Good-bye, Dan Vasser
Tonight was the last night for my beloved “Journeyman”. NBC is letting it go the way of other lost programming, in favor of shows such as “The Biggest Loser” and “The Power of 10″.
The finale was supposed to answer a lot of questions, but it fell sadly short. I was expecting something more, I guess, and so I was disappointed. However, it was still an excellent program.
Dan went back 4 months this time. He met a man named Evan, who was also a traveler. Since Evan was in an asylum when Dan met him, he was assumed to be delusional. Still, Dan helped him escape. Then Dan and Livia kept themselves busy trying to make sure that Evan didn’t die in September. When they tried to stop him from meeting with his former lover, whom Dan and Livia believed didn’t know Evan at all, Evan provided them with video evidence that he had indeed been married to the woman in question. The video showed Evan and his wife winning a dance contest. Evan explained that she’d been killed because he’d made someone angry on one of his trips, so he kept trying to fix the situation. Instead he kept making it worse. Finally Evan managed to travel back to the day he met his wife at Stanford and prevented that meeting from happening. His wife was saved, but she would never have any memories of their time together.
So, Evan’s mission was to try to get his former wife to remember him in some way. In a touching scene he convinced her to dance with him, and Dan arranged for the band to play the song to which they’d won the contest. Though her memory didn’t fully return, she did somehow manage to follow the dance steps and the look on her face told that she was “remembering” feeling something for Evan. When the dance was over, Evan stood holding his left arm for a few seconds before finally falling to the floor. He died of a heart attack.
Dan and Livia were convinced then that Evan was supposed to die that day afterall (they’d prevented him from getting hit by a car and then getting shot dead), so they were saying their good-byes. Then Livia and Dan saw past Dan rushing to get into a taxi and Dan remembered that was the first time he’d traveled. It became evident that Dan was selected the moment that Evan died. Then Livia went back to her wedding and Dan was left holding Evan’s backpack. He took the bag back to The Register and there looked through the contents. Evan had been keeping a journal of all of his travels and all of the people he’d helped along the way.
While all of this was happening, Jack was tracking down the Professor. The professor denied knowing Dan, so Jack went to extremes. He visited him during a lecture and asked him about time travel. When the professor played dumb, Jack announced that his brother was a time traveler and he could prove it. Before he could offer up the proof, though, security came and escorted him out. That seemed to strike a nerve with the professor.
Later, when Dan was leaving The Register, the professor was waiting for him in the elevator. He explained that there have been time travelers throughout time, using Mayan architecture as an example as well as another one that dealt with the atom, and that he believed no “person” was controlling the travelers. He did say that he was given a grant to study the travelers and that Dan was the last one. He said that he didn’t want to let on that he knew who he was because someone was watching him and those people could make a lot of trouble for travelers. He mentioned that if someone could manipulate the travelers, through their loved ones, then they could become extremely powerful. Dan said that he wasn’t the only one and when the professor asked who the other person was Dan said “I wish I could talk about it.” Nothing more was said.
When Dan got home to Katie, he explained what happened. Katie was excited because Evan controlled his travels by taking sedatives. Katie wanted to get Dan a prescription. But Dan said he didn’t want to stop traveling and that he thought this was his calling. He was convinced that he could do a lot of good in the world and he wanted to keep it up. Katie asked Dan if he remembered the night he dug up the patio and telling her that he would always come home. He said “yes”. She wanted to know where he stood on that and he assured her that he still felt the same.
In the final scene we see Dan getting out of bed, with Katie still asleep. He’s getting dressed and sits in the chair. He looks at her for a moment and then says “Katie…” When she opens her eyes, she sees him disappear. I’m pretty sure this is the first time she’s actually witnessed him leaving. The closing shot of the show was the shocked look on Katie’s face.
Some of the questions that I still have are:
What happened to Livia? Did Dan look her up?
Was he really the only one in his time to be a traveler?
And what about Dan and Teresa? I didn’t get a clear sense of closure from that.
I’m really sad to see this show close. Every episode was amazing. I think NBC is making a huge mistake. But then you already knew that, right?
I haven’t researched this, but while I was watching “Clash of the Choirs” I did see something at the bottom of the screen that I thought was interesting. It said that “Journeyman” was going to air all next week. I’m thinking a marathon of sorts? I’m still looking into this and I’ll let you know what I find out. If this is true there might still be hope for the best new show in primetime.
Update:
I just thought I’d mention that “Journeyman” has been nominated for the People’s Choice Awards in the “Favorite New T.V. Drama” category. Someone at NBC needs fired.
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Nice recap Liz…but I think we got a pretty good amount of answers actually…or at least, clues.
You don’t want them to give away enough that they have nothing to reveal if the show comes back
Still, we now know there are travelers out there, their numbers are dwindling and Dan is the supposed last one.
As far as your questions, I don’t care much about Teresa, she’s just someone suspicious that could cause a problem later.
As far as Olivia, I’m sure she’s dead by 2007, considering she’s about 30-33 in 1940.
Mike Olbinski’s last blog post..Journeyman finale leaves the light on
Aww…I didn’t know that was the end of J-man!
That’s what I get, I kept saying I was going to watch it, but I was too busy watching the second run of Dexter of something else on Showtime.
From the previews it looked like a pretty good show. Yeah someone at NBC needs to go job hunting.
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There are a few save journeyman sites you can sign a petition and one site is collecting money to dump rice a roni on their doorstep kinda like when they dumped peanuts for jerico. I cannot believe they are taking it off the air, it is an excellent show.