S02.E02: The Darlington 500

[CooperTV]

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The Time Team chases Rittenhouse to a stock car race in the 1950s where Wyatt learns that his favorite race car driver is actually a Rittenhouse sleeper agent on a mission to destroy the American car industry. To stop the Rittenhouse plan, Wyatt, Lucy and Rufus team up with Wendell Scott, the first African American NASCAR driver.

Promos

[Maverick]

 I wonder if they'll explain how they're getting their period wardrobe now that Mason Industries is gone or they're just going to stick with the 'they'll find something when they get there' line.

[legaleagle53]

29 minutes ago, Maverick said:

 I wonder if they'll explain how they're getting their period wardrobe now that Mason Industries is gone or they're just going to stick with the 'they'll find something when they get there' line.

Flynn also had a massive period wardrobe that would have been seized when he was arrested and incarcerated.  Agent Christopher probably had government connections that enabled her to get her hands on it when Flynn was transferred to the bunker and her full custody.

[wanderingstar]

Rufus, Wendell and The Nod...so poignant.

Loved the Lucy-Flynn scene. I'd like to see Flynn incorporated more into the story.

Emma can DIAF any day now. Pleaseandthankyou.

Not much of a Wyatt/Lucy shipper, but their scene in the trunk was cute.

Off to read up on Wendell Scott.

Edited March 19, 2018 by Gillian Rosh

[Mulva]

I knew about Wendell Scott from the Richard Pryor movie.  Not a bad episode overall.  It was good to see Flynn again.

[tennisgurl]

Rufus invented The Nod! 

Lucy really looked adorable in her 50s wear, as she does in all period clothes, but I thought the guys looked good too. Wyatt still looks a little too "modern" with the facial hair, but the outfits looked great. We also got some Wyatt backstory, and I loved seeing him geek out about the classic cars and old time racing. He looked like he was absolutely gleeful during the car chase, and he might have blushed when Wendell said they should race sometime. 

Loved the guy playing Wendell Scott, and he was another awesome historical character. I kind of new who he was before this episode, but I loved getting more information about him and his life, and how he helped the gang out. The Wendell Scott Foundations Twitter was live tweeting the episode, and it was really cool seeing the real guy next to the fictional one. I really do love how the show gives spotlights to such a wide variety of historical characters, from the more well known ones (Houdini, Bonnie and Clyde) to ones that are less known, but should be given more of a spotlight (Wendell Scott, Frank Hamer), and finds such charismatic actors to play them. 

Alright, fine, I ship Lucy/Wyatt. I resisted, but its all over now. That trunk scene was just too cute. But, damn, will people just stop interrupter them! You wouldn't think time travelers would have such bad timing.

Lucy's ancestor is a creepy guy, and now he has a big crazy murder wall. Should be interesting. I cant relive that I`m saying this, but we need Flynn around to help ASAP!

[Netfoot]

Rittenhouse crap permeates each episode to such a degree that I am finding it very confusing.  Platitude-spouting Flynn every episode at least once, will soon push me over the edge.

In short: This show is rapidly becoming too crap to watch!

[HunterHunted]

I missed about a third of the episode because there has been someone sending package bombs to Black and Latino households for the past month in my neck of the woods. There was another explosion tonight and the news kept cutting in. So the casual callous racism of 1955 was hitting home for me tonight. I'll have to watch the episode in full on demand.

So Jiya is now vibing the future?

Lucy's great grandfather is really a condescending creepster.

Edited March 19, 2018 by HunterHunted

[Lieutenant]

MORE FLYNN, SHOW. (He's being horrifically underused and it's starting to grind my gears in a big way now)

Denise is really starting to tick me off with her executive decisions from on high.

I feel like Lucy is going a bit OOC?  When has she ever thought it ok to cuddle and giggle her way though a mission?  I don't begrudge her fun times while on the job, but she seems really off the reservation in this ep.  

I don't have anything overly wonderful to say about Wyatt either.  His fanboying was adorable, true.  And tragic past ™ is tragic.  I was feeling a major disconnect during that car chase scene.  Woo fun times, I get it.  Also, HELLO?  They way you are driving you are going to blow everyone up at any second.  Situational awareness much there, Master Sargent? 

I actually felt bad for Mr. Ritten-sleeper.  That's the risk they take with planting agents, I guess.  They might actually find they love their new lives more than the cause.

Which leads to Emma.  That woman is cold and I love it.  She's an actual villain I can root again and appreciate.  I don't doubt her resolve AT ALL.

And I repeat MORE FLYNN, DAMMIT!

[phalange]

I'd never heard of Wendall Scott prior to this, so I liked learning about him. Sad but unsurprising that he won and was denied any recognition for it. Nice scene there at the end with him and Rufus and "the nod." 

Glad we got some more insight into Jiya's visions. She was able to see that Rufus would get injured, though not exactly how it happened. I'm betting that ability will come in handy in the future.

Poor Lucy and Wyatt got clockblocked again. They just can't catch a break! The looks on their faces were priceless. I liked their conversation about their respective terrible parents, and I appreciate that they referenced Lucy's claustrophobia. Yay for continuity. Also, Lucy wearing Wyatt's jacket at the end was adorable. 

I love the scene of Agent Christopher arresting Mason. She didn't come to play. Seriously, Mason, just listen to her. She's trying to keep you alive.

Emma is straight up ruthless (but her look is flawless). She really is itching to take out Lucy, though. That painting Keynes had of his daughter/Carol's mother is going to haunt me forever. 

