Finally, it feels like Timeless has produced an episode with a lot of movement this season after lingering in the wake of its season two premiere. There were a lot of errant plot threads that didn't seem to amount to much finally being addressed in "The Salem Witch Hunt" that seem to set the show in interesting directions moving forward. With not much time left in the season, it's strange to see the show trying to take its time getting to its more interesting stories.
Firstly, Timeless did a great job in moving much more briskly with Jessica than I was expecting by placing her in the bunker with the rest of the team by the end of the episode, but also attaching a lot of interesting baggage on the character, and by extension Wyatt. I remain optimistic about how the show will handle her, as she could be an interesting dynamic that exists beyond "getting in the way of" Lucy and Wyatt. Assuming Jessica is nothing more than a diversion or complication in that sense, there are still interesting threads weaved through the episode. Does Rittenhouse just simply plan to unbalance the team by bringing her back? With Flynn taking a more active, and positive role with Lucy and Rufus, the show does give the impression that the team is malleable and can work without Wyatt acting as muscle (or as in season one's "The Lost Generation" showed us, how Lucy and Rufus have to compensate when they have none).
I was expecting a long, drawn-out reveal that Rittenhouse was behind Jessica's return; except the show decided to explain what happened in the span of thirty seconds and focus on the consequences instead. Having the follow up to Wyatt's mission to bring back Jessica in season one to having her back and trying to convince Jessica to reconcile will be an interesting story to see. Even if the implications that she could very well become a Rittenhouse double-agent (or triple-agent) seems to always be waiting in the wings because of the circumstances, at least the show is smart enough to acknowledge it.
Speaking of consequences, this episode also finally addressed Jiya's premonitions, and they all seem to center on Rufus. I thought it a bit clumsy to show her premonition an episode in advance, almost as a teaser, but it works in a way that you might expect the next week's episode promo to work, having the audience parse out of context snippets meant to catch your attention. It does a good job weaving in the story of the week, Rufus' and Jiya's personal struggles with time travel, as well as weaving in the show's themes of fate/free will (through time travel, of course) into the equation. The show never settles into a strict right and wrong (or rather factual vs. subjective) reading of the situation, preferring to express it through its characters. The pilgrim Jiya saw in her visions might have only been meant to die because she told the team about it, causing him to become involved with Rufus' journey to begin with. While the trope is a staple of time travel stories, it can be interesting with proper execution, and at least "Salem" puts the show in the right direction.
Rufus' arc through Salem is an interesting one because it contrasts to Lucy's in a drastically different way despite the two of them being almost inseparable except for a creepy cabin. Lucy is definitely determined to make sure Benjamin Franklin's mother doesn't get hanged as a witch in order to save the America she knows from going under, but also to make sure values like criticizing authority don't get taken away by Rittenhouse. Lucy has mostly existed on the show, in many ways, to ensure history survives as best it can despite outside manipulation, but her change in attitudes at the climax of the episode seemingly move her in another - and fascinating - direction. She empathizes with the women who she knows will hang for no good reason, and decides to save them all instead of leaving them to their known fates, consequences be damned. Perhaps Lucy is fully set on the path to destroy Rittenhouse, fixing one problem on the way at a time. After all, Lucy knows now more than ever that she is working with Flynn on the right side of history, and maybe she thinks should be able to help shape it for the better rather than just try to fix what she sees as broken to begin with.
As someone who studied history, it's an interesting idea by itself, but also something to be wary of: which is to apply your modern, contemporary values to a past that didn't hold your values. Though we know Lucy is the hero of the tale that is Timeless, is her attempt to reshape history (another word might be to "clean" or "sanitize") in "Salem" going to continue? And if so, does that make her any different from what Rittenhouse is trying to do?
Miscellaneous thoughts:
- Pretty bold move by Timeless to cast Patrick Fischler in a bit role in an attempt to trick us into thinking he's the Rittenhouse sleeper agent. Anyone who knows their TV guest stars would've easily assumed that a recognizable name in a show like Timeless (or any procedural cop show, really) is the guy who's guilty 99% of the time.
- Not sure how to feel about Nicholas, who still feels like a really cynical version of Sleepy Hollow's Ichabod Crane. He has a plan, but the show is not too keen on sharing it. And of course he doesn't have to care about his granddaughter if only because killing her doesn't erase him from history. It's so painfully obvious the direction the show wants to take Carol in though by making Nicholas just that evil enough.
No comments:
Post a Comment