Emily & Blowback
Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 01:27pm by GeekBoyOkay, so what I said about this past week’s episode of Journeyman being the winter finale? Strike that. Either it was never actually the case, or NBC has shuffled things around due to the writers strike. Because there’s another one coming on December 10th. Unfortunately, according to this press release, Kevin Falls is saying that there’s only one more episode in the can after that … which NBC may or may not bother to air. And then, short of a Jericho-style miracle, it’s potentially all over. Read the press release for the full depressing details.
For now, let’s talk about the awesome two-parter we got last week and this week …
Dan goes back to 1992 and saves a young girl who’s locked up in a room. He intersects with her again in 1995, and it’s clear that his “mission” is to keep her from ending up in jail or worse. But he knows that the guy who locked her up — Aeden Bennett– will kill another girl in 2001, and Dan plans to prevent that. Livia scolds him for this, and warns him that stepping off the path of his mission can only lead to bad things. He pushes forward anyway, and the result is that Aeden Bennett goes to jail in 2001. And as Livia warned him, things do not end happily ever after …
Back in 2007, Bennett gets out of jail early for good behavior, and lands on Dan’s doorstep, angry and tattooed, guns blazing. Fortunately, Dan “jumps” in the nick of time, and lands himself back in 1980. He gets his gunshot wound tended to, then tends to his mission — helping a 10 year old boy who is locked up alone in his house by his douche-y single father, who’s a cop. And that boy is … you guessed it, Aeden Bennett. We’ve all heard the question asked: “If you could go back in time, would you kill Hitler as a baby?” And this is Dan’s version of that — a kind of test from the Powers That Be. The simplest solution to protect himself and his family in 2007 is to kill Bennett in 1980, before he can ever become a threat. But as we’d expect, Dan doesn’t do this, and instead returns to the present armed with knowledge, which he uses to disorient Bennett long enough for Jack to arrest him. Loop closed.
In between all this, some other things happen …
Livia comes to the realization that perhaps her mission when she first jumped and met Dan way back when was to make sure that Dan & Katie would eventually end up together. Dan manages in the first part of the story to convince his brother Jack that he really is traveling in time … but then when he gets Bennett arrested in 2001, it changes everything, and Jack forgets again. But then in the second part, a combination of creepy not-FBI guy sharing his theories with Jack and Livia visiting Jack in 2007 all serves to enlighten him again, so that he’s part of the “Vassers Who Know What Dan Does” team by the end of the episode. Which should certainly make Dan’s life much easier from an information-gathering standpoint from here on out.
As for the creepy not-FBI guy, he sadly (for him) meets his demise at the barrel of Bennett’s gun, but we definitely get the impression from his earlier conversation with Jack that he’s part of something bigger, whether a secret branch of the FBI (a la X-Files) or some private concern. And we also learn that Dan and Livia are not alone. Not-FBI says something along the lines of, “It’s always the money that trips them up.” Which implies that he’s been on the trail of other time travelers in the past. And although I had pretty much assumed that there were probably others out there, it was nice to have it confirmed like this.
And there you have it. Did I miss anything?
1. Michael said ( Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 7:41 pm )
This just gets better every week. It can’t end!
I don’t think you missed anything. Some stunningly good moments in this, none more than that zoom in when Jack spots Livia. Oh wait, when Bennett is lurking behind the door, then busts in and immediately shoot Dan. Or, or …..so good.
So I’m left wondering (and probably always will be) why it is so important that Dan and Katie get together?
2. Michael said ( Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 7:43 pm )
Is it only because she was the stabilizing influence that allows him to be used by the errrr….Powers That Be now? Or is it something bigger? Something Zach will do?
3. GeekBoy said ( Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 9:03 am )
Yeah, I keep wondering too if Zach is important to the future somehow. You know, in a John Connor way … minus the Terminators. I keep half-expecting Dan to meet somebody — an adult — who introduces himself as Future Zach.
In a related idea, I read a blog the other day that raised an interesting point. We’ve already seen young versions of Dan in the past … so at some point, will we also see an old version of Livia in the present? I guess she’d be 80-something by now. Alternatively, if she has died already, maybe Dan could still run into a pre-dead version of her in one of his jumps.
4. Bluebunny said ( Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 10:32 am )
A query – is there anything to the fact that Dan only jumps to the past, and Livia only seems to jump to the future?
5. GeekBoy said ( Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 10:43 am )
I’d say there’s definitely something to it. Although at this point, I guess we haven’t been given enough info to say what.
One theory I have is that maybe whatever/whoever causes these jumps exists somewhere between Livia’s time and Dan’s time?
