One of the most notable things about Hulu’s miniseries 11.22.63 is that, despite having never read the book that it is based on, I can still tell that it is exceptionally true to its source material. Author Stephen King has a very distinct narrative style, predicated on introducing a clever idea and then letting it take him wherever he deems the most interesting. His best stories live in the moment, guided only by the faint and distant light of a Macguffin device. The problem he tends to have is that, when it comes time to actually catch up with his Macguffin, he doesn’t quite know what to do with it.
This is the case with 11.22.63. It’s a story about time travel with a unique set of “rules:” one can only go back to a particular date in 1960, whatever changes you make apply to the world when you return to the future, and re-entering the past wipes your previous changes. Also, when somebody tries to make changes to the past that will significantly alter the course of history, “the past,” a vaguely-defined mystical force, will fight back and try to stop it. It’s a fantastic and relatively unique take on time-travel, adding an almost video-game like element to the goal Jake Epping (James Franco) takes on: at any time, he can “wipe” his progress by returning to the future and starting over.
