"Timeless @ Comic-Con: One Mother of a Villain and More Season 2 Preview" (Thursday, 7/20/17) (Courtesy of NBC) -G
Upon learning that her mother Carol was part of Rittenhouse in last season's finale, Lucy evidently forcibly resisted while Mason Industries exploded around the Lifeboat (thankfully Wyatt and Rufus were already inside the Lifeboat, as it was seemingly tough enough to survive the blast, albeit not remain undamaged). In the six weeks following, Lucy convinced her mother (but not so much Emma) that she changed her mind about joining Rittenhouse and that she'd join them on a trip to World War 1 aboard the Mothership. Meanwhile, Agent Christopher was able to secure an abandoned military compound* for Wyatt, Rufus, Jiya and Connor to hide out in while they tried to repair and reactivate the Lifeboat. The gang eventually got the Lifeboat operational, and both Wyatt and Rufus immediately traveled to the Battle of Saint-Mihiel on September 14, 1918. Meanwhile, Lucy, Carol and Emma eventually found the reason for their trip, a wounded American soldier named Nicholas Keynes. After Lucy was forced to dispose of his friend to show her loyalty to the Rittenhouse cause, they enlisted the help of Marie Curie and Irène Joliot-Curie to help x-ray Keynes and saved his life. Wyatt and Rufus ended up getting captured by a Rittenhouse agent posing as an army captain. After a fight in a tent, Wyatt killed the agent and took his smartphone, after which they left to find Lucy. Upon stumbling upon the Mothership, the Curies were threatened at gunpoint by Emma, only to have Wyatt and Rufus intervene, allowing the Curies to escape and Lucy to rejoin Wyatt and Rufus while Carol and Emma traveled back to the present with Keynes. Back in the present, Carol revealed to Nicholas Keynes that she is his granddaughter and that he handwrote the Rittenhouse time-travel manifesto that the agent had copied onto his smartphone. Meanwhile, Jiya (who'd been suffering from headaches and passing out at least twice a day like in last season's finale) and Connor helped Team Lifeboat decipher much of the manifesto printed from said smartphone Wyatt brought back, determining that Rittenhouse planted sleeper agents in at least ten points in history during the previous six weeks (which Emma also told Lucy she used to make sure that Lucy's sister would never return), as well as in which points in history they were planted. Needing further help deciphering the rest of the manifesto, Agent Christopher returned to the Homeland Security cell holding Flynn's, who responded that he'd only speak with Lucy. Next up: a trip to the 1955 Darlington 500 stock car race to stop Rittenhouse from destroying the American car industry. -G * The facility appeared to first be used by the long-since inactivated 565th Strategic Missile Squadron, and then by the 303rd Logistical Studies Unit, the latter of which was the official cover name for the 1st Special Actions Group from one of Shawn Ryan's previously produced shows (The Unit).
That was fun. A great season opener. So Marie and Irene Currie were played by a French-Canadian and an American who was raised in Paris respectively. Which is probably why their French was notably better than that of the male Doctor they were briefly arguing with when Lucy and her mother initially met them.
That was fun, but I am especially looking forward to next week's episode, which will take the Time Team to 1941 Hollywood and in which they will meet Hedy Lamarr.
Just finished watching the latest episode. A little while after Jiya foresaw burns on Rufus' arm (but didn't tell him about it) and Lucy got a bit of reluctant help from a still-imprisoned Garcia Flynn, the team jumped back to Darlington, South Carolina on September 4, 1955 to uncover Emma's (and Rittenhouse's overall) interest there (unlike most weeks, the historical significance wasn't even partially obvious to the team at first), with Wyatt looking forward to meeting one of his NASCAR idols Ryan Tillerson at the Darlington 500 stock car race. Meanwhile, back in the present, Carol helped in Nicholas Keynes' recovery as he painted a portrait of his little daughter (Carol's eventual mother, Lucys' eventual grandmother) while demanding a Victrola and more pickled eggs. He later printed all the information off of Wikipedia that he needed (he refused to simply read Wikipedia off of a screen as it strained his eyes, wondering aloud how those in the present day can stare at a screen all day). Connor was restless as he argued with Agent Christopher about her not allowing him to speak at a tech conference. Against her wishes, he went anyway, only for Agent Christopher and some of her Homeland Security agents to publicly whisk him away from the conference before his scheduled presentation. She then warned him to never do that again. Back in 1955 Darlington, with the help of eventual NASCAR pioneer Wendell Scott, the team learned of Rittenhouse's plan for sleeper agent Tillerson to ram his stock racing car (with a bomb attached to the engine) right into the podium holding the visiting top U.S. auto executives from Ford, Chevrolet and General Motors, thus putting the U.S. automotive industry in disarray, allowing Rittenhouse to take control of the industry at a time when four out of five cars in the world were built in Detroit. Even with Rufus burning his arm trying to win Wendell Scott's trust by trying to fix his car engine (even though Rufus apparently knew nothing about fixing car engines), the team eventually thwarted Rittenhouse's plans - Wyatt ended up shooting and killing Tillerson while the team then stole Tillerson's car and defused the bomb. Having returned to the present, Emma chided Carol about both Nicholas and how her "princess" daughter once again thwarted their plans as they walked into the large room where Nicholas unveiled his massive painted blueprint for Rittenhouse's plans going forward, with Emma visibly admiring it while Carol seemed a bit troubled. Next up: a trip to 1941 Hollywood with (as Belgian Guy previously pointed out) the team meeting Hedy Lamarr. -G
Well that was just a wonderful hour of TV. There might be better TV shows out there, but none more joyful, whimsical and fun than "Timeless". The dress that Lucy was wearing was a reference to this gown worn by Katherine Hepburn: Also, Abigail Spencer actually sang in that scene and they used her live performance instead of the studio track she recorded later on because they thought it worked better.
