'Timeless' Recap: 'Mrs. Sherlock Holmes'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

​While I’m still relatively new to the Timeless universe, if there’s one thing I’ve already come to learn about this magnificent show, is that it can in essence tell any kind of story it wants to, at any given time. If it feels the need to give us a fluffy and romantic tale, it will deliver just that. If it wants to thrill us with a dark and brooding adventure, done and done. Or, as was the case with this week’s episode, ‘Mrs. Sherlock Holmes’, if it wants to tell a socially relevant tale, it can speak to our world and its parallels to history without breaking a sweat.
 
Because this week, the Time Team headed back to 1919, to stop Rittenhouse from executing what turned out to be quite the messed up plan; ending the women’s suffrage movement and the passage of the 19th Amendment so that women in present day would be…docile and obedient and well, the parallels to our world, and the current fight for equality was painfully relevant in this episode, and I’m glad that the series didn’t shy away from this topic in the slightest and that it served as a solid and bold reminder that equal rights for all shouldn’t be a debate, it should simply exist, plain and simple.
 
But, everything in this series is driven by its characters, and this particular tale was no exception to that rule. Because when it seemed as though the movement might falter shortly after the death of its leader, Alice Paul, Lucy was more than ready to make history herself and give the all-important speech that Alice gave to advance equal rights and well, it was downright stunning and wonderful to see how far Lucy was willing to go to see equal rights for women in America, despite the danger present to her and it’s amazing that she was able to inspire others to stand up for the cause and surprisingly she wasn’t the only one willing to go the extra mile to make this happen, Emma did her part to see this movement succeed as well. 
 
However, her motivations for betraying Rittenhouse made for perhaps the most powerful moment of the night wherein she revealed the awful abuse that she and her mother endured at the hands of her father ages ago and Rittenhouse’s awful plan carried with it some serious consequences in her eyes. Because without a choice, without freedom…she would have continued to suffer in that environment and others would face that kind of pain if she stood by and did nothing and while Emma has done some awful things, no one should be subjected to that kind of abuse and she made the right decision in this tale, and if anything, this particular part of the story definitely gave me pause to say the least and it added a powerful sense of urgency to the mission and thankfully, they pulled it off…
 
Yet while this episode was wondrous and inspiring in its own right, it also took the opportunity to address some lingering issues this season, like Lucy and Wyatt’s complicated relationship, and the fact that Wyatt clearly still has feelings for Lucy and while obviously Jessica’s presence complicates that, things are only going to get more convoluted in the weeks to come, since Connor and Agent Christopher came to find that Jessica’s face is popping up in Rittenhouse’s files, leaving all of us to wonder, could she potentially be a sleeper agent? Time will tell of course, but in the here and the now, this was just another wonderful episode and I cannot wait to see what incredible storytelling is waiting for us down the road. Until next time.  

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