Thursday, October 31, 2013

Revolution: Season 2 Episode 6 - Dead Man Walking


Welcome back to the Revolution folks!  The show continues to keep me entertained, even if I saw right through the major plot twist even before the episode began.  There were still some other interesting developments that are bound to pay dividends down the road.  Let's dive in and discuss!

Recap
Georgia
Secretary Allen and Tom Neville headed to the reprogramming center to find Jason.  Allen was freaked out the whole time and wanted to be as far as possible from that place.  Tom forced her to stay until he found Jason.  She went into more details about the reprogramming center and how awful it is, basically turning the people into angry wolves.  Eventually they can work their way up the chain of command and act like normal human beings but they are not the same people.  Allen has been forced to be with these Patriots because her husband is a high ranking official (subscribing to the "country before family" mantra) and her son has been reprogrammed as well and has risen to officer ranks.  Allen refuses to be a part of the charade any more.  

But, Tom and Allen got caught up in a field exercise for the new recruits, including one Jason Neville.  Jason and the other attack dogs appeared to be emotionless assassins dead set on one mission...kill anyone else.  Long story short, Tom refused to believe that his son was gone forever.  He set up some impressive traps to take out the rest of the recruits and then tried to take down his son, failing.  He was almost choked to death but Allen hit him over the head with a lead pipe.  

When Jason woke up he was still drugged and saying some awful things.  He mentioned that his mother/Tom's wife was cheating on Tom with some Colonel.  Could be true, who knows?  But Tom refused to let it sway his motive to save his son.  Jason is all the family he has left.   And that's where this story ends this week!

Texas

So, Miles and Monroe set up the "frame job" of Ranger Frye and it looked like the other rangers ate it up hook, line and sinker.  But instead they found Monroe in his hiding place and brought him into town with a ticker tape parade.  Rangers and Patriots working together and all is right with the world.  Even General Carver, Commander-in-Chief of Texas, came for the celebration and a photo op with Truman.  
Miles and Charlie planned to break Monroe out because with the Patriots and Rangers "dry humping each other" (Miles' words not mine, but classic) they're going to need him more than ever.  But, we find out that Rachel ratted their plan out and he was moved to a bank vault.  We should note that Rachel has not been too keen on bringing the murderer of her son in on their grand rebellion plans.  But, she swears she did not rat out his initial hiding location.  But now that's he's caught she wants to see justice done. 

Not surprisingly, Monroe is found guilty of some major crimes against humanity and is sentenced to death by lethal injection at midnight.  Gotta love the new speedy justice timelines with no legal red tape!  We get to see a few flashbacks of Monroe that show the transformation of his character from humanitarian to not caring anymore.  It turns out that Emma wasn't the only girl he knocked up.  He had a girl named Shelly 3 years after the blackout who died during childbirth, along with the child.  During those times, Miles seemed like the more "evil" of the 2, but not to the extremes that Monroe became.  He wanted to ransack people's supplies for their own survival, but without fatalities.   After the death of Shelly, Monroe took a crew and they got those supplies but supposedly killed everyone in the camp.  Ouch.  

Back in the present, Monroe is granted one last request and he requests time with Miles to say good bye and set affairs in order.  Miles did agree to having some great times with Monroe.  But then Monroe revealed he had a child with Emma while Emma and Miles were still an item.  But, it turns out Miles knew and hid the child from Monroe to keep him safe.  Monroe couldn't be trusted to do anything humane.  He said the kid is doing just fine.  Monroe did not take to the news very well.  And I'm sure this will put a thorn in their relationship once Monroe is dug out of his grave (and that totally is not a metaphor!).   

