11.22.63 Episode 3 recap revisited: Jake gains an ally as Oswald steps into focus

11.22.63 Episode 3 is titled Other Voices, Other Rooms. It was originally released on February 15, 2016, on Hulu. On January 7, 2026, it started streaming on Netflix.

11.22.63 drops you into the life of Jake Epping, a regular high school English teacher who stumbles across a strange time portal that throws him straight into 1960. He is not just living in the past. He has a huge job on his shoulders. Al Templeton, his friend, asks him to do the unthinkable: stop President John F. Kennedy from being assassinated on November 22, 1963.

Jake has to blend in, take on a new identity, and piece together what really led to one of America’s most examined tragedies. It’s not just about changing history; it’s about surviving it.

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11.22.63 Episode 3 recap: Other Voices, Other Rooms

Following the events of violence in Kentucky, 11.22.63 Episode 3 moves Jake Epping back to the long game, that is, eliminating the assassination of John F. Kennedy. But it becomes apparent that this will no longer be a one-man mission. The Episode not only broadens the scope of the show but also introduces some of the most important players surrounding Lee Harvey Oswald and shows how inevitable the past can be.

Jake continues his trip to Dallas with a new friend: Bill Turcotte, a bartender from Holden. Bill believes the truth of time travel with remarkable simplicity after learning about Jake’s clippings concerning the Kennedy assassination and coming to know the truth. Now that Frank Dunning is dead and his personal vengeance is complete, Bill has little that can make him a part of the present or the past, and he makes up his mind to aid Jake in some way or other.

Although it is good to have someone to talk to, Jake is clearly falling apart. In 11.22.63 Episode 3, he experiences a violent nightmare at a roadside motel, which combines the murders of Frank Dunning and a televised speech by Kennedy. Jake, still in the trauma of having killed Frank, sleepwalks into the rage and almost attacks Bill, screaming, “I killed you!” The scene highlights how strongly the mission is already eating him up, even before Oswald actually comes into the frame.

Upon arrival in Dallas, Jake takes Bill to Dealey Plaza and tells him about all the theories on the assassination of JFK. The book depository. The grassy knoll. The unanswered questions that had given rise to thousands of books and no clear truth. Bill is more practical and asks how come they do not just get rid of Lee Harvey Oswald right now? Jake insists on adhering to the plan of Al Templeton: first of all, it is necessary to verify whether Oswald was a participant in the planned assassination of General Edwin Walker in 1963, which would indicate a larger conspiracy.

Jake, having years to kill before that day comes, seeks employment and finds a teaching position in the small town of Jodie, Texas. In 11.22.63 Episode 3, the two celebrate in Dallas before settling down. They end up in a strip club where Bill is intoxicated to the point of excitement. The club owner presents himself as a vocal Kennedy supporter named Jack Ruby. Jake stands still at the name, and he realizes that it is the man who would later kill Oswald, and Bill almost reveals their secret, but is pulled away by Jake.

The first hint at the cultural gap between Jake and his time is the job interview at Jodie High School. Jake is asked about whether The Catcher in the Rye should be included in the school library, and he vehemently defends the book, but the principal rejects it. It is a small detail that shows a bigger fact: Jake can be physically in the past, but his values do not entirely belong there.

It gets even more uncomfortable when Jake is exposed to open racism and segregation. The school secretary, Ms. Mimi, was refused service in a gas station, and Jake’s effort to assist her only contributed to the realisation of how strict the social norms of the day were. The past is not merely different, but it is hostile to progress.

Two years pass in a quiet cut forward to 1962. As of 11.22.63 Episode 3, Jake has adjusted to teaching and gained the respect of his students. Here is where fate comes full circle when Ms. Mimi introduces him to the new librarian of the school: Sadie Dunhill, the woman Jake had a brief meeting with in Dallas a few years ago. Sadie is no longer a married woman, and their attraction is direct, although wary.

Jake and Sadie are assigned the task of chaperoning the next school dance. They bond over catching students spiking the punch and finally join the dance floor themselves, moving with a surprising ease. Jake reminds her that they make a great team, but the moment is interrupted when he suddenly leaves, citing an emergency, preferring his mission to the personal bond he is obviously seeking.

In 11.22.63 Episode 3, Oswald finally made an appearance back in Russia with his wife, Marina. Jake is present when Oswald arrives at the airport, and he observes that Oswald is visibly disappointed by the absence of any press coverage. Oswald then spends a few days with his mother before getting into a dingy apartment in Fort Worth, exactly opposite a place Jake and Bill have leased to spy on him.

The attempt to bug the apartment almost goes amiss. Oswald and Marina unexpectedly come back, and Jake and Bill have to hide when the couple arrives. Jake finds himself in an attic with spiders, whereas Bill panics, screams, and alerts Oswald about their presence. They barely make it without being noticed, and it is a warning that the past will not be manipulated quietly.

The fallout comes quickly in 11.22.63 Episode 3. One of their neighbors, Raphael, thinks that the two men are gay and is seriously disturbed by it. He knocks Bill unconscious and smashes the recording equipment they are using. Jake almost retaliates with a brutal act, but pauses when he sees the frightened young daughter of Raphael, another collateral damage that is left behind as a result of his mission.

Jake and Bill trail Oswald to a General Walker rally before the surveillance setback can even sink in. Against a backdrop of Confederate flags and anti-Civil Rights rhetoric, Oswald breaks out in anger, labelling Walker a fascist. Oswald unleashes his anger in the street as de Mohrenschildt, the man Jake feels might be connected with the CIA, stares in his direction.

“Wake up, you fascist,” Oswald screams. “Wake up or I’ll kill you.”

As we see in 11.22.63 Episode 3, the outburst is shiver-inducing and conclusive. It proves what Jake and Bill dread: that Lee Harvey Oswald is unpredictable, ideologically motivated, and can be violent. He is no longer a mere theory or name in books of history. He is very real and very dangerous.

11.22.63 Episode 3 expands 11.22.63 beyond its central mystery and focuses more on social tension, moral uncertainty, and emotional cost. Jake has made friends and found love, yet each move lands him in a past that does not want to bow down. By the end of 11.22.63 Episode 3, the mission is heavier, messier, and much more personal, establishing the groundwork for the consequences yet to be seen.