This is your one and only friendly
reminder from me to you that, if you haven’t watched tonight’s episode of Revolution, entitled ‘Three Amigos’,
then now would be a splendid time to go and do so before proceeding ahead. For
this is not a spoiler free blog. THIS
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.
Honestly, I’m somewhat surprised
at just how much I am enjoying this season of this series. Sure, I liked the
first season a great deal, but I’m loving this season. This year is
continuously growing into something addictive that I keep feeling the need to
devour, and yet I am still hungry for more. That’s just how great this series
is becoming, and this week’s episode was no exception.
This week’s 2014 premiere episode
after the Christmas break had Charlie and Monroe rescuing Rachel’s dad so that
he could save Miles’s life. Monroe did this so that Miles would tell him where
he’d hidden his son, to which Miles takes Monroe on the trek towards Mexico,
taking Rachel along in fear of what might happen with just the two of them
involved. They eventually find his son Connor, a twenty-five year old man
(which likely puts Monroe at about forty-three, forty-four – despite the
actor’s actual age of thirty-seven) in charge of thirty men apart of a drug
cartel. Now, Monroe only wants to talk with his son – and why wouldn’t he when
he didn’t even know the kid had existed until just a few months ago? But Monroe
is mostly hoping that he can help the kid pick up where he left things off with
the Republic he’d been in control of, even though the guy seems to want nothing
to do with him. Now, we didn’t really get to see much interaction between this
father and son duo, but already I’m excited for more. Still, I’m kind of hoping
they don’t try the route of setting things up between Charlie and Connor – who
is cute, but the dazzling chemistry between Monroe and Charlie needs to be
explored. Besides, despite how they are similarly damaged Charlie and Connor
are, I think Charlie needs a more mature man in her life because let’s be
honest, she was the caretaker of her brother and thus took on a motherly role
with him. And after that, there’s no going backwards in responsibility.
And speaking of Charlie, her
grandfather, Aaron and her were left behind when Miles, Bass, and Rachel took
off in search of Bass’s son – to which I was a little disappointed Charlie was
left behind because I really want more screen time between her and Monroe, but
I can understand the writing standpoint behind this. Aaron soon scampered off
on his own quest, and in Charlie and her grandfather attempting to track him
down, Gene happened upon some seemingly nefarious traffic going on between the
Patriots and some townspeople. When Charlie and Gene intercept the last wagon
with mystery cargo, they find – of all things – oranges. Now, we soon learn that the Patriots are
dosing these oranges with something, but our heroes do not know this, nor do we
know what exactly they are spiking these fruits with. My guess, something to
help brainwash them with, to make sure even the most unsure are complacent, or some
kind of back up plan they can use if all things don’t go well. But I’m not
exactly expecting my theory to be right, so we’ll have to wait and see.
Our two final storylines concern
Aaron and the Neville’s, separately that is. In the final minutes Aaron travels
to Spring City, Oklahoma – and come on, we all knew that was where he was going
– where he happens upon none other than Grace, one of the people that was apart
of the same project as Rachel that managed to bring down electricity. Now, we
have to wait until next week to see more between these two, but it does leave
something to be pondered.
Then there were the Neville’s. Julia,
pretending to be someone named Rebecca, constructed a rather meticulous plan –
if I do say so myself – to get her actual husband Tom to take out the current
Chief of Staff in order for her Rebecca husband take over the title, all to
“help” Tom get promoted so that they can get what they deserve. Now, I’m not
all that sure what her actual plan is, but I know it’s definitely not so that
she can step down and become Tom’s wife again, even if he threatens to kill her
Rebecca husband. That look of worry on her face when he says he’ll stab him,
she’s obviously up to something else a little different that she hasn’t told
Tom about. Also, their son Jason snuck in and read documents that the man that
looks eerily similar to Johnny Depp worried over in his room. I’m rather
curious to learn what will be on the papers, even if I’ve already forgotten what
the triangular symbol means again.
