Timeless: The Alamo, 1836

Last time on “Timeless:” Concerned that Flynn and Anthony stole the core of a nuclear bomb, the team tracked them down to a warehouse. However, they jumped before Wyatt and his fellow soldiers could capture them. Everyone is concerned to learn Flynn went to Nazi Germany, afraid he would sell them the nuclear bomb before the Americans developed theirs.

After killing a Nazi soldier who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, our heroes spotted a rocket and feared it would be nuclear powered. They hoped to find help at a place that may have been a place for Allied spies to meet. It appeared to be a dead end until Sean Maguire ordered them outside. He revealed himself to be Ian Fleming and Wyatt totally fanboyed out as they accepted his help. Ian helped them figure out where the bomb might be and agreed to help them look over the bomb, all the while flirting with Lucy. Despite being a Bond fan, Wyatt seemed to draw the line at his idol flirting with her.

The bomb did not have nuclear capabilities but they found Flynn working with the Nazis. Wyatt tried to shoot him but Lucy and Rufus stopped him because Werner von Braun, the father of the American rocket program, could get caught in the crossfire. They explained his importance to Wyatt and Lucy told Ian that there are orders to bring Werner to the Allies. He was not thrilled due to the Blitz but agreed to sneak them into a party where they could snatch Werner.

Wyatt talked Lucy through a panic attack, where they got more personal with each other. He assured her that she was just facing the hump and he knew she would get over it. At the party, she also got to know Ian a bit better and he continued to flirt with her—much to Wyatt’s annoyance.

While trying to get to Werner, Lucy and Ian were intercepted by Flynn and the Nazis. They took the two in as spies while Flynn tried to Werner to the Soviets. Wyatt and Rufus set off the bomb as a distraction before going to save Lucy. Together with Ian and Werner, they escaped the Nazis.

After seeing Werner delivered to the Allies and saying goodbye to Ian, the heroes returned to the present to learn they were now characters in a Bond book and movie that didn’t exist before. Lucy gave Agent Christopher demands in exchange for her to continue working and Rufus refused to keep recording the missions. But Rittenhouse scared him right good.

We open on March 5, 1836. A man writes a stirring letter, full of patriotic ideals and yet begging for support. He signs it William Barret Travis and says he is at the Alamo. The cold open ends with him standing on the fort’s wall, looking out at Santa Anna’s forces.


Mason looks over the Baby Eye as Rufus comes in. He notes that Rufus is late and Rufus is still Very Shaken Up. He tells Mason how he’s scared to get in his car because Rittenhouse killed it to threaten him as he drove home the other day. Mason says that Rufus wasn’t supposed to be mixed up in this and swears that he cares for Rufus like a son. He tells Rufus that they have to do what Rittenhouse wants. Rufus is just plain scared now.

Wyatt meets with Agent Christopher and someone from the army. He realizes he’s being reassigned and his superior officer says that he hasn’t been able to capture or kill Flynn. Agent Christopher insists she fought for him but the decision was out of her hand. Wyatt’s replacement is flying in and he’ll get a new assignment soon. Wyatt accepts it. However, word comes out that Flynn is on the move and is in Texas in 1836. Being from Texas, Wyatt realizes he’s gone to the Alamo. Since his replacement won’t arrive in time, he gets to go one more mission. Agent Christopher goes to call in Lucy.

She agrees to come in and her mother asks where she is going so late at night. Lucy says it’s work and her mother wants to know more. Even though Lucy reminds her that she signed an NDA, her mother demands to know. She says she’s worried because Lucy moved back in, broke off her engagement and is no longer teaching. Lucy says that she’s re-evaluating her life. Her mother begs her to talk like they used to but Lucy wants to talk about her father. That makes her mother clam up and Lucy leaves.

They board the Baby Eye to head to the Alamo. Wyatt reveals that it’s his last mission and Lucy and Rufus are surprised. They’re also nervous because he’s bringing grenades but he promises they won’t go off in the boat. As they leave, Mason says he’s usually jealous of them but not this time. Agent Christopher agrees.