[methodwriter85]

10 minutes ago, phalange said:

Emma is straight up ruthless (but her look is flawless). She really is itching to take out Lucy, though. That painting Keynes had of his daughter/Carol's mother is going to haunt me forever. 

Well, if we take that painting as being the age of what the daughter was in 1918, she looked somewhere in the toddler stage of about 3-4, which means she was born sometime in 1914/1915. If we assume Lucy's mother was born in about 1955-1958ish, that would make her about early 40's which was reasonable even in the 1950's.

I love that Michael Rady is playing a creepy villain type. I don't think I've ever seen him in that kind of role before. He mostly seems to play bland romantic leads. You can tell he's enjoying this. Also, I like his chest hair. (Yeah, that's shallow, but sue me.)

See, I will give the show this. If they're going to push Lyatt, they need to do it right, and the trunk scene was honestly a nice romantic tension building moment. That's how you show and not tell, show!

[TobinAlbers]

Rufus describing Wendell as a Han Solo to Matt 'Anakin Skywalker' Lanter whose Star Wars grandson is both Han's son and murders Han in a bid to prove himself like dear old grandpa made me chuckle.

11 minutes ago, phalange said:

Emma is straight up ruthless (but her look is flawless). She really is itching to take out Lucy, though. That painting Keynes had of his daughter/Carol's mother is going to haunt me forever. 

Girlfriend is nutty but appears to have a code. And yeah Lucy wore sneakers but Emma brought the heels to her wardrobe. She vamps no matter what the time period. Also I would not be surprised if she ends up bedding Lucy's great grandpa. ?Just a hunch.

Mason can be a dink, but I get where he's coming from. Surviving isn't just being alive but having something to live for. Agent Christopher means of protecting the team through bullying and threats (she did it to Wyatt too) is only going to make things worse. She didn't have to torpedo Mason in such a way that further disgraced him. It only served to enrage him and make him feel small and powerless. He's going to lash out/bail at the absolute worse time but it won't be entirely on him. Agent Christopher should know how to work her assets better. The last thing you do to Mason is make him feel powerless and irrelevant. And for all intents he's already in a prison. Christopher should've used more carrot and less stick with him. 

We need loads more Flynn. Emma is a hoot but he's the original ruthless crazypants.

So did Emma off the pregnant widow of the sleeper Rittenhouse agent to tie up loose ends? She was left alone with dead hubby and Emma when Team time crew drove away. No witnesses to see Emma shoot her too before she lifeboated back to 2018.

[tennisgurl]

I’m still hoping we get an episode at the finale where the gang recruits all of the historical figures they’ve met and they all team up to stop Rittenhouse. Yeah it would be ridiculously nonsensical, but it would be AWESOME. 

Lucy saying they were looking for Commies was pretty quick thinking. That was a big freaking accusation in 1955.

Edited March 19, 2018 by tennisgurl

[methodwriter85]

1 minute ago, tennisgurl said:

I’m still hoping we get an episode at the finale where the gang recruits all of the historical figures they’ve met and they all team up to stop Rittenhouse. Yeah it would be ridiculously nonsensical, but it would be AWESOME. 

They NEED to bring back Houndini and Robert Todd Lincoln.

[LittleIggy]

Is Lucy’s mother having second thoughts? 

WTF about Michaelangelo’s David? Dave was buff but had a tiny penis. ?

[Quilt Fairy]

2 hours ago, Lieutenant said:

I was feeling a major disconnect during that car chase scene.  Woo fun times, I get it.  Also, HELLO?  They way you are driving you are going to blow everyone up at any second.  Situational awareness much there, Master Sargent? 

And don't forget, he had just killed 2 people, in a very up close and personal fashion.  I know we've seen killing before on this show, but to follow that scene with a giggling Lucy and a Dukes of Hazzard style police chase just seemed weird to me.

Can someone fill me in on Emma's backstory?  I've seen all but one or two episodes but I must have missed a pivotal one.  I remember Emma hiding in 19th century Missouri and Flynn trying to kidnap her so she could pilot the Mothership instead of Anthony, but at that time she was anti-Rittenhouse.  Now she's back and is the most loyal storm-trooper ever.   What changed?

[Raja]

2 hours ago, Mulva said:

I knew about Wendell Scott from the Richard Pryor movie.  Not a bad episode overall.  It was good to see Flynn again.

Greased Lightning, I also remember it. I guess Flynn  has near total recall. South Carolina it must be this address 

[possibilities]

$10 was a lot more money then than now. Does the team travel with time-appropriate cash as well as clothing, or did Wendell pay out of his own funds?

I don't know why I notice these things. It doesn't really matter, and I know that's the case.

[Quilt Fairy]

4 minutes ago, possibilities said:

$10 was a lot more money then than now. Does the team travel with time-appropriate cash as well as clothing, or did Wendell pay out of his own funds?

I don't know why I notice these things. It doesn't really matter, and I know that's the case.

It's not just you, I caught that, too.  $10 seemed too much.

[Dowel Jones]

Yeah, silver certificates might be hard to come by in the present day, unless the team went back off camera and stole some plates to make their own, or something. I'm waiting for Wyatt to ask someone "Is there an ATM close by?"

Fun fact about the Chuck Berry song "You Can't Catch Me" (the chase music).  John Lennon either inadvertently or purposely copied the line 'Here come a flattop, he come groovin' up slowly' for the Beatles song "Come Together".  Cost him a lot of money to Chuck Berry. 

