Timeless Season 2, Episode 5 recap: Was Kennedy’s assassination always meant to be?

One thing time travel shows look at is the chance to change past events. Timeless Season 2 Episode 5 was no different, focusing this time on the life of John F. Kennedy.

What if? History is full of them and one of those is “what if JFK wasn’t in Dallas at the time of his assassination?” Timeless Season 2 Episode 5, titled “The Kennedy Curse” touched on the importance of JFK and his life, as he was brought from 1934 to 2018. Here’s a look at the things that happened in the episode.

There are spoilers from this point.

Bringing JFK to the future

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It doesn’t take too long to get into the main focal point of the episode. When called into his English professor’s office, JFK is almost assassinated before he even has a chance to run for president. It turns out his English professor is one of Rittenhouse’s sleeper agents. Fortunately, Flynn rushes into the office in time to save JFK.

Lucy, who didn’t go on the mission because she’s running a fever after being stabbed in the last episode, finds out that Wyatt and Rufus brought JFK to the present to save him, leaving Flynn in the past to deal with the sleeper agent (spoiler for the end: there were three; Flynn eventually got back alive and well, but annoyed at how bad his day was).

Unsurprisingly, Lucy isn’t happy, but there’s hope they can keep JFK in the bunker to protect him until its safe to send him back to his own time. However, JFK decides to escape the bunker, fearing for his life.

Who goes on a search mission to find him? Wyatt, Lucy, and Jessica. Yes, Wyatt has to deal with the wife and the potential girlfriend. Timeless handles the love triangle straight, as Lucy and Jessica work as a team throughout. It turns out that Jessica was crucial in finding JFK since she knew all about the antipsychotic drugs he could have been on (in a cover story to find him after he leaves a gas station) and thinks about using Instagram since he’s heading off to a school house party.

If that wasn’t enough for the love triangle, by the way, Jessica realizes that there was something between Wyatt and Lucy and agrees to step away. Lucy is the one that encourages Jessica to stay. How long will that last? We’ll have to see, but it’s an interesting way to handle the love triangle trope and it’s good to see something slightly different from a team of writers.

Getting JFK back

While at the party, JFK makes a connection with one of the girls and learns all about his future. He also learns about the Kennedy Curse and how he is destined to die, along with so many other siblings. It’s heartbreaking watching him learn all this and deal with the aftermath, but we can’t focus on that for too long.

The suggestion of Instagram works. Rufus and Jiya find JFK at a house party and send the address the photo pinged from to Wyatt, Lucy, and Jessica. While there, they come across Emma (who is hellbent on killing JFK now under orders from Nicholas Keynes (Lucy’s great-grandfather) and a gunfight ensues at the party shortly after the coin JFK is shown with his own head changes to Nixon. Does this mean Rittenhouse will succeed?

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Well, it looks like a red herring, as Wyatt, Lucy, and Jessica manage to save the day and get JFK back to his own time. Rufus attempts to stop the assassination from happening, telling JFK to remain away from Dallas on November 22, 1963. While JFK doesn’t end up assassinated in Dallas, Agent Christopher shares that he was assassinated two years into his first term in Austin. The assassination was always meant to be.

Agent Christopher meets Carol Preston

As all this played out, Agent Christopher was kidnapped. Sure enough, it’s by Carol Preston, who has a request within a threat. Nicholas (who really doesn’t care about family) wants Lucy killed, but Carol can’t see that happen. She wants Agent Christopher to keep Lucy away from all missions moving forward.

Despite a threat against Agent Christopher and her family, Agent Christopher simply bides time for agents to track her using her chip that she has instaled. When the agents do get to her, Carol has had Agent Christopher delivered back to her home. Although she takes the threat seriously, she understands when Lucy makes it clear she’s not done risking her life to stop Rittenhouse.

Next: What you need to do to help Timeless reach season 3

What did you think of the episode? Who are you rooting for in the love triangle? Should Lucy remain away from the missions? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Timeless Season 2 continues on Sundays at 10/9c on NBC.