Courtesy of NBC
Revolution very nearly turns into a good show this week as we finally get into The Tower, and discover who the mysterious residents hiding out inside are. The events on the outside, however, are far from captivating.
Let’s bitch it out…As always, let’s break down the pros, cons and mehs of ‘Children Of Men’
+ (Pros)
- Into The Tower! Thanks to Rachel’s (Elizabeth Mitchell) presence, the magical blast gates of The Tower open up. Thanks to Dr. Jane’s magical lesbian textbook, Aaron (Zak Orth) is able to get nearly everyone else in. After So. Many. Freaking. Episodes spent getting here, it’s nice to finally gain access and reunite with Grace (Maria Howell) and the rest of her 11th floor hippie commune, which includes 24‘s Glenn Morshower as mysterious new head honcho, Dan
- New guns: Electromagnetic weapons that make people explode in a mist of blood and gore just like the vamps on True Blood? Yes, please! But there’s a condition on this…(see the ‘On The Fence’ section below)
- Rachel’s redemption: I’ve been very hard on Rachel for the last few episodes, so it’s nice to see Elizabeth Mitchell get a nice emotional beat to play. While Monroe’s (David Lyons) confession about his bastard son leaves me bored, Rachel’s refusal to let him off the hook for Danny’s death is a genuine moment amidst the outlandish action sequences
– (Cons)
- The 7 day grenade: Remember last week’s cliffhanger when Rachel strolled into Monroe’s tent and pulled the pin on the grenade? As expected, not only did she and Monroe survive, they have so much time between the pin and the explosion, they could have had tea and a nice chat. Seriously?! I know that grenades don’t immediately go off, but it’s a little ridiculous how long it takes. Kudos to the genius <sarcasm> who decided to shoot this scene in slow-mo, too, because that definitely doesn’t make it seem as though even more time has passed <more sarcasm>
- This week’s drinking game: The key phrase you’re listening for is “Blood on your hands”. It’s said no less than three times: Monroe admits that he knows how much he’s responsible for, Dan accuses Rachel for her role in the blackout and she whines to husband Ben (Tim Guinee) how awful their sweet little town is since the bodies stopped getting buried. So yeah, everyone‘s got blood on their hands (DRINK!). Two observations: A) There’s this little thing called subtlety (people don’t need to literally say it aloud) and B) Get a new freakin’ line! It’s like the writers have a bet to see how often they can recycle dialogue before someone notices
- Everything outside The Tower: As soon as those blast gates open and we enter The Tower, my interest in anything happening outside immediately drops to zero. Sure Giancarlo Esposito’s selling me on Tom Neville’s audacious plan to overthrow Monroe (we’re clearly meant to wonder if this is simply another power grab), but I. DON’T. CARE. How many times have we seen gun battles and characters tied to posts, chatting their way out of handcuffs? It’s beyond tired at this point. I would have been content to simply leave Jason (JD Pardo) and Tom in limbo until next week (it’s not like they’re going anywhere!)
Courtesy of NBC
~ (On The Fence)
- New guns, same old battles: We’ve seen characters captured and tied up a gazillion times – nearly as often as we’ve watched people run up and down hallways shooting at each other. Although the introduction of a new kind of explosive gun is exciting, following it with the same old shoot-out is majorly disappointing. It’s time to deliver a different kind of action, hopefully in time for the season finale
- 12th floor hype: It’s completely obvious that we’re headed to the 12th floor in the finale (my prediction: expect the cliffhanger to be Rachel turning on the power and everyone holding their breath until the show’s return in the fall). Considering how many filler episodes there have been, though, ‘Children Of Men’ spends entirely too much time trying to get characters to the 12th floor or telling them why they can’t go there. Enough already – just take us there, already!
- The cliffhanger: Traditionally the only thing Revolution really sticks is the cliffhanger, so it’s weird that we end on a stupidly ambiguous note when Grace suggests that flipping the switch could bring power back to the world or “set it on fire.” Ugh – what does that even mean? More crappy pseudo-science? (See also: magical nanites!) Considering that this is a show about scientists who somehow became gun-toting mercenaries, perhaps we should dial back on apocalyptic phoney-baloney?
- Missing Randall: He didn’t go True Blood on us, so clearly the guy is still kicking around somewhere. Are we excited? Do we even care? Tune in next week when we see what he’s up to (then we’ll make our verdict)
Stupidest Moment Of The Week
- Rachel’s “death”: I loved it (by which I mean I guffawed in annoyance) when Miles (Billy Burke) and crew step off the elevator and there’s a woman who looks exactly like Rachel lying dead on the ground. Of course it’s not her (she’s still hanging with Monroe in Dick Cheney’s bunker). So just how dumb does this show think we are? And why the hell are there doppelganger bodies just hanging around so that Charlie (Tracy Spiriadkos) can have a little freak-out? Weakly played, Revolution. As if the seven day grenade wasn’t bad enough…
What did you think of this penultimate episode of Revolution? Are you excited that we’re finally inside The Tower? Do you think the cliffhangers on the show are working? What does “set [the world] on fire” mean to you? And did anyone else get a Return Of The Jedi vibe from Aaron’s efforts to open the blast door in the face of enemy gunfire? Sound off below
Revolution airs its season one finale next Monday at 10pm EST on NBC