Timeless : Regarding them not going to time where they already exist.

Ok so We can say that Lucy, Wyatt and Rufus are all very young, probably 80's or late 70's, but Flynn and Anthony look much older, especially Anthony. He is an old guy, probably 50's? So they just ignored their own warning of "can't go back in a time where they already exist." as per their plot convenience now?

Yeah, they screwed up the moon landing episode with this tidbit.

And Shut Up!

And the 1972's Watergate episode, and also The Atomic City episode from 1962.

I can believe Anthony being born in 1963 and just looking old, but the other two eps are mistakes.

And Shut Up!

Wow, someone finally noticed this. Never came up before.

I don't know why this keeps coming up. The rule is you can't go back to a time where you already exist, where you might meet a double of yourself. Basically, the gang is never going to be in a situation where they're dodging doubles of themselves like Marty McFly in Back to The Future Part 2. http://www.spoilertv.com/2017/01/timeless-episode-113-karma-chameleon.html

Exactly. Posters keep reading in the wrong rule and then complain when the series doesn't follow that rule.

I have a hunch they will be in exactly that situation (avoiding their own doubles) at some critical point in the future. In other words, I think they gave us the rule precisely because some critical situation will force them to take the risk of breaking it. (A "don't cross the streams" moment.)

In that case why is everyone so scared of going back to the time where they already exist? If they know its going to be catastrophically bad, they can just avoid it. For example Flynn can go back in time and save his family from the assassins of Rittenberg, by killing them mid way before they even reach his house. That way, he never has to meet either his family or his other self because they are all back in the house, far away, just sleeping.
Or Wyatt can go back in time and save his wife from getting killed. They just have to be super careful, but its not impossible. Like how BTTF did it.
Or they could go back to hidenberg incident, and even though they are already there, they can still stop Flynn from saving the zeppelin from bursting into flames on the first landing, since you know, now they know where Flynn is/will be. They just have to be careful not to bust into their prior iteration of selves that came to stop flynn and are failing. Literally none of the episodes would happen if they just did that, lol.

But in the show they make it look like its a taboo to go to the time where they exist. If what you say is correct, than they shouldn't be scared of trying it out at least. It's way better path to take, then alter the entire american history in order to wipe out one organization.

This has been brought up. As has the theory that them going back in time to prevent certain things actually causes them to happen. There are several different paradox theories. What you're describing could lead to a looping paradox. They go back in time & stop the very thing that lead them to time traveling to begin with. That means they shouldn't be where they now are in the past. It could lead to a split in time or parallel time. Just like with Wyatt, when Lucy said sometimes things are meant to be. Going back in time & stopping her "death" at that point doesn't mean she doesn't die. But it could lead to something more disastrous.

Do you really think it would be much more disastrous than changing the entire 300 old year history of the world? I mean, for now, Amy disappeared, but think about how many hundreds and thousands will disappear because of that? And god knows what future they might come back to.

In the TV show 12 Monkeys when the same object from two different times touch they explode to resolve the paradox of them occupying the same time and space. This means nothing for Timeless, but it is one approach.

In the latest episode (monday jan 16 2017) at the beginning of the episode Flynn comes back and tells Lucy that he went back to the compound to fix what she messed up but ultimately wasnt able to get in. So isn't this an example of "where you might need a double of yourself"

I think that Flynn went back to a time that was minutes after he left. For example, if he and Lucy left 1780 on March 24, at 7:10 PM, then Flynn might have gone back to March 24, 7:30 PM.

I think he went later.after he had already left previously or possibly earlier, just not the same exact days.

Casia, your theory doesn't seem to explain why Wyatt can only kill his wife's murderers parents, according to Flynn.

I think there are a couple of things at play here:

1. In the 1st episode I don't it was ever said traveling back to a timeline where you already exist is impossible, just incredibly dangerous. Rufus said they tried it once and it really messed up the pilot. So that would explain the literal reason why the Flynn and Anthony were literally able to go back to the Nixon era twicetravel at your own peril. They just got lucky I guess
2. Re Wyatt, the Rule, and his wife's killer.the Rule prevents Wyatt from saving his wife or stopping the killer at the moment of her deathit's just too close to old and new wyatt meeting. But why can't Wyatt kill him some other time? My guess is that Flynn knows the killers family in the past must have some connection to Rittenhouse and he is using Wyatt to take out some of these goons for him

Regardless of Flynn's intentions, Wyatt now has a name. Whether that is the real killer or not, It should be quite easy to just go back to a few days before the murder, to kill the dude in time and space where the past Wyatt and his wife were happily in some other place. There is no danger of the two wyatt's meeting if they don't occupy the same space.

Maybe the Rule applies to your adult self. Meaning you could travel to the decade you were born but not the one where you currently exist.

Which means he could kill could kill Jessicas killer as a young boy, baby, etc., or kill his parents. But not as an adult.

The show is clearly setting up the moment of "will wyatt become Fkynn" scenario

Wyatt wouldn't have to kill anyone. He could hire people to protect his wife. He could scare the would-be killer in such a way that he never so much as thinks about ever hurting someone. He could abduct him and leave somewhere such that he never gets near Wyatt's wife.

(this signature was absent on picture day)

We'll see what the writers come up with. But Flynn clearly wants Wyatt to erase the guy from history. Which makes you wonder why he cares sof much unless there is a deeper purpose. Otherwise he would have just given him the name and stopped talking

There's a reason those 3 in particular were chosen. We knoew Rufus because of being the pilot. Lucy's connections is her "father" & perhaps her mother. Either way it's because of a Rittenhouse connection. So it probably is with Wyatt as well. Maybe his dear wife was connected, & why she was killed.

The only problem I see with Wyatt going back and killing his wife's killer is that fact that when the are on a mission it may be no where near where the killer to be is. The leaders of the program aren't just gonna let Wyatt travel to anytime he wants to carry out his on agenda.

"God must love stupid people because he made so many of them"

But Flynn specifically said.you can't go back to a time this guy was alive.

You must kill his parents. I think the show has made some mistakes.but their intention was the original rule that you can't exist twice in any time.

That's my understanding of the rule, despite Anthony going to the 60s and 70s. I don't think they're ever going to have them go to the 80s, 90s, or earlier parts of the 21st century for this reason.