Revolution - Recap: Set Fire to the Plains
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Recap video and review of Revolution - Season 1 Episode 19 - Children of Men:
If Revolution does one thing extremely well, it's ramping up the action at pivotal moments to create the kind of propulsive drama that keeps even middling episodes feeling exciting. "Children of Men" is just such a case. It's an episode packed with some really good ideas for where to take the story, yet it doesn't really ever get there because, as the penultimate episode of the first season, it's tasked with setting up next week's finale. Thus, much of what is set up here won't get paid off until next week, and that's not really something I can hold against the episode since it wasn't really designed to stand on its own two feet. It's a companion piece to next week's finale. With that said, there was plenty to enjoy here, particularly the closing action setpiece, with big guns blowing things to pieces in cinematic fashion. The action doesn't exactly make for subtle television, but it's still remarkably effective at creating suspense, in addition to serving the story function of separating our characters and moving the various pieces of the narrative into place for the cliffhanger of a conclusion that rescues "Children of Men" from its more plodding, glacially-paced issues. Ultimately, the episode left a fine taste in my mouth, and that's really what the show should be going for at this point -- an indelible, lasting impression.
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The episode, fittingly enough, picks up immediately where last week's cliffhanger left off, with Rachel (Elizabeth Mitchell) pulling back the pin on the grenade in Monroe's (David Lyons) tent. Both Rachel and Monroe are tackled by Monroe's men for different reasons: one of the lackeys is attempting to subdue Rachel and get the grenade out of harm's way, while the other is attempting to shield Monroe from the resulting blast. The grenade detonates, but it's far enough away by then that it hurts neither Rachel nor Monroe. Rachel is captured and forced by Monroe to open the door to the Tower, but she claims not to know how. However, once she gets to the door, it mysteriously opens the minute the cameras catch sight of her. Of course, this isn't necessarily a good thing, as we see that the secretive group living inside the Tower let them in on purpose -- and they're now armed and ready to take down Monroe's men. Meanwhile, Miles (Billy Burke), Charlie (Tracy Spiridakos), Nora (Daniella Alonso), Tom (Giancarlo Esposito) and Jason (JD Pardo) arrive four miles away from the site, hiking the rest of the way there. Once at the perimeter to the Tower, they encounter Aaron (Zak Orth), and, like that, we've suddenly got our infiltration team assembled. Yet things don't exactly go swimmingly, as a firefight breaks out. Miles, Charlie, Aaron and Nora are able to get into the Tower, but Tom and Jason are captured by Monroe's men. And so the narrative is split three ways.
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The most compelling of these stories is Rachel's, as flashbacks details how she and Ben (Tim Guinee) helped create the pendants that would go on to be a crucial instrument in the case of the Blackout. Through these story fragments, we're able to see the taxing toll that guilt has taken on Rachel. Poignantly, she recalls seeing the withered body of a young boy being tossed on a pile with other discarded corpses, and breaks down. Rachel declares that the blood of millions is upon their hands, and she doesn't think she can live with it. Rachel, in some ways, has been the show's most suicidal character, though never overtly so. It isn't that she necessarily wants to be killed, but that she seems somewhat resigned to its inevitability. That's why this narrative throughline is so important, as it culminates in Rachel coming to the realization that she actually wants to live. It's a breakthrough she makes while trapped in a vault with Monroe, hiding from the attackers living in the Tower. Rachel declares that she wants to live in order to see her daughter again.
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Picking up on the theme of doing anything to see one's children again, Monroe confesses the existence of his own unknown son, which we haven't heard about in some time. Since having that secret revealed to him, he's spent the time searching for the boy, though his search has turned up nothing. Monroe states that he didn't intend for things to be like this. Rachel scoffs at his apology, and calls Monroe on his failure to take responsibility for his actions. The leader of the Monroe Republic breaks down when faced with the truth of what he's done, and how it reflects on him -- and, particularly, on how it would look to his son. As he softens, so does Rachel, and she grows more accepting to his proposal of a temporary alliance. If Rachel promises to unlock the weapons cache in the vault (using her knowledge of the Tower), he'll promise to keep Charlie safe. He refuses to make any promises regarding Miles, but he swears he'll do right by Charlie. Faced with no other choice, and terrified at the discovery (via surveillance cameras) that Charlie is now in the Tower with the others, Rachel accepts his offer. Both Mitchell and Lyons are terrific here, with Rachel recounting the emotional tolls of motherhood and loss, and Monroe detailing his crumbling authoritarian image, exposing the vulnerable person underneath. However, Rachel's emotional progress plays into the cliffhanger at the end, in such a way that she comes across as reckless, at best; and ruthless, at worst.
