Before I start, can I just say how thrilled I am that NBC gave Timeless a second chance? I LOVED the first season and when I started watching this episode, I felt this excitement come over me; I wasn’t even aware of how much I missed this show, how much I wanted to know what happened after Lucy found out her mother was a part of Rittenhouse.

Well, that’s exactly where we pick up. Almost. There’s a brief moment where we see France in 1918. The war is happening and one soldier is looking for his Captain, who he thankfully finds alive. Said Captain pulls out a little a bag from underneath another slain soldier and takes out his modern day cellphone! How would they have brand new iPhones in 1918 when I was shelling out texts on a Nokia in 2002. You know our time-travel adventures are about to get really interesting!

So, back to Lucy finding out her mother is a Rittenhouse ally. She’s floored by the revelation and it seems like a fight ensues. Meanwhile, Wyatt and Rufus are waiting for her at the headquarters all decked out in their 80s gear, hoping to travel and find her sister. Wyatt begins to think something is very wrong when Lucy fails to pick up the phone for the umpteenth time and in the last moment, notices a bomb. Yep, Rittenhouse blew up Connor Mason Industries.

Caught your breath? Okay, good! Thankfully, our beloved time-traveling buds made it out alive, as did the time machine. Well, relatively unscathed; it doesn’t fully work. We jump 6-weeks forward and they — Wyatt, Rufus, Jiya, Agent Christopher, and Connor Mason — are all off the grid. Wyatt, who suffered some injuries in the blast, is testy because he feels like a prisoner who isn’t able to find Lucy. Everyone keeps telling him to chill out because Rittenhouse will kill him immediately once he leaves the bunker and there’s no “guarantee” Lucy is still alive.

It’s difficult because they really have no idea what happened to Lucy and the chances of her being dead are greater since they don’t know her mother is Rittenhouse and thus, Rittenhouse royalty.

There’s definitely some PTSD at play here for Wyatt. He’s experiencing the same emotions as he did when his wife died — he didn’t know what happened to her and he couldn’t help her. And even though everyone around his is completely aware that he’s in love with Lucy, he’s in denial.

Good news for the viewers; Lucy is alive. And she also has no idea if her friends survived the blast. Truthfully, it’s probably more likely that they all perished.

She’s getting ready for her next mission with mommy-dearest and for a minute, it seems like she’s actually been brainwashed to be with Rittenhouse. “You’ve come so far these past few weeks,” her mother tells her.

“Let’s change history,” she retorts reluctantly. Yep, the real Lucy is still there and simply playing along in the name of survival!

Lucy, her mother and Emma, the Rittenhouse spy, all travel to 1918 where they’re tasked with finding Nicholas Keenes. Obviously, he isn’t from the history books because Lucy has never heard of him and Emma doesn’t trust her enough to disclose why he’s important.

Carol (Lucy’s diabolical mother) informs her that this trip is a test — can she prove her loyalty to Rittenhouse? The organization is looking more and more like a cult with each additional episode. I’m not a know-it-all on cults, but do they kill royalty when it betrays them?

The first test Lucy is tasked with is killing an innocent man, who sees them trying to save Keenes with a defibrillator. While she’s an inherently good person, if she’s really on their side, she’ll do whatever it takes, even kill. She knows this so she takes the gun and shoots the man, then pretends she’s completely unphased.

Emma, who is operating on Keenes, says she needs an X-Ray machine and Lucy knows just who to find: Marie Curie. Is this just another attempt at bringing in a known-historical figure to up the ante? Most likely, but it works. Lucy is reluctant to bring Marie back with them in fear of her getting hurt or killed and altering history forever.

Yet, her mother tells her they really have no choice. Lucy agrees, then runs off to “get some water,” which is code for “I need grenades to blow this shit up.”

While she’s stealing hand grenades, Wyatt sneaks up on her. Thank god! I was really beginning to feel uneasy about Lucy doing this thing solo!

Turns out, Jiya and Rufus found a way to fix the time machine using some quantum-psychics-lingo that I’ll never in my life be able to repeat.

There’s not much time to catch-up but Lucy gives them gist; her mom is Rittenhouse, she was stealing grenades to blow up the mothership, thus leaving herself stranded in 1918 and hoping to kill Nicholas. Now that they’re back, she tasks them with the blowing-up part, while she returns to make sure Marie is safe, while Nicholas isn’t.

With all of Rittenhouse aware of who Wyatt and Rufus are, it isn’t easy for them to blend in, even in another time. They’re immediately spotted by the Captain from the beginning of the episode and some other dude we saw aiding Emma. A fight ensues and Wyatt saves them by taking everyone out. You’d think by now Rufus would have a handle on defending himself. They find the Captain’s cellphone and are stunned. Who was this dude?

The phone reveals years and years on transcripts, which means the guy has been here for quite some time and has been working up the ranks!

Meanwhile, Lucy returns to the cabin with her mother, Marie and Marie’s daughter. Since Marie was one of Lucy’s hero’s, she’s intrigued to learn all about the X-Ray machine and see it in person. Unfortunately, the machine is acting up and Marie chalks it up to some kind of interference, which is basically her cue to head home. The interference in question is the actual TIME MACHINE, y’all, and they can’t have someone of her caliber seeing that.

TIMELESS — “The War to End All Wars” Episode 201 — Pictured: (l-r) Kim Bubbs as Marie Curie, Susanna Thompson as Carol — (Photo by: Justin Lubin/NBC)

The results from the X-ray are enough for Emma to remove all the shrapnel. Lucy finds a moment when Nicholas is unaccompanied and tries to smother him with a pillow.

