(Part Two)
As
I said in part one of my review, while I thought that the first episode of
Revolution was rather average, I still managed to see enough potential for the
show to be really good to make me want to watch the second episode, which was
definitely a slight improvement upon the first episode, and I became gradually
more and more satisfied with the show as the first season continue. I know the
producers haven’t been making the show in order to please me as a viewer; after
all I’m almost certain the producers are completely unaware of my existence.
Although, whoever is in charge of maintaining the NBC’s official Twitter
account for Revolution did tweet me on one occasion, thanking me for posting
things related to the show on my blog, so perhaps they will end up coming
across this review and reading it.
Anyway,
I thought it was very smart of the writers to reveal Rachel’s fate by the end
of the second episode, because wanting to know whether or not Rachel was still
alive was one of the main reasons why I decided to watch the second episode
even though I wasn’t blown away by the first episode. I don’t know the
producers’ reasons for deciding to fire Andrea Roth and replace her with
Elizabeth Mitchell, but I’m really glad that they did because I never really
liked Andrea Roth on Rescue Me. Personally, I always thought that she was very
annoying on that show whereas I’ve loved Elizabeth Mitchell in everything I’ve
seen her in over the years. Elizabeth Mitchell is one of the main reasons why I
decided to check out the show in the first place when it started, aside from
the fact that the premise of the show sounded interesting to me.
Personally,
I think revealing that Rachel was still alive and had been held prisoner pretty
much all the years the writers skipped over in the second episode illustrates what
I believe is one of the greatest strengths of the show. That strength would be
that the writers answer questions and move storylines along at a nice pace for
a serialized show instead of dragging things on forever like Lost often did, or
like The Event, which was even more guilty of when it came to dragging things
out too much. That was at least the case with Revolution’s first season, and I
pray to God that the writers will continue to maintain that pace at which they
reveal things throughout the rest of Revolution’s run, however long that may
be, because it’s one of the few good things the show has been able to do at
least a little bit better job of than Lost did throughout its run.
If
the producers of Lost were working on this show, they would probably wait until
at least season four to reveal the cause of the blackout and turn the power
back on. Something tells me that they would also reveal the cause of the
blackout as if it were merely some kind of afterthought with just a few quick
bits of dialogue. After all, that’s essentially what they did when they finally
revealed the significance of the numbers and their explanation for the numbers’
significance was ever dumber than the fact that it was power-inhibiting nanites
that caused the blackout. I for one thought the writers’ of Lost were being
extremely disrespectful towards the views when it came to explanation for the
significance of the numbers and how they revealed that information. Revolution
may have numerous flaws, but at least the producers seem to have more respect
for the show’s viewers than I often felt Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse had
for Lost’s viewers. They definitely gave the reveal of what caused the blackout
the time and attention that it deserved, which is something that I felt Damon
Lindelof and Carlton Cuse often failed to do on Lost when it came revealing the
many mysteries of the show.
When
it comes the writers revealing what caused the power to be turned off, I was
shocked that the writers not only did that in the show’s first season, they
also turned the power back on. Maybe it’s because I was so used to Damon
Lindelof and Carlton Cuse taking several seasons or in some cases waiting until
the sixth and final season of Lost to answer some of the show’s biggest
mysteries, but when Revolution first started I was totally expecting them to
wait several seasons to do that and perhaps even longer to actually turn the
power back on. I’m really glad the producers of Revolution didn’t go that
route, because as much as I love Lost, I always hated that Damon Lindelof and
Carlton Cuse constantly waited way too long to answer a lot of the show’s
biggest questions. In some cases, the writers left several of the show’s
biggest mysteries completely unanswered and unresolved when the show ended.
In
terms of how Rachel explained the cause of the blackout to Aaron in the episode
“The Song Remains The Same”, I really like how they handled that reveal for
several reasons. For starters, I like the visual effects that they used when
Rachel was telling Aaron about the nanites. The show has always used some really
nice visuals in order to illustrate something that they are talking about,
especially when it comes to the visual effects that they used in the pilot when
the power was being turned off around the world. I especially like the visual that
they had where they showed the earth from outer space as that was happening.
