The Time Traveler’s Wife Episode 1 Review: Rose Leslie-Theo James Series Gets a Rocky Start

The Time Traveler’s Wife is a romantic, science fiction drama created by Steven Moffat and based on the novel of the same name by Audrey Niffenegger. The series is directed by Game of Thrones’ David Nutter and, is produced by Warner Bros. Television and Hartswood Films. It stars Rose Leslie and Theo James in the main role as Clare Abshire and Henry DeTamble, respectively. The other cast members include Caitlin Shorey, Everleigh McDonell, Brian Altemus, Jason David, Desmin Borges, Natasha Lopez, Michael Park, Jaime Ray Newman and Taylor Richardson amongst others. The first episode of the series is out now and has a runtime of an hour.

– HBO Max’s The Time Traveler’s Wife Review (Episode 1) Does Not Contain Spoilers –

The Time Traveler’s Wife Episode 1 Review: Fate Vs Free Will

Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife has already been adapted once, so the question that arises for HBO Max’s this limited series is: Is it even necessary? Well, the first episode does not prove to be exceptionally groundbreaking apart from the fact that the way the episode ends shows that this series will be more faithful to the novel in certain terms but, again, it will also change its wind to accommodate better storytelling probably.

At the start of the episode, we meet both Clare and Henry, where the latter is considerably older than the former and are seen recording themselves on a camera. The two talk and pose rhetorical questions before we jump to the main story. We meet Henry, a time traveller when he is 28 years old. He bumps into Clare, who is 20 at that time in the library he works and, thus starts their story in the seemingly present timeline.

Clare says she has met Henry before when she was six and also tells him that she is his future wife- a piece of information she gathered from the older version of Henry who has been visiting her throughout childhood and adolescence. Thus, starts the journey of Clare and Henry and, how time travelling seems to take a toll and also create a ridge of affection between the two.

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The first episode of The Time Traveler’s Wife dedicates itself to Henry and Clare’s first meeting, in the present and past along with explaining to us the nitty-gritty details of time travelling, such as Henry cannot travel with clothes on or that there is a bloody mishap some point in the timeline that hurts Henry.

However, as much as the series tries to entice us, there is one big aspect of the show that just does not sit well in the 21st century- an older Henry befriending a young Clare during her childhood. The Time Traveler’s Wife Episode 1 even cracks a joke upfront about grooming when a 6-year old Clare meets a 36-year old Henry, something which would make audiences visibly uncomfortable as in the future we are going to be seeing much older versions of Henry visiting a child/teen version of Clare. It does not help when a 20-year old Clare meets the 28-year old Henry and, the dialogues are funnily enough about how she has forever been attracted to him.

Rose Leslie and Theo James put their chemistry to the test and, luckily it is a click. However, the quintessential storyline where we battle between the concept of fate versus free will does not sit well.

The Time Traveler’s Wife Episode 1: Final Thoughts

Overall, The Time Traveler’s Wife does not look like it is going to be a treat to watch, especially given it is not set out to cater to what the masses want to see. But, the talented cast and crew might be able to make it stand out. The first episode sure is lukewarm but, if the show focuses more on staying connected to the book it might just stand out.

You can watch The Time Traveler’s Wife Episode 1 now on HBO Max.

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