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Revolution: Kashmir

"You look like hell warmed over. And not just because you're suffocating."

This show has such a great premise, but it tends to bring out the nitpickers. And I totally get it, because this episode brought out the nitpicker in me. While a lot of it was pretty cool and featured some much-needed character development, there were plot elements that drove me nuts.

The big one was the hallucinations. I'm no scientist and I suck at math, but even I could see that there was way too much air left in those tunnels for a handful of people to deplete it so quickly. I kept thinking, come on, they're going to tell us that there's some sort of hallucinogen in the air, a clever trick of Monroe's, but no. I hope they retcon this particular bit next week, but that wouldn't account for the torches burning so low.

The second biggest was that Miles never thought that Monroe might have, um, changed entry points on the perimeter after Miles left? I thought Miles used to be a general with some knowledge of military tactics? Although I must admit I actually liked Miles more than I ever have in this episode. We learned that he left the Militia because he felt compelled to assassinate Monroe, his best friend, and I get where that might have caused Miles some emotional conflict as well as a tamped down longing to take it all back and not be a fugitive any more. I liked that he actually showed emotion when Charlie was in danger, too, although the Charlie-stepping-on-a-mine scene had zero suspense, since if it had gone off with her on it, it would have taken out all of our lead characters. Miles, Aaron and Nora refusing to leave her was sweet, but if they had all died, who would have rescued Danny?

Despite the lack of logic, I did like the entire tunnel sequence. The photography and camera angles were effective, and I liked the symbolism of them struggling with their pasts and coming up out of the darkness. I also enjoyed the flashback-style hallucination memories, because Lost and Highlander have made me love character flashbacks. And hey, points for working in alligators in the sewers. I actually fell for that for a moment.

But the best moment was undoubtedly Rachel stabbing Dr. Jaffe, an undeniably bad ass move worthy of a rebel leader against alien invaders, or possibly Juliet Burke. But she was making a bomb, not an amplifier, and now Monroe knows it. Um, doesn't Monroe actually want bombs?

And they introduced two really cool characters with possibilities -- the wonderful Reed Diamond as the former Atlantic City gambler and undercover traitor, and Ashley the teenage archer -- and then they killed them both! Why did they do that?

Bits and pieces:

-- The Holy Grail Pendants are wireless batteries. How does this relate to the huge secret machine where Randall and Grace are?

-- This week, West Chester. I haven't been tracking the locations every week like I do in my Supernatural reviews, but I've spent a lot of time in southeastern and central Pennsylvania and I'm familiar with all of the locations they've mentioned so far.

-- The Led Zeppelin song "Kashmir" is apparently about a road with no end. That fits.

-- Next week's is the fall finale. And then we don't get another episode until the end of March. Confused about NBC's reasons for doing that? Me, too.

I have no idea how to rate this one. