Revolution 1x22 - "The Dark Tower"

This is in no way meant to be a comprehensive nor, at times, possibly even coherent recap of Revolution since I stopped recapping it mid-season. I did continue watching it out of some misguided sense of... I'm not sure what.

In any case, season one has ended, with season two assured. And my oh my, was the second half of the season's quality consistent with the show's first half. The high point during mid-season - and of the series as a whole - was the show killing of Danny. But then slowly and surely, Revolution went about deleting much of what made it unique or interesting, like the sword fights and what few inconsistent details they offered on the outset of what life would be like in a world without electricity.

No, Revolution often went to the same well: send the characters in small groups to whatever places they had to go for whatever reason, and watch them wrestle with insipid moral dilemmas while engaging in gunfights. Yes, in the second half of the season, swords and muskets gave way to everyone and their mother armed to the teeth with machine guns.

BLAM! BLAMBLAMBALABLAM! KA-BLAMMO! is how much of season 1.2 went.

We got constant drama between Miles Matheson and General Monroe, the show flogging their Good Friends/Better Enemies relationship and even mocking it in the finale with a funny line from Giancarlo Esposito's character about Monroe's "erotic fixation" on Miles. Monroe cemented his claim as one of the worst and most ineffectual villains in the history of television.

We traveled to other Republics, most notably the Atlanta Republic, at war with the Monroe Republic based in Philadelphia and the Great Plains Republic further out west. They all have two things in common: They all hate the Texas Republic, and all points are reachable on foot within a few hours, as Miles, Charlie and friends are able to just walk to any point on the map lickety split as the plot requires. Are there wormholes in the woods across America? Must be.

We learned what turned the power off: nanobots. I shit you not. Gazillions of nanobots released all around the globe. "They're everywhere, they're in the air, they're inside of us", the show not-so-helpfully explained.

And then there is the saga of the Tower, the government control system where the nanobots were launched and controlled from, which all roads lead to, and all the characters converged. There are troops at the Tower guarding the secret of turning the power back on, and after a lot of gun fighting, a lot of regular fighting, a major character death (Nora, who died knowing Miles liked her more than Charlie's borderline insane mom Rachel), and a bizarre suicide by Colm Feore's ridiculous villain character, two major things happened:

1) Aaron, Rachel and friends turned the power back on.

2) Colm Feore launched two ICMBs at Atlanta and Philadelphia before killing himself.

Let's talk about 1. The power came back on, which we saw in some cutaways to various parts of the country where lamps came back to life, radios begin playing music, and cities started to flicker with light. Wait. Wait wait wait. It's been over 15 years since all the power went out. A generation has gone by without it. You're telling me all those lamps and electric devices were still plugged in? Those lamps still had bulbs inside them?

In the final shocker of the season, we find out the mysteriously silhouetted President of the United States is still President of the United States (what's left of it) and has been living in the US colony... in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba!

Boy, am I looking forward to Revolution season 2 when Miles, Charlie, and friends need only a scant few hours to walk to Cuba.

Revolution 1x10 - "Nobody's Fault But Mine"

Best part of #Revolution was when Nora gave Aaron pipe bombs. "If anything goes wrong, you cut a @cmpunk promo that'll make everyone think."
— John Orquiola (@BackoftheHead) November 27, 2012

Am I right? Come on. Aaron Google Man sitting down cross legged and waxing philosophical about everything wrong with the Monroe Militia and Revolution as a whole in a meta way would have been way more entertaining than just lighting some dynamite and blowing a hole in the Power Plant wall for the Matheson family to escape.

Geez, that Matheson family. Seeing Charlie, Miles, Danny and Rachel all together... man, these guys are worse than the Skywalkers. Everything in Revolution literally revolves around this one family. This one blonde family, except for Miles. 

Since they sprung for Led Zeppelin music last week, Revolution missed a prime opportunity to use some Springsteen as the soundtrack for Miles and Charlie's group's arrival in the streets of Philadelphia.

