What I’m Watching: Timeless

Timeless: Season 1, Episode 4 “Party at Castle Varlar” (B+)

There are a few questions I have about this show, namely why Flynn needs to anchor the mothership in the present day rather than even a year or two in the future since that would be an easy way to avoid detection, but mostly I’m really enjoying it and believe that it’s immensely sustainable. Lucy is also starting to realize that it’s not a short-term job, making her terms known so that she can work on getting her sister back as she’s going back in time again and again to fix whatever Flynn is trying to disrupt. Going back to 1944 in the middle of Nazi Germany could have been very dangerous, but instead Lucy and Wyatt immediately came upon none other than Ian Fleming, who was fantastically introduced and then identified first by viewers such as myself and then by the three awed time travelers as the creator of James Bond. That their adventure became what Mason referred to as his favorite Bond movie was awesome. I didn’t recognize Sean Maguire, who I liked a lot in the short-lived WB sitcom “Off Centre” fifteen years ago, as Fleming, and he really was great in the role. It’s continually unclear exactly what Flynn is trying to do other than disrupt the timeline, and the continued nefarious activities of Rittenhouse in trying to keep Rufus compliant suggest that Flynn may not be the villain that he’s painted to be, especially considering his reverence for Lucy that keeps her safe from harm by him.