The second hand unwinds.
Note: Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
The opening scene of "One Hundred Years" set the tone for a seriously creepy and captivating episode, as two of the Messengers coldly murdered a young couple in 1944 just so they could gain access to a party and commit another murder. The way the female killer appeared in the mirror behind her unsuspecting victim and then smiled and danced a little afterward seemed very Manson Family--must be a death cult thing.
Whatever they're doing in the past, it's seriously affecting the space-time continuum, which is "collapsing", which does not sound good. The 2044 story started off with Cole getting the crap beat out of him by rabid dog Deacon, who Cassie somehow likes. I'm still waiting for that to be satisfactorily explained, but her anger toward Cole is earned. He's responsible for sending her to this hellhole, after she lost her professional standing and after her boyfriend burned to death.
Cassie and Cole's strained yet vital relationship was front and center this week. They re-teamed but now they're both time travelers. It was telling that Cole made Cassie his fake wife in 1944 but she was quick to make themselves fake siblings instead. Cassie's frustration with Jones and Cole was palpable, and there might be something to her idea that going to places just because they know they've already been there might be playing into their enemies' hands.
Cole's wanting to wing it in 1944 was contrasted by the Messengers, who've clearly studied the time period. They've been prepared for this mission for years. Yet they still end up killing the wrong guy. And even though Cole deserved Cassie's "Johnny Night Room" crack for his earlier failures, Cole was able to set himself and Cassie up rather well in the past. It was a nice touch that Cole's world-weariness had him pegged as a war vet during World War II. Cassie worried that he'd be as lost as he was in 2016, but he actually fits in better in this era, with less technology and more war-induced desperation (though he really could use a shave).
The 1944 setting was perfectly captured, with the fear of air raids and gas attacks eerily foreshadowing the deadly plague we know will come in later decades. I loved that they had Cassie experience one moment of "Whoa, time travel!" when she looked at the old-timey New York City signs, and that her tight jeans scandalized the Emerson Hotel crowd, yet that was the end of the episode's call-outs to her being out of place. Time travel is fun, that's one of the reasons we're all watching, but there's a murder to thwart and a cult mentality to puzzle out, so it was wise of the producers to introduce us and our heroes to the 40s but then let it become the (very cool) background.
It was rather touching to watch Cole indulge Cassie's bitterness toward him. He was hurt when she tore up the picture of them (to avoid paradox, sure Cassie) but when she finally let him have it about Aaron, and how he dragged her into this whole time-travelling mess, he owned up to it and to his regret. And as soon as she saw how badly he felt, she softened and it felt a little more like the old Cassie and Cole.
The fact that the Messengers plot involved digging up a dead body in order to stab a guy to death with a knife fashioned from his own sternum was next-level terrifying. We witnessed the return of that whole flower-petal ritual that the Pallid Man used to do after he killed, but the Messengers did it while reciting a chilling little poem about how we're not killing you, we're gonna all be together again in the Red Forest. It's not murder if you don't believe in death? Or something? Seems like real bad-guy stuff, but then Jones sent Cole back in time with the charge that everyone he met was "already dead" so kill away, so how different are they really?
Time travel as a means to avoiding the inevitability of death has been a core theme to the series since the beginning, and it seems to be at the center of the belief system of the Twelve. The Messengers who were sent back from 2043 are also called The Twelve, even though there aren't 12 of them anymore. I guess like The 100, it's how many you start with that counts. They seem to believe that they are bringing about the end of death. Certainly the end of time as we know it. The female member of the pair we meet in 1944, Vivian, is confident, wily, and a total bad ass. Portrayed by Scottie Thompson, she's a welcome addition to an already stellar cast.
Erik Knudsen was also terrific as Jennifer's fellow "primary". He was fascinatingly similar to Goines, yet much more at ease with his relationship to time and to the other players. He seemed to perfectly understand who everyone was, when they were from, and what they were going to do. He seemed to want to die because he knew he was supposed to. And oh, what a death. Getting stabbed with your own bone creates a mega paradox capable of snapping time-traveler tethers and turning 2044 into the Red Forest. Very exciting stuff.
The 2044 storyline was less successful. The pissing contest between Deacon and Ramse felt rather mundane in contrast to the nifty Forties locale. It was nice to see Jones and Ramse exchange points of view, but Deacon driving Ramse out to dig his own grave didn't really land. Deacon is obviously poised to become a bigger player so I'm hanging in and trusting that he will become compelling soon. His not really reacting as the leaves kept turning red seemed a little silly. But maybe Deacon's just that dumb and someone has to die and undie in front of him before he realizes something weird is happening.
The Verdict
Stopping a society-destroying plague was a daunting enough task, but "One Hundred Years" gave us our first real look at the Messengers at work and their plan appears to involve stopping death. Or time. Maybe they're the same thing, depending on how you look at it. Like Lost, 12 Monkeys excels at posing new questions just as you start to understand the show's original mysteries. How did Vivian know she could manipulate Cassie by endangering Cole? Who was trying to call Cole at the Emerson? And most pressing, how are Cole and Cassie going to buy that TaB Cola if they're stranded in 1944? How could you not want to tune in next week?
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