That
being said, what I liked the most about the reveal about what caused the
blackout was the overall tone of the scene. With the exception of the reveal in
“Chained Heat” that Rachel is still alive and had been held prisoner for what
I’m guessing was most of the fifteen years after the blackout that they skipped
over, all of the big reveals on the show have had a very dramatic and suspenseful
feel to them. I really liked that when it came to what in my mind was the
biggest and most important reveal yet on the show, it was the exception to what
is essentially the typical style that the writers have used for handling big
reveals on the show.
Speaking
of the writers deviating from their typical style of handling big reveals on a
few occasions, one thing that I feel the writers didn’t do a very good job of is
staying consistent to the format and structure of the episodes by having
sixteen of the episodes be centered around one or two particular characters and
featured flashbacks with those characters. The episode “Kashmir” featured
hallucinations that the characters were having, while the episodes "The
Song Remains the Same"; “The Love Boat” and “Clue” didn’t feature any
flashbacks. While I loved the episode “Kashmir” because it was different and
interesting, I don’t think it was a good idea for the writers to be playing
around with the format of the show when they were only nine episodes into the
series and in my opinion were still finding their footing with the show to a
certain extent. I also think that the episodes that didn’t feature any
flashbacks should have featured flashbacks.
The
reason I’m saying this is because the producers of Fringe lost me as a viewer
by playing around with the format of the show with the introduction of new
universes pretty much every season. If the producers are constantly going to be
playing around with the format of the show, then they really need to be careful
since the producers of Fringe doing that was one of the things that ultimately
caused me to lose interest in the show. I also feel like I should also point
out that I’ve come across a lot of people online who have expressed the same
concerns about Fringe that I had with show, and they also said that was ultimately
what caused them to lose interest in Fringe as well.
I
already thought that Fringe wasn’t all that great to begin with, but constantly
introducing new universes and new versions of the main characters that only looked
like the main characters that were introduced at the start of the series, and
yet they acted completely different, made it very difficult for me to connect
with the characters and truly get attached to them. Lost is another show that
changed the format of the show several times throughout the series, but at
least they had the good sense to wait until the season three finale to introduce
the concept of the flash forwards after just using flashbacks for the first
three seasons. Doing that really helped freshen up Lost a little bit in my opinion,
and the whole concept of the flash sideways universe during the final season
ultimately worked with the way the series ended. I’m okay with the producers of
Revolution playing around with the format of the show a little bit, but I
really think they should have at least waited until the show’s second season
before they did that.
When
Revolution first started, the only actors in the cast that I was familiar with
were Billy Burke, Elizabeth Mitchell and Giancarlo Esposito. I also saw J.D.
Pardo in the Twilight movie, Breaking Down – Part 2, but truthfully I didn’t
recognize him from the movie until I happen to look at his previous acting
credits while I was writing this review. I’ve really come to like the character
Jason Neville when he’s not around Charlie who really does bring the whole show
down quite a bit. Like I said earlier, I’m not a fan of Giancarlo Esposito, but
I’m a huge fan of Billy Burke and Elizabeth Mitchell’s acting, so I’ve really
enjoyed watching them on Revolution.
Other cast members that I feel deserve recognition for their acting on
the show are David Lyons and Zak Orth. They both emerged as two of my favorite
cast members in addition to Billy Burke and Elizabeth Mitchell. Their
characters Monroe and Aaron also consistently stood out as things that I
enjoyed the most about the show throughout the season.
If there’s one actor in
Revolution’s cast who has surprised me more than anyone else in terms of their
work on the show, it’s definitely Billy Burke. I honestly didn’t recognize him
from the Twilight saga movies, mainly because his physical appearance on
Revolution is pretty different from the way he looked in the Twilight saga
movies. I think he looks a lot younger on Revolution than he did in the
Twilight saga movies. Plus, on a much more shallow note, I think he’s a lot
more attractive on Revolution, but that’s just my own personal opinion.
As for Billy Burke’s acting
on Revolution, I think he plays the role of Miles extremely well. I especially
enjoy his scenes with David Lyons (Monroe), because I feel like they play off
each other very well. The writers definitely made the right decision when they
shifted the focus of the show onto Billy Burke/Miles and David Lyons/Monroe,
and I hope they continue to be the central focus of the show in the future.