The execution went on, but not before witnessing a key scene between Charlie and Rachel.  Charlie called Rachel out for all her BS and lack of being a good mother.  And she capped it off with the fact that she thinks she's smarter than everyone else and always right even when she's totally wrong.   This must've been enough to convince her to mess with the lethal injection drugs to be able to revive Monroe.  We saw that she fixed whatever was in that syringe even if her father Gene proudly administered it.  We watched the high ranking officials of Texas and Patriots witness his execution as well as everyone outside watching for an indication of Monroe's end.  We watched Miles drink his sorrows away alone in a bar and eventually be comforted by Charlie. 

But before the final twist of a moment, we had a more important twist where it was revealed that Gene, Rachel's Dad/Charlie's Grandfather, is the mole!  It would appear he has also been working with the Patriots this whole time just like Rachel's Friend (Ken?).  Truman spoke to what a nuisance Miles and Rachel are becoming.  But Gene spoke of Dr. Horn, who was brought up last week when the burnt corpses were brought to town, who would not be appreciative of Miles or Rachel being touched in a way that displeased him.   And what do you know, ol' Dr. Horn came into town with that wonderful All Seeing Eye symbol branded onto his wagon.  A symbol that Aaron sketched onto his Human Torch Comic Book (seemingly not even realizing he did it).  We'll get to all of that below. 

In the final seconds of the episode, we see Rachel arrive to the site where Monroe was ungracefully dropped 6 feet under and covered with dirt.  Rachel begins to dig as we fade out...  

Discussion Points
  • We saw previews last week (if you watched) that this episode would all be about Monroe's trial and execution.  That kind of tipped me off that it was never going to happen.  He's also a main character on this show and way too early in a season/series/non-sweeps episode to be touched.  So, I started looking for any clues for how he'd get out of it.  The Charlie/Rachel conversation seemed a clear indicator that he'd be saved.  So, I'm guessing Rachel gave him some kind of drug that would make him appear dead.  A ruse like this has been done on many shows before.  Alias (since I'm currently watching it on Netflix for the first time) and 24 come to mind.  Still, it's a useful and engaging plot device!   And now everyone assumes Monroe is dead which may give him some freedom to do some crazy things.  
  • One thing I totally skipped over in the recap was Aaron meeting press girl Bonnie Webster.  She does her job in Austin by creating heroes and villains but it's clear she is not a fan of the current regime.   She worked for I think the New York Times.  In any case she knew who Aaron was from a feature they did about the richest people under 30.  By the end of the episode she headed back to Austin with the calvary.  But, I'm sure she wasn't introduced just for the hell of it.  
  • So Aaron was doing research on his condition by reading the Human Torch comic.  Pretty funny.  But, how about him drawing the all seeing eye?  I don't know if he's been privy to the discussions that Miles and Rachel have had where they have seen this logo.  Or maybe he has and is just fixated on it.  I guess there is a parallel to draw here between the all seeing eye and what is happening to Aaron.  Because, he kind of CAN see everything that's going on and impact it.  Currently, he can just see his friends.  But, maybe his ability can be amplified?  (They like that word on this show)  I'm sure it's no coincidence that Dr. Horn has come to town and I'm sure he'll take great interest in Aaron.  And maybe we'll learn what exactly is happening to him.
  • So, Gene is the mole.  Something tells me that while he is ratting out Monroe and helping the Patriots, he's also doing this with the mindset that he's helping keep his family safe.  He did mention that Rachel and Miles are not to be touched.  I guess we'll let that one play out a little more to be sure.  
  • Monroe made a comment early on in the episode that while he can't stand him, they could really use Tom Neville's help.  Something tells me this was a hint that these 2 story lines will be merging soon enough.   Speaking of merging, in the flashback we did see that Tom Neville was hanging out in Miles and Monroe's crew back then.  He was still unknown as Miles asked him to help get towels and water for Shelly.  
I think that's about all the dirt I can squeeze out of this episode.  But, I look forward to our discussions in the comment as always.  Hope you enjoyed my ramblings and I'll see you next week!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thought it was another solid episode..i was wondering why they let a "random small town" doctor kill Monroe, but now it all makes sense..mad at myself i didnt pick up on it earlier

i just really hope they dont turn the Aaron thing into a joke and at least ground it in science some how

i think the show is really good right now, i just hope its doing well enough to keep going-AUStarwars

Mike V. said...

