- Network: HBO
- Series Premiere Date: May 15, 2022
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Critic Reviews
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It's an uneven watch, however, with some things working well (such as their domestic bickering) and others not so well.
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[Steven Moffat] takes the melodrama down a notch and salts the schmaltz with wit where he can. ... But it has two intrinsic problems to overcome – and hurdles one more successfully than the other. The first is the ick factor occasioned by Henry’s many visits as a grown man to Clare as a child. ... The other problem is more deep-rooted. Niffenegger’s story is built around Clare’s passivity. Her life, while not static or unfulfilled professionally, is defined by waiting for Henry.
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The Time Traveler’s Wife does not have the power of the unexpected. But it has a modest, formulaic appeal that will likely keep you going back (and back) for more.
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The finished product is full of contradictions and clunky moments, but also a lot of heart and ingenuity. It’ll be interesting to see whether it satisfies book purists and newcomers alike, or struggles to thread the needle with either of them.
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Moffat and the director David Nutter (“Game of Thrones”) have made it watchable — favoring humor and action over soap opera — but they haven’t managed to conjure the emotion, or dramatize the ideas, that so many people seem to find in the story.
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A tiresome and redundant series. The talent is good, including director David Nutter (“Game of Thrones”), writer-producer Steven Moffat (“Sherlock,” “Doctor Who”), and lead actors Rose Leslie and Theo James. But the result is unsatisfying.
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It plays out like a passable Channel 5 daytime film, not a supposedly prestige series from HBO. The adaptation is so lazy that episodes begin with the lead characters reading lines straight into the camera, rather than anyone making the effort to work them into the script.
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James’ performance leans into Henry’s weariness, seeming at times petulant at what he’s being made to endure. Leslie, a warm and appealing presence on “Game of Thrones,” fares well by contrast, and excels particularly at carrying across some of the more florid lines of dialogue that remind viewers of this project’s literary origins. But the story fails to convince that the couple shares much more than an understanding of the obstacles keeping them apart. So much time is spent on establishing the rules of this show’s game that there’s little room to play.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 11 out of 15
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Mixed: 0 out of 15
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Negative: 4 out of 15
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May 30, 2022
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May 16, 2022Great start to the season, perfect mix of humour, action, romance and danger. Theo James is a revelation and Rose Leslie is the perfect Clare.
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Jun 2, 2022