Close

DVD Review: THE TIME TRAVELERS WIFE: THE COMPLETE SERIES

Home » DVD Review: THE TIME TRAVELERS WIFE: THE COMPLETE SERIES

Oct 18, 2022 Posted by in DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Comments

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the DVD I reviewed in this Blog Post. The opinions I share are my own.”

Audrey Niffenegger’s 2003 novel “The Time Traveler’s Wife” was previously turned into a feature film in 2009, but now it takes the form of an entertaining 6-episode TV series, adapted by Steven Moffat (Doctor Who, Sherlock) and directed by David Nutter (Game of Thrones, The Pacific). The series follows the love story between Henry DeTamble (Theo James, Sanditon, the Divergent series)—a man who has a genetic disorder that causes him to unpredictably travel through time—and his loving wife/artist Clare Abshire (Rose Leslie, Game of Thrones, The Good Wife).

The way the two first meet is very unconventional, and also a completely different event for each of them. Clare first meets Henry when she is 6 and he is 41. She believes him to be an imaginary friend, and starts looking forward to his visits in the grassy clearing. He is more of a friend and a father figure to her as she grows up over the course of his 152 visits. However, Henry doesn’t actually meet Clare for the first time until he is 28 and she is 20. Henry is a much wilder, arrogant young man, and frankly a bit of a dick. He has a girlfriend at the time, but that doesn’t stop him from going on a first date with Clare, where she informs him that she will become his wife. Clare doesn’t really care for this young, dumb and cocky version of Henry, and is a bit frustrated that he’s not the wiser, more thoughtful soulmate she first met years earlier. However, their lives are intertwined in this impossible loop—Older Henry becomes the man he is thanks to Clare, while Younger Clare becomes the woman she is thanks to Older Henry. However, both of them know that at any time, it could be Henry’s final leap in time. Clare has never seen a version of Henry older than 42, and Henry has had his only bloody and foreboding visions. But until that day comes, both are content to explore this loving relationship.

The initial premise of the series is a bit creepy when you think of this 6-year-old falling in love with a 40-year-old. One unfortunate side effect for Henry is that he can’t take anything with him when he jumps in time, so whenever he travels, he ends up naked, including the first time he ends up in the clearing, and must ask Young Clare to bring him some clothes. Even though it’s all very innocent at that age, the series does have a little fun in addressing the elephant in the room:

Young Clare: “Was it love at first sight?”
Older Henry: “God, I hope not.”
Young Clare: “Why do you like kissing people?”
Older Henry: “Why do you like brushing your horse’s hair?”
Young Clare: “It’s not brushing, I’m grooming her.”
Older Henry: “Okay, moving on.”

Henry can’t control when or where he jumps, which is triggered by stressful situations. Though he tends to jump towards people or moments that have a lot of meaning to him, so he often runs into other versions of himself. Over the course of the six episodes, we learn more about Henry’s traumatic past and why 28-year-old Henry is the way he is. Since he always ends up naked in unknown situations, Henry has (literally) had to teach his 8-year-old self how to deal with the unexpected time travel, run from the cops, and steal to survive. At the same time, this is called The Time Traveler’s Wife, and the story is also very much about Clare, and the loving relationship forms between Clare and Henry, both as the older man she originally came to love, but also the younger version she wants to change.

The series does an excellent job of weaving the different time jumps together, connecting Henry’s exit from one moment in time to another scene we either already saw, or to one we see in the future. Things could quickly get confusing fast, but this is where having someone like Steven Moffatt involved, who’s used to writing for the timey-wimey nature of Doctor Who, really helps. The viewer is given visual cues whenever the time shifts—text in the corner of the screen notes the ages of the Henry(s) and Clare in the scene. I found it fascinating and fun to see how everything manages to come together.

I quite enjoyed the series overall. There was a lot more humor than I expected, which is thanks in part to Clare’s friends Charisse (Natasha Lopez) and Gomez (Desmin Borges, Welcome to Flatch, You’re the Worst), as well as the fun adversarial relationship between younger and older Henry, and a hilarious scene involving 16-year-old Henry and its many callbacks. The effects are really well done, whether it’s Henry turning into a pile of clothes as he suddenly leaps to another time, or when he’s interacting with other versions of himself, it all looks seamless.

There were a couple aspects of the show that I didn’t care for. When the series opens, we see some sort of video testimonial by a much older Clare, and these interviews with both Clare and Henry pop up throughout the series. It’s never really explained what or who these are for, if there’s someone doing the interview, etc. So they seem a bit pointless and confusing, and something that should have just been worked into the story itself rather than have characters recount stories to the audience. The series was also canceled after just one season, and while it does have a somewhat satisfying conclusion, there are some things left hanging, especially this big doom and gloom mystery of what happens to Henry in the future. While the viewer could read a synopsis of the book on Wikipedia to see what ultimately happens, it’s a shame that they didn’t get a chance to do a second season.

Warner Bros. has released this single season of The Time Traveler’s Wife only on DVD despite the series originally airing in HD on HBO and HBO Max. The DVD’s picture is far from perfect, but I eventually became used to it. It’s a bit fuzzy and there is definitely a noticeable difference in the level of detail and clarity when compared to the original HD presentation. It’s a bit disappointing how many of these HBO shows are only getting DVD disc releases lately. That said, the season is also available for purchase in HD digitally. The audio track is great, providing clear dialogue and a full sounding score. The track also provide excellent ambiance and an immersive experience—this is especially noticeable during the fun dinner scene, as well as during a big storm in the finale.

The season’s 6 episodes are evenly split across 2 discs, which are placed on a tray and right side of a standard-size DVD case, which has a glossy cardboard slipcover slid over the top. Unfortunately, there is no digital copy included, but the discs contain nearly an hour of behind-the-scenes featurettes and interviews with the cast and crew. Most of the same bonus material can also be found on the digital release.


What’s Included:

Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Available for Amazon Prime