Be Reel- Travelers

In 2016 Netflix released season 1 of an original called Travelers. “Travelers” is a time travel show that is very light on science. Hundreds of years in our future, humanity is endangered and the survivors have learned to send their consciousness into their past, the 21st century. They then take over people’s bodies in order to carry out missions that will hopefully prevent humankind’s tragic fate. Fortunately, the appeal of “Travelers” lies not in its futuristic reality but in how the group of five travelers adjust to life in our present.  The leader of the group is Eric McCormack, who plays a traveler who has taken over the life of FBI Agent Grant MacLaren. He’s joined by travelers who’ve taken over the bodies of library employee Marcy Warton (MacKenzie Porter), high school student Trevor Holden (Jared Abrahamsson), heroin addict Philip Pearson (Reilly Dolman) and single mom Carly Shannon (Nesta Cooper). These five assume the bodies of people who would have otherwise died. Seconds before their scheduled death, these people are taken control of and re purposed as agents. The interesting part lies with the new travelers having to be their hosts. Each person has to adjust to acting "normal" around their friends and family. The show, while sci-fi, is very much about balancing the 21st lives and completing missions sent by the overseeing AI, the "director".

From a film perspective, this show is nothing too new. While an interesting plot, the general problem-solution follows many sci-fi shows, and much of the outcomes were not surprising. That being said, there were a few developments that were surprising and interesting, such as (spoiler) Marcy being not mentally handicapped for life, but experimented on and ruined, and had records wiped. David's relationship with Marcy is thoroughly enjoyable to watch, as his character is quirky and entertaining. Philips relationship with his turtle is also a highlight of mine, as its so strange for a darker sci-fi show to have such an amusing relationship embedded in the plot. In terms of quality, it ranks good, but medium good. In terms of enjoyment, it personally ranks very high for me. The characters have depth, and none of the plots, perhaps save for carly's husband, are a drag in any sense. Season 3 cannot come soon enough, and hopefully this title will have a long life ahead of it.