The Department of Time: Una negociación a tiempo (Bargaining in time) First Watch

May 7, 2018 9:00 AM - Season 1, Episode 4

Salvador sends the team to 1491 to save the first discoverer of the time doors from the Spanish Inquisition. Amelia hides her job at the Ministry by telling her 1880 parents that she has a boyfriend.

Notes

* The Ministry of Time was established in 1491 by Queen Isabella I of Castille after obtaining the Book of Doors from Rabbi Abraham Levi in exchange of protection for him and his family. The queen promised to protect him, but cruel Grand Inquisitor Tomás de Torquemada sentenced him to the stake behind her back.
* Some Time Doors are caught in a time loop, and always send travelers to the same day in the timeline.
* The title of this episode can also be translated as "A deal in time"
* Paco Obregón originally auditioned for the role of Himmler in episode 3: Cómo se reescribe el tiempo. He lost the role to David Luque, but the casting team was so impressed with him that he was offered the role of Abraham Leví. He auditioned to play a Nazi and ended up playing a rabbi.
* Michelle Jenner and Eusebio Poncela reprise their roles of Isabella the Catholic and Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros from the RTE series Isabel. The throne room scene was filmed on the set of Isabel right before it was dismantled. Rodolfo Sancho (Julián) played Ferdinand The Catholic on the same series.
* The music in the scene where Levi heals young Isabel's injured hand is Isabel's motif in the series Isabel.
* The newspaper that Amelia's father reads in 1880 ("Diari Catalá") was the first periodic publication printed in the Catalan language.
* We learn Ernesto's identity in this episode. He is Pedro de Torquemada, father to the Grand Inquisitor Tomás de Torquemada.

posted by zarq (5 comments total)

Michelle Jenner and Eusebio Poncela reprise their roles of Isabella the Catholic and Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros from the RTE series Isabel. The throne room scene was filmed on the set of Isabel right before it was dismantled.

That's a really cool production detail!
posted by tobascodagama at 9:06 AM on May 7, 2018 [5 favorites]

I laughed so hard at the surprise motorcycle, I scared my cat. When Ernesto first started impersonating Torquemada, I was afraid they were going to have the character have to stay stuck in the past living out the rest of Torquemada's natural life (after they were forced to kill real Torquemada), that he was going to be carrying on with the Inquisition, tragically committing atrocities to preserve history, and I was really not looking forward to that prospect.

>Rodolfo Sancho (Julián) played Ferdinand The Catholic on the same series.

So was his 'I've seen her somewhere before' line an in-joke for the Isabel miniseries fans then?
posted by oh yeah! at 6:09 PM on May 7, 2018 [2 favorites]

So was his 'I've seen her somewhere before' line an in-joke for the Isabel miniseries fans then?

I think so!

I laughed so hard at the surprise motorcycle, I scared my cat.

It was hilarious! Did NOT see that coming! :D
posted by zarq at 10:32 AM on May 9, 2018

It's pretty cool that they're building constraints on the time travel paradoxes, discovering as it goes along rather than being given a manual as the travelers are recruited. Some historical details "stick" and some people's minds and fate are very hard if impossible to change. It'll be interesting to see if the show is consistent over time.
posted by sammyo at 4:12 AM on May 13, 2018 [1 favorite]

I recently re-watched episode one, and when Alonso is riding in the car in 2015 for the first time, he sees and is very interested in a man riding a motorcycle.
Awesome foreshadowing!
posted by LEGO Damashii at 12:45 PM on June 21, 2018 [1 favorite]