I tried not to make that joke. I really, really did.
But here I am. Ten episodes later. Ten brilliant, amazing episodes later, and I just want…more. I want Timeless to save the world, or at least my world.
Yeah, yeah, I know what you’re going to say. TV shows don’t save the world. And maybe they don’t. But shows like Timeless help us shape the world we live in, they help us shape the message that our children get, and in a very important way, they also contribute to the kind of people we are.
And, yes, this show makes us better.
It does so by making their characters imperfect, but making sure they learn lessons along the way, even if some of those lessons are hard and painful. It does so by showcasing diverse stories and giving diverse writers a voice. And it does so by actually, actively teaching us the many real things we should have learned from history, and more often than not, didn’t.
Now, I’ve praised the show left and right this season, and by the length of my reviews, I think you can all understand that I love this show. I think it’s the best show on TV, by far.
Does that mean it’s perfect or that I agree with all their decisions? No. I didn’t love the way the Jessica arc played out, or the time wasted in Nicholas if Emma was always going to end up being the main villain alongside Jessica, or really, the way any of the men – save Flynn, at times – behaved this season.
But I loved much more than I didn’t, and every week they showed me what TV can do when talent, passion, and intelligence meet. Every week, they gave me a reason not just to turn on the TV or write these long-ass reviews, but to care and to invest and to find myself so desperately drawn by these characters that I needed to find people to discuss them with.
And that’s magical. That doesn’t come every day. And that’s why this show deserves not just another season but more support, more promotion, and a bigger audience.
So, let us go into the twists and turns, the losses and the hope of “The General” and “Chinatown.”
RUFUS CARLIN, THE HERO IN A HOODIE
I’m not going to eulogize Rufus Carlin because Rufus Carlin is not dead, he’s just momentarily absent from this present timeline. Tomb Raider Lucy and Hot Youth Pastor Wyatt are here from the future to bring him back, and IT WILL ALL BE OKAY, YOU HEAR ME? IT’LL ALL BE OKAY.
*deep breath in, deep breath out* Join me. *deep breath in, deep breath out*
Okay, I’m back. I’ve processed my pain, once again. I’m not at all thinking about how Tomb Raider Lucy and Hot Youth Pastor Wyatt likely spent how many years it’s been – let’s assume five as Flynn looked like he knew that Lucy and he said five, though I didn’t trust his five when he said it, but whatever, we’ll go with five – planning and training and waiting to come back to this exact time so they could save Rufus.
Nope, I’m not thinking about that. I am however, thinking, about what this means.
I used that Heroes quote as a sort of a joke, when I started my review, but later, I realized how fitting it was. ‘Save the Cheerleader, Save the World,” was their whole thing, and the cheerleader was, of course, tiny and blonde and white.
Rufus is the cheerleader in this show. He is the glue. He is the center. And the center will hold.
Because, to put it bluntly, this show doesn’t work without Rufus.
Yes, there are many interchangeable parts to why this show is so good, and yes, I love the other characters just as much sometimes, and more at others, because Timeless is very good at balance and giving people their time in the spotlight. But if it all clicks, if, in the end, it comes into place, it’s because of Rufus.
This doesn’t mean Rufus is a perfect character, oh no. He has been as much of a dumbass as Wyatt at times this season, with even less justification. He gets stuck in his own head a lot, and he can be incredibly self-centered and frankly, irrational when he’s scared.
But boy, he’s got a big heart. He loves everyone, and his love is so pure, so real. We might have seen a lot of characters who look like Rufus on TV, but we’ve never had another Rufus Carlin.
And it’s not just about the fact that he’s a black man who’s not a sidekick, not just the comic relief, but often the smartest person in a room – any room. It’s got to do with the fact that he’s been allowed to be that kind, goofy, lovable nerd, and also to be selfish sometimes, to be self-centered, to be a total ass, and not have that change who he is.
Diversity doesn’t just mean putting POC in our screens, it means treating those characters like you would any character, allowing them the ups and downs and triumphs and failings. It means recognizing that being a hero, in a hoodie or without, doesn’t mean being perfect. It means being you, and more often than not, it means trying, just that, even when it’s hard. Especially when it’s hard.
Rufus Carlin is a hero. He’s our hero. And that’s why he can’t be gone. That’s why he’ll never be gone. Because we’re as ready to fight for him as his friends are.
JIYA, MORE THAN JUST A LOVE-INTEREST
It already felt like asking too much to ask this show to not treat Rufus like a sidekick, so in a way, as much as we wanted it, I don’t think many of us thought that it was possible to ask for Jiya to be more than Rufus’ love interest, to be her own realized character with her own distinct motivations and fears and reasons.
This is not the first time, and hopefully won’t be the last time I thank Timeless for proving me wrong.
Everyone’s gone through a journey in Season 2, but Jiya’s journey has been the most personal to us, the viewers, because we’ve gotten to know her as someone separate from Rufus or Mason. She’s no longer defined just by others – she’s her own character, who makes her own, sometimes frustrating choices.
