Timeless Season 2: The War to End All Wars

*warning, many spoilers a good amount of Lyatt gushing ahead*

Last night we rejoined our Time Team with a bang! The only episode in Season One that came even close to that level of intensity for me might have been Episode 11: The World’s Columbian Exposition. But even that episode could not compare to the intensity of last night’s Season 2 debut.

First we are given an epic recap of last season to the tune of Imagine Dragons “Believer”. Can you say chills?

As with all of our Timeless episodes, we are given a small taste of our historical destination for the episode. We see a soldier desperately searching for “Captain Allbright” among the fallen on a dusty, bloody battlefield. Dog fights are still happening in the skies above. The solider finds his captain still alive, but wounded, he hurries off to find a vehicle, leaving the captain behind. Captain Allbright pats his jacket, appears to panic, and searches the ground desperately for a fallen item. He finds a small pouch beneath the dead solider behind him, inside is a cellphone?!? Clearly there is something off about this scene.

Next we are dumped directly back into the center of the action. Wyatt and Rufus are rocking the 70’s duds, wondering where Lucy is. She wouldn’t miss this mission to get her sister back. A puzzled and slightly concerned Wyatt calls Lucy yet again, and we are shown a stomach churning image of her discarded phone ringing on the floor amidst the wreckage of some kind of altercation, next to a broken bottle and a puddle of blood. 

Before Wyatt and Rufus have time to even get further, Wyatt spots a very wrong looking canister, with a blinking red light. Everyone and their dog knows what that means. We zoom outside to see Mason Industries erupt in an orange fireball.

Fast forward 6 weeks.

We are at some post-apocalyptic looking bunker that has a very Rebel-base-on-Hoth-esque vibe. We see Wyatt’s bare shoulders covered with healing lacerations and burns, but thank heavens his face is intact! You can feel the weight of his anxiety, his anger, his grief, and his helplessness. The level of joy at the end of last season when he chose to stop living in his past, and embrace his future (potentially with Lucy) has now been transferred into an agonizing worry and fear of losing yet another woman he loves.

Wyatt is determined to track Lucy down, it’s his one and only thought. He’s chafing at every delay to repair the damaged Lifeboat.

Rufus seems to be dealing with the situation with a more surface level calm. He has an outlet where he can channel his concern into manually fixing the Lifeboat. But Rufus has deep fears and concerns of his own. His mother and brother think he is dead. Rittenhouse tried to kill him. His former benefactor and boss, Conner Mason is penniless and rather useless at the moment, another one of the fugitives. And while Rufus has the love of his life, Jiya, by his side helping him restore the Lifeboat, she’s regularly being attacked with strange headaches and seizures or visions that no one can seem to explain.

Agent Christopher is attacking the problem with her usual firmness. I would NOT want to cross this woman. She rubs Wyatt the wrong way many times as she appears calloused and uncaring regarding Lucy’s fate. But we all know that Agent Christopher is the Time Team’s link to the outside world, their supply line, and she does care.

Meanwhile, Lucy is trapped with Rittenhouse. We see her dressing herself in proper World War I vogue attire, as she stares at a newspaper article written about the explosion at Mason Industries and the deaths of 22 people. Her beloved guys are gone, she is trapped in Rittenhouse and about to be sent catapulting through history to rewrite the story according to Rittenhouses’ agenda. We sense a coldness in Lucy, a tense desperation.

Lucy, Carol Preston, and Emma (who is a devil woman and scares the living daylights out of me) go back to the Western front in 1918. Their mission? Track down a single wounded soldier, and heal him. Lucy wasn’t given all of the details.

It’s easy to be in the right place at the right time when you have the proper info. The soldier Rittenhouse wants saved is literally brought to the door of the cabin the ladies have been staying in near the Western Front. A concerned young soldier brings his battered and bloody friend in, desperate to find help for him. Emma and Carol get to work on saving the young man’s life, while Lucy pleasantly distracts his friend with conversation. She’s so good at this, kindly engaging on a personal level with new people.

The wounded man is crashing, Emma pulls out a modern defibrillator, and shocks the soldier, scaring his friend into thinking these women are trying to kill his buddy. Emma doesn’t have time for this, she pulls out a pistol and SHOOTS THE POOR MAN IN THE LEG! “You’re a better shot than that, Emma.” Carol Preston says dryly. Can you believe this woman actually raised a child? #cold #notmommymaterial

“I did it on purpose, I think Lucy should take care of this.” A cold Emma hands the soldier’s rifle to Lucy, who is staring at the scene in horror.

This moment of the show haunted me. I wanted Lucy to stand in front of the soldier, to shoot Emma instead, to come up with another plan, something, ANYTHING! What actually happened broke my heart, and I do not agree with it. But I also know Lucy was in an impossible situation and felt forced to make a horrible choice, and it’s one she will grieve over the rest of her life.