Wendell, if you took that 50 gallons of moonshine out of the trunk before the race, you could probably win by an even better margin. 

So Keynes wants to build the master race, eh?  I also thought that the women were not so pleased with that idea.  The problem with creating a top tier of anyone is that sooner or later someone decides that you're not in it, and don't slam the door on your way out to the firing squad. 

What lure or reward do you use to convince someone to go back in time and commit suicide to further the motives of the giant octopus?  What was in it for him?  And on a side note, taking over Ford, just in time for the Edsel?  Really?  What else could go wrong in the next twenty years?

Nice bits of real history in the conversations.  Dropping the 'He's a Communist' line in 1955 was no joke.

[bros402]

That was a good episode, I like how the sleeper agents are working out so far. 

[iRarelyWatchTV36]

2 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

Is Lucy’s mother having second thoughts?

That's how I interpreted that look that Carol made at the end.  First you got Emma still with a big rager about killing her daughter and then great-gramps-whose-younger-than-her painting a big historical murder mural while psychotically describing how they will methodically 'cull the herd' of all American history to remake things into the perfect society, which they will be in control of.  I'm sensing a tiny seed of doubt there.

As much as I dislike her - which we should, as the portrayal is spot on - I am finding Emma a complex character.  She is all Rittenhouse and will do what needs done, but that doesn't mean she's totally unfeeling about it.  I sensed a slight hesitation in needed to take out Marie Curie & her daughter last week and then finding out she'd have to eliminate a wife and unborn kid of the 'suicide bomber' they planted in Darlington.

The 'clockblocking' is going to get pretty tedious if they keep it up.  There's no tension to hide there, we know they will be a thing.  Don't annoy us with attempts to be cute & adorable in interrupting almost-kisses.

I am indifferent towards Flynn (this season, so far).  I could take him or leave him.  But at some point, they are going to need to get him more involved if he's going to be a part of the show.  Occasional 2-minute cell visits isn't going to get it done.

It was great seeing some history about Nascar and a few of its important figures.  And watching Wyatt geek out.

Some more Wyatt backstory, that's always good.

Rufus being Rufus.  That's always great.

Eager to see where they take Jiya.  Wonder what kind of visions we'll see of all 3 time travelers, through her - like with Rufus' burn on his arm in this one.

I'm no fan of Connor's, but that was a bit much by Agent Christopher.  Guy doesn't want to be forgotten/ruined.  Hard to fault him for that. 

ETA:  Going by the promo for next week, the potential Lyatt 'aggravation' will be resolved sooner than later.  Thankfully.

Edited March 19, 2018 by iRarelyWatchTV36

[redpencil]

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I am indifferent towards Flynn (this season, so far).  I could take him or leave him.  But at some point, they are going to need to get him more involved if he's going to be a part of the show.  Occasional 2-minute cell visits isn't going to get it done.

This is where I'm at (though I think Goran does a great job). I'm cool with them having to reluctantly bring him in to help for a mission here or there, but I wouldn't want it to be a permanent thing. I just don't think that would make sense given all the things he did last season. Yeah, he was right about Rittenhouse and has good reason to want them destroyed, but he still did/tried to do some really terrible stuff, including trying to kill most of the time trio multiple times. I don't see how they could ever work with him as a more integrated member of the team. And having him with our team more permanently would really affect the chemistry of the show, I feel, unless they totally changed/whitewashed his character, which wouldn't make sense to me. Hopefully they find a believable way for him to have more to do but not be around all the time, if that makes any sense at all.

Edited March 20, 2018 by redpencil

[BooBear]

6 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Alright, fine, I ship Lucy/Wyatt. I resisted, but its all over now. That trunk scene was just too cute. But, damn, will people just stop interrupter them! You wouldn't think time travelers would have such bad timing.

I am wondering why they are on superspeed with regard to the ship. I am guessing something happens in middle season that pulls them apart.  

Flynn's scene bothered me because Goran was really chewing the scenery.  And kind of seems to have an insanely good memory. 

Loved seeing more about Wyatt's back ground.  There is so much about Lucy's family nice to have a mention of someone else.

I really don't care at all Connor. 

[JackONeill]

A couple of comments, and please don’t take this to mean I dislike the show. I do like it and want it to succeed.

But—

1) the “tone” needs some work. Big bad things happen, and will contniue to happen, if Rittenhouse succeeds. Yet, at least last night, there seemed to be no urgency on the team’s part. Lucy started the episode bummed out, then she perked up a little, but at no part was it essential she be on that mission. Wyatt and Rufus could have done it on their own. It was also the as if Lucy’s “role” was to be in the trunk with Wyatt. (I say that as someone who finds them a cute couple. Still . . .)

2) Flynn adds to the uneven tone. He is rightly pissed about being jailed. Yet the team goes to him for help. And what little bit of help he provided last night — an address — I mean how much are they having to pay the actor for this? Is it worth it? On the other hand, if they bring him into the plot even more, how is that going to work? The time machine only holds 3 people. So if Flynn “goes into the field on a mission,” will Wyatt or Lucy get left behind?

3) As others have said, Agent Christopher’s handling of Mason was over the top and likely to make a bad situation even worse.

4) Emma is good but one-dimensional. But for now I think it’s what the show needs. I’m less clear as to where we’re heading with Lucy’s mom.

5) if Rittenhouse is so darn powerful, how have they not found our team??? And’s with our team’s seeming incarceration. Mason can come and go, Agent Christopher can come and go, but our team is “locked” in there. Huh? Yes, I know the concern. But see my question above. I find it ludicrous that Rittenhouse can’t find them, especially with two key people moving about AND a time machine moving back and forth through time.

