The mid season hiatus has begun for Revolution and that actually may be a good thing since I imagine it is going to take until late March for me to recover from Monday’s angst! In what was hands down the best episode aired to date (and all other shows can just go home), we really started working on how Revolution got to be the title of this show.  I have so many feelings for this episode, and for what is to come.  

 
The show was written by Monica Owusu-Breen and Matt Pitts, and directed by Fred Toye.  All of which are big J.J. vets with lots of experience on Fringe, Alias, LOST, etc. etc…but yet that whole Kripke family vibe really sang out.  (admittedly, sometimes overly so…like did Charlie really have to say “Of course I came. You’re my brother. It’s my job to look out for you.” who talks like that?)  So, of course, in this episode, we again explore what people are willing to do for family, and maybe even start questioning if we are putting our emphasis on the right members of the family. Just because someone is blood doesn’t necessarily mean they can be trusted…and Charlie also reminds us that some things are more important than family. Ideals? Causes? We also are left to wonder when that familial connection is severed. And can it ever truly be?  
 
 
Miles, Charlie and the gang have gotten into Philadelphia, but Charlie is in pretty rough shape and they need to find a safe house to recuperate.  Miles brings them to one of his only remaining friends in Philadelphia–a fellow soldier Miles and Bass knew before the Monroe Republic was created.  Miles goes out to check the streets, and Neville sets a trap…Meanwhile Monroe is closer than ever to having the power to send out an arsenal…and not a moment too soon, since he is confident they are days away from war with the Georgia Federation…
 
 
You may or may not have noticed a Bass-sympathetic tone in the summary paragraph.  That hint of Bass favoritism you sensed is due to the show’s lovely emphasis on humanizing and just all out making me fall in love with Sebastian Monroe.  
 
 
In this episode, we got a ton of flashbacks with Miles and Bass.  They were children together.  Calling them best friends doesn’t even begin to cut it.  The “M” tattoo that Monroe has on his arm that is the symbol for the Monroe Republic was actually made to symbolize both Monroe and Matheson. Five years after the blackout when Miles was wounded, Bass wouldn’t leave his side, even though they were out on the “battlefield”.  “If you die, I die” was Bass’s response objecting to Miles telling him to get out of there.  Two years before the blackout, Bass lost his parents and his sisters in a horrible car crash.  All he had left was Miles, who talked him off the ledge. “You’ve got me…I mean what the hell would I be without you?”
 
 
We know that something happened and Miles tried to kill Bass.  He wasn’t able to do it, so he ran and hid for about 7 years from the sound of it.  Bass had standing orders to bring Miles in alive.  I wonder what happened that could have made Miles take such rash action?  One theory a friend of mine brought up (@farawayeyes4 if you wanted to know) is the possibility that maybe Bass told Miles he killed Rachel, as a way of testing Miles’ devotion to the cause.  I’m sure something else must have been going on that would make Bass question Miles’ devotion, but considering how surprised Miles was when he heard that Rachel was still alive, I could see that as a possibility.
 
 
Miles couldn’t pull the trigger then, and despite his harsh words to Bass in this episode, Miles didn’t pull the trigger this time either.  If he had wanted to, he could easily have done so when Bass put the gun down and was just talking.
 
 
There were a few things I noticed in the showdown between Miles and Bass.  First of all, Bass’s gun was shaking.  I think Miles’ gun would have been shaking too if it wasn’t a two handed rifle.  Both men were not in a sound frame of mind.  Both were overly emotional.  How about the fact that this scene really wasn’t all that different (in what was said, anyway) from Miles’ hallucination of a meeting with Bass in “Kashmir”.  Bass reacted just as Miles had wanted him to…Bass asked Miles to come back.  I can’t help but think that since Miles knew from his hallucination that a part of him wanted to go back and wanted Bass to say the very things he said that MIles has to make it impossible for himself to accept.  He has to make Bass want to fight him.  After all, Miles can’t let down Charlie.  I feel that Miles said those things about Bass not being his family, and Bass meaning nothing to him to hurt Bass enough to lash out.  If he killed Bass when they were fighting, then he might be able to calm his conscience.
 
 
Did you notice that after the brave Charlie moment when she volunteers to be the sibling shot that Bass says “like Miles always said, a good hostage works every time.” Was anyone else getting the impression that Bass learned everything he knew about warfare from Miles?  It seems like Bass is the one that thinks too much, dwells on things, muddles over them.  He was a soldier, too, but Miles seems to be more the hammer.  He acts.  To me, Bass plays Sam to Miles’ Dean. Why yes, I do need to bring many things back to Supernatural.  But riddle me this–I’m totally a Dean girl, so why am I so in love with Bass???
 
