-I didn't have the time to review last week's Timeless but honestly, it was a weaker entry. There was some interesting stuff in further fleshing out Flynn and the relationship between Rufus and Anthony, but the mission stuff wasn't that thrilling or dramatic and the changes to history (People thinking the Russians were behind the near-failure of the Moon mission, Flynn saving his brother) not really affecting the timeline in anyway was hard to believe given the magnitude of them. This episode was much better as Timeless threw itself into the story of Bonnie and Clyde.
-As far as plot devices go, the Rittenhouse Key is a pretty solid one. It gives the characters a clear objective and a strong reason to get tangled up in the last day of Bonnie and Clyde and helps tie the episode into the ongoing mythology stuff, without the mythology overwhelming the historical story like it did in the Watergate episode a few weeks back. The key's important but it doesn't get in the way of some quality time with Bonnie and Clyde.
-A big reason for the success of the episode is Jacqueline Byer's performance as Bonnie Parker. She brings a giddy, flirty life to Bonnie here and a genuine love for the life she leads and the man she leads that life with. When she makes her final stand at the end of the episode, you really feel the tragedy of it all. Sam Strike is also good as Clyde, but he's mostly there to glower and shoot his gun around. Bonnie is the real star here.
-This episode seems designed to get the Lucy and Wyatt shippers excited as the two of them pretend to be another couple of bank robbing love birds. They even kiss at one point. I'm not sure how I feel yet about a Lucy/Wyatt romance but Abigail Spencer and Matt Lanter have a lot of chemistry and it's fun to see it get put to use here.
-When Bonnie starts pressing for details about how Lucy and Wyatt got engaged, it was obvious Wyatt was going to use the story of his real engagement to Jessica. It was a sweet story though and Lanter's telling of it was one of his best moments yet on the show. Stories like this help make Wyatt's love and grief for Jessica feel like a real thing and make it easier to be invested in than just the vague concept of a dead wife.
-Rufus doesn't get a lot to do this week as he gets suddenly abandoned by Lucy and Wyatt and is forced to contend with racist police officers (again) and Flynn trying to keep him in the clutches of the racist police officers. Luckily, real-life Texas Ranger Frank Hamer has no interest in keeping Rufus in custody once he becomes convinced Rufus has nothing to do with his investigation.
-This week in pop culture aliases: Rufus' drivers license is registered to one Wesley Snipes.
-Lucy being a low-key (sort of) Bonnie and Clyde fangirl was very endearing.
-There's a bit of ambiguity around how Henry Methvin's actual involvement in killing Bonnie and Clyde (His father was used in the actual ambush, but whether he partook willingly or was beaten and tied up by law enforcement is a point of dispute), but having him as a clear villain worked well enough for what the episode wanted to achieve.
-So the Rittenhouse Key with the ominous Latin description about it being the key to the beginning and end of time opens.. an old clock contraption of some kind! The old clock contraption contains... a mysterious piece of paper! Whoa! In all seriousness, they better show us what was on that piece of paper sooner rather than later.
-Agent Christopher has a daughter! Now we actually know something about her. That's a start! I still suspect that she's going to get killed in the mid-season finale now that she knows about Rittenhouse, particularly since Rittenhouse Guy/Lucy's Dad literally told Mason that's what was going to happen but hopefully the show will surprise us.
-I also keep forgetting that she doesn't know anything about Rittenhouse so it's nice that Rufus is finally bringing her up to speed, especially because that scene between them initially made it seem like they'd be keeping her in the dark a bit longer. I also appreciate the fact that she had already pieced a lot of stuff together. She is supposed to be a government agent after all.
-Jiya gets 15 seconds of screentime this week so she can kiss Rufus before the mission and yeah, it's adorable but it'd be nice if the show could find more for Jiya to do. Maybe she's going to get killed off. That'd be frustrating.
-Timeless remembered that Lucy was still engaged to some guy who's apparently named Noah. He only popped up to remind us that that was still a storyline and to give Lucy a reason to be wearing her ring for when she and Wyatt ran into Bonnie and Clyde but at least they remembered him. I was expecting a scene at the end where Lucy was inspired by Bonnie and Clyde to break up with him but it never happened so I guess he still has a role to play in the narrative. Maybe he's with Rittenhouse? Hmm.
-So Henry Ford was part of Rittenhouse? That's an enticing bit of information. This better be setting up for a future episode where we go meet Henry Ford, agent of Rittenhouse.
-Solid episode overall, injecting some much needed life into Timeless after the letdown of Space Race. Next week: The Mid-Season Finale takes on George Washington and Benedict Arnold. Fun, fun!
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