6) Wyatt’s fan-boy attitude was turned too high. He’s the soldier, for pete’s sake. And the car chase—the cars looked like they were going about 20 mph. The car chases in Dukes of Hazzard were more suspenseful!

[legaleagle53]

8 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Can someone fill me in on Emma's backstory?  I've seen all but one or two episodes but I must have missed a pivotal one.  I remember Emma hiding in 19th century Missouri and Flynn trying to kidnap her so she could pilot the Mothership instead of Anthony, but at that time she was anti-Rittenhouse.  Now she's back and is the most loyal storm-trooper ever.   What changed?

She's always been hardcore Rittenhouse, as was shown in one of the very last scenes of the Season 1 finale when it showed her stealing the mothership for Rittenhouse as Carol was telling Lucy that Rittenhouse was much more powerful than Lucy thought.  Emma was one of the first sleeper agents that our Time Team had encountered, only neither they nor Flynn knew it at the time.  She was just playing them by pretending to be anti-Rittenhouse.

[albinerhawk]

Overall I enjoyed the episode, but one of the timey-wimey elements bothered me. If Wyatt knew about the Rittenhouse racer, whose name is escaping me, wouldn't his actions already been in the past and known by Wyatt? So then wouldn't the explosion at the Darlington 500 already happened? It was their going back into the past that changed it. So what are the rules there?

[JackONeill]

21 minutes ago, albinerhawk said:

Overall I enjoyed the episode, but one of the timey-wimey elements bothered me. If Wyatt knew about the Rittenhouse racer, whose name is escaping me, wouldn't his actions already been in the past and known by Wyatt? So then wouldn't the explosion at the Darlington 500 already happened? It was their going back into the past that changed it. So what are the rules there?

Best not to ask. This is time travel we're talking about. Everybody thinks they understand it, but they really don't. Even Spock got tripped up with it. So, with a show like this, what I do is not think about things like "How in the world did that happen?"  Instead, I just go, "Nice poodle skirt Lucy's wearing!"

[Raja]

43 minutes ago, JackONeill said:

Best not to ask. This is time travel we're talking about. Everybody thinks they understand it, but they really don't. Even Spock got tripped up with it. So, with a show like this, what I do is not think about things like "How in the world did that happen?"  Instead, I just go, "Nice poodle skirt Lucy's wearing!"

Right now the time travel theory rules  seems to be Quantum Leap like, with killing

[Shanna Marie]

11 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

Is Lucy’s mother having second thoughts? 

That was the way her expression at the end seemed to me. She looked like, "Uh, what? Maybe Grandpa was just nuts." Meanwhile, Emma's eyes were shining, like "Oh, it's glorious!"

1 hour ago, albinerhawk said:

Overall I enjoyed the episode, but one of the timey-wimey elements bothered me. If Wyatt knew about the Rittenhouse racer, whose name is escaping me, wouldn't his actions already been in the past and known by Wyatt? So then wouldn't the explosion at the Darlington 500 already happened? It was their going back into the past that changed it. So what are the rules there?

I think that's been an issue with all their time travel, even last season -- Flynn would go into the past, and they'd rush to stop him from changing something, but he was in the past, so whatever he'd changed would already have happened before they knew he'd gone into the past. It seems like maybe the timeline is in flux up to a certain point until it's acted upon by an outside agent. So in this case, it's like Timeline #1, there was no Rittenhouse racer. Timeline #2, Rittenhouse racer is sent as a sleeper agent. Wyatt now knows about him because he was famous. Then Emma shows up and creates Timeline #3, in which the Time Team has also gone there. But history isn't aware of how Timeline #3 is going to play out until it's over. Emma wanted Timeline #3 to be RittenRacer blowing up the automobile executives. Instead, it was RittenRacer being mysteriously murdered before the race. That's the history everyone else will now remember.

But generally, thinking about it will only give you a headache.

[reggiejax]

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Wyatt’s fan-boy attitude was turned too high. He’s the soldier, for pete’s sake. And the car chase—the cars looked like they were going about 20 mph. The car chases in Dukes of Hazzard were more suspenseful!

I did love the little Dukes of Hazzard homage, and I must admit, Rufus really rocked that pair of Daisy Dukes. ;) 

I also liked that this was the episode where Wyatt finally got emotions. At least emotions beyond mourning his dead wife. 

And I guess Wucy is moving forward, but as I said before, I am a die-hard Flucy shipper. 

I am amazed at evil Great Grandpa being able to adjust so quickly to suddenly being 100 years in the future. Certainly weaved his plans to alter the past rather quickly, seemingly without contemplating the 100 years of history he missed. Which reminds me, did anyone bother to tell him about the last guy (arguably the man who most significantly influenced those 100 years Great Grandpa missed) who had a plan to bring about a "master race"? 

Edited March 19, 2018 by reggiejax

[UNOSEZ]

Fun episode.. I died at Rufus maybe inventing the nod.. Jiya has one more vision to sweep under the rug before I get righteously upset at the silliness of  keeping it a secret... Agent Christopher for a second I thought regretted shaming Mason like she did when generic rich white douche guy made a statement as mason  was carried away but I guess I was wrong..  Emma is delightful with her full on hate-lady boner for lucy.. Plus Annie wersching makes all outfits look good... Wyatt was great and him geeking out was top notch... Still not a fan of him and Lucy.. 1. because he's kinda obsessive.. 2.Flynn always around with his own creepy Lucy fetish... 3.inevitable tug of  war for her attention / affection... 4. Though I like both characters and the actors who play them I've always known the show aimed to out them together  and it kinda just feels like an exec said ( let's put these two pretty white people together) 5. It'll always make a Rufus a third wheel which leads to 6. The optics... If the main couple is Wyatt and Lucy then between mission stuff and their romantic stuff they'll canabilize screentime.. All the members of the support team are minorities which kinda includes 3rd wheel Rufus.. The main adversaries meaning who we'll see on screen a bunch are Emma Carol Nathan (all white)  and the one wild card Flynn (white).. 

