Episode Title: “Patriot Games”
Writers: Anne Cofell Saunders and Paul Grellong
Director: Charles Beeson
Previously on “Revolution:”
With Titus Andover’s (Matt Ross) brief run as a big bad over and Monroe (David Lyons) trying to make up for committing countless atrocities against humanity, this week’s it’s the “Patriots” Miles (Billy Burke) aka Stu Redmond and Rachel (Elizabeth Mitchell) are sweating.
One rule of warfare in a post-apocalyptic world shows like “Revolution” and “The Walking Dead” have taught us: the enemy of my enemy is worse than my enemy. Case in point, the Patriots, who save the residents of Willoughby from Titus Andover’s war clan. Patriot leader, Ed Truman (Steven Culp) seems like a nice enough guy when Miles introduces him to Rachel, but we soon learn he’s having people shipped in by train only to be shot dead upon arrival. Add to that the fact that all Patriot stationary has some sort of Illuminati-like symbol stamped on it and Rachel starts theorizing the group was connected to Randall Flagg Flynn.
She’s proven right when her good friend and undercover Patriot, Ken (Richard T. Jones) brings her down to his wine cellar only to tie her up and attempt to kill her. Ken admits the Patriots were behind the nukes, but doesn’t seem at all bothered by that or the fact that his political alignment is forcing him to kill one of his best friends, whom he admits to having a crush on.
It sounds like some pretty serious stuff goes down in this episode, but because we know nothing about Ken and Rachel’s relationship aside from the fact that they once watched “Spaceballs” together, there’s no weight to the scene. Rachel slips out of her restraints and stabs Ken before he can kill her. Meanwhile, Miles returns to the war clan’s compound to find Titus there and ready to kill him over the death of his wife. A struggle ensues and Miles stabs Titus, which is kind of disappointing since he was a somewhat interesting, though confusing character. Before Titus is killed, he tells Miles about the train the Patriots forced his family on and about the traitor in his clan.
And with that, we’re clear on the fact that the Patriots are bad people, at least for the time being. While Rachel and Miles try to figure out how to deal with this latest threat (Miles suggests they form a “resistance” because that worked so well against Monroe), Neville (Giancarlo Esposito) applies some leverage on a supervising officer with a taste for hookers and drugs in order to get a promotion and learn where Allenford sent Jason. He gets the upgrade, but it’s unclear if the man ever gives up Jason’s location.
As for Charlie (Tracy Spiridakos) and Monroe, they’re en route to Willoughby where Monroe plans to beg forgiveness from Miles and Rachel. To his credit, Monroe does save Charlie when she’s drugged by a gang of thugs in a bar. Still, that doesn’t stop her from letting Monroe know she still thinks he’s a “cold, empty, sociopathic killer.” If that’s really the case, you might want to keep that to yourself, Charlie.
The one big development in this episode, aside from the positioning of the Patriots as the current evil regime that must be stopped at all costs despite the odds and common sense dictating against it, is Aaron’s (Zak Orth) ability to control the firefly nanotech that’s floating around. After rising from the dead, Aaron finds himself falling into a dreamlike state where he can see Miles and make those who would do him harm spontaneously combust.
Aaron’s new powers, the arrival of the Patriots, a couple of character deaths, Monroe and Charlie traveling together and Neville’s latest power play sounds like a jam-packed episode, but the lack of character development makes it hard to care about any of it. Again in this episode, too much time is spent arguing over plans and on unnecessary action sequences instead of getting to know and care about these characters. Seriously, we’ve seen enough sword fights to hold us until the end of the season.
We do get a little bit on insight into Rachel’s character, when she admits to rushing to action instead of taking the time to be more observant, which could have saved her the trouble with Ken. Seeing as she blames herself for the end of the world, it’s hard to believe she’s not a total mess. The same can be said for Charlie, considering what she’s been through as well as several other characters. The “Revolutionaries’” resilience and perseverance may drive the action, but it doesn’t make them particularly interesting. Unfortunately, most of these characters are too strong for their own good… and the show’s.