Staying in the past to protect Rufus, for one, was incredibly brave and also, incredibly self-centered. She should have known he wasn’t going to give up, and she should have predicted that he wasn’t going to agree with her sacrificing herself to save him. Because, though it often feels to us, and to TV characters, that love is sacrifice, love isn’t merely just that.
Love is also fighting. It’s problems, yes, but it’s facing those problems together. And Jiya did the thing she’d been criticizing Rufus for doing – she took it out of his hands and made it all her problem. And, in the end, it was all for nothing.
Now, we didn’t get to see future Jiya, but just the fact that Tomb Raider Lucy and Hot Youth Pastor Wyatt found their way to the past means that she was there, every step of the way, fighting for a future with Rufus. And that’s exciting, amazing and heartbreaking, because it means that there’s more of her story to be told, and not just her story with Rufus, no.
Jiya is more than Riya. And in a TV landscape that, often, reduces women to just romance, that’s beautiful to see.
RITTENHOUSE LEGACY
Oh, Jessica. I was rooting for you, I really was. Not for you to be a regular bartender like the other Jessica that you mocked, but at least for you to be, I don’t know, a sleeper agent who’d fallen in love with someone in whatever year she’d been placed and was now desperate to get back so she’d do anything, even betray Rittenhouse.
See, I wrote a better backstory for you than you got. I’m sorry you got stuck with the cliché.
As interesting as Emma became in this episode, Jessica just literally became about as blah as she possibly could. Blah, blah I really care about you Wyatt, but blah blah I’m part of something bigger, blah blah I’m pregnant with your child, blah blah but my loyalty is to Rittenhouse blah blah.
I just rolled my eyes so far back they got stuck. This the first time Timeless elicits that reaction in me.
My problem with this storyline is not really the actual storyline per se, but the way it developed. Yes, it’s easy to understand why she’d become part of Rittenhouse, all things considered, and yes, it’s even somewhat believable that she’d still have feelings for Wyatt, but the rest of the sentimental crap is just a tad too much.
Let’s back up and understand what Jessica is saying here, okay? She, this version of Jessica, never chose Wyatt. She was assigned to him. He was basically her mark. Her job was to get close to him, to marry him, and who knows, maybe even to get pregnant. What a grand romance.
Yup, still rolling my eyes pretty severely here.
Wyatt had trouble separating this Jessica from the one he knew, the one he married. I can’t exactly blame him. He’ll get there. We, however, should have no qualms in calling this what it is: the worst kind of emotional manipulation.
As for the pregnancy, I don’t know, man, I don’t know. She might be pregnant and she might be trying to protect the baby, but if I were pregnant I’d be keeping my baby away from gun fights, corsets and time machines. Just saying.
I knew, ever since Wyatt mentioned his dead wife in the Pilot episode, that one day we’d see her back. She was Chekhov’s gun, after all, and she had to be fired. But, Timeless, I’m sorry for saying this, there were better ways to do that than the one you took. I can literally come up with like three, off the top of my head.
The big gamble here, of course, was that you’d have time to fix the mess Jessica created…in season 3. Let’s hope the gamble pays off. Because there’s still a lot to be fixed here, and a lot of questions that need answering.
Next up: EMMA, THE BITCH WITH THE TIME MACHINE.
Look, I’m gonna give it to Emma. For a moment there, I thought Nicholas was playing her. For a moment there, I thought Carol Preston had outsmarted her. But, through it all, Emma proved one thing – she’s a survivor. And that’s the kind of people, the kind of villain, you should fear.
Rittenhouse has always been about family, about legacy. Emma flies in the face of that. She’s now in charge not because she was born to be in charge, but because she outsmarted everyone, and because she was ruthless when she needed to be. And, in a way, that makes her a much scarier villain than Carol Preston, or even Nicholas Keynes.
What’s her endgame? Where does she go next? We don’t know. But, just like Flynn said a couple of episodes ago, Emma has always been about looking out for number one: Emma. And that’s a pretty exciting change.
Though – whether they fix it or not, I’m always going to hold Rufus over your head, Emma. That’s never, ever going to be something I forgive you for.
IN DEFENSE OF WYATT LOGAN
It feels like we need to start the Wyatt section, or at least this Wyatt section, with some facts, and a little bit of common sense. Jessica has been back for around three weeks. Three. Sure, Wyatt has been confused, he’s had doubts that he didn’t mention to anyone, and she ended up being exactly what everyone feared, which screwed up everything royally. All of that is true.
But it’s been three weeks. Three weeks of someone he lost and mourned back in his life. Three weeks of this woman he put on a pedestal, this woman who was, back in the day, his reason for living, being back. Can you really and truly blame him for being blind? Should we judge him so harshly for…well, not being perfect?
Often, I think TV sets us up with impossible standards. Characters have to be this, and that, and this other thing and if they ever deviate, if they ever do a bad thing, they’re called toxic or abusive or who knows what else. And there are many toxic and abusive behaviors on TV that should be called out. There are many characters that make these behaviors the standard, and they should be shunned. But there are also a lot of…well, imperfect characters.
