Previously on Revolution: Sex and Drugs
I found this episode just as fulfilling, mesmerizing, and inspiring as its previous installments. Take from that what you will.
Plot
Charlie and the gang take on an impossible mission to save a boy seized by the militia (Peter played by Griffin Freeman) . In a plan of stunning clarity and vision, Charlie decides the best way to do this is by entering the belly of the beast, aka the big brainwashing ship the Monroe militia uses to indoctrinate their new recruits. Things go badly, of course, and Charlie ends up being branded with the militia “M” and Aaron accidentally turns on a lighthouse with the magical pendant this show more or less hinges upon. By the end of the episode, however, everyone escapes, including the boy everyone was trying to save. Hooray.
Over at the Monroe Reupiblic, Rachel feels bad for giving away the secret about the necklaces to Monroe (see what I said about hinging?) We find out in her flashback that her husband accidentally created what would be become the Big Off Switch of the World in an attempt to actually make a new type of clean energy. The government apparently liked it (that’s new) enough to send their man Randall to convince Rachel and her husband through silly domineering tactics that they just “want to be friends,” i.e. get their grubby hands all over the new weapon.
Back in the present, we discover Grace is still alive and under the control of the also-still-alive Randall. Expect both these characters to do something noteworthy in the future.
Thoughts
Revolution beat out the competition again this week, but ratings are slightly down. My personal assessment? This show is on life support. Not in, you know, the actual world – just in my head. The characters are difficult to connect with and the plotting is meandering, at best, and nonsensical, at worst. I see a ton of good ideas, but they’re muddled under a soupy mixture of poorly conceived storytelling. I’m slightly sad because I hate to be this critical about such an initially ambitious and promising show. My weakness has and always will be for stories that dare to shove conventionality out the window, but Revolution is not interested in telling that kind of story. It’s a concept show desperately trying to follow in Lost’s already well-tread footsteps while maintaining a firm grip on their mainstream audience. Since I – and I imagine many of my fellow television fans — don’t need Lost II or a miasma of characters and storylines appealing to the “masses,” I think I might be done.
Hayley has other interests besides just nerdy TV shows. She also is a big fan of thinking. She ponders the great mysteries of life, like how more of her time can be devoted to watching those nerdy TV shows.
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