Netflix – “Travelers” Review: 8.5/10
“Travelers,” spanning three seasons, can be summarized with this tagline: Body snatching to save the future.
Please be aware that the following post contains numerous spoilers, so read on at your own discretion.
Travelers, not the show itself, but rather the people from the future who call themselves Travelers, arrive in the 21st century with the noble aim of correcting events to ensure a better future. Allegedly, climate change, a devastating war, and other apocalyptic events have compelled future inhabitants to reside in subterranean domes and subsist on yeast. Nevertheless, those in the future have the option to enlist in the Traveler program. Once accepted into the program, individuals undergo specialized training to collaborate in teams and execute specific missions that will reshape the future and hopefully prevent the sins of our ancestors. All of this occurs under the guidance of The Director, and if you are successfully sent to the 21st century, there are several Protocols that you, as a Traveler, must adhere to.
Protocols
Protocol 1 – The mission comes first.
Protocol 2 – Leave the future in the past.
Protocol 2H: This one is for Historians – Updates are not to be discussed with anyone.
Protocol 3 – Don’t take a life, don’t save a life – unless otherwise directed, do not interfere.
Protocol 4 – Do not reproduce.
Protocol 5 – In the absence of direction, maintain your host’s life.
Protocol 6 – Do not communicate with other Traveler teams unless instructed by The Director.
Protocol Alpha – Suspend all other Protocols when a critical mission must be accomplished.
Protocol Epsilon: Must protect an archivist site when there is a threat of destruction of the archivist site.
Protocol Omega: The Director will no longer be intervening in this timeline.
I appreciate the simplicity of the Protocols, but they are undeniably unsettling. People from the future are thrust into the bodies of individuals on the brink of death, and their lives continue as if nothing has changed. It’s a compelling concept, albeit one that requires a significant suspension of disbelief. I did find the dynamic between Grant MacLaren, one of the show’s protagonists, and his wife particularly intriguing. However, what truly captivated me was how each of the main protagonist Travelers faced significant challenges. Marcy had a mental handicap, Philip struggled with heroin addiction, and Carly was a mother in an abusive relationship with an alcoholic cop. Considering the supposedly enlightened perspective of The Director, they made some rather intriguing choices. Nevertheless, it added depth to the drama.
Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the show was its portrayal of the role of AI. This concepts explored in the show are quite relevant to today’s world but stretch the boundaries of imagination in most cases. We discover that The Director is not a human, but an AI capable of observing events from the future and coordinating actions through online-connected devices. I found this aspect both intriguing and somewhat insane. At any moment, someone could be “erased” and have another consciousness forcibly injected into them, be killed, be the host of a first time Traveler, or if a first time Traveler is already the host, could be overwritten and replaced by a new first time Traveler. It’s a world of no choices—just abrupt changes, but again those changes are for the sake of the future! Or something… Anyway, children apparently serve as messengers without facing any repercussions. This is primarily how the Traveler teams receive information about the tasks they need to complete.
At the end of the day, I thoroughly enjoyed the show despite some of the crazy concepts explored. It was captivating, and each episode offered a satisfying story arc that glued the entire arc together. There were a few instances where certain themes and episodes felt forced, but these can be overlooked. If the series ever returns to our digital zeitgeist, count me in to watch.