Timeless Recap: The Alamo
This week on Timeless, our time-traveling trio visits March 5, 1836: The Battle of the Alamo.
This episode is all about Wyatt, and I have to say, it's about time. So far Wyatt has been one of the most one-dimensional characters I've ever seen. Five episodes in and the show is finally giving him some backstory. In fact, the show begins with Wyatt getting fired from the mission.
It seems that Homeland Security, minus Agent Christopher, is not happy with Wyatt's progress so far in killing Flynn. Mainly because he hasn't. Probably because he's too busy killing everyone else he comes in contact with instead. They want to replace him with someone named Baumgardner, a fellow soldier Wyatt used to serve with. Since Wyatt is apparently the world's most unflappable guy, he actually tells them that this new soldier would make a better choice anyway.
But there's no time for Baumgardner to get in and to replace Wyatt from the team, as Flynn's machine has just shown up in 1836, at the Alamo Mission. Wyatt, being from Texas himself, knows right away what he thinks Flynn is up to: even though everyone who defended the Alamo died, somehow, Flynn must be trying to make the battle worse. The team, after getting a short history lesson from Lucy about all of the famous figures they will soon come in contact with (Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett being the biggest two), decide to split up and look for Flynn. Flynn isn't there, obviously - he's with the Mexican general Santa Anna, promising him sackfuls of gold and that he has some ideas to help the Mexican army "crush the rebellion."
As Wyatt walks around the Alamo, he begins to get war flashbacks. These are vivid, real-time depictions of his fellow soldiers from his time in Afghanistan. This is the first glimpse we get of Wyatt being a three-dimensional character, although it's interesting that this is only just now happening, given that he's been through some pretty rough territory previously as well.
Any way, we then get to the crux of why Flynn is really there: he storms in and kills Colonel William Travis, one of the Alamo's co-captains with Bowie, a few days earlier than he is supposed to die. Travis wrote a famous letter addressed "To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World," which was largely responsible for rallying people around the Texians' cause. After Flynn's assassination, Travis is unable to finish his letter, which makes the team speculate that Flynn is trying to stop Texas from becoming a state.
At Flynn's suggestion, Santa Anna arrives three days early, flying a flag that makes clear he is taking no prisoners, which is also wrong. According to Lucy, Anna did spare the women and children at the Alamo, but not this time. Even Flynn tries to talk Anna out of this merciless approach, saying that he himself is a father, to no avail.
This is when Wyatt jumps into action. He tells Rufus to find a way out of the Alamo, while he is going to help the defending army keep Santa Anna's forces at bay. He also wants Lucy to finish Travis' letter and make sure it gets out, preserving history. Lucy balks at the idea, claiming that she doesn't know what the rest of the letter contains, but Wyatt doesn't care. Make it up, he tells her. Just make sure it gets out.
During the battle, Rufus chats with Davy Crockett, who as it turns out, is a big fat liar. When Rufus shares that he's scared, Crockett confesses that so is he. He's never wrestled a bear one-handed, as the legends about him claim; he's made all of that up to make himself feel bigger. Wyatt tells Bowie how to best defend the Alamo, and shares with him his own war time experiences. It sees that at one point, his unit was pinned down and only one person was going to make it out alive. They drew straws, and Wyatt won, leaving his fellow soldiers to fend off 100 men while he could get away. That decision hasn't stuck well with Wyatt, and he doesn't want to let another opportunity to make it right pass him by.
So when Rufus and Lucy finally find a way to smuggle the women and children out and it's time for them to go, Wyatt tells her he's not going. Since he's about to get fired anyway, he doesn't see the point. He'd rather stay behind and not flee like he did last time. Lucy, after spending the last five episodes questioning all of Wyatt's decisions, freaks out and tells him that there's no one else she trusts, she needs him. He gives in and goes with them after all.
It's another narrow escape, and the team makes it back once again with nothing to show for it. But before Homeland security can officially remove Wyatt from the mission, Lucy and Rufus say they won't continue without him. And without Rufus as the pilot, the time machine can't really...jump.
At the very end, Lucy returns home and presses her mother for information on her real father. Her mother gives in and begins telling her about him, and hands her a note with his real name. Of course, we all know what the name is by now. It's so painfully transparent that Flynn is her real father, but I guess we have to wait a few more episodes or two before it's officially revealed.