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Episode Recap: Emily
This week on Journeyman, Dan’s mission began when he disappeared while taking his morning jog. He found himself in the middle of a wild rave where intoxicated partygoers (Livia included) were oblivious to the crumbling wall at the back of the room. When Dan went to investigate, he discovered a young girl shivering in the corner. Believing this to be his mission, he guided the girl to safety and brought her to the police as they busted up the rave inside. The girl’s name was Emily and everyone in the area had been searching for her. Before Dan could explain how he’d seen the kidnapper, a partygoer looking to get out of getting booked fingered Dan as the girl’s captor. The cops cuffed Dan but he vanished from the cop car before they could ask him any questions.
After resurfacing in 2007, Dan caught up with Katie to have her get him out of the cuffs before anybody noticed. He found Katie leaving Zack’s school, where his teacher reported that Zack had been acting out. Meanwhile, Jack continued to try to figure out what’s been going on with his brother. His girlfriend suggested he bring Dan to the station to be checked out by a shrink but Jack seemed more intent on finally getting the truth.
During his second journey back, Dan was in a park where a sober Livia waited for him to discuss the mission. Despite knowing that his mission was to set Emily on the right path, Dan was set on also trying to bust the man who kidnapped her. Although Livia warned against it, Dan refused to believe that stopping a kidnapper could impact the time line so severely. After taking Emily to a warm place for some food and clean clothes, he left her with Livia and went off to find the kidnapper, following a lead that he worked in real estate.
Back in present day, Jack approached Dan to confront him about the counterfeit $20 bill he used in 1995. Dan recalled paying a cab driver with the bad money, which turned out to be enough proof to get Jack to start buying into Dan’s stories. Seeing this, Dan hit Jack up for some help with his current case. The brothers started their investigation and quickly confirmed their real-estate guy as the culprit. At the same time, Dan’s son continued to act out in front of Katie. Though she tries to be supportive of Dan’s journeys, having to deal with all of the family issues while he’s off fixing other people’s problems was starting to get to her.
On another journey back, Dan prevented Emily from getting busted selling Ecstasy and then went off to search for another kidnap victim. He saved another girl and got the real-estate guy arrested for his crimes. When he returned to present day, he learned that Emily went on to start her own business, but the kidnapper was let out of jail after serving his time. However, Dan’s actions in the past changed the time line, causing the conversation with Jack to have never taken place. Meanwhile, the federal agent investigating the Dylan McCleen money uncovered a number of newspaper clippings all reporting a mysterious stranger helping people in dangerous situations. We also learned that Emily went on to start her own business and the kidnapper was released from prison after serving several years. The episode ended with the kidnapper watching Dan and his family, waiting to exact his revenge.
Overall, this episode was a nice setup for next week's conclusion. I'm thinking the FBI agent will come to save the day when Dan's family is held captive by the disgruntled kidnapper.
I found it odd that in this week's show, Dan and Livia seemed to completely move past their relationship hang-ups and started making jokey comments to one another. Those two are very hot and cold. One minute Dan won't complete his mission until he gets some answers and another he's cracking jokes with her while running through the motions.
I really liked how his solving the crime in the '90s prevented the conversation with Jack from ever taking place. I also enjoyed Dan and Katie freaking when they thought Zack disappeared when his head started to hurt. I guess that will be a big worry for them, especially if it turns out that Dan's father also traveled.
Next week it looks like Livia comes to 2007 to get Jack to help Dan and his family. It figures, just as this show starts building momentum, it goes on hiatus. The future is not looking good, my friends!
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Nov 20, 2007 11:32 AM
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I am really enjoying this show. Adam, your comment about the future not looking good is regarding the show continuing after the hiatus? I hope that is not the case. This show is written well and I would hate to see it cut off while it is really heating up.
I would trade Bionic Woman for Journeyman any day.
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Nov 20, 2007 12:00 PM
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Good episode too bad changing the past changed things so Jack is back to not believing Dan. Cant' wait til next week when Livvy appears to jack! When does the hiatus start? Is next week the last eppy for a while ?
