Spoilers Timeless Season 2 - SPOILERS

[Mr Awe]

I thought this episode was pretty good! I enjoyed Flynn in action and how having a heavy on your side can be really useful! Did you notice how it's become easier for Lucy to accept Flynn's hardliner approach? She literally looked the other way when he started roughing the guy up at first.

The only part I didn't care for was the Wyatt angst over how he was a bad husband until Jessica died. I hope that's not going to be too much of a focus going forward. Tedious.

The interesting aspect of that story is *why* did Rittenhouse save Jessica? Was it possibly the mom trying to keep Lucy and Wyatt apart?'

I still don't get what they're doing with the 1918 guy. Comedy relief to interject his old fashioned views? Is he going to come up with some grand master plan? I don't think you need to be such a creative genius to understand that you can change history using a time machine.

It's also interesting how the series still underplays the effects of changing history on the present. They go back, change major aspect of history, people die who should live, live who should die, become tech billionaires, etc and there doesn't seem to be much impact on the present other than now "witch hunt" is no longer an expression. In fact, even Jessica returning is due to direct action by Rittenhouse rather than the large-scale changes made by Rittenhouse and our Time Team.

All in all, I like the new approach this series has taken for the second season--minus the tedious Wyatt angsty relationship stuff. Jury is still out on 1918 guy.

 

[Timewalker]

The interesting aspect of that story is *why* did Rittenhouse save Jessica? Was it possibly the mom trying to keep Lucy and Wyatt apart?'

Divide and conquer? They've got Wyatt focused on Jessica, and not on his job. So scratch one member of the team who used to be effective at stopping them; he's goopy-brained over his resurrected wife.

Lucy's got her crazy family to deal with, and other than Jiya suddenly having visions, what could they do to mess up Rufus' effectiveness on the team?

It's also interesting how the series still underplays the effects of changing history on the present. They go back, change major aspect of history, people die who should live, live who should die, become tech billionaires, etc and there doesn't seem to be much impact on the present other than now "witch hunt" is no longer an expression. In fact, even Jessica returning is due to direct action by Rittenhouse rather than the large-scale changes made by Rittenhouse and our Time Team.

I'd have written it that Jessica's resurrection was somehow caused by the changes made in Hedy Lamarr's life; something about that caused someone to take or not take an action otherwise not taken or taken, and therefore she wasn't killed. Seems too much of a cozy coincidence, but then what about this show isn't?

It's reminiscent of Robert Silverberg's novel Up the Line, in which a Time Courier takes a group of people back in time to spend a couple of weeks in Byzantium, one of the tourists gimmicks his Timer and goes off on his own... and in a nasty coincidence causes a major change in the ancestry of the Time Courier.

 

[Mr Awe]

Divide and conquer? They've got Wyatt focused on Jessica, and not on his job. So scratch one member of the team who used to be effective at stopping them; he's goopy-brained over his resurrected wife.

I suppose it might be that simple. If so, it's a bit disappointing on the vision front! This large, powerful organization has a time machine, vast resources, and is set on global domination. So, with all of their resources they . . . bring back the dead wife of one of their opponents?

And, why didn't our guys detect this trip when it happened like all the others. They only detected it afterwards.

Shoot, if they were going to take that approach, they should save Flynn's family and voila, he's no longer a threat.

 

[Greg Cox]

It's reminiscent of Robert Silverberg's novel Up the Line, in which a Time Courier takes a group of people back in time to spend a couple of weeks in Byzantium, one of the tourists gimmicks his Timer and goes off on his own... and in a nasty coincidence causes a major change in the ancestry of the Time Courier.

This is where I can't resist mentioning that my very first published novel was a young-adult spin-off from Up the Line: ROBERT SILVERBERG'S TIME TOURS # 5: THE PIRATE PARADOX (by Greg Cox and Nick Baron).

Haven't read Up the Line in decades. I should revisit it.

 

[Timewalker]

This is where I can't resist mentioning that my very first published novel was a young-adult spin-off from Up the Line: ROBERT SILVERBERG'S TIME TOURS # 5: THE PIRATE PARADOX (by Greg Cox and Nick Baron).

Haven't read Up the Line in decades. I should revisit it.

I read that book (The Pirate Paradox) a few months ago... I have a question or two about it, if you don't mind a PM.

 

[Greg Cox]

I read that book (The Pirate Paradox) a few months ago... I have a question or two about it, if you don't mind a PM.

No problem. Just remember that I wrote that book nearly thirty years ago, so my memory may be fuzzy regarding the plot.

 

[LJones41]

I suppose it might be that simple. If so, it's a bit disappointing on the vision front! This large, powerful organization has a time machine, vast resources, and is set on global domination. So, with all of their resources they . . . bring back the dead wife of one of their opponents?

