Impressions: "Journeyman"
"Journeyman" is the story of a man ("Dan Vassar", played by Kevin McKidd) who suddenly starts slipping back in time. For some reason, I was only moderately interested in this show. I could only think of Sliders and Quantum Leap! Thus, the show stayed buried deep on my TiVo until this weekend. Now that I have caught up on all of my show watching, let's break it down:
The Good
The show got better as the hour progressed. Many of the things I would have written about as bad things were smoothed over or developed over the course of the first hour. For example, I was getting a little tired of the repeated reactions of Dan's family and friends disbelief of Dan's time traveling. I started to think - 'OK..I got it already - no one believes him...now, let's move on to something else'. But, I was happy to see the character actually do something to demonstrate that he really was time traveling (you know with the toolbox and the patio...not to be spoilery). That was also good!
I really liked how they slipped in the Moon Bloodgood ("Livia") character in the time slip segments also. That's the hook that will keep me watching future episodes.
The Not-So-Good
It did really start a bit confusing and slow. I didn't really take to the lead character until the very end of the episode. Sure, I sympathized with him, but when it really comes down to it, he still stole a girl from his brother and is now going back in time to see his ex. No matter how much he loves his son, it's tough to get likable when the character has done so many questionable things.
The Verdict
It's way better than I expected. As long as the writers keep our trust that all of this is actually going somewhere, this show will be very solid. A keeper!
I love this show! I hope it stays on the air and continues to mature. My son and I watch it every Monday, and the historical story lines are intriguing. I'm interested in finding out what keys to time travel the tech expert has. There's a lot that could be unraveled to make this show even more interesting as time goes on. In my opinion, this show has a good 4-5 years worth to keep people interested.
-- Posted by: TW at October 29, 2007 10:36 PM
I had the same reaction as you. (Though the more colorful "Sliders" and "Quantum Leap" never entered my mind while I was watching.) The show was confusing at first, when he starts slipping into the past. There was no set up, no warning of impending back-stepping and that in itself was disconcerting. However, the writers may have done this deliberately to draw us into the character's plight, so we were feeling what he was feeling. Anyway, the show got better as it went on, and the final scene (patio and toolbox) charmed me. I think I'll tune in again!
-- Posted by: KayDee at September 30, 2007 11:26 PM