Revolution Season One: The Love Boat

The story of Revolution has come a long way, when you watch it now it seems like its been ages and ages when Charlie left her village and found Miles.

The episode begins with Miles and the group capturing a scientist who was working with several vials and setting explosives to blow up his lab. Two days earlier Miles, now more cold and angry since the death of Emma, oversees the execution of a former friend and Militia comrade by firing squad with Charlie not liking what she saw. Later while Miles is drinking Tom walks in with Georgia reinforcements and though Miles wants to kill him Tom says they are now on the same team and he has orders from President Foster. Turns out Monroe is weaponizing anthrax with the help of a Dr. Ethan Camp and they have to stop it.

Even I admit that's pretty dam cold

The group later makes there way on a Georgian steam powered boat where they are to pose as a fishing vessel and capture Dr. Camp. Charlie is unsure about trusting Tom but Miles only tells her to shut up or stay behind, Charlie choses to go with them. Tom then tries to talk to Jason but Jason only says that he hates Tom and he is only here because he doesn't care what side he is on. This angers Tom who says the only reason he is here is because of Jason who was a traitor, that Julia almost died to get to Georgia and that everything Tom worked for is gone because of him. In the Tribal lands of the Plain's Nation Rachael and Aaron try to barter some food with one of the villagers but he refuses to give them any.

I don't think jewellery has that much use in this world anymore

In Philadelphia Monroe is recovering from a gunshot wound he sustained in Jasper while Randall tries to tell him that his recent drastic and violent measures won't help them stop the Rebels and the Georgia army. Monroe is having none of this however and insists that Randall should know his place as just his I.T. guy. At night Miles and his team have arrived at their destination and it goes back to the beginning of the episode where the have captured Dr. Camp and blown up his lab. Back at the Plain's Nation Rachael and Aaron  are escaping from several villagers who they stole food from and Rachel even had to kill one of them but she trips in a ravine and snaps her femur, Rachel tells Aaron to go one without her but he refuses.

Time to get this operation under way

On the boat Miles threatens Dr. Camp to makes anthrax for Georgia or he will never see his family again and then Tom walks in with them having captured them while Miles got the doctor. Charlie is furious with them both for treating innocents this way and even Nora is who wants to transfer to another unit away from Miles, believing he is no different now than when he was in the Militia. In the morning the boat is boarded by a Militia vessel but they manage to hide the Dr. Camp and keep up their cover as a fishing ship. Meanwhile Aaron has left Rachael who is then found by several of the villagers but Aaron comes back and together they kill them.

Too bad they don't use big pirate ships, that would have been cool

At the boat Charlie believes that the whole operation has gone too far and even says this to Miles and how he has changed but Miles refuses to let the family go saying that this is war, that Monroe will not stop trying to kill them and that it is her fault for finding him in the first place. Charlie then locks Miles in his room and Jason chloroforms Tom and with Nora they take over the boat and rescues Dr. Camp's family on another however Tom wakes up and takes the boat back with several Georgia men. Just then the Militia boat finds them again and opens fire and Miles then has a change of heart and helps Charlie and the others escape, leaving Tom to deal with the Militia.

 

 

All that firepower and they couldn't hit a main character lol

At the Rebel/Georgian base two days later Tom bursts in to Miles's office with a gun and threatens to kill him for leaving him and that President Foster will hear about it. Miles however is not worried because they are winning more victories every day and that is what Foster will care about more, later that night Nora and Miles "make up" with Nora saying that Miles isn't a bad guy after all. At the Plains Nation Rachel wants still wants Aaron to continue on and that it is more important that he does. She then tells him to turn to a page in Jane's journal and Aaron sees an old newspaper clipping of his younger self at MIT, Aaron wonders what he has to do with The Blackout. The episode ends with Grace restoring power to the level 12 in the elevator at The Tower and her guard steps inside to go down there. He gets stuck on level 7 and when the elevator returns to Grace's floor she finds it covered in blood.

 

Like something out of a horror film

I really liked this episode and it has become a favourite of mine in the series and that is largely to due with the fact that it was mainly set on boats. While they sounds like a silly reason keep in mind that we have barely in boats in Revolution so far as it has always been on land. We got some great action on board with Charlie and Nora taking over the boats and then the Militia finding them again. For me this boosts the score up because I really enjoyed a change of setting.

