‘11.22.63’: Watch the First Two Episodes for Free on Yahoo View
Leave it to Stephen King to flip the old “If you had access to a time machine, would you kill Hitler?” question on its head. In his blockbuster novel 11/22/63, America’s best-loved boogeyman instead posed the quandary: “If you had access to a time machine, would you save JFK?” That’s the irresistible hook that fuels both his mammoth 849-page tome and the sprawling eight-part Hulu series adapted from it. Originally debuting on the streaming service in February, the first two episodes of 11.22.63 —starring James Franco as King’s time-skipping hero, high school English teacher Jake Epping — are available to watch for free right now on Yahoo View. Here are three things to know about the series that’s about to eat up all your free time.
1. There have been some slight alterations from the novel
Overall, 11.22.63 is closer to The Dead Zone than, say, The Lawnmower Man on the scale of fidelity to King’s original text. That said, series showrunner Brenda Carpenter did make some nips and tucks in order to streamline the narrative, which King was more than onboard for. One of the biggest changes happens in the very first episode, which eliminates Jake’s trial run at changing the past and then returning to the future to witness his handiwork. Instead, once Jake passes through the time portal — which, in this case, happens to be the backroom of a small-town Maine diner — that leads him to 1960s, he stays there until that fateful day in Dallas, November 22, 1963. “We wanted it to be like, ‘You’ve got one shot — just do it,” Carpenter told us back in April.
Related: 11.22.63: Bridget Carpenter and Stephen King on the 5 Biggest Page-to-Screen Changes
2. Be afraid, be very afraid … of Josh Duhamel (and T.R. Knight)
It’s scary just how good the former Las Vegas star is at playing abusive father Frank Dunning, who murders his entire family — save one, little Harry Dunning, who grows up to be the brain-damaged janitor at Jake’s school back in the present day — on a cold Halloween night in 1960. Preventing that massacre is the side mission that Jake embarks upon before heading off to Dallas for his rendezvous with JFK. That means spending lots of time in the company of Frank, who has a sense of hospitality that falls somewhere in the Jeffrey Dahmer range. In the second episode, for example, Frank brings Jake to the kill floor of the slaughterhouse where he works and demonstrates his blunt but effective hammer-swinging technique on a poor bovine resident. And Duhamel isn’t the only leading man who takes a walk on the dark side in 11.22.63. Ex-Grey’s Anatomy star T.R. Knight turns up in later episodes as the psychotic husband of the woman that Jake falls in love with. Pay special attention to the fifth episode (available on Hulu), where Knight arranges a terrifying hostage situation worthy of Hitchcock.
Related: 11.22.63: Stephen King Answers 4 Burning Questions
3. Look out for Easter eggs
Hope you’ve got a lot of time on your hands this week, because you’ll have to watch each of 11.22.63’s first three episodes at least twice — once for the storyand the second time to spot all the hidden King shout-outs that Carpenter and her writers embedded in the frame. And if you’re in need of a cheat sheet, here’s our handy guide to the 18 (!) easter eggs that appear throughout the series. The truly eagle-eyed will be able to locate 11 easter eggs in the first three episodes alone, so get hunting!
Watch 11.22.63, Episode 1: “The Rabbit Hole”
Watch ‘11.22.63’ episode 2: “The Kill Floor”
Watch the first two episodes of 11.22.63 above or on Yahoo View. And get the full season on Hulu.
