"I went to a place to eat. It said 'breakfast at any time.' So I ordered french toast during the Renaissance". --Steven Wright ... If you are a devotee of time travel, check out this song...

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Journeyman Continues: 7: Jack

Episode 7 of Journeyman on NBC tonight was really mostly about Livia - it's clear now that her role in jumping around in time is to be Dan's guardian angel, and do for him what he does for everyone else. And there was some great root canal in the teeth of time travel work tonight as Dan fights with his slightly younger self... (all time travel is root canal work, veering so close as it does to paradox)...

I liked all of that.

But what struck me most about the show tonight is what's up with brother Jack (played by Reed Diamond)? He finds out about Dan's money from the hijacker past - I love the way the show has been semi-starring that money - and begins to investigate. Paul Schulze plays an FBI agent (Richard Garrity) who comes sniffing around - was great to see 24's Ryan Chappell and the Sopranos' priest back in action (hey, he played the hobo on Mad Men, too) - and Jack tries to fend him off...

But, in the end, Garrity presses Jack, threatens him if doesn't cooperate. And Jack, unaccountably, tells Garrity the money came from Jack's brother!

Which makes no sense, based on what we've seen of Jack's love for Dan so far.

So, either, we weren't seeing right (not likely). Or Jack's love for Katie is so strong, and his resentment for Dan so great that ... no, that's even less likely.

Which leaves us with something else going on. Jack wants Garrity involved for some reason ... and that reason would be-

I wonder if it has anything to do with the tachyon scientist, who will be back in play next week, explaining his call across time to Dan ...

My reviews of other Journeyman episodes ... 1: NBC Quantum Leaps Into Journeyman ...2 ... 3 ... 4 ... 5 ... 6... 8 ...9. Dan Unravels His Present ... 10. Jack's In! ... 11. Livia's Beau//Save the Newspaper, Save the World ... 12. The Perfect Time Travel Story ... Lucky 13






The Plot to Save Socrates


"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't think you're analyzing Jack quite correctly. I think that as his final scene with Katie showed, he is finally just about fed up with his brother- and thinks that he needs serious help. Jack's admission at the end is an expression of this- he does love his brother, and he'll protect him, but he does think that Dan needs serious help and has been committing crimes- so he wouldn't have told FBI agent about Dan for some reason involving time travel. I'm sure he has some inkling that something very strange is going on with Dan, but I doubt he believes in any form that Dan is time traveling at this point, or that his admission had anything to do with that.

Paul Levinson said...

I suppose so, brahm ... but, I don't know, pointing the FBI to his brother is pretty dangerous medicine...

MC said...

Part of me cynically thinks he just wants some answers.

Anonymous said...

This episode was like walking a tightrope for the writers. If they slip just once, they could've lost the entire series. I was impressed that they were able to cover their tracks and even make Jack's past not lose its continuity. I love this show, excellent Monday night back-to-back with Heroes. I still really need to pick up your book. It's definitely the next book I read.

Anonymous said...

I meant to say Dan's past, not Jack's... duh.

Paul Levinson said...

matt - you may well be right....

john b - I wrote Jack when I meant Dan at least three times when I was writing this review:) ... maybe our typos are trying to tell us something...

hey, if buy a copy of any of my books - and you can get them cut rate at Amazon.com - check out the links on my books page ... just e-mail me at Levinson.paul at gmail.com, and I can tell where to send them for my autograph, at no additional charge to you...

(on the other hand, hey, I'll understand if you prefer taking my books out of the library...)

Henson Ray said...

I like this show. It's interesting, it's formulaic, it stars my favorite actor from "Rome." But I can't help thinking it's a rip-off of "The Time Traveler's Wife". Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading your reviews of the show, and browsing through your site.

www.ithappenedinplainfield.com

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