What I’m Watching: Timeless

Timeless: Season 1, Episode 13 “Karma Chameleon” (B)

This episode had a cool feel to it, even if it didn’t exactly drive the plot forward in the most convincing fashion. Going back in time to prevent the man who would eventually kill Wyatt’s wife from ever being convinced seems a bit specific, and I feel like there are so many other moments that might have made more sense. More importantly, it felt like all forces, both hormonal and natural, were fighting to ensure that the killer was in fact born since Wyatt and Rufus had to do so much to make sure that his parents didn’t get together. I’m still not entirely sure how this show conceives of time, since some of this felt like the past fighting back as it did in recent miniseries “11-22-63” and it does seem clear that time passes in the present when the lifeboat is gone and the programmers who stay behind have to wait for as long as it’s gone for it to return. Wyatt showing up and excitedly asking Lucy what his wife was like was never going to turn out well, mainly because that would be way too big a thing for us to experience for the first time with Lucy still in the present. Anthony’s death seems like an oddly-timed development, and doesn’t really track with what we saw of Flynn’s attempts at a sincere resolution to anything. This is all getting a bit muddled, and I’m hoping for some proper and resounding clarification soon to really set this show on the right course.