Timeless Season Finale Next Week, But Will There Be A Season 2?

The first season of Timeless is nearly over now, and it has been a fun ride.  We are about ready to have the season finale as speculation has begun regarding a second season.  Are the ratings good enough for a Season 2?  Should ratings alone be the only factor in determining if the show gets to continue?  Should the show be given a chance to find its legs?

Much has happened in the past couple of episodes.  Wyatt talked Rufus into hijacking the Lifeboat and going back to the point in which the parents of the man who supposedly killed his wife met and stop them from conceiving him.  In the process, Wyatt unintentionally kills the father.  When he returns to the present time, he learns that his wife was still murdered.  Wyatt is also arrested upon his return.

Things change at Mason Industries.  The place is now crawling with Rittenhouse people, and Agent Christopher and has been relived of her duties.  A new agent is assigned to protect Lucy and Rufus, but he gets killed on his first mission.  Meanwhile, Agent Christopher visits Wyatt in prison and gives him what he needs to escape.  For the people thinking nothing is happening on this show.  It's happening now.  It's been building up.

We finally get a glimpse of Flynn showing just a little remorse for what he has done as he talks with a priest.  He is a man who believes in what he is fighting for.  Rittenhouse must be stopped.  At this point, I'm not even sure getting his wife and child back is the only motivation for him traveling back in time.  He wants Rittenhouse out of the picture. 

I don't know if that goal could really ever be accomplished.  We are talking about a secret society here.  You might call them a part of the Illuminati.  Even if the Rittenhouse group is eliminated, will that really stop the plan?  I only ask that question to show just how much potential this show really has.

In the most recent episode, yet another agent is assigned to Rufus and Lucy.  He is not their friend.  He is going for one reason only.  He is going to kill Flynn and end this once and for all.  They are going back to kill Flynn's mother.  Lucy is obsessed with getting her sister back. 

In all honestly, she would get her back if they do this job.  If Flynn is not born, Lucy would have her sister back.  That is unless something other then them changing the Hindenburg crash history is what eliminated her in the first place.  Therefore, if Flynn is never born, the original group of three has no reason to go back in time.  Lucy's diary doesn't exist.  Rufus may be a part of another mission, but their time travel adventures together would never have happened.

Why on earth would Lucy and Rufus not be okay with this mission?  They've witnessed the damage done by Flynn.  There are two reasons.  They are starting to realize that Flynn's goals aren't necessarily bad, but his actions have been.  Plus, Lucy has already devised a plan to get her sister back.  It's clever enough to work too.

Rufus has already set a course for an undisclosed location when they are sent off on their mission.  They tranquilize the agent and land the Lifeboat in a warehouse.  Agent Christopher and Wyatt are waiting for them.  Rufus also sabotaged the computers at Mason Industries to buy them some time.  It's decided that they will go back and undo the damage that erased Lucy's sister from existence.  Lucy says when her mother met her step father, it was love at first site.  They just have to get them to meet.

However, a new problem arises as Flynn has taken the Mothership back to the 1930's when Al Capone was about to be arrested.  Flynn wants a meeting with the mayor, and the mayor is on the take from Capone.  To state the obvious, Flynn could easily just go after the mayor without Capone, but this is a time travel show that likes to interact with historical figures. 

Flynn decides to prevent Capone from being arrested and convicted of tax evasion.  He gives him information on the guy who informed on him.  Capone is shown as a beloved figure in Chicago.  Instead of winning his battle with Capone, Elliot Ness has failed.  Capone owes Flynn two favors.  Not only does Capone not get convicted, Flynn provides him information on the whereabouts of Ness, and Capone has him killed.  You want a serious change in history?  You've got it.

In return, Capone sets up a meeting between Flynn and the mayor.  The mayor is part of Rittenhouse.  Flynn wants to know about a secret Rittenhouse meeting, which might be similar to the once secret Bilderberg meetings that actually do happen.  It already happened, but Flynn wants to know when the next one will take place.  He beats the information out of him and then kills him.  Another change in history. 

Capone hates owing favors, so he asks Flynn how he can make it even.  Flynn asks Capone to kill Rufcus when they show up.  Lucy recalls that Capone had a brother who disappeared.  He had changed his name and actually became a fed.  She asks him to come and arrest Capone, and he reluctantly agrees.  In a big confrontation, Capone's brother kills him, but not before Capone shoots Rufus.  Rufus lives, but he's barely conscious as he takes the Lifeboat back to the present time.

It's hard to condone Flynn's tactics and make him a sympathetic character at this point.  I get his anger over Rittenhouse killing his wife and daughter.  We still don't know why.  They turned against the original Mothership pilot, who was stranded in Native American territory during the time of Jesse James.  Wyatt's wife is dead, and that may or may not be Rittenhouse related.

Still, Flynn is going back and at least trying to kill historical figures.  He doesn't bat an eye over the innocent lives lost in the process.  Sure, Wyatt, Rufus and Lucy aren't innocent, but they show some remorse.  In this latest episode, Flynn played a part in getting Ness killed.  Why?  He had already done enough to get the information he needed from the mayor.  He sacrificed Ness to have Rufus killed?  So, how are we supposed to think of Flynn as a hero when he's doing things at times that seem worse than Rittenhouse?  Why would Lucy ever side with him?

We're about to find out.  When the show started, we learned that Flynn has a diary written by Lucy, but she doesn't recall ever writing a diary.  Just a few episodes ago, her mother gave her that very dairy to work out her thoughts.  Now, we see a preview of how they are going to start working with Flynn.  There may be a problem.  After the problems Mason Industries had with the Lifeboat being stolen and the computers being sabotaged, Connor Mason has now asked Rittenhosue for access to surveillance information, because Mason Industries has advanced tools capable of pinpointing the Lifeboat and the others immediately.

This show has its critics.  I've mentioned it before.  Why does nothing ever change?  Well, it's changing now.  Why is the plot not moving faster.  Well, it is now.  I don't think the writers had a full grasp of what they had for a show, but they are getting into the groove.  I believe this show will be so much better next season with a year under its belt.  It helps that they have an excellent cast.

Time travel shows aren't perfect.  There are errors in many of them.  Some shows are worse than others.  However, this show is fun, and it's different than the string of reality shows, police dramas and the typical shows we get in prime time.  I have no idea if it will be back, and it looks like what we will get in the finale is a cliff hanger. 

I would hate to see this story arc go unresolved after watching every episode.  Most of the new shows I love get canceled within a season.  Regardless of ratings, I hope this show gets a chance to continue for the sake of the story.  Let's hope that NBC green lights more episodes.  In my opinion, Timeless deserves that.