Now, I have to say that episode
had a very solid opening, quite enjoyable in my opinion. I especially enjoyed
when Aaron told Gene off for trying to apologize to him about either betraying
his own family, or Aaron and his now deceased girlfriend. The backbone Aaron’s
character has slowly managed to grow is something I find incredible, definitely
good character development.
This episode I found incredibly
well written, from all the different stories that we hopped between but it
still managed to keep my interest was rather well done. Some times, if these
kinds of things aren’t done properly, the stories can become rather
unconnected, and I didn’t get that here, the flow was perfectly on key. Not
only that, but also the acting, and the dialogue, and the cinematography were
all so good that I didn’t feel that there was even a weak link between any of
it. It all managed to work so well together that I even found myself beginning
to like Rachel this week; despite finding she has tried to overshadow the
Charlie character all too much this season. So, basically, this series is
becoming really top notch this season.
Monroe, he was really brilliant
this week. I really found that everything his character did was very natural to
this point in his story as well as to the overall seasonal story arc. Also, I
absolutely adored the way Charlie’s name just kind of rolled off his tongue in
that one comment he made (a line you can find below). I’m really forward to
seeing these two’s relationship slowly develop. Sure, we may never fully get
Charloe (Charlie and Monroe together, for all you non-shippers/ Internet
language challenged), but I know that whatever screen time they manage to get
together is something I will very much soak up and appreciate.
A couple final things I need to
note. They have to do with the subtle moments that have little to do with
dialogue, and everything to do with body language and facial movements. The
first is to do with that smile that spreads across Charlie’s face when her
grandfather asks he since when has she listened to what her mother has told her
to do. Such a small moment that was expected after that rhetorical question,
but something that helps to mold a character beautifully all the same. The
second was that look Rachel gave both Miles and Monroe after the wagon driver
spoke to her and patted next to him in the driving seat. That look of yeah-right,
combined with oh-come-on and really? Something that so naturally occurs with
women that fit just so well into that point in their adventure. I loved it.
All in all, this episode was
incredible, and I can say that having been able to write a page worth amount of
notes on it. Everything just fit so well together that it gave just enough to
keep me interested, but not too much so that I might have felt overloaded with
information. I really like that this series is able to manage all that it does,
and it has a great deal to do with its writing staff and skilled actors.
Honestly, I was counting down my hours at work knowing that once I got home it
would be time for me to watch this, and it in no way disappointed. This is the
kind of series that makes me know I want to be a television screenwriter. And
makes me actually want to write a
review.
My rating: 8 out of 10.
Best Lines:
“Yeah, yeah, I’m alive.” – Monroe says to Gene.
“How you holding up, stumpy?” – Monroe questions Miles.
“I have to help you find your son after you killed mine.” –
Rachel explains to Monroe after he asks her what her problem is.
“The jerk crisscrossed two creeks. He was paying more
attention than I thought. Guess he doesn’t want to be found.” – Charlie says
exasperatedly.
“Well, congratulations, you’ve made it to Mexico. Go enjoy
the Mexican dream.” – Monroe ironically states.
“You asked for my help. What’d you think I was gonna do?” –
Charlie replies to the incredulous look her grandfather gives her after she
kills the two Patriot men.
“Because I’m Sebastian Monroe.” – Monroe says to his
newfound son, explaining how he would know anything about commanding legions.
“Well, by that logic, Charlie’s going to grow up to end the
world.” – Monroe retorts to Rachel.
Okay, that’s all for tonight’s folks. I’m going to go watch American Horror Story: Coven now, but I
will not be reviewing it tonight. And by posting this, it does not mean I will
not be reviewing Almost Human, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Trophy Wife, or Cougar Town, I just really wanted to watch and review this show
more. Plus, I’ve only watched the first of those four shows this week, so I’ll
be doing a bit of catch up tomorrow, plus reviewing The Crazy Ones. So check back in tomorrow night.
