Revolution - Recap: And Miles to Go Before I Sleep
Recap video and review of Revolution - Season 1 Episode 17 - The Longest Day:
As the season gets deeper into the pasts of these characters, and how those past relationships influence their present, Revolution gets more nuanced in the story it's trying to tell. For instance, while Miles (Billy Burke) struggles to atone for his savage past, Rachel (Elizabeth Mitchell) has been made harder by that shared past. She understands that there are things for which people cannot atone. Monroe (David Lyons) could come crawling on his knees, begging her forgiveness, and it's impossible to think she'd hear him out. This is because Rachel has evolved to the point where there is no greater good but her mission. She's not turning the power back on to restore the world, or even to just stop Monroe. She wants revenge, in its coldest, most bloodily satisfying form. And that's an interesting development for the character, particularly as it relates to her partnership with Aaron (Zak Orth), as Rachel just doesn't have the patience for his tireless do-gooding. Yet "The Longest Day" is packed with similarly fascinating developments, from a pure character perspective, as relationships deepen and motivations change. It's not an episode I was necessarily crazy about, when it came down to the central plot (which was often incoherent and all over the place), but the character moments were worth it.
Credit: Brownie Harris/NBC
Charlie (Tracy Spiridakos) is sidelined for much of the episode after an explosion at a watch tower buries her under a mountain of rubble. Miles and Nora (Daniella Alonso) set out to find her, going off of an injured Jason's (J.D. Pardo) report on what happened. This plot has the effect of developing the character conflicts at its center: Tom Neville (Giancarlo Esposito) is still at odds with Jason over last week's insurgency, as Jason left his father for dead. An angry Tom tries to get Jason to man up and finish the job, pressing Jason's gun into his chest and shouting at his son to pull the trigger. However, Jason can't follow through -- and this ends up working out splendidly for him, as Tom is the only reason Jason ends up surviving the episode. When Jason is severely injured in the watch tower explosion, he insists that the rest of the group go on without him, yet Tom resolves to get his son out of their predicament, and sends Miles and Nora ahead. Tom gets his son out of the enemy-flanked area, and the resulting action sequence sees a father defending his son on the principle of family. "I know what kind of man I am," Tom says, when Jason asks why he's helping him. "You could be the Devil himself, but I know where I draw the line." Their relationship isn't exactly mended, but there's a warrior's camaraderie between them here that hadn't been there before. It's an organic development for the story, and hits on the salient theme of family that runs throughout the series.
Nora, meanwhile, is hesitant to go searching for Charlie, since she fears their search is hopeless, and will only result in one of them getting killed. More than ever, death is at the forefront of Nora's mind. She tries to sneak out of the bedroom after last week's hookup with Miles, and she rationalizes her casual behavior by explaining that she doesn't want to get too attached, since it'll only make it harder when one of them inevitably dies. It's this fear of death, and its inevitability, that weaves its way through their story in the episode. Even after Miles is able to rescue Charlie (who's made her way out of the rubble) from Militia troops, things don't get any less bleak. After separating from Miles, Nora is abducted by the Monroe Militia, and is brought directly to General Monroe himself, in a dungeon that promises to be the headquarters of Nora's living hell. After her episode-long fear for Miles, it stands to reason that Nora would ultimately be the one placed in peril. Again, it's an organic storyline development, and it doesn't bog down the narrative one bit.
Credit: NBC
However, the Miles that Nora loves isn't the Miles that Rachel once knew, as we learn through flashbacks just how terrible Miles once was. Picking up from a previous flashback in the first half of the season, in which Rachel meets with Miles at a Monroe Militia base to discuss possibly turning the power back on. Yet Rachel refuses to indulge Miles' demands, as she has no intention of helping either Miles or Monroe to procure the means to kill more people. She's simply here to protect her family. It's a revealing flashback that confirms that Miles and Rachel once shared a brief, "ugly fling" when they were "kids." Miles thought the fling actually meant something to Rachel, but she quickly disabuses him of that notion, saying that not a day goes by where she doesn't regret it happening. She takes it a step further by telling Miles that they're all ashamed to call him family. Miles, who shows himself to be a bit of sociopath here, threatens to strike Rachel, whom he's already gripping around the throat. When we check back in on the flashback, set seven years after the Blackout, Miles has Rachel tied to a chair. He's poised to begin his cruel interrogation, and he makes certain Rachel knows that their family connection, and their shared romantic past, means absolutely nothing to him. It's chilling stuff, especially since it so starkly contrasts with the Miles we know. But that contrast makes our Miles more compelling, as we come to see just how much he's grown in the intervening years. The flashbacks also have the byproduct of illustrating how Rachel has been hardened over the years, a character development that cycles into her story in the present.
