S01.E01: Way Leads Onto Way

[bros402]

16 hours ago, DearEvette said:

The show picks up 10 years after graduation. Plenty of time to go back to school for nursing and get a second degree.

The real question is why nursing?  Cop makes sense because that was a family vocation.  Musician, of course, that was his stated passion from the jump. But I don't get what path led him to nursing?

Yeah, I was just assuming that he went into nursing quick (along with the wife being a paralegal) to get money and insurance for their disabled kid

[proserpina65]

On 9/23/2021 at 11:45 AM, Sandman said:

Maybe take this with a grain or two of salt, given my missing of the detail mentioned above, but I think the song being played in all three timelines was not Rocker Joe's new song but Sometime Around Midnight.

That song (by the Airborne Toxic Event) was definitely in all 3 timelines.  It's a fantastic song.  It was the best thing about any of them.

[dirtypop90]

On 9/22/2021 at 10:44 PM, KaveDweller said:

Maybe being a single mom to a special needs baby helped her drive to succeed at work, because she needed to be the sole provider for him?

I don't know....it is really interesting to think about how small changes can have such a big impact on so many other people.

I thought she was a district attorney as a single mom. That’s state government attorney.  She made partner at a corporate law firm without the child, so more successful or much wealthier I should say without him.

[DanaK]

I’m not sure how I feel about this show just yet. I think I liked at least some of what was going on in all 3 timelines but I’m not sure I really followed what was going on and that will likely be the biggest problem going forward, and that execution can be tricky. It seems almost as complex as “Awake” in its own way and I had a lot of trouble following that show

[legaleagle53]

On 9/20/2021 at 8:58 PM, windsprints said:

I liked it enough to watch a few more. It reminds me of the movie Sliding Doors. 

I was just coming in here to say this.

I like this show. One of the major themes, I think, is to show that there's really no such thing as a "perfect" life. Even living out one's dream (rock star) has its tragedies and its challenges. And I am really impressed with the way each timeline still has some common and constant elements in it. I'm in!

[chaifan]

On 9/23/2021 at 1:34 PM, AzraeltheCat said:

 

Interesting premise, shaky execution.  I liked Rocker Joe in the beginning - musical dreams realized; seemed to be down-to-earth and a loving husband; still friends with someone from pre-fame days.... and then sorta out of nowhere he acts jerky -  like he doesn't want to be with wife anymore if she ain't birthing him some babies STAT and not being at all supportive about her career.  Also, really don't like that Jenny didn't tell him of pregnancy during two timelines.  They were supposed to be these super best friends with benefits but he missed one night with her and she doesn't tell him? Call him or see him the day after graduation to tell him? Makes me not like her but maybe we'll get more explanation. 

Totally agree about Rocker Joe starting off really cool and turning into a major jerk.  And, I was thinking the same thing about Jenny not telling Joe about the pregnancy.  I'm not buying it from someone who was his best friend (with benefits).  So he didn't see her for 7-8 months after graduation?  How will that be explained?  It seemed like he was pretty close with her family - no one contacted him to let him know Jenny was pregnant?  No friends in common that would do that?  That all seems just so highly improbable.  If it had been "come to the beach with me so we can hang out before I go off to tour Europe for a year", then I could buy it a little more.  But then I'd still doubt that no one would contact him for 10 years to let him know he has a kid, especially in the cop timeline where Lucas wasn't put up for adoption.

I did think the marital problems in the Nurse Joe timeline was realistic.  Having a special needs kid puts a huge toll on couples.  My guess is that single Jenny in the Cop Joe timeline was able to cope because family rallied around her, so it was a "it takes a village" type thing with Lucas.

My very first thought during the commencement opening scenes was "why do all these college kids look like they're 35???".  ohhhh...  a ten year time jump...  ok, now I get it! 

I liked the premier, I like that this is something different.  But, to be honest, I don't know if I want to watch 3 shows in an hour each week.  How much depth can they go into when each timeline gets less than 15 minutes of screen time each episode?  There's nothing really compelling me to keep watching, other than it's something new. 

On a totally shallow note, I love Rocker Joe's industrial warehouse apartment.  Normally not my style, but I loved the upper catwalk.  I wonder if that's a real apartment/condo/home, or if it is just a set. 

