Subscribe for free to the America First Report newsletter.
Time-travel shows have never really worked. Sure, we can look at the clunky but charming Quantum Leap from the early 1990s and a whole bunch of recent attempts to play on the genre, but none of them are quite as compelling as Travelers.
As usual, no spoilers.
Season 3 will be released on December 14 and I’m truly pumped. I haven’t been this excited about a new season of a show since the last season of Sherlock (which was admittedly disappointing). Season 2 ended with a world-changing cliffhanger. Luckily for those of you who haven’t seen the show yet, you have plenty of time to watch the two 12-episode season on Netflix.
Here’s a very brief overview of the premise:
Hundreds of years in the future, humankind isn’t doing so well. The planet is dying. The people are dying. All they have going for them is advanced technology that allows them to carry on with their dismal existences. Things are so bad, they decide to go back to the past – 2016 – and change things in a systematic way that will create a better world.
The biggest difference between this show and other time-travel shows is the consistency. They create rules of how their cinematic universe is supposed to work and they stick to them flawlessly. When sci-fi is involved, we’re often slapped with constant deus ex machina filling in for creative storytelling, but Travelers is quite different. When things get screwed up, they stay screwed up.
This all flows with the adherence to the rules because the creators and writers clearly did their homework. The technobabble they use, which is thankfully rare, checks out with modern understanding of quantum entanglements, time-flow theory, and the limited understanding we now have regarding consciousness. In other words, the fiction jibes with the science.
These “travelers” follow certain protocols that make perfect sense, once again gaining realism by demonstrating a “grand plan” that goes far beyond other time travel stories’ understanding of manipulating the space-time continuum.
Behind the proper science and stellar storytelling is an exceptionally well-arranged cast. With few exceptions, they brought together the perfect actors to play their various roles led by the team leader, Grant MacLaren, played by Eric McCormack of Will and Grace fame. How did they get such a strong cast? Because they had the pick of the litter, so to speak, from Canada. Yes, Travelers is originally a Canadian television production set in the United States with Netflix as the distributing partner. Starting with the upcoming season, Netflix has complete control. Hopefully, they won’t try to change much. Everything’s been working so far with a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.
One important note is that despite the bleak vision of the future the show paints, it’s relatively safe to watch. There is no nudity and while there is plenty of violence, it’s not gratuitous. There is some blood and plenty of hand-to-hand combat. Guns are used regularly. Cursing is common but not overused. Still, it’s not a great show to watch with teens. It’s a bit of a mind trip because of the way the show handles death. Every time a traveler comes back from the future, they take over the consciousness of someone who is about to die. The show wrestles with the morality of what they do and don’t do in order to try to save the future.
With the new season, we expect to have some questions answered but a whole lot more questions raised. If you haven’t watched this show yet, you have time to get caught up before the December 14 release of season 3. Hopefully you’re reading this… in time.
Covid variant BA.5 is spreading. It appears milder but much more contagious and evades natural immunity. Best to boost your immune system with new Z-Dtox and Z-Stack nutraceuticals from our dear friend, the late Dr. Vladimir Zelenko.