Flashbacks this week were excessive. We saw Miles and Monroe fighting to create their Republic Five Years after the Blackout, complete with jokes about modern weaponry soon being depleted and having to learn how to sword fight "like pirates". Then a Flashback to Two Years before the Blackout - mind you, 17 years before the show's "present day" - and the characters look exactly the same. Neither aged a day in 17 years. Just ever so slightly varying amounts of stubble. Overdoing it was a third set of Flashbacks to when Miles and Monroe were young boys, brothers in fake M tattoos on their wrists.

The confrontation between Miles and Monroe was Revolution's Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader meeting on the Death Star moment. Monroe's men, especially Jacob from Lost, were conveniently not around for the heart to heart between Monroe and Miles, then showed up to interrupt the sword fight. What were they all doing in the interim? They took their sweet time chasing Miles and Rachel after they ran out of that room where Rachel killed that Bloodthirsty Psycho Dude. I liked Jacob asking Monroe to let him kill Miles. "You? You couldn't even kill the Smoke Monster."

I didn't get Miles' scheme at the beginning. As soon as they went to that apartment to get Charlie medical aid for her bleeding head, Miles mysteriously left. Charlie, Nora and Aaron get captured by Neville. (Plus, Neville sticks a syringe in Charlie's neck to knock her out, but Charlie was totally awake and kicking and screaming soon after when they threw her in Rachel's cell. What was the point of the syringe?) When Neville finds Miles in his house with a sword to his wife's throat, Miles indicated he knew Neville would find them so he came here to hold his wife hostage. That was Miles' plan? To have his people captured so that Neville would acquiesce to this hostage negotiation and give his people back to him? Miles didn't even ask for Nora and Aaron. He only specifically asked for Charlie and Danny. So he would have had to lead a rescue mission to get Nora and Aaron back anyway. Wha--?

I'm presuming it's Neville in the helicopter at the end aiming the gatling gun at the Matheson clan. This must be his revenge for Miles R-Kelly-ing him, leaving him trapped in the closet.

And with that Revolution goes dark. Until March.

Revolution 1x9 - "Kashmir"

I skipped recapping Revolution last week because, let's face it, no one really cared. The main dealie from last week is Nora's bounty hunter sister stole the Pendant of Power from Aaron Google Man and brought it to the Militia who brought it to Monroe.

This week is the penultimate episode of the first half of the season before the break until March. And "All Will Be Revealed". How do we know? Because that's the important line from Led Zeppelin "Kashmir". Zeppelin's music is trumpeted as being featured in the episode, and boy, was it dumb.

Battlestar Galactica used "All Along The Watchtower" brilliantly. Revolution used "Kashmir" dumbingly, hitting us over the head with obviousness while being a non-event. The song appears in one scene where Miles, high from oxygen deprivation, imagines he finds himself in Monroe's office and the two of them have a conversation full of vagaries. Lines like "You couldn't do it" are bandied about, and we learn that Miles tried to assassinate him before he "retired" from the Militia. "All Will Be Revealed"...? Not really.

Apparently, in Revolution, if you're deprived of oxygen and you're a Matheson, you can enter the Nexxus. It happened to Charlie too after she was shot. Not really shot, the bullet grazed her forehead and she was KO'd. But while she was out, she traveled to the Nexxus where she experienced Joy. Well, not really. She saw her dead dad, who invited her to stay with him in the Nexxus. But in the real world, Miles was trying desperately to revive her. Not with CPR or anything, but by shaking her by the cheek and yelling at her. It was enough! Charlie heard Miles hollering her name and decided she couldn't stay in the Nexxus. She had an even easier time leaving the Nexxus than Captain Picard did. Yet she failed to ask her dad to come back with her to help her stop Monroe from destroying Veridian III.

Those who aren't Mathesons had different reactions to oxygen deprivation. Nora imagined she was bitten by an alligator. Aaron Google Man was visited by his wife, the one he abandoned in the woods, and it was basically a quickie rehash of the flashbacks from a couple of episodes ago. We learned nothing new. The other people with them presumably also had reactions to the oxygen deprivation, but the show decided they weren't interesting enough - or maybe too interesting - to show us.

