Some of you might be side-eyeing me, but yes, I went there.
Timeless premiered two years ago on October 3rd, and I’m quite sure, at the time, no one expected it to be what it was. I mean, I expected it to be good, I hope it’d be as diverse in execution as it seemed in practice, and I hoped it would give us an OTP we could fall for, a villain who wasn’t a stereotype and strong female characters, but I didn’t really expect to fall in love with the show like I did.
But fall in love I did. Fall in love we ALL did. I can’t really remember a show that has brought all of us here at Fangirlish together the way Timeless has. Don’t believe us? Go check out any of our mile-long round-tables, with as many as 12 people participating.
So I figured it was worth a trip down memory lane. Worth it to take a look at what we were saying BEFORE this show premiered. This is from all Fall Preview from 2016:
More time-travel, you say? Well, if it’s this kind of time-travel, we’ll take it. Because this has rules. This has consequences. And, more importantly, it has compelling characters, interesting dynamics and even a touch of humor. Also, it’s visually stunning, which, granted, should not be the only reason to watch a show, but it’s a good reason to give a show a chance.
Bring on the history, Timeless! And if – or when you screw up things – make it mean something. That’s all we ask.
Keep in mind, that was before I’d watched anything other than the trailer. This was me reviewing the Pilot:
Lucy/Wyatt shined from their first scene together, and when you put the two of them with Rufus on the Lifeboat? Magic.
It’s almost like I know what I’m saying. And hey, it’s almost like I’m consistent in what I like! *wink wink* Once I pick a ship, I tend to stick to it, through thick and thin.
But back on track, it’s also fun to look back at our first interviews with the cast, and reflect on what they had to say and how that ties into what we know today. For example, Abigail Spencer said this at NYCC in 2016:
“She’s trying to figure out her ‘why,’” Spencer said. “She’s a teacher; she’s a historian. But what I think is interesting too is that Flynn has presented that maybe she isn’t who she knows she is. Everything she knows about herself. I think there’s more to the story about Rittenhouse, how he has this journal that is Lucy’s writing. I think that’ll be the long game: who is Lucy Preston?”
Think about it – she knew how season 2 would end when she said that. So is that the real Lucy, the one we see step out of the Lifeboat, looking worn and ready and joined-at-the-hip with Wyatt? Well, I’m not saying that’s the answer, but …wait, I am saying that.
What’s clear is the romance was set up from the beginning, as Matt Lanter shared with us, also at NYCC in 2016:
“I think also that we’re seeing each others character’s vulnerabilities and you can’t help but bond with people when their vulnerable moments are exposed,” he said. “Sometimes when there is physical attraction there, you’re both in moments of vulnerability, and of course bonds are formed. I certainly wouldn’t rule it out, but I guess we’ll see.”
But there was much more to excited about, from the beginning, and before Jiya even had a chance to shine, we were already loving the actress who plays her, Claudia Doumit, and what she would bring to the show. Claudia herself shared some fun tidbits about the set with us in an interview:
She did share some interesting tidbits about life on set, though, like the fact that “Matt Lanter is the most laid-back person you’ll ever see.” (We have no problem imagining this). “Malcolm Barrett has the loudest laugh I – and probably you, have ever heard.” (We also have no problem imagining this). And the fact that the cast has such a good time together, “we’re usually laughing right up until they start rolling, which probably isn’t great, but it’s a lot of fun.” (We’re really, really happy to hear this).
And all of those things together explain why, at the end of that year, before the first season of this show was even close to over, the show was already making ALL of year-end lists, including ship, male character AND quotes. We were even writing lists about why we loved the show!
Oh, and we were declaring our love for Lyatt, loud and proud, with a list of moments that made us ship this couple, specifically.
Later, when the season was over, we went into #SaveTimeless mode, with a Renew Timeless round-table that perfectly expressed why this show was important:
I just …I look at the show, and as a woman, as a minority, feel like I can do anything, be any character, and that hardly ever happens on TV. I think this can be traced back to the writers, of course, and hopefully, to a changing idea of what people want to see in their TV screens, and I think that’s one of the main reasons why Timeless deserves a season 2- to keep lighting the way as far as diversity, modern gender roles and just …good characterization is concerned.
And, of course, with a glowing Season 1 review that was the equivalent of puking rainbows, and which the show richly deserved:
But, the surprising thing about Timeless wasn’t that it was good from the start, no. The surprising thing was that it not only stayed good, but it got better. The surprising thing was that it gave us not just OTPs, but an OT3, diversity and real three dimensional characters across the board. The surprising thing wasn’t that we loved it, it was that they kept giving us reason to love it even more.
So, between seasons 1 and 2, we said, hey, catch up with Timeless. Watch. You won’t regret it. We wrote about Wyatt Logan, and how he defies the toxic masculinity stereotypes. And we ramped up our coverage for Season 2, because this show deserved more, so much more, and we were all here willing to put in the work to help it.
I’m not going to list all my reviews here, though you can search for them, but I am going to list our ABC’s of Lyatt, our list of Historical Women we’d love the show to feature, and the reasons we were excited for the show to come back.
One of the things we did, when the show returned, was not just tease you with soundtracks for each episode, and advance reviews, but reaction videos, like our epic Hollywoodland reaction, that I’m both excited and a little bit embarrassed to admit most of the cast watched. But we went above and beyond that, heck, we even recommend fics for your reading pleasure!
As Season 2 progressed, we focused on the things that Timeless was doing right. We talked about the LGBTQ+ representation. We talked about the diversity. We raved about how this show made us feel seen, and even when there were things we didn’t like, we were still here, supporting the show, loving it. And when the season ended, we wrote about the good and the bad and still, categorically said, this show needs to be renewed.
After, in that long wait, we rejoiced over the deleted scenes, we reported on the renewal efforts, and we hoped, against, hope, that we’d get more, especially after we got a chance to talk to Shawn Ryan and we got tidbits like this:
“To have the second Lifeboat come and to see Wyatt and Lucy seemingly joined at the hip, and a strong team, sort of implies, I think, a positive future for them, in some regard.”
And:
“There’s a lot packed into that last minute. Obviously, the ‘I love you’ from Wyatt, before the second time machine shows up, the second Lifeboat, and it was a moment we were building to.”
As well as:
“We knew what we wanted to do with Rufus, we just didn’t know how we were going to get out of it.”
This all leads, of course, to the two-hour event that will air in December. To a resolution of sorts. To more. And I’ve written all of this, this trip down memory lane, complete with links, just to say: I, personally, and we here at Fangirlish, have loved Timeless from the start, and we continue to love it today. We’re not done talking about this show, we’re not done asking for more, but today, we want to celebrate what we have gotten so far, because it’s been enough to make us this passionate. And that’s worth a lot.
So, thank you to everyone involved, to Shawn and Eric, to Abigail, Matt, Malcolm, Sakina, Patterson, Claudia, Annie and Goran. Thank you for Timeless.
And Happy Timeless birthday!