Timeless recap: ‘The Darlington 500’

Timeless is one of those few shows that enter season two exuding confidence.

Everything about the series feels stronger this year: tighter story-telling, higher stakes, and excellent writing. “The Darlington 500” takes viewers back to the early days of NASCAR racing.

It’s interesting watching the series go from one of the most hyped premieres last year to incredibly underrated in only two episodes. It’s the time-traveling show people should be watching, and hopefully, the loyal fan base will stick around for another season.

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Heading back to South Carolina in 1955, the time team is tasked with finding a future racing legend, Ryan Millerson. Like last year’s James Bond episode, “Darlington 500” allows Matt Lanter to have a little fun as Wyatt.

Turns out, the military man is a major fan of NASCAR and happens to know everything the team will need to find their latest victim. Often times Rufus or Lucy is responsible for the light-hearted parts of an episode but it’s always a delightful surprise to watch how much of a dork Wyatt can be.

At the race track, the team meets one of the first African-American drivers, Wendell Scott. Joseph Lee Anderson puts in a great guest performance as a man who races for himself even though he knows he’ll never earn the respect he deserves. He quickly bonds with Wyatt over their love of cars and father issues, before agreeing to help the team stop Rittenhouse from blowing up car CEO’s.

This is easier said than done because Millerson is actually a Rittenhouse operative sent back in time on a suicide mission. “Darlington 500” does effectively explore the idea of these agents questioning their duty after living years of their life. Millerson has a pregnant wife and a successful career. If Emma wasn’t threatening to kill them, he probably wouldn’t go through with the bombing.

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The world will never know because Wyatt ends up shooting the racer dead before he can destroy history. With a bit of flashy driving, the group get the bomb back to Wendell’s garage and are able to successfully disarm it.

However, saving history means the group never seems to catch a break. Wyatt and Lucy are interrupted before they can share a kiss, Jiya’s visions are becoming more frequent, and Connor is becoming stir-crazy having to watch his name get publicly smeared. It’s a bit unclear where the latter’s storyline is headed but it would seem like he’s going to use Jiya’s power of seeing into the future/past for his own gain. Then again, he could always defect to Rittenhouse but that seems like a weird change of heart.

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Speaking of Rittenhouse, that’s the only let-down of “Darlington 500.” Keynes spends most of the episode demanding a record player or painting before unveiling a giant manifesto. It looks like an abstract art mural, but everyone in the room is completely enamored by it.

At this point, there’s still not enough known about the organization to know what exactly they’re heading towards. One thing is for certain though, Lucy’s mother looks like she’s second-guessing the decision to abandon her daughter and Emma is all-in on this change of leadership.