Timeless continues to explore the impact of Rittenhouse’s acquisition of the Mother Ship time machine, and their implementation of Nicholas Keynes time travel manifesto from 1910. Of course Lucy, Rufus, and Wyatt want to stop them, but they’re several steps behind. They know Rittenhouse planted sleeper agents in the past to blend in with the time period and alter history once activated. Clearly history could change without them even knowing about, or perceiving the change (for instance Wyatt’s memories of a childhood hero in this episode), which means they have to get ahead of Rittenhouse before their embedded agents activate.

The person who knows the most about Rittenhouse, Flynn, is locked away in a Federal detention center and refuses to speak to anyone except for Lucy. When she can’t figure out a historical reason why Rittenhouse would go to South Carolina in 1955, she has no choice but to turn to Flynn for help. His knowledge is clearly something the team is going to have to tap into this season if they want any chance to stop Rittenhouse from changing history. But Flynn’s angry, and blames Lucy and the team for stopping him from putting an end to Rittenhouse once and for all. Now that they find themselves battling the same enemy they’ll need to team up, but what will the price be? It’s clear Flynn is going to ask for something big in return, part of which will be his release from prison, but what else could he want? If he is released from prison he’ll likely want to help take down Rittenhouse and work alongside the team, but he’s proven in the past to be a loose cannon. If, or when, the time ever comes that Flynn joins the team, will he prove himself to be a loyal team member, or will he have ulterior motives?

Lucy carries a lot of guilt in this episode. There’s the gut punch of a revelation of how integral her mother is to Rittenhouse’s agenda, and the fact Lucy never realized her mother had been grooming her all along to take her place among the Rittenhouse elite. Lucy is also burdened by the responsibility she feels for Flynn being in jail in the first place, even though it was Agent Christopher who misled her into convincing Flynn to walk into a trap. In a way, the danger Rittenhouse poses this season leads directly back to Agent Christopher’s poor decision to capture and incarcerate Flynn. If he’d have gotten away with the Mother Ship, there’s no way Emma would have been able to steal it before Rittenhouse had been eliminated. Lucy seems lost, depressed, and upset about the moral quandary her association with her mother put her in. Wyatt knows she killed the soldier, but it’s unclear if she’s told anyone else.

Jiya’s visions have a new weight and urgency this episode, and it’s something she’s no longer able to ignore. She envisions burns on Rufus’s arm while the two of them fix the Life Boat, but they quickly disappear and she tries to move on without giving it too much credence. When Rufus returns from the mission and he has the same exact burns on his arm from her visions earlier, it changes everything. What do these visions mean? Are they always prophetic, or is there some way she can use her visions to keep Rufus and the others safe? It’s kind of like Marty trying to warn Doc of his fate in Back to the Future, is it better to know your future so you can avoid it, like Doc eventually does, or will the simple act of knowing the future make problems for the team? Will fate continually try to course correct itself like in Hulu’s 11.22.63? Time travel is tricky enough with knowledge of the past, so will knowledge of the future make things even more difficult?

The manifesto on time travel Nicholas Keynes wrote in 1910 has been the guiding hand Rittenhouse used to plant sleeper agents in the past to help rewrite history, but Keynes himself appears to dislike the future world he’s awoken in. While Carol runs things based on his writings, he’s been pinning for pickled eggs and old Victrola records. His attitude doesn’t instill confidence in Emma and the others until they see a great mural he’s painted depicting a road map of his plans on how to alter history. He wants to carve off all of the bits of history and humanity he doesn’t like in order to craft a more perfect human race. Think of Keynes vision as time travel eugenics. What would Hitler have accomplished toward his view of a master race if he’d had a time machine and could’ve weaponized history? It’s a frightening thought. Though Emma is ecstatic about his ideas, there’s a brief look of concern on Carol’s face. Is there a possibility she may sour on dear old great-grandfather’s ideas? The answer is definitely coming.

I recently got Timeless co-creator Eric Kripke on the phone for an interview about what to expect this season on Timeless. You can find it here.