In a way, that’s reality. That’s the only way to tell compelling stories, by making your characters flawed. People are flawed, after all. No one is ever going to be perfect 100% of the time, and not even 90% or 80%. People make mistakes and that’s how they learn, and characters should be allowed the same leeway to mess things up royally and learn from it.
Wyatt is not a repeat offender in the DUMBASS category. Wyatt also didn’t make a choice into dumbassery, he was thrust into it thanks to Rittenhouse. In fact, you could even say that his worst fault in this entire scenario is that, even when it was impossible, he kept trying to do the best thing for everyone involved.
At some point, we all have to make a choice in life. Wyatt took too damn long to do just that. But he didn’t do it out of malice or because he only cared about Jessica. He did it because he was, impossibly, trying to find a middle ground while in the midst of an impossible situation.
Sadly, as often happens when you take too long to make a choice, the choice is made for you. And I don’t mean a romantic choice – his heart was clearly Lucy’s from the beginning, but he never got to a point where he could find a way to “betray” Jessica so he could have what he wanted. Being with Lucy would have meant telling a woman who came back from the dead, a woman whose life was supposedly only about him, that she’d died and he’d just, you know, replaced her.
We know what Jessica is, but even we doubted for a second there (and by we I mean you, I never doubted), because the setup was just so incredibly well done. And though, if this had been in my hands, I would have certainly written this whole arc differently, we all have to remember that the way it was written doesn’t mean Wyatt is the worst man in the history of mankind, and it certainly doesn’t make him irredeemable.
He made a mistake. By the looks of Hot Youth Pastor Wyatt, he put a lot time and effort into atoning. So I’m not saying that we should forgive him now, or that Lucy should, but I am saying we should be open to the possibility of doing just that at some point.
WHO IS NONETHELESS, A DUMBASS
Yay Wyatt, you get two whole sections for you, because even though I just defended you, I still have to take a moment to tell you what a dumbass you are. And you’re not a dumbass because you couldn’t take that step, no, you’re a dumbass because deep down you knew, and you did nothing.
You knew your heart belonged to Lucy and not to Jessica – no one gets to “I love you” as quickly as you did if that’s not something they’ve accepted and internalized. But you let loyalty cloud your judgment and you chose to follow your brain over your heart, because that was “the right thing to do.”
And, as if that weren’t enough, you compounded one mistake with another, because, even when you doubted, even when you wavered, you buckled down on your decision and chose to ignore all the warning signs, just because you couldn’t possibly face the notion that you’d made the wrong choice.
Because, if Jessica was really Rittenhouse, it meant the pain you felt, the pain you’d caused Lucy, that was all for nothing. And you couldn’t take that.
So yes, Wyatt. It was all sorta understandable. I will forgive you, and I think Lucy will too (except for the beard, I’m not sure we’re gonna forgive you for that), but let this be a lesson. You’ve been very, very good at learning your lessons. Learn this one. Learn it well. Because, though there are likely no other curveballs as big as this one in your future, with Rittenhouse, you never know.
Pick Lucy, once and for all. Pick Rufus. Pick the team – your family. And don’t ever let go.
(It feels weird to be giving you advice that it seems you already took, but think of me as Hot Youth Pastor Wyatt telling you what to do, present Wyatt. YOU still have a lot of atoning to do, unlike him.)
LUCY PRESTON, FROM THERE TO NOW
Don’t you sit down and think sometimes that if Carol Preston had been a worse (better) mother, Lucy, the one we know and love, would probably not exist?
She’d be part of Rittenhouse, and she would have believed from the beginning. She’d be just like Jessica, or even worse, because she’d be “royalty” and she’d be leading the whole thing. In the end, even as she was dying, that’s still what Carol wanted for Lucy.
Which, “I won’t die,” sets up an interesting possibility that this could be how they take Rittenhouse down, but that’s not neither here nor there, that’s Season 3 speculation, or possibly season 4 or 5 or 6. (I want all those seasons, NBC.)
But my point remains, Carol’s selfishness, her desire to have her daughter for herself, and then her sickness, were partly responsible for the Lucy we have now. In a way, though, especially in a season that’s centered on fate versus choice, a part of me wants to believe that we were always meant to have this Lucy.
That she was always meant to be the woman who took down Rittenhouse. That she was always meant to see through the speech and the pretenses and recognize how incredibly awful it is to have just a small few determining the future of everyone because they think they “know best.”
And that she was always meant to go from the woman who would not even dare to move a foot if that would change history, to someone who recognizes that people are more important than the past, that friends are family and they must be protected about all else, and that sometimes, in order to win the war, you have to do things you never thought you were capable of doing.
Like pulling that trigger.
No, she did not kill Emma, but it wasn’t because she backed down, it was because there were no more bullets left. Contrast that with the Lucy of the first episode of Season 2, or even with the Lucy of the Pilot, and you’ll see that this journey is taking her closer and closer to the Lucy who gave Flynn that diary, the Lucy who stepped out of that Lifeboat wearing freaking shotgun shells around her torso.
