Timeless: The General; Chinatown
May 13, 2018 8:47 PM - Season 2, Episode 9 - Subscribe

The Mothership jumps to South Carolina in 1863, where the Time Team partners up with Harriet Tubman; then part 2 of the season finale leads to 1888 San Francisco and the resolution of Jiya's fateful vision.
posted by oh yeah! (18 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
I think not knowing whether this was the season or series finale made me watch this with a little too much detachment - like doing a 'trust fall' exercise where I can't actually let myself free-fall. I couldn't really believe they'd kill Rufus; when they cut to Jiya in her bunk vision-questing afterwards, and Connor's hand came into frame I thought it was Rufus' hand and they were pulling a 'it was all a vision, psych!' trick to reset the episode. When it kept going on with Rufus still being dead, I did start to get a little worried, but then gritty-reboot-future Lucy/Wyatt showed up and all was well.

I do hope we get a 3rd season, as I think the writers did a terrific job with season 2, and I want to see Rufus get saved. But as series finales go, this one works pretty well, so, if this is all we get, it's a damn sight better than what we would have gotten had NBC not resurrected it after the initial S1 cancelation.
posted by oh yeah! at 9:28 PM on May 13, 2018 [2 favorites]


I'm glad the writers concurred with how bullshit the whole mystical painting-o-crazy Rittenhouse family thing was and I am completely and totally on board Emma's "eff this, I'm the bitch with the time machine!" coup d'etat. 'Cause she's awesome and whats-his-name-from-the-past-Preston was useless dead weight.

I'm also on board with Lucy Croft. So hopefully there is a season 3 and we can do this thing.

(Did I blink and miss it or did the painting-o-Rittenhouse-crazy never come back in any way after it showed up the first time?)
posted by Justinian at 12:46 AM on May 14, 2018


why is the first half hour of my recording a game show with children and doogie howser

this is the darkest most vile timeline
posted by poffin boffin at 9:07 AM on May 14, 2018 [1 favorite]


I never expected to say this when the series started, by boy do I love Flynn and his attitude. I almost feel sorry for him that he didn't get to express his love to Lucy before Wyatt interrupted them. (Although his attitude is great and needed on the team whether he's with Lucy or not).

And yeah, good on Emma for taking out granddad Rittenhouse. He was worse than useless.

I really love the emotional complexity and maturity of all of the characters on this show, and I really hope that it gets a shot at another season, if only to wrap up the loose ends.
posted by sardonyx at 3:38 PM on May 14, 2018 [1 favorite]


Why didn't I realize until now that the team behind this show was also responsible for Terriers? No wonder they've managed to put together complex characters and do with with a good sense of humour.
posted by sardonyx at 6:32 PM on May 14, 2018


On the one hand, the Rittenhouse storyline made for a boring antagonist - about the most interesting bits were whether they'd slip a sleeper in to The Good Guys' Base (and, I mean, they did - Jessica) or whether Mama Preston would shoot her daughter (no, duh). On the other hand, Emma in a time machine... doing... changes? doesn't have a lot of narrative opportunities either.

But yeah, hardass Wyatt and Lucy Croft are compelling on their own. Can they save Rufus?!? Tune in next week!

I mean, Rittenhouse as something that creates an opportunity to slide around American history saving key timeline events? Ok. Rittenhouse as anything other than Dr. Evil? Yeah, bleh. If you want to make it anything other than just "We're doing these things because it will help consolidate our power" fine, but they never really showed the jumps having an effect either way?

(On the other hand, that creates a show that spends too much time in the present when the whole conceit is time traveling action detectives! Tricksy.)
posted by Kyol at 6:45 AM on May 15, 2018


Lucy messed up too - I think. Didn't she lead the way out into the street without checking for traps first? Wyatt wouldn't have made that mistake, but he was watching back into the club for pursuers. Not sure why Flynn didn't think of it.

So, sometime in the next several (three? six?) years, they rebuild the Lifeboat almost from scratch and figure out how to cross the streams and visit themselves. But why? What is in the bunker at the end of S2 that futureWyatt and futureLucy want that badly? Unless it's one of those self-fulfilling timeloop things. Did anybody see who was piloting Lifeboat2.0?

