Recap / Travelers S 3 E 10 Protocol Omega

• All According to Plan: 001 seemingly wins by nuking the world and escaping into the Internet, with the Director apparently doing nothing about it. However, the Travelers have their "Eureka!" Moment and realize the Director knew they would figure it out.
• Bittersweet Ending: Everything in this timeline has been for nothing, thanks to 001. The end of the world is accelerated to the present day, ending in nuclear fire. However, the Travelers are able to send back Mac to 2001 to tell the Director about this, preventing it from sending 001. As for their personal lives, the real Mac is overwritten before he can meet Kat but his Traveler self encourages her to give John a second chance, later dying in 001's place at 9/11, while the real Marcy meets David. Meanwhile, in the far future, the Director determines the first Traveler program has failed and puts a new Traveler program into play...
• Chekhov's Gun: Kat angrily reminding Mac of the time they first met (Whytecliff, at 3:00 PM, on her birthday in August 2001) two episodes ago is enough information for the Travelers to find the TELL coordinates to send Mac to 2001.
• "Eureka!" Moment: The Travelers realize that the restriction of only being able to send a Traveler after the previous Traveler has already arrived only applies to their starting point in the future. From their time in the present day, they have enough to send a Traveler back twenty years, which is perfect enough to send someone back to 2001 to stop 001.
• Face Death with Dignity: After alerting them Director about 001 and the first Traveler program, Mac looks out the window of one of the Twin Towers and checks his watch, waiting for the planes to hit.
  • However, right at the end of the scene, he checks his watch then walks out of the shot, leaving the possibility of his surviving had there been a Season 4.
• Fling a Light into the Future: The first program of Travelers fail to stop the end of the world, and in fact, accelerate it, but are able to prevent the Director from starting it in the first place. The show ends with the Director starting a new program of Travelers, continuing its mission to complete the Grand Plan.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Since going back to 2001 kills the real Mac even earlier and "Mac"'s marriage to Kat doesn't end well, Traveler Mac alters Mac's first meeting with Kat by telling her to stay with John instead of the two becoming a couple.
• Living MacGuffin: 001 wants Marcie because she may still have Ellis' backdoor program to get into Ilsa somewhere in her head. She kills herself to prevent him from getting it, but by then, it's too late.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": The emergency alert system sends texts to everyone, warning of the incoming nuclear missiles.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Yates calls the Travelers out on this when it turns out 001 won, saying that even if they travel back to undo the timeline, things got like this because of the Travelers in the first place.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When the nuclear missiles are fired, instead of joining up with the others where Ilsa's at, Carly instead opts to be with Jeffrey Junior and his foster family, citing Protocol Omega and that there's nothing they can do anymore anyways.
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog: Everything the Travelers have worked for in the show is for naught when the Faction is able to end the world in a nuclear apocalypse in the present day, with 001 uploading himself to the Internet to ensure the stable timeloop of him creating and leading the Faction. However, it turns out this was all anticipated by the Director, and the Travelers' next step is to tell the Director before 001's arrival to not send 001, allowing the Director to start a different Traveler program instead.
• You Are Too Late: The Faction ends the world in nuclear fire while 001 is able to upload himself to the Internet before the Travelers can stop them. However, it turns out this is All According to Plan by the Director.
• What Could Have Been: The ep opens with Philips vision of a possible timeline where David lives and apparently is a part of the team and they´re all having a meal together. The vision then dissolves into notably more grey and depressing reality.