Date of airing: March 11, 2018 (NBC)
Nielsen ratings information: 2.970 million viewers, 1.7/3 in Households, 0.8/3 with Adults 18-49, 0.4/2 with Adults 18-34, 1.0/3 with Adults 25-54
written by: Arika Lisanne Mittman, Tom Smuts
directed by: Greg Beeman
TIMELESS has become just another show that did not know when to end a season arc and when to begin the new one. This episode felt a little bit annoying because of it, and because it did not necessarily feel like a season premiere and instead just a simple continuation of the previous episode's events. But this hour tried to make sure that there is another war going on between the protagonists and antagonists, that the series has a new overarching villain with Nicholas Keynes, and that the romance between Lucy and Wyatt is going to be the center of some attention, since TIMELESS cannot all be about saving history and fighting sleeper agents.
But it is like there has been no room to get all the potential new threats introduced in the previous season finale, while there has not been any room to resolve the threats from the previous season in this episode, placing this hour basically between a rock and a very hard place – an episode from season 1.5, if you will. Season premieres should normally be the beginning of something, but it felt like I was thrown into the middle of a story, and it was so cold, I almost froze. One could wonder if the episode would have done better if it had depicted the chaos after the bombing of Mason Industries, instead of jumping forward in time six weeks. But I guess there could not be a single episode of TIMELESS without the characters teaching the viewers some American history.
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| This is when Lucy turns into a killer. |
Of course, the writers went all in on the Rittenhouse mythology and had
an OG member introduced here, or at least a dude who wrote a manifesto,
which begs the question of whether Principal Snyder from the previous season
really is the founder of Rittenhouse, or if he was just the club
president, while the creator was this Nicholas dude who was
rescued from the battlefield of the Great War. It is probably a good
thing then that Rittenhouse just wants world domination, so the writers
do not have the chance to write themselves into a corner when it comes to Rittenhouse's motives and plans. While I appreciate the fact that the villains of this episode were all women, and Emma is still part of the show
when I feared that Annie Wersching (rest in peace, you beautiful soul)
would not have had time to appear on TIMELESS while being busy on
MARVEL'S RUNAWAYS, it also looks like the writers tried to reinvent the
Rittenhouse mythology just a slight tad, now that the viewers know it is
all about world domination and making history right again, according to
the views of Rittenhouse.
And with that, I am wondering how long it will take for Flynn to team up with Wyatt, Lucy, and Rufus, after he learns that Rittenhouse does not want to change the world for the better, but probably want to get rid of all the non-whites, the gays, every non-Christian and women, and everyone who stands in their way, because after 17 episodes, I cannot remember a single non-white Rittenhouse member, while the collective only had two women so far (Lucy's mother and Emma). So, in a way, Rittenhouse is made up of Republicans, which sounds logical.
In a way, the episode succeeded in building up a new threat. Nicholas is the new villain now, and I do not mind that at all, even if it means contradicting previously established Rittenhouse mythology. I always thought that Rittenhouse had its origins way before Nicholas's existence and manifesto (the OG Rittenhouse played by Principal Snyder), but I guess two different factions with the same goal were united at some point, and now that Ben Cahill seems to be history (which is probably why Lucy's mother is the "lead" of Rittenhouse now), and Flynn is about to be turned into a good guy, a new male villain needed to be established. I can only hope that Rittenhouse will be more simplified with Nicholas – creating an organization that wants world domination through sleeper cells hidden within the timeline of American history makes them seem more evil. And with that premise, the series does not need a character like Flynn any longer, since it is Rittenhouse who does the time-traveling now.
Although this episode certainly changed the premise between seasons, even if only slightly. During the previous season, Lucy, Rufus, and Wyatt were chasing after Flynn. Flynn was trying to mess up American history, but he did so wanting to destroy Rittenhouse, while the trio wanted to save history, but they were sort of working for Rittenhouse without knowing it – basically, Rittenhouse hired a team to protect their own assets in the past from Flynn, but the previous season never made an attempt at establishing that premise, as it was all about stopping Flynn from wreaking havoc in America's past. In this season, the trio travels through time to ... find and kill the Rittenhouse sleeper cells? Anyway, if Rittenhouse becomes more evil and ruthless with the introduction of Nicholas, then so be it. It would make it much easier for the writers to follow the apocalypse model of the premise and have a little more excitement going on, as the trio is hopping from one time to another to save the world. Jiya even mentioned the word "apocalypse" here, so I might not be that far off with my thoughts.
France in 1918 looked a little boring – yes, the show needed to be shot for cheap, considering it was essentially canceled and most likely renewed for a second season with major budget cuts (and fewer episodes). I was hoping to get a little more out of Marie Curie and her daughter, like an actual history lesson, and not just the fact that Marie is an important person in science history, but she saw a time machine now, making me wonder if that essentially changed history, even if it just meant that Marie found a better way to shield her X-ray from outside forces, which means the X-ray machine has been developed into something bigger and better much sooner than history originally intended. By the way, I did not know that her X-ray machine was this portable and mobile during the 1910s. For a moment, I was wondering if that was creative license from the writers, or if it was really that way. It looks like I am going to hit some history books after I am done writing this wall of text. Although ... no, I probably will not because I am lazy.
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| The Curies talk like the Gilmores. |
And what happened in the present timeline? Well, Jiya is still going through some headaches, Connor still has to make sure he is one of the good guys, and Agent Christoper... I still do not know anything about her. Small steps with those characters are taken, although those steps are a little too small for my taste. I would love to know more about Agent Christopher, especially now that she seems to be a full-time member of the team. But the writers always wanted to focus on American history and the Lucy/Wyatt flirtations.
By the way, when TIMELESS was surprisingly renewed for a second season, I read that NBC wanted to build the show into some summertime family entertainment, which means the show would have been rebooted slightly to make it more G-rated and watchable for the entire family. It turns out that this was not the case at all, judging by this episode, or the producers thought “screw it” and just continued as planned: Lucy killed an innocent soldier, and there was some off-camera stabbing in faces going on when Wyatt fought the guys in the tent. So much for wanting to make TIMELESS family entertainment, even though the show would have been good enough to be turned into an American version of DOCTOR WHO. What a shame that the show was never that.
