I read the wonderful Stephen King novel, upon which this great miniseries is based, when it was a bestseller and then reread it in the spring of 2016 when I heard about this show. Over the past couple of days I have watched the miniseries again and liked it even more this time. It is one of the best, if not the very best, filmed versions of a good book I can recall.
The series is a bittersweet examination of the power of unintended consequences. The key to it is expressed in Al the diner owner's warning to Jake when Jake agrees to go back to 1960 and live in the '60s for three years in order to try to prevent the assassination of JFK by Lee Harvey Oswald in Texas in 1963. Al tells Jake to expect "push back" whenever Jake tries to change events because "When you f*** with the past, the past f***s you back." As Jake desperately tries to prevent the JFK assassination and to "fix" some other things along the way, he discovers the dark power and truth of Al's warning.
As is true of King's best work, and I think his 11/22/63 is near the top of that list, this story, while filled with King's dark humor is also filled with dark truths. By its end, it moved me.
The series is a bittersweet examination of the power of unintended consequences. The key to it is expressed in Al the diner owner's warning to Jake when Jake agrees to go back to 1960 and live in the '60s for three years in order to try to prevent the assassination of JFK by Lee Harvey Oswald in Texas in 1963. Al tells Jake to expect "push back" whenever Jake tries to change events because "When you f*** with the past, the past f***s you back." As Jake desperately tries to prevent the JFK assassination and to "fix" some other things along the way, he discovers the dark power and truth of Al's warning.
As is true of King's best work, and I think his 11/22/63 is near the top of that list, this story, while filled with King's dark humor is also filled with dark truths. By its end, it moved me.