I don’t get to watch much television or keep up with the current shows-however I have watched NBC’s new show Journeyman and found it entertaining. Writer, producer Kevin Falls of the West Wing has created another interesting drama. But, this one has more of a mystery and romantic element to it. There’s something about the time travel theme that never seems to get boring, I mean who wouldn’t want to have the opportunity to go back in time and change history or your life decisions, stop loved ones from dying and prevent people from doing horrible things to one another.
The show Journeyman is about a newspaper reporter Dan Vasser (Keven McKidd, HBO’s Rome) who gets pulled “somehow” from the present and into the past in order to help people change their lives. It is an uncontrollable process, Vasser will be enjoying time when his seven year old son at a park, or working on the pipes in the upstairs bathroom, and then his head will start to ache and he’ll find himself in the past. I have a difficult time keeping up with all of the deadlines for my journalism classes, so being transported into the past throughout the day must cause deadline making to be impossible for Vasser. These trips to the past begin to cause him to miss his deadlines and start to affect his life-both work and home.
Dan realizes that he has been sent back to certain times in order to help people-but his disappearing acts start creating suspicion with his brother, who thinks that Dan has returned to his past addition, and the FBI.
It wouldn’t be a good television show if there were not some sort of love triangle going on. Between Dan going back in time and meeting up with his believed to be decreased fiancée, and the fact that his wife used to date his older brother leaves room for the writers to develop complicated relationships and compelling plots. Despite these issues Dan is trying to keep his marriage together.
The story reminds me of the book “The Time Travelers Wife” by Audrey Niffenegger. The main character in the book also travels back through time uncontrollably. But, he mainly revisited parts of his own past and does not help others. Though, like Dan he tries to find a way to stop himself from time traveling.
It’s interesting to watch the drama unfold and the plot thicken. The music selection enriches the story and both the writing and acting is captivating.
