WARNING: DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU WATCHED THE PREMIER

Cast info

Ohhhh the Humanity!!! …but in Color.

Let’s start this show off with a bang, as the world watches the Hindenberg dock and then there is a spark and boom! I really enjoyed how vivid the color palette is here with the bright oranges and reds. There is a female reporter that is seemingly killed in the explosion. Who is she?

Let’s talk over coffee.

Ok, between Luke Cage and Timeless, there are a lot of people wanting to do things over coffee. I am starting to think that this will become synonymous with Netflix and Chill. But watching Lucy Preston not get tenure in her history department and being asked to discuss it over coffee got a bit of a grin from me.

Who is the thief and why?

Yeah, so let’s not waste time as a band of armed ruffians, lead by Garcia Flynn, break into a science facility, Mason Industries, to steal…yes, you guessed it…a time machine. It’s not as sexy as the Tardis but it’s oddly shaped like an eye. Considering all of the cops killing unarmed black citizens, did anyone else find it odd that the cops showed up as quickly as they did and…they didn’t kill Rufus, the engineer? Oh yeah…umm, he is one of the principle characters so for the fiction, he is needed.

The Team is quickly assembled

So, a historian an engineer and a soldier all walk into a….no scratch that. But all 3 are assembled together by Homeland Security. Then enters the British accent guy, Connor Mason, the inventor of the time machine, who explains what is going on in his most British-iest, British accent. And then we find out but of course, there was a backup time machine, the prototype, and it looks nowhere near as cool as the heisted one. In fact, it looks more like a lazy eye.

Mason explains the situation in the most direct, time machiney, cliché way possible: If Flynn goes back and kills people who aren’t supposed to die and stops people from being born, the world will collapse and end!!!! Well, maybe not so dire but you get it.

And…off we go!!

Well, before we go, it’s a nice touch to see that at least Lucy and Rufus are hyper aware of what going back in time means albeit for different reasons. Wyatt, our soldier is a little too calm. So, off they go and then our trio shows up in a random field and yeah, Wyatt isn’t so calm after all. Hey!! Did anyone think to put a cloaking device on this thing! That may be my pet peeve, in which that one Deus Ex Machina that makes these types shows works is that no one else can see these machines, is not present here.

So Dr. Dre, Nurse Jackie and Wyatt enter a bar…

The trio learns very quickly that they are not ready for this. Rufus gets profiled, Wyatt strikes out finding out about Flynn. But now we get a name of the woman killed in the Hindenberg, Kate Drummond and now we get a bit of conflict. Save her or let her die? Then maybe they are ready as the trio quickly improvise to let the military know that bad things are about to happen aboard the blimp. Wyatt!! Come on man, why are you trying to save…uuuuhhhh oooooh. Guess what does not go boom? So now we have another axiom as well, if people who are supposed to die, live and they have children, how does that change the present?

What was supposed to go boom?

The trio, after a brief scuffle with one of Flynn’s men, debate over Wyatt’s actions that saved them. Why did he bring back future tech, that if in the wrong hands could change World War II? Knowing that Drummond was supposed to die why did he save her? More importantly, if Flynn saved the Hinderberg, what was he planning? Ah!!! The blimp was to go boom but Flynn was waiting for more juicy targets of opportunity to kill! Now the plot thickens as Lucy figures out who Flynn is after. So let’s stop him! Aw crap, the cops show up.

The Moment of Truth?

Wyatt discloses that he tried to save Kate because he is reminded about his dead wife. She died because of him and if he had a chance to change that he could. So does this mean that as some point in this series, he will try to change that? Meanwhile, the police are trying to figure Wyatt’s gun and Rufus is about to ruin the time stream…hey let’s get some bra action to work!! I bet Lucy isn’t complaining about that underwire now!

Time to find the ticking time bomb!

Albeit a little too easily, the trio finds the bomb but the blimp is already airborne. So, how do you stop it and land the blimp? Yeah, let’s just take a few hostages and force Flynn’s hand. Or force a fist on Wyatt’s head. I must say I was impressed with this fight scene and…then boom! Here we go again!! The Hindenberg is crashing! UUhhhh wait, why are you helping people? Stop changing the…oh crap, Lucy finds Flynn and Flynn leaves cryptic messages about who Lucy really is. In a few shots, the future is changed.

Mission Accomplished?

So, the future changed slightly. Lucy comes back and asks about the mystery the Flynn puts forth, of course nobody knows anything (so they say) but with the slight alteration it’s hard to say what the lasting impact of their excursion has done. We also learn that Rufus has some shady dealings as well.

Questions we are left with:

What is Flynn actually up to and what will he do to turn Lucy?

How will Lucy cope with the revelation she finds once she gets home?

What is Rufus’ relationship with Connor and what does he give Connor upon return?

How long will NBC let this run before they cancel it?

Overall, this was a good premier which I hope gets at least 3 seasons. NBC has not had a good track record with sci-fi shows over the years especially if they followed Heroes. Remember what happened to Journeyman, My Own Worst Enemy, and Constantine. It’s educational fun without bogging viewers down with too much jargon and leaves us with enough questions that we hope will be answered over the course of a season without too much weight holding it down. I really did like the characters especially Rufus, who while he seems unwilling, I think there is a lot more underneath than we are lead to believe. I am going to take a bet that somehow he is directly related to Connor Mason.

Let’s hope NBC gives this one a chance.

4 time machines out of 5