Before I even start the plot recap, it is worth noting the Hollywood heavy hitters behind NBC’s new post-apocalyptic series “Revolution.” It was created and written by Eric Kripke, who created and ran “Supernatural.” Among the many Executive Producers is JJ Abrams of “Lost.” Some say “Revolution” might be a successor to “Lost” for fans wanting a show with a mysterious story line. “The Revolution” pilot was directed by Jon Favreau, one of the top directors in Hollywood who did both of the Iron Man films.
So, with all that pedigree, the potential is certainly there for something special… or at least watchable. Let’s see how it went.
(Note: I am doing a really detailed recap because there may be folks out there who missed the pilot and what to know what the show is about.)
We begin in Chicago in the home of a very typical family. The little boy and girl are watching cartoons. Mom, Elizabeth Mitchell of sci-fi staples “Lost” and “V,” is talking on the phone. Suddenly, Dad comes bursting through the front door. He has a big cartoon of supplies in his hands. “We need more water… we don’t have much time,” he says. She looks worried. “Ben,” she replies,” it’s happening, isn’t it?”
Cut to Ben’s brother, Miles, driving in a car at night with his buddy. Ben calls Miles’ cell phone and says, “Listen to me. It’s all going to turn off and it’s not going to come back on…” The phone call breaks up and Miles’ car starts shutting down. Ben is downloading something from his computer to a flash drive, the download just barely completes before EVERYTHING GOES DARK. By everything I mean lights, cars, phones, TVs, you name it. There is a great shot of the lights of cars on a highway slowly turning out. We then get a really chilling image as we see airplanes falling out of the sky and crashing to the ground in fireballs. Pull back to see the entire planet slowly go dark. The episode is less than 3 minutes over and I can already tell that Jon Favreau had a lot of fun directing this!
“15 years after the Blackout” it reads on the screen. We are listening in on a teacher talking to kids about the blackout. He may be talking to them but he is really giving the back story to the audience. He talks about governments falling and the general chaos that gripped the land. His biggest point is “nobody knows why it happened.” And, with that, we have set up the central mystery of the show – sorta like Charlie on “Lost” asking “Where are we?” in the first episode, I think “nobody knows why the blackout happened” will be the driver of this show… at least for a half a season or so.
On cue, Ben walks out of a house in a small village of farmers. We know that Ben knows what happened and why, but have no idea why he has not told anyone about it. He is looking for his kids, who are now quite a bit more grown up – late teens, I’d say. Charlie, the girl, is in the woods with a bow and arrow. Teen girl with a bow just screams HUNGER GAMES at the audience. Danny, her younger brother, has asthma and promptly has an attack. His condition is a bigger problem because modern medicine is pretty much gone.
Back at home, Ben has a girlfriend, Maggie, who is a doctor – or what passes for a doctor in this post-apocalyptic world. Charlie does not like her but Ben says mom died several years ago. My “experienced TV watcher” radar goes off. Mom was played by the well known Elizabeth Mitchell and we never saw her die. No way you cast someone like that and then eliminate them without showing us. I strongly doubt she is really dead. She will show up in some episode soon, I am certain of it.
Some military looking guys arrive in the village on horseback. Ben is worried and gives his best friend, Aaron, a medallion-looking thing that secretly holds the flashdrive we saw him pull out of his computer earlier in the episode. He urges Aaron to keep the medallion hidden no matter what.
The militia says they are looking for Ben. They want to take him and his brother Miles to see General Sebastian Monroe, the ruler of the Monroe Republic. Ben doesn’t want to go, but the militia make it clear that they will take him by force. Danny, who is clearly a hothead, pulls out a crossbow and points it at the military saying, “you can’t take him.” The standoff does not go well. Everybody starts shooting and Ben is hit in the stomach. He’s gonna die and they know it. The militia kill a few people and end up taking Danny away with them. There are arrows, swords, and a few people have guns. It feels kinda medieval, which is clearly what Favreau and company are going for.
Charlie, who was in the woods, comes running back to the villiage. Ben tells her to go to Chicago and find his brother, Miles. Ben insists that Miles can save Danny. Then, Ben dies.
Charlie, Ben’s girlfriend Maggie, and Aaron (the dude with the medallion) leave the farming town headed toward Chicago. Aaron is anything but an outdoorsman but says he is coming because Ben was his best friend. Aaron is our comic relief.
The leader of the militia tells Danny that he had to take him because, “if I could not bring back your dad, I had to bring back you.” Danny figures out that his chains are a little bit loose and begins trying to loosen them even more.
As our trio of heroes head toward Chicago, Charlie comes across a handsome guy who is about her age. His name is Nate and he too has a bow and arrow. We’ll see more of him later, I am sure.
The trio comes across an abandoned plane. Aaron knows a lot about it. We find out that he used to own a plane. This is because he worked “at a place called Google.” The notion of people not knowing about Google is amusing. There is real potential for the show to bring in comedic moments like this often. Aaron made a fortune working for Google, but it all went away in the blackout. “$80 million in the bank,” says Aaron, “and right now I would trade it all for a roll of Charmin.” I instantly decide that Aaron is my favorite character on the show.
