I recently binge-watched two new streaming Netflix series that I really enjoyed, and which I enthusiastically recommend to you!
The premise of Travelers is that teams of humans from the future are being sent on missions back to present-day earth. Things have gotten grim in the future, and these "travelers" are trying to manipulate events in their past to create a more hospitable future.
The only way a traveler can go to the past is by occupying the body of an already existing human. The exact time and coordinates of that person's death must be known in the future before the transfer into the past can happen. This radically limits the available pool of hosts, so travelers have to pretty much take whatever bodies they can get.
The premise of a new consciousness in an existing body sets up a fascinating split personality dynamic, since the personalities of the traveler and host are always very different. Yet the traveler has to impersonate the host.
A lot of the show's drama (and occasional humor) stems from the travelers learning how to act like their hosts. It also sets up an ongoing source of suspense: to what degree will each traveler let their host's life situation influence their emotions and actions ... which could jeapordize their missions to save the future?
The life of each host presents unique challenges. One is hooked on heroin, another has a physically abusive boyfriend. A third is severely mentally disabled, while a fourth finds himself in a triangle between a fellow traveler whom he passionately loves in the future and the wife of his host. The traveler who's the oldest in the future ironically ends up in the youngest body: a 17-year-old high school football star.
Travelers is a character-driven show, but there are also plenty of well-plotted high-stakes missions for those who like a good adrenaline hit. The camerawork and lighting are stylish and distinctive, and the acting is uniformly excellent. I love Travelers!
Glitch
Another great character-driven series with an unusual premise is Glitch. In the first episode of this show, set in a small present-day Australian town, six people rise naked from their graves. They've been dead anywhere from two to 150 years. Each of the risen has a unique personality and situation. None were connected to each other during their lives, and they're trying to unravel the mystery of why they've been resurrected.
Each of the risen is in perfect physical health, and medical examinations show them to be normal humans. (This is not a zombie show.) A compassionate police officer and a secretive doctor keep the existence of the newly risen as secret as they can. (Of course, the secret slowly leaks out.)
Like Travelers, Glitch also has a central romantic triangle. One of the risen, two years dead, is the police officer's wife. (They're the ones in the picture.) This presents obvious complications when we discover that he's remarried, and his new wife is about to give birth to their first child. And she has no intentions of sharing her husband!
Additional drama is added by a second police officer, who's killed in a car crash and quickly reawakens as ... something else. Whatever it is, it's obsessed with returning each of the resurrected to their graves.
If this sounds cheesy or melodramatic, it doesn't play that way onscreen. As with Travelers, in-depth characterization, combined with excellent writing, acting and directing, make this a highly enjoyable show.
These are both new series, and the first season of each is now streaming on Netflix. Both have received strong reviews, and the second season of each is now in production. I can hardly wait!
