When I first watched last week’s episode, I didn’t feel the episode had the same splendor that most of the rest of the season has had for me. Certain things I really loved, certain things not so much. I loved that much of the gang was back in Willoughby, but I felt that the sheer volume of story lines was dragging down the pace. There was too much going on, so we weren’t able to spend enough time on each story. I found myself making a less than enthusiastic sigh whenever we went back to Aaron’s story in Oklahoma. But after watching this episode and the promo of next week’s, I am hopeful that the story lines will continue to converge. Also, the ending of the episode left us all cliffy! Long story short? This episode grew on me…
Arriving back in Willoughby, Miles, Bass, Rachel and Connor find the gang cleared out and strange camps set up in the outskirts of town. Recon work reveals Gene and Charlie working with Truman in these camps and Rachel is determined to speak to her father and Charlie to find out what is going on. Aaron and Priscilla learn Grace has cleared out and the “nanites” have a new quest for them. Tom and Julia put it all on the line to save Jason…
“Captain Trips”, written by Paul Grellong and Jim Barnes, really focuses on moving the plot forward. We start to see a little bit about the plan that the Patriots have in store for Willoughby. We knew from what Jason uncovered in Doyle’s office that the Patriots planned on setting up one of those crazy soldier camps in Willoughby. From what Rachel found it actually appears that the Patriots infected various unsavory characters in town to “cull” the town of impurities. Maybe these reeducations camps go further than just reprograming young soldiers. Are we talking brainwashing entire populations? I’m intrigued at just how nefarious these Patriots are! Gene somehow became infected by a typhus strain that doesn’t spread normally, most likely because Truman figured that once the culling is finished and he can dispose of Gene, he can bring in a Patriot doctor to take over. Besides, if Truman wants to get rid of Rachel and Miles, he needs to get rid of Gene—and in a way that makes Gene look like a hero working FOR the Patriot cause. He wants to fool the town of Willoughby. He doesn’t want the town to turn on the Patriots.
But really, I loved Connor’s unamused countenance all episode long…and how Miles continually kept offering him up. I seem to remember last season Charlie really had to force Miles to let her participate. In this episode, Miles kept offering up “the kid” to go in. He was protecting Connor for Emma, but he seems alright with putting him in imminent danger…This seems like a thing with Miles. Remember when he told Rachel that he needed Bass to do the torturing so he wouldn’t have to? I don’t like this undercurrent in Miles’ personality. That said, all in all I have found Miles much more enjoyable of late. I don’t love him as much as I love the Monroe family though. The snark and hotness of the Monroe duo has captured my heart. I felt the best lines of this episode went to Connor for lines like “screw both of you with something pointy”.
Over in Washington, things have gotten quite bad for Tom and Julia. Tom was son concerned about Jason blowing their cover that he failed to see how conspicuous his and Julia’s actions looked. We were given some backstory showing how Tom and Julia really found out how far they would go to protect Jason and it seems that Jason brings out the best and the worst in them. I was watching an episode of 21 Jump Street not too long ago that dealt with teen suicide. At one point Tom Hanson was talking to a teen that told him that it wasn’t really wasn’t always about suicide. Often it was about showing people that you’ve had enough, that you aren’t taking it any more. I can’t speak to the validity of that statement as a whole, but what I would say is that we have seen some of that desperation in Jason with dealing with his parents. And let’s be honest, Jason going into Doyle’s office was pretty much suicidal. He knew how dangerous it was if he got caught.
Jason’s character has grown on me in many ways. I love how hard he tries and how loyal he is about his family. Jason is still being treated like that child by his parents in many ways even though he is a man. My fear with this storyline is that I don’t want Jason to become the Season Two Danny. Danny was a catalyst to the plot, but didn’t really have any independent story arc. As such, his death, while tragic, served more purpose to the story than actually keeping him. Here there have been chances to expand the Jason storyline but they seem to be left dangling to go back into Julia and Tom’s story. Jason seems to merely be used as a catalyst to Julia and Tom’s next adventure. I truly hope that this changes. I like Jason and I think that since Jason is naturally such a loyal guy and Connor is more naturally selfish that the two of them working together could be very interesting.
I also like how Kripke is spending more time working with the father/son dynamic. I love the Monroes. David and Mat are great together in scenes and I can’t wait to see where their story goes. Connor has certain ideas as to what he wants and Bass so wants to measure up and give Connor what he wants. How will Bass continue to balance interests? So far he has been able to logic Connor into line, but will this change? Will Connor begin to question if Bass really wants to take back the Republic or if he is only saying that to keep Connor with them? Connor was the right hand man of a big Mexican cartel. I would imagine people are looking for him. I also imagine that he has done some horrific things in his past, too. Will he do something that makes Bass question how good a person he really is? Will Connor decide that Bass’s loyalties are really with Miles?
Regarding the other father/son relationship, I would love for Tom to see Jason as more of a man, independent and full of his own ideas. Jason is the dutiful son. He joined the Monroe Militia, he only began to question it after meeting Charlie. Despite what happened, he still came back to his father, and it was getting to his father again that was able to pull him out of the “reeducation” that the Patriots gave him. Jason and Tom’s relationship is really the only thing about the show that even remotely reminds me of Supernatural anymore. Jason’s dutiful son, trying so hard to get the approval of his father, reminds me a lot of Dean’s devotion to his father. Jason has his mother though—which has shown to be both a benefit and a burden.
One really cool thing with the Aaron storyline was seeing an interesting side to the “nanites”. (please excuse the quotes, me macbook update won’t allow me to write it without the quotes. it keeps changing the word to nannies.) The now sentient “nanites” now have a definite direction they want Aaron and Priscilla to take. Priscilla tried to go her own way and they felled a tree in her path. This makes me wonder about their friend Peter. If the “nanites” are getting this bold, how has he escaped their calling? Or has he?
I really love how Revolution has found its own unique voice this year. The first season I could see similar character construction and relationships as I could see in Supernatural, but this season I have not. Revolution has become the one show that I have to be home for and I can’t wait to find out what happens next!
Tell me what you thought of the episode! Screencaps from grandecaps.tumblr.com