Won't stop me from watching the show just wish it coulda been 3 friends and no romance.. Or romance with someone else to shake it up a bit

[JackONeill]

2 hours ago, UNOSEZ said:

Fun episode.. I died at Rufus maybe inventing the nod.. Jiya has one more vision to sweep under the rug before I get righteously upset at the silliness of  keeping it a secret... Agent Christopher for a second I thought regretted shaming Mason like she did when generic rich white douche guy made a statement as mason  was carried away but I guess I was wrong..  Emma is delightful with her full on hate-lady boner for lucy.. Plus Annie wersching makes all outfits look good... Wyatt was great and him geeking out was top notch... Still not a fan of him and Lucy.. 1. because he's kinda obsessive.. 2.Flynn always around with his own creepy Lucy fetish... 3.inevitable tug of  war for her attention / affection... 4. Though I like both characters and the actors who play them I've always known the show aimed to out them together  and it kinda just feels like an exec said ( let's put these two pretty white people together) 5. It'll always make a Rufus a third wheel which leads to 6. The optics... If the main couple is Wyatt and Lucy then between mission stuff and their romantic stuff they'll canabilize screentime.. All the members of the support team are minorities which kinda includes 3rd wheel Rufus.. The main adversaries meaning who we'll see on screen a bunch are Emma Carol Nathan (all white)  and the one wild card Flynn (white).. 

Won't stop me from watching the show just wish it coulda been 3 friends and no romance.. Or romance with someone else to shake it up a bit

All valid comments. It is a problem with any show that has more than two "real" leads. Think Castle. Yes, there were other actors in other roles (some better than others), BUT they were clearly secondary to Castle and Beckett. Here it's a three-way lead—Lucy, Wyatt and Rufus. It seems, in a way, that the third character would just naturally lose out. Here I think about Star Trek TOS. It was Kirk, Spock and McCoy. (Although if you listen to some, it should have only been Kirk, Kirk, and more Kirk!)

But with Timeless this point is even more evident since (or because of) Rufus is black, so any slight, or any reduced screen time, is going to be noticed. (Many people over on The Walking Dead forum have LOTS to say about this.) And what's interesting is that there have been few places where they have traveled where Rufus has "fit in" and they openly address that. I wonder if having a black actor portray Rufus was some deliberate point of the producers. But why, and what is that point? To show discrimination? But then if the show becomes the Lucy & Wyatt show (not that I think that'll happen) the producers will have a hell of a problem.

Edited March 19, 2018 by JackONeill

[iMonrey]

I'm now remembering what made this show frustrating in Season 1 because unfortunately the show has not improved its format. All they have really done is swap out Flynn for Emma. Otherwise, it's still the same week to week chasing of the bad guy to prevent them from changing history. Which . . . they never seem to do, to any useful extent. So it's more or less just an episodic adventure show with fun costumes and famous "historical" characters. It's still not ambitious enough to do anything more interesting than play dress-up. And I found this particular episode pretty weak considering it's only the second of the season. Felt like very mediocre mid-season filler.

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And don't forget, he had just killed 2 people, in a very up close and personal fashion.  I know we've seen killing before on this show, but to follow that scene with a giggling Lucy and a Dukes of Hazzard style police chase just seemed weird to me.

I was shocked when Wyatt killed the race car driver. That should have pretty serious implications. Rittenhouse agent or not he was well known to Wyatt in the future. I expected that to mean something but, as you note, they simply moved on to a silly car chase scene. It was amazingly tone-deaf. 

Much like Flynn last season, whatever Rittenhouse is trying to do doesn't make much sense. If they have sleeper agents planted around various parts of the timeline any one of them could (potentially) screw up history making a sleeper agent in a later timeline irrelevant - or even disappear. So, in a practical sense, this episode could be rendered entirely pointless if something ends up happening in, say, 1895. It seems to me that the only useful way to approach this sleeper agent problem is to start at the very beginning - the earliest year an agent was planted in history, and then work their way forward. Jumping around all willy-nilly doesn't make any sense.

[IWantCandy71]

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This is where I'm at (though I think Goran does a great job). I'm cool with them having to reluctantly bring him in to help for a mission her or there, but I wouldn't want it to be a permanent thing. I just don't think that would make sense given all the things he did last season.

The show messed up by making Flynn do some of the things he did last season. Goran is a far better actor than Matt Lanter-which isn't hard because Matt Lanter cannot act at all. But Flynn is also way more interesting and complex than Wyatt. Show should have made Goran the main male from the start. It worked for Blacklist-to a point. But maybe dialed down the borderline crazy.

It's sad when two of the main characters are so bland boring vanilla, that you NEED a character like Flynn to make them interesting. But that's the case with Lucy and Wyatt both. They are SO boring unless interacting with someone else way more watchable.

