"Traveler": Whoa!

I have to admit that I didn’t see it coming…

Last night, “Traveler” showed why it’s the best of this season’s numerous “24” clones with a great cliffhanger that sets up what will no doubt be a wild finale…

Warning: The remainder of this post contains details about last night’s episode of “Traveler.”

Brushing aside the pointless personal stories (a “24” trademark, by the way), here’s what we learned last night:

Will has a recording of Joseph ordering him to blow up the Drexler and to leave Tyler and Jay to die in it…

Freed, the mysterious character played by Neal McDonough, works for Homeland Security, but is also the former deputy director of the FBI. He sold shares of Holloway Insurance, thereby profiting from the Drexler bombing…

Freed also ordered the death of Will’s girlfriend, Maya, as Will learned when he went on a violent rampage leaving his arms dealer hanging and the actual killer dead. Will turning around and killing the guy after he got Maya’s name wrong was total Jack Bauer (or at least the Jack from seasons two through five). I really wish we would have brought him back into action sooner since he has become the heart of the show…

It became even more clear that there is a mole in the FBI (another “24” trademark) and it seemed to clearly be Chambers (Steven Culp)—who I had long suspected—until, for the first time, suspicion fell on Marlow. That would be an interesting twist…

But it’s the ending that was the best twist so far. After being lured to a club by Jay and his girlfriend Kim (They thought Marlow would help them.), Marlow managed to get the upper hand on Jay and was all set to take him into custody when Tyler appeared, holding an officer at gunpoint.

“You’re not going to shoot anyone,” Marlow reasoned with him. “No, but I will” was the response as Marlow turned to lock eyes with the man holding the gun on her—Will.

I actually said, “Whoa!” out loud, I was so impressed.

Now, there are some of you who watched the episode that would tell me it was completely unrealistic that Will could make it from Boston to New York City that quickly; but I’m a “24” fan, remember? I believe you can get from one end of Los Angeles to the other in five minutes…

Now it’s true that much of the story seems a little rushed and thrown together, and last night’s episode was a perfect example of that. But remember that there were supposed to be 13 episodes and they had already completed eight when they got the word there would only be eight total. Clues they had planned to reveal over time had to be inserted in earlier episodes and revealed more quickly. (Carlton Fogg’s “You’re not strong enough” confession had to be one of those plots that got rushed.).

Which leads to the big question. Just how much of a resolution are we going to get? The previews show the guys going after Freed, but will we ever find out what this whole conspiracy is actually about? And what is this organization that is meant to “save the country”?

And what in the world happened to the painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence? And is that why Will stole that particular painting? To declare his independence from the organization?

But most importantly, when is ABC going to stop messing with me?

On second thought, I take that question back. I don’t want them to get mad at me and pull next week’s finale…

The series finale of “Traveler” airs Wednesday, July 18th at 10 p.m. on ABC…