Travelers (Netflix)

Many centuries into the future, the Earth's population has dwindled to almost nothing -- but the survivors have discovered the key to time travel. The last surviving humans discover they can send consciousness back in time to the 21st century. Inhabiting seemingly random people.  Desperate to save humanity, a group of "Travelers" enter the 21st century on a mission to avert disaster.

I have to start off by saying, 'Thank you Netflix" for another surprising interesting series.  So, my wife knows I love anything that has to do with time travel and dream interpretation.  With that said, she told me I have to watch this series but take your time and let it build on you.  I was like, eh,  we'll see.  Surprisingly, this is what I got.  This series opened up with multiple instances of people dying.  Theres an on screen count down of time of death and it looks like they die.  All of a sudden the time is reversed on a positive side.  Numbers going forward. We don't know what happened, but they seem to be different people now.  Its still a mystery what just occurred, but these characters go back to their life and begin communicating via the dark net (the internet but with cryptic code.  These communications are  picked up at the FBI believing they are terrorist communications.  We see one agent go from house to house trying to speak to these people with no real answers.  When he finally gets a good lead at where this group that has been communicating on the web are  meeting up.  The FBI finally catches up to these changed people and they let him know that he was going to be killed by a criminal and throw down an elevator shaft.  But before he can get some real answers,  his count down to his death starts and I'm like .... WTH??!!!  But now we understand that all of these people who have changed are inhabited by the consciousness of other people from the future.  Their former selves are gone with a hint of what they were but mostly gone.  What we know about these characters are they're  specialist from the future. The main characters are:

• Eric McCormack as Grant MacLaren (Traveler 3468), the team's leader who assumes the life of an FBI special agent
• MacKenzie Porter as Marcy Warton (Traveler 3569), the team's medic who assumes the life of an intellectually disabled woman.
• Nesta Cooper as Carly Shannon (Traveler 3465), the team's tactician who assumes the life of a stay-at-home single mother.
• Jared Abrahamson as Trevor Holden (Traveler 0115), the team's engineer who assumes the life of a high school athlete.
• Reilly Dolman as Philip Pearson (Traveler 3326), the team's historian who assumes the life of a college-aged heroin addict.

As all of these characters come together for missions to save their future.  The team lets us know there is chaos that occurred in the future and we are not quit sure what went on but we know that because of a chatostophic event, it changed what the future becomes.   What we also find out is there's someone called the Director that gives out orders through random people he takes over by moving his consciousness  to them and speaks to the teams.  What you find is there are multiple travelers on different missions and their directives are not to interact with each other unless authorized. Our main characters seemed to be the rebels of all the travelers and they keep breaking protocol to do what they want to.  One traveler keeps her baby thats not hers, another helps others that are going to die thus creating new time lines.  And another is trying to not be in a relationship but can't help it.  Eric McCormack does a good job with his crew of unknown actors and they do a good job distinguishing who they are through out the series.  

The fact that these Travelers are constantly breaking protocol makes this series a lot more interesting than others.  Their moral compass strays them towards compassion and normalcy.  As opposed to the others that either want to just live in the past cleanly and happily or follow the directors request and do as they are told.  But this is where things take a turn. During an almost botched mission that suppose to change the future for the good.  The team finds they are still alive and their consciousness is still in the present.  But we don't know what happens in the future (which becomes something different since they changed time).  But we find their is a alternate black ops travelers group who is reeling against the directors orders.  The Traveler team now has to combat them as well as the FBI and wait on orders from the director to assign them a new mission.  The story comes up with some good secondary story lines with these travelers and we feel for them and the families that have no idea that these people aren't their loved ones and friends.  Be prepared it drags at times and redundant with digging too deep into the past of some of these Travelers but a pretty good show thats is slated for a second season.  

So once again Netflix, Thanks for getting me away from my satellite TV programming and possibly getting rid of it in a year or two.  

