(no subject)

[skygiants]

As of today, I have now seen all of NBC's Timeless, including the finale movie that adorably attempts to wrap up in two hours plotlines that were clearly intended to carry through an entire third season by giving all the protagonists access to a journal that spoils them for half the planned-out personal angst, thus allowing them to skip over it entirely.

Now complete, Timeless consists of two seasons and the aforementioned finale movie, in which an Unlikely Team composed of a soldier with a dead wife and manpain, a perennially anxious nerdy tech genius, and a professor who knows the entirety of American history well enough to identity the historical significance of 95% of the random dates spat out at her over the course of the plot bop through time attempting to stop a rogue agent from destroying history in order to save his dead family, except halfway through the first season it turns out that actually the rogue agent is just a distraction from the evil white supremacist cult that's really trying to control history.

The showwriters are clearly doing their very best to be Woke And Accurate about history; they don't always succeed but their attempts are nonetheless very charming!

Personal favorite episodes include:

- the one where the team is supposed to make sure Lincoln's assassination happens as per the historical record and the one black team member is like "uhhh do we have to though?"

- the one where they are forced to kidnap Harry Houdini, but it's fine because a.) he's extremely adorable and b.) he helps them thwart H.H. Holmes

- the one where they have to save Charles Lindbergh, but then they remember that Charles Lindbergh grows up to be a fascist, and then they're like "maybe we can change history just enough to talk him into being not a fascist!" (They cannot. But they do get to hang out with Josephine Baker!)

- the one where they meet Lucy the historian's grandfather expecting him to be evil, but really he's just sad and gay

- the one where Benjamin Franklin's mom is the secret feisty heroine of the Salem Witch Trials

- the one where Teen JFK accidentally travels to the future and goes to a house party

- the one where the villains try to assassinate Robert Johnson to remove rock-and-roll and the counterculture revolution from the timeline

- the one where Alice Paul gets framed! for murder!!!

- the one where Harriet Tubman's future visions tell her the team can be trusted!

- the one where the gang thinks they've got to save Reagan's life but it turns out that that's irrelevant and they're really there to make absolutely sure that their very lesbian boss' younger self (played by Princess Isabella from Galavant!) doesn't get talked into heterosexuality with tragic consequences for the fate of the universe

Comments

[china_shop]

Hee! It sounds quite a lot like the Spanish show, El Ministerio del Tiempo on Netflix, which attempts similar things but with Spanish history (and sadly, less attempting to be Woke). :-)

[sienamystic]

After watching most of Timeless I started El Ministerio and liked the first episode but haven't gotten back to it. It's a very good-looking show, all else aside.

[nextian]

Yeah I was going to say! Ministerio was very silly and very dumb and made me SPUTTERINGLY angry at least once per episode but I sure did watch a lot of it with genuine enjoyment, lmao, so maybe Timeless is the show for me?

[skygiants]

I meant to watch enough of it to get angry for appropriate reasons but then I just got angry about the fact that I could not make any kind of sense of the time doors ...

[skygiants]

You are not the first person to think that; apparently there's a lawsuit, lol! Though they actually don't feel that similar to me aside from the basic 'team time travel!" premise.

(I saw the first episode of El Ministerio del Tiempo and have been vaguely meaning to watch more, but also I got so confused by the time doors that it's ... also possible I won't.)

[julian]

So, basically, a new Voyagers!, with modern sensibilities. OK!

[skygiants]

But they never tell us where to cite our sources at the end of the episode!

[kore]

....ooh, that sounds like a lot more of what I was hoping for re Legends of Tomorrow.

[skygiants]

I've seen a few episodes of Legends of Tomorrow, and from what I can tell Timeless is much less goofy but has significantly more Actual Historical Hijinks!

[kore]

SOLD

....we tried with LoT, we really did. Somehow it just did not click, in spite of having Spydaddy and Superman and Rory Pond (who is a GREAT Shakespearean actor, he was in Faustus) and women who were in scifi movies and other talented hot people. sigh.

[viridian5]

I bounced off LoT before but I'm enjoying it in season three, though Rory Pond is no longer with the show.

[sovay]

- the one where the gang thinks they've got to save Reagan's life but it turns out that that's irrelevant and they're really there to make absolutely sure that their very lesbian boss' younger self (played by Princess Isabella from Galavant!) doesn't get talked into heterosexuality with tragic consequences for the fate of the universe

Did you write about this episode before or has some entirely different person told me to see it?

[skygiants]

I have definitely not written about it before, but it's definitely possible that I described it to you verbally!

[aurumcalendula]

It sounds like I really need to watch this!

[skygiants]

I found it overall very enjoyable (though looking at this rundown it looks like the second season had a way higher percentage of Favorite Episodes than the first one did.)

