'Timeless' Retro Recap: 'The Watergate Tape'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

​Normally when it comes to television shows, tying together every little plot thread and delivering big time surprises are saved for late in the season because that’s the best time possible for a series to tip its hand. After all, we’re invested, we’re dying to know more about the mysteries being presented to us, so we tune in and crave more, only to have our minds blown when the finale arrives, and everything comes together. Unless of course, you’re watching NBC’s Timeless, because only this series could deliver a finale caliber episode, weeks before we are anywhere near the real one.
 
Because ‘The Watergate Tape’, brought forth all kinds of incredible surprises, jaw dropping ones in fact, to the point where I honestly had trouble deciding where to start in dissecting this episode. But in reality, it’s best we start with the first surprise of this episode, the fact that we came to learn that Garcia Flynn, isn’t as evil as we’ve been led to believe. I mean, don’t get me wrong, he’s not exactly Mother Teresa, but the fact that he spilled his guts to Wyatt in this one, and expressed his desire to bring down Rittenhouse speaks volumes to how far he’s willing to go to set a wrong, right, and it’s obvious this moment likely set the foundation for his turn to the light side in season two.
 
In addition to that little shocker, I was quite pleased with how every single secret that Rufus has been keeping hidden, came to light in this story as well, and that it didn’t go over smooth in the slightest. Because it would have been downright silly for Wyatt and Lucy to just forgive the man outright, and their frustration with his secrecy will mean that Rufus will have to work hard to earn their trust once again, which means we will see him at his best going forward, and really, the same goes for Lucy, since her secrets were revealed in this tale as well and while this should have been enough to carry this powerful tale, there were still more surprises waiting in the wings for us.
 
Case in point, the fact that we learned just how powerful Rittenhouse truly is in this tale, and I’m not talking about how it was revealed that they’re bankrolling Mason Industries, I’m talking about how they are everywhere in this story. From showing up on the Nixon tape, to their agents and their backstory, this reveal truly made the episode chilling in a way since up to this point, Rittenhouse was nothing more than a name, and an entity and now, they’re a grave threat to the Time Team and they’ve rattled our heroes to no end, and I’m fairly certain that had I watched this episode when it first aired, I would have been worried about the future of the Time Trio.
 
Thankfully, I know that there is zero chance of this team splitting up (whew), but man, this episode really was something to behold. It honestly felt like a season finale and would have made a fine one for that matter as well. But, clearly this series has bigger fish to fry in the weeks to come, and bigger moments await us and I’m glad that the Time Trio will eventually find their way together again as a unit and I really cannot wait to see the Rittenhouse plot line continue to unfold so that at long last, I will know everything that there is to know when it comes to this incredible story. Until next time. 

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