[possibilities]

I would have liked to see Lucy and Rufus, or Rufus and Wyatt, as a couple, if they wanted to put a romance on the team. Wyatt's longing for his wife makes me worried that they're doing it this way so they have a built in obstacle when suddenly the wife re-appears. I really hate triangle stories, and I'm also maxxed out on the emo Wyatt, which as soon as they stopped having him grieving his wife, they started having him talking about his sad childhood. So someone likes the emo Wyatt, but I don't.

Is there a chance that Lucy's mother in the original timeline (where she got cancer and Lucy had a sister) was NOT a Rittenhouse agent? That could explain how Lucy thought of her before, as a good person, and why it's so startling that she's seemingly so suddenly evil.

I am willing to handwave some of the time travel inconsistencies because I think that's the price you pay for watching a time travel show, but I really hate the emo stuff. I just really find it exhausting. So Lucy and Wyatt maybe are a good match, because they're both all angst-filled over their lost family, but I wish they'd take it off screen.

I had no problem with Christopher coming down hard on Mason. He's not trustworthy, he's reckless, and he's endangering everyone by his behavior. He wasn't a good guy last season, and I don't see him as likely a hero this season either. If anything, I think they should have him under tighter control than they do. I expected his "speaking engagement" to be a cover for him to pass info to Rittenhouse, to be honest.

[tennisgurl]

It seems inhabitable that Wyatts dead wife will come back, and will create some kind of love triangle. 

This show, in a lot of ways, reminds me of the The X Files, in that the MoTW stuff is a million times more interesting than the conspiracy arc. The leads are likable and have good chemistry, the guest characters are fun, and the antics of the case of the week are usually fun or interesting...but you have to get through all the boring overarching, poorly explained alien conspiracy/Rittehouse stuff. Like, its been a whole season, and I still have no clue what Rittenhouse actually is, or what it wants. Now it wants to control the world? Didn't they already do that, and thats why Flynn wanted to screw America up? What does their ideology mean? They want to make a perfect world? What does that mean?!?! Are they actually evil supremacists, or are they well intentioned extremists who really do want to create a better world? I still have no idea, and that makes for a pretty lame antagonist to build your show on. Like last year, Flynn went on about how evil Rittenhouse was...but they never really DID anything beyond beyond try to avoid Flynn, who was the one actually killing people and doing evil. I am sure they do evil stuff, but other than their asshole founder, what have they done recently? We see their ruthless, and will kill innocents for their mission, but why? 

So, much like last year, I will just keep watching for the weekly time period of the week, while hoping Rittenhouse stays in the background. 

[iMonrey]

Quote

Is there a chance that Lucy's mother in the original timeline (where she got cancer and Lucy had a sister) was NOT a Rittenhouse agent? That could explain how Lucy thought of her before, as a good person, and why it's so startling that she's seemingly so suddenly evil.

I wondered that too, but Carol told Lucy (in last season's finale) that both she and Lucy's father came from strong Rittenhouse families. It appears the difference in timeliness is that in the original, she eventually married the father of Lucy's younger sister, who got her into smoking, which led to her getting cancer. So in the original timeline, Carol herself was probably not an active agent or leader for Rittenhouse. In the altered timeline she never marries that guy and never gets sick so she has a more active role in Rittenhouse. (I'm not clear on whether she married Lucy's father in either timeline.)

Ultimately, we need to meet the Man at the Top - whoever is CEO of Rittenhouse, Inc. It appears not to be Carol herself. Who does she report to? And how does her newly retrieved Grandfather from the past fit into the current hierarchy at Rittenhouse? 

Rittenhouse itself remains too much of an enigma to serve as an effective Big Bad.

[CooperTV]

This episode was insane, and I kind of liked it?

I've no idea how it's possible for this show to have extremely breezy atmosphere, with so much jokes and funny character interactions, and be such a angst-fest at the same time. This episode was incredibly funny, with all Wyatt geeking out over the NASCAR and Lucy and Rufus rolling their eyes at him indulgently, and Lucy trying to take a jag of booze away from Wyatt and Rufus having his "secret nod" routine, and the Big Bad wanting pickled eggs...

Yet it also featured, in no particular order, the main antagonist planning to kill a pregnant woman, Wyatt breaking the neck of Emma's henchman in every gory detail, Wyatt talking about his father abusing him, and also the same Wyatt shooting his childhood hero point blank.

I liked all of it, especially the car chase at the end, and of course, the Team Eyeball overall dynamic. Ooh, and before I forgot, they should focus more on Jiya's seeing of the future!

I'm also sensing from the way Lucy and Wyatt keep getting interrupted while being this close to being really close, if you know what I mean, that Rittenhouse Sleeper Agent!Jessica will come back any day now. This believable build-up of Lyatt (because it does seems like they're belong together) is way too good to be true.

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

I'm not clear on whether she married Lucy's father in either timeline.)

They were never married, for reasons unknown.

Edited March 19, 2018 by CooperTV

[kili]

Quote

Overall I enjoyed the episode, but one of the timey-wimey elements bothered me. If Wyatt knew about the Rittenhouse racer, whose name is escaping me, wouldn't his actions already been in the past and known by Wyatt? So then wouldn't the explosion at the Darlington 500 already happened? It was their going back into the past that changed it. So what are the rules there?

At the start of the show, the Rittenhouse racer was just a sleeper who hadn't killed all those people. The sleeper cells were seeded while the Lifeboat Crew were busy getting re-established. Rittenhouse Racer became a racing legend. Something happened for Rittenhouse to need him to act at a point sooner than him becoming a racing legend. Perhaps the killing of the Rittenhouse WWI agent did it. Perhaps he (or one of his children) was later tasked with offing the car manufacturing heads, but Rittenhouse needed Plan B when he died.

