BWW Recap: Journey to the Past in the Series Premiere of TIMELESS

Full disclosure: I'm a sucker for a good historical, science fiction time travel television romp. Few things make me happier than watching a confused character walk into a time machine for the first time and discover a world full of new possibilities. That being said, few shows manage to pull off the delicate balance of hokey era-specific references and honest to goodness drama. One of two things usually ends up happening: either the cheesy one-liners about time travel and the scientific explanations of how it's possible overwhelm the audience, or both of those things are ignored and we're left with a regular, run of the mill drama. TIMELESS, NBC's newest primetime headline, manages to strike that hokey/honest balance and takes viewers along for the ride through time.

TIMELESS begins where any good time travel show does: in the past. The Hindenburg flies into view, wisecracking news reporter Katie Drummond delivers a cheese-drenched one liner, and I'm already curious.

We quickly travel back to present day, where everyone's favorite cool professor Lucy Preston wraps up a lecture on LBJ. She's got a lot going on in her life: her tenure meeting was just canceled, and she and her sister live at home caring for their sickly mother. Her life seems pretty average - until homeland security pays her a visit, that is. Mason Industries, a technological/space age research center reminiscent of a Richard Branson company, was recently held up at gunpoint. The item that was stolen was nothing other than a time machine. Naturally.

This is beginning to feel like an American version of TORCHWOOD.

Conor Mason, head of the company, quickly fills in Lucy and Wyatt, the other man homeland security brought in to help with the case, about time loops and the technology behind time travel. Lucky for Mason Industries, the time machine that the robbers stole was not the only one of it's kind. A prototype exists that is linked to the other time machine, so Mason and his team are able to determine where the robbers took the machine: to New Jersey, four hours before the infamous Hindenburg crash. Looks like it's up to Lucy, Wyatt, and Rufus, one of Mason's most trusted computer engineers, to stop them.

One very bumpy time machine trip later, and Lucy, Wyatt, and Rufus land in 1939 New Jersey. It's unclear as to why the robbers chose to return to the date and location of the Hindenburg crash, but that doesn't stop Lucy from taking time to appreciate the fact that she just traveled in time. Good for you, Lucy. Take in the moment.

Once Lucy is done marveling over time travel, she and the others start their quest to stop the robbers, who are lead by a man named Flynn. They meet Kate Drummond, the same spunky reporter we met in the opening scene, who informs them that Flynn and his men joined the ground crew whose job it is to help anchor the Hindenburg once it arrives.

Lucy, Wyatt, and Rufus rush to the Hindenburg's crash site, but something's different: the Hindenburg doesn't crash. While Wyatt focuses on saving Kate from the would've-been crash, Lucy wanders off to a nearby hangar and gets attacked by one of Flynn's men. Wyatt and Rufus come to her rescue, and Wyatt shoots the man. Rufus grabs the man's walkie talkie and discovers that it's not a radio at all, but a bomb detonator. There's only one question: where's the bomb?

The trio doesn't have a lot of time to figure that out, though, since the cops show up and throw them in jail for killing a man. Rufus distracts the guards with stories of future racial equality while Wyatt channels his inner MacGyver and crafts a lock pick out of underwire from Lucy's bra, and the gang manages to break out. Good on you, guys!

Now onto the bigger problem: finding and dismantling the mystery bomb. Lucy, Wyatt, and Rufus sneak onto the Hindenburg and conveniently run into Katie Drummond, who they enlist to help them find either Flynn and/or the bomb. There's one pretty big problem, though: the zeppelin is already in the air.

After a brief moment of panic, the team refocuses and finds the bomb pretty quickly. Unfortunately for them, Flynn's men are also pretty good at finding hidden things, and the trio now have to fight off Flynn's men while also trying to dismantle a literal ticking time bomb. Miraculously, Wyatt snips the right wires at just the right time, and the bomb's countdown stops. Flynn's men, on the other hand, are not as bright: one of them fires a gun, and the Hindenburg goes down in flames, just as it was always meant to do. The trio and Drummond all manage to escape, and they run toward safety.

Lucy, on her way to shelter, runs into Flynn, who reveals that he knows everything about her. Sure, that's definitely more than a little creepy, but Lucy's curiosity is piqued when Flynn explains that he learned all of the very personal information he knows about Lucy from a journal that she hasn't yet written. Lucy may be intrigued, but Wyatt, who was busy rescuing Kate, sees this interaction between Lucy and Flynn. He reacts instinctually and pulls out his gun. Wyatt shoots at Flynn, who shoots back - and hits Kate Drummond, who snuck up behind Wyatt when he wasn't looking. Like the Hindenburg, it seems Kate's fate cannot be changed no matter how hard they may try, and she doesn't survive the gunshot.

The trio has no choice but to fly the prototype time machine back to the present day - or rather, the new present day (time travel can be so tricky!). It seems that not much as changed, despite the Hindenburg crashing under different circumstances. Conor Mason and his team still have the same mission, and the research center is exactly the same. Mason explains that Flynn still has the mothership, which means the trio's job is not yet done. After Lucy and Wyatt leave, Rufus hands over a recording device to Mason - he's been spying on Lucy and Wyatt. But why?

Unaware that her conversations were recorded during the mission, Lucy returns home without a care and calls for her sister to fill her in on everything that happened. When she walks into the kitchen, though, she sees her mother, who is now completely healthy. Not much changed at Mason Industries, but a lot has changed at home: not only is Lucy's mother now well, but Lucy is also engaged - and she doesn't have a sister.

While there are a lot of typical time travel related practical issues left unexplained (how could the team be sure they'd even have a space ship to return to if they altered the past?), the more important plot points are clear, engaging, and exciting. Nothing terribly groundbreaking happened during the TIMELESS premiere, but it was pleasantly entertaining and kept me wanting more. If the show can keep the balance between light-hearted historical romp and conspiracy-filled government drama, we could be in for an exciting first season.

What did you think of the series premiere of TIMELESS? What do you make of Conor Mason? And of Flynn? Let us know in the comments below or tell me on Twitter @CourtHenley!

To post a comment, you must register and login.