Christmas episodes of most any series seem required to deliver a case of the warm fuzzy-wuzzies, and “Home by Another Way” was no exception. It also covered the loss of employment at the most critical time of the year, and by doing it through the newspaper business – a notorious high wire act as of late – it managed to make something of a statement. A third, almost minor storyline involved Livia being dragged away from a date back in the year 1948. Probably the episode’s greatest achievement is how it effortlessly strings together all of these elements as if they were lights on a tidy little tree.
Early on, Hugh informs Dan that the publisher of the paper is cutting 25% of the writing staff before the end of the fiscal year. Turns out Dan’s a casualty (seemingly due in part to the publisher’s awareness that his work hasn’t been up to snuff as of late). Before he knows it, the flash occurs and he’s back in 1979 – Christmas Eve, at the paper and a party is in full swing. He isn’t sure why he’s there though. Two events are going to occur within the next 24 hours: the paper’s publisher (the father of the guy in the present) will die before the night’s over under mysterious circumstances and also Dan’s father will leave his family on Christmas Day. Both men are of course at the party and Dan isn’t sure which is his mission. Enter Livia, looking stunning in a long, red dress.
Back in the present, Katie – with some help from Jack – is trying desperately to prepare a nice Christmas evening for family and friends while battling the ghost of Aeden Bennett, as well as Dan and Jack’s mother. Mom puts a pretty fine point on it when she tells Katie that no matter what her current marriage and child may mean, she hurt Jack once upon a time and she’s not about to forget that. Of all the elements in this episode, Grandma was probably the least effective and most clichéd.
Dan shows up briefly in the present – just long enough to enlist Jack’s help in discovering the details of the publisher’s death back in ’79. When he returns to the swingin’ party, he gets into a tiff with the son who will someday be his publisher, only for dad to dress down son in front of the entire gathering. And of course there was also the B-plot of Dan dealing with his father and trying to convince him that maybe he shouldn’t leave his wife and kids the next morning. And in the present Jack has found out his girlfriend in preggers, and in the past Dan discovers Livia’s got a guy back in the ‘40s.
Writing about “Journeyman” has become quite the task. Every time I sit down to recap, it becomes all the more apparent how well done the show is, given how many elements there are in every episode, and how they typically gel into something fairly easy to follow. In the end, Dan managed to save everyone’s jobs at the paper and also to convince his Dad to at least tell his sons that his leaving isn’t their fault. It’s great how the show manages to allow Dan to retain the knowledge of the timelines he alters; in the “new” present, Jack has a vivid memory of their father saying goodbye and telling them he felt like a freak in his own household. “Home by Another Way” was something of a calm before what will likely be next week’s two-part storm.
Here we are – two episodes away from what may be the end of “Journeyman”…or a pretty strong beginning.
