Timeless Review: The Day Reagan Was Shot S02E08

Things are changing, and the rule book is out of the window in Timeless, episode eight: The Day Reagan Was Shot. (BEWARE: SPOILERS LIE AHEAD!)

As has been the case in the last few episodes, Timeless has been changing it up and expanding the way the characters deal with time travel.  Every story that has to handle time travel deals with the rules in a slightly different way, and holes normally start to appear at some stage.  What has been good about Timeless so far, is that even with the loosening of the ‘rules’, there is nothing that is jumping out at the viewer as a ‘mistake’ that doesn’t add up.

In the past, they have generally tried to keep to the standard law of not interfering with past events, and maintaining the timeline as much as possible.  This season, there have been a few occasions where that has gone out of the window and they’ve done things a little differently.  E.g. bringing Kennedy back to the present to protect him, Rufus (Malcolm Barrett) not killing the Judge in Salem, or introducing Lando Calrissian as a blues producer.

TIMELESS — “The Day Reagan Was Shot” Episode 208 — Pictured: Erik Stocklin as John Hinckley Jr. — (Photo by: Ron Batzdorff/NBC)

One rule they’re sticking to is that you can’t travel to your own lifetime, which this episode gave me pause, as I wasn’t sure it would all add up, as 1981 seems too recent; it could also be an issue because Agent Christopher (Sakina Jaffrey) would have to be at least 20 years older than Lucy (Abigail Spencer) and Sakina Jaffrey doesn’t look it!  You then realise (sadly, as it makes you feel old), that 1981 isn’t actually that recent, and a quick glance at the actor’s ages shows it to be just about true; not that an actor can’t play a vastly different age anyway, but I was intrigued and none of these actors look their real age at all.

TIMELESS — “The Day Reagan Was Shot” Episode 208 — Pictured: (l-r) Matt Lanter as Wyatt Logan, Karen David as Young Denise Christopher — (Photo by: Colleen Hayes/NBC)

The plot this week, as the title suggests, revolves around the day that President Reagan was shot, but the problem isn’t what the team think it is at first.  That shooting is the clear red herring, which they don’t realise, as Agent Christopher isn’t in the bunker when they jump to tell them.  Having got to 1981, they discover that a young Denise Christopher (Karen David) is there as a beat cop, and a sleeper is trying to kill her, so Wyatt (Matt Lanter) intercedes.

This kicks off a series of events where the team have to try and ‘repair’ the damage that their actions have caused, especially regarding Denise Christopher’s love life.  This does mean that they’re also changing their own future and have to hope that it doesn’t disrupt anything else critical at the same time as fixing the main issue.  There has been much more of a willingness to go down this path this season, and it makes it quite interesting in comparison to most time travel related TV shows or films.

TIMELESS — “The Day Reagan Was Shot” Episode 208 — Pictured: (l-r) Abigail Spencer as Lucy Preston, Claudia Doumit as Jiya, Karen David as Young Denise Christopher — (Photo by: Ron Batzdorff/NBC)

One brilliant aspect of this episode, is that Jiya (Claudia Doumit) goes on the mission, and we get a fresh take on the whole experience.  The rest of the team are somewhat jaded, but Jiya is full of enthusiasm, and even takes it a little close to the mark by using ‘Cagney and Lacey’ as her go-to names, amongst other things.  We also get a nice discussion between Lucy and Jiya about her visions, which has been a long time coming.  Now all we need is for them to be testing her visions in a more scientific manner and I’ll be happy.

TIMELESS — “The Day Reagan Was Shot” Episode 208 — Pictured: (l-r) Abigail Spencer as Lucy Preston, Claudia Doumit as Jiya — (Photo by: Ron Batzdorff/NBC)

Altogether, this was a great episode, with some good humour, some interesting plot points and the beginnings of a new problem for the team within their own ranks.  Despite the rule breaking, everything still worked, and added extra layers for us to unpick over time.  I’d have to check, but I think they’ve kept everything quite consistent, and so by now, every member of the team probably has a slightly different memory of the past, as the team members in the lifeboat retain their version; this creates an interesting situation that will no doubt cause some issue in the future, and it’s one I don’t remember seeing before.  Let’s hope the writers keep up the good work!