Sometimes an episode of Timeless ends up being fairly straightforward, and that's all you need in the world. But other times, you also wish there would be something more drastic happening, as a trip to 1940s Hollywood(land) feels like a transitional episode saddled with fairly straightforward story of the week. It's a fun story nonetheless, but it's not until the very end when all is said and done that Timeless wants to play its hand. With a fairly short second season order of ten episodes, it feels like (from personal experience) that everything is down to the line, especially in an environment where they might not be able to save Timeless again for a third season. A fun hour of television is always good, but sometimes it feels like the show is a little lost for direction when it should be making some more moves.
The episode shines when the three heroes are on display, taking in the sights of another era, and enjoying themselves. There's a lot of energy to be mined with the three principal characters, so the weekly dose of the three is always welcome, despite any of my misgivings. Props specifically goes out to Abigail Spencer who gets a nice, rousing musical performance into the episode. Meanwhile, as Wyatt and Lucy get closer and closer romantically, it's great to see the chemistry between everyone, especially Rufus when he discovers the pair post-coitus and can't contain his nervous energy.
It's a fairly laid-back episode where - if I'm being honest - the Rittenhouse portion of the plot feels like an afterthought to highlight the era. It hits all the beats of the cabal trying to rein in history to their advantage, this time by stealing Citizen Kane to get William Randolph Hearst to let them publish a single article in his papers. It's a little surprising someone like Hearst wasn't already a Rittenhouse member, since earlier episodes seemed to imply Rittenhouse was so well ingrained in America's elite around this time that someone owning a giant media company wasn't already in cahoots. Hedy Lamarr is a fun addition and has fun bouncing off the cast, though it felt a lot like she was just included so the show could make a point about her notable achievements than really providing a catalyst for character development (other than getting Lucy and Wyatt to finally hook up) that usually works well in the show's format.
Unfortunately, because Rittenhouse feels like an afterthought in this episode, actors like Teddy Sears are wasted playing a minor plot point to something that could have had interesting implications. There's a handful of scenes where there's something for Sears to work with - most notably the two he shares with his father - that gives the growing sense that these sinister agents have gone native, as they say. It's interesting how none of these agents (Lucas and Ryan from last week) neither seek out any Rittenhouse support structure (you'd think they'd have a secret handshake or something) to prevent them from enjoying themselves too much, or had more concrete plans. The writing comes off giving the impression that Rittenhouse dumped Lucas off in 1925-26 Hollywood with barely a plan except to integrate themselves before waiting for someone to come back to relay their final orders. This sort of implies that Nicholas Keynes' arrival in the present isn't simply a catalyst for Rittenhouse's sleepers to activate, but that he has to micromanage them, and beforehand, there was no concrete plan for these sleepers until he showed up. I wish there was some more danger to Rittenhouse's plans, for instance, maybe even replacing a historical figure with a Rittenhouse agent, to truly up the stakes.
In the final moments, Timeless finally unites Flynn with our heroes. He feels like a necessary addition to the team and hopefully will prove to be an interesting foil considering that Rittenhouse sleeper agents have been somewhat lacking in personality. Considering neither Wersching or Thompson had their statuses bumped up, it means there might be a lack of personality to Rittenhouse for the time being to balance out the spectacular cast of protagonists. It's a good thing Flynn might take a more active role in season two, and maybe provide interesting complications for the team. On the same note, reviving Jessica for Wyatt has interesting implications, though we've not heard a word from her yet, so it's too early to say if she factors into anything involving the Rittenhouse arc, or if her return is somehow some kind of causality working itself out (maybe the security guard that is killed in 1941 someone connects to her disappearance). Either way, I'm sure it's enough to cause fans of Lucy and Wyatt to burst into flames shortly after the pairing came together.
Miscellaneous thoughts:
- Not much again on Jiya this week, as it's kind of slow development again, though I did enjoy her rationale on avoiding doctors. She's "healed" in a sense by time travel via the Lifeboat, but the implications still feel too far out to make any prediction what it could mean, since the visions and seizures are still there.
- Seems like the episode was made for poking fun at Hollywood culture. "Who knows what writers look like?", or "Writers are a dime a dozen." Writers know exactly who they're writing for here.
- "TV, it's the future," says the man from 2018. Too bad his attempt at making Jurassic Park probably gave him away.
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