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The other two primary storylines of the episode involve Tom/Jason and Miles/Charlie/Nora/Aaron. When Tom is imprisoned with Jason in one of Monroe's tents, handcuffed to the posts at the center, he begins using his silver tongue to cut a deal with his captors. He explains that he's been loyal to the Monroe Republic all his life. Tom explains that Monroe is the reason he became the man he is today: Monroe discovered Tom and his family, starving on the side of the road not long after the world went to hell following the Blackout. Monroe selected Tom for service, essentially saving his family's life and giving them a second chance. With that said, Tom states that the Monroe that saved him is gone, replaced by a psychologically unstable man who's unfit to lead. In essence, Tom proposes a coup, and Jason backs his father up by telling their captor that the men have always been loyal to Tom because he's a soldier's soldier. Tom also strengthens his case by explaining how Monroe has already killed most of his closest confidants, so he has few people to actually stand up for him if such a coup were to be discovered prematurely. Tom is a ruler without a single friend remaining to him -- he's basically Julius Caesar, waiting for the stabbing. Swayed by the argument, their captor releases the father and son and joins up with their proposed coup. It's one of the more fascinating developments of the episode, as Tom is now positioned to become the new leader of the Monroe Republic, and it wouldn't be hard to argue that he's just as bad, (or, at least, as big a megalomaniac) as Monroe.
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Of course, Monroe being depicted as a man without allies is somewhat ironic, considering he's allied with Rachel by the end of the episode, coming through on his promise to protect Charlie by shooting one of the Tower-dwellers trying to shoot her. This battle is wonderfully visceral, with blasts from the guns ringing out everywhere and blowing things (and people) to smithereens. Charlie is both confused and infuriated that her mother is allied with Monroe, but she doesn't have time to investigate what any of it means, as Rachel insists they push on to the twelfth floor, where the "on" switch is located. While Charlie, Rachel and Aaron head for the twelfth floor, Miles and Nora continue the fight against their attackers. Much like with Charlie, Miles is rescued by Monroe, who blasts the last of the attackers out of frame in a harsh, violent burst from the explosive gun. He calls out Miles for a final confrontation to finish things, and that's where we leave them for the episode, as we have bigger fish left to fry...
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Rachel finally comes face-to-face with the Tower dwellers, discovering that Grace (Maria Howell) has joined with them, and that their leader is a former colleague of theirs. They don't want to kill Rachel if they don't have to, but their mission comes first: it turns out that these people are the scientists working in the Tower on the night of the Blackout -- and their families. Over the last fifteen years, they've become de factor protectors of the Tower, guarding the twelfth floor so no one gets there, since it's too much power to allow to fall into the wrong hands. The protectors apparently see Aaron as a big deal, but he continues to fail to get answer as to why, exactly, that is, since it's revealed that Rachel has been keeping a little secret from everyone: sure, Rachel could go to the twelfth floor and turn on the power. But if she does, she runs a risk (admittedly, a "one in a billion" chance) that turning the power back on will result in Rachel setting the world on fire. Grace doesn't elaborate on just what that means, but in many ways, it's more horrifying to leave it to the imagination. It's an interesting reversal on Rachel's character arc, as she attempts to atone for all the death she's inadvertently caused with her invention, yet her solution risks ending just as many lives, if not more. It's a compelling dramatic quandary, though the choice is pretty much taken away from Rachel anyway, as the leader of the protectors burns the notebook they needed to activate the power protocol (for lack of a better term). This is a solid way to compel interest for next week's finale, as the group is almost certain to find another way to turn the power on, but at what cost?
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"Children of Men" plods in certain places, though the action and the cliffhangers more than make up for any narrative shortcomings, particularly since this is one half of a two-part story arc. While it might not be able to stand on its own, as a separate piece of fiction divorced from the context of next week's finale, "Children of Men" is still solid, worthwhile television, and I'm pretty excited to see how the series brings these disparate stories to a close while looking ahead to season two.