‘Timeless’ Retro Recap: ‘Karma Chameleon’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

​There is a question and scenario that all of us have asked ourselves or toyed with at some point or another; how far would we be willing to go to save or protect those we love? Why we go to that particular question or that dark place, I simply cannot say. It may be because it helps us to understand how much those people mean to us, or it could be due to the fact that exploring a little bit of darkness helps bring us comfort that maybe we will never have to answer that question or be in that scenario. But regardless, it will cross our mind and our need to explore it, is precisely why fictional stories will sometimes toy with this matter, as was the case with the next episode of Timeless, ‘Karma Chameleon’.
 
For in this tale, Wyatt finally made good on his promise to steal the Lifeboat, in the hopes of protecting Jessica by making changes to the past, and he and Rufus ventured to Ohio in 1983, wherein the plan was to prevent Wes Gilliam’s parents from ever meeting and conceiving him and all it would take to stop that from happening, was to find dear old mom and keep her from having a one night stand with a particular bartender at a hotel and while it seemed at first that Wyatt’s surprisingly low-key and non-violent plan was going to work, fate seemingly continued to intervene and make this task about as difficult as possible and well, thanks to a few lies told earlier in the story by Wyatt, everything went to hell when said lies were exposed.
 
Which made for a desperate Wyatt and that’s never a good thing and he quickly began to let his anger take over and his fury got him arrested and that sent him to about the darkest place one can go. For once he was free, he immediately took his attempt to change the future to a whole new level by charging into the room where his targets were getting intimate before kidnapping the once and future father and in a mess of an attempt to drag him away from the hotel, the man died in ugly fashion, leaving Wyatt in one tough place. Because he finally realized this quest and thirst for revenge and salvation was unbecoming of who he really is and for the first time ever we saw regret and remorse from Wyatt and more pain, for his attempts to change the future failed and Jessica was still dead upon his return to present day.
 
Yet, while that alone would have been enough to make for a powerhouse episode, the story had more to offer, like the fact that Lucy finally came to realize that her father was the member of Rittenhouse who was working with Mason in secret, shattering her to her core and prompting her to do something that was also wild and angry since she went to see dear old dad in the hopes of having a little chat and that’s where this episode left us, with a mini cliffhanger and well, when all is said and done, this one was intense. In part because it’s clear the relationship between Mason and the Time Team, including Agent Christopher is falling to pieces, but also because it was packed with so much.
 
Because this episode also saw Anthony’s time on the show come to an end since he tried to put a stop to all this madness by blowing up the Mothership and it straight up cost him his life since Flynn wasn’t having any of that and this is one that quite frankly, I needed a moment to process since it was filled with action and emotion and downright heartbreak because Wyatt still hasn’t found his calling and direction as a hero just yet, and really, neither has the Time Team since they seem lost and angry at the moment and well, this episode was just brilliant. Because this is character development at its finest and now that we’ve seen Wyatt hit a low, I would imagine that he’s going to pull himself out of the darkness at some point soon and it should be interesting to see how Rufus deals with the death of his mentor, and how Lucy will handle her dad and well, there’s only one way to find out how all of that gets resolved really, so, once again, I’m off to see how this story ends. Until next time. 

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