In this week’s episode of Revolution, we get to see the much anticipated Georgia Federation. We also see what Rachel and Aaron’s plans will be with their efforts to turn on the power. Take a look after the jump to read Josh’s recap, and see what Violet has to say about this episode!
There is a lot going on this week in Revolution. The episode opens up with Monroe discussing with an officer of the Monroe Republic regarding Neville’s fleeing. This officer explains that Neville’s son has been spotted working with the rebels. This angers Monroe, as he had been told that Jason is supposed to be dead, and he now knows Neville has been lying to him for a while. This unfortunately puts Monroe on a slippery slope, to wonder what else has been lied to about. This turns into accusations against the officer he is meeting with, and his life expectancy looks to be dropping rather quickly. The officer says that he is nothing but loyal, however Monroe’s paranoid tendencies kick into overdrive, and Monroe shoots him dead, simply for working under Neville’s command.
The episode moves to the rebel camp, to which a severely wounded spy rides into town carrying a message. Whatever the message is, it’s very important as 4 spies died to protect it. Charlie receives the note, and informs Charlie and Nora that the note explains a nuke is being smuggled into the Georgia Federation. It’s off to Georgia, the trio decide! They sneak across the border, when Charlie has a moment. She has never left the Monroe republic. Miles calls her a hick, and ushers her on. Meanwhile, we get a glimpse as to the wealth of Georgia. There are steam vehicles, including buses and motorcycles. People are dressed really well and the areas feels much more modern given the lack of electricity. I am curious as to why the Monroe Republic hasn’t thought to use steam power, as it would seem useful for vehicles.
Maybe because Monroe is too busy attacking the citizens and making them live in fear. I must admit that I didn’t realize there were actually territories carved out with borders. 15 years seems like a short amount of time to have established such borders. It seemed more like it was an “every man for himself” type environment and that Monroe was just trying to take over wherever he could. It did not occur to me that there were thriving urban populations that were “safe” for the most part.
The three wind up near a military outpost. Miles’s plan seems a bit odd and really gruesome. He tells Charlie that she is to go knock on the door and “strut her stuff”, so that Miles and Nora can ambush and kill the guards, and then steal their uniforms for a disguise. For helping save the Georgians, it seems like a weird way to execute their plan with killing innocent people. I would have thought Charlie would protest more murdering innocent people, but perhaps she has become more jaded than I have thought. Regardless, the guards are already dead. Additionally, Miles finds a clue to who is moving the bomb by way of a familiar knife left at the scene. Miles explains the knife belongs to Alec, and it seems it was left as a message to him, a sort of “hello”. Miles decides to take the dead guards’ uniforms and continue as planned.
I, too, was very surprised at the plan and that Charlie was so willing to go along with it.
We have a flashback explaining who Alec is. Miles is explaining the significance of the knife to Alec. They are sitting in a bar having some drinks, and Miles explains it as a lucky charm. His grandfather, father and he had carried it into war and they have come out alive. He decides to pass it to Alec. It looks like Miles may have had the closest thing to a son while training Alec as a soldier. Alec feels very honored and tries to refuse the knife, but Miles insists.
Miles comes up with a pretty good plan for searching for the nuke. He hands Nora and Charlie flashlights, so that when they are close to the powered nuke, they will light up. I do have a couple questions/problems with this however. One is, how do the batteries receive power? Do the pendants make the nanites power any electrical components in the area? Do the devices no longer require batteries to work? This is unclear to me. Secondly, they find the nuke, with what seems relative ease. I would think Atlanta would be a large city, and if Alec wanted to make it really hidden, it wouldn’t be that difficult. I can try to chalk this up to maybe it being a temporary storage spot, and that Miles and company had been searching for several hours before we saw him find it. Regardless, Miles does find the nuke hidden under a metal grating, but Alec surprises him, and they fight. After a good struggle, Miles is overcome by Alec. Pinned against the wall, it doesn’t look good for Miles, but Alec is struck by an arrow from Charlie. I am curious why Charlie didn’t kill him, as it looked like she had a pretty easy shot. Did she purposefully wound? If so, was it out of compassion or wanting to interrogate him for intelligence? Alec is wounded in the shoulder area, and he flees with the nuke. Why doesn’t Charlie stop this guy who is carry a heavy nuke and has just been wounded?!
