Revolution Season One: The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia

Time for a Revolution review.

The episode begins with Monroe hearing the news that Tom and his wife are missing and that Jason has been spotted with the Rebels. Believing that Tom might be with the Rebels and angry at that fact he shoots the messenger in the head. Elsewhere at a Rebel camp a dying Rebel member manages to deliver a message to Miles before he dies and it turns out that Monroe has managed to sneak the nuclear device to its neighbouring Nation; The Georgia Federation. Miles decides to infiltrate Georgia's capital of Atlanta and stop the Nuke and Charlie and Nora also come along, with Charlie even pointing out that this will be her first time outside of the Monroe Republic.

Don't worry Monroe there are more we he came from

When Miles and his group have crossed the border they decide to get some Georgia solider disguises however at an outpost they find several soldiers dead and uniforms missing; someone had the same idea. Miles finds a knife that is left behind and then has a Flashback seven years after The Blackout and he his drinking with a young protégé of his named Alec Penner (Dayo Okeniyi). Miles decides to give him the same knife we saw in the present, that is also Matheson family heirloom, to Alec. It then changes to Rachael and Aaron who are trying to find another colleague of Rachael's named Jane and are shortly saved by her who sets two Militia soldiers on fire with a strange blinking device. At Jane's house Rachael explains that she wants to turn the Nanites off, Jane does not understand why because they where keeping Danny alive but Rachael explains that he is dead. Jane however still refuses to help because the same technology is keeping her wife alive and doesn't want to sacrifice her just because Danny is dead.

Fatality

Disguised as soldiers Miles, Nora and Charlie sneak in to Atlanta and they split up to find Alec and it is not long before Miles find him and the two fight it out. Miles however looks to be overpowered by him but Alec suddenly gets an arrow in the shoulder and retreats but Miles and Charlie chase after him. Miles manages to catch up to him but Alec has just killed an Atlanta policeman and leaves Miles to get captured by others. Later Charlie runs in to Alec who warns her that Miles can never be trusted even if Charlie is her niece then runs off. Before Charlie can run after him a Monroe helicopter is seen flying above and raining down hundreds of letters that asks for the surrender of Georgia or face a nuclear holocaust.

Miles vs. Alec

Miles is taken to Georgia Federation President Kelly Foster (Leslie Hope) who has heard of Monroe's warning and wonders why Miles is here. After some talking, made hard because of some hinted bad - blood between them, Foster lets Miles go to find the nuclear device. While the citizens of Atlanta are evacuating Miles meets up with Charlie and Nora and they split up again the find Alec. We then Flashback nine years after The Blackout and Miles is welcoming back Alec from a mission in Texas. However it turns out Alec failed his assassination and they even saw his face so Miles, wanting to avoid a war with Texas, decides to send Alec back. Alec is distraught and feels betrayed over this but is soon dragged from the room as Miles looks on, presumably to be a prisoner of Texas. Meanwhile Rachael is searching Jane's house for information on The Tower but is soon found out and tries to convince Jane that she wished she could have done this earlier and would have sacrificed Danny after seeing what she did for Monroe. Jane does not believe her and is unwilling to sacrifice her wife, Beth, just because Danny is dead now but Beth over hears and convinces Jane to help Rachael, Jane then gives her a book with all her information on The Tower.

It's for the good of the Republic Alec

Back at Atlanta Miles finds Alec preparing to blow himself up with the nuke that has a pendant attached to it and tries to convince him out of it. Alec however is having none of it because he never hated Miles for sending him to Texas since it was the mission and the right thing to do but what he does hate him for is leaving while he was away so it made it seem like it was for nothing. The two have a brutal fight but Miles kills Alec with the knife he had given to him before, an angry Monroe tries to order Alec to blow the nuke over the radio but is met with only silence.

"This thing does work right?"

Later on Charlie tries to get Miles to talk about her mother but Miles only tells her to back off and is soon ordered to meet with Foster. Foster is furious that the nuclear material is missing from the bomb but Miles refuses to hand it over because he doesn't want Georgia to use nukes either. Foster says she will go to war with Monroe and will use her money, army and navy to attack his southern border and wants Miles and the Rebels to attack from within while they attack from the south. Miles says he does not have the manpower or the weapons to help but Foster shows her the two hundred men armed with a thousand weapons that will reinforce the Rebels and asks if Miles is ready to be a General again.

Let the war begin

Got flashbacks again!