Also, I'm pretty sure this Hedy Lamarr number is a reference to "Zeigfeld Girl", which she was indeed shooting at the time. Though they were cheating a little bit. That film was an MGM production, so they would not have been shooting it on the Paramount lot. Still, you have to admire their attention to detail.
This week's episode had the team travel to Hollywood on January 4, 1941 following a drawn tip from a still-incarcerated Garcia Flynn. With the eventual help of actress/inventor Hedy Lamarr, they successfully recovered the only existing (at the time) complete print of "RKO 281" (a.k.a. Citizen Kane) that RKO producer (and Rittenhouse sleeper agent) Lucas Calhoun had stolen to offer to William Randolph Hearst to be destroyed in return for unedited Rittenhouse-written columns in all of Hearst's newspapers and publications for years to come. In between all that, Wyatt and Lucy finally got together, which Rufus eventually found out about. Upon returning the prints to Lamarr to be returned to Orson Welles, Rufus warned Lamarr to not let the "frequency-hopping" patent she and inventing partner and composer George Antheil were soon to file (the invention of which eventually led to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS) to lapse (as was to eventually happen in 1955), thus allowing the U.S. Navy to use it during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis without having to pay any royalties. Prior to returning to the present, the team drove several hours and many miles up the coast to the just-built but still unoccupied Oakland State Penitentiary to hide escape items into the wall of the cell that Garcia Flynn would be held in decades later, which he (with instructions previously handed to him discreetly in the present time by Agent Christopher) retrieved to help him escape. Meanwhile in the present, Jiya's continued visions and fainting spells worried Agent Christopher enough for a doctor to check Jiya's condition, prior to Mason warning Agent Christopher of similar conditions occurring to the first two of the Lifeboat's test pilots (one is still being treated for schizophrenia while the other died of a brain aneurysm). After the examination, Jiya told them that she's actually in better shape than before, including her previous heart murmur having completely disappeared. Upon returning and reluctantly learning that Garcia Flynn had joined the team in the facility, Rufus informed Lucy that Heddy Lamarr ended up taking his advice which eventually led to her having amassed a $30 billion fortune. Wyatt then received a text message and excused himself, only for him to break out of the facility and visit a local bar (tavern?) where he eventually met up with his wife Jessica, who had previously been mysteriously killed in San Diego years before in 2012 (either she hadn't been killed as previously thought or, more likely, something the team changed on one of their recent time travels caused a "butterfly effect" that eventually led to Jessica avoiding her previous fate). Next up: a visit to the Salem witch trials in 1692. -G
We should all better enjoy this whilst it lasts. "Timeless" already had modest viewing numbers and they have declined further with the third episode. A third season now seems like a remote possibility at best. Worst case scenario, NBC pulls the plug on this show before all ten episodes of the second season have been broadcast (like ABC did with their time travel show "Time After Time"). This is also unlikely to get a new home someplace else like "Supergirl" did. This show seems a bit too expensive to produce for the likes of the CW. I guess it only really makes sense as a Netflix show, but that seems like the longest of long shots.
My one bit of hope is the fact that Kripke has experience with shows that are on the bubble, considering how many times "Supernatural" was on the chopping block during his tenure.
On that note, it seems like "Supernatural" just got renewed for a 14th season, which is bonkers considering how often it got close to being cancelled.
It certainly didn't help to keep the same late time slot as last season, particularly for those who have to go to bed around that time to wake up early for work or school the next day. On the bright side, an interview with one of the producers (I think it was Eric Kripke) revealed that last season's ratings improved significantly when also taking DVR recordings and later online viewing into account , though advertisers may not like those as much (particularly the DVR recording) since it makes it easier for viewers to skip past the commercials. Considering all the trouble NBC went through to bring the show back, I doubt that the network won't air all ten of this season's episodes. Still, if it then decides not to air a third season, hopefully it can at least move the show to Syfy (which is also owned by NBCUniversal) rather than cancel the show altogether. -G