Timeless Season 1, Episode 3 Hitting a more obscure point in history this week was a nice way to introduce the problem of finding the mother ship’s physical location rather than just a time coordinate. Who knew this was even a problem? Jiya’s methodology may be mere technobabble, but it works both for the initial jump and for carrying the mission over into the present, details which were revealed exactly when they needed to be. Until Mason mentioned it, in fact, viewers likely never even knew that Flynn was returning to the present after each mission just like the good guys were. But are they the good guys? Rufus is increasingly becoming the audience’s voice, wondering why his friend Anthony would give up his wife and kids to actually assist with Flynn’s mission. Even though Wyatt’s heavy-handed approach was center stage this week, when he told Rufus, “I don’t get trained in why; just what, where, and when,” viewers couldn’t help but cheer for Rufus’ response: “Without the why, how can we be sure we’re on the right side of things?” How indeed! Wyatt’s behavior is understandable given his desire to bring back his wife, though. Despite his tendency to go for his gun and treat the past and its native inhabitants indelicately, his attempt to send his wife a telegram, however futile, went a long way towards explaining his behavior beyond the soldier stereotypes, and these details are appreciated. Lucy and Rufus are cutting him a lot of slack; let’s hope he learns from his mistakes. But as Judith and later Lucy point out, “No one has it all together,” and the character flaws are what really round out the personalities of the team. Lucy’s conversation with the surprisingly important historical figure of Judith helps her realize she can’t ignore her problems, and it was nice to see her deal with the fiancee issue as best she could. Noah is clearly a good guy, and this new life might even have its own appeal at some point, despite the missing sister. All of this serves to create a solid picture of what Timeless aims to do each week: unveil a fun historical fact, get the team to gel, work on Lucy’s problem, and take tantalizing steps forward in the underlying mythology of Rittenhouse. So far, all of those points have been given exactly the right amount of attention each week, and the core audience is without a doubt firmly on board for the ride.
