Timeless Review: Party at Castle Varlar (Season 1 Episode 4)

“Party at Castle Varlar” may very well be the best episode of Timeless thus far.

Last week, we touched a little on the conflicting motivations and personalities of Lucy and Wyatt (and, honestly, how detached Rufus seems to be from that developmental narrative), and, this week, we are provided with more insight in to those same aspects of those characters.

In fact, they’re almost directly addressed when Wyatt tells Lucy that she needs to figure out what she is fighting for. Wyatt always knows what his goal is — he knows what he’s doing, he knows why. Wyatt knows what he believes and the only reason he holds himself back from following through with what he firmly believes is right is because Lucy, a woman he has come to trust, tells him there are good reasons not to.

Wyatt’s world tends to be black and white, good and bad. He sees people doing horrible things, and he sees an opportunity to punish such people.

Lucy knows what good can come out of the existence of badness. She has a talent for remaining neutral enough to see the bigger picture.

Although, that resolve seems to be shaken in this episode, as she seems particularly affected by entering Nazi Germany (and, really, who wouldn’t be?), and is quickly overwhelmed by how out of her depth she is when she is made to act as a spy and, more or less, a soldier.

To be honest, there is a moment when she’s staring at herself in the mirror, getting dressed for the party, during which I am convinced that Lucy is Jewish.

But, no. She is literally just terrified.

With good reason.

It’s really nice to see the characters reacting to the absurd world they’ve been thrust in to. None of this is normal — Lucy and Rufus have no formal training for something like this, unlike Wyatt.

Speaking of Rufus, because we spend so much time discussing the other two: we see a bit more of Rufus’ journey this week, which is absolutely intriguing — particularly when he questions Flemming about spying and von Braun about his rockets. Rufus is struggling to come to terms with the man he is becoming.

Or, perhaps, the man he already is, given that he helped create the time machine and has been spying on Lucy and Wyatt, both of whom he deem to be good, trustworthy people.

He is feeling guilty for his role in everything that is happening, and it is becoming clear that Rufus is struggling to cope.

Here is where I am struggling with this series, thus far:

If Lucy can only really remember the timeline as she knew it, as she lived it, before history changed, how can she adequately continue to fill the role of the historian if history is shifting constantly with every change they make?

We have seen the domino affect their travels have on present day with the way Lucy’s life has turned completely upside-down — so, how can we assume that other major, historical events haven’t been altered by what they’ve done?

We can’t.

And, assuming they have, if Lucy isn’t familiar with these new, changed timelines, then she does not have the historical knowledge she once possessed. Her facts may very well be completely inaccurate now.

Perhaps this is something that will come up later, as things, inevitably, continue to change…

We will find out.

For now, however, I leave you with this:

How cute is fanboy Wyatt?!

More of that, please.

What did you think of this week’s episode? Let me know in the comments below!

Reviewer Rating:

User Rating:

Timeless airs Mondays, 10/9c on NBC.