I know I said that I wanted
to keep the second part of this review a lot more positive and complimentary of
the show, but I feel like my next comment was best suited to be mentioned here.
One of the things that I think the writers have done a great job of with the
exception of a few episodes is ending the episodes on very interesting and
exciting note that leaves me wanting more, usually in a good way. As I
mentioned earlier, the way the first episode ended with the reveal that Grace
had the ability to turn on the power in order to talk to an unknown person on a
computer is one of the reasons why I decided to watch the second episode
despite the fact that I hadn’t exactly been blown away by the first episode.
The way they revealed that Rachel was still be alive was interesting since the
scene started out by making it seem like Rachel was living a pretty cushy life
despite being held prisoner only to have the scene and therefore the episode
end by making it clear that she’s being held prisoner under duress was good,
but I also felt that the overall tone of the scene fell flat to a certain
extent. I feel the scene and therefore the episode should have ended on a more
suspenseful note. Perhaps Monroe could still be threatening to hurt her as the
episode ended instead of the episode ending with Monroe leaving the room.
Another episode that stands
out as having an ending that fell flat was episode 1x05 “Soul Train” where
Rachel tells Monroe about the pendants and that there are twelve of them. The
main problem that I have with the ending of that episode is that the reveal
about the pendants seems like the kind of the thing that should be treated as
if it’s a big reveal, but instead the writers chose to end the episode a few
seconds into the reveal and don’t really even bother to pick up where the
episode ended in the episode that followed, which is something that I really
think the writers should have done.
In terms of the writers’
talent for coming up with endings for the episodes that leave you wanting more,
one particular episode that had an ending that really stood out to me would be
the episode “The Plague Dogs” where the writers revealed in a flashback that
when Rachel left her family all those years ago under the ruse that she was
going to get go get food and supplies for their family, she was actually going
to turn herself over to Monroe. I really like how that whole reveal played out,
especially since there was a nice bit of suspense building as Rachel was saying
goodbye to her family and lasted all the way until Rachel turns herself over to
Monroe at the end of the episode. I feel like I should point out that I love
that entire episode because the scenes with Maggie were very well done, but
they were also very sad especially when Maggie dies. That episode is probably
the only time all season that I liked the character Charlie. Tracy Spiradakos’
acting in that episode still wasn’t very good at all, but it was really nice to
see Charlie not act like an obnoxious brat for once, especially when I think
about the way Charlie talked about Maggie in the first episode.
One of the things I feel
very strongly about it when it comes to what I like about the show is that the
writers seem to be pretty good at figuring out what is and isn’t working with the
show and then try to make changes to the show in order to fix those problems
much more quickly than most shows tend to do. I say this because when I was
watching the episodes that aired after the midseason break, I really got the
impression that they actually took some time during the break to try and figure
out some ways they could make the show better, one of them is how they really
seemed to shift the focus of the show away from Charlie and onto Miles and
Monroe and their friendship. My first thought when it comes to that particular
change to the show is thank god for that!
I’ve seen other TV shows
that start out by focusing on one character as the central character, only to
shift the focus onto a different character or some case several different characters
later on in the series. One of the main examples that I can think of is 90210
and how it focused a lot on Shenae Grimes and her character, Annie Wilson, as
the show’s central character in the show’s first season and to some extent her
brother, Dixon, was the other central character. However, once season two
started they shifted the focus of the show to AnnaLynne McCord, and her
character Naomi Clark since the new showrunner was officially in complete
creative control at the point.
I’m pretty sure that this
move was done since a lot of the fans complained about Shenae Grimes’ acting
and her character throughout the first season, and the new producer apparently
saw AnnaLynne and her character Naomi as the better choice to essentially be
the face of the show. I definitely agree with that decision regarding 90210 to
some extent, and I also can’t help but wonder if that’s one of the reasons why
the focus of Revolution shifted away from Charlie and onto the complicated
friendship between Miles and Monroe in the second half of the season.