Back in 1836, Flynn arrives to speak with Santa Anna. He provides documentation and proof that he was sent by the Queen to aid Santa Ana with retaking Texas. Santa Anna is not thrilled to get help but Flynn says he’ll be able to help him crush the resistance once and for all.

Our heroes arrive in Texas and Lucy gives a run down of the Alamo—Texas fighting for independence from Mexico. Santa Anna leads an army against it and it’s essentially a massacre. But a letter gets out that spurns on the fighting, leading to Santa Ana’s later defeat and Sam Huston leading the Texans to victory. They then join the US as a state.

They stare at the Alamo and wonder what Flynn wants. They can’t figure it out and Rufus asks how does one make the Alamo worse.

Rufus asks how they are going to get into the Alamo and Lucy replies they are just going to walk right in through the front door. And they do. Wyatt is surprised to see women and children there rather than soldiers. Lucy explains that it was mostly just the local ranchers who sought refuge in the mission and would defend it, though the Spanish did let the women and children go. Rufus is surprised to see African-Americans and Lucy replies that slavery was illegal in Mexico. He says “Viva la Mexico” but she hushes him.

A man approaches them and Lucy points out that he is James Bowie, also the man the knife was named after. Lucy says they came from San Felipe to offer assistance. When Bowie says he has family there, she starts to flounder and Wyatt takes over. He says they are looking for a man who is a Mexican sympathizer. They fear he’s infiltrated the Alamo. Bowie agrees to let them look around and to keep his eyes open for him.

They start to mingle with the others, leading our heroes to meet another notable historical figure—Davy Crockett. You know, born on a mountaintop in Tennessee? Greenest state in the land of the free? Raised in the woods so he knew every tree? Killed him a bear when he was only three?

In fact, he’s talking about fighting a bear when Rufus comes upon him. He notes that Davy even has the hat made of raccoon fur. Davy continues to tell his story as Lucy joins the group, amazed. Wyatt then comes upon them and reminds them that they are not tourists. He tells them to split up and keep looking for Flynn.

Night falls on the mission and we see William Barret Travis trying to write his letter from the Alamo. Flynn comes in and talks to him a bit, talking about patriotism and blah blah blah. He lures Travis into a false sense of security…and then shoots him.

Wyatt hears the shot and goes running. He finds Bowie and Crockett with Travis. Bowie asks if the man they were looking for did it and Wyatt says he did. Travis is declared dead and Lucy panics. She says he hasn’t finished the note that gets Texas the help it needs to defeat Mexico. Wyatt notes that Travis was killed with a semi-automatic and goes searching for Flynn. He climbs the walls and is horrified to see the entire Mexican army waiting outside.

The next day, our heroes come together to put together a plan. It’s revealed that unlike how it really played out, Santa Anna will not be letting the children and women go. Wyatt puts Rufus in charge of finding a way to get them out and then tells Lucy to write Travis’ letter herself. She says she doesn’t have it memorized and he says that it doesn’t have to be just like it was. It just has to be enough to get America to support the Texans.

He storms out and finds Bowie. Bowie is ordering his men about and Wyatt explodes, saying that they’re going to lose. Bowie lays into him and Lucy appears, ready to chide him as well. He says that he can’t be bogged down by historical accuracy. He needs to get Flynn and nothing else matters.

It is then that the Mexicans start bombarding the Alamo as a warning. Everyone scrambles for cover and Wyatt flashback to his time in the Middle East. He sees a soldier pleading with him before he comes back just as a wall collapses on a young boy. Wyatt digs him out and gets him to safety. He talks with the boy a bit, learning he has no father and feels a kinship with him.

Back at Santa Anna’s camp, Flynn is horrified to learn that the general won’t let the women and children out. He tries to plead with Santa Anna, father to father, but he won’t budge. Santa Anna says that Flynn told him there is a letter that can’t get out. He points out that any woman or child could carry it out. So he’ll kill them all. Flynn looks like he’s reconsidering everything.

