Series Premiere Review: Journeyman---A Fantastic Voyage

Maybe it's the earnest look and piercing eyes of Dan the Journeyman himself, or maybe it's knowing that as you are watching his perfect life, his perfect wife, child, home, and career in smiling San Francisco, that it's all about to go BOOM. Whatever it is, in its series premiere, Journeyman grabs hold of you from the start, and for the next hour you're along for the ride as the newspaper reporter's escapades reveal a time-tangled love triangle, and ultimately his higher purpose. All the while you're wondering: What's next? Why? And When?

The writers of Journeyman do a fantastic job of generating empathy for Katie, Dan's wife, who on the morning after their anniversary, must suddenly cope with the fact that her husband has gone missing, the first of several vanishings that deliver heartache, disappointment and worry to her and their young son. She's skeptical, frantic, and nervous but clearly loves him and hesitates to believe worst-case scenarios involving drugs and other women. And you hope she can believe his explanations for missing dinner, deadlines, and days at a time, because their love seems so strong.

In one of Dan's time trips he ends up in 1987, a bit lost and confused, thinking it's all a dream, and gets willingly clobbered as an intruder in his future home in a weak attempt to wake up. You do feel quite sorry for him, so does the homeowner who lets him take a pair of running shoes.

But his reason for being 20 years ago is revealed: To save the life of Neal Gaines, a clearly depressed and love-sick young man, who is ready to be pummeled to death by a screeching trolley, over a lost love. But Dan swoops in to the rescue and, we think, this is his purpose - to save Neal from himself. Cool. But not nearly the end of the story.