Sometimes Timeless drops our heroes into a less fascinating (rather, less pop history) period, area, or timeframe in history, but when it does just that, it brushes away the need to anchor the episode with an incredibly noteworthy historical celebrity or event, and allows the show to take charge through its characters and quietly put some more time in with world building, or even just to show us what we might have missed in history class. Unless you're Wyatt, of course, because apparently "The Darlington 500" is your jam.Though to be fair, any episode of Timeless does allow the viewer to spin off and discover more about the period each episode wants to re-create and represent, meaning that quite a bit of research was put into each episode, but leaves just enough for those who are interested to dig deeper. "The Darlington 500" sends our heroes back to the early days of stock car racing (a subject that, like Lucy and Rufus, I have not even one point to start on) to find out why Rittenhouse wants to interfere with history in 1955. It ends up being a little boring and rote, in a good way, to place the danger on some white, faceless automotive executives while having the anchor point of the episode work around African-American racecar driver Wendell Scott.
It's an interesting move so early into the second season of Timeless because by the episode's halfway point, it throws an interesting complication to the series into the mix by challenging history itself. Previously, history was changed because of how Lucy, Wyatt and Rufus had to somehow correct for Flynn's interference; returning home generally brought them at odds between how history really played out, and how the world at large now know the history to be. But now history is at the risk of being changed and remembered incorrectly even by our heroes, due to Rittenhouse's attempts to manipulate history with its sleeper agents. There was no Ryan Millerson who won the first Daytona 500 because history was changed without anyone noticing, and all of Wyatt's memories about him just came to exist because history changed through Rittenhouse manipulation. Using Wendell Scott becomes more interesting as it helps highlight certain parts of history that might not be as visible for the general audience. The contrast is more interesting because Wendell Scott is African-American in contrast to the usual white prominent historical figures of American history, on top of the fact the episode is about NASCAR-style racing in the 1950s, a subject one naturally assumes is predominantly, if not exclusively white. Not the first time Timeless has done it, but it always executes it with aplomb nonetheless.
Much of the episode also works around Wyatt, at this is one of the first times since "Karma Chameleon" that puts him in the spotlight again. "The Darlington 500" puts both Wyatt and Wendell Scott in the same boat as they find many similarities in one another as Wyatt finds himself starstruck at meeting a racing legend. "You guys never asked", as he tells Lucy and Rufus, which puts us in the interesting predicament where Wyatt is finally fleshed out beyond his military background and his sole connection with his late wife, Jessica, and all for the better.
Wyatt also ends up drifting in and out of Lucy's own development too as he begins to care more and more for her romantically. Lucy has been staring up at the ceiling in her bed at night since her return, and he voices his concerns. It's probably only after Wyatt and Wendell Scott talk about their fathers and their illicit, car-based activities that he finds some way to get through to Lucy. As I said previously about the last episode, Timeless unfortunately did not let us see what happened in the interim period between seasons one and two, but here they are working to fill in the gaps. Wyatt's past with his disappointing father helps to shake Lucy out of her rut and move forward, unshackling her from the gravitational pull that is her mother, at least on the personal level, since at least some Rittenhouse employees still have some professional respect for Carol and her family tree.
It's only a small scene at the start of the episode, but it is interesting to see the show start to gear up to transform the Lucy we see now, hopefully, into the Lucy that hails from the future and passes down her journal to Flynn to start him off on his journey. We've seen the journal being gifted from Carol to Lucy, though I'm sure in due time the denouement of one episode will end with Lucy starting to jot down notes and bring said journal to life, now that she seems to be set on the path to stop Rittenhouse once and for all.
As for Jiya and Connor, there's not much to say, though Jiya's affliction seems to have taken a more interesting turn. Is it that she can see the past, or the future, since Rufus' injury was inflicted in the past, but at a 'future' time? Connor, on the other hand, it's likely possible his attempt to resurface in public life and reclaim his reputation is simply working toward some plot movement in the future where he places the heroes in jeopardy, though I would be surprised if something else more interesting comes out of it; in the meantime I found it a rather unexciting development, unfortunately.
Rittenhouse remains a mystery, which is par for the course, though some interesting things did flare up during the episode with what little was offered. I found it a bit disappointing the episode did not dwell longer on the sleeper agent who became (or was already?) Ryan Millerson, and his apparent lapse in dedication to his mission by taking a wife and fathering an unborn child. It would have been interesting to see some cracks in the façade that is Rittenhouse from that perspective, since it is dealt with rather quickly and cleanly, though the mother and child seem to have been a loose end that wasn't tended to. And as for Keynes - sure he is a nut and wants everything he's used to from the turn of the 20th century - but his roadmap for Rittenhouse, at least from how I parsed the final scene (with all the talk of humanity as a whole), felt like taking the seemingly Anglo-American cabal into more global aspirations. Could this mean they might feel more keen to move Timeless away from formative or important moments in American history to other places and times? It makes me wonder if the racism from the late-19th/early-20th century you'd typically find in men like Keynes would have any bearing on what his image of humanity's perfection might look like.
Miscellaneous thoughts:
- The part that made me love the episode - because sometimes Timeless knows and reminds us it's a pulpy adventure show, is the final action sequence with a tense car chase, followed by our heroes narrowly avoiding capture while driving a car strapped with a bomb. Having our heroes burst out in laughter right after is exactly the kind of tone and levity the show needs.
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