Week two, season two, Clockblockers, finds us in the bunker together, whole. The team checking in with each other, working on the Lifeboat, trying to untangle this Rittenhouse mess, that’s where the magic of this show really is. In the Time Team.
A few things, though. One, Jiya needs to be honest with someone, preferably Rufus, about what’s happening to her. By the end of the episode, of course, I realized she can see both the past and the future and boy if that isn’t going to come in handy at some point. Two, there has got to be a happy medium for Connor. I know he’s grieving, and has lost everything he believed in, but Stone Cold Denise Christopher making him as much a prisoner as everyone else is not going to be good for anyone.
Although, so far, I’m greatly enjoying the shift Mason has experienced. There are so many layers to what he’s going through, to what he has been through, and I look forward to seeing more of those layers explored. Plus I died and was resuscitated by this interaction with Paterson Joseph on twitter.
This week’s case was based around something I know a bit about – NASCAR. Having grown up in the South, just down the road from Dale Earnhardt’s hometown, I know about NASCAR’s roots in bootlegging, how it evolved from street modified cars to the “stock cars” they race now, and about many of the greats who’ve sat behind the wheel. Unfortunately, what I did not know, was anything about the first (and only) black man to win a cup race.
“I learned something on Timeless today:” about Wendell Scott and his legacy. I did a little of my own research after watching, via the Wendell Scott Foundation’s website, and discovered that little tidbit above – no African American person has won a cup race, except Wendell. In fact, he was the last to even race full time in the cup circuit, until this year. More on that later.
He was inducted into the NASCAR hall of fame in 2015. His bio says he gained friends among his colleagues and admirers in his fans of all colors, yet, he experienced racism and sabotage as portrayed in the show. It was no doubt a tough haul for him. He did what he loved and I think there’s really few greater causes than chasing what you love. I thank the writers, again, for teaching me about these pieces of history I knew nothing about. This research lead me naturally to Darrell “Bubba” Wallace, who, this year, made history as the first black man since Wendell to race full time in the cup. He’s currently sitting 20th, with one top-five finish. If you know anything about NASCAR, you know that this early in the season, that’s pretty darn good. Especially for his first year full-time. The guys ahead of him are all names you’ve heard before. More info about Bubba can be found here.
And you can follow him on twitter, too: https://twitter.com/BubbaWallace
And while the history was amazing, and the attention to detail in sets, props, and wardrobe (the ladies, both Lucy and Emma, killed the 50s look) was absolutely stunning, the Time Team is the heart of this show. This week was no exception. Rufus inventing the nod was priceless. Wyatt’s awe of Wendell, and his love of fast cars, turned him into a cute and smiling little boy like we’ve never seen.
But as juicy as this episode was and how I could go on about so much of it forever, this review would not be complete without two things.
First, that trunk scene.
You know I’m a sap. I loved it. Lucy unintentionally finding out about Wyatt’s dad and then confronting him about it when he couldn’t escape the questions pried him open in a moment he might have otherwise chosen to run away from. When he realized she overheard him, it scared him, being open to her like that. But when she asked him about it, he didn’t back down. And that’s how we get close to people. We let ourselves be vulnerable around them. When we let someone in that way, exposing the core of ourselves to them, they either respond in kind or push back. Lucy responded, in her time of need. They are completely in like.
I’ve mentioned how they’re running the risk of the perpetual will-they-won’t-they and how if they do, it’ll kick that leg out from under the show. It’s happened before, it can happen again. Look at Lois and Clark. They should just “they will,” and move on, exploring the difficulties of this job as a couple. And of being a couple in this unique situation in the first place. But, I fear, they will, and then another wrench will come flying out of the time machine: Jessica Logan. Sigh. I’m already depressed about it.
But speaking of wrenches and time machines, that’s the other thing. William Shatner, another Timeless fan, brought up the P word.
Yep, paradox. You can’t have time travel without paradoxes. I thought they’d done really well to avoid them up to this point, but Cap’s got a point. I’ll take a stab at it.
Time is not linear, as we see in this show. They travel along the string by folding the string, therefore setting things in different places along the same string. Rittenhouse traveled back in time to place their sleeper agents. But the agents do not carry out their missions unless Rittenhouse visits again, as Emma did in this episode. The scary part about it is history changing without our heroes being aware. Wyatt idolized a Rittenhouse sleeper agent, for goodness’ sake. In season one, our heroes were impervious to the changes, because they were always present when they happened (probably). But now, they have no idea which of their memories are real.
Like when they come back from 1941, and Jessica is alive and in the bunker. This will be completely normal to everyone, except Wyatt, Lucy, and Rufus. And then what, for Lyatt? And now I’m depressed again. I’ll eat a whole plateful of crow, rather than be right.
-Flynn’s fix definitely comes with a price next time. Look forward to seeing him out of that ugly jumpsuit and back in a time machine where he belongs.
-the winner of the first Daytona 500 was a name Wyatt mentioned; Lee Petty. 22 Feb, 1959.
-the 12 parsecs crack made me spit out my drink.
-Lucy stole his jacket at the end. Definitely in like.
-I need superhero Jiya to take her place as, uh…I’m not good at this. What’s her superhero name?
-Lucy’s great-grandfather is a scary, crazy, brilliant guy. Bringing him to 2018 was a terrible, awful, no-good, bad idea. Emma is down with sloughing away some folks.
-I’ll leave you with this exchange. So hilarious.
Screencaps courtesy of the NBC app. Stream Timeless on the app or at https://www.nbc.com/timeless
Bethany A. Perry 