The plot was Charlie, Miles, Aaron, and Nora made it to the outskirts of Philadelphia. The city is a fortress, so they seek out the Resistance to help them enter the subway tunnels into the city. The main guy helping him is That Guy From Dollhouse, and shocking! He was evil! He's a double agent working for Monroe! He even kills his fellow Resistance members, a motley group we're never introduced to or care about, except for one archer named Ashley, whom Aaron Google Man has a brief conversation with before she eats a bullet.

Oh, Charlie stepped on a mine that they're able to run away from before it exploded. But wait. Mines work? I don't know the technical makeup how a mine works, but apparently, mines are immune from the power being out. In the end, Charlie and Miles settled whatever lingering issues they had - i.e. they're at a point now where Miles can't quit and abandon her anymore, he's stuck - and they decided to go face Monroe together.

And how is Monroe doing? Swell. He had Rachel in the secret Militia labs building a generator that she claimed can enhance the Pendants of Power's range to half a mile. So, she says, "it can power tanks and planes." How fucking useful is a plane with a half a mile range??

But Rachel wasn't really building a generator. She was building a bomb. Monroe was really, truly, deeply offended by this betrayal. After all, he gave her an ornately appointed room in his colonial estate, and meals and everything for years, and he didn't rape her like he probably thought about doing, and this is how she repays him? Monroe tells Neville to have her executed since Monroe has the Pendants and that other guy who used to work with her and her husband creating the Pendants. So Rachel, rather cleverly, stabs the other guy to death, maintaining Monroe's dependence on her being alive. She's clever, that Rachel Matheson.

And what of Danny? You know, Danny? The brother Charlie spent 9 episodes trying to reach and save? Dunno. The show hasn't deemed him fit to be shown in the last two episodes. Presumably he's also enjoying the plush accommodations his mom was enjoying.

Next week: Miles meets Monroe (not in the Nexxus)! Charlie sees Danny again! There'll probably be a sword fight! (There wasn't this week.) And All Will Be Revealed (music by Led Zeppelin not included)!

Revolution 1x7 - "The Children's Crusade"

If there was a high point to last week's episode of Revolution, it's when Charlie got slapped in the face.

Number of times Charlie got punched in the face and knocked out this week: 2.

Number of times Charlie was called a bitch: 1.

And scene.

Wait, other stuff happened too. In the interminable march to Philadelphia to find Danny and save him from a fate worse than sitting in a well-appointed room, eating three square meals, and hanging with his mom under the aegis of Monroe, Charlie and company meet a bunch of stupid kids. They are literally stupid, as in they seem uneducated. The Revolution version of Peter Pan's Lost Boys. Their parents are dead, they mistrust adults, and the Militia kidnaps them and indoctrinates them as their new recruits.

The lead boy lost his older brother to the Militia and Charlie feels like this is a lot like what happened to her brother, because it is. Miles, meanwhile, feels guilt because he laid down the rules of kidnapping kids for the Militia when he was General Miles Matheson.

Once again, the plan involves sending Charlie in alone with the barest wisp of a plan that's bound to fail and backfire, requiring Miles to rescue her. Charlie infiltrates the Barge where the Militia indoctrinates the kids, her barest wisp of a plan fails and backfires, and Miles and Nora have to go save her. Two swords against the... half dozen or so?... Militia soldiers on the Barge. Guess who wins.

For her troubles, Charlie gets captured and gets a tattoo of the Militia "M" burned into her wrist. Luckily, her last name also begins with "M". Charlie also murders the evil Militia lieutenant, yet another in the long line of Terrible Actors, in cold blood, the old sword to the gut. She's getting awful good at that.

While everyone was at the Barge, Google Beard Aaron was holed up in an abandoned lighthouse with the Lost Boys. Some Milita men check out the lighthouse and in the process of hiding, the Amulet of Power lights up the lighthouse, dazzling everyone on the Barge with the POWER OF ELECTRIC LIGHT, allowing Miles, Charlie and Nora to get their victory. Later, Miles demands to know what happened and gets the lowdown on the Amulets of Power. He wants to smash it, but Charlie puts a stop to it. But after all this time, Miles now knows it was this Amulet his brother Ben died for.

