Week three of Revolution brings another bump in the road towards finding Danny for Charlie, Miles and Nora, giving them reason to put that gloriously powerful and newly acquired sniper rifle to use in the aid of the rebel forces. Unfortunately, as the rebels fight off a group of militiamen, not a whole lot actually happens as this show slowly inches towards finding its voice.
Let’s All Just Calm Down
Each week brings about new hope that the characters of Revolution will begin to develop past how they were presented in the pilot, and each week we come up wanting. Other than Miles (if we’re reaching), everyone suffers from a severe lack of depth to his or her character, and even he falls prey to the mood swings tonight that have everyone up to here [mimes hand and head height] in emotional explosiveness. Maybe it’s the intensity of the situation; ok it’s definitely the intensity of the situation, but that doesn’t work on TV if you want to have relatable characters.
Take Charlie (sorry, but it’s impossibly not to keep coming back to her each week): As the character who appeared to be the gateway into the show when it started, she continues to be incredibly challenging to get behind because she is constantly yelling/crying at Miles (who is the most relatable simply because he is the most enjoyable). Each episode the writers try to defuse the tension by giving Miles jabs at her that mirror exactly what the audience is thinking, “All you ever say is, ‘We need to find Danny. We’ve got to find Danny,’” so thank goodness for that, but that doesn’t erase the fact that they continue to write her like that. And no, giving her a more human interaction with the random boy with the broken arm is not enough, especially when trying to balance out her outburst about her cowardly father. Really people? Even if we consider how her father didn’t want her going out from the safety of the neighborhood in the pilot, or his inability to shoot the man in last week’s flashback, out of no where doesn’t even begin to explain that outburst unless we really are just supposed to write her off as an emotionally unstable B at this point.
Inherited Rage
Granted tonight we learned that raging out is quite possibly an inherited trait. In the flashbacks between Miles and Monroe as they search for Mile’s family, we see that Miles is the hot tempered one of the two when he decides to bring justice into his own hands. Seeing a larger and murderous Stone Cold Steve Austin impersonator taking advantage of others, he simply reaches the end of his rope, which makes it understandable that he would see the need to create a governing/militant force to bring order to the chaos. Maybe the flashbacks are why it is easy to forgive what her is technically responsible for, but is there really anything that needs to be forgiven in actuality? Charlie and everyone else among the rebel forces seem to think so, but considering the state of the nation, and who Miles is now, this calls for another helping of CALM DOWN. He left the militia years ago, he is with all of you now, and he is willing to turn himself in for all of you, so let’s all live by Christ’s example on this one and forgive, ok Shaq? Or else there will be no one left to sword fight for you, and all the sour feelings towards everyone will lead to even more horrible conversations for audiences to sit through: “You think I'm a monster.” “No I don’t. You saved people.” “So what?” “You care.” “No I don't.” And scene.
Let There Be Power
The first time we saw the use of the Power Pendant (I wish I could say I coined that name) was when Grace pushed the “hidden” button in the middle. Goodness knows how Aaron hadn’t found the button on the necklace he was carrying considering how often he had it out to look at, but in the end it didn’t really matter because it decided to turn on with no help from outside forces. It just simply wanted to listen to a closely placed portable CD player, I suppose. That or cut Aaron’s mopey “my life sucks without Google” speech short like he was being played off stage.
As odd as this scene is considering it doesn’t really make sense, at least good did come out of it. Based on his excitement at seeing computer parts, the fact that music was able to play out of a battery operated device that hasn’t been working for over a decade has got to be the biggest fire under Aaron’s butt that he will ever get. And best of all, on the heartwarming side of things, Maggie got to see her kids again. Those with iPhones (or anyone really) probably scoffed at how quickly her phone turned on after going so long without a charge, but I’m not a monster. I’ll give her this moment of happiness.
Don’t Forget The Brother
Danny continues to hang in there as the other side story of tonight’s episode, but with the threat that someone will be dying next week he might not be around much longer; at least that’s the hope. It isn’t necessarily anything about the character, even if his voice is annoying, and Captain Neville will be missed if he doesn't get tacked on to the opposing forces of the main story line, but he is the most expendable at this point because all he does is steal much needed time from the rest of the story, using it for unimportant revenge quests for the betterment of Big Carole.
And if he were gone Charlie would be even more motivated to fight Monroe on the large scale, even if it takes hour upon hour of training montages to realistically get her battle ready. Sure there would be a lot of annoying crying and even more temper tantrums and outbursts, but eventually she might grow up to be who we need her to be, and not the little girl who needs to mature. Maggie, Aaron, and Nora are all still in the running, but if I could choose it would be Danny.
Final Thoughts
As Revolution continues on with its premiere season, it continues to struggle with some key elements that could end up breaking the show if it doesn’t turn around soon. Character development and depth are lacking, story is too episodic with little to no real meat before getting to the “surprise” endings each week, and it is too reliant on Miles the swashbuckler. Yeah I said it! There is too much sword fighting each week!
So what did you guys think of this week’s episode? Were you weirded out by how jealous Miles was of the relationship between Nora and Nicholas? Was Danny beaten by a sack of feathers since there were no noticeable signs of attack on his body the next day? Are his threats towards killing abusive guards as empty as his asthma attacked lungs? Was last week’s episode a complete waste since they ran throw the sniper rifle’s ammo so quickly? Can Charlie come back from the hole she is digging? Did you miss seeing Nate, Grace, or Charlie’s mom this episode? Let me know in the comments below!