Credit: Brownie Harris/NBC
As Rachel and Aaron continue on their journey, Rachel realizes that there is a way to fix her broken leg -- the capsules that act sort of like electronic stem cells in how they address whatever need the body has, fixing and healing injuries. She pulled one such capsule out of Danny's body after his death. As Aaron inserts the capsule into Rachel's leg, the excruciating healing process begins, and it's one of the more gruesome visuals of the season, a fitting match to last week's stomach-churning business with Rachel's bone jutting out of her leg. As the wound closes, Rachel and Aaron are suddenly surrounded by gun-toting strangers who ask how the hell they just did that. The strangers hardly wait for an explanation before they're taking Rachel and Aaron captive. However, these strangers aren't entirely sinister in their motivations. The leader is a desperate father whose son broke his ribs falling off a horse while trying to impress some girl. Rachel is warm with the boy, a connection that echoes her bond with Danny. Aaron is all for helping out, rationalizing that they can cut the capsule out of Rachel's leg since it's already healed. However, when they get the leader alone, Rachel knocks him out with a fire extinguisher and tells Aaron they can go now.
A horrified Aaron asks what the hell Rachel is doing. He'd assumed they were going to help the kid. Rachel then affects a cold, sinister posture and says, "What makes you think I'm in this to help people?" Rachel declares that these people mean nothing to her. The only reason she's going to the Tower to turn the power back on is to ensure the death of Monroe and the destruction of his empire. She wants revenge for Danny, and nothing is going to stop her -- she invites Aaron to stay with this family, for all she cares, saying that the boy is going to die anyway. The infection from his injury has likely already spread to his organs, and the capsule isn't exactly a miracle device that can heal every malady. It's a terrifically chilling contrast between Rachel and Charlie, both women who've lost someone dear to them (Danny), yet while one has lost her moral drive in the hunt for revenge, the other remains as resolutely committed to doing the right thing as ever (as evidenced by Charlie's desperate plot to save Dr. Camp and his family last week). Rachel's callous scenes with Aaron are also contrasted with the relative warmth of Charlie's interactions with Jason, as the latter couple finally seals a season's worth of sexual tension with a kiss. I'm not sure I'm entirely sold on Charlie and Jason as a couple just yet, but there's still time to flesh out this romance as the season heads towards its final few episodes.
There are also politically-oriented storylines this week, with President Foster (Leslie Hope) confessing to Miles that she's contemplating surrender, rationalizing that she's lost so many men already. Foster's paranoia is contrasted with Monroe's, though I'd argue Monroe has far more reason to be paranoid than President Foster. An attempt is made on Monroe's life by a mysterious assassin. When shots ring out, Captain Jeremy Baker (Mark Pellegrino), one of the few trusted confidants remaining in Monroe's inner-circle, takes point. Yet Monroe is shocked to find that, despite Jeremy being completely exposed in the open, the assassin doesn't fire a single shot at him. Thus, Monroe surmises that his trusted friend and Captain must have had something to do with the assassination attempt. This leads to a huge blow-up in which Monroe continues to alienate the men in his inner-circle (when he isn't killing them outright), with an offended Jeremy saying that while Monroe probably will take over the continent, he's going to do it alone. So while absolute power corrupts absolutely, it also has a tendency to alienate just as effectively. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.
"The Longest Day" is an episode with a story that jumps around a bit too much for my liking, but it's all in service of some of the best character work of the season so far.