In Philadelphia, Danny hangs out with his mom Rachel and we realize, between this kid and the kid who played her son in V, somehow Elizabeth Mitchell was doomed to play mother to some terrible young actors. Rachel's subplot involves her old co-worker Before The Blackout being captured by Monroe's people for his amulet. They have Rachel try to finesse the Amulet's location out of him, but when that fails, they just kidnap his daughter and threaten to kill her. The direct approach is always better for results.

In Flashbacks, we find Rachel when he was pregnant as Ben and his team introduce their Amulet of Power technology to Department of Defense honcho Colm Feore. Turns out the technology was supposed to create clean energy but instead it completely takes electricity away. Howzat? Also, Rachel has complications in her pregnancy with Danny, but Colm Feore creepily offers her a quid pro quo that anyone else would run away from as fast as they can, but not on this show.

Big Shocker: Grace, the black woman who had the working computer in her house, is not dead and is a prisoner of Monroe. She is approached by Colm Feore, still immensely creepy 15 years later. Also, no one has aged a day, judging from how they look in the Flashbacks.

Line of the episode, from Miles to Charlie: "It's irritating when a dumb kid tells you what to do, isn't it?" Aw, who'd want to punch this face? 

Revolution 1x6 - "Sex and Drugs"

I find it hard to fathom no one took the script to #Revolution episode 6, tossed it in the air and said, "Are you fucking kidding me?!"
— John Orquiola (@BackoftheHead) October 30, 2012

Two weeks ago, I thought Revolution turned a corner, but I guess that corner lead to What The Fuck Is This Boulevard?

To save Nora's life from her stabbing by Frank Lapidus in the train episode, Miles takes her and the group to the home of a heroin dealer named Drexel, played by The Worst Actor Yet In Revolution And That's Saying Something. The teasers for the episode made it seem like he would Indecent Proposal Charlie since he oogles her up and down, but no, the Proposal was less Indecent and more Insipid: He wanted Charlie to pretend to be one of his prostitutes and go to his Irish arch enemies' house and kill the head Irishman, Bill O'Halloran, via, his specific orders, stabbing in the eye with a blade inside a chopstick.

Drexel calls the Irish a bunch of "potato-eating leprechauns." Begorrah!

Sucks to be Charlie. First sexy bath in weeks and she can't even relax for five minutes without TRAUMATIC PARENTAL FLASHBACKS. #Revolution
— John Orquiola (@BackoftheHead) October 30, 2012

To my (un)trained(?) eye, the girl getting in and out of the bathtub was a body double for Tracy Spiridakos.

The moral quandry by Aaron Google Beard Man was that Charlie can't murder an innocent man in cold blood. Well, who says he's innocent? All he did was burn Drexel's poppy fields, whereas Drexel is clearly an unbalanced asshole with armed guards holding them hostage and blackmailing them. But Charlie says she'll do it anyway because she has no choice. Then Drexel, in the spirit of authenticity since he's known to "rough up his girls", hauls off and BITCH SLAPS Charlie in the LOL Moment of the series so far. Then Charlie, wearing a sexy hooker dress and heels, goes to go murder.

But oops, Drexel neglected to mention if Charlie murders Bill O'Halloran, she will surely be murdered in return by the Irish. Miles somehow didn't reason that out, what with how sloppy and nonsensical the plan was to begin with. Aaron then moralizes to Miles, who decides he has to leave Nora under Aaron's protection after all and go save his niece from murdering and being murdered in return. To do this, Miles must murder his way out of Drexel's mansion.

Charlie nearly screws up her murder of Bill O'Halloran but just when she tearfully is about to commit the murder, Miles stays her hand. No murder! And because there was no murder, somehow, Charlie and Miles were able to leave the Irish compound scot free without being pursued or anything.

Nora must have been awfully confused when after being unconscious from septic shock, she awakens via shot of adrenaline to find herself in the backyard of a mansion surrounded by men with torches and rifles and facing Aaron, whom she must duel with guns to the death. Aaron shoots himself in the chest, feints being dead, then shoots Drexel dead via murder. And somehow, all of Drexel's men were cool about this. I mean, real chill. "Get your crap and get out" chill.

