Can we all just take a deep collective breath and try to find a balance following what could only be described as an emotional episode of Timeless that went all kinds of wrong for Wyatt. I think we all need a drink. Or seven. And possibly therapy. Group therapy.
“Karma Chameleon” might’ve been camouflaged as a fun trip back to the 1980’s on the surface, but it was an intense hour filled enough emotional trauma and consequences to make your heart physically ache. But that’s Timeless in a nutshell for you. But honestly, I don’t think I’ve felt like this since at least the “Alamo” episode. Somehow this was even worse.
We all knew from the beginning that was going to go all kinds of wrong very fast. Anytime Wyatt and Rufus go through time without Lucy it ends up being an utter mess. But then you had Wyatt being emotionally driven by his desire to save his wife, which forced him to go to extremes that even Wyatt was surprised by.
This episode was really interesting in how it really forced the audience to think about fate. Sure, it’s a word we throw around when talking about fictional couples that we love or fandoms that we become a part of. But fate is basically this belief that events in time will happen regardless of whether you want it to or not. And we got to see that up close in this episode, which brought us a ton of heartache. But we also saw that even when some things are fated, they might just be able to overcome if met with the right strength of resistance. But then again, some things, it seems, will always be meant to be regardless of the lengths you go to try and prevent it.
Let’s break this down:
When you’re dabbling in time travel there’s always the question about fate. Is it something that makes a nice story? Or is it something that actually exists? Is fate actually time playing out the way it’s always intended to? Is there any way you can actually stop fate?
That’s something that Wyatt and Rufus tested in “Karma Chameleon” as two-thirds of the Time Team traveled back to the 1980s to prevent the parents of Wyatt’s wife’s killer from meeting and creating the serial killer Wyatt met in prison.
Wyatt basically fought for an entire episode trying to prevent these two people from meeting and then sleeping together in a hotel room ultimately leading to a son, who would become that serial killer. So we watched Wyatt try to prevent these two from getting to that point even though it seemed like there was this sort of magnetic attraction. Every time Wyatt would get in the middle, inevitably they would be drawn to each other. It really made you wonder if things really are meant to be. It eventually took Wyatt going to extremes to try and prevent his wife’s death, but he soon learned that some things maybe just are meant to be.
It’s also interesting to think about fate when it comes to Lucy and her involvement in Rittenhouse. All that Lucy has heard – whether from Flynn or from her father now – is that she’s meant to do this, meant to do that. First, Flynn said she was meant to join forces with him to stop Rittenhouse. Now, Lucy’s father is telling her that she’s destined to be a part of Rittenhouse because it’s in her blood.
But that brings us back to the conversation that Lucy, Wyatt, and Rufus had following their trek in the French and Indian War. There was this prevalent fear that Lucy’s fate was already decided. But it was Wyatt who reminded her that it’s up to you and only you to choose your fate. Fate is basically one decision, one choice inevitably leading to a single outcome. Every choice you make ultimately leads you to this one moment in your life.
But is fate something that’s predetermined? Or is fate something that you create for yourself? Given that fate is a collection of decisions that lead to an outcome, don’t you to some degree control your own fate? Or does fate make you make those choices? If you feel like making a choice should you choose the opposite to spite fate?
I feel like we have to believe that we are responsible for our own destiny. The decisions that we make – good and bad – all ultimately affect the person we become and the things that happen to us. So while fate might seem like it’s this big thing weighing you down, as we’ve seen with time travel sometimes you can alter the future or your fate. But then sometimes you can’t. So what is the truth?
Oh Wyatt. I love you. I really do. But dear lord were you incredibly stupid in this episode. Honestly, I wasn’t surprised. I knew that Wyatt was going to cause an absolute mess as he went to the ends of the Earth to try and save his wife. With that kind of motivation it’s daring you to try anything and everything. And Wyatt was persistent – and Rufus for his credit.
Wyatt and Rufus traveled back to the 1980s in order to prevent the parents of this serial killer from meeting essentially wiping said serial killer from existence. But easier said than done when you have fate working against you.
As the episode progressed you could see things going from bad to worse to even worse to even more worse until it came to the moment where Wyatt officially lost it. Emotional trauma will do that to you. But also another lesson that Lucy needs to be present on these time expeditions.
This was the first episode where we really saw Wyatt go from this collected soldier to a broken, unhinged man desperate for salvation. We forget how broken Wyatt was before Timeless. Before the Time Team. He had been torturing himself for four years about his wife’s death, and he still hasn’t forgiven himself for her death. That’s something that is not taken lightly. That’s some heavy stuff. It’s not something you get over easily. So were we really surprised when Wyatt jumped at the opportunity to save his wife? Of course not.
While most of Wyatt’s actions were a tad extreme – from flirting with this girl to knocking out cops – it was the moment at the hotel that really shocked audiences and even Wyatt. At this point, Wyatt was running out of time as this couple were about to conceive his wife’s killer. He had to act fast. And he did. But it wasn’t just breaking them up, it was the events that transpired outside where he chased the father, who fell and hit his head on the pavement and ultimately died.
I think that was the moment that I officially lost it. Because there were several other moments in that episode that called for similar reactions. But that moment was a literal jaw dropper. Like, Did that actually just happen? I was speechless for the entire commercial break.
