Lifeline (2017) User Reviews

good show, captivating, but finale is questionable.

[jellyblaster · 6/10 · 27 February 2018]

The show is great. it's engaging, it's addicting, and the actors perform very well, not to mention the show is free (youtube red). The final message, however, is quite questionable. Throughout the story, the show promotes "moving on and forgetting what's past," but doesn't really convey how the message is applicable to the characters' action. *SPOILERS* The main character ends up traveling back in time to save Norah before she gets shot, and then proceeds to remove himself from the company. I'm not exactly sure how that follows with leaving his wife behind. Although he also disagrees with lifeline's idealogy which ultimately causes him to leave, I find that I do not. I sided with Nathan; he's saving lives, while "fate" is killing people. He prevents said fate, but how is that a bad thing if it means people can keep experiencing life (albeit in a different timeline, as they die in their original timeline). and more importantly, how does letting people die relate to leaving the past behind? Norah's character is also very disappointing. She leaves lifeline (which she doesn't even remember about, so how the hell does she even move on anyways), to stay with some druggie?

the end was disappointing at the least, but the show was pretty good and I liked it while I watched it. would recommend it (6/10) if you have youtube red and its free, but definitely wasn't really that great.

It was really good.. but no ending

[donovangoble · 7/10 · 3 June 2019]

Like so many shows just when it gets interesting it gets cancelled, with no closure of plot and charecters.... It's frustrating to waste 4 hours getting into something only to be left with "well what's next"

Not Bad...

[knedb · 6/10 · 20 October 2019]

Interesting concept. Decent storyline. The acting kind of sucked though. Like some serious moments were more comical due to lack of acting skills. But overall, not a bad show.

Not bad

[nancyldraper · 7/10 · 7 September 2021]

Not a bad short series. Some young Hollywood, B list actors, performing their hearts out to pad their filmography. Unusual half hour format for a SciFi drama on the newly minted YouTube Red platform. Decent twist on the time travel premise. I give this series a 7 (okay) out of 10. {SciFi Drama}

Enjoyable, worth a watch

[ayallop · 6/10 · 18 September 2018]

It's a great concept, jumping forward to fix a predicted outcome, instead of backwards and unravelling time. Love the idea of a life insurance as well, very good idea.

I am going to comment on the negatives, however, despite these it's still worth watching, lower the expectations a bit and you will enjoy, if you are expecting something quite revolutionary then you will be disappointed.

The script writing is a bit clunky and compressed to squeeze the story into the 25 minute episodes, feels quite rushed in places and a little childish, sort of like a day time tv series. The acting is very amateurish in a lot of it, with these two issues combine I found it hard to warm to any of the characters and fully engage or take it seriously.

It's starts off really well, lots of time jumping, quite exciting, as the story developed I started to lose interest a bit, the classic revenge story was annoying...

Overall it is quite light hearted easy watching, but not very gritty or engaging, worth a watch, just don't expect too much.

So Many Plot Flaws

[danielwlewis · 3/10 · 14 November 2017]

First of all Spoilers ahead

I think what's most frustrating to me is that they addressed what they saw as an obvious plot hole but the explanation created so so many new ones that it made the other flaw seem small in comparison. So plot flaw #1 They send the agents 33 days into the future to stop someone from dying, they get the message from the future. Time travel is a one way street they get to the future and stay there. So how do they get the info? Clearly they can send info back in time, since they can receive the info why not gather more data and just wait until the time is right? The answer is that your destiny is set so they have to do this in an alternate time line where it's not so set.

Do they send the agents to this alternate time line? If so each agent is single use because they are in a new time line separate from yours. That also means that the original time line the company is in, they ALWAYS fail. They cannot prove they have saved anyone who would ever sign on for that? You would have NO testimonials in that original time line. They have Dwayne Johnson as a testimonial but if they did his rescue in an alternate time line he is DEAD in this one, they explain that in their attempt to explain away the reason they send agents into the future. If someone came to me and tried to sell me on this and I said but have you saved anyone and they said sure in another time line I would laugh and not sign up. How did they get the testimonial in the first place if they do it in an alternate time line and cannot return? Was that the point of the fake story about the kid? If so why have the apparently fake testimonial? Why did she need a fake story they would be brimming with real amazing examples except for one thing, the examples are all in the alternate time line!!!!