 
It possibly could be David Lyons’ acting.  I just love the scenes with David and Billy.  My television sizzles.  Both men are such amazing actors.  We can see so much just with a glance.  They don’t need to speak.  Watch the showdown scene between Miles and Bass.  You can see the moment that Bass’s heart breaks.  Watch the scene with Rachel begging Bass and that scary Sgt. Strausser not to kill her children.  When Charlie volunteers, look at Bass’s face.  So much is going on there.  He is intrigued with her, and there is something else there too, something older–a memory perhaps?  I think he sees Miles in her reaction.  How Miles fears nothing–one of the qualities he probably loved most in his best friend. So without further ado, the new sonnet I wrote about this episode:
 
 
A Sonnet to Sebastian (2)
 
So now it seems as if the tables turned,
and Miles came today to take your sword,
with all your hopes and dreams for friendship burned
if you, now scorned, take Miles at his word.
 
But Bass, take solace in his lack of cause,
and know he truly spoke out of his ass
Another chance to take your life gave pause
and in its stead he only gave you sass.
 
and now your tortured state from high above
you know you need him to defeat the bad
your conflict and complexities I love
now Miles’ lack of vision makes me sad.
 
My love for Bass continues now to grow
My new obsession found within this show.
 
 
And that actually brings up another point–the one about the impending war with the Georgia Federation.  I feel like one of the first things that needed to happen, although I question that it did in the Revolution-verse, was that a communication network needed to be set up after the blackout.  Start the good old pony express going, get those wonderful pipelines all over the city like in The Shadow. Do whatever it takes to get the message out there.  One of the problems that happens when you live in a box is that you fail to realize there are other people outside your box.  Would the people of the Monroe Republic be so disenchanted with the military if they knew there were greater threats out there attempting hostile takeover?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  But the thing is, we have a military regime, not skilled in politics or socioeconomics running the colony.  It seems similar things are going on in the other colonies.  I would love to see how they are fairing.  From what we have heard, they don’t seem to be doing very well.  Georgia seems hostile, so does California.  In my mind (for obvious reasons), I’m hoping that there is redemption for Monroe and that he would be needed to fight larger threats out there.  I don’t want him to be the big bad…
 
 
Admittedly, another problem I am seeing is that these Rebels don’t really seem like a sympathetic lot.  They’re killing people, setting off bombs, stabbing each other…and apparently employing psychological warfare on General Monroe…Remember what the rebel with the printing press was printing in “Soul Train”? Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  Bastard.
 
 
I’m beginning to really wonder about Rachel.  She talks about killing a lot and has been doing a lot of killing as well.  I get the whole protecting children thing, and I get the vengeance against who was probably her rapist.  I totally got the slapping Miles across the face thing. Something about her is hitting me the wrong way though.  When we saw her and Danny together, Danny didn’t seem overly impressed with Rachel.  Charlie didn’t either. I imagine with Ben being dead, the only person in their little group that understands these pendants and can build things to amplify, etc is Rachel, they need to keep her, unless they can find someone else, like Grace.  Monroe has Ben’s pendant.  But there are twelve. I think we’ve seen three.  Where is Rachel’s pendant? I don’t think Brad gave up where his pendant was. I’m sure Elizabeth Mitchell is in for the long haul.  I just wonder how much she can be trusted and what other avenues the gang can explore if it turns out a Plan B is needed.
 
 
I am really excited to find out what the landscape will be like when we get new episodes at the end of March 2013.  If we all survive the Mayan Apocalypse, we may find the Revolution-verse very topsy turvy!  I don’t see the Rebels as having a big honking plan, and I haven’t really liked the rebels we have met.. But the militia leaves such a bad taste in everyone’s mouth now, that even if they gave out food, flowers, and free cable It would be tough for them to get the people’s confidence back.
 
 
I know a lot of people love Giancarlo Esposito, but I have to admit that Neville leaves me a bit meh.  We saw a more human side of him in this episode.  I think Bass needs to put more people around him he trusts.  They are few and far between, but maybe get Mark Pellegrino a full time gig…In this episode, Julia had a cool kind of spunk. Then again, so did Lady MacBeth.  I still think they are ill fated.  Neville pretty much guaranteed that when he threatened Miles.
 
 
Do we think that Monroe is going to waste ammunition trying to gun them down in the field? I’m thinking probably not.  We already know bullets are at a premium…and what will the amplifier do if there are no bullets and gas? Still not getting far…
 
 
So where does that leave us? What can we hope to see in the spring?  I know I’m hoping for a lot more Miles and Bass backstory.  Maybe a little more of the Romeo and Juliet love story between Charlie and Jason. Definitely a lot more sword fighting is needed. I want to know more about what Randall and Grace are doing and what the heck that contraption is they were in!  So I’m invested.  I’m obsessing over characters and storylines and will probably look for some good fanfic to read/write over the next few months.  I also picked up a book on Henry VIII because Monroe’s reign has some striking similarities.
 
 
FanFic challenge!  Wee-Miloe.  And. Go!!!
 
I liked the title, and we hear apologizing all over the place in the episode, but the truth is, it isn’t about what happened, it is about what will happen next, and now, we have to get ready for that!  Let me know what you thought of the episode, and how you feel about how the show is shaping up. The last few episodes have been amazing in my opinion, and Revolution has me completely hooked. I’m excited for the rest of the season and will be starting a campaign soon for season two renewal!
 
Screencaps from grande-caps tumblr.

 

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