Some bandits take our 3 hiking heroes captive. Maggie tells the bandits about some whiskey she has and they take a swig. Moments later, 2 of the bad guys are coughing up blood. Maggie poisoned them! The third bad guy is shot in the back by an arrow from Nate, the kid we saw earlier. I knew he would come back into the story. He tells them he too is headed to Chicago. How convenient.
Meanwhile, Danny has escaped from the militia, but is having another asthma attack. The episode is less than half over and he has been reduced to a wheezing mess twice already.
Apparently the trip to Chicago was a short one because our 3 heroes (plus Nate) are in the city. Jon Favreau has more fun showing off post-apocalyptic landmarks like an overgrown Wrigley Field. Chicago is a brutal place. People are fighting in the streets. They navigate the streets to the bar owned by “Uncle Miles.” Charlie tells Miles that his brother is dead. Charlie asks Miles why Monroe wants them. Miles explains that General Monroe thinks that he and his brother know what caused the lights to go out and what could turn them back on. Miles wants no part of that because with electricity Monroe could get planes and tanks and take over even more territory. Charlie tells Miles they need to go get Danny but Miles refuses. He says, “We’re not family, I hardly even know you.”
Nate confronts Miles and Miles pulls down Nate’s sleeve to show a brand with the letter M on it. It proves that Nate is one of Monroe’s militia. Nate flees and goes to get more troops to come back and take Miles by force. Miles just sits there getting drunk and waiting for them. He tells Charlie and her friends to go away.
Meanwhile, Danny is being hidden by an African-American woman in a rural house. She seems nice and gives him an asthma inhaler that used to belong to her son. The militia-leader knocks on her door and quickly catches her in a lie, proving that she has Danny inside. They recapture Danny.
In Chicago, Nate returns with a bunch of backup soldiers. They try to get Miles, but it turns out he is practically a Samurai and uses his sword to slice bad guys open left and right. Go Miles! But, there are a lot of them and they get him surrounded. Just as the troops are about to take him down, Charlie shows up and puts a crossbow bolt in a soldier’s back. Miles takes care of the rest and in the scramble Charlie gets saved by Nate, who seems to have had a change of heart. Anyone want to be that he is falling for Charlie? He flees, certain to show up as a love interest in a future episode.
Miles agrees to go with Charlie, Maggie, and Aaron to look for Danny. We get treated to a shot of Aaron looking at the mysterious medallion.
Flashback to the night of the blackout and Miles and his army buddy are trying to get back to their military base. We quickly learn that his buddy is named Monroe! So, the ruler of the territory, General Monroe, is Miles’ old friend. This is why Monroe suspects that Miles and Ben knew what was going on when the blackout happened. It is unexplained why Monroe waited 15 years to come after Miles and Ben, but the story can’t be perfect.
Just as we think the episode is over there is one more surprise! The woman who gave Danny the inhaler goes into her attic. She pulls out a medallion like the one Ben gave to Aaron and presses the middle of it. It glows and lights come on around her. She has an old-looking computer that seems to work when near the medallion. It makes 1990s-ish “dialing into the internet” noises. She types a message into the computer telling someone on the other end that the militia was at her house. The computer reply – “Did they find it?” “No,” she types back… leaving to us wonder what “it” is.
Even though the show has been touted as following in the footsteps of “Lost,” I could not help but think of the short-lived drama “Jericho” while watching “Revolution.” “Jericho” also featured a post-apocalyptic America without power and most of the conveniences of our modern world. Both shows include marauding bandits and militias. Both shows were largely about trying to keep family and community together in the face of impossible odds. In both shows, the apocalyptic event seems to have been caused by some mysterious organization that now has agents in the field, hiding their computers and communicating about their conspiracy.
I’ll be honest – this is not a good sign for “Revolution” as “Jericho” only lasted for 30 episodes with ratings that kept falling throughout its run. Still, Revolution shows promise. There seems to be a lot of back story they can tell if they want. The visuals were fabulous. The episode was long on action and there seems good opportunity for humorous breaks as well. But, the characters felt a little wooden and obvious. We certainly did not get characters nearly as interesting or nuanced as the folks we fell for from day one on “Lost.” The story featured a ton of twists, perhaps too many, leaving me wishing some of it had been left for later reveals. On “Lost” the most fun of the early episodes was seeing the trees mysteriously move and not knowing what was there. “Revolution” might be better served hiding some of its secrets and doling them out later on. Did we really need to see people with computers and find out that Nate was a double-agent and discover that Monroe was old friends with Miles all in the final 10 minutes of the pilot? I worry that after doing all that here, the pace of the storytelling and unraveling of the mysteries may really slow in coming weeks.
So, what did all of you think of “Revolution?” Did it hold your interest and do you want more? Any theories about where the story will go next? Leave a comment and let’s chat about it!
If you want to read more of Jason Evans’ comments on the movie and TV industry
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