@AUSW

Well, he wasn't really a random smalltown doctor. He lost his grandson because of Monroe, so I'm sure that was the "cover story" to the fact that he's a mole.

Ground in science, like they did with everything in LOST? :-) lol Kidding...I think with this show they will answer it with some kind of scientific answer. Of course, I used to say the same thing with LOST too because that's what we were told they'd do early on.

Ratings are still lousy..but it's getting a decent boost with DVR. And I'm sure lots of the young-ins watch on their devices in one form or another. And of course, it benefits from being on a broadcast network that has been beaten by Univision in the recent past. lol

MJ said...

Agree - those were just amazing traps Tom set up, especially with no time and hardly any resources. LOL So - guess I'm the only one who did NOT see it coming that Rachael's dad was the one who told them where to find Monroe ? Nor did I thnk that Miles would have known about Bas's kid with Mile's ex an that Miles would be helping them hide. Def did not buy that Monroe was dead though - and my TV cut off right as Rachael got to the grave - so I'm glad it was just her starting to dig and a fade out - thanks for that info. LOL Thinking the reporter will be back. Thought she worked for a magazine like newsweek or something since she talked about Aaron being on a certain cover/issue. Aaron - an MIT grad - using a comic book for research was too funny. You say currently he can just see his friends but him seeing the 'eye' and it rolling into town on the doctors wagon means he's seeing more then just his friends.

Think I read somewhere that he doc coming to town was Juliette's hubby on Lost. Don't remember. But seen this actor in a bazillion things

Mike V. said...

MJ - No, I didn't see it coming either with Gene. The only twist I saw coming (and the more obvious one) was that Monroe really wasn't going to die. lol And no problem on the extra info.

I actually posted a link here about Juliet's hubby. lol Maybe that's where you remember it from. And yes, if there's a genre show on TV, he needs to make a cameo. lol

About Aaron seeing the EYE. We didn't see him having visions of the eye, so that's really just an educated guess. I also posed the question if he has seen the logo before since Rachel and Miles have...and he's just been curious about it. But, I'd lean towards you being right that we're supposed to think he envisioned it or it's engrained in his head for some reason.

Anonymous said...

Definitely didn't buy into Monroe dieing the entire time. When Miles shook his hand with the bandage I was wondering if he was passing along something for Miles to escape--LOL and that the fight was staged. But yea at the execution it was obvious the injection wasn't going to be lethal. BTW, it soo reminded me of LOST with Juliette in the med center doing her thing--lol.

I thought it strange that we only saw Aaron with Bonnie not his girlfriend. Maybe something will come up there??

Didn't see Gene as the mole at first but we all knew there was some reason that Rachel and Miles were just walking around. Funny line about Truman not being smart enough to find Monroe by himself.

Yea, the Secretary is going to help the Miles militia and Neville will be all in, to a point. She will help them with info in fighting the Patriots. I wonder if her husband was the one trying to have her killed?

Dr. Horn and Aaron meeting will prove interesting(I hope) since this will be getting to one of the big mysteries with Aaron and the eye symbol, etc. I think Aaron could have a lot more power than he realizes. Interesting that Bonnie told him to get out of town!!

It will be interesting for Charlie to meet up with Jason now.

Also interesting that Rachel was digging up Monroe by herself vs getting others involved to help like Miles.

Will be interesting to see Dr. Horn at work since he seems to be the big dog for the Patriots. He probably came up with some of the reprogramming for new recruits too. The fact that a scientist is either at the head or near the head of the Patriots makes me wonder what they're plan is with technology?

TX Rangers tend to be independent so we'll see how long they're all unified with Dr. Horn involved now.

Richard

Leslie said...