 

"Lets say we call a truce boy"

Glad to see that Tom is back and creating the tension between all the characters, didn't expect him and Jason to bond straight away but I sided more with Tom in the argument between those two. We also get to see another side of Miles here as well and I guess he is acting more like the old Miles back in the Militia. That Miles sure as hell can be cold - hearted, I know the death of Emma must be haunting him but after putting in all the effort to stop a nuke he really doesn't mind the use of anthrax? may not be a nuke but a disease can be just as deadly but I am glad that Miles decided not to go through with it in the end because we still need him to be a good guy. Also like I sided with Tom against Jason I have to side with Miles against Charlie because Miles was right; Charlie brought him back into this life so Charlie shouldn't try to always fight with him so much.

 

If Aaron shaved off his beard he'll probably look years younger

As for Rachael and Aaron's sub plot while I like that we get to see more of the Plain's Nation I didn't feel that it was relevant to the plot. Sure we have to see some of their struggles and the reveal that Aaron might be involved in The Blackout was good but when it changed to them I just really wanted it to back to Miles and the rest. It was a decent subplot with some good action but it just felt like filler to me, just to stretch the episode a bit.

 

"You all don't know who your messing with!"

Lastly there is the ending when we see that's Grace's guard was killed in the elevator. Didn't really reveal much of what could have done that to him but maybe whatever Randall wants on level 12 has more defences in place than he thought. With the guard dead maybe Grace will make a run for it or maybe her curiosity will get the better of her and she'll try to get to level 12.

 

The doctor is having a really bad day

Overall this was a great episode because I enjoyed watching a darker side of Miles and him coming back from it. It was great seeing Tom in a full episode again and like I said it was great that it was set more on boats throughout it.

 

SCORE: 8/10

 

Highlights: Every scene with Miles, Charlie and the rest with them

                   Awesome action sequences

                   The cliff-hanger ending with Grace

 

Let - Downs: Rachael and Aaron's subplot felt like filler

                      Charlie and Jason where a tad annoying

 

 

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/        

The Flash Season One: Fastest Man Alive

Took me long to get round to reviewing this.

The episode begins with Barry using his new found power to rescue people trapped in a burning building, Cisco is all for helping him but Caitlin feels he is being too reckless. Barry is then called for his job to investigate a gun shop robbery and believes it was done by six people wearing the same shoes, we even have a Flashback to Barry's childhood and we find out he was living with Detective West after his mother's murder. Later at a university gathering to honour a scientist Simon Stagg (William Sadler), which Barry and Iris are attending, six masked gunmen storm the event, Barry saves a guard but faints in the process.

Try to guess who the real one is

Later at S.T.A.R labs the team discovers, using a modified treadmill, that Barry needs to eat massive amount of calories or he will continue to faint. West then shows up at the labs to try and convince Barry to stop endangering himself but an angered Barry refuses to listen to him. That night it is revealed that the gunman AKA Multiplex is Danton Black (Michael Christopher Smith) a scientist who worked for Stagg Industries and had his research stolen from him. He tries to kill Stagg again at a warehouse but is stopped by Barry but Barry is overwhelmed by Multiplex, who can create perfect copies of himself, and his beaten up. This disheartens Barry who thinks that it is best if he should quit now.

"Kick him while his down!"

Dr. Wells then visit's West and convinces him to stop putting so much doubt in to Barry's mind because that is why he loses, meanwhile Iris tells Barry that she wants to investigate the mysterious blur that is seen around Central City. Later Barry finds out that Caitlin has made a clone of Multiplex from his blood and figures out that all the clones require a lot of energy to maintain so the best way to fight Multiplex is to take out the Prime who controls them all. Dr. Wells believes Multiplex was working on this clone technology when stuck by the lightning, thus giving him his powers. West arrives to tell Barry that Stagg is being targeted again and gives Barry his support and admits that the police can't handle the Meta - Humans.

