Timeless takes us on an interesting journey back to the roots of women's suffrage in the U.S., but it feels slightly undercooked as a setting, and more of an excuse to use Grace Humiston's moniker of "Mrs. Sherlock Holmes" as a tool to poke fun and Lucy and Wyatt's strained relationship. It's really no surprise that if your secret cabal is led by a turn-of-the-century white man with illusions of grandeur and plans to take over the world through time travel, he might not be so great with women's rights. Or anyone else's for that matter. But that being said, the cast always pulls through and makes any episode of Timeless enjoyable.
An interesting development as of this episode is showing us that Rittenhouse is nearly extinct, at least thought to be after Wyatt raided the headquarters himself last week. As far as the show is concerned, Rittenhouse is Nicholas, Emma, and Carol, plus whatever sleeper agents they left remaining to be activated, now that everyone else is more or less dead or arrested from last season. Nicholas is more concerned about snuffing out movements that might run counter to running an authoritarian regime, but it appears that women's suffrage is something not even Emma - arguably Rittenhouse's only competent operator remaining - can really justify. It makes for an incredibly interesting and fun combination as it brings Rufus, Flynn, and Emma together as they all hash out their particular past working relationships and look for common ground to stop Rittenhouse's plans.
Rufus is particularly amusing this episode when paired off with Flynn as the two of them operate on a fairly casual tone and Flynn takes the time to joke with Rufus, going so far as to calmly tell him he's not going to kill him today. It makes for extra comedy when compounded with the fact that Rufus feel more confident knowing he's not time-travelling to a time with cowboys and he's certain to die. The hilarious notion that he thinks he's invincible makes him decides to tempt fate every time he and Flynn are met with danger, but it does offer a fun distraction as the two actors work off each other very well.
"Mrs. Sherlock Holmes" arguably has the most competent Rittenhouse sleeper agent put to task considering she was able to kill Alice Paul without anyone noticing and coming fairly close to killing Lucy. Grace Humiston was an interesting figure to attach to the story, mostly as a way to pick apart at Wyatt and Lucy's strained relationship, as well as having her become the stand-in and replacement for Alice Paul as a long-running women's rights activist. The interpretation of the historical figure might not be as particularly sound, but the journey made was an interesting one to have her start as someone less than interested in women's suffrage and equality, ultimately realizing her biases to the situation and taking up a noble cause. It's tied up nicely and Timeless doesn't always have to meet the standards of academia, so any deviations from real history is worth a pass for an entertaining hour of television.
It remains to be seen exactly what the show wants to do with Emma, since she's largely loyal save for this indiscretion. Jessica being known to Agent Christopher and Connor Mason potentially being a Rittenhouse agent isn't really a surprise considering the show acknowledges the possibility itself episodes back with her return. She's meant to throw a wrench mostly into Wyatt and Lucy's relationship, though it's really Lucy here who knows her boundaries, and it feels like Wyatt who thinks he can maybe manage a threesome if he's really sly about it. It's welcome to hear the show also acknowledge through Lucy that she and Flynn aren't romantically inclined, but he is someone she can connect with otherwise since everyone else is literally paired off at this point in the show.
Miscellaneous thoughts:
- Squeezing in a Donald Trump as president joke might just be the best part of the episode. But it wasn't their fault he's president, at least.
- Not much of an arc but Rufus thinking he's invincible to getting humbled and apologizing to Jiya was nice to see.
- The thing about the women's suffrage movement in the US is that it was fairly widespread by then that I feel like Rittenhouse would have to snuff out the movement in the entire western world and work to keep it from stirring up again. I feels like a minor setback and the U.S. would've just been late to the party instead of thinking it just becomes The Handmaid's Tale overnight. But that's just me being nitpicky.
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