Finally after thirteen episodes we have left the Monroe Republic and we get to see what other parts of America is like, namely the Republic's biggest rival; The Georgia Federation. I really enjoyed seeing how different Georgia is to the Republic because Miles was right in saying that it is like a completely different world. They use steam powered buses, they are filthy rich, they actually occupy skyscrapers and their capital of Atlanta seems to flourish more than Philadelphia. Life just seems a lot more better in Georgia and makes you wonder why everyone in the Republic doesn't move there but then again remember all of the dangers Charlie and the group faced while travelling through the Republic. As I have said before experiencing new places is a real pull for me when watch adventure/action stuff like this so obviously my favourite parts was just looking at the new place we got to see.

This is fair because last time Nora had to pretend to be the slut

We also got a great story between Miles and Alec and we got some great Flashbacks with them as well. Again its the stuff that Miles has done in the past that really makes it hard to take his side like when he first killed during the early days of The Blackout that could have influenced Monroe, ruining the new life Jim had made and now it is betraying Alec to Texas since Miles obviously must have treated Alec almost like as son. They had some really brutal fights in this as well which was great to see and it seems Alec might have planted the seeds of doubt in Charlie's mind so we will see where that goes. I think that the story between Miles and Alec is one of my favourites in Revolution because it is kind of tragic overall that whoever's life Miles gets involved does seem go badly lol.

Free Monroe Dollars!

A plot that I really didn't care for at all in this was Rachael's and Aaron because once again it just shows how much of a b***h Rachael is. I can not sympathize with her character at all and the reasons why she is doing it because like Jane I just don't believe her, she has gone on this journey only for her own sake and her own damn ego nothing else. It was interesting that the Nanites are constantly healing certain people while they are on but it also made me hate Rachael even more now because it again shows that she is not turning the power on for the right reason. Just because her son is dead she now thinks it's alright to let die everyone else who depended on the Nanites? Jane really should have burnt her f***ing ass!

"Behold my army Miles"

Other stuff to mention it that I really liked the scene at night in Atlanta with all of it's citizens evacuating and I guess that was the fear Monroe wanted to put in them. However I wonder if it really was the best option to use a helicopter to drop cards warning everyone and not to have done it in secret? Anyway it looks like the plot of the nuke is now over and now Monroe is going to have to think of another plan. Also I really liked the ending in this showing that an all out war between the two nations is about to commence with Miles leading it all.



"See you soon Monroe Republic"

Overall this was a great episode with seeing Georgia and the story with Miles and Alec but I felt they wasted a bit of it with Rachael's plot at Jane's house, even if she wasn't annoying in it I just didn't much care for it. Also just want to point out that since it looks like Georgia is going to reinforce the Rebels at the end but shouldn't the Rebels also hate Georgia? They say they are trying to bring back the United States so shouldn't that mean they need to get rid of Georgia and not just the Republic?

SCORE: 7/10

Highlights: The Georgia Federation/Atlanta
                   The plot with Miles and Alec
                   The searching for the nuke during the day and night

Let - Downs: Rachael
                      Rachael's whole plot at Jane's house

The great screenshots of the episodes where provided by the great site Screencapped. You can look for yourself from the link below;

 

 





http://screencapped.net/

Revolution Season One: The Song Remains the Same

Lucky number thirteen.

The episode begins with Monroe giving Tom an assignment to "pick up something" but does not give him much more details than that. Randall is also there and is less than confident in Tom's abilities, sparking a small argument between the two. As Tom leaves Julia is worried and wants to see Jason again but Tom thinks that is impossible. Meanwhile at the Rebel base Rachael finally explains to Aaron what caused The Blackout; small molecule - sized machines called Nanites whose only function is to absorb electricity and replicate however something went wrong with their programming and they got out of control. Aaron is stunned and overwhelmed by the news after years of wanting to know why and wishes to go to The Tower and shut the Nanites down however Rachael thinks it is impossible because the journey is dangerous and some of her colleagues tried before and where never seen again.

Something so small could change the whole world

While Jim is training the Rebels to use swords several of them are scouting the area and spot Humvees driving in the distance. They manage to set off an explosive trap and capture Tom who survives, he is then taken back to the Rebel base. Rachael is unhappy about this because Tom was the one who captured Danny and killed Ben but everyone agrees he has too much information to kill right now. Miles then starts the interrogation but gets nothing out of Tom who only taunts Miles about failing to rescue Danny in the end.

"Do your worst Miles!"