 

[Chaos Theory]

This show follows tv show logic out of necessity.  If Joe gets what he wants in every timeline there would be no drama.   In the timelines where he didn’t chose to meet up with Jenny “to talk” they never do and they lose touch and she never does tell him about their son.  
 

In the cop timeline where she keeps the kid it throws her back a year or two but she accomplishes her lawyer dreams.   In the Rockstar timeline where she gives the kid up we can assume she never knew he is special needs and there is no reason for any hold up of her dreams of being a partner in a big law firm.   But in the timeline he does show up to talk she tells him she is pregnant and they get married and more then likely put the needs of their son above their own.  
 

There are a lot of reasons for Joe to become a nurse and a big one is having a special needs child who probably was in the hospital a lot. Someone family oriented like Joe likely wanted to learn how to care for his son and with Jenny’s urging turned it into a career.

In the timeline where he marries Amy and becomes a rockstar he gets the career path he wants but the family is out of reach.  Then he finds out Jenny had been pregnant and gave up his kid.   I can see this timeline bringing chaos into his relationship with Amy.  But I can also see an interesting story about what this particular Joe might do with a special needs kid.   Was the boy adopted by a nice family that Rockstar Joe has to make peace with or will Joe bring a child that may have issues of his own into his home without understanding what he needs?

And ten years after the fact Joe the cop runs into both women he has loved who have gotten their dreams (or some version of it).  Which will he chose?   Amy who can turn him into a hero cop and give him a version of the fame he’s always wanted or Jenny who can give him the family he always wanted?  Why not both?  Well again tv logic.  Joe chooses one path.  He loses the other.

Edited September 27, 2021 by Chaos Theory

[saber5055]

Interesting that becoming a nurse causes Joe to wear glasses, which he doesn't as a cop or rocker.

I still wonder what 9:23 has to do with anything. While I missed the rocker beginning, the digital clock on the wall in the nurse segment reads 9:23 and cop Joe's analog watch points to 9:23 when he checks it at the beginning of that part. And there is a big 23 on the wall by the floor directory in the hospital after Amy has her miscarriage. I don't know any hospitals with 23 floors, but maybe in New York?

I will have to watch again to see where 9:23 appears at the beginning of the rocker segment.

[DearEvette]

In reading through this thread I think I figured out why, for me, the premise is great but execution is a little shaky.  Even beyond just the technical.

It is a character based show that didn't spend enough time establishing character before throwing us into the deep end into three plots.

Right now all three time-line plots seem to be centered on Joe's love life and his desire for family.  But before they splintered off into the three stories the only thing they told us about Joe is that he wanted to be the next Billy Joel.   We know nothing about Eric. And all we know about Amy is that she was interested in politics and that that Jenny was smart and planned to go to Law school.

So Joe got his wish in Rockstar Joe's life but the plot propeller for that timeline hinges in him  feeling  so deeply about having a kid that he a) makes his wife feel like a failure because she can't carry a kid to term and doesn't want to have to try anymore and b) will implode all these other lives (the adoptive parents, the kid's, his wife's and possibly Jenny's) to find a child we never knew he wanted? It is a great plot from a dramatic and story perspective, but we don't have a character based grounding it why all this is so important to Joe.

I just think while the show is busy making pointed contrasts in the different timelines, they also need to be consistent in how they portray the characters -- because your basic personality doesn't alter than much regardless of what decisions you make in a day to day basis -- or else I think the whole premise will falter under a lack of internal logic and deeper scrutiny.

Edited September 26, 2021 by DearEvette

[eel21788]

On 9/23/2021 at 9:24 PM, karenc3 said:

I think this is an interesting premise for a show, with the 3 timelines.   I did find it a bit confusing the way it went back and forth between the timelines.  I think it might have been better for me if they focused on one at a time for a segment of the show, to introduce the characters and relationships in each timeline.

I thought it would be a lot less confusing if they devoted a full episode to each scenario and rotated them every three weeks. 

[Lsk02]

I wonder if they’re planning to make use of flashbacks to explain how we got to each present-day life. I’d really like to know why Jenny in the CopJoe story did not tell him she was pregnant. They did at least explain that Eric and Amy got together because Eric went after her after Joe left with Jenny. I wonder who Eric ended up with in RockstarJoe’s story, and why they’re divorced now? 
 

There are so many different paths this can take. Hopefully it doesn’t become too much to follow. 

