Journeyman: The Legend of Dylan McLeen

I wish more people watched Journeyman. Twice last night I let loose an excited “woo!” – Deep Throat-esque scientist with the cryptic understatements, woo! Someone finally witnesses Dan vanishing into thin air, woo! Exclamations sadly lost on the SO, who was biding his time until last night’s episode of Heroes finally loaded online. I, the non-Heroes fan (heresy, I know), understands that little can compete with an ambiguously evil Kristen Bell, though I’d argue a snide Moon Bloodgood comes close. Even work, my refuge for fellow fangirl/boy squee and where I am greeted with a “What’d you think of Supernatural last night?” every Friday morning, is void of Journeyman-love.

I deserve more Kevin McKidd dammit, but it’s looking as if Journeyman’s subtlety is getting lost in a Monday night line-up of tongue-in-cheek spy shenanigans and pretty people with super special sekrit powers. But even on the heels of last week’s episode – easily the worst of the season so far – I feel Journeyman, if given a chance, has the potential to develop a unique and twisting mythology all its own.

The past five weeks have been about the foundation of Dan Vasser, his family and friends and work, and how a (seemingly) regular guy attempts to maintain a (semi-)normal life in decidedly abnormal circumstances – spontaneous time-traveling. We’ve seen the ramifications on his marriage in often painful detail, and the sleight-of-hand he pulls on a daily basis as a reporter at the San Francisco Register. We’ve been along for the ride as Dan stumbles through several timelines, bringing supposed order in other peoples’ lives as his own threatens to come apart at the seams.

While I have no doubt the Quantum Leap-ish sense of goodwill Dan’s been stirring up in his travels serves a larger purpose, the tidy wrap-ups are secondary to the new puzzle pieces turning up each episode. This week Dan finds himself trailing a former Army Ranger and notorious hijacker who made off with a wad of cash meant to help smuggle a family from war-torn Cambodia. (Dan brings Ranger and Cambodian friend together, helps them escape the authorities, family gets out of Cambodia, etc.) But really this is all an excuse to bring Dan face to face with his father Frank Vasser, a man who left the family when Dan was a small child. Rockin’ a brusque reporter’s attitude and a sweet seventies ‘stache, a clueless Frank faces his grown son and the conversation between them is rife with subtext – particularly Frank’s use of the word “travelling.” Coincidence?

Not likely. Elliot Langeley, the scientist Dan tracked down last week in his quest for information on tachyons, knew Frank Vasser. And he, like, so totally called Dan fifteen years in the past, you guys. A fact Dan brings up in a roundabout way when Langely drops by the Register’s offices for a brief conversation on shuttle prototypes (which Dan’s father was covering for the paper back in the day) and those crazy, theoretical particles that contain 186,000 miles per second, aka the speed of light. As Dan waxes about the non-existant sci-fi novel he’s writing, Langeley sits and stares and plays along. What if, Dan posits, someone were to randomly drop in and out of wormholes? “How terribly inconvenient,” Langeley replies. Sarcastic scientist FTW.

Livia’s feeling a bit snarky, too. Still stewing over Katie, she pops up with Dan in the seventies. “This assignment’s a bitch,” Dan tells her. “They all are,” she replies. When Dan asks if she has a family, she looks at him as if the answer is obvious – no. And there’s a world of big-time story behind that negative.

Someone who’s low on sarcasm is Zack. After Dan disappears in a crowded market, leaving the boy wandering alone, father and son relations are strained. But when Zack witnesses Dan turn into a flash of blue light and disappear, it’s safe to say the show has added another spin to the Vasser family dynamic. (And you have to wonder why Katie has never stuck around Dan long enough to see it herself?) Dan asks Zack what he saw. “Your magic,” the boy replies, and my cold, bitter, Hollywood child-hating heart melts.

Here’s hoping Journeyman can hang on for a while.
Heather Cee has been writing for music sites for several years but genre media is her original fandom. She’s a History major dropout, loves music, Batman, and the color green, and thinks Laura Roslin is the most kick ass woman on television. She currently works as a website editor in Tucson, Arizona, where she lives with her husband and a ridiculous amount of CDs, records, books, and DVDs. One day she hopes to own grown-up furniture and pants other than jeans.

Never miss an update. Subscribe to Pink Raygun by Email or subscribe via RSS

Technorati Tags: journeyman, journeyman recap

Powered by ScribeFire.

Related Stuff: