Sunday, January 12, 2014

Revolution

Revolution returned from its winter break with a trip south, over the Texas border into Mexico. Apparently after the power went out, Mexico held up very well for a while and was the richest republic. This was one of the reasons Miles chose this Mexican town as the place to leave Monroe's son, Connor, who is now about 25, while hiding him from Monroe. The Mexican town we visit has deteriorated some since Miles had last seen it, but more on that in a minute. The show also follows the Patriots, Tom, and Julia to Washington, and Aaron on a pilgrimage to find the second largest ball of twine in Spring City, Oklahoma. Yeah, there's more to Aaron's trip than a ball of twine, but I like the idea of him following a ball of twine.



This episode focused heavily on Monroe (yay!), and did a nice job in subtly shaking loose the niggling thought that's been tucked away in my mind for a while, but I haven't wanted to admit because I enjoy watching Monroe interact with gang so much, and that is that Monroe doesn't really belong there. He's not good. He's super twisted. And there's some seriously bad history between him and the rest of the group.




We start this part of the story with Monroe helping Charlie to rescue Gene so that Gene can treat Miles, who has turned partially blue with a nasty arm infection. Is that what a really bad infection looks like? I've never seen one so advanced, so that's good to know. After Gene treats Miles with leeches, Monroe demands that Miles tell him where his son is. Miles responds that he'll do one better. He'll bring him there. And he wants Rachel to come too. This was where the first thought started creeping in - that something's not right here. Monroe was good to have around in a pinch, but they are now looking an extended campaign to fight the Patriots. Miles' initial instincts from when Charlie first arrived with Monroe - that Monroe should stay far away from them - was probably right. Miles and Monroe have a toxic history, and is Miles starting to warm up to the idea of the two of them becoming Butch and Sundance again a little too much.



He tells Rachel that he wants Monroe there because they still need Monroe, and they need to bring him back, but she reminds him that Monroe killed her son. Thank you Rachel! We needed to be reminded of that, because poor Danny has already been forgotten.



The three head down to Mexico and find a decrepit town filled with prostitutes and thugs. The head thug is predictably enough Monroe's son, who learns Emma is dead, and isn't too happy to see dear Dad. I think I smell a whiff of a Monroe-Charlie-Connor triangle forming - and that's the next thing to make me pause, especially in light of Rachel's reminder that Monroe killed Danny. And this is where the big bombshell drops. Monroe wants to rebuild the Monroe Republic and have his son by his side. *sigh* I probably should have seen this coming. Miles and Rachel will not be pleased when they learn about this, and I was really enjoying Monroe being part of the gang.



Meanwhile Charlie is with Gene (and Aaron for a while before he gives them the slip), and Gene is a little freaked at how much of cold-blooded killer Charlie has turned into. Perhaps Monroe's influence is greater than I had realized, and this triangle I caught scent of earlier could be quite deadly.



The other two major developments are the Patriots putting drugs into the oranges - I think I'm supposed to care about this but I don't yet - and Aaron finds that this town the nanites led him to has not only Grace, but Aaron's wife - this one interests me a little bit more.



High Points



Rachel takes this category in this episode. Both she and Miles gang up on Monroe sitting around the campfire to remind him that he is to blame for his own problems. But Rachel has the best lines, and Elizabeth Mitchell's delivery of a zinger that puts Monroe in his place was fantastic (see Best Quotes below).



Low Points



Everything around Tom and Julia fit into this category, Low Points. This family has consistently been the least interesting to me from the start. I don't care about their schemes, or their love. They had my attention for about two minutes when they reunited in the previous episode, but I'm past that already. And at this point, their story has little tie into the Mathesons, so I'm wondering why we're still following them. I suppose you could argue that the story of Revolution is bigger than one family, but if we're going to get scattered stories from other parts of this society, how about following someone like random oranges delivery guy for a while?



Hottest Action



Monroe stealing the cart from their "bosses" wins this category. Monroe did what we all wanted him to do, and that was to get the action moving. You really can't beat a sociopath with impulse control issues.



Best Quotes



Rachel: "You scared the hell out of me." Miles: "Oh, stop making this about you."



Miles (to Charlie, Gene, and Aaron) : "Whatever you do, don't go near any Patriots. Don't be morons."



Rachel: "I have to help you find your son, after you killed mine."



Charlie: "I stopped yelling at old people. It wasn't getting a damn thing done."



Monroe: "This is on you, Miles. You brought an innocent kid down here and you dumped him. Look what he turned into. Some punk with delusions of grandeur."

Rachel: "Must be like looking in a mirror. There's nothing Miles could have done. Could have watched him, not watched him, put him on Mars, put him in a monastery. It doesn't matter who raised him. Connor was always going to turn out, just like this, because he's your son, he's your blood.

Monroe: "By that logic, Charlie is going to grow up and end the world."



Monroe: "You're not aiming high enough. Thirty men. How about a thousand men? Ten thousand men?"



Tell me what you thought of the episode in the comments.
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