[smithens]

oh I have had this in the back of my mind to watch for ages, thank you for the reminder! bummer it was canceled :-(

[skygiants]

I only remembered to watch it because I saw people being sad about how it was cancelled! :(

[luzula]

Sooooo, I do not know the word "woke". Urban Dictionary gives me either "The act of being very pretentious about how much you care about a social issue" or "Although an incorrect tense of awake, a reference to how people should be aware in current affairs." Are you using it ironically or seriously?

[skygiants]

I am using it in the Wikipedia definition sense of "a perceived awareness of issues concerning social justice and racial justice" with ... I would say affectionate teasing? They are definitely making a very earnest effort to go one or two steps beyond the Standard White Male Edit of US history and I appreciate that they are trying!

[luzula]

Ah, Wikipedia, that is perhaps a better source. Thanks for explaining! : )

[amelia_petkova]

I finished watching the first season recently, though I've already been spoiled for most of the rest. Agreed on the Columbian Exposition episode--I beamed through every scene with Harry Houdini. If the writers had picked any historical figure to be a recurring character, I wanted it to be him. Also for an entire episode where Lucy had to be his assistant and they get up to hijinks because Reasons.

[skygiants]

Harry Houdini was SO DANG CHARMING, I now just want to follow the actor throughout whatever else he's been (though admittedly the cute little 'it's Houdini!' musical cue adds significantly to the effect.)

[osprey_archer]

This sounds delightful. You kidnap Harry Houdini, kids! Probably one of the most difficult people in the world to kidnap. I hope they don't have to try to tie him up.

[skygiants]

They're only kidnapping him under duress, so the fact that it's very difficult to keep Harry Houdini kidnapped is really a net positive!

[musesfool]

♥TIME TEAM♥

[skygiants]

I did not expect to grow anywhere near as fond of them as I ended up being! You manpain your little heart out, Matt Lanter. (Rufus remains my favorite though.)

[musesfool]

Rufus is the BEST.

I also really ended up loving Agent Christopher, so the fact that they fleshed her out made me so happy.

[skygiants]

ME TOO. I spent the whole first season terrified she was going to die, or forget her adorable family after that conversation she had with Lucy, and then they did bring back that fear but in the best possible way!

[sienamystic]

I really got caught up in the show, much to my surprise. The fact that they ended up trying to address how Rufus might have a completely different experience in the past, and about some of their decisions about it, was surprising for what I figured would be a show that wouldn't bother much about it. I also ended up liking the Stern Soldier character more than I thought I would, because he seemed like one of those plug-in stoic soldier characters.

I ended up with a lot of shipping feels about the show, but mostly I was just delighted about how fun it was.

[skygiants]

Yeah, I'm definitely bummed that we didn't get a whole season to explore Rufus and Jiya's different past lives (and Connor and Denise's different memories too), and how that played into the whole team dynamic. I didn't have a ton of shipping feels other than that Rufus And Jiya Should Be Happy, but generally I also just enjoyed hanging out with the team! AND HISTORY!

(I have to admit, Matt Lanter got a whole lot more endearing to me when I realized he was also the voice of Anakin Skywalker in Clone Wars...)

[musesfool]

(I have to admit, Matt Lanter got a whole lot more endearing to me when I realized he was also the voice of Anakin Skywalker in Clone Wars...)

I'm not laughing except I'm totally laughing, because that is one reason I decided to check the show out. Also because it was cancelled and then uncancelled two days later (which seemed like a good sign) and someone told me I would love Rufus, which I did.

[skygiants]

I didn't realize it was him until I saw you point it out and then I couldn't unhear it, and it was AMAZING.

[musesfool]

It definitely made the bit where he makes a wisecrack about being Jedi mind tricked HILARIOUS.

[aamcnamara]

- the one where the gang thinks they've got to save Reagan's life but it turns out that that's irrelevant and they're really there to make absolutely sure that their very lesbian boss' younger self (played by Princess Isabella from Galavant!) doesn't get talked into heterosexuality with tragic consequences for the fate of the universe
...so...would this episode be watchable having seen none of the rest of the show, and if so, which one is it, please

[skygiants]

Season two, episode eight, "The Day Reagan Was Shot!" I have no idea how it would read without the context of the rest of the show but I'd be real curious to see what you thought. >:D

[dhampyresa]

the villains try to assassinate Robert Johnson to remove rock-and-roll and the counterculture revolution from the timeline
HOW DARE

Which reminds me! I came across Michael Croland’s Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk sometime back and thought of you.

[skygiants]

RIGHT? I mean the villains are correct, it would have a terrible impact on the fate of the timeline and I strongly appreciate that the show understands this!

Also, thank you very much for the link, I hadn't heard of this and I very clearly need to investigate!

[dhampyresa]

I read a pretty nifty comic about Robert Johnson the other day and it really brought home HOW MUCH modern music owes the man.

I hope you enjoy it!

[kore]

Oh wow, that looks GREAT.

[dhampyresa]

I haven't read it yet but I hope it lives up to expectations.

[lokifan]

...Okay that sounds charming :D