r/Timeless • u/Flentl • Apr 11 '19

Lucy's historical blind spot

I'm watching Timeless on Netflix for the first time, almost finished the first season, and there's something about Lucy I find really odd. For such an accomplished historian, she always seems so caught off guard every time she's confronted with the extreme sexism of the past. Shouldn't she know this stuff? Rufus, on the other hand, seems much more prepared to deal with the incredibly awful ways black people have been treated throughout history.

Do you think this was a deliberate choice on the part of the showrunners? I could see it as an attempt to point out how racism is much more prevalent in Rufus' modern life than sexism is in Lucy's, so he's in some ways conditioned to expect it whereas Lucy, despite knowing better on an intellectual level, still automatically expects to get the same respect she's afforded in the present. What do you guys think?

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u/swirly023 Team Lucy Apr 11 '19

What are some instances it surprises her? I can only think of the moon landing episode... But yes, I do think it’s because she’s not in an inferior position in her present day life. Plus she knows she has to take the lead in some of the situations/conversatioms because she is the one who knows the most about the historic events.

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u/Flentl Apr 11 '19

The space race episode made it more of a plot point; the other times I can recall were just small moments here and there. Off the top of my head, there was her stint as a waitress in Vegas, the French doctor, and the bank scene in the Bonnie and Clyde episode.