Wait! Was that Ben’s name I saw after “written by”??? Why yes, it was! Last week’s Revolution episode was written by Ben Edlund and David Rambo. What does this tell us? Well, that we will have some excellent Monroe moments for one…but also we have BEN EDLUND WRITING. Excuse me while my Supernatch fangirl heart squees a bit…I’ve written sonnets about this man. O.K., yes, I’ve written sonnets about Miles and Bass too, but still…BEN EDLUND!
Charlie and Bass arrive at Willoughby. Charlie wants to find Miles and her mom. Bass wants to play it safe and do some recon. Charlie finds Miles and brings him to Monroe, so they can plan what to do about Rachel’s “wanted” status. It is becoming clear to Miles that some kind of resistance needs to be started with these Patriots…their best bet seems to be somehow getting the Texas Rangers to help them out. That was pretty much doomed for failure, since they don’t even play the same game (heh heh Patriots are a football team, the Rangers a baseball team–get it??? never mind…), but Miles meets with John Fry (Guest Star Jim Beaver) of the Sovereign Nation of Texas about what the Patriots are really about. Fry doesn’t trust these Patriots, but he needs proof to bring home to try to change their minds about the treaty they want to make with the “U.S.” In saving Miles, Aaron learns more about a very scary power he has. Meanwhile, Neville finds out he bet on the wrong horse, Allenford isn’t as evil as her bosses and they’re trying to get rid of her. The Patriots have “reprogramming centers” and Jason has been sent to one. Allenford gets him to help her by promising to take him to where Jason is being kept.
As a side note, I am wondering if something will happen between these two? I can see them getting together only to have Julia show up…
I have been so happy with this season so far. I loved this episode except for one small thing…I found Aaron and Cynthia’s story line fairly boring…It does lend itself to showing an interesting dynamic among the various characters, though. This episode shows us many characters and how they deal with feeling useless, with feeling empowered, how others react to them…there is quite a bit in the episode on that.
With Aaron himself, I think the flashbacks made him lose a lot of his appeal to me. He was drinking, clearly didn’t want to teach but wanted to do something, and I kinda failed to see much attractive about his personality at all. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely remember professors in college that, well, they don’t say smart is sexy for no reason…but Aaron’s form of smart just doesn’t work for me. He has no charisma. He seemed the most unlikely person for Cynthia’s husband to become jealous of, as he does appear to be. The other thing, with the fireflies and how Aaron set Carl and his mistress on fire in the car, definitely makes me wonder. Initially, I wondered if the fireflies became linked to him to save him, and that at that point he became some kind of an organic robot. The flashbacks we were given last week, however, change that. He had this power prior to when he died and was brought back to life. Maybe after he came back he had a more solid bond though, as prior to his death he didn’t seem to see anything while it was happening when he was somewhere else, like when he saw Miles in trouble. So when did this connection start? We will learn when its genesis was? And if he had some kind of power why did the system crash right before he could fix things to stop the nukes? Or did the system crash somehow give him this power? There is definitely a lot more we need to know about Aaron’s abilities.
About Aaron’s brokenness after the events of the tower, he seems overwhelmed and depressed when they come to Willoughby. When he can see himself as more normal–more useful in a mundane way he seems to get a bit of his Aaron-ness back. We see the guilt he feels over the horrible things he has done with this new “gift”. Interesting how his new talent seems to be helpful, but he understands it as dangerous and while the actions seem well intentioned, they aren’t right. This is of course the exact opposite of Bass who, being much more Machiavellian, sees extreme, dangerous actions as needed to fulfill the main objective. The last scene where he problem solves in a very severe way shows how his moral compass seems a bit off. Aaron wants to run away from anyone that could give him reason to lash out in such a harsh way, but such harsh reactions are part of who Bass is. We are probably very lucky that Bass doesn’t have any spontaneous combustion inducing fireflies wired into his brain matrix!
