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‘Timeless’ Review: You’ve Got to Keep Fighting

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(Photo by: Justin Lubin/NBC)

Does the time team need to make room for Emma in the bunker?

Probably not, but the baddie did seem to be questioning her life choices more than once during the latest hour of Timeless.

“Mrs. Sherlock Holmes” sent the team back to 1919 because Nicholas planned to nix the 19th Amendment from ever becoming a thing.

(As if we needed another reason to hate this man…)

(Photo by: Justin Lubin/NBC)

Emma wasn’t on board. She liked voting. But more than that, she liked the freedom the Suffragette movement started.

It turns out Emma and her mother escaped her abusive father and built a new life for themselves. That led to her graduating at the top of her class and being recruited by Rittenhouse (in her mind that was a good thing).

She knew none of that would be possible if Rittenhouse wiped out women’s ability to have any say over our lives. So she offered the time team a one-mission truce and even saved Lucy’s life in the process.

Obviously we shouldn’t praise her too much since she went right back to Nicholas, but at least we finally understand Emma a little better.

In a way, she traded one form of abuse for another. To prove herself to Rittenhouse, she spent 10 years living alone in the 1880s. And she’s still bowing down to Nicholas even though he doesn’t want to listen to her ideas.

(Photo by: Justin Lubin/NBC)

It’s gross and I want to shake some sense into her, but she’s hardly the first abuse victim to fall into this particular pattern. Maybe she’ll get past that cringe-worthy kissing moment and overthrow Nicholas.

(And then the Time Team can send her to jail because a rough childhood does not excuse her crimes).

While Emma did play a role in saving the day, Lucy also did quite a bit of heavy lifting after the sleeper agents framed Alice Paul (seriously—google her) for murder and then killed her. Without her speech, the president would not have changed his mind about supporting women’s rights.

That’s where Grace Humiston—Mrs. Sherlock Holmes (google her, too)—came into the story. A non-detective-detective on the case, she had a rather negative opinion of the movement until Lucy broke through her tough exterior.

(Photo by: Justin Lubin/NBC)

All their scenes were great whether Grace was reading Wyatt and Lucy’s romantic situation to the way she put the clues together to the moment she stood up in the middle of the street and raised her voice for all women.

Powerful.

But also sad because it’s nearly 100 years later and women are still dealing with this inequality. People still treat feminism like it’s a dirty word. Women are judged for their choices as old white men in Washington do their best to chip away at the limited equality we’re allowed.

And it’s even worse for women of color.

100 years later and the fight is nowhere near over.

(Photo by: Justin Lubin/NBC)

That weight hit Lucy hard when she returned to 2018 and found no mention of Alice Paul. Thanks to Rittenhouse, she didn’t rate so much as a footnote in history. Lucy would be the only one to remember how much she mattered.

It’s nice to see Lucy caring about history again. One of the things bugging me about Season 2 is how easy it’s become for the team to change things without consequences.

I know they’re fighting for their lives and survival in general, but each time they make a change because they feel it’s the right thing to do, are they really any better than Rittenhouse?

Sure, good people deserve to be saved, but how do they know for sure other good people aren’t going to blink out of history as a consequence?

I’m still holding out hope the show will address this before the end of the season (which is coming way too fast—please renew the show, NBC).

(Photo by: Justin Lubin/NBC)

One more plot point before we get into the relationship drama: Connor managed to piece together a USB drive from the Rittenhouse mess and the first thing he finds is a screenshot of Jessica.

Does this mean she’s working with them? Or is it there because they had a plan to bring her back in order to mess with Lyatt? Either way, Denise told him not to say anything until they had more information.

(Because keeping secrets worked out so well in the past? Come on, Denise!).

As expected, Wyatt saw Lucy emerging from Flynn’s room in the morning and he was not here for it. He told Flynn to back off, and Flynn said the correct thing: talk to Lucy; she can make her own choices.

So Wyatt did talk to Lucy and she also said the right thing: it’s none of your business who or what I do.

(Photo by: Justin Lubin/NBC)

But Wyatt was not wrong when he reminded her Flynn was a terrorist who can’t be trusted. I will concede Flynn does appear to be more and more trustworthy each week. However, that’s exactly why I don’t trust him.

Or maybe it’s because he looks at Lucy like she hung the moon, which doesn’t match his supposed desire to get his family back at all costs.

(I don’t know what to think. I can’t decide if it’s because the show is doing a good job with suspense or if they’re doing a terrible job with pacing because they only have 10 episodes).

Lucy and Wyatt did have two other important conversations: first, she reminded him that she was the one who had the rug pulled out from under her while he gets his wife back. Second, she made it clear she would not stand in the way of a miracle.

Ugh, frustrating.

Except, it’s not because this is who Wyatt and Lucy are: loyal, noble, and self-sacrificing. I want Lucy to be selfish and I think Wyatt does, too. But it’s more important for him to realize he can’t stay with Jessica and he needs to choose Lucy.

(Photo by: Justin Lubin/NBC)

Rufus made a few risky choices of his own this week and not for the better. Since he accepted Jiya’s cowboy-killer prophecy, he decided he couldn’t die in 1919. So he acted as if he were invincible.

Kudos to Flynn for pointing out that he could still get hurt. And then he did get hurt when he jumped into the riot and a cop beat him. Thank goodness Flynn was there to rescue him (see? I can say nice thing about Flynn).

(Unless he was doing it solely so Rufus would trust him and he can stab him in the back later).

Rufus apologized to Jiya for being an ass and they agreed neither of them know what to do about the situation, but they’re stronger together.

Their love is beautiful, you guys. I just need Rufus to mean it this time and stop hurting her feelings.

Also, someone needs to figure out how to blow up this prophecy because Rufus is not allowed to die, thank you very much.

MISCELLAENOUS MUSINGS

-Flynn needling Wyatt to remember his wife cracked me up (see? Nice things). Mainly because I find it telling how often Wyatt needs to be reminded who he chose.

-Seriously, though, even if Flynn is going to turn out to be trustworthy, it doesn’t make sense that Lucy has let her guard down so fast. I’m going to blame the rushed pacing for this one.

-I hate saying this—and thinking it—but do we need to worry about Agent Christopher? First, she sent Wyatt into Rittenhouse with no backup and now she’s keeping a lid on the Jessica’s potentially a spy discovery. These seem like strange choices.

-If Jessica is Rittenhouse, what’s her mission? Coming between Lucy and Wyatt hurt their hearts, but it hasn’t stopped either of them from doing their jobs.

-That being said, Jessica rushing to kiss Wyatt in front of Lucy did seem a bit pointed. They’re not overly affectionate in general.

(Or maybe it was just there so Wyatt could watch Lucy the whole time).

-Nicholas is the worst.

-Did anyone else think it was weird that Lucy hid when she saw Emma? Smart choice since she had a gun, but Lucy looked genuinely afraid and she didn’t try to save Grace. PTSD?

-There are only three episodes left and more questions than answers. I’m getting nervous. Please give us a third season, NBC.

Mandy Treccia
Mandy Treccia has served as TVSource Magazine’s Executive Editor since 2016, formerly as Editorial Director from 2012-2016. She is an avid TV watcher and card carrying fan girl prone to sudden bursts of emotion, ranging from extreme excitement to blind rage during her favorite shows and has on more than once occasion considered having a paper bag on hand to get her through some tough TV moments. Her taste in TV tends to rival that of a thirteen-year-old girl, but she’s okay with that.

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