Outside of the base Jason arrives with some new Rebel recruits, this angers Miles who warns him to go no where near Tom. At night Rachael tries to sneak into Tom's cell to kill him but is convince out of it by Charlie but is upset that she is still failing as a mother. Later Jason walks into Tom's cell and tricks him into giving up the location of where he was heading, Miles thanks him for it but Tom is livid because Julia could die for this.

All you did was shave your head, not much of a disguise Jason

Back at Philadelphia Monroe can't believe that Tom has failed and has not been heard from so Randall volunteers to go himself, while saying he was right about Tom. Meanwhile Charlie, Miles, Jim and Jason prepare to go to a cement factory in Finley which was where Tom was heading. Tom meanwhile uses this has an opportunity to trick Nicolas, kill him and several other Rebels and escape, he later makes it back home where he tells Julia that they have to leave Philadelphia and the Militia.

"Forgive me Father for I have sinned"

At Finley the group arrives too late and finds Randall leaving with a big suitcase, they try to stop him by opening fire but he still manages to escape. They investigate what is left and what they find disturbs Miles and it is confirmed when they later bring to schematics back to Rachael who says that it is plans for a nuclear bomb. Jim argues how can they fight someone who can use a nuke but Rachael has a plan as she looks at Aaron; going to The Tower and turning the power back on, everyone will have power again, Monroe will but also the other Nations.

"Lets kick some ass!"

Rachael and Aaron prepare to leave with Rachael asking Miles to watch over Charlie and they even kiss for a moment. The group says their goodbyes to each other with Charlie asking how long they will be but Rachael says it is unlikely they will ever return.

Five down to three

Nukes! looks like its a whole new game now.

This episode largely focused on the capture of Tom and even did not have any Flashbacks but I don't think there is going to be much of them anymore. It is a bit of a shame when we don't have any Flashbacks in a episode because it reveals a lot of interesting back story on characters and events in the past.

The answers your looking for is in there Aaron

As for the plot of Tom being captured I found it to be good but not very relevant; I always enjoying watching an episode focused on Tom but I didn't think for a single second he was going to die like this. It was fun seeing him hold out over torture and taunting Miles and it was pretty damn brutal how he killed Nicholas and escaped but I just knew he was going to escape. Didn't expect Jason to betray his own father like that but I guess he has to earn the trust of Charlie and Miles someway. Last thing about it is that I am kind of disappointed that Tom decided to flee rather than stay in the Republic and plot a take over like what was hinted at several episodes ago. I was really looking forward to seeing the plot go in that direction but it looks like it won't be happening now but it is Tom, whatever he decides to do I'm sure he will always come out on top.

"I auditioned for the lead role in Arrow you know"

Now for the biggest reveal in the episode and that is the source of The Blackout which are Nanites. I really do like this explanation because it really does make sense, I know it is in the realm of sci - fi but it is something that could actually happen. It makes me wonder how exactly the Nanites got out of control and it makes me think that someone might have overwritten their programming? We might get the answers soon because Rachael and Aaron are on their way to The Tower to switch them off. This is good because I like stories where the characters split off to do their own things so I guess in future eps it will switch between Rachael's and Aaron's journey and Miles and Charlie's fight against Monroe.

Staring competition!

Next we got the reveal that Monroe is getting ready to use nukes against the other Nations and I am really looking forward to how that turns out. I guess Miles and Charlie are going to have to work quick to try figure out where Monroe will detonate it but wouldn't it be interesting?

Shame Nicolas was a good character

To quickly round off other events I did find it really annoying that Rachael was going to kill Tom, how easily the thought of killing came to her but she didn't do it and she did give us the Nanites explanation so she wasn't that bad this ep. I also really like the shootout at the factory because the action scenes in Revolution are some of the best I've seen so its great to watch even a small one.

"At least this day can't get any worse"

Overall this was a solid episode but it wasn't as good as the last two and that is because I didn't think the capture of Tom would really go anywhere and it didn't except force Tom to leave the Militia and he didn't even plan a take over like I hoped he would. However the two big reveals of Nanites and Nukes was good and Tom's manipulative and brutal way of escaping the cell was great as well.

SCORE: 7/10

Highlights: Reveals of the Nanites/Nuke
                   Tom taunting during torture and his escape
                   Rachael and Aaron heading for The Tower

Let - Downs: Wished Tom stayed in the Republic to plot a take over
                       Maybe a bit more action could have been in it
      
      

The great screenshots of the episodes where provided by the great site Screencapped. You can look for yourself from the link below;

 

 





http://screencapped.net/