[izabella]

20 hours ago, chaifan said:

I did think the marital problems in the Nurse Joe timeline was realistic.  Having a special needs kid puts a huge toll on couples.  My guess is that single Jenny in the Cop Joe timeline was able to cope because family rallied around her, so it was a "it takes a village" type thing with Lucas.

Do you recall if Jenny said she was a single mom or divorced? 

[Mediocre Gatsby]

10 hours ago, saber5055 said:

Interesting that becoming a nurse causes Joe to wear glasses, which he doesn't as a cop or rocker.

Just like in "It's a Wonderful Life," when not getting married did the same thing to Mary. 

I hated Rocker Joe asking how long they were going to have to wait before he put his wife through pregnancy *again*

[bros402]

11 hours ago, saber5055 said:

Interesting that becoming a nurse causes Joe to wear glasses, which he doesn't as a cop or rocker.

I still wonder what 9:23 has to do with anything. While I missed the rocker beginning, the digital clock on the wall in the nurse segment reads 9:23 and cop Joe's analog watch points to 9:23 when he checks it at the beginning of that part. And there is a big 23 on the wall by the floor directory in the hospital after Amy has her miscarriage. I don't know any hospitals with 23 floors, but maybe in New York?

I will have to watch again to see where 9:23 appears at the beginning of the rocker segment.

I'm assuming he wears contacts in the other realities. Or maybe nursing required him to read so much he decided to get glasses because he always had vision issues

[magicdog]

Just caught the pilot - not bad but I have a few nitpicks (some of which may have been covered by previous posts):

Why is it he only has a choice of two women to marry/get involved romantically with? Especially Musician Joe, who would probably have a parade of chicks going in and out of his life before deciding to settle down.  

How does a woman with a child with special needs raising a kid alone get to make partner in a law firm?  Sorry, but considering all the work it takes to do that when you're single and not afraid to put in the long hours and endless schmoozing to do that, this version of Jenny would be more likely to be the paralegal.  A special needs kid would have her taking a lot of time putting into his care, and would have been unable to pursue a partnership.  If they really wanted to shake things up, she would have likely been something really off the dream scale like a waitress or some other minimally skilled profession because of being alone raising a child that needs so much.  Or perhaps having her marry someone else.

Does Jennie's kid have CP (Cerebral Palsy)?  I don't think I caught why he was in a wheelchair in two timelines (so far, he might be one in the adoption timeline too).  In fact, was he conceived at the same time in all three timelines?  Why would he be the same kid each time whether or not he was raised by Joe?

Amy really does have issues keeping a pregnancy, so I thought it was rather thoughtless of Musician Joe to act like they could just pick up again so quickly.  

It's possible Nurse Joe is a Nurse Practitioner, which is somewhere in between a nurse and doctor.  I thought that lifetime was the dreariest.  If anything, he not only has to deal with his unfulfilled dreams, but his wife's as well.    

I'll tune in again and see where this is headed.

Edited September 27, 2021 by magicdog

[Lsk02]

1 hour ago, magicdog said:

How does a woman with a child with special needs raising a kid alone get to make partner in a law firm? 

In this timeline, Jenny said she works for the Attorney General’s office. I don’t think she specified if she’s a lawyer. Cop Joe assumed she was and she didn’t correct him, so we’ll see. She was Partner in a law firm in Rocker Joe’s life, where she gave up the baby for adoption. 
 

I’m also guessing CP, possibly due to prematurity. She talked about how tiny the baby was several times, that may be a clue. 

[saber5055]

I found it irksome that Joe's BEST FRIEND in college never talked to him again until 10 years later at the reunion, and vice versa on Joe's part. It's not like telephones weren't invented "way back" then. So he didn't go to the shore that night, but there was the next night and the next and next, for 10 freaking years. Then she decides to dump he has a son on him at the reunion?

Bitch.

[tennisgurl]

I am glad I decided to give this a try, it has a ton of potential and I really like James Wolk. It has some of that awkwardness that a lot of pilots have, especially when they're high concept like this, but I really enjoyed it and am interested in seeing where its going. I like that more has changed in Joe's life besides his wife and job, I am curious as to how that choice ended up affecting so much about his life and the people around him, like how the assassination attempt never happened in the rock star timeline because Joe was having a concert. Its all very Sliding Doors, which I think could be fun, I find the idea of how much things can change by just a choice to be really interesting. Cop Joe seems like the one who is the most fun to follow, while Rock Star Joe seemed like a nice guy at first but he was pretty unsupportive of his wife after their fertility issues, and Nurse Joe just seems sad. 

