Revolution “The Pilot” 5 out of 5 Bats
Revolution: Revolutionary new show, best pilot I have seen
since The Walking Dead!
Hello everyone! I’m back finally. A lot has happened since
the last time you heard from me. Sorry about the hiatus, Odin was kidnapped, my
house was burnt down, and I was imprisoned for some time. Everything is better
now; I joined an organization called The Legion of Light. It’s composed of
mostly wizards and witches. With my new duties there, I will not be able to go
back to the amount of reviews I was posting but I am going to try and do at
least one a month starting with this special TV version review for Revolution.
Revolution starts out with a couple of children watching Looney Tunes cartoons.
Bugs Bunny is searching for a Gremlin. Having seen the Gremlin episode of
Looney Tunes (Falling Hare) before this is a special Easter egg. Anyone
familiar with the episode knows that Bugs gets terrorized by the Gremlin in the
whole episode. The Gremlin is trying to wreck the plane with Bugs on it during
part of it. Revolution is a show based around technology no longer existing and
shortly after the Looney Tunes scene a plane is seen falling from the sky after
technology starts failing. Rachel (Elizabeth Mitchell) the Mother of the two children
is talking to her Mother. Her husband Ben (Tim Guinee) rushes in the door with
a box. He is anxious about something. He tells his wife to fill the sinks and
bathtub with water because they are going to need it. A look of realization
crosses over Rachel’s face as she asks, “It’s happening isn’t it?” meaning that
they both knew something about technology coming to an end before it actually happened.
Ben calls his brother Miles (Billy Burke) to warn him. Miles is riding in a car
with a friend of his. The power goes out. Ben and Rachel look out the door and
see a plane crashing and the rest of the power as far as the eye can see being
shut off. Fifteen years passes. Shots of fallen cities are shown. It talks
about how Governments are no longer in power. Militias have formed. Ben is
living in a new neighborhood and is romantically involved with a new woman
Maggie (Anna Lise Phillips) who is acting as the town doctor. Enter Charlie
(Tracy Spiridakos) and Danny (Graham Rogers), Ben and Rachel’s children. They
are the children from the beginning and are out “hunting”. Danny has an asthma
attack on their hunt and they rush back to the town. Maggie aids Danny with a
natural remedy for asthma. Charlie is shown admiring a postcard collection. It
is a very peaceful little village, until Monroe’s Militia shows up being led by
Tom (Giancarlo Esposito). They are looking for Ben and Miles. Danny intervenes
and Ben ends up taking a bullet for him. The militia takes Danny in his
father’s place. Charlie hears the gunshot and comes running. She is with her
father when he passes. He tells her to go to Chicago and find his brother
Miles. He can help get Danny back because he is good at killing people.
Charlie, Maggie, and Aaron (Zak Orth) one of Ben’s other friends from the
village leave for Chicago. Aaron is holding on to a pendant that Ben gave him
earlier; a pendant that is also seen in the beginning. Charlie has a brief
encounter with an archer in the woods going by the name Nate (JD Pardo). The
group find a plane and we find out Aaron used to be an executive with Google
and owned some planes prior to the event. They search the plane for supplies
and are attacked by a rogue group of men. We learn that Maggie is also
proficient with poisons when two of them drink some alcohol laced with
something and cough up blood. Nate comes back and saves Charlie by putting an
arrow through her attacker. Conveniently, he is also headed to Chicago. Danny
is shown with the Militia captives and breaks free. He stumbles into the yard
of a woman named Grace (Maria Howell). He passes out from an asthma attack. He
wakes up with a gun pointed at him and Grace throws him an inhaler. Charlie and
the group arrive in Chicago and find The Grand hotel where Miles is supposed to
be. The bartender is Miles but the group doesn’t know that. Charlie asks him
where Miles is and he asks why they are looking for him. He tells Charlie to
come with him and Nate says he isn’t taking her anywhere while pulling a knife.
Miles takes the knife and puts it to Nate’s neck. He tells them that he is
Miles, Charlie is his niece, and the rest of them are staying there because he
doesn’t know them. Miles takes Charlie to a different room and tells her that
he can’t help. She throws a fit and wants to leave. When she gets back to Nate,
Miles reveals that Nate is a member of the Militia. Nate leaves. Miles says
that he will be back, pulls out a bottle of scotch, and screams at everyone to
leave. Sure enough, Nate comes back with about a dozen soldiers. This sets up
an epic battle between Miles and the Militia. Miles makes short work out of
most of them in a display of ass whoopin’ greatness that I couldn’t have done
better myself (Ok, maybe I could). Charlie and the gang return to help Miles
(Personally, I think he would have been fine). Charlie almost gets killed while
reloading a crossbow but Nate saves her. The Militia is defeated and Miles
reveals why the Militia might be after them. He decides that he will need to go
with the group and leave The Grand. Monroe the leader of the Militia is the
friend of Miles from the beginning of the episode! It goes back to Danny. He is
asleep at Grace’s house. The Militia show up and force their way inside. After
they leave, she pulls out a pendant like the one in the beginning. She presses
a switch and your mind is blown. Electric lights come on in the house and her
computer fires up. She has a short conversation with someone using the computer
and the show ends.
Technology isn’t completely dead! That means that it was
intentionally shut off for a reason. To what purpose does it serve? Destroying
all government and throwing the world into chaos? What is so special about the people
who were given pendants? Miles has a military background, but to what extent
that makes him such a badass? What kind of fallout did he have with Monroe? Rachel
is presumably dead, but yet it shows Elizabeth Mitchell credited for all of the
episodes filmed so far. The answer to the last question could be maybe they are
going to explore the last 15 years in flashbacks. This would be consistent with
the methodology used by J.J. Abrams. Also, there is a scene where it flashes back
to Ben getting out a tub of ice cream and the family just eating all of it
right there. With no power it will melt, so why not enjoy the little things
while they can right? I am going to call this the best new show to watch. Jon
Favreau directs (Iron Man), J.J. Abrams (Lost, Alias, Star Trek) produces, and
Eric Kripke (Supernatural) creates and writes. This is a trifecta of
awesomeness that mashes together the perfect storm of elements for a post-apocalyptic
science fiction show. Odin my cat complains that there not many pets seen in
the show. Particularly there are no cats. Also, major kudos to Billy Burke he
went from being the best part of Twilight (if it had one) to being a badass
ninja assassin.
I got to go now. The Legion is calling. Stay tuned for the
next movie review which will be for Looper starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and
Bruce Willis
Final Rating: 5 out of 5 Bats
~Vangetsu
