I started this series after a recommendation from a friend-of-a-friend and after I saw a quick ten second promo for it. The premise was interesting and the source material certainly had pedigree, so I thought I'd give it a shot. But this show went in an entirely different direction than I first thought, and earned some significant respect in doing so. For example, the JFK story-line (otherwise known as how the show was sold) was pretty much done before the halfway mark of this episode, which surprised me immensely. I was a little bit worried that it wouldn't end very well and would try and pad out what was unfortunately only seven and a half episodes of content into an eight episode run, but instead it focused on Jake and Sadie and their doomed romance.
To a superficial eye replacing the cool time travel/save the president story-line with a romantic subplot is Boredom 101, but their story is so immensely human and heartbreaking that I couldn't help but fall in love with them too. This episode led to the discovery that I was never rooting for the life of JFK - I was invested in their future, not our past. So the tragedy of the past tearing them apart so violently was (if not ever so slightly predictable), exactly that - tragic . But his decision to save her from himself was less foreseeable, and totally, crushingly heartbreaking as a result.
My overall philosophy on what makes great film or television is that it needs to have 'moments'. Hopefully some people can relate to this or I'm about to sound exceedingly strange, but a moment for me is something magical, a single instant of a single scene that floors me with how utterly superb it is. Game of Thrones does it so consistently it's almost cheating, but lots of smaller shows manage them brilliantly as well and there's no telling when they're going to appear. Hell, one of my favourite moments is from the Legend of Korra. But when Jake spins Spadie around, (dancing to the song that played when he told her he wanted to be with her, fun fact), and saw for just a few seconds the woman that he fell in love with - that was sure as hell a moment for me. They're easy to notice due to the tears dripping slowly down my face and my immediate rushing to my computer to write a review so that I might share my moment with the few people who could possibly care (thanks by the way.)
This miniseries was brilliant in that it allowed a completely human story to thrive under an overarching and fantastical premise. I was hooked from the start, but was invested for a wholly different reason when the end credits rolled. I wish I had my own little time bubble, so I could live forever in a world where I hadn't seen this final episode and it was always something I could look forward to. But bittersweet as it was, I was left wholly satisfied and emotionally drained. Jake struggling to let go of something he loves might just stay with me forever.
After all, I know exactly how he feels.
To a superficial eye replacing the cool time travel/save the president story-line with a romantic subplot is Boredom 101, but their story is so immensely human and heartbreaking that I couldn't help but fall in love with them too. This episode led to the discovery that I was never rooting for the life of JFK - I was invested in their future, not our past. So the tragedy of the past tearing them apart so violently was (if not ever so slightly predictable), exactly that - tragic . But his decision to save her from himself was less foreseeable, and totally, crushingly heartbreaking as a result.
My overall philosophy on what makes great film or television is that it needs to have 'moments'. Hopefully some people can relate to this or I'm about to sound exceedingly strange, but a moment for me is something magical, a single instant of a single scene that floors me with how utterly superb it is. Game of Thrones does it so consistently it's almost cheating, but lots of smaller shows manage them brilliantly as well and there's no telling when they're going to appear. Hell, one of my favourite moments is from the Legend of Korra. But when Jake spins Spadie around, (dancing to the song that played when he told her he wanted to be with her, fun fact), and saw for just a few seconds the woman that he fell in love with - that was sure as hell a moment for me. They're easy to notice due to the tears dripping slowly down my face and my immediate rushing to my computer to write a review so that I might share my moment with the few people who could possibly care (thanks by the way.)
This miniseries was brilliant in that it allowed a completely human story to thrive under an overarching and fantastical premise. I was hooked from the start, but was invested for a wholly different reason when the end credits rolled. I wish I had my own little time bubble, so I could live forever in a world where I hadn't seen this final episode and it was always something I could look forward to. But bittersweet as it was, I was left wholly satisfied and emotionally drained. Jake struggling to let go of something he loves might just stay with me forever.
After all, I know exactly how he feels.