Wyatt, and Lucy, and even Rufus, in a way, have been held back in this fight, held back by a sense that they have to do what’s right, they have to fight the battles the right away, they have to be fair and good and above reproach, because that’s who they are. But, sometimes, you reach a point in the battle where you have to weigh what’s more important to you.
Losing Rufus was that moment for Lucy. It was the breaking point. She’d lost Amy, Wyatt, and then Carol to Rittenhouse’s plans, and yet, losing her friend was the point of no return, the thing that would turn her into the woman who will one day defeat Rittenhouse.
Why her? Because there’s no one else. And this Lucy doesn’t back down from a fight.
WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH FLYNN?
Because if this episode makes one thing clear, it’s that there’s a deal with Flynn.
The easy answer is that he’s got a thing for Lucy. I’m not going to rule it out, because I’ve got no concrete evidence it’s the wrong interpretation, but in my opinion, if this is what the writers are going for, it’s completely one-sided.
And I just…don’t understand what would be the point of it. Sure, crushes are sorta fun and awkward and can make for great television sometimes, but this show has avoided all the usual crush tropes and has just focused on Flynn genuinely, to my appreciation, caring for Lucy, but displaying no other outward sign that the way he cares for her is romantic in nature.
Of course, it could just be that we are all so damn used to every male/female interaction on TV being turned romantic that our minds are making us see things that just aren’t there. It’s quite possible Flynn just cares about Lucy because, in his lowest moment, when he had nothing to hold on to, he had Lucy – or at least diary Lucy. She helped him through the hardest moments in his life, and though, at times, when he met her, diary Lucy seemed to be a completely different Lucy from real Lucy, now Flynn can actually see how the two of them are the same person, and he just wants to hang onto that.
Fact is Garcia Flynn, this Garcia Flynn, is a lonely man. He’s had companions and allies, but he hasn’t had a friend, or someone to really care for him, not since his wife and child died. And that eats away at you, even if you’re made of sass like he is. It’s quite possible Lucy is just …the one friend he has and he doesn’t want to lose that.
This is also a more likely option than the first one, for me, but hey, all options on the table and all that.
But, of course, there could be something else. Part of the reason the Flynn/Lucy interaction has never struck me as romantic is Flynn’s interactions with Wyatt. You can say oh, he’s an evolved male and he’s above petty jealousy, and I’ll roll me eyes at you because this is TV and those kinds of emotions are how TV provides clues.
There are no truly evolved males on TV. And even shows like Timeless are prone to go the tropey way every once in a while (hello Jessica).
His whole vibe with Wyatt, though, is never outwardly antagonistic just because of the fact that Lucy and Wyatt have a thing, no. In fact, it’s almost…brotherly. Like Flynn is the big brother who just wanted to rile up his sibling and who really, really wants his sibling to stop being such. a. bloody. idiot.
So what’s the other option? That there’s a connection between Lucy/Flynn that we don’t know, maybe something familial? This has always been a long-shot, we’ve met Flynn’s mother, Lucy’s parents, Flynn’s wife and daughter, so it’s hard to see where the connection could be, though there are, of course, a few possibilities. Lorena, for one, comes to mind.
The interesting thing about Flynn, though, is that, after all this discussion, we’ve arrived at no conclusion. Fact is, we don’t know, because there are a few questions that have never quite been answered: why kill Flynn’s wife and daughter and then never really worry about the fact that they couldn’t kill Flynn? Why would future Lucy go out of her way to find this particular man and give him her diary? How much of what she wrote in the diary was about Flynn “defeating” Rittenhouse and how much was about getting Flynn to do what she needed him to do?
The introduction of Tomb Raider Lucy and Hot Youth Pastor Wyatt at the end of the Season 2 finale sorta changes the game – for Flynn, more than anyone else, as it underscores the very real possibility that absolutely everything – Lucy giving Flynn the diary, and all that happened after, is part of Tomb Raider Lucy and Hot Youth Pastor Wyatt’s plan to save Rufus. How does Flynn play into that? Can he still get a “happy ending” in a world where it seems like happy endings are anything but guaranteed?
We don’t know, but we kind of wish he can. If 2/3 of the Time Team can break all the rules to save the other 1/3, then maybe, maybe, Flynn will get his chance as well.
Save Rufus, save the world. Didn’t I tell you?
LYATT, A NEW BEGINNING
Let’s forget for a second about Hot Youth Pastor Wyatt and Tom Raider Lucy, about the fact that they came together, the fact that their skin was clear, they had swagger and they looked like they’d taken care of that sexual tension between them years and years ago. Let’s examine our Lucy and our Wyatt, and try to explain how they get from point A to point L.
Because that’s certainly not point B, no.
They get there by reconstructing, from the bottom up. They get there by taking the road less traveled, or whatever you want to call it. They get there by working together, and being, now, more than ever, friends first – a couple second (or third or fourth).
As we’ve discussed extensively, Wyatt has been a dumbass this season, and he has a lot of groveling and atoning and basically wooing to do if he wants Lucy back. But Lucy has also been a passive participant in their relationship, and they both need to get to a point where they choose each other and they fight for each other in equal measure.
If they first need to come together to fight for Rufus to get there, then all the better.
