We're starting to get more clues on Journeyman -- clues about Livia, about Langley, and about Dan himself. Plus, Jack is starting to get a clue, which is nice. But all this clue-getting doesn't necessarily make anyone's lives any easier.

Hey, look! Gag spoilers from the future!

Dan's assignment this week took him to 1973, and a key party. A key party hosted by John  Schneider, no less! Skanky 70s swingers' sex really isn't doing it for him (even though Livia is there) -- he more interested in watching Nixon give his "I am not a crook" speech live, in real time. Hee! Tragically, he's so distracted by Nixon that he doesn't realize he's sending an innocent college girl off to get her mind blown, when she catches her mom in flagrante with a fellow party-goer. Ick.

The girl is Abby, and she's Dan's assignment. He saves her from being murdered by a guy picking up hitchhikers, only to send her off with some skeevy hippies, one of which -- Sammy -- is a very bad man. Sammy gets his band of not-so-merry pranksters to start knocking off liquor stores -- he says he's going to redistribute the food to the poor -- which will land Abby in jail for 30 years. Dan and Livia show up for the robbery, convince Abby she wants to have her own life, gives her a bunch of not-yet-hijacked, not-yet-printed money, and sends her on her way to become a leading progressive politician in our own time. Good to know.

But that's hardly the big news: Since Jack fingered Dan for the money, the feds have come knocking. Dan is pissed, especially when Jack demands Dan tell him the truth. "I did tell you the truth back then with Livia, and this is what you did with it!" I can see where Dan is coming from, but did he honestly not think the "no, seriously, time travel, dude" conversation would take at least a couple of times to sink in?

Katie proves herself to be brilliant again, some more, when the Feds storm the house before they'd gotten rid of the cash. She hands Dan a briefcase, which the Feds immediately want to search. They do -- and it's clean. That's because Katie hid the money in Dan's jacket, which the Feds were too distracted to search. She's good.

She's also the one who figures out the truth about Livia. Dan has a box of Livia's things in the closest -- her office sent it to him after she "died" -- and the Feds unearth it while searching for the money. Katie finds a picture of Livia -- and old, black-and-white, not-of-this-era photograph. Gah! Livia ain't from around here --- or now, as the case may be.

Dan finally asks -- so what's the deal? Livia's home base is in 1948. She got plunked in the late 80s and didn't seem to go anywhere, so she put together a life -- getting a job, going to law school, meeting Dan, falling in love. She didn't think it was an assignment... but apparently it was. Then she got pulled back. Was her assignment to get Jack and Katie together, thereby producing Zack? To groom Dan for time travel? To mess up Jack's life? Or something else entirely that we haven't figured out yet?

Speaking of things we haven't figured out -- Langley calls Dan for yet another cryptic conversation. He reveals that he's now teaching at a college, that he left his think-tank work because the government was threatening to use it to fight terrorism, and that he's currently talking to his students about quartz. That last bit seems like an odd snippet of information to share, until one of the thieving hippies shows off his quartz pendant and says it's the best timekeeper in the universe. Hmmm.

Meanwhile, the Feds are sniffing around Jack, too -- he messed with a former currency case! Say what? says Jack. Yeah, you got handed a counterfeit bill in 1995, which was actually a leaked prototype of the redesigned $20. But that bill has the 2003-2006  Treasury Secretary's signature on it -- and no counterfeiter could have known that. The feds conclude this means Jack tampered with the evidence, replacing it with a current bill. Jack realizes it's proof -- proof that Dan really is traveling in time. He goes off to the bar to drink his way to acceptance of this knowledge.

Highlights, quotes and odds and ends:

• Again, as always, I was loving Katie this episode. She's awesome -- cool in a crisis, but still freaked out that all this is happening to her family. Her minor freak-out when Dan revealed that his "business trips" would start getting longer was perfect.
• She also gets great quotes: When Dan tells Katie about the swinger's party: "Honey, I loved that you went to a wife-swapping party and it was Nixon that turned you on."  Hee!
• After Katie finds Livia's picture, she goes to see Dan. He tells her he sent a girl to jail for life, and she says "Great!" Dan objects, and she says "Sorry, I didn't hear your answer, my query was perfunctory." Normally, I'd call foul on someone using perfunctory in casual conversation, but I totally buy that Katie would do it.
• Jack tells the fed that he has "way too much time on [his] hands." Little does he know...
• Now that Livia is starting to share information, I have a new target for my frustration: Langley. Seriously, he just calls Dan to ask him about his "book"? Tell us what's going on, dude! Are you controlling this? Are you trying to stop it? What's the anti-terrorism component -- stopping events before they happen? Come on, tell us!
• The last scene with Jack, where he starts to realize that Dan is telling the truth, was a quiet knock-out. Poor Jack -- he's never going to be able to drink his way through this, but he's damn well going to try.

