Note: This 11.22.63 review and recap was originally published in May 2016, shortly after this episode was first broadcast.
Spoilers for episode 7 of 11.22.63 – Solider Boy
The past is really fighting back as we go into episode seven. Bill is still a bit of a wild card, even though we don’t know how long it’s been between the episodes. Will Jake be able to get to Oswald before the day?
17 days until the assassination.
It appears as if Jake is hallucinating because he sees Al who seems to be alive and posing as a doctor. He’s voicing some of Jake’s concerns and fears regarding the upcoming events.
Finally he wakes up for a second and we see Sadie and Simmons talking as he drifts back out.
15 days until the assassination.
We see that Jake is awake but having memory problems due to the knock on his head. He remembers who JFK is and who the vice president is but he doesn’t remember, or least he doesn’t’ indicate that he remembers, that JFK is about to be assassinated or that Oswald is going to fire the gun.
10 days until the assassination.
Speaking of Oswald, he goes to see Agent Hosty. Luckily for Jake, he seems to think that the bug is from him. He seems to be a bit off his rocker and things seem to be falling into place.
Jake is getting released from the hospital and is going back to Jodie with Sadie. He asks about Bill but since Sadie doesn’t know what really happened, she just ells him about the argument (which she does know about – but not the part about Jake getting him locked in a Psych ward).
Miz Mimi passed away, news to Jake. When Jake signs his release papers, he remembers committing Bill and wants to go see him.
Jake doesn’t completely remember what made him commit him. The doctor tells Jake they’ve been submitting Bill to electroshock therapy so Bill’s memory is about as shot as Jake’s.
When Jake tries to ask him about it, Bill thinks it’s a trick. They’ve tried to talk to him about the “mission” and Bill doesn’t want to admit that it’s real. As Jake tries to get him released, Bill commits suicide taking the knowledge of who Jake was following.
6 days until the assassination.
Sadie and Simmons are talking about Jake as he sits in the other room staring at a yearbook from an earlier year. Simmons tells Sadie to not give up on Jake.
5 days until the assassination.
Sadie is looking at a paper and sees where JFK is coming to Texas and is going to San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas. Jake can’t remember that it’s in Dallas and that it happens in five days.
Of course, to protect Sadie, he hadn’t shared any of those details with him.
We break over to Oswald who is talking to his mother who shows him a report card where a teacher had said he showed great potential. She just wants her son to be happy, something she hasn’t seen in a while.
4 days until the assassination.
Oswald is on a park bench and sees a news paper with information on JFK’s visit. As he reads the paper, we can see the idea of the infamous assassination come to mind. Oddly enough, he throws the paper away and walks away.
3 days until the assassination.
Jake remembers where he lived with Bill. Sadie thinks going there will help Jake remember what he’s forgotten.
2 days until the assassination.
They go to Madison Street where Jake thinks he lived before trying to find where he lived. Turns out someone else had moved in and they go upstairs. Oswald happens to answer the door. As Oswald starts to talk, Jake remembers everything. Going into Oswald’s kitchen, he grabs a knife. But Oswald walks in holding his little one and can’t go through with it.
They go back home and Jake doesn’t tell Sadie it’s Oswald. But she figures out he’s lying to her and when Jake tries to leave her and go kill him, she refuses to let him go alone.
Jake decides to go and get Oswald’s rifle. No gun no shot. Marina’s friend, Ruth, supposedly has the rifle. But it’s not where it’s supposed to be.
12 hours until the assassination.
Trying to stake out the plaza, Jake parks the car but an officer makes him move along, they are already clearing the streets to get ready for a motorcade. They move nearby where the cops won’t bother them.
Sadie and him talk about the future and is there anything he’s looking forward to when the music he’s listening to stops.
The past seems to be throwing a bit of a warning fit and when it stops, a random man is in his car. The man says he’s trying to stop it from happening again. Apparently his daughter drowned and he’s tried to go back and stop it again and again and has failed.
It spooks Jake and for a minute he tries to talk Sadie into letting history happen, going back to Jodie and getting a house with a yard and having four kids. But Jodie reminds him that he came all this way for a reason.
4 hours until the assassination.
The past pushes back and the car won’t start so they take off for the plaza. Jake knows that the past is going to push back with everything it has but after his pep talk with Jodie, he knows he has to try.
We go to Oswald who is with Marina. She asks him if he got any sleep the night before and he says he has a job to do.
Back with Jake, we see him hotwire a car and take off.
3 ½ hours until the assassination.
Oswald walks into work, the rifle wrapped up and tucked under his arm. We see the infamous building where the shot was fired from and Lee makes his way up to the floor in question to find the best angle whistling all the while.
As I sat here watching this, I could feel the tension radiating off of the episode. Oswald sits down and gets the gun ready. A window opens and we can hear the chatter on the street as people start lining up to get a chance to see the President of the United States.
The screen goes black as we see Oswald ready to do what he thinks he needs to do. Will Jake get there in time?
We’ll be covering the last episode of the series next week. If you would like to hear other details about the episode above, here are some great podcasts:
Podcasts from the Another Kind of Distance:
11.22.63 – Episode 7: Soldier Boy
Podcasts from Golden Spiral Media’s 11.22.63 – A Look Back:
ALB11 – S1E7 – 11.22.63 Soldier Boy
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