Yay! Because, not much else is yanking my chain these days, guys. I know, I know, I should watch The Crown, or the last season of Poldark, but both feel like homework. NEED MORE GOOD CONTENT. Does it feel like we’re in a historical movie/TV slump, or is it just me?
Luckily, I’m still enjoying Timeless! It’s zippy, there’s evil conspiracies to thwart, and every episode is a new era. There’s finally some Lucy and Wyatt action going on, and Rufus continues to slay me with his witticisms. This is just going to be chit-chatty thoughts, so, spoiler alert!
Smithsonian Magazine is writing recaps where they’re focusing on how well the show is getting the history right, which makes me happy for two reasons: 1. history geekitude, and 2. I don’t have to look up the history of car racing, which I really don’t care about. I also have to give them props, because without their recaps, I wouldn’t have known that Lucy’s 1940s evening dress is a copy of the one worn by Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story — I’m just not that much of a classic movie buff. I have seen it and it was great! But only the once.
Side note, hopefully you saw this when it was going around Facebook…
ANYWAY…
In Episode 1, it’s World War I France, Lucy’s mom is evil/brainwashed, and Marie Curie and daughter show up so Lucy can fangirl (okay, also for some plot points). I don’t have too much to say about this one!
Episode 2: drag racing! An entertaining story, even if I don’t care about racing. Bonus points for some HIGH-LARIOUS commentary from Wyatt on their outfits. Since the Timeless team has had to go underground, they’ve lost their wardrobe department, and Wyatt complains about their clothes coming from Old Navy. Also, Rufus trying to do the “Black person nod” with race car driver Wendell Scott, who is totally confused by it. Ha!
Episode 3: Hollywoodland! 1940s Hollywood! Lucy and Wyatt don’t just make out, they GET IT ON. Plus, HEDY LAMARR. Okay, so it’s kind of annoying how Lucy is all “nobody knows these days that Hedy Lamarr was a genius…” as tho this is super-sekrit historian knowledge, but, whatever.
Episode 4: the Salem Witch Trials! Wyatt is busy with back-from-the-dead wife Jessica, which, SUCH AN OBVIOUS PLOY BY THE SCREENWRITERS. Rufus, still hilarious: “the Puritan Chainsaw Massacre.” This episode was so obviously filmed in Southern California, tho – waaaay too many oak trees.
Are you watching Timeless?
I love this show so much! And I looove that the Smithsonian is doing the recaps; those are my favorite Monday morning read. :)
Yeah, what was with that sort of prairie dress and hair in the 40s?! Oh Lucy…
I wasn’t sure about Jessica at first, but after this past week’s I’m becoming a fan. Such a good, fun show!
Now I want a show all about that wardrobe department, complete with betting pools on who will get grey hair first.
I second that! I LOLed at “how about kimoNO.”, but the rest was hilarious too. One can feel the RL experience there.
I only caught a few episodes of the first season, but I rather enjoyed it. Is it available to watch anywhere?
It’s all on Hulu. :)
Gave up on the show in the first season.
Thought of you ladies instantly when I saw the Tweets floating around.
I love this show. It’s crazy pants but I like that it also gives little known facts like Wendell Scott and the fact that Ben Franklin’s aunt did accuse people of witchcraft in each episode. Since it doesn’t look like I’m going to get a 3rd National Treasure movie any time soon I’ll take Timeless. And laugh out loud about the seamstress making historical clothes for the time-travelers instead of a tech genius. Especially if the time-traveler comes back and the outfit is ruined for some reason.
You should try the great Spanish series “El Ministerio del Tiempo”, it’s rumored timeless is based on this show.
Hadn’t heard of it! I’ll have to see if I can track it down…
Were Lucy and Wyatt ever IN the pool? Because I totally missed that!
Good point, I think you might be right!
Seriously though, why cut out the make-out-in-the-pool? I would have been another great nod to The Philadelphia Story, and they could have avoided that weird transition!
They’ve released the Wyatt and Lucy pool scene as a deleted scene and it is incredibly adorable and swoon worthy!! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2D35UwIeSF0
So, I just posted a comment about the fact they have released the Wyatt and Lucy pool scene as a deleted scene. The comment is gone and I included a link. Does your website host not allow links?
Links are held for moderation due to spam, & we have to manually approve them!
Ah! That’s annoying. Sorry for making you do extra work on the weekend then!
I have always loved Katharine Hepburn’s wardrobe in ‘The Philadelphia Story’. Wrong studio or not, it is kind of cool to see them pull directly from the movies like that.
Puritans — I’m dubious about that collar, too. Major point: Puritans DID NOT wear black. Why? Because it was one of the most expensive colours to create. Also, they would have considered it pretentious. Typical Puritan colours would have been grey, medium to dark blue, tawny (a shade of orange-tan), murrey (mulberry), and brown, maybe others in those areas. On the other hand, Spanish and Dutch Catholics did wear black, but more at court levels than lower down. If you can find it, the novel “Mist Over Pendle” gives a lot of detail about Puritan clothing, and is a terrific adventure story about the Pendle Forest witches.
All of the people involved in the Salem Witch Trials were wealthy merchants, therefore they would have worn black.
Also, the Hedy Lamarr actress could have passed for Ava Gardner but she has nothing of the mysterious, pouty, Gothic novella feel that Hedy exudes. When she showed up I seriously thought they were going to say she was Ava Gardner.
I’ve seen real outfits in museums worn by Hedy Lamar and Ava Gardner – they barely broke the heights of 5’3 – 5’5. I am 5’11 and I was looking down at what I thought were children’s dresses! They could have found an actress that wasn’t so thin and tall!
Wow, I would never have guessed Ava Gardner was so short! It was the cleft in the chin that made me think of her.
Love Timeless! I had to stop reading your article, and go catch up with the Witch episode and come back. :)
I had a project when I organized traveling museum exhibitions with the U.S. Mint (first headed by David Rittenhouse). The exhibition didn’t get off the ground, mainly because it was a vanity piece (people who think they have great stuff for an exhibition but don’t want to do the work). So, having Rittenhouse is evil is a great joy to me.
Yesss ! Such a wonderful show !! :) And I’m in love with Katharine Hepburn’s dress <3
In regards to that thing about Time Travel dressers and costumers going around Facebook, I would highly suggest you read Connie Willis’s To Say Nothing of the Dog, Blackout, and All Clear novels. They have a Time Travel department whose costumers feel exactly like that. (And the books are super good!)
Oh my word. Another Connie Willis fan! Her books are SUPERB, so meticulously researched you feel like you are there. I recommend Doomsday Book to start with, as it was her first one. Because of a technician error, a history student is accidentally sent back to the wrong time, ending up in 1348, just in time to witness the Black Death. One of the most harrowing reads I’ve ever experienced, but so amazing.
To Say Nothing of the Dog is a lighthearted comedy with historians traveling to the late Victorian age. Blackout/All Clear is about multiple home front experiences in WWII England. Willis’s books are long, but the level of immersion can’t be beat.
I love, love, love Timeless! I had the same reaction to Lucy’s hair on the second day of the Hollywoodland episode. I wasn’t crazy about the dress, but OMG the hair was terrible. For some reason, Lucy can leave the present with normal contemporary hair and then do her hair up into a curly bob (King of the Delta Blues)after she’s first arrived and stolen clothes (does she steal a curling iron too?) , but she can’t do her hair in a 40s hairstyle when she’s staying with Hedy Lamar? LOL