Traveler recap

Wow, that would have been a great episode of "Traveler" — if it hadn't also been the series finale. Instead of leaving us with a neatly wrapped-up story, we got even more questions. Pretty much everything else I could say is a spoiler, so I think we'd better just read more

Only one more episode of "Traveler" to go, and I'm beginning to accept that I'm not ever going to understand everything that happens in this show. But "The Reunion" was yet another fun ride with yet another major twist at the end, so let's get to it.

• So this episode begins literally where the last one left off, with Tyler running from the FBI agents. Did anyone else think, at least for a moment, that he might go running straight into Jay's outstretched arms, all romantic-comedy style?
• Jay, meanwhile, has other things to do — like track down his girlfriend for a little romp beneath the sheets in his sketchy hotel. Of course, when you're a fugitive on the run, and your girlfriend is being interviewed by the FBI, such a proposition is fairly complicated. Marlow tells Kim she knows Will exists and can protect Jay; Jay later sends word to Kim via courier, and she literally hurdles a fence to sneak to Jay's hotel.
• While they're, er, reuniting, Will is seeking violent revenge for Maya's death. He very nearly hangs Jimmy — barely letting his toes touch the hood of Will's car — before Jimmy coughs up some morsels of information.

Lots more, so read more

As "Traveler" hurtles toward its season finale, the episodes are starting to be more closely balanced between Jay and Tyler's story and Will's, leading me to believe that there's going to be a massive smackdown between the three of them. So I'd just like to go on record now as saying that if they just hug and make up, it will be the lamest series ending ever.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. This week's episode starts with Jay and Tyler heading back to New York, where Jay ever-so-helpfully reminds us it's dangerous to be because people haven't forgotten about the Drexler bombing. Well, maybe they shouldn't be talking about it in public, then, huh? There was lots more wacky logic in this week's episode, so read more

This week's episode of "Traveler" was the most action-packed hour yet, and for the first time, I'm actually a little sad that this show will (presumably) be ending for good in just a few weeks. I've grown attached to Jay and Tyler, but this week also featured a heavy dose of Will, the reason I liked this show in the first place.

This week jumped back and forth between Jay and Tyler's story and Will's interrogation, so there was a lot going on. Here's my take on what happened:

• So Hotel Guy shot Will with a tracking device (which his bosses later cut out of his leg, ew), and he's also been following Jay and Tyler thanks to a tracking device in the watch he gave them. He seemed most interested to know if Maya gave them anything; Jay refused to admit they had the mysterious key. I'm still not sure whose side Hotel Guy is on, but I'd be nervous about messing with him.
• Hotel Guy also finally informed the guys that Will is not their friend. Gee, you think?

Lots more, so read more

I realized last night that I no longer have a clue what's happening on "Traveler." I don't know who's good, who's bad and who's just creepy; I don't know who's telling the truth and who's lying. And in that way, I guess the show has managed to put me in the shoes of Jay and Tyler, as their lives start to feel even more unhinged.

But what I love most about "Traveler" at this point is the final two minutes of every episode. In the first episode, Tyler's dad reveals that he's been on the phone with someone mysterious. In the second, the scary Homeland Security guy appears. In the third, we learn that Will's alive. And in the fourth ... well, I'll get to that in a second. First, here are a few of my thoughts on "The Out":

• I like that every episode has been set somewhere different so far, each with a new cast of characters to navigate. If this show were going to be a full-out, multi-season series, it would probably annoy me to have to keep track of so many people, but since I'm assuming "Traveler" will be done after its eighth episode, I'm more than happy to meet and then discard new characters every week. This week, Jay and Tyler take off for Deer Harbor, Maine, home of the possibly fictional Will.
• Jay and Tyler bribe a guy and learn that someone named Daniel Taft made the reservation they found the code for on the train schedule. They speculate that Will must have been using the name Daniel Taft. Or maybe Daniel Taft was using the name Will Traveler, you idiots.

To talk more about Daniel Taft and that crazy ending, read more

Last night's episode of "Traveler" left me with one big question (and a few smaller ones, but more on those later) --- how the heck are they going to keep this show going? I mean, beyond one season sounds impossible, but even just after three episodes I'm confused as to how the writers are going to keep the story going. Anyway, here are some notes on the episode:

• At the beginning of the episode Jay looks to be at a farmer's market buying clothes. This is random for many reasons, seems ill-planned as he was almost immediately recognized. This was followed by a completely unnecessary debate on hair dying, thanks to Tyler.
• The man Jay & Tyler left bound and gagged in the airport hangar is found dead, shot using an insurgency torture tactic, immediately making the FBI think it was something Jay's dad taught him. Thanks, dad!
• The boys decide to return to New Haven (in easiest car to steal ever) in order to find proof Will existed. And hit on some freshmen girls? I mean, they're totally famous!

To hear the rest of my thoughts and Learn! About! The! Shocking! Conclusion! just read more

One thing I noticed watching last night's second episode of "Traveler": That show moves fast! So much happens that I could hardly believe every time it was time for another commercial break. The downside of that is that too much seemed to happen on this week's episode, and it was hard to keep track of all the twists and turns. Still, "Traveler" is a mystery that I'm having fun trying to solve.

In case you missed the first episode, here's a quick rundown: Jay, Tyler and Will were grad school friends and roommates who decide to take a road trip before starting their professional lives. At an art museum in New York, Will encourages the guys to pull a prank by rollerblading through the museum. He says he'll be behind them filming, but instead, he tells Jay he's "sorry I had to do this" just before the museum blows up. The two end up as suspects in a terrorist plot, and nobody can find any trace of Will, not even a photograph. Jay wants to reason with the FBI while Tyler wants to run; in the end, thanks to help from several mysterious characters and following the death of a few FBI agents, the two set off for Tyler's rich dad's house somewhere in the country.

That's where the second episode picks up, so to talk about it, read more