This episode starts off with a flashback one week after The Blackout and the Matheson family are ready to leave the city for the countryside. We get a look at one of the damaged streets, it is pretty deserted but there are fires and destruction everywhere.
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| Out for a nice stroll |
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| To kill or not to kill?..... |
The group makes it to a market town in Pontiac, Illinois and it is here that we see that the selling of drugs like heroin is legal and we also see some Militia soldiers beating up on a citizen. Miles goes in to a gambling den alone in hope of finding a friend of his when the bounty hunter from earlier appears and captures the rest. Miles agrees to go with him but manages to overwhelm is captor and snaps his neck.
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| .....kill, SNAP! |
Back with Tom and Danny they investigate a gunshot and we find out that citizens are banned from using firearms and so Tom asks the person who fired the shot to hand over his shotgun. This does not go smoothly and one of Tom's men is shot but the guy with the shotgun his killed. They also find an American flag in his house and Tom orders it burned immediately. It then changes to Monroe's camp where the sadistic Sergeant Will Strausser (David Meunier) is interrogating someone who seems to part of a group of rebels that are against the Republic. Monroe tries to reason with the man but in the end decides to stab him himself.
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| Strausser loves using knifes in conversations |
Back with Charlie and the group, Miles decides his better off on his own for now and goes off to find his friend by himself. Charlie then follows him in the morning, leaving Aaron and Maggie to make their way to the rondevu by themselves. Aaron is not too worried but Maggie reveals that she keeps around a cell phone has all the pictures of her kids (who she hasn't seen since The Blackout) on it, even though it doesn't work, and is not too confident about seeing her again. Meanwhile Tom mercy kills the solider who was shot and explains to Danny that he believes the Republic is the only means of law in America now, though Danny doesn't believe him. Charlie also manages to find Miles and convince him to take her along with him.
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| This isn't going to be the first time she refuses to listen Miles |
Meanwhile Aaron decides to tell Maggie about the pendant and about Grace has well and the two decide to make a detour to her house. Along the way Aaron comes to the possibility that The Blackout was man made since humanity should have been able to eventually fix everything and get electricity back if it was just a normal EMP.
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| Everyone is off on their own little mission now |
Charlie and Miles manage to find who they where looking for; Nora Clayton (Daniella Alonso) an expert at making bombs and is part of a slave convoy who are tasked with pulling a helicopter. They manage to free Nora in the middle of the night but she refuses to go with them because she wanted to steal the high powered sniper rifle the warden is carrying. They agree to help her and Charlie volunteers to shoot the warden with a makeshift gun up her sleeve, even though Miles is doubtful that she can shoot a man point blank, she succeeds however when she thinks of her mom shooting a crazy man for them and Miles and Nora move in to finish off the rest. They manage to free the slaves and retrieve the gun but Miles is not happy since it is revealed that Nora is a member of The Resistance that wishes to topple to Monroe Republic and bring back the United States and Miles believes that it can not be done.
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| You just got to love the sword fighting in this show, its awesome! |
Meanwhile back at Grace's house she answers the door and is confronted by someone, whose face we cannot see, but someone she must not like because she immediately locks the door. She rushes up the stairs to her computer and the man breaks down the door and makes his way upstairs. She just manages to send the message "Randall is here" before this Randall, who has a pendant around his neck, turns on a cattle prod.
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| Who is this mysterious person? |
The episode ends at the Monroe Republic capital at Philadelphia in Independence Hall where it is revealed that Rachael is still alive and is a captive of Monroe. He tells her that Ben is dead and that Danny is on his way to them, enraged Rachael attacks him with scissors but is quickly disarmed. Monroe says that now they have Danny she will tell them everything she and Ben where working on prior to The Blackout.
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| Rachael Matheson; the biggest stuck up b***h you will ever know |
That was the summary of this episode, think I managed to shorten it a bit compared to the first one while keeping all important info in.
This was a great follow up to the Pilot episode and the main reason for that is because just before I first watched it I expected the whole excitement of it to die down but I was so wrong. It still had great action, story, pacing and quality sets that the first episode had, I mean it opened up with a badass sword fight with Miles.
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| That's right people; don't mind this beating, go about your business |
We also got some great new information on the overall world and the Monroe Republic, for example I don't think dollars are used anymore, instead we get gold pieces (and later diamonds) which makes me think there is more of a barter system than anything else. Also the Militia obviously run a kind of dictatorship and, from the dangers we have seen when your in between cities, they also don't care about its citizens (for example it is illegal for them to carry fire arms), they don't mind the trade of drugs like heroin and they hire bounty hunters like the Old West.
We also get some new information about The Blackout and how Aaron thinks that its is man made, which makes us think who would want to basically destroy the world? Aaron also points out that whatever happened on the day of The Blackout it is also preventing humanity from fixing it, so it wasn't just a world wide EMP. Also Charlie seems to grow more as a character with her resolution to kill the enemy this episode and it was funny seeing her pull a fast one on Nate.
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| Wonder what Tom's wife famous venison steaks are like? |
This episode also decided to split up the group and introduce Rachael so we have some new storylines and I like this because some characters get some more screen time for themselves, like Aaron and Maggie, than they would when they shared it with Miles. It is done right in this show, unlike the latest season of The Walking Dead when entire episodes are given over to split up characters and we don't see the others for ages.
Some reveals in this episode too, with maybe the most important one being that Rachael is still alive and is a captive of Monroe. This was not a shock to me at all because I really doubted that they would have killed her off screen and those who have read my other reviews know I really hate her. I admit I thought she alright at the beginning but that changes quickly when they just go too far with her in later episodes. I like strong female characters such as Charlie and Nora, in anime (Ghost in the Shell, Buso Renkin) and in video games (Lightning Returns. Resident Evil) but as for Rachael they cross the line with her to annoying, arrogant and stuck up. Will go on more about this in future reviews.
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| Now that isn't going to rub off! |
Speaking about Nora she is a great addition to the cast because you will see that she proves to be very useful when it comes to making things but the most important thing about her is that she is part of a Resistance. Like with Rachael I wasn't surprised that there was something like this against the Militia but I am curious to find out more about it, how it operates and how strong it is. Thought I'd point out; why do they tattoo their members because that is a dead give away? The Militia branding themselves is one thing but should a Resistance operate more secretly, lol. Speaking about Militia we get to see a softer side of Tom in this episode as he mercy killed his wounded solider and it seems that he truly believes that the Monroe Republic is a proper form of order for this new world. Unlike Strausser who looks like he is in it for the killing and torture and we see more of Monroe he seems to be very cold and calculating and seems determined to turn the lights back on.
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| Possession of this flag in the Monroe Republic is now very illegal |
Lastly we also get the reveal of the mysterious Randall who seems to have captured Grace and who also possesses a pendant. Could it be he is collecting pendants? One thing is for sure; those who has these pendants must be linked to The Blackout, why else would Ben know before hand the lights where going to go off and Monroe has Rachael captive?
Overall this is a great follow up to the Pilot episode and a great watch; it doesn't hold back in any of the action and the story line branches off in some interesting directions. We get the introduction of new characters, more screen time for the series antagonist and it defiantly added a more sci fi element with the these pendants. I didn't like the flashback however in this episode, it was great seeing what it was like just after The Blackout but I like the Tim Guinee as an actor and his character Ben is one of my favourite characters but they really want to portray him as a really weak person compared to Rachael which is annoying.
SCORE: 9/10
You may have noticed but for this review, and all other Revolution episode reviews, I am treating it as though it is the very first time I am watching the episode.
The great screenshots of the episodes where provided by the great site Screencapped. You can look for yourself from the link below;
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