She’s unsuccessful because her mother was onto her. She expresses her disappointment and hopes that Lucy would see that joining Rittenhouse was the right side of history. Lucy is unswayed.

I too am disappointed in Lucy; how did she not realize her mother suspected she was faking it? The woman was able to keep this huge secret from her for her whole life, meanwhile, Lucy has never been good at lying about anything.

“I’m still the same person,” her mother says, which stings more than it should because of the realization that she was never actually a good person to begin with. Her whole life? A complete LIE!

There isn’t much time to dwell on it because Nicholas is ready to be moved to the mothership. Yes, the plan this whole time was to bring this man to 2018! Who is this man and why is he so important?

As they’re transporting him, they stumble upon Marie and her daughter swirling around the mothership. You really thought a physicist who pioneered research on radioactivity would just mosey on home when something greater than she’s ever seen was screwing up her machine? Nah!

Emma draws her gun to shoot Marie, but Lucy protests. And for good reason! Without Marie, the discovery of polonium and radium would be thwarted. Her death, here and now, would set the world back immensely and make a hug dip in history.

“If you die, your work dies with you,” her daughter exclaims. It’s amazing how this woman could figure it out yet someone who has seen Marie’s contributions in the modern world couldn’t!

Carol sides with her daughter, ordering Emma to put the gun down. Unfortunately, her efforts are without effect because Emma was told to get rid of Lucy if she posed any issues and Carol’s word would be overwritten as she wouldn’t remain partial.

“Someone who is willing to die fighting against us will never fight for us,” Emma says, thinking she’s wise AF.

Say it loud for the people in the back girl; LUCY is not a traitor, even when her mother tells her to be!

As always, Wyatt and Rufus are her knights in shining armor. The analogy applies more to Wyatt but whatever, Rufus is there too so let’s give him credit.

TIMELESS — “The War to End All Wars” Episode 201 — Pictured: (l-r) Malcolm Barrett as Rufus Carlin, Matt Lanter as Wyatt Logan, Abigail Spencer as Lucy Preston — (Photo by: Justin Lubin/NBC)

“We can each walk away with the person we came for,” he tells Emma pointing a gun at ‘zomboy’s’ head.

Emma reluctantly hands over Lucy, who once again tries to convince her mother to do the right thing and come with them.

I truly feel sorry for Lucy; she’s been thrust into this life she never wanted and the only relationship she has left is being torn apart. Now, she has to fight against the only woman she’s ever loved. And on top of it all, she finds out her mother was behind her sister’s disappearance and Emma even traveled to different times to make sure she could never come back.

How could a mother be content with getting rid of one daughter? Did Amy know too much? Could they only keep Lucy because she’s a “pure-bred” and thought she would join the cult?

The trio, finally reunited, returns home and everyone in the bunker is shocked, albeit happy, to see Lucy.

She has trouble adjusting to her new reality; the bunker isn’t the problem though, it’s everything else, including the fact that she killed a man.

Wyatt tries to cheer her up and they ALMOST kiss. This is the moment we’ve been waiting for through a half-assed show cancellation and Jiya interrupts it!

I’d be mad but she had a good reason — Connor was able to pull up the flight manifest for the mothership for the past six weeks. Turns out, the ship traveled quite a lot to 10 different destinations. Or as Wyatt calls them “pressure points,” key moments in history that would allow them to change the present.

According to Rufus, Rittenhouse’s mission is to create a perfect world — somewhere between Hunger Games and Handmaid’s Tale — controlled entirely by them. If you think that sounds scary, you’re absolutely right.

They believe Rittenhouse planted several agents in history who have worked their way up, built up trust and have been silently waiting to be activated for the full takeover.

And what’s worse is that the manifesto Rittenhouse has been following, found on the Captain’s handy-dandy cell? It was written by Nicholas Keenes.

If you’re still like WHO THE HELL IS KEENES, keep reading.

According to Carol, who is too excited for Keenes to wake up in the present-day, he’s their savior, their creator, their fearless leader.

He had an idea in the 1900s about time travel and Rittenhouse has been following his ideologies ever since.

“I’m your granddaughter,” she tells the confused young man.

Okay… jaw meet floor.

His granddaughter? How the? What the?

Let me get this straight; Keenes was unknowingly the founder of Rittenhouse. He technically died in 1918 France, which is how Carol knew to find him there. But since she exists, he had to have had a wife and a child back at home.

This whole time, they’ve been trying to bring him to the future so he could lead them? But how does that not alter the timeline? Someone who should have been dead cannot just appear in the present day? Or can they? I really need a handbook on time travel as it pertains to Timeless.

Regardless, this revelation means that Lucy is more of a Rittenhouse royal than she ever even thought possible. And as such, I’m sure they cannot just kill her, even if she is their biggest obstacle, which at least guarantees her safety.

The surprises keep coming, however. When Agent Christopher cannot figure out some manuscripts, she turns to the only man who may have more insight into this organization than they do: Garcia Flynn.

Look, I know he was technically up to no good, but at this point, he’s definitely not a threat. Why is he still locked up?

Understandably, Flynn isn’t pleased to see Christopher and says the only person he’ll talk to is Lucy. That’s surprising since last we saw, he thought she ratted him out.

All I can say, it’s a good thing they brought her back when they did.

As for Jiya, she continues having debilitating visions. Will she prove to be an asset to the team? Is she seeing the future?

Thoughts on the season premiere of Timeless? Is it even better than you expected/remembered?