Party at Castle Varlar

**"Party at Castle Varlar"** is the fourth episode from Season 1 of *Timeless*. It premiered on October 24, 2016.

## Plot

### Synopsis

The team continues its search for Garcia Flynn in Nazi Germany during WWII, where they receive help from Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond.

### Summary

Jiya locates Flynn by tracking his usage of the power grid to power the mother ship, but Flynn's group escapes in the machine.

In Germany, December 1944, the team believes Flynn intends to give the nuclear weapon to the Nazis, but it turns out he is actually planning to abduct Wernher von Braun and deliver him to the Soviet Union. With help from Ian Fleming, the team secures von Braun's defection to the Allies.

Wyatt helps Lucy find "something to fight for" to overcome her fear during field work, while Ian and Rufus discuss the matter of trust among spies. Rufus confronts von Braun, who claims that moral considerations impede innovation.

In the present, the team discovers that their adventure inspired a James Bond film that is new to the timeline. Lucy demands that Denise and Connor help her recover Amy as a condition of her continued cooperation. Rufus correctly theorizes that Anthony has used the plutonium to create a permanent battery for the time machine rather than a weapon. Rufus refuses to continue spying on his teammates, but a man from Rittenhouse threatens Rufus' family if he does not cooperate.

### The Mission

#### Flynn's Agenda

* Hand Wernher von Braun to the Soviet Union, effectively preventing the U.S. from winning the Space Race.

#### Changes to the Timeline

* The adventure inspires Ian Fleming to write a James Bond 007 novel titled *Weapon of Choice*, which is adapted into a box-office hit in 1964. It is unclear if the 1964 film adaptation of *Goldfinger* exists in the altered timeline.
* The Western Allies capture Wernher von Bruan sooner in December 1944 rather than May 1945.

## Guest Cast

* John Getz as Benjamin Cahill
* Matt Frewer as Anthony Bruhl
* Chad Rook as Karl
* Sean Maguire as Ian Fleming
* Christian Oliver as Wernher von Braun

## Historical Events and Figures

The episode takes place in 1944, as the V2 rocketry program is being developed.

### Figures

* **Ian Fleming**: Journalist, author, and creator of the legendary spy James Bond. Fleming served in Royal Naval Intelligence during World War II, but never as a field spy. Instead, he acted as the aide to the director of Naval Intelligence, and saw out the war in London, contributing to the development of a series of successful intelligence missions.
* **Wernher von Braun**: A German aerospace engineer who developed the V2 rocket for Germany. Following World War II, he left Germany for the United States, where he developed the Saturn V rocket, which carried the Apollo astronauts into space. Although von Braun was a member of the Nazi Party and the SS, he attempted to escape to England late in the war, was arrested and, after his release, surrendered to members of the American 44th Infantry.
* **Albert Speer**

## Episode Notes

* During the episode, the characters refer to the Bond films *Skyfall* and *Never Say Never Again*, neither of which was an Ian Fleming title. *Skyfall* (2012) was an original script written to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the release of the first Bond film. *Never Say Never Again* (1983) is a remake of *Thunderball*, a Fleming novel. Although it starred Sean Connery, it is not considered part of Bond canon, as it was not produced by Eon Productions.
* Goran Višnjić who portrays Flynn was considered for the role of James Bond during preproduction of *Casino Royale* in 2005 but was reportedly "unable to master a British accent", and the role ultimately went to Daniel Craig, who portrayed the famous agent until 2021's *No Time to Die*.
* Throughout the episode there were was much fan-style admiration shown by all the characters over Fleming. Even Flynn tells him he loved his movies.
* Several times in the episode Fleming flirts with Lucy prompting Rufus to say twice that James Bond was hitting on her. After finding about the movie and book about them Rufus says, "Wanna bet Bond sleeps with Lucy in that one?" It gets him a dirty look from her.
* A number of musical cues used in the episode suggest the music from the early Bond films, much of it written by John Barry, also known for the scores to *Dances with Wolves* and *Out of Africa*.
* Both Ian Fleming and Wyatt wanted to kill Werner von Braun for his role in "raining down" his rockets on London during the Blitz. In actuality, there were no German rockets at that time. Although the V2 rocket was eventually used on London, it was not in service until 1944, the time period of the episode, and not during the Blitz, which took place between 1940 and 1941. The Blitz was a campaign of nightly aerial bombing by Nazi bombers; rocketry was still under development during this time.

1. ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4293232.stm