I loved the book and Jia's photo (I guess no Star Trek fans ever read history books?), although this photo has always existed in this timeline, so how did nobody ever notice it before? I am guessing Lucy hasn't re-read what is probably a very elementary text for years, but why didn't the Jia of this timeline ever notice the pic of herself (with Klingon!) when she was reading in the bunker? I'm not complaining - I actually enjoy working out these weird little predestination problems...
posted by Mogur at 3:07 PM on May 15, 2018


Can someone explain to me the logic of Jiya taking a job dealing cards in the exact place where she saw Wyatt dying? I mean, wouldn't the obvious thing to do be to get the hell away from that place as much as possible?

Sure, it's a time travel show so eventually it's gonna run into this paradox/causality issue. Just wish the writers would find less idiot-ball ways of handling it.
posted by axiom at 8:32 PM on May 15, 2018


Jiya couldn't notice her own photo in the history book because the timeline where it appears is after she's been to the past, where she's now part of the new history. There's probably many books about that era of history, and there are very slim chances that someone who could read Klingon from a oldtimey photograph would also be a history student who also has that textbook, understood that the numbers in the message translates to coordinates, and have the means to go to the middle of nowhere. And also the message says DON'T COME, which by the time you realize you're reading friggin Klingon in an authentic 1885 photograph, means there's some time travel shenanigans you probably don't want to get involved in unless, again, you have the means.

She was probably stuck in that city, being a WOC. I wouldn't be surprised if she tried to leave the city and found herself very unwelcomed everywhere in California at the time.
posted by numaner at 9:53 PM on May 17, 2018 [1 favorite]


I couldn't believe I was watching the finale. 10 episodes seem so short. And NBC again hasn't renewed the show, but it was the top voted show to keep on a USA Today poll, which might not mean much to NBC, but it shows that the fans are out there. Also #RenewTimeless is not doing badly on Twitter either.

But OMG. I also want more of Lucy Croft, please. So now we know the big mystery of how a future Lucy could give Flynn his book without running into the problem of traveling to your own timeline. And does that mean the future-Lifeboat is even better than the Mothership?
posted by numaner at 10:16 PM on May 17, 2018


I've been cruising twitter and now I have this NBC fanfic in my head of Rosa Diaz with the Timeless crew and the Lifeboat malfunctions and now they're in The Bad Place.
posted by numaner at 10:37 PM on May 17, 2018


For anyone who's interested #RenewTimeless is still going pretty strong on twitter. The Timeless Writers account have been encouraging it and saying that the constant tweeting etc matters and is being noticed by the people in charge. They've started releasing deleted scenes from season 2 once a day (including some lovely Lyatt moments that were cut for the right reasons but my shipper heart has been very happy to see).

The NBC twitter account is particularly bonkers, every tweet has literally a hundred or so responses from people asking for a Timeless renewal.
posted by *becca* at 3:38 AM on May 29, 2018 [1 favorite]


I keep checking for good news. Oh, for a time machine...

And Lyatt? How 'bout Woocy.
posted by mochapickle at 4:31 PM on May 29, 2018


#Lyatt appears to be the overwhelming consensus. Also #Garcy (not Flucy) for those who believe that despite his murderous, kidnapping terrorist actions in season 1 Garcia Flynn is the man for Lucy.

The poor benighted person(s) running the @nbc twitter have been dubbed Jan (and appear to have gone into hiding or possibly some kind of rest/retreat after the constant bombardment).
posted by *becca* at 7:59 AM on May 30, 2018


I will be super bummed if this doesn’t come back. But I also could not imagine a better note to leave it on if that’s how it shakes out.
posted by phearlez at 7:01 PM on June 11, 2018


Well, I didn't like the show on the first episode and quit, but someone somehow convinced me to go watch it again, and heeeey, it got better!

Anyway, while I am sad about Rufus (and Jiya, who is adorable), even if the show never airs again, that's a hopeful apocalypse-looking-new-Lifeboat ending. (I'm assuming if it was renewed for 10 episodes after being canceled, and no news now, that it's over.)
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:19 PM on June 13, 2018


Some good news, we're at least getting a 2-part series finale.
posted by mstokes650 at 10:01 AM on July 31, 2018 [4 favorites]


Hey, only one more day until the series finale Timeless two-parter! I probably won't get to watch it until Friday because of a holiday party, so, whoever wants to post the last thread tomorrow please go ahead.
posted by oh yeah! at 4:29 AM on December 19, 2018 [2 favorites]


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