Also with Bass, Miles noted that Bass was “practically skipping” which basically Miles made it sound like Bass was happy to be with him. I felt that it had less to do with Miles and more to do with feeling alive. Bass felt he was finally doing something again. He seems more comfortable in battle…Which actually isn’t terribly uncommon from what I’ve read. How many horror stories have we all heard about marines, airmen, soldiers, sailors, what have you, coming home from the war and they really don’t know how to relate to normal life any more? Even in Supernatural Dean first coming out of Purgatory talked about how Purgatory (which really was like a continuous war) was more pure. Dean seemed to have forgotten how to relate in the world. Styx’s song “Man in the Wilderness”, used in the season seven premiere episode of Supernatural also is about that very concept.
Being back at war is an easier place for Bass. It seems that because he is in that constant Marine mode, he reacts in a First Recon abrupt kind of way. I feel like if Miles laid the ground rules–like I don’t want this person dead, where he made his intentions clear, Bass would go by it. Miles doesn’t tell him that, dancing around things. When Bass says “we will find your proof”, Miles gives a look like he is a bit worried as to what Bas means by that, but he doesn’t actually ask “WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT”, and have the conversation with Bass over actions he is willing to take at this time. In that sense, Miles seems to be sitting back, waiting to see how things work or don’t work out, and then getting angry with Bass for how he does them. Bass also isn’t the only one that has had harsh reactions to things…
Rachel, who did kill in self defense, seemed almost giddy talking about hiding the body. Miles was impressed with her thoroughness and called her a “complicated woman”. That same giddy trait in his best friend, however, he gets all aggravated and just wants Bass to leave but for his usefulness. Last year I felt that Miles seemed to want to cultivate that idea of hero worship in Bass. That he knew of Bass’s overreactions, and found them amusing from when they were kids. He also seemed to really like that Bass looked up to him. Is he merely reading too much into Bass’s content at being back on the front line and feeling that sense of importance due to action? Does Bass’s happiness over movement have anything to do with Miles? I’m sure it has something to do with him– Bass once again has someone there that understands the life. I loved the city calling out! Part of him I’m sure is happy to be back with his brother, but I do thing that Bass has been trying to move on. He would want to burn off his M tattoo to hide who he is, but I think his burning the tattoo was also symbolic of him attempting to burn out that part of his life.
LIke Aaron, Miles seems to have a real abhorrence for the part of his personality that can bring about horrible things. Rachel and Bass are more willing to do whatever extreme action the situation requires and then rationalize that they did what it was the situation demanded they do. Aaron and Miles have great amounts of self loathing over what it is they have done to protect themselves and others.
I think that the thing that baffles me when I think about it, is that scene with the tent back in the second or third episode where Miles and Bass, on their way to find Ben back right after the blackout, saved Jeremy Baker from the looter/murderers. In that scene, Miles shoots two men without guns. These men didn’t try to fight Miles and actually showed they were willing to leave. Bass was the one that couldn’t believe Miles just shot them. Bass wouldn’t have killed them. They reacted harshly because they were hungry and scared. So when did this reversal happen? When did Bass become the shoot first, ask questions later one? It feels like a bit of retconning has been done here.
Aside from the retcon I am wondering about possible juxtaposition that could be foreshadowing. We know that the Patriots were actually pushing and helping the Andover Clan terrorize Willoughby. We now know they were using this as a stronghold to get into Texas. They could use that they came in and rescued these people in Willoughby as a way of showing their “good intentions”. Really, we know that the Patriots were supporting the Andover Clan so that they could take them out and show how helpful they could be. This makes me wonder about Bass and whether Charlie was ever actually in danger in that bar. Did Bass really rescue her, or was it a ploy to get Charlie to trust him–who would then in turn bring him to Miles and Rachel. He knew Miles and Rachel wouldn’t just trust him, so it is possible that he set this all up as that sign of faith he could use to get in the door. If this is the case, what is Bass after?
The promos for next week would love for us to believe we will never know. I’m thinking they’re going to Jack Sparrow Bass out of there somehow. That or use him to find out something. If Rachel’s father is the one administering in the execution, he could say Bass is dead when he is not. Doing this would get the bounty off Bass, since everyone would believe that he is in fact dead…But I guess we will have to wait to see what happens!
Let me know what you thought of the episode! Screencaps from http://grandecaps.tumblr.com
