Timeless: The Miracle of Christmas Part I/II

December 21, 2018 2:12 PM - Season 2, Episode 11

With a little help from their future selves, Lucy and Wyatt, along with the rest of the team, journey to the California Gold Rush and the Korean War's Hungnam evacuation in a daring bid to save Rufus and stop Rittenhouse once and for all.

Timeless boss talks series finale, original ending (EW)

Timeless goes gently into that good night, with its eyes trained on the future (AVClub)

Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper Cover)- Joseph William Morgan featuring Shadow Royale (Soundcloud)

posted by mstokes650 (12 comments total)

Just finished watching. It left me feeling very...paradoxical? Glad to have happy endings for the Time Team, and yet so sad for Flynn. Glad to get another chance to spend time with these characters, yet sad at it being almost certainly the very last time. I wasn't super emotional throughout the episode, but that ending montage broke me, and got me all weepy.
posted by oh yeah! at 7:35 PM on December 21, 2018 [2 favorites]

From after Hollywood up until the end of the series, I was kind of rooting for Lucy/Flynn over Lucy/Wyatt, and I was sure he was lying to her when he told her they didn't end up together. This show could have done so much more, but given the parameters, I'm relieved we got what we did. "Heliclockters." Rufus saved. Lucy's line about just not getting around to any men in history.

But oh, how I would have liked to see that Titanic episode.
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 7:47 PM on December 21, 2018 [5 favorites]

They did a really good job of wrapping things up in a tight bow. All of the major questions were addressed and everybody got a big moment or two, even if we did, sadly, lose Flynn in the process.

Agreed that it would have been nice to see the Titanic episode and to see Lucy and Flynn together at least once, but I think it would have been a major curve ball if Lucy and Wyatt had not ended up together.

I'm glad that the production team had the opportunity to write finis to the series, and that we the viewers had an opportunity to send off these characters one final time, but I'm still disappointed that this show didn't get another season or two. They really hit their stride this year and I imagine that future episodes would have only been better.
posted by sardonyx at 8:11 PM on December 21, 2018 [2 favorites]

Overall I enjoyed it and the couples got together and I liked that. Was still a bit confused as to how they defeated Rittenhouse, though. Like, did I blink and miss it?
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:18 PM on December 21, 2018

Lucy's father was in prison and they called him up and said, hey, could you help us out? And he said, sure, okay. Voilà! That's some genius strategy, right there.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 8:14 AM on December 22, 2018 [2 favorites]

Somehow it felt a little rushed. Let's tie up all the lose ends. Kill Jessica off, Rufus is alive again. We are all lovey doviey.

But i am glad we got an ending, however convoluted, instead of leaving us on an intentional cliffhanger.

Question: Who is Lucy's brother? Halfbrother
posted by thegirlwiththehat at 10:59 AM on December 22, 2018

I actually thought Jessica survived until I saw the end shot. They had made a point of showing us her body, but did *not* show anyone checking her vital signs or some other TV-obvious sign of death, so I expected one last shot of her in a North Korean hospital, looking all grim and determined. When it didn't happen, then I figured she must be dead.
posted by Mogur at 5:33 AM on December 23, 2018

Yeah, you could kind of feel how that _could_ have been a whole season long arc where all the things that just fell into place here would've been an episode there. A little too tied up with string, but what the hell, if you're going to get a bonus two parter to finish up the story, you may as well.
posted by Kyol at 11:50 AM on December 23, 2018

I think that was a good enough of an ending to satisfy me. I like that they didn't take shortcuts, that you couldn't write Jessica out of the timeline without a sacrifice on the level of Flynn's, and that there was no convenient handwave for everybody to get what they want (like Amy returning, and i called it at the premiere of season 2).

And they still made it plausible for how Rittenhouse was taken down. Cahill said it himself, that Emma destroyed Rittenhouse and then herself. She might have had the leadership abilities, but she didn't have the visions of the old leaders to set everything up. Carol would've known that the CIA could use Cahill to get to them if they hurt Lucy, and that it would've been better to take out the Lifeboat itself rather than going after the team.

I also got emotional at that ending montage with Time After Time playing and Flynn relives the team's adventures. It's great that it's a legit plotted montage because that is literally what happens from past-Flynn's perspective. Time travel shows are so great.

And I love that they stuck to the season 2 policy that they would only go back to visit women or people of color! Way to go writers!

Thanks for all the comments, y'all, I'm glad to have watched it with everyone.
posted by numaner at 2:46 PM on December 26, 2018 [3 favorites]

I good job of wrapping things up - a bit compressed, but, yeah.

My local library's twitter account has linked to this bookriot list of books for Timeless fans, so I'll just leave that here.
posted by rmd1023 at 9:56 AM on January 10, 2019

Aw, a last little snippet of Lyatt -- Timeless Series Finale Video: Lucy and Wyatt Have a Sweet, Sexy Christmas Morning in Deleted Scene
posted by oh yeah! at 8:14 PM on February 16, 2019 [1 favorite]

I finally got around to watching the finale (damned kids) and enjoyed it. I found the hand-wave of having Rufus return and show up in the past a little difficult to swallow. Did they overload the lifeboat to get there since Flynn was there originally? Did Rufus not remember Flynn coming? Was that Rufus' first time seeing the upgraded lifeboat since it was only in their possession because he'd been dead?

For that matter, if the people changing the timeline are immune to the cascading effects because they were outside the timeline when it happened, where are Dark Wyatt and Dark Lucy? Presumably still existing somewhere, even if it's now a place they don't recognize.

Mostly I think "forget it phear, it's time travel town" but the Rufus appearance landed a bit wrong for me. However I am hopeful now to read a bunch of fanfic of Dark Lyatt and their now aimless wander through time.
posted by phearlez at 12:36 PM on February 22, 2019