The person I like the least by far is Jenny in the Rockstar and Cop timelines, these "man finds out that woman he was with ages ago had their kid and never told him" are so annoying. Not only because its such a soapy plot device (even worse when its introduced later into a show) but because its just a shitty thing to do to someone and the women who do it are rarely really called out for it. Even if Jenny was planning on giving the kid up for adoption, she should have at least let him know before she gave the child up, and its even worse in the cop timeline where she kept the kid and raised him. Not only does her son not have a father who would have been a great dad, but Joe has lost out on an opportunity to be a parent, its so unfair. Its not like Joe was some random guy or was a bad or dangerous person, he seems like a decent guy who would have loved to be a dad, and he and Jenny were best friends with benefits. She was that salty he didn't go to the beach with her one time? What a piece of crap. 

I wonder if Nurse Joe became a nurse because he was raising a son with special needs? Like he did a bunch of medial research to better help his son and found an interest in medicine in a way that his other selves never did?

[eel21788]

13 hours ago, magicdog said:

Does Jennie's kid have CP (Cerebral Palsy)?  I don't think I caught why he was in a wheelchair in two timelines (so far, he might be one in the adoption timeline too).  In fact, was he conceived at the same time in all three timelines?  Why would he be the same kid each time whether or not he was raised by Joe?

 

12 hours ago, Lsk02 said:

I’m also guessing CP, possibly due to prematurity. She talked about how tiny the baby was several times, that may be a clue. 

They haven't told us yet. However, the actor in real life has muscular dystrophy, so that may be where they go with it. It would most likely take a recessive gene from each parent to cause MD, which fits the scenario that the child would have the same illness when he had the same two parents.

[ALenore]

59 minutes ago, eel21788 said:

They haven't told us yet. However, the actor in real life has muscular dystrophy, so that may be where they go with it. 

I read an interview with the two show runners, and one of them stated that his son has muscular dystrophy, and that the character was written into the series specifically for that reason (although the show runner's son has a slightly different form of muscular dystrophy than the actor does).

[Bookish Jen]

I caught this when it was a rerun last Friday night. I really like the concept, but I'm not so sure about the execution. I think with three different life paths, it got a bit confusing. However, pilots are often a bit wobbly. I'm going to give it another chance.

[Shanna Marie]

4 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Its not like Joe was some random guy or was a bad or dangerous person, he seems like a decent guy who would have loved to be a dad, and he and Jenny were best friends with benefits. She was that salty he didn't go to the beach with her one time?

I can maybe kind of see it in the rockstar timeline, since there might be some hesitation about telling him she's pregnant with his kid when he's apparently just started dating someone else. It's the cop timeline where it makes no sense. He chose to have dinner with his family after graduation. That's hardly shocking or harmful. It's a very ordinary thing to do after graduation. It's even somewhat expected. She couldn't have told him the next day, or the day after? If he's not dating someone else, then there's no reason not to say anything or to cut him out of her life.

5 hours ago, saber5055 said:

I found it irksome that Joe's BEST FRIEND in college never talked to him again until 10 years later at the reunion, and vice versa on Joe's part. It's not like telephones weren't invented "way back" then.

This. There were telephones, e-mail, Facebook. I haven't seen my best friend from college in person since graduation, but we've been connected on Facebook for more than ten years. I know who he's married to, I know his kids' names and what their school activities are. And we're significantly older than these characters. At about five years after graduation, we had a listserv for our general group from school, so I'd been connected to those friends that way, and that was back before social media. It's hard to imagine someone in their generation being that out of touch. Even if she dropped off the face of the earth and ghosted him, surely she was in touch with some of their mutual friends who might have mentioned what was up with her. Surely he wondered what happened to her. Would he really not have thought anything of his "best friend" just disappearing and then been like, "Oh, hey" when he saw her at the reunion? And in the cop timeline, if she's in the DA's office, wouldn't a cop have at least come across her name at some point? Or run into her at a courthouse?

[saber5055]

27 minutes ago, Shanna Marie said:

Even if she dropped off the face of the earth and ghosted him, surely she was in touch with some of their mutual friends who might have mentioned what was up with her. Surely he wondered what happened to her. Would he really not have thought anything of his "best friend" just disappearing and then been like, "Oh, hey" when he saw her at the reunion?

