11.22.63 Review
Episode 5, “The Truth”
by Adam Sullivan
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Welcome back. As obsessed as I am, are you?
In our discussion of episode 4, I expressed concern and growing impatience with the creators of 11.22.63 as they appeared to have forgotten for two episodes that the past is supposed to be pushing back against changes in the timeline. While Jake earned a share of troubles in those episodes, there was no mention of whether these were the machinations of time’s resistance to Jake’s influence, or whether, you know…everyone has bad days sometimes, right?
Well, the writers have remembered. We get straight away into the plan Jake and Bill have hatched to observe the assassination attempt on General Walker, in order to try to catch a glimpse of the assassin. Bill is hoping it’s Lee Oswald, thinking that means they finally can kill him. (And then Marina will need someone to console her, no?) Jake—thinking of Al’s instructions, no doubt—just wants to get closer to the truth.
Jake has prepared for every eventuality—extra gas, adult diapers, and so forth—and cautions Bill to stay focused. “We’re going up against the past,” he says, with dramatic emphasis. (Okay, show creators, we get it.) I’m glad we’ve got back to this particular implication of time-travel, and this episode includes some well-crafted plot devices that make it work.
But seriously, Jake was in the past for over two years—teaching English at a public high school, romancing a soon-to-be-divorcée, and coaching a sidekick in the intricacies of time-travel-related spy stuff—and the past only starts pushing back now that they are going to identify Walker’s assassin? What about the scene in this episode when Lee catches Bill and Marina in the stairwell, sharing cigarettes and glances? Lee seems indifferent, even friendly to Bill. It’s unexpected, which adds to our sense of unease about him. But what better instrument of pushback could time pick than Lee Harvey Oswald himself?
Anyway, the past serves up some devilish pushback in “The Truth,” and the cast some excellent performances. Franco actually directed this episode himself, and pretty handily.
The episode begins with the aftermath of Sadie’s “discovery” (thanks to her creepy estranged husband Johnny) of Jake’s recordings—in particular, the Oswalds lovemaking sounds complete with pillow talk in Russian. Sadie cuts ties with Jake, believing him to be a liar. (He is.) And word gets around, which leads to him being fired from his job at the high school. Only Mimi seems to feel badly for Jake, not realizing that the story he told her about witness protection and mob hits is complete bunk. Eventually Jake decides it’s all for the best: “I came to the past for a reason,” he tells Bill.
But before Jake can head out to meet Bill at the Walker home, a phone call: Johnny has Sadie hostage in her home. Now that’s pushback! Jake phones Bill to tell him he’ll have to do the job alone, even though we all know that Bill is not prepared for what the past might throw at him. Long story short, Johnny has badly hurt Sadie and tries to make Jake drink a glass of pure bleach—seriously—which he somehow is surprised to find thrown in his face. Johnny dies with a fireplace poker in his temple (Jake) and a gunshot wound from his own gun (Sadie). But of course it’s too late to get to Walker’s house on time, even if there weren’t the matter of Sadie possibly bleeding to death and, oh yeah, the cops.
Which brings us to Bill, who is completely blindsided by the past. Really it was not surprising that Johnny would serve as the instrument of pushback for Jake. Considering that violence, we, the viewing audience, could be forgiven for expecting something equally blunt to happen to Bill as he waits in the bushes for Walker’s would-be assassin to appear and take his shot. Or, just maybe, the past will let him be because, ya know, he is from the past himself? Nope. The past blindsides Bill by putting a woman in the assembly exiting a nearby church who looks exactly like his dead, cherished sister. (Remember Clara? The sister he thought Frank Dunning killed?) Bill completely forgets his mission and runs off after the woman who, of course, is not his sister. She really doesn’t look like Clara when you get up close.
After all of that, the past lets up. A sympathetic cop decides the pair acted in self defense, and the principal of Jodie High School decides Jake must be a decent guy after all. (Turns out pretty much everyone hated Johnny and don’t mind that he’s gone toes up.)
And then Jake tells Sadie the Truth. Yes, that truth: that he’s from the future. She smiles and replies only that it’s not what she thought he would say. Apparently she believes him.
Folks, this cannot end well.
And it really shouldn’t. Time travel is dangerous business, perhaps never more so than in King’s imagining. The past pushes back with the ferocity of a lioness protecting her cubs, and the cunning of a sorcerer.
Episode Five ratings:
TT Integrity: 9.0 wormholes out of 10
Narrative use of TT: 8.5 out of 10
Adam Sullivan is a marketing professional and a recovering actor. Find him on Twitter @adamsull. Be nice. He’s sensitive.
