‘Timeless’ episode 10 (fall finale) review: Did Lucy, Garcia Flynn stop Rittenhouse once and for all?

Tonight, “Timeless” began its fall finale with a brief glimpse into Benedict Arnold, known by many to be one of the biggest traitors in the history of the country. However, we didn’t stay there for very long before jumping back to the future.

Instead, we spent a little bit of time before hopping in the time machine getting some personal updates. We got see Agent Christopher’s wife for the first time! She invited Lucy over for dinner, and in the process the two shared some perspective on what she is going through in terms of her mother and her sister. Meanwhile, apparently Rufus has the same ideas as we do about how to spend his free time: Playing PS4 games! Unfortunately, he and Jiya were interrupted by Connor Mason turning up, and demanding that he either record the next mission properly for Rittenhouse or face the consequences.

This brings us back to yet another somewhat-loosely-threaded journey through time, and back to the age of the American Revolution — where things started to get weird. Lucy, Rufus, and Wyatt ran into Garcia Flynn, and at the same time, the same goes for George Washington. They were ordered by the future First President to go and find Arnold (as Flynn, using the alter ego of a Russian spy, told him of the traitor’s intention) and bring him to justice.

Flynn’s proposition – When they were alone, the team started to become aware of his true intentions and plans. He wanted to destroy Rittenhouse once and fore all, and had an opportunity to do so thanks to what happened in last week’s “Bonnie & Clyde” episode with the key. If they helped him catch Arnold and destroy the covert organization once and for all, he’d stop his journeys through time, given them the proper Mothership, and even tell Wyatt who was responsible for killing his wife. Sweet deal, no? Pretty sweet stakes, if nothing else, for the remainder of the episode. We wonder why Flynn just didn’t do this sooner to make matters easier on himself.

Eventually, the team opted to take him up on the offer — possibly realizing that they really did not have a better choice but to go ahead and go along with their former adversary. They eventually found Arnold after attempting to defect to the British, and from there proceeded to question him about Rittenhouse. As it turns out, this organization is older than the country!

Who is Rittenhouse? – As it turns out, we’re so far back in the past now where Rittenhouse as actually a person. David Rittenhouse is his name, and at this point our heroes faced their ultimate ethical dilemma: If they stop him, they change history. Maybe it’s for the better, or maybe it’s for the worst. It’s an enormous risk.

If you were ever looking for a story that humanized Flynn, this story was it. The best performance of Goran Visnjic’s entire time on the show came in his conversation here with Lucy, where he claimed that once he stopped Rittenhouse, he would only see his family for a brief moment before leaving them behind. He realized that he changed from the man he once was, and he couldn’t bring that sort of monster into their world. It was a sacrifice he was willing to make, and a heartbreaking one.

Meeting the man – Well, this was uncomfortable. When we finally made it to meeting the guy, he was every bit as horrible as he imagined. He was sexist, offensive, and unfortunately for the team, incredibly crafty. While they were able to dupe many people in their travels, the same could not be said for Rittenhouse. He intended to torment and have his way with the three plus Flynn, and were it not for Rufus (who was left outside) striking back, they may have been completely hopeless.

You know who is hopeless? Benedict Arnold. Rittenhouse didn’t buy his explanation of not know what he was getting himself into, and with that, he proceeded to fire several bullets into his chest. So much for keeping history the same, right? Rufus burst in and saved everyone, but as Flynn raised his gun to take Rittenhouse down once and for all, he proclaimed that the organization would outlive him and remain powerful, making the team’s mission null and void.

Garcia killing him, but then the team quickly regretted working for him for so long. He wanted to kill Rittenhouse’s young boy, feeling as though he would be the keeper of secrets that would keep everything in present day the same. This is where Lucy stepped in with a fairly compelling argument: Just because the boy believed the same thing that his father did not didn’t mean that he always would, and he could change. Too bad Flynn didn’t listen.

Your cliffhanger – An angry Flynn took Lucy aboard the Mothership, and that’s all we got. Talk about a tease!

As a whole, we’d say that the fall finale provided a lot of compelling drama, even if it didn’t really touch on many issues in the present and we have no idea where Flynn is taking her. While we wish there were even more reveals, we’d still say that this was an enormously entertaining end to the season — for now. Grade: B+.

Next time – We speculate on the return of “Timeless” to the air and so much more over at the link here. (Photo: NBC.)