Timeless – The Watergate Tapes

By: Jessica Wolff

Revelations and secrets about the mysterious Rittenhouse were exposed on this week’s episode of “Timeless.” After discussing his brother’s basketball game with his mother, Rufus Carlin (Malcolm Barrett) is greeted by a limo containing Connor Mason (Paterson Joseph) and a Rittenhouse agent (John Getz). The agent asks him questions about his family and Mason informs him that Garcia Flynn (Goran Visnjic) has taken the time machine to 1972 when Nixon recorded the Watergate tapes. The agent asks him to find the missing minutes of the tape and to report to them during the mission or else his family will be in danger.

After receiving the name of her biological father, Benjamin Cahill, Lucy Preston (Abigail Spencer) sits outside his house in her car. She receives the call about the mission and drives away. As they prepare for the mission, Wyatt Logan (Matt Lanter) encourages Lucy to make contact with her father and Agent Denise Christopher (Sakina Jaffrey) gives them press credentials to get inside the White House. When they arrive in 1972, the three find themselves in the midst of an anti-war protest. Flynn uses the ensuing chaos to kidnap Wyatt, Lucy and Rufus from the crowd, knocking them out with a taser gun and chloroform.

When they regain consciousness, Flynn informs them that they are currently in the room they stayed in when they were in town for the Lincoln Assassination. He plays them the missing minutes of the Watergate tape, which has Nixon mention Rittenhouse and a mysterious document. Lucy is in disbelief over what she’s heard and Flynn mentions that Lucy never wrote anything about the document in her journal. Flynn tells Wyatt and Rufus about Lucy’s future journal and that Lucy and him have spoken privately multiple times during their missions. Wyatt and Rufus are betrayed by the revelation and Flynn asks Lucy and Rufus to get the document for him or else he will kill Wyatt. Despite Wyatt’s objections, Lucy agrees to retrieve the document.

Once outside, Rufus confronts Lucy about keeping secrets from them and she asks him if he’s ever kept a secret that scares him. Lucy comes up with a plan to contact Mark Felt (Tom Amandes), more famously known as Deep Throat, to point them in the right direction. Rufus reports to Rittenhouse and they order him to “destroy the doc.” They meet Deep Throat in the parking lot, who is hesitant to talk to them about Watergate. Lucy uses knowledge that he is Woodward and Bernstein’s informant to convince him to help them. He tells them about another break-in and the only evidence was a strange symbol drawn a piece of crumpled paper, which Rufus recognizes.

Meanwhile, Wyatt asks Flynn questions to distract him while he picks at his handcuffs. Flynn reveals that he discovered Rittenhouse and Mason’s plan for time travel when he worked for the NSA. When he investigated Rittenhouse, they framed him for the murder of his family. His objective is to destroy Rittenhouse in order to save his family. Rufus takes Lucy to the headquarters of the Black Panther organization, having recognized the symbol from his prior research of Black Panther. After telling Lucy to stay outside, Rufus asks the bartender to let him speak to Gregory Hayes (Mustafa Shakir) about the document. After some resistance, Rufus gets a meeting with Hayes, who makes fun of his name: Kanye. Rufus uses knowledge of Hayes’ friendship with Eldridge Cleaver to convince Hayes to listen to him.

As Wyatt continues to pick at his handcuffs, Flynn reads him a passage from Lucy’s diary where she writes about the death of Wyatt’s wife and that Wyatt needs to get over the death. Flynn tells him that they have the ability to change history and bring their loved one back. Hayes takes Rufus and Lucy to “the doc.” To their surprise “the doc” is not a document, but a person nicknamed Doc (Tiffany Mack) who asks them if the plan is still to drive her to San Diego. Lucy asks Doc questions and finds out that she is a former member of Rittenhouse that was born into it and has knowledge of Rittenhouse’s membership from its inception in 1778. Meanwhile, Rufus reports that the Doc is a person and yet they tell him to “destroy the doc.” When Rufus is unwilling to murder her, they offer to send someone to finish the job.

Rufus shows Lucy the tape that he’s been using to record her and Wyatt and puts it underwater to disable it. He tells her that he was forced to record them and points out that she’s been keeping secrets as well when confronted about it. They realize that they can’t hand Doc over to Flynn or Rittenhouse and Rufus insists that they need to trust each other. Wyatt breaks free of his restraints and asks Flynn why he needs to destroy America. When Flynn tells him that America and Rittenhouse are so intertwined that one can’t be destroyed without the other, Wyatt attacks him. He is quickly subdued by Flynn’s men and tied again to the chair.

Rufus calls Rittenhouse and gives them the address while Lucy calls Flynn with the address. Lucy and Rufus sneak Doc out while the two groups arrive and engage in a shootout. Flynn realizes that they have been played while Lucy arrives back at the hotel to rescue Wyatt. After Wyatt breaks free, he takes out the guard and they escape. Hayes drives Doc to San Diego and she says goodbye to Lucy and Rufus. In the phone booth, Rufus reports to Rittenhouse and tells them that they lost Doc. Rufus tries to apologize to Wyatt, but Wyatt tells him that he will now be a double agent for them.

Back in the present, the team goes their separate ways. Rufus sees the limousine and climbs inside. The Rittenhouse agent asks him about what happened back in 1972 and that he believes that Rufus sent Flynn to kill Rittenhouse agents. He mentions that he believes that Rufus was lying during his last report and reveals that he’s the one Rufus was talking to during the mission. Lucy gets the courage to knock on her father’s door and comes face to face with him after meeting his son. Her father is the Rittenhouse agent and he makes a phone call informing a mysterious person about Lucy’s visit.