At this point, I don’t think I necessarily have to say it, but I got another weekly theme for you! We are talking “Freaky Sci-Fi” today and on Friday and are starting it all off with Travelers. From what I’ve noticed, not that many people know it. So, I figured it would be the perfect opportunity to showcase it a little.

So, far there are 2 Seasons of the time travel drama out there. You can watch them on Netflix, but they originally air on Showcase in Canada. There’s definitely more to tell, but it has been well received among viewers and even made it onto some list of Netflix, ranking it among the top 10 shows to marathon/binge-watch. So, here’s to hoping Season 3 will be greenlit soon.

The future is in peril! To prevent humankind from extinction, brave souls go on a suicide mission and transfer their consciousness into the 21st century to change what’s to come.

Usually I decide whether I am going to keep watching a show or not within the first 10 minutes. Whatever you do, do not base your opinion of Travelers on the first ten minutes! I might be sightly exaggerating, but they were dreadful. I didn’t understand what was going on and when I finally did, I didn’t enjoy seeing those situations over and over with different people. It just took way too long to really get going, felt hacked up and not like a good flow at all, but in the end I am really glad I stuck around.

The so-called Travelers leave their original identity behind and enter their new host body shortly before their moment of death, which they then prevent. Most of their information is based off of social media accounts or official records and digital papertrails. This makes for a great fish-out-of-water-scenario as the main characters have to pretend to be someone they don’t know in a time they’ve basically only read about.

Other than most Sci-Fi shows, Travelers is very understated. There’s not a lot of CGI or pompous effects, but rather a focus on interpersonal relationships and the drama that comes with wanting to save the world, but also having to preserve the cover of being an ordinary person. It’s more on the slow paced side, which gives the show room for character development and the exploration of the moral predicament the cast is facing at every other turn. After all, there are rules to time travel but nothing is what it seems and there comes a time when they have to decide which rules might be worth breaking and which ones aren’t.

Now it’s time for a new official part of my #CurrentlyWatching posts. I’ve already started to implement this a little in the past, but most of the time, it’s really the characters that make the show worth watching. So, from now on, I want to do a specific section to feature and spotlight one or several characters of a show that particularly enticed me. I am trying to get you attached here, but at the same time, I will try not to give too much away. Otherwise where is the fun in watching, right?

Already I struggled a bit to just spotlight one person for this post. After all, there is Trevor – one of the oldest travelers, yet the one who ends up in the body of a High School student. He is invigorated by youth, but struggles to fit into the shallow and reckless life the real Trevor used to lead. Then there is Philip – the historian of the team who has perfect recall and has to carry the weight of remembering all the deaths of all the people they might encounter, knowing that he is not allowed to change history, while also coping with a drug addiction that wasn’t made privy in death records of his host. Or maybe Carly – the tactician and soldier of the group, who finds herself with an abusive boyfriend and newborn baby that she cannot help but feel maternal for. But in the end I went with Marcy.

Marcy, the team’s medic, also fell victim to expecting a different life from her host, due to fake social media profiles. In truth, the real Marcy was a intellectually disabled woman and did not in fact have a relationship with David, who, in reality, is Marcy’s social worker. On the one side, I really enjoyed watching Marcy’s journey as she is one of the most enigmatic characters, but then again there is so much … problematic (not sure that’s the right word, but it’s what I am going with for now) with her character. Aside from the fact that they basically “cured” an intellectually disabled woman (which gets a whole new spin in Season 2 that I will not go into right now but I am also still not sure how to feel about), there is also the fact that she then proceeds to have an on and off relationship with her former social worker. Don’t get me wrong, they are incredibly cute. David is one of the most precious people out there, but the implications that come with that are staggering.

I am glad that it’s a topic that is discussed, challenged and by no means just accepted. David in particular struggles with his growing feelings for Marcy and knows what that means for his career and life.

There’s a lot happening in the two seasons so far. Some things I really liked, others I felt more iffy about. There is a tranquility to the show that is really appealing to me, but there are also single episodes that don’t work particularly well for me. In general, I feel like the show works better as a binge than one episode per week. There’s still so much potential in this story and their characters, so I am curious to see where they will go next.

Have you ever watched Travelers? Do you think you would want to check it out?