Episode Title: “Captain Trips”
Writers: Paul Grellong and Jim Barnes
Director: Steve Boyum
Previously on “Revolution:”
Willoughby’s version of “Captain Trips,” (if you’re not already playing the “Stephen King” drinking game, it’s not too late to start) has Charlie (Tracy Spiridakos) and Grandpa Gene (Stephen Collins) racing to save lives while Miles (Billy Burke), Monroe (David Lyons) and Connor (Mat Vairo) go off in search of the antidote.
Why exactly are the Patriots infecting their own people with a lab-made version of Typhus? Rachel (Elizabeth Mitchell) thinks it might have something to do with weeding out Willoughby’s bipolar, epileptic alcoholics. And if Truman (Steven Culp) and his buddies made this thing in a lab, they probably made an antidote, as well.
Now with power-hungry upstart, Connor on the team, Miles and Monroe communicate with Team Gene, as we’ll call them for the moment, via notes left under a rock. The Patriots are apparently so busy faking trying to save people that they made sick they don’t notice the relays. Gene thinks he knows where they’re keeping the antidote and Rachel passes the info onto the boys. Connor isn’t down with taking orders from some “blonde whack job,” but Monroe reminds him that they’ll need Miles if the Monroe Republic is to rise again. And Miles is all about helping Rachel, even if she is a “boatload of crazy.”
If Monroe and son think Rachel is crazy, they should spend a little time with Aaron (Zak Orth), who’s having conversations with the nanotech in the form of his dead girlfriend. After trudging all the way to Spring City, Oklahoma, it turns out Lubbock, Texas is really where it’s at, according to nanotech Cynthia (Jessica Collins). With Grace having high-tailed it out of town, there’s no reason to stay in Spring City, but Priscilla (Maureen Sebastian) has other plans. That is until she’s nearly killed by a falling tree after defying the nanotech.
While Team Gene and friends try to stop the Patriot Plague and Aaron and Priscilla take marching orders from fireflies and dead people, Tom (Giancarlo Esposito) and Julia Neville (Kim Raver) plot to free Jason, who was arrested after getting caught sneaking around in Doyle’s office. In the process, we get a few flashbacks to the Neville family’s struggle to survive just a couple years after the blackout. With his young son on the verge of death, Tom asks two campers to spare some food, but ends up getting badly beaten when he pulls a knife on them. Julia suggests they play to their strengths, using brains and sex appeal instead of brawn and a pocketknife. It works, as Tom kills the two campers while Julia distracts them.
Back in the present, brains may have failed the two as Doyle (Christopher Cousins) and his men are ready and waiting with a gun to Julia’s head when Tom busts into Doyle’s quarters. Not surprisingly, all those stolen glances and secret meetings didn’t get past Doyle and his men. As for Jason, Doyle suggests the boy might not even be alive before having his parents dragged off in different directions.
Back in Texas, Miles, Monroe and Connor capture Truman and inject him with a syringe full of Patriot Plague, forcing the leader to give up the location of the antidote. Connor goes undercover with Truman to retrieve the antidote, but a suspicious guard realizes something’s wrong and rushes in with backup just as Truman hands the vile over to Connor.
“Captain Trips” brings the major players together in their united cause to take down the Patriots. What’s interesting now is that Monroe has a protégé in Connor who’s just as invested in restoring the Monroe Republic, perhaps in hopes of ruling it entirely on his own. As for the Nevilles, it’s almost a relief to see Tom and Julia finally get caught, as their scheming was so obvious. Now that they’ve been found out, all three members of “Revolution’s” most dangerous family (though Monroe and son may soon take the title) are in dire straits. Unfortunately, Aaron’s nanotech-guided journey is becoming frustrating, as we don’t really get any answers in this episode and he’s being made to do things without any real explanation. Otherwise, “Captain Trips” is a satisfying hour that ups the intensity and the stakes, all around.