I was kind of surprised they were killing all the car manufacturing bigwigs. Wasn't it strongly hinted last season that Henry Ford was Rittenhouse (and some kind of Rambaldi Clock was found in his house that was important to Rittenhouse legends).  Did Ford not get turned because of the WWI fiasco? Or is Rittenhouse hurting their own plans? By inserting their sleepers, they may have perturbed the timeline such that later dominoes do not fall.

It's never a good sign when your leader wants to create a super race and he openly says that he considers you all to be stupid and not "with the program".

Edited March 19, 2018 by kili

[Impish Dragon]

20 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Alright, fine, I ship Lucy/Wyatt. I resisted, but its all over now. That trunk scene was just too cute. But, damn, will people just stop interrupter them! You wouldn't think time travelers would have such bad timing.

See that scene had the opposite effect on me.  Any openness I had to Lucy/Wyatt officially closed because the actors, for me at least, are just not generating the kind of chemistry to convince me they are attracted to/in love with each other.  *shrugs* 

[Maverick]

 The history with the racecar driver is confusing but I think it goes like this:

 Original timeline (season 1):  the driver doesn't exist

 Rittenhouse gets ahold of the Mother Ship and drops the agent off in the 40s (between season 1 and 2).   Because the Time Team is in the past with them, they are subject to the new timeline and Wyatt now has memories of the driver.  

 The driver doesn't complete his mission (the implication being that because he married and had a family he abandoned his suicide mission).  This is why Wyatt remembers him winning races into the 60s.

 Rittenhouse discovers he didn't complete his mission and sends Emma back to correct the situation.  Time Team follows so they are immune to the changes and Wyatt returns to the present remembering the old (but not original) timeline where the driver lived much longer.

 My bigger problem is Rittenhouse's plan.   Why did they have to kill all of the execs, much less all at once?  If the plan was to take over all 3 automakers, there had to be someone waiting to actually step in and take over.  Either that was members of Rittenhouse native to that time period who were already placed there or they had agents from the future placed there.  So if you can get someone in place to be next in line at each of these companies, can't you finish the job and get the execs out of the way without such a public spectacle?   And if you are going to kill them all at the race, you can't engineer an accident without making someone live in the past for 10 years before going on a suicide mission?  That should be pretty simple for someone with designs of taking over the world.  

[JackONeill]

13 minutes ago, Maverick said:

 The history with the racecar driver is confusing but I think it goes like this:

 Original timeline (season 1):  the driver doesn't exist

 Rittenhouse gets ahold of the Mother Ship and drops the agent off in the 40s (between season 1 and 2).   Because the Time Team is in the past with them, they are subject to the new timeline and Wyatt now has memories of the driver.  

 The driver doesn't complete his mission (the implication being that because he married and had a family he abandoned his suicide mission).  This is why Wyatt remembers him winning races into the 60s.

 Rittenhouse discovers he didn't complete his mission and sends Emma back to correct the situation.  Time Team follows so they are immune to the changes and Wyatt returns to the present remembering the old (but not original) timeline where the driver lived much longer.

 My bigger problem is Rittenhouse's plan.   Why did they have to kill all of the execs, much less all at once?  If the plan was to take over all 3 automakers, there had to be someone waiting to actually step in and take over.  Either that was members of Rittenhouse native to that time period who were already placed there or they had agents from the future placed there.  So if you can get someone in place to be next in line at each of these companies, can't you finish the job and get the execs out of the way without such a public spectacle?   And if you are going to kill them all at the race, you can't engineer an accident without making someone live in the past for 10 years before going on a suicide mission?  That should be pretty simple for someone with designs of taking over the world.  

Frankly, I think the problem is the producers have to come up with an interesting point in time. I think they do that first, and they factor in how the leads will look in period costume, among other things. Let’s face it: there’s plenty of history, but the producers want showy history and, of course, viewers like that to. Win win.

But here’s the problem: they then need to shoehorn the Rittenhouse piece Into the story. And that’s where last night’s episode fell down. Like pointed out above: Why try to take out all three auto execs at once, especially in such an iffy way (a bomb in a car!!??!!)?  Isn’t Rittenhouse smarter, and more efficient, than that?

[Lieutenant]

A few more things that have kinda stuck with me upon further reflection:

Does the Time Team's treatment of Flynn not bother anyone else?  I found them to be annoyingly sanctimonious , tbh.  That's quite a bit of condescension to be tossing around when canonically Flynn is the one who has been right about everything from the start.   Lucy's interaction with him also seemed way ooc to me.  When last they parted, she'd given him the info he needed to make one last trip to save his family with the understanding that he was done after that.  Then she's almost tearfully yelling that she's sorry and she didn't know anything about the setup and ambush.  She even argues pretty scathingly with Denise over Flynn's treatment later in 1.16.  Now she's suddenly running the tough act on him like it's nbd she's indirectly involved in his current incarceration and using his family tragedy as a stick to poke him with?  That is something Lucy would have never done, imo.

I love this show for the ensemble team element and the wonderful exploration of history.  But when I watch a promo for the next episode, and all I can get from it is 'OMGZ Finally!  Teh Kissing and OTP Feelz we've ALL been waiting 5EVAH for!" I find myself ill at ease.  Two episodes in and I feel like the show is more focused on how many times they can (literally) throw Lyatt together to almost smash faces and then clockblock them.  I had to search for the Canadian promo for 2.03 to find out what the actual historical plot is.  I miss when the relationships were built into and around the history of each episode and developed organically over time.  At this rate, we're all gonna be bug splats on the Lyatt windshield as it hurtles along with all the finesse of a monster truck run amok. 

