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[sc:rhtop]
Some information about this episode
As pointed out by listener Mike Hamilton, our team arrived in San Antonio on March 2, 1836, while the date of the historical event for this episode is actually March 4, 1836. So we’ve determined that the “flip clock” displays the date for the historical event.
Also, Ken from Chicago (@KenFromChicago) Sent us a tweet with a link to Amazon, showing us that you can still purchase “vintage” flip clocks. If you’re interested, here’s a link to a sampling of flip clocks. Some of them are actually pretty cool!
Remember the… wait, what?
Flynn came pretty close to foiling the formation of Texas by assassinating William B. Travis just days before he was fated to die in the Siege of The Alamo. Travis wrote the letter that helped to rally support in America for the cause of Texan independence. It also cemented Travis’s status as a hero of the Texas Revolution. There is a plaque with the full text of that letter displayed at The Alamo historical site, and the original letter is preserved at the Texas State Library.
The full text of that letter, in case you’re interested:
To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World:
Fellow citizens & compatriots—I am besieged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna—I have sustained a continual Bombardment & cannonade for 24 hours & have not lost a man. The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken—I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, & our flag still waves proudly from the walls. I shall never surrender or retreat. Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism & everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch—The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily & will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country—Victory or Death.
William Barret Travis
Lt. Col. comdt
P.S. The Lord is on our side—When the enemy appeared in sight we had not three bushels of corn—We have since found in deserted houses 80 or 90 bushels & got into the walls 20 or 30 head of Beeves.
Travis
Does that make them flash-forwardses?
All through the battle, Wyatt had PTSD-influenced flashbacks to his time in the military. I can’t speak for Doug, but this might have been the most heart-breaking part of the episode for me. To see a friend and chosen brother killed right in front of you, and then have to relive it later – that has to just be soul-shattering.
He managed to shake the images and help the fort inhabitants, and I think his guilt over leaving his brother-in-arms behind leads to Wyatt almost making the decision to stay behind and die alongside the doomed Alamo defenders.
In the end, Wyatt is instrumental in making sure Albert Martin – the original courier that Travis entrusts with his letter – gets out to pass along the motivational message, and uses his military knowledge to funnel Santa Anna’s troops over one wall, which gives the women and children enough time to escape.
He joins Lucy and Rufus in the lifeboat and travels back to homebase, where he’s scheduled to be “removed” from the team, but the other two are united and stand behind him – vowing to quit themselves if Wyatt is fired. Since Rufus is the only person that can drive the machine, he’s the lynchpin that forces the organizations’ hand, and Wyatt remains on the team.
Chekov’s Grenades
Doug and I are probably going to use certain trope terms during the course of our podcast. “Chekov’s Gun” is one of our favorites. I’ve given you the link to the TV Tropes page for that entry so you can learn more about it, but try not to get drawn in and fall down the TV Trope rabbit hole.
Early in the episode, Wyatt is shown with a duffel bag full of old-school grenades. He’s determined to get Flynn this time, since he’d just been scolded about his lack of results. They’re left forgotten for the bulk of the episode (or they’re supposed to have been), until Rufus is trying to break through solid stone to get to the aqueduct underneath. He’s struck with the idea to use the grenades, and it turns out to be a winner.
Wyatt’s plan gives him enough time to gather the women and children (and the courier) together and get them out through the aqueduct. On the outside, Flynn was quite upset that Santa Anna was spurred on by Isabella’s bribe to attack early – and expressed his displeasure over not being able to get the women and children out. So, this was a win/win on both sides.
Well, except for the fact that Flynn obviously didn’t want Travis’ letter to get out…
On March 2
(I chose the date on which our team arrived, not the date of the historical event)
537 – Siege of Rome: The Ostrogoth army under king Vitiges begins the siege of the capital. Belisarius conducts a delaying action outside the Flaminian Gate; he and a detachment of his bucellarii are almost cut off.
1797 – The Bank of England issues the first one-pound and two-pound banknotes.
1807 – The U.S. Congress passes the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves, disallowing the importation of new slaves into the country.
1836 – Texas Revolution: Declaration of independence of the Republic of Texas from Mexico.