Is this how I wanted the season to go? Not really. I understand the shock value of bringing Jessica back right when they first got together, but as I’ve already mentioned, I would have handled the after much differently. And, in a way, I think the relationships between Lucy and Wyatt could have also benefited from a little …well, time.
Maybe – quite possibly – this was always the plan, to give them that time after they’d first come together and been torn apart. I don’t think it necessarily makes their love story any less, but it makes it a relationship that’s now, above all things, about reconstructing the foundations than about taking that final plunge.
And that’s just not what we’re used to seeing.
How this turns out will now forever be tied to what comes after. Or, maybe, what happens from Point A to Point L, as I said before. How do they get there. Where is there? And what changes now that they came back to the past? Is the place where they are as Tomb Raider Lucy and Hot Youth Pastor Wyatt the place they were always meant to get to?
Is it fate? Is it choice? Is it a little bit of both?
I can’t wait to find out. A part of me is sure we would have liked this even if they hadn’t tore it down to put it back together again, but then there’s another part of me that understands that writing is, often, about taking a thing you really love, a thing people really love, and putting it through the paces so it comes out stronger on the other side.
And you don’t throw all this crap at two characters; you don’t throw all this crap at a relationship, if you’re not going to raise them back up again. This is not the end of Lyatt. This is just the beginning of another part of their journey, and when the dust settles, they’re gonna be better people because of this, and they’re gonna be a better couple.
Plus Wyatt’s apparently going to have a questionable beard, but we can’t have everything.
In conclusion: ship away, my fellow Timeless fans. Ship away. The Lyatt feels are not going anywhere.
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE
*sings* The battle’s done, and we kinda lost …
Okay, no singing. Just, rejoicing. Because Tomb Raider Lucy and Hot Youth Pastor Wyatt are here to save us all from the pain that was all the temporary disappearance of Rufus (we’re not using the d word) and from all the worrying about the future of Lyatt.
Because, though there was no actual confirmation of anything, the fact that the two of them are there, together, looking hot as can be, and with no one else in tow, is a good sign of things to come, don’t you think?
Also a sign that they somehow got MORE badass and learned to pilot the Lifeboat, among other things.
But back to signs. I’m gonna wear my shipper goggles for a second, allow me the moment of weakness but boy, did they look good. They had swagger. There was no tension. They looked like they’d been having sex on the regular. They looked like they were ready and prepared and they were absolutely not going to fail.
Okay, goggles off. Sort of. As much as that’s possible, you know.
Point is, think about it like this: no matter what happens, Lucy and Wyatt are still a team. Jessica didn’t change that. Rittenhouse hit them where it hurt the most and it didn’t work. It didn’t stop them. And if it didn’t, I’m just going to go ahead and say nothing can. Hot Youth Pastor Wyatt surely spent years making it up to Lucy – not just as a man, but as a teammate. They wouldn’t be there otherwise.
So hello, and welcome to the Good Ship Lyatt. We ain’t sinking, oh no. We’re sailing pretty comfortably.
This is still the best place to be, come Season 3.
Now all we need is that Season 3. Because, as much as I liked this ending, it’s not really an ending, is it? It’s a beginning. And a damn good one at that.
Things I think I think:
- I’m not sure if it’s sad or funny that a cheeseburger seems to equal letters and photos from home.
- Oh, Nicholas, you poor soul. You really believe Emma.
- Susanna Thompson always plays the same character, I swear to God.
- “Quit thinking with your crotch.”
- THERE’S A MOOD. Can we have that in t-shirts?
- I’m gonna take a quick nap while this boring ass Nicholas scene is over.
- Who cares about Nicholas? Oh, yes. No one.
- Men are so easy, God.
- Rufus, how exactly have you heard Flynn snore? You’re in a bunker.
- No Flynn because we sorta put up with Flynn now, but we don’t really trust him, goes without saying.
- Why did you take a week to share with the class, Denise and Mason?
- Lucy’s first instinct is to look at Wyatt, not because she’s angry, but because she’s concerned.
- My poor selfless baby.
- “No, Wyatt, to be precise, you knew a Jessica, who sadly passed away. This Jessica could be different.” THAT’S IT MASON, YOU’RE MY FAVORITE.
- Look, this is my problem with this storyline – of course Wyatt wasn’t going to say, yes, I have my doubts too, not when confronted like this. But he could have confided in Rufus before. Or hell, in Denise, and then she could have told him this. It would have been a small change that would have made Wyatt look less like a dumb pine tree with the emotional range of a teaspoon.
- Lucy, it’s so cute how you try to be the one to keep a level head, but stop trying to be the one to keep a level head. CAN YOU JUST FEEL THINGS?
- Denise, what you do is find a way to move her out of the bunker and THEN tell Wyatt. Do it while he’s gone. You should know better by now.
- Rufus not saying anything and looking from one person to the other with huge wtf is going on here eyes is legit all of us.
- “I know this isn’t easy for you but you’re a soldier, and you need to think of the mission.” YOU’RE TELLING THAT TO THE MOST EMOTIONAL GUY IN THE WHOLE BUNKER AND PROBABLY THE UNIVERSE.
