Timeless (TV Series)

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln (2016)

Malcolm Barrett: Rufus Carlin

Photos 

Quotes 

• Wyatt Logan : Trick or treat.

  Rufus Carlin : Trust me, no one is more worried than I am that I am not a real soldier.

  Wyatt Logan : Where did these getups even come from?

  Rufus Carlin : Civil War re-enactors club.

  Wyatt Logan : No wonder they smell like sweat and loneliness.

• Rufus Carlin : [preparing to remove a bullet from Wyatt]  This is gonna be the worst game of Operation ever.

• Lucy Preston : What's changed in your lives?

  Wyatt Logan : Wh...?

  Lucy Preston : Since we got back from 1937, what has changed for you?

  Rufus Carlin : I just had an unsuccessful evening with a girl, so nothing, really.

  Wyatt Logan : Why? What's wrong?

  Lucy Preston : My sister's gone.

  Wyatt Logan : Gone? Gone where?

  Lucy Preston : Gone as in erased from history. Something that Flynn did or we did to the Hindenburg has changed my family. My mother isn't sick anymore, and my sister was never born.

• Wyatt Logan : So Booth walks into Ford's Theatre at exactly 10:00 a.m., huh? Not 9:56, 10:07?

  Lucy Preston : Hundreds of books have been written about Booth's movements today.

  Wyatt Logan : Let me guess. You read them all.

  Lucy Preston : And wrote one of them.

  Rufus Carlin : So why is Booth coming here now? What, is he scouting for tonight?

  Lucy Preston : No, he's an actor. He knew Ford's Theatre like the back of his hand, used it as his mailing address. Picks up his mail at exactly 10:00 a.m.

  Wyatt Logan : An actor.

  Lucy Preston : Pretty well known, too. But his brother Edwin was literally the most famous actor in America. John never quite measured up.

  Rufus Carlin : So this is like if Donnie Wahlberg assassinated the president?

  Lucy Preston : Pretty much, actually.

• Rufus Carlin : All you have to do is open your mouth to save him. And you're just gonna let Booth shoot him in the head?

  Lucy Preston : Do you think any of this is easy for me? My whole life, I've idolized Lincoln. When I was little girl, I would... I would memorize his speeches.

  Rufus Carlin : Well, then do something.

  Lucy Preston : We would come back to an entirely different world. Who knows if it would be better, or if there would be anything left to come back to at all? The present isn't perfect, but it's ours. Awful as it is, what happens to Lincoln is meant to be.

• Wyatt Logan : [having been shot by Flynn]  This would take fifteen minutes to patch back home. Here, I'm gonna die of sepsis.

  Lucy Preston : [Rufus enters]  You get it?

  Rufus Carlin : Yeah.

  Lucy Preston : Okay.

  Wyatt Logan : [groaning as he lies down on the bed]  Rufus, you're up. My knife's in the pocket. You gotta sterilize it over the lamp.

  Rufus Carlin : Um... what?

  Wyatt Logan : The bullet's still in there. It's just under the skin, but you gotta take it out.

  Rufus Carlin : Why me?

  Wyatt Logan : Because you work with your hands.

  Rufus Carlin : Yeah, on circuit boards.

  Wyatt Logan : Think of me as a circuit board, that's gonna die if you don't help.

  Lucy Preston : [Rufus turns to her]  Don't look at me. I faint.

• Rufus Carlin : [following Booth]  So we're a thousand percent sure we can't just shoot this asshat, save Lincoln here and now?

  Lucy Preston : Believe me, I want to. It might change things too much.

  Rufus Carlin : Like maybe there'll be a lot less lynchings.

  [Lucy sighs] 

  Rufus Carlin : I'm serious. I'm serious. I just met some black soldiers. We know Lincoln's death... it's gonna be a disaster for them, not to mention my great-great-grandparents.

  Wyatt Logan : [Lucy gives him a look]  Don't look at me. I'm with him.

  Lucy Preston : Look, I understand, but we don't know the consequences. It's too risky. It's our job to protect history.

  Rufus Carlin : Yeah, rich white guys' history. A lot of my history sucks.

• Rufus Carlin : [he sees George Atzerodt raising his gun, ready to shoot Vice President Johnson]  He's going to shoot him!

  [he tackles Atzerodt just as he fires, making him miss Johnson. Atzerodt aims his gun at Rufus instead] 

  Nicholas Biddle : [holding a gun to his head]  I wouldn't do that!

  [the authorities take Atzerodt away and Nicholas helps Rufus up] 

  Nicholas Biddle : Buy you a drink, sergeant?

  Rufus Carlin : I'm not a soldier.

  Nicholas Biddle : You are in my book.