1946 – Ho Chi Minh is elected the President of North Vietnam.
1961 – John F. Kennedy announces the creation of the Peace Corps in a nationally televised broadcast.
1983 – Compact discs and players are released for the first time in the United States and other markets. They had previously been available only in Japan.
1990 – Nelson Mandela is elected deputy President of the African National Congress.
Notable Births:
1769 – DeWitt Clinton, American lawyer and politician, 6th Governor of New York
1793 – Sam Houston, American soldier and politician, 1st President of the Republic of Texas
1902 – Moe Berg, American baseball player and spy
1904 – Dr. Seuss, American author, poet, and illustrator
1917 – Desi Arnaz, Cuban-American actor, singer, and producer
1931 – Mikhail Gorbachev, Russian lawyer and politician, President of the Soviet Union, Nobel Prize laureate
1942 – John Irving, American author and screenwriter
1942 – Lou Reed, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor
1943 – Peter Straub, American author and poet
1949 – Gates McFadden (Star Trek: The Next Generation), American actress and choreographer
1950 – Karen Carpenter, American singer
1952 – Mark Evanier, American author and screenwriter
1952 – Laraine Newman, American actress
1962 – Jon Bon Jovi, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor
1968 – Daniel Craig, English actor and producer
Notable Deaths:
1930 – D. H. Lawrence, English novelist, poet, playwright, and critic
1982 – Philip K. Dick, American philosopher and author
2010 – Winston Churchill, English journalist and politician
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[sc:rh]
= How to think about Timeless =
Flynn has a military mindset and appears to be executing Military Style missions – Direct Attack, Force Enhancement, Precision Attack, Controlled Retrograde, etc…
Some of Flynn’s missions seem intended to alter the present by eliminating specific targets; The Hindenburg and Ford’s Theatre were about many seemingly collateral deaths, but really the intended forks in the path to the future.
The Vegas nuclear-core extraction mission was more of a ‘Logistics Support’ event. Team Flynn got tired of driving the Mothership around like a Prius and went for a new Tesla instead.
The Von Braun thing was more of a ‘Rescue Op’ mission intended to facilitate a desired future state based on Werner’s skills.
The Texas mission seems more like it is designed as a ‘Battlefield Preparation’ mission. Setting parameters that will encourage victory at a much later date in that particular arena/Battlespace.
I have decided to treat the show like ‘Six Degrees Of Separation’ and/or ‘Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon’ – aka – ‘Six Degrees Of Timeless Bacon’.
Each mission presents dozen of possible overlaps.
Were the collateral dead from Ep 1 & 2 supposed to have progeny – in Texas – associated with space travel (V.Braun) and the Moon?
That sounds NASA-oriented… Houston we have a problem – there is a metallic sphere with snowmobile treads wrapped around it on the launch pad right next to our window.
Maybe all the hoopla is about Germany. That part of Texas was about to fill with Germans in the decades following The Alamo. Maybe not – if the US and Texas are separate and lots of Germans on the Hindenburg were supposed to perish. Not now.
This is all impossible to extrapolate as there are a dozen interpolations every episode. Like FRINGE – Imagine The Impossibilities.
One thing I have to add – please don’t think that Flynn is running a linear laundry list of missions. He may have to severely rehash what is next for his folks when ‘Team Time’ butts in. Hence the waffling between very recent eras and more ancient affairs.
Maybe Flynn just wanted to erase Alamo Rental Car after they stuck him with a huge $400 insurance ding when he returned a sub-compact with a barely visible, very slight scratch in the passenger side door (grrrr!)
Looking forward to Karen-Gate and/or Payton-Gate in 2 weeks. (Who plays G. Gordon Liddy? duhnt-dunt-duh)
Cheers — DocH
P.S.: “Texas is a free and independent State, subject only to the Constitution of the United States…” It does not state “…subject to the President of the United States…” or “…subject to the Congress of the United States…” or “…subject to the collective will of one or more of the other States…”. Both the original (1836) and the current (1876) Texas Constitutions state that “All political power is inherent in the people… they have at all times the inalienable right to alter their government in such manner as they might think proper.” Texas is already 5 separate states compiled into 1.