History WMG / Timeless

He's just trying to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong.

Nixon was terrified of Rittenhouse, but also the one person at that point in history who could have possibly posed a serious threat to them. It makes sense that Rittenhouse would have infiltrated the press in order to steer suspicion away from their own activities; Woodward and Berenstein were likely Rittenhouse members to whom Mark Felt was unwittingly giving information. Given that Rittenhouse has already assassinated JFK, they aren't above taking down a president, but a second assassination would have put their plans at risk. Either politicians and law enforcement not affiliated with Rittenhouse would launch a massive investigation into the deaths of two presidents from opposite parties in the space of a decade, and/or the Soviets would perceive instability in the US government and decide it's a good time to launch WorldWarIII. So Rittenhouse sets out to discredit Nixon instead--and Nixon, being Nixon, made it very easy to do.

Now how does this work in the context of all of Flynn's trips? Its worth noting that ''none'' of Flynn's missions actually succeeded the way he wanted to, because of the team. The team's actions are probably a consequence of this 'self-correcting mechanism'. Flynn goes back to change the past, potentially causing a GrandfatherParadox. The team goes back and stops him. This results in a CloseEnoughTimeline where the alternate versions of Flynn and the team both have a reason to go back in time in the first place, following which their original memories are restored. So far, in the entire series, there hasn't been a single case where someone has traveled back with the specific purpose of altering history and succeeded entirely.

In "The Watergate Tapes", the trio help 'the Doc' escape to Hong Kong, where her family is hiding. She mentions that her child was recently born. Given that 'the Doc' is a young African-American woman who was born into a 'Rittenhouse family', it just might be possible that her child eventually grows up to become Connor Mason. The child would have been born in 1971, and that seems to fit with Connor Mason's age (he appears to be someone in his forties). This might be the reason why Rittenhouse contacts Connor and makes him such a crucial part of their plans - unknown to him, he ''is'' a Rittenhouse member by inheritance.

Flynn tried to invoke the GrandfatherParadox on Rittenhouse by trying to assassinate one or both of his parents, but failed. The most likely outcome is that David Rittenhouse's historical mother was killed, but his father survived and remarried to a woman who would become alt!David's mother. This would explain why David Rittenhouse had one son instead of two daughters as in our history, and the HistoricalVillainUpgrade: his genetic makeup and personality had changed as a result of Flynn's meddling.

Members are born into the organization, and comments made by [[spoiler: Lucy's mother]] indicate that there is a social elite within Rittenhouse based on how long one's family has been involved with them. It makes sense that Lucy's fiancee is also a scion of an elite Rittenhouse family and the marriage is meant either to fulfill an organizational goal or to cement an internal political alliance. It's very likely that this is an ArrangedMarriage.

Nixon was terrified of Rittenhouse, but also the one person at that point in history who could have possibly posed a serious threat to them. It makes sense that Rittenhouse would have infiltrated the press in order to steer suspicion away from their own activities; Woodward and Berenstein were likely Rittenhouse members to whom Mark Felt was unwittingly giving information. Given that Rittenhouse has already assassinated JFK, they aren't above taking down a president, but a second assassination would have put their plans at risk. Either politicians and law enforcement not affiliated with Rittenhouse would launch a massive investigation into the deaths of two presidents from opposite parties in the space of a decade, and/or the Soviets would perceive instability in the US government and decide it's a good time to launch WorldWarIII. So Rittenhouse sets out to discredit Nixon instead--and Nixon, being Nixon, made it very easy to do.

* Jiya also sees [[spoiler: the Golden Gate Bridge in ruins]] which could either be a vision of the future or of an alternate timeline.

At one point she sees what could be a flashback to the 1930s, but it could be that of an alternate timeline.

* Actually, [[spoiler: her father]] probably just knows about Lucy's sister and the fact she didn't used to be engaged due to spying on the team's conversations.

In a conversation with Lucy, [[spoiler: her father]] knew things that have since been undone by time travel. [[spoiler: Similarly, Lucy]] instinctively knew what to check when Wyatt came back from a rogue trip to TheEighties.

If someone is really trying to bring down a secret conspiracy behind the American government, this is the logical place to go to after the Revolution itself. Flynn has already shown himself willing to hold his nose and work with the Nazis and the Soviet Union, and he's already tried to aid John Wilkes Booth in assassinating Lincoln. If anything working with the Confederacy would be an ''improvement''. A final showdown, perhaps at the battle of Antietam (the last point at which the South had a serious chance of winning) between the team, Flynn, and Rittenhouse with the Union and Confederate armies as proxies for both sides, would be UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny the show seems to be building to.

Her plans include her and the team thwarting Flynn a lot of the time--and she leaves that out of the journal so that Flynn won't skip any of the crucial parts of the plan.

That would explain a lot about the strange fixation between them, his seeming [[spoiler: unwillingness to kill her]], and the reason why her [[spoiler: future journal is in his possession.]]

Every aspect of the Apollo Program is heavily scrutinized after the communication failure that almost doomed Apollo 11. As a consequence, the defect in the oxygen tank stirrer that caused the Apollo 13 disaster is caught and that mission is flown without incident. Apollo 18-20 receive funding as well. On the other hand, the fake Moon landing conspiracy theories are even ''more'' virulent in the resulting timeline, with theorists claiming NASA had to generate footage on the fly after Apollo 11 crashed.

* Also Jossed by the fact that we're eventually introduced to his mother, [[spoiler:Maria Thompkins]].

* Also Jossed by the fact that we're eventually introduced to his mother, [[spoiler:Maria Thompson]].

* {{Jossed}}, unless he's lying, as his stated motivation is to [[spoiler:get his family back]].

Lucy, Wyatt, and Rufus continue to change the timeline, until it becomes unrecognizable to them or America descends into a [[CrapsackWorld dystopian nightmare]] or somesuch. Lucy begins to keep a journal of all the events that she remembers happening, but that are now different because of time-travel meddling. The trio regret their actions, but as they cannot travel back to a point they previously changed they are unable to un-do the damage they've caused. Lucy eventually has a son, names him Flynn, gives him the journal, and tells him to go back in time and stop her from upsetting the timeline. He accepts, with the full realization that if he succeeds in his mission he can never return to his own future, as Lucy would never have become his mother.

The idea being that Rittenhouse is engaged in a nefarious plot to change history for their own ends (we don't know if Rittenhouse is a person or group of people or a corporation), and Flynn is trying as many outrageous means of disrupting the time stream as possible, knowing full well that the government will step in to stop it. In doing so, he hopes to catch the attention of Rufus, Wyatt, and Lucy and get them to help wipe out Rittenhouse.

* {{Jossed}}. Mason is somehow involved with Rittenhouse, but he's absolutely terrified of them.

!! Flynn and his helpers are actually the [[GoodAllAlong good guys]], and [[WrongSideAllAlong unbeknownst to our trio]], ''[[EvilAllAlong Mason]]'' is the one trying to change history.

!! Flynn and his helpers are actually the [[GoodAllAlong good guys]], and [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WrongSideAllAlong unbeknownst to our trio]], [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EvilAllAlong ''Mason'']] is the one trying to change history.

!! Flynn is Lucy's real father. At some point in the past, he will have a relationship with her mother, which ends on bad terms, explaining why Lucy always believed Henry was her father.