in danger was enough to force Jake to abandon the stakeout and head to his love's house...to find that Johnny had cut up Sadie something awful before his arrival and he was ready to torture Jake as well to prove a point that she only belonged to Johnny and if he couldn't have her, no man would. It led to one hell of a set of intense scenes, where safety was nonexistent and it seemed like there was no way out for the two lovers, and Jake was going to have to bend to Johnny's wishes, and drink the bleach that Johnny so graciously provided for him. 

Thankfully, through quick thinking, Jake and Sadie were able to blind Johnny, and eventually put him down for good. Leaving the police with questions and Sadie on the way to the hospital to deal with her horrific injuries and while Jake waited with baited breath to see if his newfound love would come through the surgery okay, Bill continued on with the mission, waiting to see if Oswald popped up at Walker's house. The past however, had other plans in mind, and since Bill is attempting to change it as well, it decided to continue its newfound trend of using people that our heroes love to break them and keep them off course; since Bill witnessed his sister emerging from the Church near Walker's home and mesmerized to see her face once again he chased her down...only to discover that he had made two critical mistakes. The first one being, that the young lady in question was not his sister...and he missed discovering exactly who was behind the gunshot that rang out in the darkness.

Bill's failure is clearly leading to a strain between he and Jake since Bill broke down on the phone when he relayed what happened on this fateful night, but while the mission suffered another setback, Sadie made it through surgery and Jake...well he finally took the time to tell her everything she ever wanted to know. Yet, despite that happy ending, let's be honest...everything essentially fell to pieces this episode. Jake's unemployed, unless Simmons is changing his mind, his love is badly wounded and the mission is in tatters. Plus to top it off, Bill is making nice with the Oswalds now, having met the man face to face after once more pushing the envelope to spend time with his wife and at this point, it's hard to say how the hell they are going to get back on track. Because Bill clearly can no longer handle the pressure of this, and the past is taking full advantage of that, and Jake is lost in love, meaning that at this rate, minus a few bumps here and there, the past is going to stay preserved unless Jake settles his mind down and refocuses on why he came back to the sixties. Until next time.

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