Rufus joins Davy on the wall and asks if he knows a way out. Davy replies that there’s always the front door but there’s an armed Mexican welcoming party on the other side. He gives Rufus his water skein and Rufus is surprised to learn it’s whiskey, not water. Davy explains they don’t have much access to the water thanks to Santa Anna’s troops and mentions an aqueduct that runs under the chapel and straight to the river. Rufus realizes that if they can get down there, he can get the women and children out.

Wyatt steps outside and he runs into Bowie, who admits that they won’t make it. He says that his reinforcements are coming but Santa Anna’s are. Wyatt agrees and says that he wishes he knew a way to rescue them all. But he has an idea on how to slow down the Mexicans. He draws a diagram in the dirt and advises Bowie to force them over the North Wall. It will slow them down and prevent everything from being over in minutes. While it won’t stop them completely, it will give them time to get the women and children out. Bowie agrees.

Bowie then notes that it seems Wyatt has done it before. Wyatt says that he fought in a similar situation far away from there. He says six men had to fend off an onslaught but an important piece of intel had to get out. Wyatt was one of two soldiers who were uninjured, so it was between them to decide who would get it out. They flipped a coin and that was why Wyatt lived and his friends died. But they gave everything they had so he could get out, so the important information could get to the right people. He hopes they can give the women and children the same chance.

Meanwhile, Lucy has been preparing bandages and overhears everything. Inspired, she rushes back to Travis’ desk and writes a rousing letter, signing it the “Men and Women of the Alamo.”

Rufus keeps digging through the chapel floor as Davy comes in. He remarks that there’s three layers of stone before the aqueduct but Rufus says he has to try. He then asks Davy how he does it—how he stares at danger. Davy then admits that he gets scared and that he never wrestled a bear. He encountered one but got so scared, he ended up falling down. A shot got off and by some luck, it struck the bear. So when he went back, he lied and told his companions that he fought off the bear.

The attack on the Alamo begins as the women and children take shelter. All the men, including Wyatt, try to hold off the Mexicans.

In the chapel, Rufus remembers that Wyatt brought grenades. He places them in the hole he’s made so far and blows a path to the aqueduct. Lucy starts to direct the women and children to the chapel before going to get Wyatt.

He’s in the midst of fighting and still flashing back to his time in the Middle East. Lucy comes up to him and says that Rufus has found a way out. He says that he’s not going and that he needs to stay there. She tells him that she needs him, that she trusts him to keep her safe.

They make it to the chapel and the boy Wyatt saved earlier refuses to leave. Lucy says that he’s supposed to deliver the letter and go on to be a major Texan politician. Wyatt takes the letter and convinces the boy to leave with the others. In the process, he makes peace with the fact that he was the one who got out and decides to head home with the others. Bowie gives the boy his knife, not wanting it to fall into enemy hands, while Crockett asks Rufus to make sure to tell everyone he fought off many Mexicans before he fell.

Once the women and children (as well as our heroes) are gone, Bowie and Crockett prepare for the onslaught of Santa Anna’s army.

Back in the present, it is noted that the Alamo and Texas history were (mostly) preserved. Wyatt is about to be discharged when Lucy and Rufus stand up. They refuse to continue doing anymore missions if Wyatt can’t be with them. While they can find a new historian, Rufus is the only one trained to fly the Baby Eye. So Wyatt gets to stay.

He heads back to the locker room where his army buddy is getting ready to ship back out. They talk for a bit and the buddy says things must be really bad if Wyatt is there. Wyatt says he’s handling it and that he’s found a new team.

Lucy returns home and her mother is waiting for her. They agree they don’t want to fight anymore and Carol tells her daughter about her father. She explains she had a fling with a professor in college and got pregnant. He wanted to marry her but Carol wasn’t ready for that. So she had Lucy on her own and kept him from her. But she agrees that Lucy deserves to know her father, giving her his name and address.

Talk about high stakes! It was certainly the perfect episode to follow the Ian Fleming one, as tense and uncertain as trying to survive Nazis. The show keeps nailing its guest stars and it was nice to see more into Wyatt’s past, as well as the traumas he might be carrying.

Next time: Our heroes end up embroiled in the Watergate scandal and Nixon’s missing tapes.