So much this. I can't believe the entire time she was pregnant absolutely NO ONE who knew her or Joe ever saw her or heard she was pregnant. What, she moved to Antarctica or something for her entire pregnancy and delivery? Even before social media, 10 years ago the phone lines would have lit up like wildfire, "Hey! Guess who's pregnant?" I seriously hate this character in that timeline and I'm afraid it's going to cross over to the other two lines. Joe needs to find some nice woman who is not out of his past.

[Mediocre Gatsby]

17 hours ago, Lsk02 said:

In this timeline, Jenny said she works for the Attorney General’s office.

She's an assistant district attorney, but your point is the same -- not a partner in a law firm, so she hasn't been working those insane hours. 

[dargosmydaddy]

18 hours ago, magicdog said:

In fact, was he conceived at the same time in all three timelines?  Why would he be the same kid each time whether or not he was raised by Joe?

Yes, he was conceived before the three timelines split (pre-graduation), hence why it's the same kid in each timeline. Jenny was going to tell Joe at the lake house, but he only chooses to actually go with her in the Nurse timeline, hence that's the only timeline where he knew about his son.

[KaveDweller]

 

19 hours ago, magicdog said:

Why is it he only has a choice of two women to marry/get involved romantically with? Especially Musician Joe, who would probably have a parade of chicks going in and out of his life before deciding to settle down.  

I think the idea is supposed to be that dating Amy gave him the confidence to pursue music. And if he was dating her, he would turn down the parade of chicks.

But we may find out that they weren't actually together for all ten years and there have been other women.  

8 hours ago, saber5055 said:

I found it irksome that Joe's BEST FRIEND in college never talked to him again until 10 years later at the reunion, and vice versa on Joe's part. It's not like telephones weren't invented "way back" then. So he didn't go to the shore that night, but there was the next night and the next and next, for 10 freaking years. Then she decides to dump he has a son on him at the reunion?

Bitch.

Not to mention Facebook. I can certainly buy loosing touch with friends, but usually you hear some gossip through other people. And the class of 2011 would have been big Facebook users.

2 hours ago, saber5055 said:

So much this. I can't believe the entire time she was pregnant absolutely NO ONE who knew her or Joe ever saw her or heard she was pregnant. What, she moved to Antarctica or something for her entire pregnancy and delivery? Even before social media, 10 years ago the phone lines would have lit up like wildfire, "Hey! Guess who's pregnant?" I seriously hate this character in that timeline and I'm afraid it's going to cross over to the other two lines. Joe needs to find some nice woman who is not out of his past.

I can believe her keeping it a secret when she gave the baby up for adoption, if she worked at it. She was already pregnant at graduation, and you can go through your first trimester without showing. So if she said she was traveling for the summer, she could easily go home to her parents and avoid people for a few months. Then she resurfaces to start law school and no one really thinks anything of it because they were busy too.

But in the universe where she had the baby, it is harder to believe. Because after the pregnancy she had an actual child, and those are harder to hide.

[Shanna Marie]

1 minute ago, KaveDweller said:

But in the universe where she had the baby, it is harder to believe. Because after the pregnancy she had an actual child, and those are harder to hide.

Not to mention, that's the universe where they had less reason to be estranged, and where he's a cop (and has cops in his family) and she's an ADA. Their paths likely would have crossed, or people he knew would have crossed paths with her, or there would have been talk. I don't know how big Syracuse is, but I went to a massive university, and people still do the "hey, you went there, do you know ...?" routine. No cop he knew ever said anything like "Hey, you went to Syracuse, do you know that ADA? She's cute and I think she's about your age."? And it's really hard to imagine someone in 2011 not saying something on Facebook about prayers for Jenny's baby or I'm doing a fundraiser for my birthday for MDA in honor of Jenny's little boy. Did he drop all of his college friends when he became a cop? He's still hanging out with his BFF, so did his BFF also drop all his college friends? Was it a vast conspiracy to hide it all from him? In which case, why would she have gone to the reunion?

