‘Timeless’ episode 9 review: Bonnie and Clyde, Lucy and Wyatt, and the mysterious key

How well would Lucy and Wyatt fare within the world of notorious criminals? There were times during Monday night’s new episode of “Timeless” where we saw the team have to try to figure that out more amidst the backdrop of Bonnie & Clyde, and the results were surprising and in some ways … romantic?

Relationships were a theme here almost from the very outset, when Lucy started to realize more and more that her “engagement” was really a mistake. She couldn’t tell the poor guy that she was a time-traveler and had no recollection of her, but at the same time she couldn’t bring herself to break his heart. Wyatt encouraged her to make the move, given that it would make him feel better in the end and offer him a chance to go out and find the real person that he was supposed to be with.

Back to the Great Depression – Following this, we had a chance to move forward to the next part of the story, which involved Lucy, Wyatt, and Rufus looking to retrieve the next hint as to the Rittenhouse – Garcia Flynn mystery: A key, one that Bonnie of the infamous Barrow gang liked to sport around her neck. In order to get closer to her, however, Lucy and Wyatt had themselves another undercover mission: Get close to them by any means possible. Rufus probably wishes he could’ve done the same, given that he spent a big percentage of this episode having to deal with interrogation over their whereabouts. Rufus getting interrogated is a frequent theme of the season to date, but we gotta say that Wesley Snipes may be at the top of the list of favorite code-names.

As our heroes starting to get closer to the criminals, they in turn realized that one of their biggest struggles was having to keep their cover intact. At first, it looked like they were going to be able to pass off being a partnership, but then they spotted Lucy’s engagement ring. From there, their cover relationship had to transition over to “fake couple,” which probably created a few good moments for ‘shippers out there. For us, we personally prefer the show better when the central trio doesn’t have romance getting in the way, especially since Wyatt is trying to get back to his wife. After all, the engagement story that he told was so special to him for a personal reason.

Eventually, Rufus was able to make it to the cabin that Lucy and Wyatt were hiding out, and was able to pass along information that the police, led by Undercover Flynn (is there any other kind of Flynn?) were on their way. He also wanted the key, but the problem is that while our heroes tried to use subtle means to snatch it from Bonnie, Flynn metaphorically kicked the door down with a ton of guys with guns. Clyde got shot, Flynn snatched the key, and then Bonnie took her own life rather than having to face a future without Clyde around.

Unfortunately, we can’t call this mission a victory, given that Flynn got out of there with what he came for, and the team was left scrambling once again to figure out their next move.

In the present – Rittenhouse and their whole operation (the face of which for now is Lucy’s biological dad) continued to do its thing of being terrible, and threatened Mason tonight in a variety of different ways. They tried sending threats in the direction of Agent Christopher, and threw out some reminders that they can withstand almost any attack that comes in their direction.

When the team came back, Rufus was questioned by Agent Christopher about his own history with Mason, including how the project was funded and the mystery surrounding it. He warned her to stop digging, saying that it would lead to her imminent death. When she wouldn’t go along with it, he agreed to tell her some of what he knows. Think of this as a point where we could easily see things getting worse for Rufus, but who knows? Maybe having this ally will help in some way.

Our cliffhanger – Flynn uses the key to open a box, and finds a note inside. Where he could be going from there is anyone’s guess.

Overall – We’d argue that this episode of “Timeless” started a little too slow and then ended too fast with all of the stuff about Rittenhouse and seeing what the note was that Flynn had. We’re also surprised that we didn’t really revisit much of Lucy and her fiance given that was so heavy early in the episode.

Still, by and large this was an entertaining hour. Grade: B.

Next week – The winter finale is here! That’s going to be a chance to learn about the story of Benedict Arnold, but at the same time, it will also be the episode where we start to learn a thing or two more about the potential dissolution of the team. Read more of what to expect over at the link here. (Photo: NBC.)