Comments

This show the last few times out has produced some classic "WTF?" moments, and its' absolutely brilliant.

I'm falling more and more in love with this show. Just fantastic story telling all around. It takes a premise that requires a ton of suspension of disbelief and makes it completely believable.

Corey | Nov 12, 2007 9:18:37 PM | #

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I like how zap2it made such a big deal about John Schneider guest starring when he was only on screen for 3 minutes.
So, did Dan start all the trouble with Abby by sending her to see her mom? If so, why was he there in the first place? So that would happen?

edgar | Nov 13, 2007 2:23:58 AM | #

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Another great episode. It's a shame the Writer's Guild strike will likely prevent us from finding out what the original season 1 endgame was until next year (assuming the show comes back, which I think it should).

A lot of interesting storylines. They seem to be dropping hints in the past often, from the phone call in the past from Langley, to the little brother, to the quartz comments today. Makes me sort of wonder if this will be some sort of "Back to the Future" thing where something in the past that Dan learns will help the future.

That said, it could be a collision course thing, with both the past and present searching for something. So following the logic set forth, Livia was sent to meet Dan and set him on his course ... which meant that her leaving was actually critical to his development. I think the idea that Zack could be critical might be something worth paying attention to.

Of course, it seems as if she's not done with him, so maybe she's searching for something and hoping to use Dan to help her find it. It'd be too hard to do, but it would be great if somehow all these trips tied together.

Way to step up at the end by Jack ... stealing the 20 (I'm assuming that was the implication). I guess my only question is ... when he turned it in the past ... why didn't he notice the dates? Eh, small detail, but for Supercop, that's an interesting thing.

Another thing - what's the deal with the Dylan McClain (sp?) money now. Does the investigation disappear? It's hard to imagine that one single bill can maintain an investigation now that the timeline has been changed and the majority if the money has been dumped in the past already.

I like the fact that they aren't giving everything away and they are building up. They gave some on Livia ... but held back on Langley, which I think is nice. At some point, though, considering this is mroe of a human dynamics show, they have to get a bit more into the workplace dynamics. They've glossed over it up to this point.

My own big concern is how they explain it. Like Moon Bloodgood's last show, Daybreak, I sort of hope that they don't. Trying to explain something like this may push it. That said, I think it can be done, just has to be careful on it ... and it does seem like they are setting up some level of explanation.

So many interesting possibiities. I think the thing that's missing on TV these days, with so many procedurals, is the lack of possibilities. I guess it fits the modern individual, but I like a show where I am forced to explore things, to see what they are offering. They've taken a tough premise, but they've done a good job with it by making it a show about the characters, and not the premise. The acting's been great, and the dynamic between Dan and those around him has been great.

Tony | Nov 13, 2007 4:53:33 AM | #

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The show just keeps getting better, and the newest revelations open a world of possibilities. We need more viewers! This is a great show.

Chuck | Nov 13, 2007 6:11:57 AM | #

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Someone may have suggested this already, but isn't it possible that the Fed is conducting his investigation not to discover if Dan has 'inherited' the hijacked money, but he is doing it to prove that someone is traveling through time. It could be that the time traveling is being controlled by a privately owned organization or a small group of private individuals who seek to change the world for the better. The federal government is catching on to what is taking place, and they now want to control it in the name of national security. By identifying the time travelers, the Feds may believe that they ultimately will be led to the people who are responsible for all of this.

Pete | Nov 13, 2007 6:54:19 AM | #

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"He goes off to the bar to drink his way to acceptance of this knowledge... Poor Jack -- he's never going to be able to drink his way through this, but he's damn well going to try."