"Your the hero this city needs Barry"

Barry arrives at Stagg Industries in time and fights Multiplex and finds out that Multiplex wants revenge on Stagg for stealing his research just before he could have healed his dying wife. Despite being almost overwhelmed Barry manages to take out the Prime but his unable to save him when he commits suicide out of a window. Later Barry and West reconcile from their past disagreements and Cisco and Caitlin are both fully on board with Barry using his powers to help Central City. The episode ends with Dr. Wells killing Stagg when Stagg wanted to find Barry and study him for science.

What is Well's agenda?

Usually it is hard for second episodes to be better than a Pilot because Pilots always have a larger budget to draw in the audience so its a lot more "bigger" however I think this episode topped the Pilot. In my opinion this is largely to the way better villain Multiplex because unlike Weather Wizard his character was a lot more fleshed out. They gave us just enough backstory on Multiplex to make him a great and more meaningful character; like how he specialized in clone technology, was working on during the lightning strike so it defined his powers, that really worked. Also him trying to avenge his wife was a better and more tragic reason than Weather Wizard starting off as a bank robber and still just doing it for the sake of it. It is a real shame that he died after just this one episode because I wold have liked to have seen him in future ones.

Now that is really cool!

Continuing on from that the two encounters Barry and Multiplex had where awesome and really well done. I was unsure how someone who can just multiple himself can stand up against super speed but I really underestimated what overwhelming numbers can do against The Flash. The end fight between them was really cool as well, with Barry speeding through the copies in slow motion to get to the Prime. These to fights where a lot better than the ones with Weather Wizard and I hope that they continue it with other villains.

Bet they had a good laugh at that!

What I also enjoyed was them introducing Barry's metabolism weakness from the comics because I thought they would have found that out in episode one. Might have been resolves really quickly but it was funny seeing Barry run on that treadmill; I hope this comes up again in future episodes and I also hope that there is a villain who exploits it. Another thing that was a surprise to see was another use of Flashbacks in this about Barry's childhood, it makes me think that they are going to have them in each episode just like Arrow. I like them from Arrow but if they continue to do it I would like them to not just use Barry's childhood because how much can they really get when he was ten?

I don't like any of those topping

There was really anything I disliked about the episode because like I said it is better than the first but I guess the attitudes of West and Caitlin was annoying at the beginning. It wasn't that bad because they where just generally worried about Barry but they where both resolved at the end so quickly that I wonder was there any point spending three quarters of the episode mad at him in the first place? Also I feel like Barry's doubts of being a hero didn't need to be there either because wasn't that the whole reason he visited Oliver Queen in the first place, to erase the doubt he felt?

"Your lucky I'm faster than a bullet" 

Overall this was a great episode and makes me look forward to what other villain Barry will face and it again raises about Dr. Wells. He obviously has his own plans in mind and even though he killed Stagg he doesn't come off as an evil guy so it could be his doing bad things for the sake of Barry.

SCORE: 9/10

Highlights: Multiplex
                   The two great confrontations
                   Including Barry's weakness

Let - Downs: Barry doubting himself again when I thought it was already resolved
                      West and Caitlin against Barry so much in this.

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/            

  

Bleach Review: Revitalize

Things aren't looking too good for the Zero Squad now.

The chapter begins with both Bazz - B and Liltotto angry at Yhwach has used Auswählen and shouting up at the sky that they will not die. Across the Soul Society the beams of light can be seen from every where, Byakuya sees it and even Shunsui who says to Nanao and Okikiba that they must leave for the Royal Realm because he senses that it is in danger.

Back at the Royal Realm Nimaiya has had a large chunk of his shoulder blasted off and he wonders what could have happened. Haschwalth explains that Auswählen takes the powers of Quinces Yhwach now deems useless, killing them (we even see the corpse of Robert Accutrone) and those powers are given to other Quinces who are then reborn even stronger.

Nimaiya says that must be why the bullets didn't work on the cage before because they have new power to which Lille corrects him in saying that it was always his power and what he shot him with wasn't a bullet. He then fires again and Kirnji and Hikifune try to block but the attack goes through both their weapons and puts a hole in Nimaiya's chest. Lille explains that his power "The X - Axis" pieces anything between the muzzle of his gun and his target and asks the other members to line up so he can take them all out in one shot.

Meanwhile Pernida uses her power to destroy the cage that they are trapped in and the chapter ends with Yhwach demanding Hyousube to let him pass but Hyousube just stand up to confront him.