There was a moment on the time ship as they headed back home where Wyatt really allowed himself to think about how Jessica would feel about this. How she would feel about what he had done to get her back.
“She would be horrified,” Wyatt tells Rufus.
That’s the thing. Is something really worth it if it costs you your morality? Costs you your soul? You’d think the answer would be an easy “no.” But honestly you don’t know until you’re put in that situation how you would react. You’d like to think you’d do what is right. But love is the most powerful force on Earth. It can cause even the smartest of people to do the stupidest of things. You can’t control it. It can consume you. It can dictate how you react to certain situations.
Everything that Wyatt did, everything that he had to sacrifice – including his morality – was ultimately for nothing at all. After the extremes that Wyatt went to – stealing the time machine, killing a young man – he still didn’t prevent Jessica’s death. And the pain, the denial in that moment when Lucy tells him is something that’ll stick with me for a while. That feeling that you’ve compromised your own soul for a loved one – literally gone to the ends of the Earth – to find out that it was for absolutely nothing at all. How your loved one is still dead. And you’re left feeling even emptier than before.
While I still want to slap Wyatt for the chaos that were his actions in this episode, I also want to hug him because no one deserves that. No one deserves to have to experience the emotional turmoil of their worst moment twice in their life. This isn’t something that’ll easily escape Wyatt. This is something that’s going to stay with him for some time. This is something he’s going to need Lucy and Rufus – and himself – to overcome.
Trust & Love
While this was merely a small part of the overall story, the opening scene where Wyatt visited Lucy to tell her about his plan to get Jessica back was one that was laced with trust and love. No doubt the scene was once again a charged one as Abigail Spencer and Matt Lanter delivered another sizzling moment of significance that continues to mold their bond.
Wyatt came to Lucy’s house to tell her about stealing the time ship, and after some initial shock was immediately supportive of wanting to go with him to help. But he didn’t want her to risk losing her deal to find her sister just to help him. Even though Lucy wanted to go to be there for him, she respected the decision he made and was going to try and help him in another way.
“If you trust someone, love someone. You tell them this.”
That’s exactly what Wyatt did. He trusted in Lucy – and not just your ordinary trust. This is the kind of trust deep rooted in the kind of bond that you can’t force, can’t buy. This is something that has to be earned through shared experiences and genuine care. This is something forged in love.
But then you have Rufus who didn’t even tell his girlfriend Jiya the plan. That goes to show you the depth of Lucy and Wyatt’s relationship and how it transcends the stereotypical label of “couple.” They’re partners. In every sense of the word.
Rittenhouse’s Grand Plan
To be honest, I’m still incredibly confused by Rittenhouse’s plan to rewrite history so that Rittenhouse can essentially control it. Because it sounds like they want to create a utopia where everything is sunshine and rainbows and Candy Land while also maintaining that sense of control. Like I understand the severity of what they’re attempting to do, I just don’t understand entirely what they’re attempting to do.
Well, obviously it was significant enough for Anthony to risk and eventually give his life to try and prevent. What I do know is that Rittenhouse needs the Mother Ship to accomplish their goal. It’s why they’ve put forth so much effort and given so many resources so that they might get their hands on this ship to do their bidding.
Obviously where there’s an evil plan there’s a way to prevent it. Apparently that involved destroying the Mother Ship and the Passenger Boat so that Rittenhouse would never have access to time travel. While Anthony said it’d be safer to destroy the Mother Ship and then the Passenger Boat, Flynn wasn’t entirely on board. Anthony even tried to go behind his back and blow up the Mother Ship to no avail (so it seems.) Instead, Anthony got two rounds to the chest.
So how the hell are they going to stop Rittenhouse? Is Flynn still bent around destroying Rittenhouse one by one? What happens when Rittenhouse inevitably gets its hands on the Mother Ship? Will Flynn regret not destroying it? What the hell would even happen?
Five Things…
- Matt Lanter was absolutely sensational. While I wanted to smack Wyatt for most of this episode, Lanter gave one hell of a performance as he portrayed an emotionally unhinged and determined Wyatt who would stop at nothing to save his dead wife. He went to extremes – both physically and emotionally – and I felt everything that Lanter delivered. Bravo.
- Seriously, Wyatt and Rufus should never travel through time without Lucy. Haven’t they realized by now that they’ll make stupid decisions and alter history without her? New rule: Never time travel without Lucy present. Although I don’t know how much time traveling Wyatt is going to be doing in the immediate future after the stunt he just pulled.
- So Rittenhouse wants to create Candy Land? So when Anthony was describing Rittenhouse’s grand plan to Lucy – about how they wanted to take the Mother Ship and go back and time and rewrite history so they’d have this picture perfect world – it sounded awfully Utopian and terrifying. Like how the hell would that even be possible? I’m still confused.
- The fact that Wyatt had enough trust and love for Lucy to tell her what he was doing killed me. For comparisons sake, Rufus didn’t even tell his own girlfriend. But Wyatt personally went to Lucy and told her what he was doing. More than that, he let her know how much he cared for her by not getting her involved and risk her not getting her sister back. Plus those looks. And that chemistry. Every. Freaking. Time.
- I still have this terrifying feeling that Wyatt’s wife is coming back. Watch it be right when Wyatt and Lucy decide to give it a go with each other. That’s actually going to break my heart. I don’t even want to think about it.
Timeless airs Mondays at 10/9c on NBC.