What I’m Watching: Timeless

Timeless: Season 1, Episode 12 “The Murder of Jesse James” (B+)

I wrote recently that this show was a cool launching platform for lesser-known actors who get to play famous historical figures. That wasn’t the case in this hour where I recognized not one but three of the main guest stars. The Lone Ranger, a.k.a. Bass Reeves, was Colman Domingo from “Fear the Walking Dead,” Tonto was Zahn McClarnon from “Longmire,” and our newly alive pilot Emma was Annie Wersching from “24.” The only one I didn’t know was Daniel Lissing, who starred in “Last Resort,” and here played the outlaw Jesse James. Having Wyatt and Lucy decide that Jesse needed to die even though he had been spared and the lawmen of the time wanted just to take him in was an interesting moral debate, and it seems that Flynn was just there to pick up his pilot rather than actually prolong Jesse’s life. After identifying Rittenhouse as the real enemy earlier, Mason is now making it seem like maybe he’s worth being afraid of considering his threat to Jiya, whose hacking isn’t too subtle. I think Rufus is going to read her in sooner rather than later despite wanting to protect her, but he’s currently busy contemplating another ethical choice about whether to help Wyatt prevent his wife’s murder. Lucy hallucinating her sister is a sign that she’s losing patience with what they’re doing and, like Wyatt, might soon decide that she needs to go back with the aim of preventing someone from disappearing from her life, something Rittenhouse surely won’t approve and let happen.