The show tonight pulled out a lot of the best time travel stops. Running into yourself in the past is the arch danger that every time traveler must avoid, lest he or she cause his or her mind to unravel - into infinite regress. I spent a lot of time tweezing the timelines in The Plot to Save Socrates so this didn't happen, and in the sequel, well...
But future Dan manages to just stay out of sight of past Dan in this episode, which is good, and exquisite, since Dan's past in this show is September 2007 - or, the beginning of Journeyman in our and Dan's time.
That little dance between the present and the beginning of the series will make this episode a classic, too - but I still like that first scene with Dan and Katie and their daughter on Monday best of anything in this series.
There were other fine touches in tonight's show. The split-up of the politician and his wife, three months after Dan's new time traveling colleague gets to dance with her - I love little details like that - they make time travel sing and ring true. Dr. Tachyon Langley's explanation to Dan was good, too. I like cosmic forces moving things, rather than evil geniuses pulling the strings.
The beginning of tonight's story - Dan in a mental institution - was a bit too close to 12 Monkeys, and I think the other time traveler dying of a heart attack was a bit pat, but those are just little quibbles.
What would have happened to Journeyman had the first two shows been as powerful and satisfying as these last two? Impossible to know, unless we were able to go back in time and make that happen....
As it is, we have been treated to the best time travel series ever on television, and a twofer ending which both explained a lot of things and left us hungering for more. Kevin McKidd and Reed Diamond were never better in their acting, and the series reached some real peaks in story telling. I'm predicting that we will indeed see more of Journeyman someday - I just hope we don't have to wait too long...
That last scene between Dan and Katie was pure gold. I can still see it shining...
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Which brings us to tonight's contest winner... the first person who sent me email with the last word that Dan uttered tonight. It was "Katie" - which couldn't be more appropriate...
And Rahul Gupta of Virginia got me that answer within a minute of the show's conclusion! Congratulations, Rahul!
An autographed copy of The Plot to Save Socrates will be in the mail to Rahul tomorrow!
For everyone else: If you've already answered the question correctly - but got it in after Rahul - I'll be happy to send you, via e-mail, a copy of my 1997 award-nominated time travel novella, Loose Ends (first published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact Magazine, and widely reprinted, including on Fictionwise.com).
And, further, for anyone who answered tonight's question correctly, I'll be happy to autograph and return to you at my expense any copies of The Plot to Save Socrates that you send to me between now and the end of this year.
My email is Levinson.paul@gmail.com
But Rahul gets the free copy of my novel for tonight's episode.
And this will be the end of this Journeyman-Plot to Save Socrates giveaway. It has been my pleasure to give away autographed copies of my novel to four of Journeyman's devoted viewers.
Hey - if the show comes back in the Spring, or any time, maybe I'll do another contest for either The Plot to Save Socrates, or its sequel.
I'll definitely keep you posted.
My reviews of other Journeyman episodes ... 1: NBC Quantum Leaps Into Journeyman ...2 ... 3 ... 4 ... 5 ... 6... 7 ... 8. Livia's Story ... 9. Dan Unravels His Present ... 10. Jack's In! ... 11. Livia's Beau ... 12. The Perfect Time Travel Story
And Troy Price has a great interview on his podcast with Journeyman creator Kevin Falls!
The Plot to Save Socrates
"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book
more about The Plot to Save Socrates...
Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!
9 comments:
I've been reading your reviews for a long time. It's great to find fellow JM viewers because this show is just so underrated.
It's good to have you as a reader...
If the show is not renewed by NBC do you think there is a chance that another station like TNT or USA could perhaps pick it up I am sure they would love to have it.
Journeyman creator Kevin Falls says in the Troy Price interview (see link in my post) that his agent is talking to Fox about taking over Journeyman, but it's a long shot.
It's exceedingly rare for one network to take over another's show, but it can happen, and I'd say that, with the WGA strike shaking everything up, Journeyman popping up somewhere is more likely than it might have been, say, last year.
And I do have a feeling that we'll be seeing more of Journeyman, though it's just a good, strong gut feeling, and I know logically that it's a long way from happening.
I understand that Falls may want to stay on broadcast but I just feel something like USA would be a much better fit for the show.
The series finale (let's be realistic) was perfect. I adored it. Incredibly clever how they drew us back to episode 1. And Evan was the best guest they have ever had.
It was like everything Journeyman promised and yet wasn't given the chance to deliver was condensed into this one episode. We were promised a tangled time travelling love story with Dan doing whatever it took to save his love with Katie and Zack and we saw it in little bits in each episode. But it never really bit because, I think, it would have required a multiple episode arc over the course of a season to execute this properly. Having things neatly tied up on an episodic basis never really worked for me and time travel is most delightful when it is complicated.
But Evan had gone through that. He had gone back to change history on purpose and (I got the feeling) tried many different ways and viewed many alternate realities before finally getting stuck in one where he never met his wife.
This was a fantastic time travel story. A classic really. And I was thrilled to have it in Journeyman even if it happened to someone other than Dan.
So essentially... I am incredibly happy that they packed the theme of Journeyman so solidly into the final episode by using someone who had lost his wife and fought to get her back.
And Katie's eye representing her depth and strength was a superb final image.
Question though... You really liked the comic force idea? Langley _cannot_ be correct to say that no one was in control. Everything showed that there was a greater intelligence involved who was loving enough to hand out second chances to Dan when he disturbed his own future and even get his job back for him.
jp: my feeling is any network would be a great fit for Journeyman, as long as the network were willing to give the series some breathing room...
Bob - I agree with you completely about the superb Evan story - story within a story - which was indeed beautiful, exquisite, perfect.
On the cosmic force idea: All the great time travel stories, and those that are not so great, have posited a secret society or person in control (that includes, to some extent, my Plot to Save Socrates - though I'll leave it to my readers to say which of the two categories it's in ...:)
Which is precisely why I like the cosmic force beyond anyone's control - it's fresh, and even realistic.
If it turned out that Langley's lying - because he's being controlled, he's another megalomaniac, he's operating on behalf of some secret future/past group - that would make Journeyman a little less original, in my arrogant view ... :)
As much as I loved this episode I don't think you would ever see Dan fall into the trap that the older one did. Dan is a true hero and his experiences (note last few episodes) that going beyond his mission is not very productive and can only leads to trouble. The really sad part if the show does not continue is that now Dan is the experienced traveler fully perpared of his mission.
jp - agreed, on all accounts - though, I don't Dan would be able to resist going beyond his mission, especially when people he loves are involved...
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