- Denise, I expected better from you. I really did.
- We’re not gonna mention the p word because blegh, but Lucy’s FACE.
- My heart broke.
- Also, loyalty is nice and all, commendably and whatever Wyatt, but blind loyalty is just stupid.
- And yet so in character I hate that this is so in character because it’s like I can’t even criticize it.
- Lucy couldn’t even move.
- Like, it hurt so much to hear that Jessica was pregnant that she couldn’t even move.
- Frozen.
- Physically unable.
- STOP HURTING LUCY 2K18.
- I’m with Rufus, Civil War again, yaaaaay (not).
- Flynn is teasing Lucy now; the man really is everyone’s big brother.
- Also, what is up with the turtlenecks? Can someone explain?
- I love it when there’s a historical figure Lucy knows, cause duh, Lucy, and someone else knows, because they’ve studied or found it interesting or geeked out or whatever reason.
- Passive aggressive Wyatt is the worst Wyatt. KEEP IT.
- Even after all that happened, Denise Christopher’s word is still all Wyatt needs.
- It’s okay. Those two give me no family feels whatsoever.
- You know what’s worse than not seeing the truth, Wyatt? Seeing it and ignoring it because you don’t want to face it.
- This boy or girl conversation made me nauseous. NAUSEOUS. We could have done without it, Timeless. We really could have.
- Wyatt, take a step back. TAKE. A. STEP. BACK.
- To be fair, Wyatt, we all think she’s lying about being pregnant, it’s not just Lucy.
- “What’s up with Captain Sunshine?” A great many things.
- I love little continuity nods, like: Wyatt knows his military history.
- For what it’s worth, I think Wyatt would have killed that soldier if given more time.
- HARRIET TUBMAN YEEEEEEEEES.
- Jiya, baby, it’s about time you hacked into Mason’s laptop.
- “I don’t need protection, I need answers.”
- The women on this show, I swear to God.
- Died of poverty. Harriet Tubman died of poverty.
- F*ck this world.
- Okay, Wyatt, let’s have a talk. You have every reason not to trust Flynn. And yet, this is not about not trusting Flynn, not completely. This is about Lucy “choosing” Flynn, highly hypocritical of you WHEN YOU CHOSE YOUR FREAKING WIFE.
- Take a seat, sir.
- And then you still want to be all cute and help her with the horse?
- Take another seat.
- “Just, be careful.”
- SEE, COULDN’T THIS HAVE BEEN YOUR FIRST REACTION?
- Stupid men.
- “I’d like some extra crispy chicken tenders, Coronel Sanders.”
- I CHOKED.
- “Leo was overacting anyway.”
- I love that when Harriet talks about her visions and how the Lord works in mysterious ways, no one mocks her.
- Wyatt even sorta seems to agree.
- As much as we don’t all think Mason is worse than the list of names Stanley gives, there is something to be said for the argument that if he hadn’t created the time machine, well, we wouldn’t be here.
- It’s part of what makes this show so compelling. So many shades of gray.
- Ah, the forbidden colors. Sounds like Season 3 shit!
- Every conversation that starts with “you know we’re friends” is a bad conversation.
- But boy, Rufus, you should have had this bad conversation with your bro Wyatt ages ago.
- “It can’t be true ….because if it is, I’m done.”
- As much as I feel this in my soul, I think it’s time to accept that Jessica is no longer the most important person in your life – and even when she was, you survived.
- SORRY I’M SORRY FOR THE TRUTH I KNOW IT HURTS.
- This is peak dumbass Wyatt moment. Why couldn’t you have confided in Rufus? Why?
- Oh, yes, because denial works so well.
- “I’ll stick my riffle right in fear’s ugly face anyway.” I’m not crying, you are.
- “I’m someone who knows what the hell she’s talking about.”
- Fine, I am crying. Because these women. All of them.
- It’s so funny, and by funny I mean sad, that even a thanks from a white man in these times was a big deal.
- Time-travel without the machine. Isn’t that what we’ve been saying about Jiya?
- Except she isn’t really there, so she can’t get hurt.
- Interesting.
- Mason’s apology gave me the feels. How did I even get here?
- “That’s the accent you’re going with?”/”Why, what’s wrong with it?”/”Nothing if you’re Keanu Reeves in Devil’s Advocate.”/”You watch way too many movies”
- Harriet Tubman.
- “Maybe it’s Lucy, with your backup.”/”Right, when have things ever, ever gone that well for us?” Point you, Wyatt.
- Sometimes, when you forget Wyatt’s a badass, Timeless has a scene like this, just to remind you.
- Rufus is DONE with bullshit. DONE.
- “My only desire is to live free. The rest will work itself out.”
- Pause everything. Cry like you want to.
- OMG THE WAY FLYNN SAID WYATT WAS GOING TO BE A GREAT FATHER.
- What in the world are you up to, Flynn?
- THAT HUG.
- THE WAY SHE REACHES FOR HIM.
- THE WAY HE PULLS HER CLOSER AND CLOSES HIS EYES AND JUST BREATHES HER IN.
