Journalism, "The Review" :Timeless

Sam Sobel                                                                                                              The review

It’s rare for a show to be brought back after being cancelled, and it’s even more rare for that cycle to happen two times for three seasons, but that’s the case for NBC’s “Timeless”, a time travel show that premiered in October of 2016. During that fall season, three new time travel shows were introduced to viewers, Timeless being the only one of them to scrape through for a second season. What makes this show good enough to be cancelled and renewed twice? How was it able to garner such a loyal fanbase who took to helicopters to try to save the show? A mix of chemistry, factuality, and complexity has allowed for this show to thrive the way it has.`

The pilot of the show opens up on three main characters: Lucy, a historian, Wyatt, a soldier, and Rufus, an engineer/pilot. The three are approached by Agent Christopher, a homeland security agent, and Connor Mason, a fictional equivalent of Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. We find out that Connor paid for Rufus to go to MIT, and has personally given him a job in his company since Rufus’ graduation. The three are brought to a secret government building where they are told that Connor Mason has successfully invented a time machine, and it’s been stolen. Agent Christopher tells the three that their task is to go back in time, and find the man who stole the “mother ship”. They take the “life boat”, a much smaller, less sleek version of the mother ship. They all protest the mission at first, but their curiosity wins over.

Upon their arrival to the location of the mother ship, Lucy, Wyatt, and Rufus find themselves at the explosion of the Hindenberg, except it doesn’t explode. They spend the episode trying to fix the historical moment, all while learning about the man they’re there for, Garcia Flynn. Flynn says he is trying to stop the organization “rittenhouse”, who we later learn is the true villain of the series, an organization bent on rewriting the present to exclude personal freedoms and decisions. Flynn gets a moment alone with Lucy, and he tells her that he knows where to go because of a journal she wrote and gave to him in the future. We learn that Flynn’s family was killed by rittenhouse, that Wyatt’s wife was killed in the early 2000’s by an unkown killer, and that Rufus has a romantic interest in Gia, an intelligence agent who works back at the base of the time machine in California, present day. They save the day and come back home, but Lucy finds with a shock that her sick mother is no longer sick, and that her sister doesn’t exist in the new timeline they accidentally created. Rufus suspiciously hands Connor Mason a voice recording of the events at the Hindenberg, and Agent Christopher reveals that Wyatt was supposed to kill Flynn. From here, the series takes off, each new episode bringing the three to a new place and time to combat Flynn, and to learn more about rittenhouse, themselves, and each other.

In terms of chemistry, the three main characters blend together nearly perfectly, simultaneously not allowing for a third wheel situation to take place, and also giving plenty of screen time to each couple within the three. The differences in their personalities make them shine, and give slight conflict and decision to every situation they find themselves in, and their similarities allow for a general union within the group. The identities of the three also lend to interesting perspectives, as a white man, a black man, and a white woman find their identities playing into the different places and times they’re in. The places and times that they visit are wonderfully done, each bit of fashion and scenery done perfectly, interesting plots for each new episode. One of the few negatives of the show however, is its following of a similar pattern in every new plot, where the three find a key famous person to take them through all they need to be taken through for that episode. In terms of Villain quality, they score an 11/10, with a complicated villain who always keeps even the bleakest of moments interesting on the show. Goran višnjić, who plays Flynn, maintains such a wonderful air of interest that the viewer finds it nearly impossible to turn away. The balance between him and the “heroes” is wonderful, as nobody truly knows who is bad or good.

“It's fun to drop 21st-century people into the deep end of history to see if they can swim, and Timeless producers Shawn Ryan and Eric Kripke seem to get that.” says Ellen Gray of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Scoring an 83% with critics and an 86% with fans on rotten tomatoes, the drive for a revival of every season so far makes sense. The worst comment from a critic regarding the show states, “This overhyped, flashy pilot doesn't hook viewers the way it should, which is a shame, because there are really interesting and exciting elements to the show, and the premise is certainly sustainable” (Jade Budowski, Decider). As far as awful reviews go, this just skims the tip of the iceberg.

Timeless fans raised $23,000 in two weeks to display banners from helicopters reading “SAVE TIMELESS” over San Diego Comic Con after the show’s second cancellation this past June. The network listened, and Timeless was given a final mini-movie, set to premiere Thursday, Dec. 20, 2018 at 8/7 on NBC.