But wasn’t that the point of the aftermath of their big mission - that they assumed it was over and now they are stuck in the 21st century? They had to live out their lives in a standard way so as not to upset the timeline too much?
I think if they were pulled back, it would result in the sudden death of all the hosts, and they seem to have a lot of important hosts. I’d imagine that could wreck havoc on the time-line, so the protocol was to stay there and live out their adoptive lives to the best of their ability.
I guess since these people were dead anyway you could stagger them in some way, but if you went to all that effort to fix history, why rock the boat?
I think the number is their recruitment/training number. 0014 had never been in the past and was one of the first programmers.
All-in-all, I think it was a great 12 episode season. Just wish it hadn’t ended on a network-TV style cliffhanger.
It sucks to hear that it ends on a big ol’ cliffhanger, especially since we have no idea if it’s coming back. Just watched the episode following the one where they (may have) deflected the asteroid. BTW, in the episode following THAT one, which I only saw the pre-credit scene of last night, did anyone else recognize the dude getting up to no good there? I haven’t seen him in much since his turn on Monk as the overeager Police Lieutenant.
And is that so terrible given the hints we’ve gotten about the brutal & bleak future? Admittedly they’d given up families to go the the past, but…
Diego
Actually, the expectation had been that the timeline would be altered so drastically that they’d simply cease to exist. They hadn’t really considered what would happen next because they didn’t think there’d be a next.
Actually they have made a point of showing how living in the past is not terrible for these people.
I was making the point that A) still being in the 21st after the big mission was unexpected and B) one of their protocols dictates that in the absence of further direction you are to continue to live out your host’s life.
Yeah, clearly everyone from the future is overwhelmed by the bountiful 21st century. We still have exotic things like ‘trees’ and ‘dogs’ and ‘ground beef’. But clearly Grant and Carly have a thing going from before the mission began and they’re at a loss to imagine what their lives are going to be like if they have to forego each other for the rest of their natural lives. It’s just an example of some of the cool and unusual directions they took the series. In as much as we can all hand-wave away any of the sci-fi time-travel junk we wish to that was an unexpected and welcome twist. It would have been a lot less interesting to just think how nice it was for them to get to live in a world that now still has a future and lives of relative plenty.
That was the impression I got from the show as well, but it doesn’t make any sense - those people should be dead, anything they do is changing the timeline by definition. Sure, you can hand-wave it away by saying the Director already accounted for their future actions after “death”, but if it can do that, it should be able to account for damn near anything they do, “standard” life or no. There’s a good amount of things like this in Travelers, but I’m used to it with pop sci-fi in general and time-travel in particular. You just kinda go with it, and hope the writers don’t throw the contradictions in your face too often (like episode 6).
What I liked most about Travelers wasn’t the actual time-travel aspects of the show, but the way the characters are in conflict over doing their job. I said as much in the little write-up I did about the show:
The best part of Travelers is the conflicts within the characters themselves, in my opinion. Supposedly they’re all dedicated first and foremost to completing missions for the future, at any cost, as well as leaving behind everything about their future lives other than the mission. It doesn’t take long to realize that neither of those is really the case. No matter how much lip service is paid to that ideal, the choices they make repeatedly show that they have other priorities. Several supporting characters play a large role in this - wives, friends, parents, children, etc. In theory the travelers should be willing to sacrifice any of their relationships for the sake of the future, but it’s never that simple.
Great point but I think it sort of cuts both ways. Their taking over a life of a person who would otherwise have died is a clear but necessary change to the timeline - one the Travelers are exploiting in order to change the past in a big and positive way. So they’re ok with that part.
But in the eventuality that the Travelers are not killed in the line of duty or by the completion of their primary mission they are left with only a couple of alternatives. Either commit suicide (least timeline effects, close the paradox they created by keeping someone alive longer) or live out the life as normally as possible given the Protocols. This includes not divulging anything about the future or their mission, not saving or taking a life unless directed, and most specifically in the absence of direction maintain your hosts life.
I would imagine for the young, single traveler or even an old one getting a shot at a brand new life in the unblemished 21st century would be like winning the lottery. So they sign up and agree to everything and tell themselves its a sacrifice for the greater good and not without potential reward of its own. It sounded like for the old folks on the bus even the few hours in which they got to see birds and trees made it pretty much worth the while for their apparent suicide mission.
Then, like you say, and I agree completely, the show twists that and expounds on it. Conflict is created that they never fully thought about and nothing about it is simple. Like being given an infant child or a drug dependency.
Enjoyed your musings by the way!
I really like the tension between being generally moral human beings and the cold, emotionless Protocols. One of the show’s successes IMO.
Oh, by the way, even though I didn’t like the show overall, the actor playing the 100-year old guy in the teenager’s body (a guy named Jared Abrahamson, I had to look it up) did a really good job. I totally believed him as an old man in a young body. How does a kid like that learn to act like an old man? I dunno, but I was buying what he was selling.
Totally agree! He had this particular way of holding himself that totally sold the old man thing.
It also helped that has (or affected for the role) that sort of raspy speaking voice.
I’ve really loved this series (watching the last seven minutes now) and am going to be super bummed if we don’t get a second season.
…and I just finished watching the episode. Wow, do the writers have their work cut out for them if there is a season 2.
BTW, given the plans for a return of Will and Grace, what might that mean for this series?
It’s a 10-ep run, I think, so don’t see why that would be a problem.
I’d like to get Perception back. Great show.
Good news for fans -
“Freakin’ schweet!” if I may channel my inner Peter Griffin.
I just watched the first two episodes. Pretty interesting premise. I hope the show stays big in scope though. I don’t want a team exploring the past to do minor tasks. I want them to save the world and nothing else.
New season next week!