More people need to watch this awesome Netflix sci-fi series

In 2016, netflix dropped three of its best TV series. One of them was stranger things. The other was the OA. The third? The criminally underrated Canadian sci-fi series Travelers.

From creator Brad Wright, who honed his expertise writing on three Stargate shows over 14 years, Travelers departs from traditional sci-fi tropes. It’s the kind of modern, grounded sci-fi that channels its wriggling ball of time-traveling strands through the lenses of empathetic, endearing characters.

This team of time-traveling agents, called “travelers”, inhabit the bodies of people near death. Using GPS coordinates, historical records and social media, the consciousnesses of future travelers are inserted into the body of 21st century civilians. It’s the cleanest way for travelers to go back in time and complete their mission, using the lives of those who were going to die anyway.

Their mission: to save the world from a disastrous future, where things like tea and carrots no longer exist. This core concept can involve smaller missions that give the show a procedural format. The Travelers’ appearance and friendliness are moody and eerie, and sometimes the Travelers speak in deadpan techno language, following a long list of protocols affirmed by the mysterious Headmaster.

But the real substance is found in the moral dilemmas they face on a daily basis: lying, deceiving, upsetting the life of their host. Sometimes they become attached to their new existence in a relatively untouched world and are tempted to leave the great, almost sacred mission.

You can still feel their pain and frustrations. The core team we follow is grounded and cared for by Eric McCormack’s Grant MacLaren, a traveler posing in the body of an FBI agent. He is a kind and heroic leader who makes the tough decisions, bearing the burden of the great mission and the individual well-being of his team.

Because Travelers take control of existing life, they must fit in, learn quickly, and avoid arousing suspicion. On top of that, they must complete world-saving missions, evade the police and other mysterious forces – absolutely anyone could also turn out to be a traveler, potentially from a future competing faction. They lead triple Lives; they can never let their guard down. The tension of the high stakes is relentless.

But not everything is a serious matter of life or death. Undercover agents often find themselves in amusing and embarrassing situations: an engineer, one of the oldest of the travelers, is placed in the body of a high school athlete. His sudden transition from jock to genius leaves everyone perplexed, especially his bewildered parents.

Then there is the method by which travelers enter their host bodies. These sequences are one of the most exciting parts of the show. The time of death appears on the screen and a countdown begins. It’s about waiting to see how a new character is going to be killed – or not. When the traveler painfully enters his new body, his immediate mission is to save himself from the clutches of death.

Finally, Travelers tactfully conveys its deeper message about the present and the future. What we do and don’t do now will affect the world for years to come, and we cannot expect the people of the future to save us. Time-jumping professionals essentially sacrifice themselves to save the future, but that future is secret, illusory, and ever-changing. We never actually see it; it is on the move, constantly affected by events unfolding in the 21st century.

If you’re still not convinced to commit to three seasons of Travelers, at least try the first episode. Its ingenious first scene, involving a traveler arriving in the present day, is almost guaranteed to have you hooked watching the full and exhilarating ride.