Outcast

Created and co-executive produced by Robert Kirkman ("The Walking Dead"), the drama series "Outcast" stars Patrick Fugit ("Gone Girl") as Kyle Barnes, a man who has been possessed by demons since he was young. His search for answers -- and redemption -- leads him into a relationship with Reverend Anderson, a West Virginia evangelist who believes he is fighting in a holy war against Earth's evil forces. As Barnes sequesters himself from those he loves for fear of causing greater hurt, he begins to delve into secrets from his past. What he discovers could be life-changing -- and affect the fate of the world forever.

Some series I run into by chance, others are based on a Netflix, Hulu,or Amazon recommendation.  For some reason this one came from a list of most unique series of the year review.  The first thing I found out was this show was created for TV then a comic was created by the same name.  You should know by now, dark emotional comics are being brought to the screen as often as they can (Preacher, Walking dead).  I was cool with it and figured the premise sounded interested.  With all that said I decided to give It a try.  I'm not a big horror fan unless its made to be very interesting and captivating.  So when I found out that Robert Kirkman the creator of the "Walking dead" created this series and sold it to Cinemax before he put it into comic book print.  I was like damn.  Guess I better pay attention to this.  Basically this was a made for TV comic book series that happened to be sold oversees as well as locally.  But what you get from this show is a truly mysterious, creepy horror show like you wouldn't normally see on network TV.  Barely from cable TV.    I started reading the comic but found that since the show was written for TV.  The comic followed the same script.  Nothing deviating from the script.    But what the hell is Outcast about.  Funny you should ask.

We open up with a child watching a roach climb up a wall while he stares at it with a blank hypnotize glare.  He slams his head into the wall killing the roach and eats it.  WTF??  Yeah, he licks the wall and eats the damn thing.  O yeah, you got me now.    We switch to a man lying in bed while a knock on the door in the background disturbs his already disturbed sleep.  He's in a house thats pretty dark, disheveled and creeps you out with shit every where.  At the same time, we see flash backs of a closet and someone terrorizing a child constantly.   You are now introduced to Kyle Barnes.  This depressed, lonely ostracized man who was accused of beating his child and wife for no apparent reason.  He returns to the town he left to escape what happened to is family and his mother.  We'll get to his mother.  The creepiness continues when he runs into a preacher that has been exorcizing demons from people possessed in town.  The stories tells a different story about  Kyles memories of his mother that was possessed as well and is now in a coma.  You see her attack him and locks him in a closet.  The strange thing is Kyle has no idea what happen to her or why.  The show reveals very little but slowly pieces things together as the episodes go by.  Back to the preacher.  He has a tremendous ego feeling that he is doing gods work by curing these people from these possessions. But he finds that he is a useless pawn and Kyle is the key to overcoming these possessions.  The preacher encounters  Kyle while he takes while Kyle and his sister travels downtown Rome W. Virginia.  The Preacher convinces Kyle to help him understand a current possession he is dealing with which is the roach eating kid from the beginning of the show.   What we see at the house of the child, takes us through the complete first season with multiple characters and situations that the town, the preacher and Kyle begin to understand that this is bigger than one or two people that are being possessed.  They find during this engagement with this child that he is known by these demons that are possessing these people.  He is called an Outcast by these demons and he finds he has the power to release these demons from the bodies they possess.  

What makes this such an interesting story is the randomness of the people being possessed as well as who gets cured and who falls into a coma based on when and how the demons are released.  I really think these our aliens but the series never lets you know anything about their origin that clearly.  But the story lines keeps the spiritual aspect throughout the series.  The series also has very interesting characters supporting Kyle like his sister and her family.  His wife and his daughter.  The Black sherif in the town and the possessed people who now walk among them that are the same but really not.   A really dark almost depressing show with untold evil  that no one knows where its coming from and a reluctant hero that has no idea who he is to these demons and what is his purpose.  I binged through the 8 series 1st season in two days because it kept me so captivated by the mysterious demons and how Kyle had to fight with his past, family and realization that something is wrong and its not him.  Even though it really is him in a way he can not understand.  Worth the watch especially if you are a Walking dead fan or horror fan.  This I believe is top shelf writing