Nice one Miss Jersild.

pakopako | Nov 13, 2007 6:56:42 AM | #

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I'm really enjoying the show and (surprisingly) following most of it.

A few questions, though...

Didn't Livia take the money in a previous episode to allow Dan to buy back into the poker game? Why is it still in the closet? Did she only take some of it? How much money could you fit in an army jacket anyway?

The recap suggests Dan told Jack about the time travelling. When? I don't remember that.

Andy | Nov 13, 2007 7:06:08 AM | #

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Let's see Jack get a headache and goes back in time - it happens to me all the time. This is why CSI Miami is at least realistic.

Heidi | Nov 13, 2007 7:07:03 AM | #

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I GOT IT, with the anti-terrorism thing. The season finale will be Dan going back in time and he be the reason United 93 landed where it did.

Tony from Jersey | Nov 13, 2007 7:17:54 AM | #

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Here is another theory. Has anyone considered the possibility that Livia's current participation in the time traveling adventures is not voluntary. Remember that she was on an airplane that eventually crashed, killing all aboard. She may have been saved by whomever is controlling the time traveling, but in return, she had to agree to time travel for them once again. If she refuses, she could be sent back to the very moment that the airplane fell to the earth. Think about it. You rarely see Livia smiling happily, even when she is with the man with whom she once had a deeply intimate relationship. She may know something quite ominous, or she simply may have resigned herself to the fact that she will be doing this for the rest of her life. Just a thought...

Pete | Nov 13, 2007 7:20:40 AM | #

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Andy: Dan told Jack about time-traveling in either the 2nd or 3rd episode and Jack dismissed it.

The show continues to get better. I love the family dynamics of the show and Dan telling Jack to leave his house was a great scene. Katie is also a really good wife. It's a shame the show will probably be cancelled.

Darius | Nov 13, 2007 8:01:12 AM | #

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<<>>

The past Jack just assumed it to be counterfeit and didn't give it a close thought. The Secretary signature wouldn't catch his eye because then, he wasn't around. The dates would just seem like another piece of the counterfeit bill to him.

Corey | Nov 13, 2007 8:38:09 AM | #

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i'll be dude enuff to admit that when the promos of this show came out, i said i wouldn't be watching it after the mandatory three shows i give shows to hook me.

now, i find the show creeping up my season pass list like "mad men" bosses hands up secretaries' skirts!!!

the show is well written, beautifully acted, mystery tight and exposes other shows (*cough* heroes *cough*) for the child's play that they are...

bottomlesswells | Nov 13, 2007 9:29:30 AM | #

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This show is holding up pretty well, not great but ok.Thank goodness it's finally time for Jack to drink the koolaid and stop being such a constant pain. I think the writer's have played the "Jack the jerk" card for the last time.

coop | Nov 13, 2007 10:43:00 AM | #

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Next time Dan goes back to the 70's, could you have him pick up a (mint in box) Yoda figure for him and me, and then he could sell it on ebay for a killing!!!
Or go buy stock in Apple and Microsoft.

Pat | Nov 13, 2007 10:49:25 AM | #

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We're finally learning more about Livia which I like. I feel so bad for Katie. Jack will need to snap out of his dinial soon. Dan being more interested in Nixon on the television instead of the swingers party going on around him was a great scene, especially when he told Katie about it. His excitment about seeing it live was cute. I love how things change around Dan and when he's done he almost seems surprised.