This chapter is just as good as the last one, maybe even slightly better, because we get another purpose for Auswählen and that it to strengthen Sternritters to fight his most important battles. This is great because we can see the elite Sternritter kicking some ass and putting up a fight against the Zero Squad however I kind of hate the fact that the Sternritter on the ground are now powerless. This includes Robert and NaNaNa whose powers we ever even got to see and ones like Bazz - B who was kicking all kinds of ass and now won't be going to anymore. I have read several comments on this and some think that the powerless Sternritters will side with the Soul Reapers for some redemption but I would have preferred them always hating each other.

At the Royal Realm it looks like that Nimaiya might be out of the fight for a while but I really hope he isn't dead because besides being my fav Zero Squad member I'm sure we haven't seen the full extent of his powers. I mentioned a few chapter reviews a while ago that I think Yhwach will bring the Zero Squad to his side because he vaguely mentioned some technique like that when he first fought Ichigo. Also we might get a proper battle between Ywach and Hyousube who has been hyped up quite a bit as well because Hyousube always kind of seemed like the leader of the Zero Squad so lets see how this goes.

Overall this was a great chapter with the explanation of Auswählen and the revival of the elite Sternritter and we had some great art as well like the panel with Kirnji and Hikifune trying to block Lille's shot, however like the last chapter this is again just another setup with no real fight, hopefully that changes next week.

SCORE:8/10

Highlights: Auswählen
                   The elite Sternritter fighting back
                   Ywach vs. Hyousube setup

Let - Downs: Sternritter on the ground now powerless or dead
                      Nimaiya may be out of it for a while now.

Predictions: With the deaths and power drains of so many Sternritter it raises the question who Ichigo and his group, the Arrancars and the Fullbringers are going to fight? The Zero Squad could be used against them but since Yhwach has the power to revive fallen Sternritter I like to thingk that he may revive several. This could be a great chance to see Sternritter in action who we never got the chance to see or barely, Robert and NaNaNa for example. However there is another way that I have been thinking about for awhile and that is that Yhwach creates some new Sternritters. He makes more by craving a letter on a Quince's soul and that becomes their power, this could be a great way to introduce new Sternritter characters and different uses for a letter; The F could not mean "The Fear" a second time. The Quinces he could find to do this is the Soldat and this could be a way of promoting them, let me know what you think of this idea.

Sorry for lack of picture in this review.

Revolution Season One: Home

Five left to go.

The episode begins with Miles and Jim sharing a bottle of whiskey and are thinking over their recent battle with the Militia that was pretty damn brutal. Just then Georgian Captain Dixon reports that there are no Militia survivors and that this was a great victory for the Federation, however Miles is not bothered as war is war. Meanwhile at Independence Hall Monroe is furious over the Rebel/Georgia victory over his forces at the southern border and wants Miles killed. Baker is also there and says it will be hard to draw Miles out but Monroe has a plan and orders his helicopters to take him to Jasper, Indiana.

Now that is epic, like out of an action film!

In the Plains Nation Aaron and Rachael have stopped at a market town and while Rachael goes through Jane's book Aaron buys more supplies and spots is wife Priscilla but loses sight of her shortly after. At the Rebel/Georgia camp Miles tires to talk to Charlie but she doesn't want to him until he explains what he did to her mother something he is reluctant to do. Just then Dixon arrives with a captured Militia solider who says that Monroe has taken over their hometown of Jasper and will murder everyone, including a woman named Emma, unless he turns himself in. Miles then has a Flashback when he was younger and he has to leave his girlfriend Emma because he and Monroe are joining the army.



"Where did she go"

Monroe has arrived at Jasper and has the whole place under lockdown by his Militia and Emma Bennett (Annie Wersching) asks why this is happening but Monroe evades the question and one of Jasper's citizens is beaten up, a Flashback then shows that Monroe was jealous of Miles and Emma's relationship. Later all of the citizens of Jasper are rounded up in the courthouse and Monroe visits his family's graves and finds out someone still leaves flowers, we then have another Flashback and find out that Emma cheated on Miles with Monroe will Miles was drunk. Back in the present Miles, Charlie, Nora, Jim and Dixon are preparing to go to Jasper and Charlie says to Nora that she is coming to make sure Miles kills Monroe this time.