Flashbacks involve Aaron Google Man and his Asian Trophy Wife. In the months after the Blackout, Aaron realized as a wealthy Google Man, he has no helpful skills to keep himself or his wife safe in this savage new world. Thus, he leaves her in the woods. This is tragic, or something. Aaron, by the way, had a different pair of glasses when the Blackout hit, had no glasses in the 8 months after the Blackout, and now has an entirely new pair of glasses. Somewhere after ditching his wife, he must have stumbled upon a Lenscrafters.

Finally, Danny is reunited with his mom Rachel, under Monroe's protection. Hug it out.

Revolution 1x5 - "Soul Train"

Best episode of Revolution yet. It took them five weeks to put the pieces together and deliver something that showcases this show's potential as an action adventure series, but this was Revolution's coming out party. The episode worked like gangbusters. And it was all about the train.

The steam train appropriated by the Monroe Militia brought all the show's various threads together. Finally, Miles, Charlie, Danny, and Neville were all in the same place, the town of Nobleton, and had long-awaited encounters that delivered. Charlie meeting Neville for the first time, feigning being a normal girl spying on her cheating boyfriend, and then blowing her cover only to be saved by Miles was good stuff. Giancarlo Esposito is by far the best actor on this show, but in their pivotal confrontation, Tracy Spiridakos held her own against him. This is without a doubt her best performance as Charlie, tough, physical, emotional, determined. She's quickly growing as a worthy lead of the show.

The conflict between Charlie and Miles continued over just who's running this popsicle stand. Miles didn't want to sit around moping after the group buried Maggie, Charlie searched for something recognizable in the uncle she remembered as a child, and together, they Batman and Batgirled an operation to stop a steam train from blowing up and rescue Danny from Neville. They accomplished half the goal; they couldn't save Danny. The eyebrow-raiser is Charlie asserting herself at the end clearly as the leader of this group. She told the fat Goggle guy, the rebel who was stabbed, and her quitter of an uncle to man the fuck up. It almost seemed like they left Miles behind when Charlie marched the group out. You know you have some flaws as a leader when the 20 year old girl usurps all your authority.

The violence and physicality on the show also ramped up significantly and was more brutal. Nora got stabbed by Special Lost Guest Star Jeff (Frank Lapidus) Fahey, a member of the Resistance who wanted to blow up the train to cripple the Monroe government, when she tried to stop him. (The bomb would have killed Danny, being transported to Philadelphia straight to Monroe.) We had knife fights, people being beaten to death with fists, Charlie being nearly choked to death by Neville, and Charlie being thrown off the train. (She's fine, she protected her head as instructed.)

Best of all was this week's Flashback, the secret origin of Tom Neville, who was fired from his insurance job on the day of the Blackout. Neville is married to Kim Raver of 24(!), and we learned the Militia member who was the prisoner of Charlie's group and has the hots for her (understandable), whom Miles named "Nipples" this week, is really Jason Neville, Tom's grown son. Jason escaped captivity and wasted no time in joining his father, but he still saved Charlie's life so his father couldn't kill her. He threw her off the train, but that was the lesser of two evils.

Finally, even the most drudging subplot, Rachel Matheson as the prisoner of Monroe, got some forward movement: Rachel drew him a picture of the locket that can turn the power back on and revealed there are twelve of them! They should call the lockets Horcruxes and send Charlie on a Harry Potter quest to find the other eleven.

We also learned the Atlanta Federation is making strides against the Monroe Republic. Revolution seems to be civil war reenactors playing a game of real life Risk with the former United States of America.

Revolution 1x4 - "The Plague Dogs"

There must have been a talk in the Revolution Writers Room about cliffhangers. It must have gone like this: "We need more CLIFFHANGERS. And by more, I mean ONE BEFORE EVERY ACT BREAK!"

Alternate titles for Revolution could be:

"Miles Matheson is a Known Quitter."
"Charlie Calls The Shots Around Here."