Penny | Nov 13, 2007 1:12:51 PM | #

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I'm glad the writers of the show are keeping their own counsel where time travel is concerned, and aren't utilizing other shows or movies to pad their reasoning process. The one thing that has always annoyed me about movies like "Back To The Future" (particularly where Marty starts to fade away just because his parents never met, ergo Marty was never "born") is the casting aside of basic scientific principles, namely, "Matter can be neither created nor destroyed; it can only change form." Briefly, people always presume that if you go back and kill your own grandfather, that you'll cease to exist. This can't happen if you believe in certain scientific laws, such as the aforementioned one. Once you're born, you exist, regardless of when and/or where might be at any given time. This is why I'm glad that the hijacking money still exists in the past, even though it has actually not been printed yet in 1973 (if I have my timeline correct). If you believe that time is an ocean instead of a river (in that it flows in all directions, not just in one), then it is perfectly logical and acceptable for this show's mythology that anything from the future could exist in the past, and vice versa. I realize this is entertaintment, and not all shows like this need to be strict when it comes to science, but I like the fact that the show's writers are being careful not to stray too far from their original premise. IF the show is not canceled, I hope they'll explore this theory a little further. Anyway, Katie is an awesome woman, and I'd be pleased as could be to be married to somebody like her. Anyone who can be as calm as she was during the invasion of her home (and collusive in hiding evidence, no less) is all right in my book. While there are times when I'd like to take a baseball bat to Jack's thick skull, it's nice to see that he obviously cares deeply for his brother, even when he is going nose-to-nose with him. It took a lot of guts for him to steal the there-and-back-again $20 bill, take it to a public place, and spend it like it was nothing. I like the theory that somebody else mentioned that Chapelle (can't remember his name on Journeyman, so I give him back his moniker from 24) might be trying to find out if Dan or Jack knows about the tachyons and time traveling that's been going on. It seems to me that, with the exception of Dan's editor, there are no unimportant characters on this show. Everyone has something to do with the main plotlines, even if from a very minor standpoint. Who knows, maybe the editor is in on it all, too. I just hope NBC gives the show a chance to finish out the main crux of the story, even though I'm afraid the ratings won't let them do so.

Dark Disciple | Nov 13, 2007 1:43:49 PM | #

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Dark Disciple, I like your scientific reasoning. However, you do have your timeline a bit off. The plane hijacking money was in 1975 as was the convenience store robbery. I'm not sure when in each year those respective events took place, so it is entirely possible that the robbery took place prior to the hijacking.

Rishi | Nov 13, 2007 2:27:59 PM | #

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Rishi, thanks for correcting my dates vis-a-vis the robbery and hijacking. This will teach me in the future to take notes with shows like this, lol. After awhile, if I try to keep it all in my head, I start going b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b, and that's never good.

Dark Disciple | Nov 13, 2007 3:26:21 PM | #

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Didn't Jack use the "Counterfeit" $20 bill to buy his beer at the end of the episode? If he did, and I presume he did tamper with the evidence, I presume there will be problems in future episodes with the FBI.

Paul | Nov 13, 2007 3:36:20 PM | #

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Journeyman and Chuck are my favorite new shows this season. Unfortunately, all of NBC's new shows seem to be languishing in the ratings. :-( I think a lot of people stopped watching Journeyman because they thought it was a rip-off of Quantum Leap.

I absolutely love this show, and I hope it gets a full season order. But I doubt it will happen, especially with the writers' strike.

I thought that the hippies storyline was a bit weak, but I'm glad that the writers gave us more clues to Livia's mysteries. It was a nice twist that Livia originally came from 1948, and that she stayed for almost 10 years to help set up Dan.

Great acting by the entire cast. Jack looked like he was almost ready to accept Dan's time travel explanation as he was drinking at the bar. However, I worry that Jack might spiral out of control soon, since he mentioned in the pilot episode that he used to have a drinking problem.

Paige | Nov 14, 2007 8:41:51 AM | #

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Journeyman is a Quantum Leap rip-off. I don't see it lasting a year. I do like Jack and Katie. They have great chemistry. Everyone else over acts.

Heidi | Nov 14, 2007 9:14:43 AM | #

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Dan dropped what, a few thousand dollars in the past?! Wouldn't that money bounce around and cause history to change so that with so many of the bills floating for decades, rather than disapearing, the FBI couldn't bother tracing every bill anymore?!

Ryan | Nov 14, 2007 8:58:04 PM | #

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Paul, the $20 bill that Jack used wasn't a fake. It was a bill from the present (2007) that Dan used in 1995 to pay his cab fair.

Rishi | Nov 15, 2007 11:24:23 AM | #

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My hubby is str8 and I am bi and we have had no problem finding partners on online4love.com. We've had fun sex with lots of single men, single women and full swap couples that we met on O4L. And yes, I'm real, and no, I don't work for O4L or think they're perfect (they can be pricey and they goober up email sometimes,) but I think they're the best thing going by far for meeting other people who just want to have sex without strings!

katie oneil | Mar 16, 2008 5:39:49 AM | #

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