Liked Aaron’s deadpan delivery of the line at the beginning, “Thank you for a truly horrific evening.”

Just like Richard said, when Miles came to see Monroe, they did a close up of them shaking hands with Miles’ hand that was bandaged. I also thought maybe Miles had passed something to Monroe then.

Bonnie worked for Forbes and said Aaron was on the cover of the 30 under 30 edition.

Didn’t see it coming that Gene was giving info to the Patriots.

Mike V. said...

@Richard/Leslie - Hmm...didn't even consider the hand shake. I guess I was just thinking about how much Miles was reluctant to shake his former best friend/former monster/current seemingly repentant man's hand. Didn't even think about him passing something to him. But, that makes sense. Just seemed like Rachel was the one in control of the situation, and Charlie was the catalyst for it. Plus...we saw Miles drinking his sorrows away later and how upset he was when Charlie came to console him. Seems like Rachel is the only one in the know and she's going to get some brownie points for this with her crew. But, could be wrong.

Richard, you're thinking maybe a romantic twist with Bonnie? Aaron's girlfriend WAS mentioned in the episode right in the same scene where he said "Thank you for a Truly horrific evening" (good call on the quote Leslie). I guess they may have more in common than him and Cynthia. But, I can't imagine Aaron being in a love triangle. Maybe though! lol

Interesting that Secretary Allen's husband may have been the one that put the hit on her. That would make sense.

Yeah...I'm sure Dr. Horn will be at the center of the weirdness going on. But, I"m not sure he's going to be "THE" big dog for the Patriots. He may be A big dog. Like Dr. Mindbender in the Cobra organization (Just go with my bad G.I. Joe references that you may or may not get!) I agree...he probably is behind the reprogramming centers as well. Remember...at the end of season 1, we did see a shadowy figure called "Mr. President". I would assume he is the man in charge and we have yet to meet him.

Agreed...Tx Rangers may be back in force eventually. But right now, the dude is all about good publicity.

Leslie, Thanks for the correction on Forbes. I could've sworn I heard Aaron say "The Times??" at one point...it's even in my notes. But, Forbes makes more sense. lol

Anonymous said...

I agree, Dr. Horn is likely A big dog vs THE big dog. When I wrote that I was thinking of our gang in TX mostly.

Aaron love triangle--I wasn't thinking like that but now that you say it, I guess so. I was thinking that Bonnie seems to have a crush on him and we didn't see Cynthia. Bonnie certainly seems to be looking out for him.

When Rachel digs Monroe up there's got to be a significant scene there beyond just him waking up. I'm thinking there's a reason she did this without any help. Maybe she'll play Juliette KILLdare(I wish I'd used that ref in the Lost blogs--lol) again and plant something in him that gives her some control--lol.

Now that you reminded me of the scene with the President, I'm going to say he's the Sec's husband. Wow, when Neville finds that out I wonder which direction he'll go. To assassinate a Secretary by your own forces would require an order from the highest level, ie President.

Richard

Mike V. said...

I would agree Bonnie seems to be looking out for him. Maybe there's a crush there or a mutual respect. I guess time will tell!

I dunno...Dr. Horn may be higher up than just the Texas regime. He may not even be a ranking official or anything, but he is probably very important to the Patriot movement.

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if Juliet has some terms and conditions with Monroe's resurrection. I'm not exactly sure what exactly that would be though.

Good call on Allen's husband maybe being the President. Could be and makes sense with the order to kill her. "Country before Family".

Leslie said...

I admit that even though I had the thought that Miles passed something to Monroe, I couldn't reconcile that will Miles later drinking and all sad unless it was just an act, but maybe they weren't all in on it, who knows?? That's why I'll watch next week! lol

Mike V. said...

Yep...I'm still calling Rachel was on her own on this one. It's the only thing that makes sense. I'll go with my handshake theory as well...that after all they've been through, it was weird to be saying goodbye to his ex-best friend for the last time.