Let's take the quitting thing first. I believe Miles has tried to quit being part of the group looking for Danny in every single episode so far. He tried again this week, pretty hard, and he keeps getting talked into staying (or a swordfight distracts him from leaving). Every week he bristles at how he's at best second in command to Charlie. Which brings us to...

Charlie runs this group, to Miles' dismay. They sought Miles out for his military expertise, but anything he says can get overruled by the 17 year old girl. Hence, Miles keeps wanting to quit, but maybe the group would take Miles' supposed authority more seriously if he would stop trying to abandon them? It's a vicious circle.

I don't know geographically how far the group is from Danny and Giancarlo Esposito but this episode, they estimated they're 24 hours away. 24 hours walking time away (even moreso now after the events of the episode.) Again, I don't know how far that is, but it's apparently far enough that the Twister that attacked Giancarlo and Danny had no meteorological effect on Charlie's group where ever the amusement park they ended up is.

Flashbacks: British Lady, we'll call her Maggie out of respect for her death, was in Seattle when the Blackout happened. Her kids are in England and she never saw them again, despite walking from Seattle to Buffalo without being raped, imprisoned, or murdered, only to find no ships are sailing anywhere anymore. Poor British Lady Maggie. RIP. (Please remain available for potential Flashbacks.)

Elizabeth Mitchell left her family at the request of General Miles Matheson to be captured by the Militia. This seems to have happened after the Militia formed but Charlie is still very young. Yet it begs the question of where Charlie's family was geographically; they hadn't settled and were still moving around. It's confusing. In the "present" of Revolution (2027 year estimated) Elizabeth Mitchell is still being held prisoner and won't talk about what she knows re: how to turn the lights back on. Monroe's brilliant plan is to drag her son in front of her and torture him until she talks. You mean to tell me, the Militia had Elizabeth Mitchell hostage for years and got nothing out of her, ever? They must be really lousy interrogators.

I'll say this for the Revolution actors: They act really hard. They do their damnedest to sell this show with their acting.

Number of Times Someone Said 'Dick': 1, Nora called Miles a dick.

Number of Swordfights: Hard to say. Miles kept losing his sword.

Revolution 1x3 - "No Quarter"

Miles Matheson was once General Miles Matheson, who trained the Militia. Or actually ran it above Monroe, the show was unclear. This would be a big reveal, except it isn't really, unless you are Charlie or one of the characters on the show, who are like WHOA!

In other news, Google Beard Man and British Lady found the house of Dead Lady Who Has A Computer. The episode ended with that little amulet thing suddenly lighting up and a CD player and British Lady's iPhone had power for a few seconds - which makes zero science sense, especially how the iPhone's battery was powered by it. Nice to see bullshit science introduced into the show in episode 3.

Charlie thinks her dad was a coward for kowtowing to the Militia all her life. She's very headstrong but she's also competent.

Sword fight count in the episode: only 1. Restraint.

Finally, we learned that you can say "dick" in Revolution. Both Charlie and Nora called guys dicks. Also, Charlie's prisoner brother was beaten by the asshole co-pilot on Pan Am, who's now an asshole Militia soldier. I can only assume the brother was beaten with a bag of dicks.

Special Lost guest star: Jacob.

I feel like Revolution is getting incrementally better. I mean, incrementally. Or maybe its bar is set so low, any kind of clearing it seems like a success.

Revolution 1x2 - "Chained Heat"

Someone Tweeted after the Emmys that network dramas will probably never win an Emmy again because they can't compete with cable's storytelling possibilities. I think that's probably accurate. As cable gets riskier, more adult, more involved, network TV often seems to regress to becoming as broad and inclusive as possible. This is a generalization. But Revolution seems to feed into that mindset. It's McDonalds sci-fi.

If Lost were made today instead of 8 years ago, in a network TV universe where shows like 24 existed (as uncompromisingly violent and risky as network TV can get), would Lost have been as smart and daring? (Say what you will about how it turned out, or your preferences, Lost was a great show. It's certainly a higher caliber than its clones that followed or Revolution, its current stepchild by some of the same fathers.)