It might have worked better with just two timelines -- he goes with Amy or he goes with Jenny after graduation. With Amy, he becomes a rock star but doesn't have the family he wants. With Jenny, he learns she's pregnant and gives up on his rock star dreams and gives in to the family pressure to become a cop so he'll have a steady job and good benefits. He has a family, but feels unfulfilled with work. That gets rid of a lot of the weirdness -- him randomly becoming a nurse, Jenny not becoming a lawyer in the timeline where she isn't a single mom (or did she give up law school to put him through nursing school?), him randomly becoming a cop for no apparent reason, her not telling him about the pregnancy for no good reason, them being so estranged that he never learned she had a kid. But I guess they needed a timeline where he's single and there can be a love triangle because he hasn't chosen either woman.

[magicdog]

5 hours ago, Shanna Marie said:

It might have worked better with just two timelines -- he goes with Amy or he goes with Jenny after graduation.

Having just seen the second episode, I agree with this - two timelines would have made more sense, the musician vs cop.  

 

[AzraeltheCat]

11 hours ago, Mediocre Gatsby said:

She's an assistant district attorney, but your point is the same -- not a partner in a law firm, so she hasn't been working those insane hours. 

ADA's most likely work CRAZY hours too....and for a lot less money than private practice.  I've got friends who do it in a much smaller city than NYC and it can be overwhelming. In fact, one friend who is the single mother of a perfectly healthy toddler changed jobs because she felt like she was missing so much of her child's life. 

[tribeca]

Have always preferred friends who fall in love over we met once and had instant connection. So I started off biased and rooting for Jenny.  Disappointed in two out three of the timelines she did not tell joe about their son.   Hopefully this will be explained soon.  
  

[ZeeEnnui]

I've always enjoyed James Wolk who is one of those really likable actors that just hasn't found that right project.

I know that a show like this requires a suspension of disbelief but in this network multiverse is no one capable of multitasking?!?! I guess I'm no ordinary Joe because at my college graduation I managed to go to dinner with my family AND party with my friends. On the same day. I saw Sliding Doors so I get the "what ifs" but not sure that all of these life paths really are going to work in the long run. 

Also, I want to echo some of the other posters who pointed out how ridiculous it was that Joe's college bff/ casual hook up didn't tell him about the pregnancy in two realities because he didn't go to the beach house ONE TIME. Damn, Jenny. Is she one of those people that look for "read" notifications, and will hold a grudge because you didn't respond ASAP like one time? 

Is Billy Joel really the most relevant musician that Joe could have modeled his music on. I'm not knocking the classics, but are the youths really going to go nuts for a Billy Joel knock-off act?

I'll give it a few more episodes to see where it goes.

Edited September 29, 2021 by ZeeEnnui

[dmc]

This is way too confusing for me and I sort of hate the title 

 

I think they should do a life an episode not three lives in one episode 

[Johannah]

It was okay.  I liked the jumping around because it made me concentrate, otherwise, I might have lost interest.  I still may.  It looks like it is going to turn into a family drama, aka Night Soap, which doesn't interest me.  

I had the same issues as everyone else. Jenny not telling him about her pregnancy in all versions, lots of other stuff, plus...

I don't know how many rockers actually graduate with music degrees, so I thought that was weird.  Don't they mostly just follow their dream?  I would have thought his back-up plan would have been music teacher, not nursing and more schooling.  I do like the explanations above that it might be to help his son.

I'm going to check out ep 2, though, if only to hopefully see more of MusicJoe's house.  Awesome.

[circumvent]

I watched this show out of curiosity and I thought it was a little meh. It is funny because I watched Zoo recently and I was wondering how such a terrible actor could be a lead on a show and there he was: the lead on another show. I find him very unappealing and uninteresting.

Anyway, the story would be maybe interesting in a movie but I am not sure how they will keep up for an entire season. I give it a very short life

[bros402]

On 9/27/2021 at 1:11 AM, magicdog said:

Does Jennie's kid have CP (Cerebral Palsy)?  I don't think I caught why he was in a wheelchair in two timelines (so far, he might be one in the adoption timeline too).  In fact, was he conceived at the same time in all three timelines?  Why would he be the same kid each time whether or not he was raised by Joe?

Amy really does have issues keeping a pregnancy, so I thought it was rather thoughtless of Musician Joe to act like they could just pick up again so quickly.  

The actor has muscular dystrophy, so I am guessing that is what the kid has. He was conceived before graduation - so, same kid no matter what.