Since they are sent 33 days into the future then given three days off afterwards that means each agent is unavailable for five weeks at a time. Not to mention they absolutely have to have been sent to an alternate time line, they do not grab the people and take them to another time line so they must already be in it.

Let's not ignore that as soon as the days off are up the agents get called in. What if there is a slow week and the 2nd agent goes in 3 days later they would always just be missing their significant other from then until the next slow period. It could be years before they see each other again so a married couple would not work in this job at all. That's assuming they always go to the same time line, that's a whole other massive plot hole right there!

How would the company ever know if they were successful? If the implant sends them info of the persons death in this time line you then send the agent to the new time line and save the person there, the one in the original time line always dies. How would you know your system worked all you would know is that each time you sent someone into the future they never came back (again they must be in the new time line they show them save several people and just walk away) the person they were sent to save still died in your time line and your agent is never seen by YOU again.

I have barely scratched the surface with the plot holes, are there now two of you in the new time line? If it's the same time line over and over they would fill up with copies of the agents quite fast! If it's a different time line each time you would certainly never see your wife again who would sign up for that! There would be a single time line of many miraculous saves and another time line the one sending agents where its always a failure. How would they say in business to keep sending agents, why are the police not looking for the (what must be hundreds of) missing employees by now! That's all from the one massive plot hole.

Because they do keep returning to the same base of operations it's clear that the agents do not actually go to an alternate time line or they would never know they saved anyone so did the guy lie to the woman? That would solve part of the problem but it then means they never needed to send anyone into the future in the first place. They painted themselves into a catch 22 with that one stupid sentence. They should have just said it did not work when we tried it that way but it does if we send them into the future we have no idea why. Just like I have no idea why they could not see the massive flaws.

Interesting Don't Pay Attention To Low Reviews

[rdyapo · 8/10 · 5 May 2018]

I wasn't too sure about watching this series but in the beginning I was half asleep and not getting it, finally got my wife to watch the last of the first episode and she was asking me details and I couldn't tell her because I was getting lost so I started the first episode over... Now I get it.

I've watched movies over the decades and watched similar scenarios of this type of science fiction and most of the time I don't bother watching it all. This series isn't that bad, it gets you going after each episode.

The story-lines are predictable but not telling, the acting is good and believable, and in the end you wonder what could possibly be next.

I hope Youtube Red will pick up another season or advertise this more on Facebook. It's a good watch.

Okay if You Already Have YouTube Red

[memyself-965-448103 · 5/10 · 14 November 2017]

I've been a fan of Sam & Nikos videos on YouTube, so I was excited to see YouTube give them a budget to do something more serious.

From the first episode, however, I quickly started getting confused trying to keep track of all the characters. A lot happened over the first few episodes, but it eventually jumped ahead 6 or so years into the future and things started to settle down. After this point, I finally started feeling like I was getting to know the characters.

Throughout the series, the owner of the company, Nathan, was made out to be the bad guy. But when Norah and Jack were trying to stop him from saving lives, I sided with Nathan instead! After all, Nathan was saving lives, albeit in a different time line, or this time line, or whatever, but saving lives somewhere none-the-less.

The set for the company, Lifeline, felt really lacking. It looked like they were trying to convey a wide open modern look for the company, but the 10 or so tables they set up with computers on them made it feel very empty. Also, all of the establishing shots felt like an afterthought. More often than not, it starts with a wide-open city, and then just cut to inside a home or warehouse. The inside of the time travel room looked really cool, though, and I dare say it was physical set piece too.

By the end, I felt like it tied up a lot of loose ends, but I was still wondering why Conner didn't go back in time further to be with his wife again. And what did Norah learn? To leave Lifeline alone and settle for some guy that lives for getting drunk and high?

One side note, as a Christian I was frustrated about the portrayal of Norah's Christian foster parents. The father was extremely overbearing and the mother's excuse was they were a traditional family; the father is the (strict) leader of the household. Sure I'm not saying that all Christian's are above that, but the writers certainly could've come up with a more general excuse rather than throwing Christian families under the bus. It took me a bit to come to terms with that for the sake of the story, but once I finally did that I was able to continue watching.