Anyway, Revolution so far has not been terrible. It's not great, but it's not total shit either. It's better than Terra Nova, the show it reminds me of as much as Lost. It's still finding itself, and that's fine. It's doing well in the ratings and should have the time it needs to figure itself out and tell the story it's laying down.

This week, they dropped some bombshells. I guess the big one is that Elizabeth Mitchell is sticking around, not just in the flashbacks to the days after the Blackout, but that she's alive in the "present", estranged from her family, and mysteriously in some sort of cahoots with Monroe. I hope Revolution works out better for her than V, another example of an extremely stupid network sci-fi show.

I counted three big action scenes/swordfights this week, which is probably a lot. These characters barely have time to argue and give necessary exposition before they launch into another sword fight. Revolution seems to love to swash buckle.

They worked hard to give Charlie a bit more to do, make her more heroic and resourceful. She's pretty, sure, but I agree with uncle Miles, she's really annoying. But she's not useless by any means; she outsmarted that Militia dude who seems to have the hots for her, and she was the key player in their gambit to kill the militia members, acquire the sniper rifle and helicopter, and save the slave chain gang (who all kind of just vanished after Action Sequence #3). I also liked Charlie pointing out she was the only one concerned with freeing the slaves from the chain gang. 

Apparently, they've already killed or are about to kill the lady with the working computer in her attic. And they're laying down thick the whole idea of the Resistance "trying to restore the United States of America".

Revolution 1x1 - "Pilot"

You say you want a Revolution? Do you? Well, you know...

A few Tweets as I watched the pilot:

John Orquiola@BackoftheHead

Why do all these dudes on @NBCRevolution have buzz cuts? Did they discover some new kind of hair clippers that don't run on electricity?

16 Sep 12

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John Orquiola@BackoftheHead

When the lights got turned off in @NBCRevolution, so did the lightbulbs above brains that made them smart or interesting characters.

16 Sep 12

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John Orquiola@BackoftheHead

Well, @NBCRevolution, that was either the best or worst show I've ever seen about the world plunged in darkness without electricity.

16 Sep 12

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The premise is simple: The lights went out. All electricity all over the world shut down at the same time. "No one knows why," non-explains one of the characters. (Though at least two characters do know, one of whom is dead before the pilot ends.) Fifteen years later, the world has broken up into republics ruled by militias, the survivors of the apocalypse having learned to get by without any technology that runs on electricity. 

The show as set up is two things, A Quest (The Main Characters Must Find A Missing Family Member So They Can Rescue Another Family Member) and A Mysterious Mystery (Why Did The Lights Go Out?) 

There are familiar names on the credits, including Executive Producers Bryan Burk and JJ Abrams (both of Lost). Any resemblance to Lost is purely non-coincidental. The name that kind of saddens me is Jon Favreau, who produced and also directed the pilot. The guy who wrote Swingers and directed Iron Man must have had little to no input on the script, because that's where this whole shebang crumbles, at the source. The premise is enticing enough, but the script is dumb, the characters are vapid, the action is trite.

The lead girl is pretty enough but she's a dim bulb. Realistically, neither she nor her friends would survive long enough to make it to Chicago to find her missing uncle. The only guy in the whole show who tries real hard and succeeds in creating any nuance to his character is Giancarlo Esposito as a Militia Sergeant who would rather be doing other things, but this is the shit hand he was dealt. 

Production-wise, Revolution is impressive enough in realizing what a world without electricity would look like after 15 years, with towns and cities flooded and nature growing over everything. The airplanes crashing in the beginning after losing power were chilling, but again, the guys behind this made Lost so they know how to make airplanes crash. 

Charlie, Ben, Miles, Aaron.

Obviously, names on television get re-used and recycled all the time, but interesting how all four of those Revolution character names were also character names on Lost.

Also, Tracy Spiridakos, who plays Charlie, is apparently 16 in real life but is playing 20-21 (if Charlie was about 5 or 6 when the blackout happened 15 years ago).

I don't know, though, man. This wants to be the next Lost, but to me, it plays like the next Terra Nova.