Review — Travelers Season 3. I never did get around to writing a…
By: John Sherrod
Tags: Netflix, Science Fiction, TV, TV Series, Television

I never did get around to writing a review of season 2 of Travelers, but you can read my review of season 1 here. Also, this review is going to be pretty spoiler heavy, so don’t read this until you’ve caught up with season 3.

Travelers, in brief, is a show about time travelers whose consciousnesses are sent backward in time from a post-apocalyptic future into the bodies of people in the present day in order to save the future. The show is far from perfect, but it’s a really enjoyable and fresh spin on the time travel concept and the pilot episode was one of the best pilots I’ve seen.

I was a little surprised the season focused so little on Traveler 001 who at the end of last season had transferred his consciousness into the body of Amanda Tapping’s character. As a Stargate fan, I was really hoping we’d get more of Tapping in season three. 001 certainly has an important role to play in season three, but he wasn’t really the focus.

We did get a couple of interesting, but underdeveloped changes in season three. One is that the Federal government now knows about the Traveler program and is working with the Director to achieve the objectives of the Grand Plan. This was set up really nicely and it felt like they were going to make that a focal point for the season, but then later MacClaren and FBI agent Yates just mostly had a combative relationship.

The other big development was that humans in the 21st Century had created a super computer with burgeoning artificial intelligence that the Director was able to use to communicate directly with the team from the future. This also felt underdeveloped. I mean, if you have the ability to have direct auditory communication with the Director and Traveler teams, why isn’t there a Traveler team stationed at the supercomputer full time coordinating directly with the future? That would eliminate the need for Messengers and for all the ambiguity about what teams are supposed to do when the Director is silent.

I don’t know whose decision this was, but someone on the creative team for this show is really into framing shots where there’s a close-up of a character’s face, but only half of the face is on screen. I don’t recall noticing this in past seasons but it was used a ton in season three. It’s actually a cool shot, but when it gets used over and over again it takes you out of the show a bit. Speaking of cool shots, there’s a scene in the last episode where one character is seeing a reflection of himself in an expanding pool of another character’s blood. Macabre, but a neat shot.

Can we talk about David? I can’t stand David and that’s been true every season. But I suspect I’m distinctly in the minority on that one since he’s become a bigger part of the show each season. (My wife loves him.) I’m assuming most fans loved the happy ending that David and Marcie got. Call me a grump, but I kinda liked that the last episode initially killed both characters off because you just don’t see enough personal stakes in shows like this. So it felt a bit rewarding that there was real tragedy in the show only to have that just swept away to appease sentimentality at the end.

Also, I’m gonna get nerdy here, but the episode in which David died was basically a copy/paste of the fifth season Stargate SG-1 episode Meridian. In both episodes a beloved character has to grab a highly radioactive object with his bare hands to save others and most of the episode in each case is about the rest of the characters dealing with that character dying. Travelers executive producer Brad Wright was also an executive producer on Stargate SG-1, so this is a bit of recycling. I’ll allow it though because I love being reminded of Stargate SG-1 which is one of the best TV shows of all time.

Despite any nitpicks I’ve offered here, season three was a worthy continuation of a show I’ve really enjoyed. The way the season ended felt like it left the door open just a crack for a fourth season, but it also felt like they were leaving it in a place of conclusion in case it doesn’t get picked up for a fourth. My bet is that unfortunately we don’t get another season. It was on the bubble of cancellation after season two. But it would be interesting to find out how they could continue at all given the way things concluded.

Couple of minor points:

The actor that played Jeff had the unenviable task of playing three different characters. But they all seemed just like Jeff. Would have liked to see that actor express a little more of an acting range.

I don’t recall noticing the soundtrack in previous seasons, but I really liked it here. Had a Stranger Things synthy vibe.

Toward the end they started opening the door more and more to multiple timelines. But if there are multiple timelines all co-existing then why have the Grand Plan at all? Because if we’re in a multiverse then the post-apocalyptic future is only a thing in some of the universes.

Toward the end the show also really started playing into the Terminator/BSG thing where you can’t stop the apocalypse, you can only postpone it. As a non-determinist I find those plot lines highly unsatisfying. If you can’t meaningfully change the future by actions in the present, then what’s the point of trying?