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It’s Karen again, giving you the down-low behind the history and the podcast. We’re all about the multimedia, so let’s dive in!

Other Than That, Mrs. Lincoln, How Did You Like the Play?

Of course our main story was the travel back to April 14, 1865, the day that President Lincoln was assassinated at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC. In our timeline (the “base” timeline), John Wilkes Booth organizes a plan to take out several high-profile Americans, including our President.

The self-important drama queen that he was, he took it upon himself to tackle the job of taking out Lincoln himself, so when the plan didn’t pan out elsewhere, he was the “lone gunman” as it were, and Lincoln was the only Politician harmed that day.

Of course, we know the damage it did to America, but if we could go back and change it, would we? That’s the question our intrepid band of time-travelers had to work out for themselves. Even for Lucy – our resident historian – it was a struggle.

In the end, keeping the timeline safe won out, and with only slight modifications, the President was yet again shot, but this time by Flynn himself. Booth merely a footnote as the mastermind behind the attack plan.

What a difference a day makes

One of the things we found out in this episode is that an entire day seems to pass while the trio is off righting the timeline. Last week she was gone what appeared to be a short amount of time, and this week it was confirmed to be a full day when her engagement party was referenced.

I’m glad we have this touchstone, because if they miss an entire day each time they travel in time, that could cause some serious issues for our plucky heroes.

A white man’s burden

Eric Kripke and Shawn Ryan aren’t shy about tackling sensitive issues, and they picked a huge one here. The issue of Black freedom in America in the aftermath of the Civil War, and how the loss of President Lincoln impacted their newly found emancipation.

Rufus used the phrase “It gets better,” and that is so prophetic, even now. Yes, it gets better, but we still have a long way to go. Rufus is a cheerleader for saving Lincoln, no matter what it does for the bigger picture – because he thinks it will give the right outcome in the end, but how does he know that for a fact? Perhaps we get our first Black President sooner, and the country isn’t ready? I mean, the possibilities are endless. Lucy is steadfast in her belief in staying her course, even when she wavers, so Rufus has to live with those consequences.

Meet-cutes

It’s so not fair that Lucy gets two men in this episode! Two CUTE men. Robert Todd Lincoln, and her yet unnamed Fiancee.

The younger Lincoln is smitten with her, and decides that their meetings are fate drawing them together. He invites her to the infamous play, and Lucy takes the opportunity to step in and see if she can right history where it’s happening.

It turns out that this is a fortuitous turn of events since Flynn changed things in order to steer General Ulysses S. Grant to the play as well, which didn’t happen in the “base” timeline. She manages to save Grant, but Flynn takes out Lincoln because Lucy knows it’s fated to happen. She admits later that it was hard for her to allow the shooting to go forward – because in that moment, there was a great man’s life in her hands.

A moment between Lucy and Robert, and a warning to a Black soldier to avoid the south from Rufus, and they’re off again to return home. Apparently, from an off-handed comment, they can tell that Flynn has returned as well, so we think that means they have to follow him in real-time to correct his wrongs.

A couple of stray thoughts:

• They need to come up with better fake names. I mean really… Denzel Washington? Juliet Shakes…man?
• Doug NAILED it on the paperweight thing – all the props to Doug!
• Are we going to see Wyatt’s or Rufus’ lives altered at some point soon?
• From the promo pics, Lucy is chatting up her new beau. Is she gonna fill him in on her whole time-travel gig?
• “So this is like if Donnie Wahlberg assassinated the president.” Best. Line. Ever. Also… it fits 100%

On April 14:

1828 – Noah Webster copyrights the first edition of his dictionary.
1846 – The Donner Party of pioneers departs Springfield, Illinois, for California, on what will become a year-long journey of hardship and cannibalism.
1981 – STS-1: The first operational Space Shuttle, Columbia completes its first test flight.
Notable Births:
1904 – John Gielgud, English actor, director, and producer (d. 2000)
1925 – Rod Steiger, American soldier and actor (d. 2002)
1932 – Loretta Lynn, American singer-songwriter and musician
1941 – Pete Rose, American baseball player and manager
1949 – Dave Gibbons, English author and illustrator (Watchmen)
1977 – Sarah Michelle Gellar, American actress and producer
Notable Deaths:
1759 – George Frideric Handel, German-English organist and composer
1975 – Fredric March, American actor
1995 – Burl Ives, American actor, writer and folk singer
1999 – Anthony Newley, English singer-songwriter and actor
1999 – Bill Wendell, American television announcer (Late Show with David Letterman)
2000 – Phil Katz, American computer programmer, co-created the zip file format
2007 – Don Ho, American singer and ukulele player
2015 – Percy Sledge, American singer

Next week on Timeless:

ATOMIC CITY (TV-PG)

THE TRIO NAVIGATES RAT PACK-ERA VEGAS TO LOCATE GARCIA FLYNN. After landing in 1962 Las Vegas, Flynn (Goran Višnjic) has the team on the run with the era’s most infamous mistress. During the restless, neon-lit night, Rufus (Malcolm Barrett) meets his old mentor Anthony Bruhl (guest star Matt Frewer), whose motives may be darker than anyone suspected. Meanwhile, Lucy’s (Abigail Spencer) personal life is falling apart, Wyatt (Matt Lanter) attempts to change history for himself, and we discover Flynn intends to gamble with far more human life than we realized. Also starring Paterson Joseph, Sakina Jaffrey and Claudia Doumit. Guest starring Elena Satine, Irby Gascon, Scott Bailey, Marc Senior, Ronnie Scott and Peter Grasso

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