My guess is she didn’t want to accidentally make it go off upon killing him. But I agree she should have made more of an effort to stop him after shooting him.
Nora, Charlie and Miles split up again, searching for Alec. Miles spots him again, and pursues. Alec takes a Georgian cop hostage, and blames Miles for his death as he throws at and shoots the cop, who lands into the arms of Miles. Miles is then detained by two other patrolling Georgian militia soldiers. He is taken to the Georgia Federation president, a woman named Kelly (which is how Miles addresses her), who apparently Miles has had a history with. Whatever that history was, it did not have a pleasant ending, as she threatens his “jewels” with a small blade. Miles warns the President of the nuke problem.
Interesting that Georgia has a female president. I approve.
Meanwhile, back with Charlie, she is surprised by Alec. He doesn’t attempt to attack her, however. He only warns her that Miles is not to be trusted. He also tells Charlie to ask Miles what he did to her mom. I am curious as to the point of this warning, considering Alec plans on nuking the entire city anyway. Was he planning to fail his mission? Or just wanting to anger Charlie before she meets her end? Regardless, Alec escapes, and a helicopter flies overhead, dropping leaflets. The leaflets are invitation to the nuclear event that is imminent. Charlie meets up with Nora, and they try to figure out how to proceed. Luckily, Miles has been set free by the Georgian president, and they continue their search for the nuke among a now panicked city.
Once again, Atlanta gives the impression of being very small, as Miles finds Nora and Charlie very quickly and easily. Seems like it would be a bit more difficult to meet up without the use of cell phones!
We have another flashback to Miles and Alec. The timeframe is about six years before the present. Miles is discussing with Alec the status of his assignment. Alec says it went smooth, but Miles seems to think otherwise. Alec seems befuddled, and Miles elaborates saying that he only winged his target, which was the general of the Texas army. Miles then explains that the only way to avoid war is to turn Alec over to Texas. Alec protests and pleads to not have this happen, but Miles says it is the only way to avoid war with Texas. This is a cold move by Miles, especially since he had gotten so close to Alec. While anyone would protest such conditions, in war and politics, these things probably are common place, which is why I detest both. We now know why Alec has it in for Miles however. What isn’t really explained is how Alec was freed from Texas. Did he escape? Was he let go? And how did he get chosen for this mission? Did Monroe specifically plan on having Alec confront Miles, and thought he was the best shot at taking Miles down? Seems like a poor decision by Monroe, as while Alec says he hates Miles, Monroe wouldn’t really know if there was any loyalty left to Miles. I would have thought Monroe’s paranoia would have prevented him from having Alec execute this mission.
This Miles seems like such a cold Miles in contrast to not only the Miles we know now, but also the Miles we saw in the previous flashback who implied to Alec that he thought of him as a son. I’m anxious to know more of Miles’s back story and know what made him turn so cold. We’ve seen flashbacks of Miles in times not too long after the blackout, where he is helping people. What made him change?
Back in the present, Miles has spotted Alec climbing a fire escape staircase on the side of a building. The trio move into the building, splitting up yet again to search for Alec. Miles yet again finds him sitting by the nuke. Alec yells at Miles about what he had done to him. Miles tells him what he did to him was wrong, and should have found a different way. Alec tries to dig at Miles saying what Miles did is what had to be done. Over the radio from the nuke, Monroe gives the order to detonate the nuke. Alec and Miles then begin to fight. They struggle for some time, and somewhat ironically, the knife that is supposed to keep Alec safe is the one that kills him. Intentionally planned that way by the show? I think so. Monroe continues to command detonation, not realizing what has happened. He is irritated though, realizing that something has likely prevented the nuke from arming, and I am sure he knows Miles has had something to do with it.
