What if the Hindenburg never blew up? What if William Travis’ famous Victory Or Death letter never got out of the Alamo? What if Neil Armstrong never walked on the moon? NBC’s new hit drama, Timeless, takes viewers to these time periods to see what would change had these key events in American history never occurred.
The story follows the historian Lucy Preston (Abigail Spencer), who is accompanied by a soldier, Wyatt Logan (Matt Lanter), and a brainiac pilot, Rufus Carlin (Malcolm Barrett). In each episode, the three take a journey through time in order to preserve history from the presumed villain, Garcia Flynn (Goran Višnjić) who stole a time machine to destroy America. However, Flynn claims to be the “good guy” by saying that he is just trying to prevent an even bigger evil, Rittenhouse, that is so embedded in the United States government that the only way to get rid of it is to get rid of America as well. All that the audience knows about Rittenhouse is that if someone gets in their way, they will be killed.
Lucy, Wyatt, and Rufus each have their own relatable characteristics. Lucy is passionate about history and is loving and caring towards her family and friends. Wyatt takes his dark past and not only uses it as fuel to get him through tough times, but also has learned to fight for what he wants while learning that it’s okay to have fun and laugh. Rufus is the cautious one that at first didn’t think about the harm his time machine could cause, but later learns to think about how his actions hurt himself and others.
Even though history can be dark, Timeless manages to lighten the mood with Rufus introducing himself to various historical figures as Denzel Washington or Kanye West, and toying with a possible relationship between Lucy and Wyatt.
The writers could probably make the whole show a two hour movie if they took out the historical drama because it has such a simple plot, but the historical aspect is my favorite part. The beginning of each episode keeps history fairly accurate but by the end, history is unrecognizable because of things that changed when the characters go back in time. Each event that changes in history alter something in the present day. The catch is that anyone or anything in the time machine itself isn’t affected by these historical changes. They still remember history the way it originally was.
Timeless is on NBC on Monday nights at 10 pm, and has everything a good show needs: action, funny moments, mystery, and love, making Timeless my new favorite show.