Nothing like a stroll down memory lane

Back in the Plains Nation Aaron finds his wife again sitting at a bar but brushes off any attempt at a conversation because she is with her new husband, Aaron then leaves and we see that Priscilla's "husband" has a gun pointed at her. Later Rachael suggests that they leave but Aaron refuses to since he is with his wife again because something just didn't seem right. His suspicions are later confirmed to be right when the man Priscilla was with is locking her in the back of a wagon and when Aaron confronts him he says that Priscilla is a fugitive and has a bounty on his head. Aaron tries to fight the man but is beaten up however Priscilla escaped in the confusion and killed the man with a metal pipe.

"This is my time to shine!"

At Jasper Emma tries to convince Monroe to stop this but is unable to and at the same time Miles and the group sneak in to town but are soon spotted and a fire fight breaks out, Monroe orders the courthouse burnt with everyone in it. While Jim and the rest suppress Monroe's men Miles successfully rescues everyone from the burning courthouse however Monroe captures Emma and holds her at gunpoint. Emma begs Monroe to let her go and even reveals that they have a son from the night they cheated on Miles, this shocks Monroe long enough for Dixon to take a shot. Emma dies but Monroe and Baker escape and an enraged Miles kills Dixon. After all this Charlie says that she would have killed Emma if it meant killing Monroe but Nora is not convinced she would have. Miles grieves over the loss of Emma and directs his fury to Monroe, saying he doesn't know what he is in for.

"I'm holding all the cards now Miles"

At the Plains Nation Aaron and Priscilla reconnect with Aaron trying to apologize but Priscilla doesn't want to hear it because everyone he left her with eventually died so it was never for the best. Aaron asks her to come with them but Priscilla says she now has a family in Texas and they part ways once again. The episode ends back in Atlanta and President Foster is happy with a latest development since their new ally has given them more intel on Monroe in two weeks than they have been able to get in three years. She calls this person in to her office and it is revealed to be Tom Neville who she wants to work with Miles.

"I'm back b***hs"

I guess you can say that this episode was more centred on Aaron and Monroe more than the other characters because both plots mainly revolved around them. Firstly with Monroe I think this tired to build more sympathy for his character and showing that he is overall not that bad of a person at heart. This is shown in the town of Jasper because of how normal undamaged it was I think Monroe used to Republic to protect it because it is his home town and has his parent graves. I also think the character of Emma was good for this episode because it is a tragedy for Monroe (and Miles) since now he has lost someone that he cared about. Lastly the reveal that he has a son by Emma will probably open a new sub plot of Monroe trying to find him which makes Emma's death much more tragic because Monroe lost the only person who knows his whereabouts.

Bet they really wish there where still Fire Fighters around

It was great to see Aaron getting the spotlight once again be reuniting with his wife again after almost fifteen years but like Monroe it didn't go very well. The reveal that leaving her was not for the best will probably haunt Aaron in the series now and that she has moved on while he never truly did isn't going to help either. It was also great seeing him try and stand up to that bounty hunter even if he didn't win but Aaron learning to deal with confrontation is part of his character development, maybe he'll use guns soon lol.

Wonder what they would think of him now?

As for the rest of the episode the action was really, really good especially at the beginning with Miles and the Georgian army fighting the Militia. That just had some great sword and gun fighting, explosion and camera shots but what we saw in Jasper was great to watch too like when Miles rescued everyone from the building. I also really liked the part with Monroe holding Emma hostage and how that went down; Miles did get mad and shoot Dixon so it made me wonder what he would have done if Charlie did take the shot.

What a battle

Speaking of Charlie I am really sorry to say that for me I think this the is start of her declining role in the series because even though they try to include her in everything Miles does it doesn't really feels like there is any need for her there. She was the main character for the first half of the series when they where finding Danny and her maturing as a person as she experiences the world but this second half is more of the war between Miles and Monroe and she feels like a spectator, with Rachael taking the leading female role from her. Even in the next two episode where she does seem to have a larger role than this one it still feels they didn't have to put it in. However this is just my opinion there are probably lots of fans who think that she still contributes enough.

