Revolution Season One: The TVFTROU Roundtable Analysis

How would you fix Revolution for season two?  

Nicole:

I think Kripke should get back to his bromance bonds, and focus on other character relationships.  That is his strong point.  I don’t think he intended to be going at this alone.  He had an idea that JJ and Jon seemed so into at first, but it is my understanding that both of them have contributed minimally since the pilot.  Kripke needs people around him to help him focus ( I get the impression he is very visual like David Lynch, but he is afraid to tell such a disjointed story–which Lynch has no qualms about doing).  I am hoping that O’Bannon and Edlund will help him in this capacity.  I’m very excited for what can happen next season.  I imagine that the “new” USA will try to blame Bass for the nuclear wasteland of the east and so he will be on the run.  With any luck this will force Miles and Bass to work together.  More of Giancarlo being diabolical will be cool because damn he has evil down!

Bookdal:

I’d start out by hiring Ben Edlund (hahahhaaha). Okay, on a serious note, I’d focus more on the core characters and how they are going to fix what they’ve destroyed. I’d be careful of turning Neville into a caricature, which he came close to being towards the end of the first season. I’d not introduce anymore major characters UNLESS they are directly tied to the core group. Kripke and company have to be careful of wanting to tell this “epic” story with too wide of a lens. We saw it in the first season. If you have too much then you lose focus and the story really is not about the “power” but the “people”.  I’d continue to show Miles as the limping hero but the show has to be careful here, too, of making him so weakened as a moral character that he becomes someone the audience can’t root for. The same should be said of Rachel as well. I know that the show has said there are no good guys, but eventually the viewer is going to need someone to pull for and a cause to get behind, which brings me to the last point – there should be more exposition of the blackout cause and how the world got to be how it is. I live in the pre-blackout America so I’m a little startled that within 15 years the world has turned into Jefferson’s worst nightmare. I thought we were a little better than that.

Far Away Eyes:

Number one, make me care about these characters.  They need to be better defined, they need dialogue that gives them more of a personality, they need dialogue that doesn’t make them sound completely ridiculous (“If you don’t work with me I’ll take it all back, and you can go back to being the general of my nuts!”), and we need to see the layers that make up who they truly are.  There were too often times, like with Bass for example, where we would see those layers one week and then its back to something else the next week, as if that backstory never happened.  The characterization with all these characters was so wildly inconsistent and lacking a lot of redeeming qualities that make people care.  Before the season one finale (which was the strongest episode of the season by far), a bomb could have wiped out everyone and I wouldn’t have cared.  Do over!  

Two, the story lines need to be constructed with a lot more attention.  Plots and twists came out of left field, and we were wondering why that even happened when it brought no value to the story whatsoever.   It’s as if the writers the stalling for time, rather than trying to build interesting characters.  We fans believe in plausibility and consistency, and there were too many things that went nowhere.  Plots each week also need to blend together well and make sense.  Continuity and consistency!   Or, at least do story lines that don’t have us wondering who the hell thought this was a great idea (hallucinations in tunnels, really?).  

Three, the pacing on most episodes was just awful.  There were so many times in these episodes where I was looking at my watch going, “Isn’t this show over yet?”  I’m not one of those that needs action packed fight scenes and explosions all the time, but the best stories are based on suspense and interaction among the characters.  For example, scenes in Georgia put together with scenes in The Plains Nation didn’t blend together well seamlessly.  Both stories were often boring and dragged on, or one was filled with action and the other crickets chirping.  The multiple story lines need to work together, or just focus on one at a time.  Most important though, they need to construct episodes that keep a viewer engaged for the entire hour. 

Four, how about episodes that all amount to something?  Perhaps a season long story arc that stays that way all season?  I don’t know how many times after an episode the instant reaction was “that was pointless.”  Episodes exist at their most basic level to advance the plot.  Season one as it was presented honestly could have been done in six episodes.  

Finally, I read this user comment on another board, and I think it sums it up well.  This is the stigma they must erase in season two.  “I’d give it more points if it were presented as a comedy.”  

Okay, your turn!  What did you like and dislike about Revolution season one?  What hopes do you have for season two?  There are no right or wrong answers, just valued opinions!