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Nov 20, 2007 12:37 PM
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It's really sad that NBC has decided to desert yet another quality show. NBC is demanding a higher performance from Journeyman, when it has already stopped the level of promotion that it's still giving to its other show's, such as The Bionic Woman, which Journeyman out performed in rating last week. And the networks wonder why they are continually loosing overall viewership?
Anyway, on the topic of yet another excellent episode:
LOL moments: Dan and Katie at the Marital Aids' Shop, attempting to remove the handcuffs, and the clerks comments; Livia at the rave, high as a kite; Livia's "I knew I'd run into to you," after nearly running Dan over.
All of this in the midst of some pretty dark stuff. The writing is wonderful. I know a lot of Rome fans think Kevin McKidd accepted an assignment beneath his worth in this series, but IMO they couldn't be more wrong. He's brought so many layers to this ordinary man placed in extraordinary circumstances that if the show does survive, his performance, as well as the other major players should finally echo the recognition given to Gillian Anderson during the best years of the X Files, (another show that was initially panned by critics and got little recognition during it's first season). These characters all have substance, which is something that I think most viewers aren’t used to these days. They seem to expect one dimensional unflawed heroes or evil characters there for no purpose other than to thwart the heroes’ actions. This show is way beyond that. I’ve loved Jack from the start in spite of his control issues concerning his family. What a twist for Dan to finally gain his trust and support, only to have it vanish due to success in his efforts to put the kidnapper away. I can’t wait for Jack’s to finally come face to face with “dead” Livia.
Anyway, we really can't let this show go without a fight. It might help if TV Guide finally gave it some real recognition instead the weekly it’s on the chopping block saga. This is the show that brings me to this site.
There is very little television left that actually has some intelligence to it IMO, too bad the press and the rest of the industry fail to recognize real jewels when finally show up.
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Nov 20, 2007 12:48 PM
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I enjoyed this week's episode it was different and showed off why I enjoy this show. I think next week's episode will be really good and hopefully it will bump up the ratings if promoted right getting leftover Hero fans.Hope NBC doesn't cancel the show now 
It was interesting to see the early version of the chat rooms compared to current times version. I have a feeling the FBI guy will not help Dan, but try to expose him. The kidnapper will just try to kill him & his family for ruining his life.
Question: Does the show ever mention Jack & Dan's mom?..I just wonder since we never hear or see her  ">
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Nov 20, 2007 1:30 PM
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Juanita what a great post I agree with everything you said
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Nov 20, 2007 1:37 PM
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The episodes do keep getting better and it seems like the show is close to hitting it's stride - this strike is really making the viewers suffer. Hope they get that straightened out quickly.
Back to the show - the one thing that needs to diminish a bit is Dan's problems with his wife and son. Of course it's 'realistic' (on a time-travel show?) but it's sad and predictable. If they could adjust the stories so that Katie is helping in the present it wouldn't be so hard on them - after all, she is back in the news business.
I really liked the 'butterfly effect' ending where Jack and Dan didn't have their conversation, but if Dan had been smart, he could have brought up the incident with the 'counterfeit' 2003 bill himself which was what got Jack starting to help since Dan couldn't have possibly known about Jack's conversation with the Fed.
This show has great potential and I sincerely hope that it has a chance to survive.
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Nov 20, 2007 1:47 PM
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Really good episode. My only frustration is that Olivia never says 'been there done that doesn't work' whenever Dan tries things she's already failed doing. Looks like Dan has to get shot next week to learn not to change too much.
The show seems to have found itself. I only watched the first few episodes for Kevin McKidd; maybe up until around the "Year of the Rabbit" or "Dylan McCleen" episodes. Then I started to like the Katie-Dan relationship, the newspaper boss, the ripples of things in the past to the present. And I now like what Jack's skepticism is doing for the story.
