“The Kennedy Curse” is episode five of season two of Timeless.
After the events of the previous episode, “The Salem Witch Hunt”, Keynes has taken Carol off the case of dealing with Lucy, as he feels that her maternal instinct is getting in the way. Instead, he and Emma are going to deal with Lucy, and Emma really, really does not like her. Wyatt brought Jessica back to the bunker without permission to explain everything and show her the time machine. So now she’s stuck in the bunker with everyone else. Rufus said that Jiya should perhaps not share her visions, as the man she saw Rufus killing died anyway, albeit a different way, and they would never have even spoken to him if it wasn’t for her vision.
This episode opens in Wallingford, Connecticut on September 17th, 1934. Two teenage boys are talking when one, Jack, is asked to go to the office by his English teacher. The teacher asks Jack to close the door, which he does. The teacher opens a drawer and takes out a gun which he points at Jack. Then Flynn kicks open the door and shoots at the teacher.
Lucy is in the bunker recuperating from the knife wound she suffered in the previous episode. A wound from a knife that wasn’t exactly clean and she’s been running a very high fever. Jiya speaks to Lucy about the latter’s relationship with Wyatt. Lucy ends up in a conversation with Jessica which is a little awkward, as Lucy slept with Wyatt in “Hollywoodland”. Something that Jessica, of course, does not know. And Jessica was dead – sort of – when they were together.
Rufus and Wyatt return in the lifeboat. They have a problem. Without Lucy, they struggled to identify Rittenhouse’s target and all the sleeper agents were children. Flynn has been left in the past and they have brought back the boy, Jack, from earlier, who is unconscious. Lucy recognises the boy and asks them to please tell her it is not who she thinks it is. And Rufus says it isn’t. Unless she thinks that the boy is a very young John F. Kennedy. In which case, it is.
Then JFK wakes up. Wyatt explains that they are private security employed by his father and that they are keeping him safe there. The plan is to recharge the lifeboat and take JFK back to where he should be. Until then, he is going to be locked in his room. Unfortunately, Lucy goes back to the room and discovers that JFK has escaped through an airshaft. Which causes mass panic.
JFK needs finding in the present, so Wyatt is going to go looking for him. Jessica volunteers to help, and then Lucy says that she’s going to come along as well. JFK himself is undergoing fairly significant culture shock. Which he gets over a bit when he meets a pretty girl, even though he has found out what year he is in. Jiya says at least they know that JFK is still alive and it would seem that he will get back to the past – because they still know who he is and why they are looking for him. Unfortunately, if something does happen to Kennedy, they will forget who is and stop looking for him. Rittenhouse is also looking for JFK.
There is rather more humour than usual and the majority of the episode spent in the present. Which means they have advantages that they don’t normally have. JFK does find out rather too much about his future, including the so-called Kennedy Curse.