Charlie then approaches asking Miles what he did to her mom. He doesn’t answer directly, but says that people count on him, and those that do get hurt, because he hurts them, and he doesn’t think twice about it. The cold Miles returns? Or maybe a way for him to dodge answering the question directly, as Charlie doesn’t press further. Miles revisits the president, and provides the president with the nuke–minus the radioactive material, which Miles refuses to let her have. They discuss the current state of the war, and the president discussing her manpower outnumbering Monroe two to one. They both acknowledge that Monroe would need power/nukes to win a war against Georgia. Then, the president makes a bold offer to Miles–to begin a battle within the Monroe Republic, allowing for Georgia to open another front, to hopefully end the war quickly. Miles says he doesn’t have the manpower, to which the president counters with providing his own standing army. General Miles could be back…
They need to stop teasing the “Miles and Rachel” story and tell us something already!
So what is going on with Rachel and Aaron? Rachel tells Aaron that she needs to find Jane. She explains that she would have the key to getting into the tower, their ultimate destination. Rachel proceeds to explain that Jane is a bit of on the odd side, when they are approached by two men. They begin to attack, but something begins to cause them to heat up, ultimately burning to death. We then see an older blond woman. She turns out to be Jane, and she is odd indeed. She has a gadget in her hand. While the show doesn’t specifically explain what happened to the attackers, my guess is that the gadget can control the nanites, and they can do a lot more than just prevent the power from working.
If it wasn’t for Jane rescuing them, the two men would have easily killed Rachel and Aaron. I’m still not sure why the two of them thought that setting off on their own across the country was such a good idea, if they can’t protect themselves very well. What’s going to happen the next time they run into trouble?
Jane escorts them back to her house, which is deep in the woods. We meet another lady, who turns out to be Jane’s lover. Rachel mentions heading to Colorado, which is where I am guessing the Tower is located. Rachel explains her plan to turn the power back on, but Jane refuses to help. We learn that Beth (the other woman) is actually in stage 4 cancer, but is surviving because the nanites are eating her tumors. I am curious to know how she has been able to test this, but perhaps since she has some electricity, she has the ability to run tests. Regardless, Jane refuses to help Rachel, as it will mean the end of Beth. A little later, Rachel is alone in the house, and she is searching the bookshelves in the house for something to assist her. Jane walks in however, and is furious, putting her finger on the burning gadget. Rachel tries to reason with her, to calm her down. We learn that the device pulled from Danny was keeping him alive, with the assistance of the nanites as well. Jane asks if Rachel would have let Danny die knowing what she knows now, and Rachel says she would. Beth has overheard this conversation though, and tells Jane to help Rachel. She even goes as far as threatening to kill herself if she doesn’t. Grudgingly, Jane provides her with a book and promptly throws out Rachel and Aaron, unwilling to help them any further.
It’s sad that Rachel would have let Danny die. Maybe this is revealing just how ruthless Rachel’s character is. On the other hand, maybe she was just saying that because she was trying to convince Jane to help her, and it doesn’t matter now that Danny is dead anyway.
And that is it for this episode! We do not see Jason, Tom Neville, or Randall this episode. I am curious to know if Miles will take a role as general again, this time for the Georgia Republic. I also wonder how the balance of power would change with Monroe defeated, and Georgia having all the power. I wonder what it was that Miles did to Rachel as well. Did he sell her out to Monroe? Was he the reason she was captured for so long? I also want to know how Neville’s story will continue, as he is still on the run. Rachel and Aaron are back on the road to the tower as well, and I am curious how that will play out too. All in all I enjoyed this episode, despite my few issues I had with the episode. I can’t wait for next week!
My thoughts: It was interesting getting to discover that there was a new, different part of the country outside of the Monroe Republic, and to see just how different it was. I’m looking forward to seeing more of the rest of the country as Rachel and Aaron travel to the tower. And yes, they need to hurry up and tell us what happened between Miles and Rachel. Hopefully we’ll find out more next week!