[LittleIggy]

10 hours ago, IWantCandy71 said:

The show messed up by making Flynn do some of the things he did last season.

Jumping in to assassinate Lincoln was a bridge too far for me.

[CooperTV]

2 hours ago, Lieutenant said:

Does the Time Team's treatment of Flynn not bother anyone else?  I found them to be annoyingly sanctimonious , tbh.  That's quite a bit of condescension to be tossing around when canonically Flynn is the one who has been right about everything from the start. 

Eh, Flynn is a psychopath who just killed Lincoln, and many other people, including random old guy in the present, because he wanted to. The characters are definitely treating him with less harshness that they're supposed to in my eyes. Also, manipulating a mass murderer with his dead family when he tries to manipulate you with your horrible family is a fair deal.

[kili]

Quote

My bigger problem is Rittenhouse's plan.   Why did they have to kill all of the execs, much less all at once?  If the plan was to take over all 3 automakers, there had to be someone waiting to actually step in and take over.  Either that was members of Rittenhouse native to that time period who were already placed there or they had agents from the future placed there.  So if you can get someone in place to be next in line at each of these companies, can't you finish the job and get the execs out of the way without such a public spectacle?  

Maybe they want the public spectacle to de-stabalize the economy and create an enemy. If an exec gets replaced by their second in command as part of normal business, the only people who will care are people in the business, people who have shares in the company or people who enjoy reading the business section. If you blow up the execs and a bunch of bystanders, then you get front page news, crashing financial markets and general fear. Lucy pointed out that the car manufacturing business was a huge deal at the time. If Rittenhouse had have been successful, it would have a profound effect on the US economy and the psych of the nation.

Rittenhouse wants to reshape human culture. By rocking it to its foundation, they would have the ability to frame its new shape.

Quote

And if you are going to kill them all at the race, you can't engineer an accident without making someone live in the past for 10 years before going on a suicide mission?  

As upsetting as it is for a random person to do something horrible, imagine if it was your hero who did it? It makes it that much worse. If your hero can blow up a race, then who can you trust? Maybe they were going to claim he was a communist spy (easy enough to do during that era as Lucy demonstrated). Or maybe they were going to paint him as the victim and try to unite the country against a common enemy (always an effective tool for demagogues). My guess would be that they would have blamed Wendall Scott. Somebody sabotaged his car so he might have been accused of "conveniently" missing the race he intended to blow up. They even tried to block him from the race course when he returned. Blaming the only African-American on the circuit for killing the star racer and the heads of major US companies is a story that would have played well in 1950's Southern US.  

Jiya's initial visions included a destroyed bridge. I'm betting Rittenhouse is planning to using violence to help reshape the world.

[shapeshifter]

On March 18, 2018 at 11:08 PM, TobinAlbers said:

would not be surprised if she [Emma] ends up bedding Lucy's great grandpa. ?Just a hunch.

Which would possibly make Emma  Lucy's Wicked Stepgrandmother. Holy fairytales, Batman!
 And Lucy's grandpa seems to be Hitler reincarnated. That actually fits and would nicely simplify the convoluted Rittenhouse mythology.

 

Emma is how old? With signature red hair in every timeline, in my mind she is now Lady Clairol.

 

Joseph Lee Anderson as Wendell Scott may be my favorite guest star/character to date.

[BooBear]

8 hours ago, Lieutenant said:

 'OMGZ Finally!  Teh Kissing and OTP Feelz we've ALL been waiting 5EVAH for!" I find myself ill at ease.  Two episodes in and I feel like the show is more focused on how many times they can (literally) throw Lyatt together to almost smash faces and then clockblock them.  I had to search for the Canadian promo for 2.03 to find out what the actual historical plot is.  I miss when the relationships were built into and around the history of each episode and developed organically over time.  At this rate, we're all gonna be bug splats on the Lyatt windshield as it hurtles along with all the finesse of a monster truck run amok. 

I will be annoyed if there isn't a reason for it. I suspect something is coming in the middle of the season to break them up. But I am going to say... I miss good old fashioned 1980s will they or won't they shipping.  So at the moment it is a treat. 

It is interesting how much this episode reminded me of all that is wrong with this series. Most annoyingly is that there seems to be little consequences to this time travel. I mean ok, I can go with it but it is annoying. This show primarily works on the chemistry of the leads. NBC should have cut some of the cast though. Flynn imho is not necessary nor is Connor. I think Lucy's gramps storyline was a mistake and I don't look forward to it.  But as usual the casting of the historical characters is excellent. I am happy that Wyatt seems more competent than last season but I wonder if they went too far having him like a killing machine. Which is at odds with his sort of more happy go lucky personality this year. 

[benteen]

This episode was a lot of fun.  Strong episode for Wyatt (who is definitely a lot more competent this season).  It was nice getting some backstory on him and I really enjoyed his interaction with Wendell Scott.  Seeing Rufus interact with Wendell was a lot of fun too.

"You guys really are coastal elites."

I like how Rittenhouse's interference is already taking effect in the timeline, with this guy being acknowledged as the first winner of the Daytona 500.

I've been a fan of Annie Wersching since 24 and I very much like her increased role on the show.  No one does "cold" quite like her.

Edited March 20, 2018 by benteen