Road to the Winter Finale
(This review contains
spoilers!)
The overall quality of Timeless has
been so uneven that even when I’m halfway through an episode I can never
predict whether I’m going to end up writing a positive or negative review that
week. Sometimes an episode will have a great start, only to fall apart in the
second act. Other times an episode seems dead on arrival, but picks up later
on.
Last Ride of Bonnie and Clyde was
exactly what I thought Timeless was going to be like after I first read the
synopsis. There were gunfights, spying and espionage, bounty hunters, big crazy
villains, and lots and lots of events integral to the overall plot of the show!
Considering that most everything on TV is preparing to take their winter break,
I assume next week Timeless will take its final bow for the year, and this
episode was the perfect setup for what I can only hope is an explosive finale.
After Flynn has located a key related
in some way to Rittenhouse (or is it spelled Writtenhouse?) as belonging to the
notorious criminals Bonnie and Clyde, our trio of time-travellers give chase
back to the 1930’s. What follows is easily the best Timeless episode yet, as
each and every major character gets their moment in the spotlight, including
the agents at the home base.
There is never a dull moment in the
first half of the episode. It feels as if every second there’s something cool
or exciting happening onscreen, and the opening gunfight left me on the edge of
my seat. Everything about this episode seemed to want to try and be as intense
as possible, fitting the overall themes of Bonnie and Clyde and criminal gangs
in the 1930’s. This theming also tied back to what was going on back in the
present, as the leader of the time travel project and his ties with Rittenhouse
are being questioned. I really like this! I’ve felt for a long time that these
characters have only been used to open and end episodes, and I really enjoy
episodes like this one and Stranded when they’re able to contribute to what’s
going on with the main characters or create a plotline of their own.
Speaking of the main characters, they
were each at their best this week. Lucy’s engagement was brought back into the
spotlight after several weeks of conspicuous absence, and while not much of it
was explored further than we saw before, I still consider that to be the most
interesting thing going on with Lucy right now. I actually felt some sympathy
for Wyatt for a change, as he relived his proposal to his late wife for Lucy.
Again, not much new here, but it added more depth to Wyatt and allowed him to act
outside his “old soldier” trope. Rufus’s subplot was a lot of fun too, bringing
him in close contact with Flynn and a gang of bounty hunters. He was even able
to use his recordings to help them escape Bonnie and Clyde in the end! I love
when shows use obvious yet still surprising solutions to get the characters out
of sticky situations, and this was no different.
As for Flynn, he played his role as
the shadowy villain this week, mostly acting as an ominous presence. As I detailed
in my last review, the sympathy Timeless is trying to make us feel for Flynn
isn’t exactly working considering he seems to be killing remorselessly, and I
think keeping him as a full-on villain works better for now. He also ended up
with the key, allowing him to unlock a chest in the present that seemed to
contain a letter inside. 10 bucks says that it’s coming into play next week.
But it wasn’t all success this week, unfortunately.
Midway through the episode there is a scene where Lucy and Wyatt talk with
Bonnie and Clyde, and it goes on forever.
The pacing of the episode grinds to a complete halt as Bonnie and Clyde detail
how they met and some of their previous successful robberies. It sort of felt
like the show stopped and a history lesson started, and while the history in
the show is interesting, it doesn’t require the plot to take a backseat for us
to learn about the time period they’re in. It ultimately led to Wyatt telling
his engagement story, but we could’ve gotten to that point in far less time
than it actually took.
Aside from that lengthy scene (as well
as Timeless’s continuing “set it and forget it” problem when it comes to changing
the past willy-nilly), Last Ride of Bonnie and Clyde was Timeless at its best.
Everything from the characters to the plot to the action to of course the
amazing sets and costumes was at peak performance, and if I’m correct in
assuming next week is the midseason break, I can only hope they continue this
good streak.
FINAL SCORE
8/10
Great
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