Timeless Review: Mrs. Sherlock Holmes (Season 2 Episode 7)

Wyatt gets jealous and Lucy marches with the suffragettes on Timeless Season 2 Episode 7, “Mrs. Sherlock Holmes.”

Timeless delivers another entertaining episode but it is really starting to feel like the show is spinning its wheels a bit until the finale. Not only do Rufus and Jiya essentially repeat the exact same argument over her premonitions from earlier in the season, but this is yet another story featuring minimal progression of the Rittenhouse plot in favor of more Lucy/Wyatt angst.

Look, I do love a good ‘ship. It is one of the things I often enjoy most about a show. However, this love triangle (quadrangle?) is sucking up way too much time.

It is great to see Lucy experiencing a historical event and time that clearly means a lot to her. Unfortunately, I can’t help but notice, in an episode set around women’s rights, the main female protagonist of Timeless spends a fair amount of her screen time dealing with her romantic issues.

Not cool, show.

I just hope all of this angst eventually leads to some major character development for these two. Right now it seems to exist solely to make Lucy miserable and Wyatt look bad.

Also, I feel like I keep saying the same things over and over again in these reviews, which is another indication Timeless is basically running in place with its storylines right now.

Moving on!

For a change, the strongest elements in this episode actually involve secondary characters. Grace Humiston’s lady detective is an enjoyable addition to the storyline and her chemistry with Lucy and Wyatt works well.

I appreciate the writers allow Grace to at first express a different, somewhat negative view of the women’s suffrage movement. At the time, Alice Paul’s approach towards attaining the right to vote for women was pretty divisive. It is nice to see the show reflect this, even if in a small way.

Plus, lady detectives are my favorite kind of detective.

Another strong storyline involves Rittenhouse’s Evil Emma showing up to thwart the efforts of her boss, Nicholas Keynes, to stop the 19th amendment. The very small bit of Emma’s backstory viewers learn gives a lot of insight into her character.

She may end up smooching on Keynes at the close of the episode, but it is hard to imagine a woman with her past genuinely feeling attached to someone who wants to, “put women in their place.”

It will not be surprising if Emma outsmarts him and ends up in charge of Rittenhouse by the end of the season.

Anyway, I kind of stan Emma now? She’s a good villain.

The Rufus and Flynn pairing is also very enjoyable. Rufus feeling invincible because he knows it isn’t his time to die is a really interesting way to explore how a person might handle knowing their future.

Flynn’s reactions and attempts to talk sense into Rufus are quite fun. This new version Flynn, who is nearly unrecognizable from Season 1 Flynn, is very likable. Although, it is pretty obvious the writers are building up Flynn at Wyatt’s expense.

Why? Probably to facilitate a love quadrangle between Flynn, Lucy, Wyatt, and Jessica.

I am still really hoping the show is going to turn all of this upside down and surprise viewers with some sort of unexpected twist because right now this all seems very predictable. Especially now that the show is hinting Jessica might be a part of Rittenhouse.

To close, I’d like to briefly discuss the way Timeless depicts historical figures and events in this episode because, for the first time, I think the show makes a few missteps.

As long as the spirit of the story and historical era being depicted is accurate, taking liberties with characters, timing, and events is understandable and even necessary. While I don’t think Timeless got the general spirit of the women’s suffrage movement wrong, some of the inaccuracies do a disservice to the actual history and people involved.

First, I am no expert, but I cannot find any evidence Alice Paul ever made a speech that changed President Woodrow Wilson’s mind about supporting the 19th amendment. Wilson actually announced his support for women’s suffrage in 1918, a year before the events of this episode.

And, to be very simplistic, Wilson’s decision to support women’s suffrage was the result of the very important role women played at home and on the battlefront during World War I.

Attempting to credit Alice Paul solely for President Wilson’s support basically erases the contributions of all of those women, not to mention the many, many other suffragettes who worked to win the right to vote.

It is then even stranger the episode closes with Alice Paul, one of Lucy’s heroes, becoming a footnote in the history of the suffrage movement because she does not give one (non-existent) speech. That choice essentially ignores all of the important work and leadership Alice Paul accomplishes before 1919 — which is a lot!

For a show that usually does a great job highlighting lesser-known historical events and figures, it is surprising to see one of those figures basically being erased. It might be more understandable if there were some specific purpose to this ending, but I am not seeing it.

Unless it is just about giving Lucy one more thing to be sad about?

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

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Timeless airs Sundays at 10/9c on NBC.

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