(C) 2007 NBC Universal
Kevin McKidd in JOURNEYMAN - SEASON 1 - "Game Three"
Television
Review: JOURNEYMAN - SEASON ONE - 'Game Three'
In the 1993 earthquake, Dan saves a life - though not the one he intends
Grade:Stars: Kevin McKidd, Gretchen Egolf, Moon Bloodgood, Reed Diamond, Charlie Wyson, Brian Howe, Virginia Williams, John Billingsley
Writer(s): Tom Szentgyorgyi
Director: Alex Graves
Distributor: NBC Mondays @ 10 p.m.-11 p.m. (EST)
Release Date: 10/8/07
Rating: TV-14
Distributor: NBC Mondays @ 10 p.m.-11 p.m. (EST)
Published 10/11/2007
Dan learns something of the nightmares of time travel when he finds himself returning to the same day in 1993 multiple times: the day the biggest earthquake in the last century hit San Francisco. He runs into a gambling addict whom he learns will commit suicide three days after the quake – but he also wants to save the life of the sister of his editor at the paper. And amongst all this, he manages to say the wrong thing to both the women in his life. A case of ‘bad timing’, indeed.
I will admit, after the build-up of last week’s previews, the brief amount of time we spend with Dan during the actual earthquake is disappointing – for some reason, I was expecting the thing to go on for hours and hours. And the ‘mission’ this week has another one of those ‘twists’ that’s meant to make you go ‘Hmm’ but actually makes you go, ‘Hey, didn’t Sam Beckett do that with Al once in…?’ But apart from that, everybody who keeps calling this show a cross between QUANTUM LEAP and EARLY EDITION can hush up right now: JOURNEYMAN’s better than that.
What’s particularly enjoyable about this episode is that Sam doesn’t have an Al to help him, nor a paper telling him exactly how the future unfolds – and because of that, he’s able to make mistakes, and lots of them.
The closest thing he’s got to an Al is Livia, and while we learn some enticing new tidbits about her in this episode – she traveled in time before meeting Dan, a revelation that understandably floors him – we still know nothing about the mechanism by which either of them travel, nor what it is that ‘chooses’ the missions they go on. (I really hope they don’t go the QUANTUM LEAP route on that one – one series in which it’s hinted that God’s behind it all was one too many, thanks much.) The closest thing he’s got to that paper is the Internet, which comes in awfully handy for verifying that he’s done something right.
While the mission itself doesn’t fail this time, though, other mistakes are made, and fatal ones – but only if you consider not saving someone who was destined to die anyway a ‘fatal’ mistake.
The so-called main plot is about Dan’s saving a gambling addict (John Billingsley, looking very odd without his Dr. Phlox make-up) – it’s a man with whom Dan has much in common, as we discover he too is a gambling addict. But that plot is almost subsumed by Dan’s attempts first to warn someone about the quake, then to save his editor’s sister, a plan that is heartbreaking to watch fall apart in front of him. And to make matters worse, he gets caught out in a lie to his wife about seeing Livia in the past, then lets slip to Livia who his wife is. Oops. Could this Journeyman be more of an Everyman, or what?
Next week: Dan’s wife confronts him about Livia, and he gets a gun. No, these two events are not related.
I will admit, after the build-up of last week’s previews, the brief amount of time we spend with Dan during the actual earthquake is disappointing – for some reason, I was expecting the thing to go on for hours and hours. And the ‘mission’ this week has another one of those ‘twists’ that’s meant to make you go ‘Hmm’ but actually makes you go, ‘Hey, didn’t Sam Beckett do that with Al once in…?’ But apart from that, everybody who keeps calling this show a cross between QUANTUM LEAP and EARLY EDITION can hush up right now: JOURNEYMAN’s better than that.
What’s particularly enjoyable about this episode is that Sam doesn’t have an Al to help him, nor a paper telling him exactly how the future unfolds – and because of that, he’s able to make mistakes, and lots of them.
The closest thing he’s got to an Al is Livia, and while we learn some enticing new tidbits about her in this episode – she traveled in time before meeting Dan, a revelation that understandably floors him – we still know nothing about the mechanism by which either of them travel, nor what it is that ‘chooses’ the missions they go on. (I really hope they don’t go the QUANTUM LEAP route on that one – one series in which it’s hinted that God’s behind it all was one too many, thanks much.) The closest thing he’s got to that paper is the Internet, which comes in awfully handy for verifying that he’s done something right.
While the mission itself doesn’t fail this time, though, other mistakes are made, and fatal ones – but only if you consider not saving someone who was destined to die anyway a ‘fatal’ mistake.
The so-called main plot is about Dan’s saving a gambling addict (John Billingsley, looking very odd without his Dr. Phlox make-up) – it’s a man with whom Dan has much in common, as we discover he too is a gambling addict. But that plot is almost subsumed by Dan’s attempts first to warn someone about the quake, then to save his editor’s sister, a plan that is heartbreaking to watch fall apart in front of him. And to make matters worse, he gets caught out in a lie to his wife about seeing Livia in the past, then lets slip to Livia who his wife is. Oops. Could this Journeyman be more of an Everyman, or what?
Next week: Dan’s wife confronts him about Livia, and he gets a gun. No, these two events are not related.
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