Timeless - 'Stranded'

"This is not a good start."

So, this seems a good point in the series to shake up the formula, right?

After the bombshells of 'The Watergate Tape', with trust between our three protagonists at an all-time low and revelations thick on the ground, we take a step back from routine Flynn thwarting, as our antagonist's latest time jump - this time to Pittsburgh in 1754, at the height of the French and Indian War - proves to be a trap, and while the team are being detained by the French Flynn's people locate the Lifeboat and blow a hole in its circuits. Thus our protagonists are forced to try and patch up their time machine with 18th century materials and to send a message by sealed time capsule to request navigational assistance from base.

Moving away from the disruption of the week allows 'Stranded' to just have fun in a time period, being victimised as English spies and threatened with death by Native American anti-colonials. There is also a chance for Lucy, Wyatt and Rufus to work through what they learned last week: Rufus' recordings and Lucy's journal in particular. Back at base, the potential loss of the team brings out the concerns of the base crew, which provides some vital humanisation for Agent Christopher and affirming that Mason's claim to care for Rufus are genuine. It's easy for an arc show like this to get caught up in chasing the big story, to the exclusion of the little details. Episodes like 'Stranded' help to avoid this by focusing on the characters and their relationships in the absence of an external threat.