11.22.63 Takes Off

I got HULU today for one reason: 11.22.63.  And I love it.  The movie, not HULU.

The movie brings the book to life in brilliant color.  There are some things that can’t really be brought to the screen.  Jack can tell us food tastes better, but King made me taste the root-beer float.  I don’t know how; but he touched my senses beyond just seeing it in my minds eye; I tasted it.  All they can do on TV is tell us that food tastes better.

Whit the television show accomplishes is it takes us back to the 1960's with amazing detail.  Like the novel, I “buy” it because it feels right.  This isn’t a plastic version of the 60's; a cheap set to move actors around on – this actually feels like the world of the 60's.  (Well, late 50's.)

What the movie can do that the book couldn’t is more than just visual No doubt, they have done an outstanding job visually.  But a book can’t really have a sound track.

I am still struck by the unimportance of the “HOW” for Stephen King – or this story.  HOW does a closet send you back in time?  King is interested in the “what if” not one bit in the how.  King, and the writers of the script, seem to say to us, “yeah, yeah, yeah, so what if we don’t know anything about how this closet sends you back in time.  Just suppose it did, then what?”

• But why does it go back to that date?
• What was in that space previously?
• What caused that spot to become a time portal?
• Has it always been a time portal?
• Did it used to go back to a different date?
• Are there other time portals?

None of these questions are of any interest to Stephen King.  But shouldn’t . . . someone . . . be asking this?  Maybe Jake?  Before you go diving a time machine, shouldn’t you ask how it works?  Some basic rules are given to us.  For instance, every time you go through again, you re-set everything you previously changed; suggesting that there is a “true” timeline that everything actually adheres to.  There are not endless timelines.  There is standard time – and it is possible to deviate.  However, things always return to standard time.

My favorite line from episode 1: Time pushes back.  (The book used the word obdurate.)  And, "You don't belong here."

Is it worth a HULU subscription?  Well, for me, yeah.  Absolutely.
Episode 1 is titled: The Rabbit Hole
11.22.63 plays every Monday.