And, why didn't our guys detect this trip when it happened like all the others. They only detected it afterwards.

Shoot, if they were going to take that approach, they should save Flynn's family and voila, he's no longer a threat.

Flynn made it clear that if he had been able to bring his family back, he would walk away from them. He did not believe he would be a healthy addition to the family. And he was already investigating Rittenhouse before they killed his family.

Wyatt was always obsessed with not only bringing Jessica back from the dead, but also resuming their marriage.

 

[Mr Awe]

^ That's true, I forgot that. I don't believe him for a minute though. He'd want them in his life.

 

[sttngfan1701d]

Flynn on the team was awesome. I didn't even miss Wyatt. I kinda feel bad about saying that, yet.....

 

[RJDiogenes]

It was definitely interesting having Flynn take Wyatt's place on the team-- kind of like that issue of the FF where Doom took over for Reed. It's too bad that we know only three people can travel at a time, because I like having him along, but I don't want him to permanently replace Wyatt.

So it seems that Jessica's resurrection was a deliberate move by Rittenhouse, for as-yet-unknown reasons. Nobody in the Rittenhouse scenes mentioned it, which was odd, so I wonder if it was done in secret by Lucy's mother or some other rebellious Rittenhouser. Although Rittenhouse seems reduced to Grandpa and the two ladies at this point-- and can one person operate the Mothership in secret?

Using Ben Franklin's mom as the Special Historical Guest of the week was a great idea, but seemed half hearted. Aside from her using a couple of well-known Franklin quotes, implying that his wisdom came somewhat from her, they didn't really make much of it. But now the Salem Witch Trials are known as the Salem Witch Rebellion-- that's gotta have a big effect on history. More and more, I'm thinking that there is some big revelation coming about the world outside the bunker. And it will probably tie in with Jiya's vision at the end of last season.

It was no surprise that Wyatt and Jessica are on the outs in this timeline, but I was a little surprised that he brought her to the bunker and told her that she had been dead. Usually the characters in these shows keep everything a secret, so Wyatt has at least learned that honesty is the best policy. What did surprise me was that she was still alive at the end. When somebody in the timeship wondered about how their actions would affect history, I expected Jessica to disappear at the moment of the ship's return.

 

[Christopher]

What did surprise me was that [Jessica] was still alive at the end. When somebody in the timeship wondered about how their actions would affect history, I expected Jessica to disappear at the moment of the ship's return.

No modern TV series wraps up such a major plot development in just one episode anymore.

 

[Guy Gardener]

How many times did we see Sam Beckett's wife?

Teri Hatcher in "Star-Crossed" (Season 1)
Mimi Kuzyk in “The Leap Back” (Season 4)

I was thinking about Mimi, who is now on Unreal, but I think I need to go watch Teri on Quantum Leap sometime soon.

 

[Christopher]

A format-breaker this week -- a figure from the past being brought to the present. Decent idea, but it went through some pretty familiar beats, with Kennedy learning about his own tragic future. It's weird that they left it all uncorrected, that they sent him back with all his future knowledge intact and even tried to warn him about Dallas. I kept thinking they could use one of those memory flasher things the Legends of Tomorrow use.

 

[Greg Cox]

Fun episode. Loved it when Lucy realized that she could actually call Wyatt on a cell phone for once!

 

[Timewalker]

What was that bit about the image on the quarter changing? I'm not very familiar with American coins, so what happened there?

 

[Guy Gardener]

President Nixon on a coin in 1964.

 

[Timewalker]

President Nixon on a coin in 1964.

Don't you have to be dead to have your face on a coin?

 

[Guy Gardener]

Nixon got whacked in Dallas.

Is there any reason that a lone gunman like Oswald wouldn't also gravitate to a man like Dick?

 

[Timewalker]

Nixon got whacked in Dallas.

Ah, okay. I missed that detail. So because Kennedy was brought forward in time before going into politics, Nixon became president and was assassinated instead?

Is there any reason that a lone gunman like Oswald wouldn't also gravitate to a man like Dick?

No reason at all, I suppose. But then I'm not up on all the details and nuances of the Kennedy assassination. It's not something generally taught in schools here (or at least that's how it was 40 years ago) unless a person is taking a course in American history or there's some other reason to mention it.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Sweaty Nixon lost to Handsome Kennedy in 1960 in the real world, because of a terrible television debate where the public decided that they could not vote for someone that sweaty and unattractive. True Story.

The show did not say that Nixon died, but if you are right about US coins only being for the dead, which I think is true in the US, then Nixon had to have died before 1964.

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