In my opinion, it was
definitely a huge mistake to center the show around Tracy Spiradakos and her
character, Charlie, when the show first started since neither the actress or
the character is strong enough to carry the entire show, but I definitely have
to give the producers credit for recognizing the error of their ways and
shifting the focus of the show onto Miles and Monroe relatively quickly instead
of waiting until season two to make that change like 90210 did. I feel like a
lot of producers of TV shows take way too long to try and fix the weaker
aspects of a show, so it was definitely nice to see the producers of Revolution
act much more quickly than most TV producers usually do. I definitely feel like
the midseason break really helped the show from a creative standpoint. The
second half of the season was a lot stronger than the first half of the season
was.
Ideally, I’d like the
producers to get rid of Tracy Spiradakos and the character Charlie altogether,
but there’s always next season for that. The relationship between Miles and
Monroe is much more interesting and worth focusing the show on than the god
awful character Charlie, especially since I feel there’s a lot more
opportunities for good storytelling by focusing the show primarily on Miles and
Monroe’s friendship, especially if the writers further explore the possibility
of a Miles/Rachel/Monroe love triangle like they seemed to be in the second
half of the first season.
As for the season finale, I
absolutely loved it. Like most of the episodes, the end of the season finale
where they revealed that the President of the United States has apparently been
hiding for the past 15 years in a U.S. Colony at Guantanamo Bay waiting for
Randall Flynn to complete his mission really got me excited for season two.
Based on the end of the episode, it looks like the President is going to be
coming out of hiding next season. As cool as I thought the ending of the season
finale was, it once again serves as a reminder that a lot of the things on this
show don’t make very much, if any sense.
This twist definitely raises
a lot of questions about how he can possibly still be considered the President
of the United States when they already established at the beginning of the
series that governments collapsed after the blackout and that the Constitution
of the United States has apparently been nullified. There’s also the whole
issue about term limits, but since the writers have been acting like the
Constitution is no longer valid, I suppose that it could be argued that the law
about term limits no longer applies. Although, if the Constitution is no longer
valid, then how is possible that he still be considered the President after
more than fifteen years have passed since the power has turned off. Honestly, I
simultaneously think the end of the season one finale is really cool and I
can’t wait to see what happens next, but like I did countless times throughout the
season, I’m struggling to make sense of the whole thing.
I have to say that the
reveal about the President of the United States had apparently been hiding out
in a U.S. Colony at Guantanamo Bay really made me wonder what he had been doing
all that time, especially if he was simply waiting for Randall to finish his
mission. Did he do anything in order to help the people living in America
before he went into hiding? Did something specific happen that led the
President to go into hiding? How come it appears like he hasn’t done anything
to help the situation at all and he simply had Randall Flynn complete a mission
for him?
I feel like I should point
out that I also had some similar questions regarding Rachel being held prisoner
by Monroe for about fifteen years, and yet the writers made it seem like Rachel
hadn’t really given them any of the information that they wanted to get from
her until fifteen years later. I know that this is a TV show, and for whatever
reasons the producer decided that they wanted the show to take place fifteen
years after the blackout, but keeping someone that’s being held prisoner alive
for fifteen years before they finally demand that the prisoner give them what
they want doesn’t seem like something a kidnapper would do in real life.
I get that Eric Kripke wanted to do a TV show
about what the world would be like if all the power in the world gets turned
off and people aren’t able to use all of the technology that so many people in
the world today seem to take for granted, but some of the logistics of the show
just doesn’t gel together very well. The whole Rachel being held prisoner for
about fifteen years before she for all we know really starts to give Monroe the
information that he wanted to know about the blackout as well as the whole
thing with the President being in hiding for who knows how many years despite
the characters saying that the United States government as well as other
governments fell after the blackout really makes me feel like Eric Kripke is
trying to fulfill some kind of dream of telling several completely different
kinds of science fiction stories in one TV show when that’s simply not possible.
That being said, as I mentioned earlier I pretty much have to leave my brain at
the door whenever I watch Revolution like I have to do with Power Rangers in
order to enjoy it, so I’m just going to try and stopping thinking about that
now before my head explodes.
Part 1 of 4:Revolution: (Part 1 of 4)
Part 3 of 4:Revolution: (Part 3 of 4)
Part 4 of 4:Revolution: (Part 4 of 4)
No comments :
Post a Comment