I fear NBC will give up on this show once the new episodes run out. The story is complicated and they did not do a good job hooking people at the start of the series. Following Heroes should have been a good lead-in, but Heroes is very plot driven - maybe folks are too tired after that? Journeyman is more of a character show to me, but the mystery is pretty complicated.
Whoever mentioned how this show's story telling is like X-Files is onto something. X-Files was not a lockstep mythology every week, nor a formulaic procedural, it was a mixture of both.
Here's hoping NBC gives Journeyman the time that X-Files was given to find its audience. If you really like this show, please convince your friends and family to start watching again - online, on DVR, wherever they can.
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Nov 20, 2007 2:10 PM
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I really liked that episode, but I got really confused with Jack forgetting about the 1995 $20 bill.
I don't think I missed a scene, but I didn't catch the causation between Dan helping Emily the second time in the park and Jack not knowing about the conversation about the money. That seemed like just a big leap. That just didn't make sense. Yes I know, that's ironic because this is a time-travelling show.
I will agree with Katie's attitude being almost as irritating as Jack. I can understand that Katie is worried about Dan getting killed, but I would like to think she'd be more supportive and not whip coffee cups across the kitchen.
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Nov 20, 2007 2:12 PM
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The show is great and intriguing, but I find the brother (Jack) ANNOYING. Again and again the brother acts like a complete jerk, and Dan just allows him to keep coming into his house and into his family to harass them more. Kick that brother to the CURB!
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Nov 20, 2007 2:24 PM
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The writer's strike has been both a blessing and a curse for Journeyman. It surely would have been cancelled by now if there were new shows waiting in the wings, but on the other hand, the strike may hit JM just as it's gaining a following. I'm old enough to remember when they gave new shows at least one season to build an audience, instead of just yanking them after 2 or 3 episodes or moving their time slot around (Firefly, anyone?).
Anyhoo..I love the fact that Dan's actions in the past are having consequences in the present; you just can't mess with the space/time continuum.
Did anyone else think that Zack went time-traveling when he had a headache just before disappearing from the kitchen? That would have been a trip (har-de-har)!
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Nov 20, 2007 2:27 PM
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there has been a lot of people worrying that Journeyman is going to get canceled after just the one season, me included. Well if you didnt know Journeyman was nominated for the people's choice awards, so one way we can prove to the producers at NBC that journeyman deserves to stay is to vote for it for the people's choice awards, below is the link to the website where you can cast your vote. it only takes a few min and costs you nothing, you just go in a vote for the categories and then you are done. i think that if journeyman were to win the award that it would be extremely hard for NBC to cancel the show. So what do you say, its worth a shot.
http://www.pcavote.com/pca/index.jsp
Oh by the way you can vote as many times as you want but it cant be from the same computer on the same day. Meaning one vote on one computer per day. So if have access to 3 computers you could vote on all three of them, and then the next day you could come back and vote on all three of them again. but not on the same day. does that make sense
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Nov 20, 2007 2:33 PM
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I agree with everyone who said this show is finally hitting its stride. I think as it starts to weave more of the mythology into the show, it gets better and more intriguing.
Next week should be a blast with Livia appearing to Jack. That's exactly the type of risky move I've been waiting for this show to make, and I can't wait for the payoff.
When Zach disappeared, I really had hoped they'd decided to make him travel. That would have been incredibly risky for this show, and potentially a thrilling plot twist. I'm not really sure how they could explain it or where they could go with it, but it certainly would have been unexpected.
Oh and where did the rest of the write up go?
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Nov 20, 2007 2:39 PM
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Why is Moon Bloodgood's character still alive? I stopped watching after about three episodes or so because I couldn't stand her character. I checked out this episode because the ads made it look interesting. The plot was somewhat interesting, but sure enough, Livia is acting like a bitch again. "Remember what happened in the earthquake?" Yeah, I remember you acted like a jealous bitch and caused the death of the person I was trying to save. Why can't the creators of this show get a clue and make Livia die a painful death?
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Nov 20, 2007 3:16 PM
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