- This is the most painful shit ever, I swear to God.
- His face as he walks away.
- Come on, Wyatt. Use. Your. Words. Use them.
- The baby thing was a smart move, Jessica. Poor man can’t think about anything else now.
- Trying to “kick Jessica” out of the bunker is not good enough of a compromise here, Wyatt.
- I get that you’re trying, but it’s just not enough. Not enough.
- Also, YOU’RE NOT THAT GOOD AT LYING.
- She can see through you. We can see through you.
- “If we can’t run from it we’ll run right into it.”
- Bad foreshadowing. BAD.
- I need to say it again: Wyatt, you’re a dumbass.
- I’m kinda glad the machine threw you into the air like that. You deserved it.
- Still no answer for the Golden Gate Bridge thing. Cool. Cool.
- Don’t you just love that Wyatt didn’t even try to lie?
- Yes, Wyatt’s a dumbass. You, however, are being awfully unfair, Rufus.
- Once again, I appreciate the fact that you’re not lying, Wyatt. I really f*cking do.
- “Because I wanted to figure it out first.” LONE WOLF NEVER FREAKING WORKS.
- “I was trying to do the right thing.” Yes, you were, baby. I know you were. You just went about it the stupid way.
- Apologies are good. Try it again, like 57 more times.
- “No one trusted you wouldn’t have tried to kill her.”/”Well, in hindsight, would that have been so bad?” See, this is why no one actually trusts Flynn, despite everything.
- Would he have been right in this case? Yes. Is it a good idea to act first, think later? NO.
- This accidental punch shit that TV does? I’m over it.
- You think the metaphorical shit being piled on Wyatt wasn’t enough? You think his friend’s condemnation wasn’t enough? You think his guilt wasn’t enough? There was really no need to add this.
- It doesn’t make anything better, or worse, for his storyline. It doesn’t move anything forward. It just makes ALL OF US ANGRY BECAUSE HE WAS TOO STUPID AND UN-INTENTIONALLY HURT LUCY.
- Which I know was the point, but really, no reason to drive it home by doing this. None whatsoever.
- You did BAD, Wyatt. Not proud of you right now. Go stand in the corner and think about what you’ve done.
- Clearly watching reality TV with someone doesn’t make you friends.
- “She’s in love with Wyatt, I can tell you that.” WE BEEN KNEW.
- The Carol/Jessica/Emma/Nicholas scene is filled with subtleties.
- But you still too obvious, Carol.
- More apologies. GOOD. Keep at it, Wyatt.
- Also is there a freaking flag in every room in this bunker?
- “I don’t want to hear sorry, I want to hear you fix this.”
- That’s a very high level of trust in your capacity to do just that, Wyatt.
- Because, even now, you’re still Rufus’ hero, in many respects.
- I JUST GAVE MYSELF FEELS. SOMEONE STOP ME.
- “You were so worried about your stupid Lucy/Jessica soap opera that you forgot there were other people here who matter to each other, who love each other.”
- But you also could have, you know, SAID SOMETHING BEFORE NOW.
- Everyone’s a self-centered asshole this season, not just Wyatt.
- Also, yes, Lucy comes first in this soap opera. Duh.
- “If anything happens to her, Wyatt, I don’t think I can ever forgive you.”
- Fair too.
- And Wyatt’s just there, taking it. AS HE SHOULD.
- Why don’t we get a dramatic take the ring off scene? I deserve that.
- ALL HAIL JIYA, THE ONE AND ONLY QUEEN.
- That running while the hair flying everywhere is my aesthetic.
- Piloting the Lifeboat is complicated enough as it is, but drugged piloting while the Lifeboat has bullet holes? I’m glad Jiya ended up SOMEWHERE.
- JIYA IS IN LUCY AND CAROL’S BOOK.
- “That’s Klingon. She’s sending us a message in Klingon.”/”You read Klingon?”
- “Why am I asking, of course you read Klingon”
- This is why I love Rufus and Jiya.
- Jiya takes all the trouble to write a message in Klingon saying Don’t come and everyone’s like, YEAH RIGHT. THAT’S NOT WHAT WE DO HERE.
- How do you know what the exact dead center of nowhere is?
- “It could be worse?”/”How could this be worse?”
- You want a list of ways, Rufus?
- Mason giving Rufus this speech made me tear up a bit, I’m not gonna lie. The character development and the time this show has given this relationship make me emotional.
- Malcolm’s laugh of pure joy when the Lifeboat turns on. I’M NOT CRYING, YOU ARE.
- Flynn being uncertain about getting in the machine is just so very …Flynn. He’s not there for Rufus, or Wyatt or even Lucy. Above all things, he’s there to get his family.
- Wyatt telling him to just get in the machine is precious, though.
- “Save the fighting for the actual bad guys.” A MOOD.
- Carol Preston, in the end she did love her daughter – just never in the way Lucy deserved.
- Story of Lucy’s freaking life.
- Emma being like f*ck it is also A MOOD.
- Why not kill Jessica?
- “Some things can’t be changed.” LIEEEEEEEEEEES.
