'Timeless' Retro Recap: 'The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

​You know, the more episodes I watch when it comes to NBC’s Timeless, the more I understand the outright frustration of every Clockblocker out there. Because this show is about as smart as they come, and it’s just a delight and well, my understanding of why everyone wants to see a third season or two hour finale of this show was solidified shortly after I finished the second episode of this series, ‘The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln’, because this particular tale truly put on display everything that this series could accomplish with a few more years under its belt.
 
Because if there’s one particular trope in time travel related stories that is rarely challenged or even addressed in the slightest, it’s the moral complications that come with the notion of traveling through time in general, and that’s really what this episode focused upon. Because the Time Trio really was presented with quite the opportunity here, in that they could have saved Abraham Lincoln’s life and potentially alter history for the better, and I love how the trio took the time to debate the potential pros and cons of such a move and the God complex that can come about from the act of altering history, since they would in essence begin to toy with who lives and who dies. 
 
It’s just rare to see such matters addressed in a series like this, and quite frankly, it added a welcome depth to the characters. Because while we know they have a solid moral core through and through, at least pondering on the notion showed off their human side since we all play the game of ‘what if?’ from time to time and it made all three of them relatable on an incredible level. And speaking of their moral code, I would venture to say that this episode also serves as the first time that they truly show off their abilities as heroes in general because my goodness, did they pull off some incredible feats in this particular tale, and what they did was downright inspiring.
 
I mean, think about it for a moment. They put themselves in harm’s way in order to preserve decades of history and billions of lives, without giving it a second thought and that’s just magnificent, and I loved watching them in essence turn into the heroes that I was introduced to in the second season all on a moment’s notice. It’s almost as if a switch simply came on for all of them in this particular story, and while they have their flaws and their respective pain, (in fact the moment where Wyatt realizes that he has no one to call gave me pause) they put all of that aside to do the right thing and well, it doesn’t get more inspiring and more beautiful than that.
 
But what’s truly impressive about all of these elements, is that this is what the audience is treated to just two episodes into the series. It usually takes shows years to get this kind of character development in place, or to challenge the genre it represents, while it took this series no time at all to make all of that happen. It just speaks to the fact that this series was flat out ahead of its time and that it features some damn fine writing and it goes back to my earlier point, it really deserved more love and care because this kind of quality storytelling…is downright special. Until next time.  

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