Timeless decides to basically take the week off in period garb, and it pays off surprisingly well with the change in pace by bringing someone from the past into the present. Although the show is always firmly rooted on in the trio of Lucy, Wyatt, and Rufus, in the past year they've taken on more allies and those allies have become more entangled in their adventures, albeit usually on the events in the sidelines. With "The Kennedy Curse", the crisis of the week allows all the characters to bounce off one another with having to deal with a young JFK wandering around in the present, rather than having the supporting characters pop in for a quick brief at the start of the episode, tag in for their scenes for their respective subplots, then appear again for the denouement (unless you're Flynn this week). It makes for a more energetic episode where the entire cast isn't literally separated by the gulf that is literal decades and helps bring a lot of focus on most of the episode to a singular purpose.
As I had stated in the review for the previous episode, the show continues to move briskly with Jessica involved, giving the feeling the whole young JFK to the present plot was constructed wholly so it would be possible to get Wyatt, Lucy, and Jessica to share the bulk of the episode's scenes together without having to find a more convoluted reason for her to take a trip in the Lifeboat (though the show also teases Rufus and Jiya trying to add an official fourth seat). A young JFK escapes his supposed confinement in the team's bunker, and the show surprises as well by not simply confining the episode to the bunker itself, letting him escape into the wilder world and having to react to knowing he's literally time travelled.
Lucy accompanies Wyatt into the field if only to size up Jessica, who only wants to follow along and not feel useless. And of course if Lucy is able to handle it, she should too. It makes for an interesting dynamic by seemingly pitting the two women together but at odds, held together by Wyatt's presence. The back and forth comes and goes with Jessica being able to rise to the occasion, and Lucy being able to employ her expertise towards the hunt for JFK. Lucy begins to realize that there's an immense amount of history between Jessica and Wyatt that no amount of life-or-death adventuring with Wyatt could possibly outdo what bond the two have. Despite Jessica's misgivings about how Wyatt had treated her in the past, Lucy is correct when she tells Jessica of his devotion to her. Wyatt is as committed as he says he is, because Lucy witnessed all of Wyatt's attempts in season one to bring her back, driven from his guilt of losing her and thinking he could bring her back. Sure, it pushes Lucy further away from Wyatt in a romantic sense, but for everyone involved, it is, as they say, "complicated" beyond any measure.
Meanwhile, Rufus, Jiya, and Connor play the role of tech support back at the bunker, and it leads to Rufus and Jiya pondering further about just how causality just might work within the confines of Timeless. It makes one wonder how much their conversation is the writers trying to work through the messy mechanics of time travel and causality, and how much of it is just the fact that it's two technically apt people trying to work their way through everything they've faced. Timeless seems to have some firm rules set on how time travel works in the show, but it is interesting to have Rufus and Jiya muse over causality. If the present hasn't changed significantly and everyone is still aware of JFK as president, doesn't that mean that you can conclude JFK will be returned to his place in time, and will carry on as he's supposed to? It does make that one errant scene of the JFK quarter weird in the context of that conversation; it transforms into Nixon even though ultimately JFK comes out unharmed when Emma attacks and it's never shown again. The show even implies JFK's history generally follows the same trajectory despite Rufus' request to avoid his own assassination.
The subplot between Denise and Carol comes off strong because it's played off with two strong actors (Jaffrey and Thompson), but unfortunately for me, there's very little to work with other than the generic threat to the Christopher family deal. Lucy ends up really making the final decision though, sort of removing Agent Christopher from the equation despite the risk involved to someone's family. I'll be genuinely curious though if this point really comes up again or has some follow-through as a result of it.
As for the episode's namesake, JFK ends up playing a fairly minor role, which is par for the course with Timeless. Much of the episode is spent either in awe of or confused by a way of life that's drastically different from yours. It's not really until the final act where JFK and Kayla share some moments together and the two are given some time to develop some sense of either who these characters are. The Kennedy family curse itself may have also gotten worse as the young JFK gets a chance to see his short-lived fate, as recorded by Wikipedia, and has to live with the burden of knowing the future of himself and his family, and as the episode ends up telling us, unable to really change much, only being able to simply live his life more or less as expected, give or take a few minor details. It leaves one wondering exactly how malleable or resilient history is to change in Timeless, given that the show doesn't seem to give a firm answer. In the meantime, it's worth the ride that episodes like "The Kennedy Curse" provide.
Miscellaneous thoughts:
- It's worth mentioning a bit but Rufus and Jiya have come up against the brick wall that is fundamental differences in philosophies and worldviews, borne out of trying to figure out how causality is supposed to work. That's usually a relationship breaker, so I'll be interested to see where it goes.
- Despite Flynn being missing, there is a good amount of chemistry and banter about and involving Flynn, especially when he returns from the past.
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