Timeless Recap: The Last Ride of Bonnie and Clyde

This isn't what it looks like. 

This week on Timeless, I finally realize who Garcia Flynn reminds me of. 

He looks like the evil cousin of Phil Dunphy! Am I right, or am I right?

Garcia Flynn

Phil Dunphy

Anyway, this time around the team winds up in 1934 Arkansas and gets caught up with the infamous Barrow gang. 

In the pre-episode flashback, we are reminded that Lucy has a fiance. We are reminded of this because we have not seen him for several weeks and lest we forget he is a convenient plot point to get in the way of the burgeoning Wyatt/Lucy romance. I still think a complicated love triangle between the three team members with Wyatt at the center would have been more interesting, but that's just me. So we are just given enough time to wonder, "Oh yeah, what happened to that guy?" when the show opens with Lucy having dinner with him. She asks some question about what his favorite food is and he teases her about asking first-date like questions. "Haha!" she responds. "This totally isn't a first date! Least of all to me!" Smooth, Lucy.

But she is quickly saved from her awkward blind date with her fiance and called to Mason Industries, where the team learns that Flynn has just popped up in Arkansas in 1934. Agent Christopher has found a note that Flynn is targeting with the words "McElroy Bank and Trust, Rittenhouse key" written on it. As they pick out clothes for the mission, Lucy mentions her date, and Wyatt chides her for pretending that she's supposed to be with this guy. He reminds her that her sister is gone and she's not even supposed to know who this person is.

When they land in the past, Wyatt and Lucy investigate McElroy Bank as Rufus waits outside. Lucy is just trying to think of a snappy comeback to the question of whether she has "permission from her father or husband" to open a bank account when the proceedings are interrupted by a bank robbery by the legendary outlaws. Lucy notices the Rittenhouse key hanging around Bonnie's neck. 

But they don't have time to ask her about it, one because she's a notorious outlaw in the middle of a robbery and two because Flynn leads a team of police to the bank, where a shootout ensues. Lucy and Wyatt, figuring that Flynn must be after the key, help Bonnie and Clyde escape. This involves abandoning Rufus, whom Wyatt has no problem leaving behind, apparently, casually tossing out that he'll just "meet them at the Lifeboat." Great guy, that Wyatt. 

So Lucy, Wyatt, Bonnie and Clyde make a getaway to this obscure cabin in the woods, where Lucy and Wyatt make out that they're a pair of star-crossed gangsters just like they're counterparts. Lucy makes use of her knowledge of obscure bank robbery history to convince the pair that they're legit.  Wyatt wants to snatch the key from Bonnie's neck and run, but Lucy wants to investigate further and see if they can figure out what the key is for. The only issue is that they have until 9am the next morning, because that's when Bonnie and Clyde are supposed to die in a shootout with police. 

Rufus, of course, is apprehended by police, who suspect that he may be friends with the outlaws. Just how they come to that conclusion is anyone's guess, but Texas Ranger Frank Hamer, who lead the hunt for Bonnie and Clyde, approaches him and asks if he is involved. Rufus denies knowing the others, but he freaks out when Flynn walks in. Flynn tries to pin the robbery on Rufus as well, but thankfully Rufus travels with a fake driver's license with the name "Wesley Snipes." By far, the fake names they keep giving people throughout history is the best part of this show. 

In the cabin, Lucy and Wyatt try to act like a pair of lovebirds as they hunt for information about the key. Bonnie tells them the story of how Clyde stole it from automaker Henry Ford and gave it to her, but she doesn't know anything about what it does or what it opens. Lucy inspects the key and notices that its inscribed with Latin and reads "The key to the beginning of all time and the key to the end of all time." When Bonnie sees Lucy's engagement ring and asks how Wyatt proposed, he jumps in with the story that is obviously about his wife. It's a touching story, and Lucy is obviously beginning to get the feels for him, when just like that he leans over and plants a kiss. It's supposed to convince their traveling partners that they are really in love but it all seems to do is confuse Lucy and Wyatt. 

In a jarring jump back to the present, Mason meets with his Rittenhouse contact and warns them that Agent Christopher may be on to them. The man responds that Rittenhouse has survived much worse than Agent Christopher, and she's not going to get in the way of their mission. Not far away, Christopher spies on him and takes some photos for evidence.  

Meanwhile, Lucy and Wyatt wait in an adjoining room for Bonnie and Clyde to fall asleep so they can take the key and run. However, Bonnie and Clyde aren't really interested in falling asleep, so Lucy and Wyatt lie awake debating the merits of true love. Lucy asks about his engagement story, and tells him that while there is only one person in the world for him, it doesn't mean he should close himself off from the possibility of loving others. "Like me, love me!" she pleads. Okay, not really, but that's essentially what she wants to say. 

In the middle of the night, Henry Methvin, the man who eventually turns Bonnie and Clyde over to the police, appears. Lucy is confused as to why he's there, because historically, Bonnie and Clyde are supposed to die in Louisiana. Lucy notices Rufus outside the window and when she and Wyatt goes outside to talk to them, Clyde catches them all and takes them captive. Henry tries to convince them that Rufus is with the police, but Rufus plays a tape recorder of Henry giving up his friends to Hamer. 

Flynn and the Hamer show up with some police and they ambush and kill Clyde as the pair try to escape. Bonnie screams as Flynn grabs her and takes the key from her neck. Rufus, Wyatt and Lucy get away, as does Flynn. Hamer approaches Bonnie and tells her not to do anything rash, but she tries to raise a gun and they shoot her. 

When they arrive back in the present, Christopher asks them about what they learned. It's actually very little. They don't know what the key was for, what it opened, and what's more, Flynn has disappeared with it. It's a wonder they let these guys continue to work together.  

Lucy and Wyatt share very awkward goodbyes. He tries to tell her that the kiss was just to fool Clyde. Lucy shrugs it off like it's no big deal. But it is. Of course it is. 

As Rufus eats Thai food by himself in a darkened restaurant, Christopher finds him and begins asking questions about Mason. She reveals that things aren't adding up for her and she wants to know who funded the time travel project. Before she was a Fed, she was a cop, she explains, and she knows people. Rufus warns her to stop digging, but at her insistence, he agrees to tell her everything he knows about Rittenhouse. 

The episode ends with Flynn breaking into a house, taking the key and inserting it into a box. The key works and reveals a sealed piece of parchment that he opens and reads. Close up on his SHOCKED FACE. 

And that's it. Next week, in the fall finale, the team find themselves facing off against Benedict Arnold, who apparently was a member of Rittenhouse. Is it a metaphor for the treachery that Rittenhouse is to America?! We'll soon find out. I really hope we get some answers soon before the show overstays its welcome.