She picks up the rifle, and shoots the innocent soldier in order to prove her loyalty to Rittenhouse. She goes blank for a moment, the world drowning out around her, until the voice of her mother breaks in, “Are you okay?”

Like you care, Carol! You can prepare to be disappointed next Mother’s Day!

We know our Lucy. We know her big heart, we know something is very wrong for her to have just done this dark deed.

The soldier is full of shrapnel, an x-ray machine is needed. Lucky for our Rittenhouse ladies, Marie Curie and her daughter Irene are contemporaries of this era, and happen to be nearby with their portable x-ray machine. How serendipitous!

Meanwhile, back in 2018 the Lifeboat is working! And bad news, they have tracked the Mothership to the Western Front, where it has been for two days. The look of fear in Wyatt’s eyes rise, that area’s a bloodbath. Thank heavens the mission where we are missing our historian it happens to be one involving military history!

Wyatt and Rufus jump on the Lifeboat, “We are BRINGING Lucy home!” Wyatt declares as they shut the door and jump through time to rescue their girl.

Lucy and her mother, and their armed guard “Mac” have found Marie and Irene Curie. The shared moments of mother-daughter history nerding would be way cuter if Carol Preston wasn’t a sicko. Lucy fears dragging the Curie ladies into the crossfire. Her mask is starting to slip and we see the panic starting to take over. She manages to slip away into the military camp, and seek out a tent where she finds grenades. You can see a half-baked plan form in Lucy’s mind, but as she turns to leave the tent, a hand grabs her from behind.

She whips around to defend herself, only to be brought face to face with Wyatt. She cannot believe he is still alive, and throws herself at him where they have the most delicious hug. The peace and joy in Wyatt’s eyes that he found his girl, safe and well is just overwhelming. Rufus comes in behind him and Lucy eagerly embraces him. The guys want to get out of here, but Lucy is here to stop Rittenhouse. She shows them the grenades and outlines her plan to blow up the Mothership. She was going to do it on her own, but now that her guys are back they can help her out.

A shadow falls on Wyatt’s face, “How were you going to get home?” Lucy quiets. “I wasn’t.” You see how that quiet little statement just shatters Wyatt’s heart. She was gonna be trapped in the past, alone and grieving for the rest of her life.

Lucy rushes off to join her mother, leaving the mission of destroying the Mothership in her guys’ hands. We see our old Wyatt spring back to life, he has a mission, his sense of humor is back. Lucy is alive and well, our boy is back!

Wyatt and Rufus attempt to steal a vehicle to drive to the Mothership’s location, only to be caught by “Mac”, and a man we recognize to be Captain Allbright. We feel a cold fear in our gut as our guys are led to a tent, where Wyatt assumes they will simply have to talk their way out of this situation, but Rufus spots Mac going for his gun. “Wyatt!”

The next few minutes are fast-paced and intense as Wyatt and Rufus tag-team a fight. The teamwork chemistry between these two is simply beautiful, and you feel their brotherhood. Together, they defeat the Rittenhouse agents, and find Allbright’s cellphone? What on earth is a WWI captain doing with a cellphone?

The guys finally get to steal their jeep, and share a little personal conversation on their way to destroy the Mothership.

“You’re in love with Lucy, just admit it!” Rufus, calling it like it is! We love you, man! Wyatt balks at this statement, but doesn’t deny it.

Lucy and Irene Curie share a neat conversation about having demanding mothers, but it is clear the Irene adores her mother and their depth of love is real. You can see the longing in Lucy’s eyes, she thought she had that with her mother. But she was so, so wrong.

The Curie ladies use their x-ray machine, but the picture is not very clear. Something is interfering with it. The Rittenhouse ladies give each other a knowing look, but then attempt to send the Curie ladies on their way.

Lucy’s grip on the situation is slipping. Emma has made it clear that she doesn’t trust “the princess”. Emma has worked her way up through the ranks of Rittenhouse, she “earned” her place, while Lucy rejects her royalty. Cry me a river, Emma. Your rags-to-riches story does nothing for me. Emma and Carol go outside for a private conversation, and Lucy is left alone with the soldier. This goes against every instinct she possesses, but she searches for a means to kill the soldier. If Rittenhouse wants him alive, she needs him dead in order to save thousands of others. Her mother comes in on her just as she is about to smother him with a pillow.

“I was hoping that Emma was wrong.” Carol is disappointed in her daughter, you have no right to be upset, Mother Gothel Rittenhouse! She gives Lucy some baloney about still loving her, being the same woman who kissed her skinned knees, but if Lucy doesn’t shape up she will no longer be able to protect her daughter. If you have a nice mother go hug her now on poor Lucy’s behalf.