Another theory is that maybe some people are better equipped (mentally) to jump to the past, and some to the future? As a writer and reporter and researcher, Dan seems to have the skills needed to think historically and figure out his missions. Whereas Livia might be good at adapting to unknown technologies and sussing out things like political and social climates.
6. Michael said ( Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 10:54 am )
Wait. I’m trying to wrap my brain around older Livia living in the present.
Would that be? I mean, we see younger Dan in the past because he was in the past and not time-jumping. Livia is jumping forward, and it would seem anyway, not staying in her HOME timeframe for any length of time. We would only see an older version of her if she stayed in the flow of time for an extended period, right? I have a headache now.
7. GeekBoy said ( Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 11:02 am )
Just because Livia is time-jumping doesn’t mean that time isn’t moving forward normally for her in her “home time”. Think of it from Dan’s perspective. We’ve only seen a few months of his “normal life” so far, but time is passing for him and his family and his job and all that. Presumably his body is aging, whether it’s in 2007 or 1980 or 1992. So why wouldn’t the same apply to Livia?
For all we know, days or weeks could pass for Livia in 1947 between the times that we see her during Dan’s jumps. Add up enough hours and days and weeks, and eventually years will pass and she’s 80 … right?
Unless of course she dies, either in her home time or during a jump. Then all bets are off.
8. Bluebunny said ( Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 11:34 am )
But, if time was passing for her in her “home time” wouldn’t her aging self be jumping so shouldn’t she look older now?
9. GeekBoy said ( Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 11:45 am )
Well sure, but how much older? For the sake of argument, let’s say that one year has passed for her in the 40s since the pilot episode … would we really notice a difference? Would we even notice much of a difference if 2 or 3 years have passed?
But putting that aside, even if she’s jumping as frequently as Dan is, that still doesn’t mean she’s not moving forward in time or that she won’t eventually be another year older … and another and another till she’s 80.
10. Michael said ( Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 12:31 pm )
This discussion reminded me of a question I had. When Dan saw Livia dancing/possibly under the influence right before he found the girl behind the wall, did Livia know him then?
11. GeekBoy said ( Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 1:13 pm )
Nope. Livia said that was during her pre-Dan stage. Seems like she went through kind of a free-wheeling period for a while, as a reaction to growing up female and Asian during the unenlightened 30s & 40s.
From the pilot, we know Livia was waitressing in 1990, which implies that she was already “stuck” in her future by then. The rave was 1992. Dan & Livia were living together as soon as 1994, and as late as 1997, and Livia disappeared in either 1998 or 1999.
What’s interesting is that Dan has been to 1975 a few times (Dylan McLeen) and been to 1973 once (Winterland), but never any further back. Do we know how old he is? Because it’s possible that — like Quantum Leap — he can only go back as far as his own lifetime. Which might also mean that Livia can only go as far forward as her lifetime.
But that’s just wild speculation. Which will probably never be confirmed.
12. Bluebunny said ( Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 1:17 pm )
I am getting a headache
13. Michael said ( Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 2:13 pm )
I don’t know that they’ve specifically stated his age, though I’ll be depressed if he was born in 1975.
So if Jumpin’ Livia was stuck in 1990 for an extended period of time, isn’t it PROBABLE that she would have hung out with her straight-line self? I mean, they both know that she jumps around. Or am I completely missing this?
14. Jason said ( Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 2:36 pm )
This all just demands for a livia-centric episode.
NBC hasn’t canceled the show yet, though, and in a battle between it and Bionic Woman, Journeyman should win hands down so I have hope. Even if it doesn’t survive on the big net, I could see them attempting to push it to Sci-Fi (where they are having trouble launching new shows) or USA (where they are doing a decent job with Law & Order: Criminal Intent).
15. GeekBoy said ( Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 2:48 pm )
I’d say it’s certainly likely that if Old Livia was still alive from 1990-1998, then Jumping Livia would have at least looked her up out of curiosity. Even if she might not have interacted with her, for fear of disrupting the timeline or something.
Which just made me wonder … why hasn’t Dan tried to look her older self up? But then it immediately occurred to me: Livia can’t be her real name. She had to have created a new identity for herself when she got stuck in 1990. So where would Dan start?
Couldn’t agree more about the Livia-centric episode. Unfortunately, it’s the kind of thing a writer would probably do in the last half of a season … or even Season 2. So let’s hope NBC or SciFi or USA or somebody does pick it up.
16. Michael said ( Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 3:13 pm )
This whole “disrupting the timeline” thing has me bothered. IT’S WHAT THEY DO! I get it more if I think of it just as “going against the mission” and assume there are the aformentioned Powers That Be who have a grand plan.