"Headshot Miles and I'll get promoted.........just hope his isn't behind me"

Finally I was right that Tom is a survivor and always comes out on top in the ending where it is revealed he has defected to Georgia and what a cool suit! Tom can manipulate anyone and he sure has convinced Foster that he is a valuable asset. Going to be interesting to see how Tom and Miles will work together in future episodes, there is going to be a lot of tension between to two. Tom might not have started his own rebellion within the Republic but him joining Georgia is good and I know that Tom is still going to aim higher.

I'm beginning to think all Miles does in his spare time is drink

Overall this was an enjoyable episode because of how it focused more on Aaron and Monroe and some sad moment for them. It had some great action though it might have been a bit slow in the middle.

SCORE: 8/10

Highlights: Aaron and Monroe centre episode
                   Awesome action scene (especially beginning)
                   Tom is back!

Let - Downs: Charlie doesn't feel as needed anymore
                      Kind of slow in the middle

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/            

Film Review: Battle Royale

Finally thought I'd get round to reviewing one of my all time favourite Japanese film and manga/comic adaptions; Battle Royale. Very minor SPOILERS because this is just a quick review, a break from Resident Evil you can say.

Battle Royale is about how the Japanese Government have given up on their youth after 800,000 students walked out of school and created the BR act. The BR act allows the government to chose a random class and pit the students in a game against each other called Battle Royale where they have to fight to the death. They are stranded on a vast island with a wide range of weapons and are equipped with collars around their necks that will explode if there are any who refuse to compete or if there is no winner after three days. The story follows Shuya Nanahara (Tatsuya Fujiwara) and Noriko Nakagawa (Aki Maeda) two students who wish to get off the island but must face their fellow students and their former teacher Kitano (Takeshi Kitano) who is running this year's Battle Royale.

One of my favourite film villains of all time!

As many of you already know Battle Royale is based off the manga of the same name by Koushun Takami. The manga is known for it's extreme violence but for touching on the themes of love, psychology and loyalty to name a few. It raises the question of what we would do in the same situation, especially if we where 15 year old students as well? I have read the manga and while I can say there are quite a few differences the film is still a near perfect adaption and the only real major cuts where some character back story and small events.

Yep I'm having nightmares tonight

We have some great cast of characters in this film and almost all of them are from the manga but before I go on I'll just get it out of the way that the acting is some of the best I've seen, you've got some great protagonists and even a lot of the support cast is great as well. However I think what makes Battle Royale stand out is its great antagonists because of how damn psychotic they are. My favourite being of course the mute Kazuo Kiriyama (Masanobu Ando), the guy just look really cool his portrayal is creepy. Some of my favourite scenes in the film is when he attacks the main characters and his theme plays in the background at the same time. Tatsuya Fujiwara and Aki Maeda are two great leads and I really like their refusal to play the game and that they don't waver in that conviction; they don't become like Kiriyama. However that is left to Shogo Kawada (Taro Yamamoto) a good guy but a badass who doesn't mind the killing and it's interesting learning how he fits into the story. Lastly quick mention to two other great characters; Kuo Shibasaki who plays secondary antagonist Mitsuko Souma and Takeshi Kitano who plays the creepy Kitano.

"You two where so damn unlucky with your weapons"

Now as for the action in this it is something else; the amount of gore and action in this is really high so it's not for younger audiences but it is dialled down a bit from what I have seen in the manga. The action in this is all really fun to watch as well, it's so fast paced and choreographed so well that wish it didn't have to end. I myself really like it when films don't hold back like this because I hate censorship I films and hate it when people complain about the level of violence, which was some of the criticism that this film received.

"That's what you get for interrupting me!"

I guess there is that much else to say about this film maybe that's because its an adaption and the only thing you have to really say if it did a good job to the source material or not (it did). As proof that this film is probably one of the greatest creation of all time just look at the legacy it has left; Quentin Tarantino has said that this was the one film he wished he could have directed and it influenced Kill Bill. Then there is Hunger Games and I don't care what anyone says the s**t books and the films are nothing more than watered down rip - offs of Battle Royale!!

"Hopefully nobody will attack me when I'm this injured"

Overall this is one of my favourite films or all time and I recommend it to everyone not just anime/manga fans.

SCORE: 10/10

You can find all of the great screenshots I used right here;

http://ladymanson.com/ShadowofReflection/home.php

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/