- Carol, your last wish sucks. The end.
- “The Jessica you knew was a bartender, that’s it.” And likely a good woman.
- I can’t kill you isn’t the same as I love you, in case anyone needed me to make the distinction.
- I can’t kill anyone and I don’t like that many people.
- The Rufus/Jiya reunion was precious.
- “No, Rufus, you are my boyfriend.”
- EVEN AFTER 3 YEARS.
- Jiya stayed in the past because she’d rather lose her life than let Rufus lose his.
- Let that sink in.
- And Rufus is willing to die to get her to come home.
- Let that sink in.
- Now cry with me.
- “Relax, even I couldn’t kill Wyatt if I wanted to, and I want to.”
- But do you really?
- “And what would you have done, if Rittenhouse had brought your wife and child back from the dead? Would you look for the hidden catch or would you just be so grateful they were back in your arms and in your life?”
- I know I’ve been hard on Wyatt at this, but this is still true. Three weeks. An impossible situation. An idiot? Yes. An unforgivable idiot? No.
- This f*cking weird ass scene. WHY ARE YOU HERE, FLYNN? WHY?
- I still don’t think it’s romantic. Whatever. But it is something.
- Maybe even just that Goran Visnjic is one of those frustrating actors that has chemistry with even inanimate objects.
- Emma’s “what are we, British?” shouldn’t be as hilarious as it is.
- Denise knits when they go on their trips I’m crying.
- This conversation between Mason and Denise is everything. Loving no one is harder, and easier sometimes.
- But love is sometimes its own reward.
- “It’s like walking around with your heart on the outside.”
- “There’s a word for that: family.”
- If you think I didn’t start sobbing uncontrollably at this, then you don’t know me at all.
- “I’m not the same Jiya you knew.” You don’t say.
- Wyatt’s look at Rufus when he sees Jiya, IT’S FINE, IT’S OKAY, I’M NOT DEAD BECAUSE HE’S CHECKING IF HIS FRIEND LOVES HIM AGAIN.
- Also, Jiya hugging everyone.
- Except Flynn, cause, obvs.
- He’s the creepy uncle.
- It’s kinda refreshing that it’s not Lucy and Wyatt having an argument and Rufus at Jiya looking uncomfortable, I’ll give you that.
- “None of us have anything anymore except each other. That’s how we’ve survived this long. No matter how bad it gets, we’re together. We take out Rittenhouse together. We’re going home together.”
- All their petty fights aside, when it’s time to work together, Flynn and Wyatt don’t do so badly.
- Flynn’s legit like ARE YOU SURE SHE’S CARRYING YOUR CHILD YOU IDIOT?
- We’re with you, Flynn.
- The Rufus and Jiya moment, again. It hurts so gooood.
- Did Emma go for Rufus?
- Wyatt loves Lucy, yes, but it means the world to me that he did not just leave Rufus bleeding out on the floor to go after Lucy.
- And it means the world to me that he was able to ask Flynn to go after her when he couldn’t.
- Claudia Doumit and Matt Lanter as Rufus dies in their arms GOD WHY WHYYY.
- Lucy just shooting and shooting is kinda badass.
- Out of f*cks indeed.
- She pulled the trigger.
- She pulled the trigger.
- Woah.
- That moment between Lucy and Flynn, after he saves her, it’s not about romance, and it’s not about Emma. It’s about their shared loses. It’s about Lucy finally understanding how he could get to a point where he’d be willing to do anything.
- And that’s what makes it all the more powerful.
- When Denise hugged Jiya, that’s where I broke.
- But my sobs reached fever pitch at Mason’s speech.
- I need a drink.
- Or a bottle.
- Season 2 Finale Wyatt is the same Wyatt as post-Jessica Wyatt; we just traded one guilt for the other.
- Lucy is right, though, how he messed up their relationship – that’s on him. Rufus is not.
- And she’s still trying to comfort him, even now.
- I’m glad she didn’t let him off the hook for what happened with them, though. He didn’t deserve it.
- Just like he didn’t deserve a love confession back.
- But hey, glad you got in touch with your feelings, Wyatt.
- I’d say it’s too f*cking late, but I understand. I understand the clarity that comes from losing someone you love.
- “I just should have said it a long time ago and I didn’t, so I’m saying it now.”
- Idiot.
- But good for you. Step 1. Now you just need to grovel more.
- Rufus did want you to admit it. Nice callback to episode 1 of this season.
- Flynn’s like, f*ck, if she and Wyatt are back to being Lucy and Wyatt or something similar who is gonna be my friend now?
- Remember when I said Wyatt had to grovel?
- I’d say he did.
- For like 5 years or so.
- Because LOOK AT THAT.
- LOOK
- AT
- THAT
- The beard is awful, but the rest?
- I LOVE IT MORE THAN I CAN SAY.
- Flynn’s like, I know *that* Lucy.
- “Well, what are you waiting on?”
- “You guys want to get Rufus back or what?”
- HELL YES, I DO.
- HELL YES I DO.
Timeless aired Sundays at 10/9c on NBC.