The Journeyman Blog

According to the ratings, this show is bleeding viewers week after week, and that’s a damn shame. Of all the new shows this season, this is probably the most mature look at a science fiction concept. Fans of the genre constantly beg for depth in character exploration and substance over style. Well, this show is delivering on that desire, but the audience just doesn’t seem to be there.

This episode appears to center on Dan’s mission to save a young man from the effects of his upbringing. Instead, that situation is used to explore the relationship between Dan and his older brother Jack. As soon as the parallel is established, the emotional thrust of the episode becomes that brotherly bond. Along with the audience, Dan begins to recognize his brother’s desire to protect his younger sibling from himself.

In the middle of that conflict is Katie, who apparently has a history of keeping Dan’s secrets for him. Dan was already having troubles in his life when he asked Katie to marry him, and Jack was not pleased with the idea. This episode makes it clear that Livia’s “death” was just one more event in a lifelong continuum of choices. Dan was already troubled, dealing with their father’s absenteeism, and Jack was a control freak as a result.

The gaps are slowly being filled in the timeline, which in turn places pressure on Dan to understand and control his time travel. Time has been altered several times thus far, but this situation seemed to drive home the implications for Dan. This is something that is likely to be explored in the future, as the rules continue to spool out and Dan’s actions continue to exact consequences.

I still get the feeling that Dan will discover that his time travel is the result of his own choices, perhaps in conjunction with something Livia will reveal to him at some future time. I don’t believe that she’s completely innocent in his selection for time travel or her constant presence during his missions. There’s more to that story, just as there’s more to the connection with Dr. Langley and his “unusual” scientific theories.

If this series is following the classic season arc model, then the next few episodes should include at least one important revelation, most likely propelling the story into a more complicated direction. One can only hope that the series will last that long, because the existing situation is already complex enough to make things interesting. I would love to see where the writers could take this concept with the right amount of time and support.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 7/10

It’s a shame that this series is struggling so much in the post-“Heroes” timeslot. It deserves a better showing, given the storytelling at play and the consideration given to the effect, rather than the simple existence, of this extraordinary burden. As always, the best element is the focus on personal relationships, both positive and negative.

The writers were smart to make Kate an ally in Dan’s situation, exploring some of the practical issues of running a household, parenting a young child, and maintaining a career while dropping in and out of time. The beginning of this episode was an immediate hook to any parent in the audience, because it’s the sort of incident that was bound to happen, sooner or later. And of course, Jack is there to manage the fallout of Dan’s disappearance.

I’m once again convinced that Livia’s role in the time travel is more substantial than it seems, given how often she appears to help Dan through each new crisis. It’s quite possible that she’s come to the conclusion that any “real time” attachments are impractical. Livia’s decision not to reconnect with Dan after the plane crash supports the notion that she had learned that lesson earlier in life, and chose to make a relatively clean break.

This could lead in a couple different directions. First, Dan could find his “real time” life so complicated by the accumulation of career, family, and legal issues that the alternative of dropping off the grid with Livia could be very attractive. This is currently tempered by Kate’s support and Zach’s knowledge of his circumstance, but Jack is a thorn in his side and the current stability is dependent on his job at the paper.

The second possibility is that Livia’s assumptive isolation drove her to find a companion, and by whatever mechanism the time travel is initiated, she pushed for Dan to join in her reindeer games. This might explain why she’s been such a presence during his travels. I’m also beginning to wonder if the physics professor is aware of Dan’s situation, and always has been, given how he seemed to prod Dan during their discussion.

The more I see the scope and depth of this series, the more I worry for its viability. It may survive for a bit longer at the current viewership level, but the impending writer’s strike could be a major problem. If a hastily-constructed reality show gets better ratings in the same timeslot, “Journeyman” could get the short end of the stick.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 7/10

Written by Joan Weiss
Directed by Laura Innes

As with the first few episodes, the strength of “Journeyman” is the exploration of personal relationships. This episode is no exception. The best elements involve Dan’s decision to admit to Kate that Livia is alive and that he sees her during every new mission through time. Those personal consequences are far more interesting than the complications of the mission itself.

It may feel like the writers are belaboring the point, especially for those looking for more exciting time travel concepts, but I see it as a statement of intent. The emphasis on personal consequence puts the story into a framework well understood by most of the audience. We can relate to how Dan’s secret and inability to control his travels can affect his work performance. The threat to his marriage is far more obvious, yet every new nuance feels genuine.

The writers have made it easy for themselves to a certain extent. Making Dan’s brother Jack both Kate’s former love interest and a policeman is a massive convenience, yet it keeps a solid set of consequences within a small set of characters. Dan’s seemingly erratic behavior makes it difficult to pay attention to Kate’s needs and desires, and Jack is right there to step in. Jack is also in the right position to hear about any possible legal problems caused by Dan’s travels, like the gun-waving in this episode. Jack’s ability to call up various legal issues could temper the impression that he’s simply an opportunist.

This idea could be taken several steps further, and the seeds have already been planted. The question is whether or not the writers will be willing to keep a running tally of every question surrounding Dan’s behavior. For instance, will Jack look for connections between Dan’s car crash, the incident at the airport, and his supposed weapons possession (caught on film)? If not, it could be some other agency, perhaps connected to the scientist Dan speaks to in this episode. There are a number of possibilities, but the important part is the continuity.

