Tuesday, 17 January 2017

Timeless Review: “The World’s Columbian Expedition”

Together again
(This review contains spoilers!)

          Back in December, Timeless saw its best episode yet, as the heroes teamed up with Flynn to try and cut of the head of the snake that is Rittenhouse once and for all. After failing the mission, Lucy was kidnapped by Flynn himself in an attempt to use her to kill more Rittenhouse members.

          For all intents and purposes, this episode only really exists to reunite Lucy with Wyatt and Rufus, but the showrunners have done it in a way that kept me engaged the same way the winter finale did. All the best aspects of the show were here, including the amazing sets and costumes, an interesting setting that teaches you something about history while you enjoy the plot, and great interactions between the main characters and historical figures.

          The episode is split into two different plots that intervene. The main plot involves Flynn attempting to kill Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and their banker, enlisting the help of Lucy and Harry Houdini. Houdini is easily the highlight this week, seeing him as a rookie magician before receiving all his fame and fortune. The actor portraying him gave an air of whimsy to him, making him very enjoyable to have onscreen.

          The other plot involved Wyatt and Rufus, who got mixed up on their way looking for Lucy and ended up in the Murder Hotel of serial killer H.H. Holmes (no relation, I promise). They’re trapped in a cellar with the first female graduate of M.I.T, with no way out and a finite amount of air. It’s extremely tense to watch, especially after spending so much time with these characters. I doubt it would’ve had quite the same punch had they done this earlier this season, but here it works well.

          Before long, Lucy and Houdini escape Flynn’s grasp and return to rescue the other two, but through a clever twist Lucy herself is captured by Holmes, locked in a furnace with no way out. She uses her history knowledge to escape, acting as a psychic that knows Holmes’s future, distracting him until Wyatt and Rufus arrive to get her out.

          So the trio are back together for next week, and everything seems to be back to normal. Or is it? The episode ends with Wyatt getting a call from Flynn, keeping his word from the winter finale and telling Wyatt the name of the man who killed his wife. This also raises a major problem: Wyatt can’t kill the murderer, because he can’t travel back to any point in time he already exists. This means that the only way he can save his wife with the least possible impact on the timeline is by killing the murderer’s innocent parents. I honestly can’t wait to see how this plays out, but knowing Wyatt’s character I doubt he’ll go through with it. He hesitated before killing Holmes, a brutal serial killer, so why wouldn’t he when faced with two innocents?

          The other major thing we saw at the end is that Rufus finally stood up to the Rittenhouse guys forcing him to record the missions. He recorded an angry message to them, saying that since he’s the only one who can pilot the time machine they shouldn’t mess with him. It’s going to be interesting to see where this goes, as we’ve seen through Flynn that Rittenhouse really isn’t to be challenged. We’ve already seen Rufus’s family once before, and I get the feeling they’ll be back sooner rather than later.

          While this week’s episode doesn’t quite reach the heights of the last few others, it’s a very entertaining way to revive the status quo. The historical figures were very interesting to meet up with, played by very good actors, and the set design and costumes continue to be some of the best on TV. It’s continually mindblowing to me how they’re able to accurately capture the time period week after week. I’m so glad Timeless seems to have once and for all escaped the rut that it was trapped in for so many weeks, because now I can truly look forward to watching it every week.

FINAL SCORE
7/10

Good

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