Timeless Review: The Murder of Jesse James (Season 1 Episode 12)

It’s very hard to wrap my head around exactly what to say about Timeless Season 1 Episode 12, “The Murder of Jesse James.”

Here’s the thing with this show: the content isn’t weak.

The cast, as always, is insanely talented, the dialogue is snappy and well delivered, the storylines themselves are actually quite good — but they seem to be half-baked.

It often seems as though the writers of the show have too many great ideas that they are eager to put out there for viewers to see, so, they wind up throwing all these vitally important and dramatic plotlines out at once until it all becomes a jumbled mess that is, often, a bit difficult to keep track of.

I had completely forgotten about Lucy’s sister, if we’re being totally honest. It seems as though she did, too, if this episode is anything to go by — which is fair, given what she has been dealing with, and it is interesting to see her beginning to crack under the weight of defending the world and its historical integrity from a maniac hell-bent on revenge.

It’s nice to see the imperfect parts of these characters. It’s great to see Lucy completely lose the will to care about preserving history (until the last second, of course) because she is making no progress in getting someone she actually, truly, cares about back. It’s not a selfish reaction, exactly, but it’s not as selfless as she has been up until this point.

Lucy has gone on these missions, lost someone she loved dearly, without being able to mourn the loss, all to serve a country and world that will never know what she’s done for them.

That’s a heavy burden to bear.

Wyatt has always been a bit more morally ambiguous and selfish (meant in the least insulting way possible, of course). Wyatt’s primary goal has always been to find a way to save his wife. He has stuck to that throughout the series. Where the others have focused on the bigger picture, Wyatt, often, could not care less about the bigger picture. He’s a very black and white man.

He sees right, he sees wrong — he sees a mission: he sees accomplishment and failure.

But once he sets his mind on something, he fixates. He was always going to try to get his wife back, at some point. It has never been a matter of “if,” but “when.”

Apparently, the time is now.

To it’s credit, this is the first episode of Timeless that has sought to address all three of our heroes specific, individual struggles and goals. Lucy wants to save her sister, Rufus wants to, well, survive, and Wyatt wants to get his wife back.

All three of these plotlines come up this week.

Hell, we even learn more about Flynn and his compulsion to kill.

Crowded? Yes.

But only because a lot of this hasn’t been addressed consistently throughout the series, so, it has to be done in a rush job in one episode.

However, one particularly fantastic thing about this episode is the appearance of Bass Reeves. I, among many others, am ashamed to admit that I did not know the man who inspired the Lone Ranger was black, and that reveal is a moment that makes my heart soar right along with Rufus’.

It is awesome that they included this character, as well Grant (whose appearance made me loathe the idea of “Tonto” even more).

This episode is quite societally and racially aware, which is impressive.

All in all, as jumbled as this show can be, it has heart, and a talented group of people working their butts off for it. This mess of a beginning could come together to form something great, if it is given the chance.

What did you think of this episode of Timeless? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

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Timeless airs Mondays at 10/9c on NBC.

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