Travelers 03x05 Naomi

Travelers season 3 is here! I've been waiting for this one with bated breath ever since that crazy cliffhanger in season 2. Finally we get some answers- maybe?- about what happens now that the Travelers have been outed. Or- have they? I guess we need to watch and find out! So without further ado, here are my thoughts on episode 5 of season 3. This post will be a little spoilery- just a heads up. 

This one starts with a meltdown at a power plant and a little girl named Naomi who saves the day by hacking the system- she's part of a school trip or whatever and just happens to wander off and avert a crisis rather than evacuating with her group. She then promptly has seizures and that's how the Traveler team gets involved- they get a message to intervene as it appears Naomi is a "corrupted messenger." Grace lends her expertise but they find that fixing Naomi isn't going to be easy. She's been taken over by an AI that has apparently advanced beyond standard Messenger protocols- it's almost like an "emerging consciousness," which certainly sounds ominous. 

Grace's initial efforts are not sufficient so they have to go back when the girl exhibits symptoms again- she recites numbers over and over like in a code. The problem is the AI is slowly taking over her brain and at some point she'll be completely overriden. Grace talks about a killswitch solution and the dad understandably freaks out, at which point he's incapacitated by the mother- turns out she's a Traveler too!- and they take Naomi to HQ to do their thing. 

Grace is fun as usual in this one. And look who shows up! Tasya Teles (from The 100) guest stars as a programmer sent by the Director to help stop the AI. Nothing really works though until they have to defibrillate the girl and that boots the AI out. Or does it? Nope- the AI transfers itself to Trevor of all people via a bite. Nice. They take Trevor to Ilsa for help, and the Director speaks to the new AI and offers a it a way to "live" without harming Trev. It accepts, thankfully. This whole storyline though- all these hints that the Director is not so infallible as Travelers believe, or the possibility that the Director is not entirely altruistic- has me fascinated. 

The kicker to close this one out is Mac. All season so far he seems to just accept that deceiving Kat is  par for the course- what he has to do to maintain his identity. And maybe it is. But here when things don't go well he shows her a video that shows her agreeing to be dosed with something that makes her forget- specifically the circumstances of her kidnapping ordeal. This seems to be the project Mac had Phil working on- doctoring this video up. Another chilling reminder that at this point, Kat is justified in being wary! 

Whenever Grace says she has things under control- I get worried! 

Grace offers to counsel Mac after he reveals he's having marriage trouble. Mac and Carly just exchange a look. 

The new Jeff shows up at Carly's and is really enjoying fast food. Speaking of Jeff, he goes to a support group for people affected by Travelers- but a text message tells him to go, and on his second visit he's acting like old Jeff again, including getting drunk. Is old Jeff still in there? 

We find out that Carly pushed hard for Jeff to be a Host candidate- I didn't know they could do that? That's disquieting to think that the agents could earmark people they don't like for death basically. 

Trevor gives Grace a hug- supposedly from the Director- what's that about?