Last week’s “Journeyman” preview made this week look like it was going to be a heavy drama piece about Dan and his son, Zack. Turns out what was shown in that preview was mostly this week’s pre-credits sequence. Gotta love those marketing guys. Zack did play a bigger part than usual, but I’ll get to that later.
This was the first episode to really begin complicating things (well, not counting the pilot anyway) and at least a half a dozen noteworthy developments occurred throughout the hour. All of a sudden Dan’s actions from last week — running around a city street in a tux and brandishing a handgun — come back to haunt him when a police officer shows up at their door asking questions related to a robbery that night. Of course Dan isn’t home – he’s busy trippin’, so Katie’s forced to deal with the law.
Dan’s mission this time centers around a Vietnam soldier, a Cambodian refugee and his attempts to bring the two back together. It was a moving story and one of “Journeyman’s” more complex outings as far as this aspect of the series goes. So far, Dan has yet to fail, but I’m wondering, how long can this last? Surely he’ll sooner or later somehow botch a mission? Livia told him a few episodes back that he needed to get hold of some older currency for spending in the past. Thanks to this mission, Dan acquired a huge stash of ‘70s-era dough, so he oughtta be set for at least the rest of the season, if not the series itself. Speaking of the ‘70s, so far Dan’s journeys have been restricted to points in his lifetime (much like “Quantum Leap”) although I’m not sure it’s been qualified that these eras are the only times to which he can travel. Also, Dan first trip this time dropped into a foreign country, right? That’s a first. (Please feel free to correct me on any of this.)
And what is the deal with Livia, anyway? This dame always manages to show up at just the right time when he’s traveling about, and yet her function remains mostly a mystery. Perhaps Dan is so caught up in this new life that he doesn’t yet want to ask too many questions, or rather press her too hard for info. In 1976, Dan also met up with his father (the ‘70s-era newsroom was a scream!), who ran out him when he was Zack’s age, which mirrored Dan’s relationship with Zack in this installment. But now Zack knows of his daddy’s “magic”, which was a nice touch for the ending. Speaking of the ‘70s, I noticed ads for both “Jaws” and “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” on the sides of buses, which was a nice diversion from the show’s usual marking of eras through music and fashion sense. (The “Rocky Horror” one went by so fast I almost thought I imagined it.)
But for my viewing pleasure, the episode’s greatest scene was when Elliot Langley (Tom Everett) showed up at the paper. This is the professor Dan contacted last week to find out more about tachyons – the guy who knew his father. The scene was as nebulous as it was tense, and said a lot while saying nothing at all. Is this guy good or evil or somewhere in between? Is it possible he’s even got something to do with Dan’s trips? Dan did talk to him on the phone in the ‘80s in last week’s episode, which is referenced here and then the two move on. I wish I had a transcript of their conversation because it was fascinating, and really amped up the sci-fi aspects of the show. This guy’s gonna be a big factor in the coming weeks.
That’s assuming we get to. “Journeyman’s” ratings haven’t been stellar and I’m not sure it’s building an audience (but I don’t think it’s steadily losing viewers either). Luckily it’s on NBC, the network which has been giving good shows more of a chance to build in recent years. If the show can just make it through season one and then get that season out on DVD, it should be flyin’ high. This isn’t a show about huge developments like its lead-in, “Heroes”. “Journeyman” is a quiet little series that is proving to require patience for payoff.
Finally, last week I called the ubiquitous cafe “SoLuna”. It’s just plain “Cafe Luna”…but there is a Mexican eatery a few blocks from my house called SoLuna, just so you know where I was coming from.
