As Timeless rounds out the season with one more lap before the finale, "Reagan" is the centerpiece for Agent Denise Christopher as Lucy, Wyatt, Rufus, and Jiya have to save a younger (officer) Denise from being murdered by a Rittenhouse sleeper agent in 1981. "Reagan" is arguably the strongest episode yet of Timeless as it helps mix in so many elements of time travel stories into a strong, character focused hour of television. Frankly speaking, there are times where Timeless needs to simply be saved by the sheer chemistry on display by its lead characters, but for this hour, it only helps magnify an already strong story to something much better.
For all the heroes, this is one where all the stakes are personal and high as the team races to keep Denise Christopher alive; if she dies, then Rittenhouse can simply wipe out all opposition in one fell swoop. It's an easy thing for the audience to wrap their head around, because the show is explicitly saying that this is how you kill off the origin story of the show: start at the root cause. There are a few interesting twists included in the whole adventure as Lucy and Jiya have to sort out how to prevent Denise from heading down a different path now that she's more than a simple witness to a historical event.
Denise Christopher's character is an interesting one that never got much exploration beyond a few scenes in season one where Lucy is invited over to dinner. Most other times, she's straightforward and all business with almost no deceptive streak, but one hell of a poker face. It's in that quiet scene we learn she's gay, married and has children, but beyond that the show never really explores her family life beyond vaguely putting them in the vicinity of danger that you expect from Rittenhouse. Sakina Jaffrey is a fantastic actor and sells the material well, connecting with Lucy's sister's disappearance to her fear or losing her family through simple causality.
It's a great callback to the flash drive that she gives Lucy in that quiet scene that never comes back up until now, and it's used to great effect at the big emotional climax. It works doubly well by having Karen David play the younger, more conflicted version of Denise Christopher who also pitches in on finding Ronald Reagan's would-be assassin. The episode also explores issues of queer identity and the toll it plays, especially in families with a more conservative nature like Denise's. The show doesn't make any qualms about telling the audience that Denise's mother is definitely no fan of her sexual orientation, plus has some things to say about arranged marriages in Indian culture. Jaffrey of course, helps seal the deal when the team returns to discover their risky gamble to tell her about her future has worked, and because of their intervention, parts of her personal life have changed, for the better. The show arrives at a fairly nuanced conclusion to it; she maintains a generally more positive (rather than mostly absent) relationship with her mother, connecting over her adoptive children. It's not the happiest ending, but it a nuanced approach does speak volumes over a simple, "and then it was 110% all better".
It was also nice to have Denise and Flynn bounce off one-another in a more friendly tone and share advice about keeping their families close. It's not hard to imagine Flynn as a sympathetic character (as he's had much time to express it back in the first season), and it's moments like those that remind the audience he was never at any point a dastardly, moustache-twirling villain.
As for Rufus and Wyatt, they track down the Rittenhouse sleeper agent who attempts to kill Denise Christopher and take him captive. It's an interesting subplot as the show is very much aware it's the first time they've taken a Rittenhouse agent alive and pump him for information. It's also not much of a surprise that maybe some members of Rittenhouse are not so sympathetic to their cause and are acting as mere pawns under some duress. It's an interesting angle to play, especially with what's been shown of Rittenhouse in the past, and in the second season. It also helps inform Jessica's position with Rittenhouse, as it's fairly obvious by now she's in on the whole thing, like it or not. The sleeper plotline on a bit of a bitter note as the two sleeper agent brothers end up having to die, with one having to take his life for a cause he didn't necessarily believe it, but again, it does some duty to help colour Jessica's position. It just feels like it's fairly late of a development or avenue for the show to explore, but I'm glad they got to it.
The unfortunate fact is the finale will be coming up next, so there might be some more exploration of that angle, probably through Carol, maybe as she tries to see the whole Rittenhouse endeavour is starting to fail and fall apart as a byproduct of their own making.
Miscellaneous thoughts:
- The show is still on the bubble at this time of writing, so it'll be interesting what state the 2-hour finale leaves the show in, especially if it's in an unresolved cliffhanger.
- There's something to be said about Rittenhouse "trying again" by going further up the family tree, but that feels unnecessary and a little too involved. Sometimes time travel stories don't need all the holes plugged.
- Had to give it some thought, but Wyatt not remembering Jessica's younger brother makes sense since Jessica returned into the timeline while Wyatt was still out in the past (in "Hollywoodland"), meaning his memories of her were still of her being dead and not alive.
- As for other time travel rule talk: Flynn does remind us an older Lucy will travel back in time (when it's possible) to get Flynn started on his adventure. It will be interesting to see then - if the show survives that long. Hopefully.
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