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Amazing Stories (r2s01e01)

The Cellar

by Jessica Sharzer, directed by Chris Long
Sam Taylor, a carpenter remodeling houses with his brother, feels ungrounded in 2019 until he uncovers a century-old photograph of a young bride along with a matchbook from a 1919 speakeasy. Like everyone else, we wondered at the end who Evelyn’s child is. Sam might be the father if a pregnant Evelyn traveled forward a second time, but that seems unlikely. I enjoyed that the writers left things open for us to wonder, and I also enjoyed the carefully constructed single static timeline.
— Michael Main
You were right—the photograph, it was me, it . . . It will be. I don’t know how, but it will.
DEBUT
Amazing Stories (v2s01e01), “The Cellar” (Apple TV, 6 March 2020).
VARIANTS
1 English variant
TRANSLATIONS
34 translations
TAGS(SPOILERS!)
Time Periods Timeline Models Time Travel Methods Themes
  • Causal Loops: In our opinion, the minor causal loop doesn’t rise to the personal significance of a bootstrap paradox, but it is present: Sam finds the photograph and the matchbook in the 2019 fireplace, causing him to plant them in the fireplace during his later life in the 1920 or a bit later, which causes him to find them in 2019. There is a similar loop with the barometer.
  • Get Rich Quick through Time Travel: the Honus Wagner baseball card
  • Reporting Back via a Time Capsules or Other Prearranged Systems: Although it was not completely prearranged, Sam’s letters from 1920 (or slightly later) to his brother and Evelyn in 2019 have the feel of reporting back via a time capsule.
Groupings
TIME TRAVEL ITINERARY (SPOILERS!)
  1. From the farmhouse cellar in Cedar Rapids, Iowa,, 2019 ⋙ to the same cellar, 1919. Round trip. Note: Sam’s initial trip.
  2. From the farmhouse cellar in Cedar Rapids, Iowa,, 2019 ⋙ to the same cellar, in or after 2034. Round trip. Note: Sam sees Evelyn and her young son in the future.
  3. From the farmhouse cellar in Cedar Rapids, Iowa,, 2019 ⋙ to the same cellar, 1919. Note: Sam’s second trip is one-way.
  4. From the farmhouse cellar in Cedar Rapids, Iowa,, 1919 ⋙ to the same cellar, 2019. Note: Evelyn to the future.
INDEXER NOTES (SPOILERS!)
  • Indonesian title—We found no translation of the title, “Rubanah,” but one of our Indonesian indexers suggests it may be a portmanteau of “ruang bawah tanah,” which means basement (literally, underground room).