She Rittenhouse bundles up their wounded soldier, and start to take him to the Mothership, which is still operational due to the unfortunate fact that Wyatt and Rufus ran out of gas and are running behind.

The Rittenhouse ladies arrive at the Mothership, only to find the Curie ladies on site.

“We wanted to see what was interfering with the machine.” These Curie ladies are too smart for their own good! Emma whips out a pistol, and prepares to murder the women where they stand.

“No!” Lucy pleads with both her mother and Emma, even throwing herself in front of the Curie women. Her mother stands behind Emma (a contrast to Marie Curie, is standing in front of her daughter protecting her, while Carol looks on as her daughter is in imminent danger). Emma has orders from even higher up than Carol, if Lucy interferes she is to be killed. The look of pleasure in Emma’s face is evil.

“Your mother can’t save you.”

“But I can.” Can we get some hero music playing? Wyatt is standing, his gun to the wounded soldier’s head, Rufus standing by at the ready. Lucy’s guys showed up in the nick of time. Emma has her gun to Lucy’s head, but clearly the wounded man is important, Wyatt negotiates, “Let’s both leave here with the people we came for.” He’s not losing this woman.

A tense standoff happens, then Emma releases Lucy who walks towards Rufus. In a last plea, she begs her mother to return with her.

“Come with us, be on the right side of history!” Her mother looks sadly at her daughter.

“Oh, Lucy, this is so much bigger than you or me.” Yeah yeah, *gag*.

Emma has to get one last dig in. She eyes Lucy triumphantly.

“Before you came, I went on a few missions. You are NEVER getting your sister back.” In agony Lucy lunges at the devil woman, but Rufus pulls her back. It’s time to cut our losses and make a run for it.

We go back to the bunker, where Jiya, Agent Christopher, and Conner Mason are waiting. The entire team comes out, quiet and shaken.

Later we see Lucy in sleeping quarters. Her surroundings are very spartan. She’s got her hair down and is wearing plain clothes. She looks so, lost. Wyatt comes in and makes some remarks about “it’s not what you were expecting to come home to”.

Lucy shares her grief over killing the innocent soldier. “If I hadn’t, Emma would have.” Wyatt understands, he doesn’t skip a beat. The weight of her losses and the past six weeks hits Lucy like a wrecking ball, and she bursts into gut-wrenching sobs,

“I’ve lost everything.”

Wyatt comes over and envelopes her in a huge. “You haven’t lost me.” He’s been in her place before, he knows the grief, and he is not going to leave her alone in it. It’s a deeply tender scene, full of deep love and compassion.

Jiya (poor Jiya) walks in on them as we were about to get a #lyatt kiss, but she has important news.

The cellphone the guys found back in 1918 contains a Rittenhouse manifesto, and it’s no bueno. Also, the Mothership went back in time 10 times before the 1918 mission. They have planted sleeper cells throughout time, agents awaiting to be activated to bend history to Rittenhouse’s will. The cold terror of this reality seeps in on everyone present. A name comes up as the writer of the sick manifesto, it’s Nickolas. The soldier Carol and Co saved back in ’18. The soldier who came back in the Mothership.

 

The wounded soldier from WWI wakes up in a modern-day hotel room. Carol Preston is standing over him in current clothing.

“Where am I?” He asks, puzzled by his surroundings.

“You’re with Rittenhouse.” We discover this man, Nickolas, is an important member of Rittenhouse. He believed in the possibility of time travel. And….

“I’m your granddaughter.” Carol says with a smile. Nickolas smiles back, but it’s not a smile that made me feel good.

There is one person the Time Team can turn two who might have some answers. Agent Christopher goes to a top security facility, and enters a cell where we see a chained Garcia Flynn.

“We need to talk.” He gives her one of his signature side looks.

“I only talk to Lucy.”

 

This episode was possible because of all the character groundwork laid in Season 1. The writers took their time to develop our characters, to give them arcs that strengthened them to be able to withstand the heightened darkness and stakes brought in Season 2. They aren’t trying to wrap their heads around time travel and team work any more, that part is now instinctive. Now, it’s a battle for history.

To me, I think Wyatt (Matt Lanter) was the MVP of this episode when it comes to acting.

His facial expressions, the unspoken words his eyes communicated, and his ability to convey multiple feelings and histories in his scenes blew me away. My favorite moment was when he was comforting Lucy. This wasn’t just a chance to cuddle the lady who has had his heart for a while now, his heart broke for her pain, and he was able to be her rock in that moment because he has walked through that pain himself. His tenderness, compassion, and love in that moment was beautiful.

I cannot wait to see what we have in store, I am so glad to be here, writing about this episode now. Until next week!

Timeless airs on Sundays on NBC at 10/9c. Catch up on Season 2 now on NBC!