Mase gets us up to speed on Hulu Original series 11.22.63 with his After-Take on Episode 3.

Name of the Episode: “Other Voices, Other Rooms”

This series is based on a 2011 novel by Stephen King with a similar name 11/22/63. The concept of the story is how would time and history change if JFK was never assassinated? Of course with all stories that have been adapted from different media sources, their will the alterations to the story to better suit the media outlet. The following contains spoilers for the episode, you have been warned.

Last episode ended with Jake Epping (James Franco) being held hostage by Bill Turcotte (George MacKay). Bill is holding a gun and the newspaper clipping of the assassination asking who he is and what is going on. Jake spills the beans on being a time traveler here to stop the murder of JFK. It takes some convincing, even Bill asking Jake to save his sister and Jake having to tell him he couldn’t. They end up teaming up to stop Lee Harvey Oswald (Daniel Webber) from killing JFK. Jake gets a job as a teacher in the town of Jodie, Texas on the outskirts of Dallas. Two years pass, Jake is now introduced formally to the forgetful blonde from Dallas in the last episode. Miss Sadie Dunhill (Sarah Gadon) is the new school librarian and they pick up right where they left off. As for stopping the assassination, Jake and Bill get a place next to the apartment that Lee will be occupying next month when he gets back from Russia. One day when Lee was out, Jake and Bill broke in to plant listening devices. Lee returned home early, forcing the two spies to escape through the ceiling, where we see time push back negatively and they almost get caught. The listening devices work great. Jake and Bill take turns listening and writing down important things. One day while Jake stepped out, Bill got beat up and all the surveillance equipment was taken by Rafael, because he called them homos throughout the episode. Jake and Bill bust into Rafael’s place to get the equipment back but Rafael has already destroyed the evidence.

Good episode overall. One of the best things this series has done, has been that they have kept the tone and the mindset of the people of the time. Jake is asked his opinion on whether “Catcher in the Rye” should be in the library. We also see the racial divide with the school’s secretary Mia Mimi Corcoran when Jake asked her if he could pour her a cup of coffee and also with the gas station attendent not selling her, then him, gas because the ‘colored people’ have their own station across town. Jake, being a man of 2016, is having difficulties with his political correctness in this era. When he doesn’t fight Rafael for calling him a homo, that was basically Jake backing down and saying that he was correct, which in turn came back to bite him in the ass because Rafael broke in to beat them up.

Another thing Jake does that is going to come back and haunt him, is Miss Sadie Dunhill. I believe that this is time also forcing back, it is just a slow play. The first time we met her was Dallas two years prior when she was married. Now she is single and the new school librarian. Thanks to his kindness towards Mia Mimi, Sarah and Jake are told they are going to chaperone the school dance on Thursday. This is where I think his love life will jeopardize the mission. Because Thursday, Jake and Bill were going to set up the spy equipment in Lee’s apartment. Jake, our hero, knows he can do both so he says yes to the dance.

The dance as a whole was a great part to the episode. Jake was on point with Sarah and a relationship was definitely blooming. The DJ (were they called that?) played a song “from back in the day when Mr Amberson and Miss Dunhill were young”. Lucky for Jake, his ex-wife made him take swing dance lessons so he can cut a rug fairly well. This of course impresses Miss Dunhill and then Jake realizes it is time for him to go do his mission. Sarah is really pissed about this, especially because the students all saw him leave her alone, and he didn’t even come back to help clean up. Seriously dude, if you want to live happily ever after with Miss Dunhill, then forget the JFK thing. But if you want to save the president, you need to forget about Sadie because that is time forcing back on him. I feel that time is playing Jake in two ways, fear and love.

This episode doesn’t leave us with a huge cliffhanger, but it does give us quite a problem to deal with. Jake and Bill have now semi-exposed himself to Rafael about not being who he says he is. This could go either way. If Rafael is trustworthy, he could help with surveillance for his place, but if not, history could get really messed up if he found the betting book.

What are you thinking about 11.22.63 so far?  Let us know in the comments!