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Review of 'Timeless' 2.2

The Nod

By Paul LevinsonPublished 6 years ago 1 min read
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Timeless has always had a good sense humor about time travel, and it comes through last night in episode 2.2 with ... "the nod".

That's "A Subtle Lowering of the Head You Give to Another Black Person in an Overwhelmingly White Place" — see Medium — and that's what Rufus does to Wendell Scott (a real African-American stock car driver) in overwhelmingly White south of the Mason Dixon America in the 1950s. Hey, that's the second week in a row in which Rufus had a key line or move — last week it was his description of the Rittenhouse Manifesto as like "Mein Kampf, by Philip K. Dick" — and last night it turns out that the nod is not only funny but Rufus may have been the one to implant it in our culture. Just think about it: had it not been for episode 2.2 of Timeless, there may not have been an episode #3 of Black-ish in 2014 with a literal nod to that title.

It's enough to give Lucy a headache, but I like it, and that's because she's actually time traveling on television and I'm just writing about it. And this episode had some other good ingredients, including Flynn reluctantly helping and Jiya seeing the future (which will no doubt figure in some very important way later this season) and Connor moving towards... I don't quite know what.

But on that point, it almost seems as if Connor might be headed towards some villainy, given his frustrations. That would be an interesting plot development, given his superior knowledge of time travel. We'll have to see.

Meanwhile, Emma continues to be a stand-out despicable character — as Annie Wersching is in every role she plays (that is, stand-out) — ever ready to kill, seemingly beyond redemption, and always ready with a sarcastic cut for anyone around her, whatever side they may be on.

Looking forward to next week, and seeing if Rufus still has the best line.

scifi tv
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About the Creator

Paul Levinson

Novels The Silk Code & The Plot To Save Socrates; LPs Twice Upon A Rhyme & Welcome Up; nonfiction The Soft Edge & Digital McLuhan, translated into 15 languages. Best-known short story: The Chronology Protection Case; Prof, Fordham Univ.

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