That principle, as mentioned in the previous review, applies to the past as well as the present. While there’s reason to believe that Dan would be left out of the official report for this case, his face continues to come up in unusual places. Livia seems to think that the rules are more flexible than one would suspect, but if people remember Dan’s face in passing over a span of several years, it’s possible for someone to investigate that fact.

What this episode emphasizes is the casual hostility of Dan’s new existence. It has no respect or concern for his desires; he is simply expected to act according to unknown rules and undefined goals. One is left to wonder what power or agency would use someone in such a manner. One interesting possibility is that this was a choice Dan made for himself, in some future time, based on knowledge he doesn’t have during the period we currently perceive. That’s simple conjecture at this point, but it would make for one heck of a twist.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 7/10

Written by Tom Szentgyorgyi
Directed by Alex Graves

The series premiere covered the basic premise and set up the series with plenty of material to explore. The second episode focused more on the effect of Dan’s time travel on his family and “present” relationships. This episode tries to meld elements of both, and whole is not necessarily the sum of its parts.

Sooner or later, the writers would have bring the matter of Livia’s survival into the story in a more tangible way. Introducing her as a fellow time traveler was clearly meant to up the stakes for Dan. It’s one thing to have the younger and more alluring Livia in the past, where Dan might occasionally be tempted. It’s quite another to have Livia alive and well, intersecting with his life on a regular basis.

The first scenario gives Dan a clear choice between living in the past and living in the present. It makes the choice simple, because on some level, he knows that the past is just someplace he visits. He has to live with Kate and maintain a living for his family. Under that scenario, Dan could see his trips, however involuntary, as something like exotic business travel.

Livia’s presence within the time travel, as an active and living participant, brings a layer of continuity to his travels. He’s not living one life with interruptions; he’s jumping from one relationship to another at random. The temptations are much higher, especially when Livia has clearly been successful at making the travel work.

More to the point, Livia explains that her travels through time had been happening before she met Dan. She was under the impression that they had stopped. It wasn’t her choice to leave him, but it was her choice to stay out of contact until Dan’s own travel began. That implies that Dan could figure out how to do the same. He could, theoretically, leave his old world behind and embrace his new world, and it might even be possible to be with Livia in the process.

This is actually an implication drawn from relatively little material from the episode. Dan spends more time with Livia during this “mission”, and that leads to an inconvenient mistake. Kate finds out about Dan’s run-ins with Livia, and that will doubtless cause tension. That’s far more interesting than the “mission” itself, which continues to be the least interesting part of a “Journeyman” episode.

The somewhat disappointing exploration of the earthquake, even taking into account the revelations about Dan’s gambling habit, undermine the strengths of the relationship quandary. Coming this early in the series, it feels like the producers were trying to find an early hook for the audience. Unfortunately, because it comes across as a transparent stunt, it takes something away from the episode itself. Given how “Journeyman” is struggling in the ratings, that’s not what they need to do. They need to avoid the “Quantum Leap” penchant for stunts and focus on the core relationships. That is what will give the viewers a reason to come back.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 7/10

Written by Kevin Falls
Directed by Alex Graves

In the series premiere, most of what happened to Dan Vassar was random, forcing the viewer to experience his disorientation with every new jump through time. The pilot was, as always, about setting up the premise and the relationships. The second episode is generally when the audience gets to see how the premise will play out, and this installment serves that purpose well.

The focus is less on the time travel and more on the impact of this phenomenon on Dan and his “real life”. It causes problems with his wife, his job, and his future plans. This sounds like a simple enough consideration, but the writers delve into some practical matters very quickly. Dan’s involuntary time travel makes it hard to plan on building a family, because how does he know he’ll be around? Driving is a chore, and as seen in this episode, flying is a recipe for disaster.

This immediately sets this show apart from “Quantum Leap”. The time travel aspect is treated like a subplot, equally a mystery to be solved and an ordeal to be survived. The writers will never be able to pick up on all the nuances, but I liked the emphasis on the practical changes from period to period. Dan has to make sure he has access to compatible technology and “current” currency, among other things, and that makes the situation a lot more interesting.

One additional aspect is his physical presence within the past. On “Quantum Leap”, Sam Beckett was more or less a consciousness within the form of a past individual; his interventions were well-hidden. Dan’s situation is far more complex, since he’s being brought bodily into the past (along with whatever he’s carrying). People remember him, often over the course of years. This brings up an aspect for future exploration: what if Dan runs into someone from a previous “mission” during a different trip into time? And what if someone in the past remembers him in the “present”?

This episode had better pacing than the premiere, and managed to communicate some of the rules of the game more clearly. For example, in the pilot, Dan had little or no warning that he was about to experience time travel. Now, he gets a certain kind of splitting headache that tells him the event is rapidly approaching (not unlike Cordelia’s pre-vision head-splitters on “Angel”). This avoids the problem of abrupt, confusing shifts in time for the audience, one of the elements that made the first half of the pilot challenging (and might explain the loss of viewers at the half hour during the premiere).

“Journeyman” is struggling in the post-“Heroes” timeslot, as would be expected, and that’s unfortunate. A lot of people won’t like how the various elements are brought together, especially in this age of snap judgments by the networks, but the focus on the effect to Dan’s present-day life gives this story more resonance. I hope that this series lasts long enough to give the writers a chance to show us what they really have in mind.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 7/10