Edited October 1, 2021 by bros402

[nexxie]

Interesting idea - really makes you think about decisions and paths in your own life. So far so good, three very different lives. 

[Marley]

Yea I’m gonna pass. I just didn’t buy the main actor as any of the characters. Also him graduating college at the beginning was a joke.

I guess it rains a lot where I live so not sure what the fascination with rain was. Lame. Deleted from my PVR.

[proserpina65]

12 hours ago, Marley said:

I guess it rains a lot where I live so not sure what the fascination with rain was. Lame. Deleted from my PVR.

I think it was actually hail, but still, not all that interesting.

[wendyg]

On 9/27/2021 at 6:12 PM, tennisgurl said:

these "man finds out that woman he was with ages ago had their kid and never told him" are so annoying.

I do know a guy who had this really happen to him. She told him when the kid was eight...and the spitting image of his sister. I agree it's a ridiculous decision from what's known so far in this show, though.

[Moose135]

After letting this collect dust on the DVR for a few months 😉 we watched the first episode last night. Interesting concept, and enjoyable show. It will probably take us a few episodes to keep everyone straight in each timeline, but we'll stick around for a while. Especially if they keep playing Billy Joel...

[Camera One]

So I found out about the show because it got cancelled, so I decided to watch it.  I guess I like punishing myself, LOL.  I guess the main risk is that I would be heartbroken that the show would abruptly end and leave me wishing for more.  

At least that seems unlikely after watching this first one.  The concept sounded really interesting to me... the idea that a decision could change your life, though this decision was basically Joe choosing one girl or the other or neither, which didn't interest me as much.  I loved "Awake" and sci-fi, but this series looks like it's more of a straight-up typical relationship drama.

The acting/directing/writing was decent, and I didn't mind Joe, but I also wasn't totally engaged.  After 20 minutes, I thought an hour had past.  The various subplots were pretty generic stuff done a dozen times before, and the thought of watching multiple love triangles with those two was exhausting.  While it's reality that no life is perfect, all three paths were downers.  It wasn't very fun to watch and there wasn't anything to look forward to in any of the scenarios.  I'm not sure where the show could go with this concept, except create a whirlpool of mishmash plot points.  I guess the series could just end with him waking up from a dream since he tripped and fell at graduation and hit his head really hard.

I did like some of the transitions from one reality to another, especially with the linked event (political rally and the hail) at the start.  Maybe I'll try a few more episodes.  It would be interesting to read everyone's thoughts here, anyhow.

On 9/26/2021 at 10:09 AM, DearEvette said:

I just think while the show is busy making pointed contrasts in the different timelines, they also need to be consistent in how they portray the characters -- because your basic personality doesn't alter than much regardless of what decisions you make in a day to day basis -- or else I think the whole premise will falter under a lack of internal logic and deeper scrutiny.

This was a really good point, and thinking about this, I'm not sure I could buy that Rock Star Joe and Nurse Joe and Cop Joe had the same basic personality from this episode.

Edited March 22, 2022 by Camera One

[magicdog]

1 minute ago, Camera One said:

I guess the series could just end with him waking up from a dream since he tripped and fell at graduation and hit his head really hard.

If only they had done that it would have been a fitting series finale!

[legaleagle53]

19 hours ago, magicdog said:

If only they had done that it would have been a fitting series finale!

Except that the showrunners made it clear from the beginning that that was NOT the premise of the show. The premise was very simply that there is no such thing as a "wrong" choice in life -- just different choices that each have their own chain of consequences.

I really liked this show in the beginning. What finally turned me off for good  was the way the characters all devolved into insufferable, raging assholes, starting with Cop Joe's Uncle Frank. All of the characters simply became too unlikeable for me to care about any of them or what happened to them in any of the timelines.

[magicdog]

1 hour ago, legaleagle53 said:

Except that the showrunners made it clear from the beginning that that was NOT the premise of the show. The premise was very simply that there is no such thing as a "wrong" choice in life -- just different choices that each have their own chain of consequences.

I know.  But considering how the show was devolving and a second season unlikely, no one would have been upset if they ended it that way.

 

We needed to see different women in Joe's  [romantic] life rather than the same two.   We should have seen different kids or Christopher and his alternates not existing.  If they wanted to push the envelope in the Rocker timeline, Christopher's alternate could have died for lack of a loving home/care.  

Edited March 23, 2022 by magicdog