11.22.63 (2016) - TV Series Review (Mini-Series)

11.22.63 is a 8 episode mini-series based on the novel by Stephen King of the same name, and it grabbed my attention because of its interesting premise. A guy, played by James Franco, goes back in time to 1960 in order to stop the assassination John F. Kennedy. He is involved in this by his friend who believes that stopping this assassination will make America great again. Time travel has always been a huge interest of fine. Couple that with the plot of this series and James Franco as the lead, no chance in hell I wouldn't watch it.

The show starts off strong, admittedly with a rushed feeling though, and really reeled me in with good production values, acting and ofcourse, the plot. I was interested in seeing how he'll plan it out, how he'll handle staying in the past for so long etc and how this will have an effect on the present. The first half of the show was focused on this and hence I really enjoyed it. The past was definitely exaggerated, but to the shows effect, giving the contrast between current times and aiding the plot. It was fun seeing Franco having to deal with past stuff from time to time.

But then it strays off to a different territory. Romance and personal issues, which got a lot of focus in the later half. Sarah Gadon acted as the love interest and while she is a beauty to look at and was good in the show, I just felt bummed out that the show wasn't focusing more on the earlier promise. It's not like this stuff was bad, it wasn't, and even had some good moments and had a relevance in the plot. BUT it got a lot more focus than I would have liked, greatly reducing the enjoyment level in the second half. And to top it off, the show VERY quickly executes the JFK story-line without the build up I was hoping for, and giving little to no answers about the aftermath.

Plus, there were some other elements I would have loved if the show elaborated more on, interesting stuff that would have definitely made the show better. But we didn't really get any answers.

Ultimately, this show felt like eating something great but when you're all done, you get this bad after taste that you can't get rid of for quite some time. It is in no way a bad show, it is still a good watch and some of the big issues are with my personal preference, what I hoped the show would be and what it turned out to be. Keeping this in mind, I would recommend it to everyone and hopefully you'll find this right at home with you.

7.5/10

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