Cast
- Kevin McKidd ... Dan Vassar
- Brian Howe ... Hugh Skillen
- Gretchen Egolf ... Katie Vasser
- Moon Bloodgood ... Livia Beale
- Reed Diamond ... Jack Vasser
- Charles Henry Wyson ... Zack Vasser
Spontaneous Traveller
Dan is a reporter working for the San Francisco Chronicle. He's on deadline for a story about the mayor, and it's also his anniversary, so it's a bad time for him to start having random episodes in which he finds himself ten or twenty years back in his own past.
On his first trip he saves a suicide, Neil Gaines (Christopher Warren). When he finds himself back in 2007, his wife, Katie, tells him he's been gone for two days. His next sudden flashback occurs while he's driving, causing his empty car to crash. His absences and stories of time travel, with the accident on top of it, lead Katie, brother Jack, and boss High to think Dan has acquired a substance abuse problem.
In the past, Dan encounters Neil Gaines again, fighting with his wife, but also runs into ex-fiancee Livia, who would later die in a plane crash. (After Livia died, Dan married Katie, who had been dating Dan's brother, Jack.) Even more oddly Dan then briefly encounters another version of Livia -- one from after the plane crash. The alternate Livia knows what's happening to Dan and tells him to follow his instincts, and that the mistakes he makes are "part of it."
On Dan's final trip to 1997 he encounters Neil one more time; he tells Dan his wife and child are leaving him and he won't let them. Dan is able to prevent Neil from murdering his family, but Neil gets killed by a speeding bus.
Back home, Jack warns Dan that Katie will leave him. Dan is able to save his marriage by digging up Katie's wedding ring, which he had buried in their back yard on his last trip into the past.
Quantum What Now?
Two elements of Journeyman seem directly lifted from Quantum Leap, the early 90s time-travel series starring Scott Bakula: the fact that Dan is traveling in his own past with, apparently, very little control over where he's going or why; and the focusing of each episode around making a change to one person's personal story that results in a tragedy being prevented. The difference is that in Journeyman, unlike Leap, Dan isn't jumping into his targets' bodies. This has the effect of making Dan less directly connected to the people he's saving. Why should Dan care about Neil Gaines? Why should we?
That said, the tone and flavor of Journeyman is on a considerably higher level, more reminiscent of adult relationship conflict shows like Once and Again. This is due to above-average cinematography and very clear and efficient writing, as well as sophisticated and intelligent performances by McKidd, Egolf, and Diamond. These are strong enough actors that they convey much in a look or expression with no need for dialog: Jack's soulful regret that Dan ended up with Katie is written on his face; Katie's lingering looks that spell out her love even when Dan is at his more erratic add to her need to protect herself and their son.
A Long Yarn to Spin
What's perhaps most unusual is that Journeyman manages to pack this pilot full to bursting with information and backstory -- before the opening credits we've seen Dan interact with his wife, son, and boss, and have his first trip to the past -- yet it's not headachy and hyperkinetic. It's just dense. In fact for all the accumulation of material in the pilot the show seems to be taking its time, offering tantalizing glimpses of the truth. McKidd has already said that it'll take the whole season to tell what's really happening to Dan, so some patience and clue-following will be required.
What will make the journey worth it for us is that Journeyman boasts some of the most solid and natural acting, writing, and directing of the latest crop of shows. These events are happening to real people, even ordinary people, in a real (if idyllically beautiful) San Francisco. What's a little unreal is that Dan is more concerned in proving that he is time travelling to Katie than in wondering why it's happening; he seems strangely incurious so far, and for that matter so is Katie. There's time for that later, but it seems odd.
Journeyman's biggest weakness is the potential monotony of the troubled-soul-of-the-week template. Still, a few shows, including The Incredible Hulk, have shown the format is viable if it's not done too formulaically. The materials are here to tell a fascinating story about Dan, and the people he meets in his journeys.
