It may have taken ten episodes, but Miles, Charlie, Aaron and Nora are finally at Monroe’s front door, ready to bring the fight if that’s what it will take to get Danny back. Sticking with the main theme of Revolution in which things never go according to plan, turns out they can’t just walk in, grab what they want, and stroll out. Not when Monroe stands in the way.
Uninvited House Guests
We should probably feel bad for Miles’ last friend in Philly because he is probably on his way to the chopping block if Neville didn’t already do it himself, but Major Kipling didn’t have to answer the door to Nora’s boobs. And Charlie really did need somewhere to lie down as the blood continues to seep from her head. Not the bullet graze, mind you. That was just a flesh wound.
Miles decides to go out on the town and before long the militia is knocking down the door as a rather unwelcome welcoming party to the new houseguests. Even with the head injury, Charlie was dishing out more snark than Neville could take and he quickly syringed her in the neck to quiet her down for the journey to Monroe’s.
This was Neville’s first mistake. It’s not an episode of Revolution if someone’s family member isn’t taken; heck, that’s what the basic premise of the show is about, but Neville should know better than that! Especially if it is the family (and/or love interest) of Miles Matheson, because then there is going to be Hell to pay. Going the eye for an eye route, Miles decides to break into Neville’s home and adorn his wife’s neck with a sword, and we get to see the real man that Neville is, as opposed to the too big for his britches leader who likes to make fun of Aaron from his place on high that he only got to because of a natural disaster. But with his wife in danger (goodness knows where Jason was), he folds to Miles’ demands of giving his people back to him, and for the rest of the episode we can only assume that his wife unapologetically scowled at him from their place locked in a closet.
The Man Who Loved Peaches
With Neville being MIA for the latter portion of the episode, the villainous spotlight is handed over to the militia’s most straightforward baddie, Sergeant Strausser, who continues to be a disappointment as he falls short of his reputation as the fear-inducing torturer who leaves no man alive in his wake. His previous showing in his hunt to find and capture Miles by using Nora’s sister was lackluster at best; ending in a moment in which he hid behind a tree for fear of what Miles would do to him. Tonight was definitely no different.
Maybe we were simply misinformed about his torture prowess. Instead of being physically abusive, turns out that his skills lie in sexual harassment and spewing pervy words that make anyone within earshot convulsively seize until they’re inches from death, but still with enough life in them so that he can take advantage of their warm bodies because he is apparently a full-blown rapist now as well, checking off yet another cliché to add to the long list of reasons why he should have died the first time Miles laid eyes on him. Thank goodness Rachel was there to appropriately penetrate (yes, penetrate) his chest with a blade and put an end to him, finally doing something right for a change.
Like Mother Like Daughter
Even though killing Strausser goes in the reasons to wear a Team Rachel shirt, it is still hard to trust this woman since there is still so much unknown about her and her motivation/goals. I just know it was definitely refreshing to see someone else give her the stink eye of distrust. When Charlie is first put in the same cell as her, the look she had on her face was hilarious as she tried to determine how to feel about the situation, with the resting expression of what I can only describe as grumpy gills.
No matter this first impression, I’m not sure if Charlie should take the comparison from her father of she and her mother being alike as a compliment because based on what we’ve seen of her, Rachel hasn’t really proven herself. Everything she does is for the safety of her children, which is understandable, but even Charlie had to roll her eyes at her mother when she broke and said she’d help complete the amplifier instead of letting her kids die for the greater good. Seriously Rachel, why couldn’t you have just done us all the favor and let them kill Danny?
After episodes without him, Danny is finally back with an unexplained and rather pronounced limp that impedes Charlie’s moments of heroics, making it easy to see just how far she has come. For the longest time she seemed like such a burden to Miles, but now she has finally stepped into her own, even shocking her brother with how much she changed. It was like he was expecting her to say “Come with me if you want to live” as she held the gun up that she borrowed from the guard currently unconscious on the floor, before kicking the door further open that she clearly could have simply walked through. Charlie has arrived! Brothers No More
With two minibosses down and out, it is time to finally reach Monroe for the battle that has probably been planned since the very beginning. Now if only Mile’s could get a do over.
With Miles’ relationship to Monroe being the focus of the flashbacks, we get to see some highlights from a relationship that reaches much further back than originally expected. Instead of just being military buddies, turns out they actually grew up together, even coming up with the M symbol to represent both of their names, as opposed to what was always assumed just to be Monroe’s emblem. We see a lot of low points throughout the episode, including the revelation that Harry Potter killed Monroe’s family, but the one thing that is the most clear throughout every flashback is that Monroe is only who he is because Miles brought him there. It’s actually pretty shocking that Monroe hasn’t been thrown from his place of power considering how weak he seems to be, abandoned by the one person who was supposed to be by his side forever, but all in due time.
The best moment of this episode had to be when Miles actually called Monroe out on this, following up Monroe’s pleas for Miles’ to lower his weapon and stand by his side again with the line: “I’m sorry I didn't kill you the first time.” Unfortunately Miles didn’t raise his gun and pop him in the chest to really add a period to the end of that sentence, and now Monroe actually has motivation to become a man to be reckoned with based on the look in his eyes before and during the expected sword fight. So come on, Monroe, time to step out from the shadow and finally become the man who would never dare ugly cry like you did in that cemetery. Make us shake in our boots.
The Cliffhanger
Honestly I don’t even think it can be called a cliffhanger ending. As our gang escaped the compound, the surprise moment was that a helicopter rose from behind the wall to loom over the escapees. As they look on in defeat, the turret begins to turn and the screen goes black. Really? That’s not a cliffhanger, that’s a “we now interrupt your regularly scheduled broadcast for this breaking news” type black out. That’s an “f you, that’s all you’re getting” to the viewers.
Instead the greater thing to do would have been the fleet of helicopters rising, as opposed to Monroe just looking at them sitting on the ground. We need a looming doom in the distance as Miles and the group reach the tree line or something, representing the force that will be in play come spring. Goodness knows what they’re going to do with this set up (I would prefer the turret to unload on Danny and then fly away, but that’s just me).
Final Thoughts
Though it wasn’t quite the ending I hoped for, the episode in its entirety was still a pretty decent finale for the ten episodes of Revolution so far, and it will be interesting to see where exactly the first episode back picks up in the spring.
So what did you think of this episode? Were you surprised that no one died (main character wise)? My hopes were on Danny finally being cut loose since he has never really done anything for the show, but Monroe would have also been acceptable. With that said, I am now excited to see if he will become a new man now that he is rage filled and has better toys. Do you think that Neville will someday make good on his threats to kill Miles for what he did? Where was Jason? How do Rachel and Aaron know each other? And more importantly, what more is there to the relationship between Miles and Rachel that we don’t know and why was he so surprised that Monroe had kept her alive with him all this time? There could have been an affair, but I just know that we deserve to know why she left her family to meet up with Miles ages ago. Let me know your thoughts on “Nobody’s Fault But Mine” and the season so far in the comments below!
