Revolution - Recap: Mothers and daughters
Recap video and review of Revolution - Season 1 Episode 12 - Ghosts:
Many Revolution fans might have expected a more detailed explanation about the back story behind The Blackout in last week's midseason premiere. Yet the series substituted the revelation (which, granted, most of us could have probably already inferred) for another huge storyline development: the death of Danny (Graham Rogers). The first half of the season dealt directly with the long track toward his rescue, often eschewing the larger question of what caused The Blackout, or how Bass Monroe (David Lyons) came to power. "Ghosts", however, takes Danny's death and uses it to refocus the story of the season into a more tightly-wound narrative. Now that the show isn't concerned with Danny, the story can now go about the business of answering questions and developing the back stories of these characters in a more substantial fashion. To that end, the episode is mostly successful, though it still doesn't actually go into too much detail beyond the odd flashback or two, giving us a window into the motivations of Randall Flynn (Colm Feore), and why he was so intent on using Rachel (Elizabeth Mitchell) and Ben's (Tim Guinee) invention to end the war in the Middle East, since his son perished in the conflict. This makes sense for the character and instantly makes Flynn a much deeper villain than he otherwise might have been, though it's not as though the show is trying to suggest that this motivation white-washes all of his prior bad acts. He's still aligned with Monroe, intending to give him the power to take the entire continent, while also searching for Rachel, in order to abduct her and force her to use her scientific mind to aid their cause. "Ghosts" is immensely purposeful with its story, as the mission to bring down Monroe takes shape. In that sense, it's a very solid episode.
Credit: NBC
Though Flynn is arguably front-and-center via his flashbacks, learning about his son's death and then pushing Rachel and Ben to move forward with weaponizing their invention, the story is split more directly between Rachel and Miles (Billy Burke). On Miles' end, he's hit the bottle following the death of his nephew. The burial of Danny is surprisingly subdued, as fewer tears are shed than one might expect, given the circumstances. Yet there's a weary sense of resignation about the proceedings that lends to our heroes' despair. Miles is bitter, and though he doesn't really want to help Nora's (Daniella Alonso) "stupid rebels", he ultimately agrees to help them bring down Monroe. To do this, Miles must confront a former friend of his who served under him in the Monroe Militia. The man, Jim Hudson (Malik Yoba), is still resentful of Miles for leaving him and his troops holding the bag during an earlier mission where Jim got Miles into Monroe's bedroom -- only for Miles to chicken out and fail to kill the despot. Jim now has a wife and a peaceful life as a librarian, and he has no intention of getting involved with Miles again. However, the Monroe Militia naturally change Jim's mind for him, as the follow a lead on Miles, which brings them directly to Jim's town.
Credit: NBC
The ensuing battle is a return to form for Revolution, as this show does hand-to-hand action setpieces better than any show on television right now, I'd wager. It's an exhilarating sequence with swords and smooth fight choreography. It's also resoundingly dramatic, as the Milita commander enters the library and corners Jim's wife, threatening to cut her throat. Yet before he can do so, Jim appears and hacks the man to pieces right in front of his wife's eyes. His wife, who had no idea that her husband was once a Militiaman, nor did she even know his name was Jim and not Henry, deserts him. She cannot reconcile the two versions of her husband before her eyes. Dejected, Jim decides that while Miles has technically ruined his life for a second time, he has little choice but to accompany him to Philadelphia to take down Monroe. And like that, Miles has recruited the first member of his assault team. But at what cost? I appreciate the depiction of Miles as a man who invariably ruins the lives of the people he touches, and Billy Burke does a tremendous job communicating the weight of that burden simply through his body language, from the way he carries himself, to his reckless abandon on the battlefield, even to the way he brings his flash up to his lips for a drink, as if he's trying to shut out the notion that he cares about anyone but himself. It's a very nimble storyline to portray, and Revolution does that story justice, here.
Credit: NBC
Rachel also gets a similarly resonant story arc, as she atones for her abandonment of Charlie (Tracy Spiridakos) and her family by trying to set things right in the present. When Charlie is wounded on a raid, Rachel tries to get her not to put herself in harm's way so recklessly. However, Charlie has no intention of listening to the woman who she feels abandoned her. She tells Rachel that she wasn't much of a mother to them, and that she wasn't there for either of her children, especially not Danny. This earns her a slap from Rachel, in one of the episode's best moments (since Charlie has an irritating way of making a point, even when she's right). Unfortunately, there are bigger problems on the horizon than just the squabbling between mother and daughter. When Aaron (Zak Orth) reveals that the pendants have been glowing on their own, Rachel realizes that Randall is using the pendants to track their location. She hurriedly makes an acid cocktail in the sink, and then disassembles the pendants (showing that their core is basically just a flash drive), and tosses their cores into the acid, destroying them altogether.
However, it's too late to stop Randall's men from finding them, as the entire squad is on location, and moving through the entire Echo Base compound. As Randall explains over the intercom, the pendants were immaterial to his goals: he's here for Rachel and her "giant brain". Cornered in the kitchen, Rachel apologizes to Charlie for having let her down and, in a gesture of acceptance, Charlie motions for Rachel to prepare herself. At the drop of a hat, Charlie whips out her crossbow and takes out one of Flynn's men, allowing Rachel and Aaron a window of escape. Charlie fires wildly into the distance, giving herself an opportunity to follow. Yet Charlie hands back a moment, readying an arrow in her hands, so that when the trailing soldier sprints down the hall in her direction, Charlie is there to stab him with the arrow. It's a simple, succinct representation of just how far Charlie has come as a warrior, given that she's relatively nonchalant about having to kill a man with her bare hands. It continues an arc that's been building over the season, as Charlie hardens from a family-oriented, optimistic youth to a more reserved, tortured protagonist.
That said, Charlie doesn't entirely abandon her "But we're family" ideology, as she and her mother reconcile by the campfire that night, after repelling Randall's men. Charlie says that she had only been thinking of rescuing Danny, yet she's only now realizing that she'll never see him again. Both mother and daughter break into tears and embrace one another while Miles and Nora watch in the distance and take one another's hand for strength. Ultimately, Charlie falls asleep in her mother's lap, which gives Aaron the opportunity to question Rachel about just what she's been hiding. Rachel, in a refreshing moment of openness for a genre series that can often be more satisfied with preserving mysteries than solving them, offers to tell Aaron the entire story. Though we'll have to wait next week for the reveal, we do know that this all has something to do with a mysterious base called "The Tower". Color me intrigued.
Lastly, there's a lingering bit of business with Neville (Giancarlo Esposito), who remains on the outs with Monroe, who still believes that Neville's son, Jason (JD Pardo), has been killed in action. However, Jason has actually defected to the rebels. Though we don't see Jason this week, there's a lingering feeling that Monroe somehow knows he's being lied to -- at least, that's the impression I received from David Lyons' performance, as he questions Captain Neville about how he and his wife are holding up, following the loss of their only son. It's a tense moment, brief though it is, but it helps to deepen the enmity within Monroe's own camp. This is made all the more significant by Neville's confession that he doesn't trust Randall, which further sows seeds of discord within the Monroe Republic. So, in that sense, I like this development.
Credit: NBC
Ultimately, "Ghosts" does a solid job of keeping the narrative momentum of last week's episode, as the midseason premiered with a running start. The episode also further establishes that there are any number of directions this story can take, going forward. That is perhaps the most encouraging aspect of Revolution as a series, the multiplicity of ideas and possibilities as we barrel onward.