Travelers Season 2 Review: Time Travel Makes My Head Hurt

Welcome back to one of my favorite shows of 2017 (see reviews here and here) The show is currently available on NetFlix and originally aired on Showcase in Canada. I'm a real sucker for anything about time travel. "Travelers" presents an interesting mythology. I cant confess to understanding all of it (but that doesnt stop me from trying). Season 2 expands on the "Travelers" universe to include other Travelers. %here are teams across the world-- and not all of them are cooperating. The Faction is trying to undo everything the other Travelers are doing. The future of humanity is at stake so get it together people!

Just a quick recap on the mechanics of time travel. A Traveler's (person from the future) consciousness is transferred to a "host" body in the present right before their death. They then take over the person's identify. That means they also inherent all their issues too-- like Marcy's mental challenges and Phillip's drug addiction. Each Traveler team consists of five members-- mission head, historian, medical, security, and engineer. There are also other classes of Travelers such as programmers. Travelers are instructed to complete certain missions by the Director. The Director is an AI program that has a master plan (to prevent the dystopian future they all came from). Protocols govern Traveler's behavior. See the list here Our gang has broken a few of these already.

There are alternating time lines (but I dont really understand them). When the asteroid Helios- 365 was destroyed last season, I assume that set up a different future. Everything they do changes the future. Let's not think about what happens if what they alter in the present then keeps them from being born in the future (so they cant travel to the present). Ahhhh, my head hurts.

Season 2 focuses more of our group's relationships:

Marcy Warton is a mentally challenged woman who "died" when several men attacked her in a parking lot. She is prone to seizures and Traveler 3569 will die in her body without intervention. Grace performs a "reboot". It keeps Marcy alive but removed her previous history. This means she no longer remembers her relationship with David and is emotionless for the most part. But Mary is resourceful and will find a way around her current situation.
Trevor Holden is a high school student who "dies" when his head is bashed in during a fight. Traveler 0115 is actually one of the longest living humans in history. This makes for an ironic situation.
Philip Person is a junkie who "ODs" with his buddy. Traveler 3326 is the historian of the group and has automatic recall of all the data surrounding the trip. He struggles with missions (when they involve hurting people). He hooks up with another Traveler (masking as a high school student). She gives him a synthetic drug to help with his addition. Jenny is not what she seems though. Phillip secretly gets an "upgrade" and must struggle with horrifying visions of the future and who will die. Life is rough for Phillip. Luckily has a turtle named Poppy to keep him company.
Carly Shannon is a single mom who "dies" at the hands of her abusive cop boyfriend. Traveler 3465 is the security officer so she's not taking any crap off of Jeff. She and Mac also had a "thing" back in the future which leads to complications in the present.
FBI agent Grant "Mac" McLaren is supposed to fall down an elevator shaft while trailing terrorists. Traveler 3468 is able to use McLaren's job to gather intelligence. He and his wife have a rocky marriage but Kathryn becomes pregnant in season 2. I still dont understand why the Director wants the baby termed though. Was she going to turn into an evil person or something? Yes, I know Grant violated one of the protocols by having sex with his wife.
Grace Day- Philips high school guidance counselor. Traveler 0027 (a head programmer) enters her body without permission from the Director. Grace is extremely smart but has an ego to match (and ZERO people skills). She does provide some much needed comic relief though. Trevor tries to mellow her out as time passes. Grace initially has supreme trust in the Director's plan but that begins to waver. She is put on trial for treason (but luckily doesnt get "wiped"), Has Grace lost faith?

There's a big bad in season 2 in the form of Traveler 0001 who is going by the name Vincent Ingram (Enrico Colantoni). Remember in season 1, our Travelers were kidnapped and interrogated as to what their missions were? Yep, that was him. His job was to travel back in time to September 11, 2001 and send a message to the future saying he arrived and then die in the World Trade Center. He instead ended up in a different body and survived. Vincent attempts to stay under the radar but the Director tries killing him several times (and succeeds in killing her wife and business partner). More on Vincent later.

Our crew goes on various missions. One involves saving the future 58th President of the US (a little girl, yeah!). One involves stopping a potential flu pandemic (that is accidentally caused by the Travelers). One involved trying to stop the release of genetically modified seeds that could destroy the environment. "17 Minutes" (my favorite episode) involves retrieving a meteorite. The team is ambushed and all are shot DEAD. A woman nearby is supposed to die skydiving. She attempts to save our guys over and over and over again until the host body gives out. Then her brother who was also supposed to die, continues to try. A truck driver ends up also dying and tries to help. Eventually after EIGHT tries they save our team. This is where I get confused as how time travel works on this show. So knowing the team is going to be killed, the Director goes back earlier each time time and sends more and more Travelers through until someone succeeds. Talk about some confusing time lines.

After Marcy regains her previous memories along with some of her host's, we learn a number of startling facts. Marcy previously worked at the mental hospital where she was later confined. Vincent posed as a benefactor/doctor there and experimented on staff and patients. This is what caused Marcy's change in metal state. YOU"RE AN EVIL MAN VINCENT! There was also another patient named Simon at the hospital. He turns out to be Traveler 0004. He was one of the first Travelers and was supposed to set up a communication interface but his host developed schizophrenia.

At the end of the season, the core team's loved ones are kidnapped by Victor. In order to protect them, the Travelers must reveal their true identifies on video. They reluctantly do so. Vincent surprisingly keeps his word. He releases the hostages but also releases the videos to the public. Everyone is dropped off in a field unharmed. The non-travelers are obviously very confused and want nothing to do with their loved one. Just then, the police arrive. The Travelers have nowhere to hide. They are now considered dangerous terrorists. Welcome to the 21st!

Meanwhile, Vincent transfers his consciousness to his psychiatrist Dr Katrina Perrow (Amanda Tapping). Vincent previously told son Taylor he would be living with her for a while). And, just when I think Vincent is dead, he is now inhabited by Traveler 5692. Say what? Is this the Director's punishment?

Grade: 4 1/2 Monsters (out of 5). Season 2 of "Travelers" is a bit slower than its predecessor. But I think that's because we were just getting to know this universe and it's characters back then. Season 2 better defines the show's time travel mythology and gives us a closer look at the Travelers and their relationships. I still dont understand all the specifics of time travel but dont really care. I'm more interested in the characters and the story. Both are compelling enough to keep me coming back.

I still have a few major questions going into next year. Hopefully there will be one! Is the Director all knowing? After this year, I'm beginning to wonder if humans wouldnt be better off trying to make their own plans? No, I'm not in the Faction! And what happened to Simon? Was he transferred to someone else's body after fixing the machine for Vincent?