So I don't recommend this if you don't already have YouTube Red. If you do, sure, go for it when you board one night. It at least had enough action to keep me interested.

Intriguing...makes you think

[damfer · 8/10 · 25 May 2018]

I don't understand the negative reviews here. The show delivers on its promise, and I think many people who have reviewed this don't understand time travel concepts.

There's a decent amount of acting, pretty good acting, and a premise that I've not seen before. Plus, the concept here really keeps my brain working. Sure, it may not be worth a YouTube Red subscription. But you can get a 30 day free trial. Plenty of time to watch this whole season.

Give it a shot. It has all the elements of a good show. The characters are likable and the science is pretty solid. It's not must-watch, but it certainly is worth the time watching.

Promises a lot. Delivers nothing.

[peter-wright-nz · 3/10 · 13 November 2017]

Such a good start. But nothing resolved.

Nothing happens.

Nothing exciting.

Bad development.

Very watchable because you hope it will go somewhere, but yet another failure of USA television.

Unless you're a teen or just really bored, it's not worth your time

[AMZCali · 1/10 · 19 June 2018]

Silly characters, doing silly things within a silly plot. The production value is what you will find in some of the older SyFy shows (not very good). The acting is horrible unless you're easy to convince. And once again, a bit like the YT Red show Impluse, we have another annoyingly stupid teen girl running around getting too much attention. And we can't forget our skinny male star, kicking tail as if he has a lot more physical strength than reality suggests. By the end of the season, I was at least comforted by the realization that I never fully focused on the show as I worked on my PC while often just listening to this show in the background (yes, it's that limp and easy to ignore).

We only have so much time on earth, choose wisely when it comes to how you spend yours. This show was a little bit of everything we've already seen in many other shows and films. Seeking answers about the death of a marital partner? Check! Seeking answers about the death of a father? Check! A big bad company with an evil CEO? Check! And a few other been there done that elements.

some people hate ideas

[tanmarkk · 9/10 · 19 November 2017]

great show, hooked to see more. how often does that happen? Rarely. i see 3 star reviews here from people that loved crap. make up your own mind, this show is for free anyways. there will never be a day when time travel is explainable. so bitching about these issues is nonsense. especially when a show tries to explain that.

Should have listened to the bad reviews

[rajprasathpoy · 1/10 · 6 July 2019]

It is a mess. Messy story line. Messy characters. Messy emotions. Messy everything.

great show

[dale_ettridge · 9/10 · 20 June 2019]

A must watch.a great story line.back to proper film making.not reliant on too much green screen which lets the story come through better

Very average

[poribrajok · 5/10 · 26 July 2020]

The series started with some promises but ended up making no sense in a lot of occasions. Add that up with an unsatisfactory ending, then you come up with a very average series which could have done fantastically with a bit of more research.

Breath of fresh air

[jestinesmalfran · 9/10 · 10 July 2018]

Interesting premise and was a pleasant watch, cant wait to see more from the producers.

Great show

[ashleigh-y · 9/10 · 6 September 2018]

Awesome story line with amazing characters and good character development.

A good show if you're into Sci-fi and time travel

[thaissiolima · 8/10 · 17 January 2021]

It's a solid show if you like the genre. Be aware it's a low budget show, so it could de better but they do the besy with what they have. I enjoyed it very much!

Great series

[fb-71741 · 8/10 · 27 December 2018]

Great series. Cannot wait til the second season............................................................

Exploring Alternate Realities and Time Travel

[nordenprime · 10/10 · 4 May 2023]

This movie is a prime example of how science fiction can be used to explore complex and thought-provoking ideas.

The fact that the entire film crew is invested in this story is a testament to the power of storytelling and the importance of exploring new and innovative ideas.

By presenting a complex and layered storyline, the filmmakers are able to engage their audience on a deeper level and encourage them to think critically about the themes and ideas presented in the movie.

It challenges the notion that all movies must be easily understood and has the potential to shift the perspective of the majority who hold this belief.

As we continue to explore the mysteries of the universe, the concepts of alternate realities and time travel will undoubtedly continue to captivate our imaginations and inspire us to push the boundaries of what we think is possible.