Recap / Timeless S1E2 "The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln"

The crew of the Lifeboat travel to April 14, 1865, the date of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. They discover that Flynn is working with John Wilkes Booth to ensure the success of not just Lincoln's assassination but also the assassinations of Andrew Johnson, William H. Seward, and Ulysses S. Grant. Lucy catches the eye of Robert Todd Lincoln, the President's son.

Tropes

• Artistic License – History:
  • The idea that Lincoln's death is all that prevented the post-Civil War South from turning into a racial paradise is, to put it charitably, quite naïve. However, in context, Lincoln's death did cause reprisals against the South which affected race relations. Also his death did slow down the advance of civil rights for African-Americans.
  • Grant was not present at Ford's Theatre during the assassination.
• Assassin Outclassin': Wyatt and Rufus stop assassins sent after Vice President Johnson and Secretary of State Seward.
• Beethoven Was an Alien Spy:
  • Flynn is the unknown assassin who killed Abraham Lincoln. Lucy as Juliet Shakesman is credited with saving General Grant, and even has a high school named after her.
  • Lucy as Juliet Shakesman is credited with saving General Grant, and even has a high school named after her.
  • On the other hand, Rufus's heroic actions were overlooked, and the credit for stopping another assassin was given to a white soldier who was present in the area.
• Close-Enough Timeline: Thanks to the group's intervention, Flynn's only change to history is the now-unknown identity of Lincoln's assassin, and the existence of the Juliet Shakesman High School for her role in saving General Grant.
• Critical Hesitation Blunder: Flynn arranges for Grant to be in Ford's Theater with Lincoln (as was the actual plan in real life, but Grant backed out at the last second) with plans to shoot them both; but when he gets there, he's surprised to see Lucy there as well. This gives her enough time to save Grant, though Lincoln still dies regardless.
• Death by Pragmatism: Lewis Powell. Since he apparently was looking to kill instead of make a statement like Booth, he opts for the Glock pistols loaned by Flynn instead of the revolver that jammed in real life. The gun works as advertised... on Powell.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation:
  • Lewis Powell, the conspirator sent to assassinate Seward, is killed in a fight with Wyatt instead of being executed as a member of the conspiracy to kill Lincoln, Grant, Johnson and Seward.
  • Booth ends up dying later in the new timeline, this time not as the assassin, but executed as the leader of the conspiracy.
  • Lincoln himself, to some extent. Official records say that he died on April 15, 1865 at 7:22 am. Here, he dies the evening he was shot.
• Double Tap:
  • Flynn kills Lincoln with two shots to the back of the head.
  • Wyatt shoots Powell twice at close range.
• Dude Magnet: Lucy seems to be heading this way; so far, she's garnered the attention of Abraham Lincoln's son, as well as the fiancé she suddenly has in this new timeline.
• For Want Of A Nail: Lucy learns that the reason she doesn't have a sister anymore is because her father married a descendant of one of the passengers from the Hindenburg, who was supposed to die in the original timeline, instead of her mother. She also realizes that this must mean that the man she always thought of as her father didn't sire her.
• Germanic Efficiency: Invoked with Flynn passing off the Glock semi-automatic pistols he loans to the conspirators as a "Prussian" design.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Lewis Powell is killed with the gun loaned to him to assassinate Seward.
• Impersonating an Officer: Rufus disguises himself as a Union sergeant. A group of passing black soldiers spots him and asks him to write down the names of their relatives. However, they get suspicious, when they don't see any indication of which regiment he belongs to, and realize he's a fake. They threaten him with bodily harm, assuming him to be a regular impersonator, who tries to cash in on the glory of the Union victory. They treat him with much more respect, after he helps foil the assassination of the Vice-President.
• Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: John Wilkes Booth is portrayed as one, described by the show as his time's equivalent of Donnie Wahlberg (i.e. a low-level actor, who can never get out from under the shadow of his more famous brother); he's more concerned with his plan being suitably dramatic than the greater effectiveness Flynn offers him. Eventually Flynn just knocks him out and kills Lincoln himself, muttering, "Actors!"
• The Load: John Wilkes Booth's flair for dramatics (such as insisting on using a Derringer instead of Flynn's men's semi-automatic handguns) winds up being a liability to Flynn's plans... so Flynn knocks him out, then assassinates Lincoln himself.
  Flynn: Actors.
• Line-of-Sight Name: When confronted by Robert Todd Lincoln in Booth's changing room, Lucy scans the walls and catches a poster of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, coming up with the name Juliet Shakesman.
• The Prima Donna: John Wilkes Booth is more concerned with making a grand statement rather than a cold, calculating assassination. This is why he rejects Flynn's offer of a semi-automatic handgun, preferring to stick with his Derringer. Flynn ends up getting tired of Booth's antics, so he knocks him out, muttering "Actors!", and proceeds to perform the assassination himself.
• Politically Correct History: Subverted, as When Flynn tries to intervene in the assassination of President Lincoln, Rufus advocates preventing the assassination altogether, particularly after meeting some black Union soldiers who were very optimistic about their future, as Lincoln's death brought his plans for greater racial equality to a screeching halt. Rufus is put out (but not surprised) to learn that rather than a mysterious black soldier, the history books say Johnson was saved by a white soldier who was in the area.
• Remember the New Guy?: Lucy comes home to her own engagement party and meets her fiancé, whom she's never seen before.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong: When Flynn tries to intervene in the assassination of President Lincoln, Rufus advocates preventing the assassination altogether, particularly after meeting some black Union soldiers who were very optimistic about their future, as Lincoln's death brought his plans for greater racial equality to a screeching halt. However, both Lucy and Wyatt are against such a drastic change to the timeline. Rufus angrily points out that they've never had to deal with racism.
• invoked Technology Marches On: Flynn is insistent that Booth use his semi-automatic pistol (which he tries to pass for a Prussian design) for the assassination, so he can kill both Lincoln and Grant. However, Booth is out to make a grand statement, and he believes Flynn's weapon lacks the gravitas of his own Derringer. Annoyed, Flynn is forced to knock Booth out and perform the assassination himself.
• Truth in Television: A few months before Abraham Lincoln's assassination, Edwin Booth, John Wilkes Booth's brother, saved the life of Lincoln's son Robert. Robert accidentally fell in the space between a train and the train platform and would have been maimed or killed if Edwin Booth had not pulled him to safety.

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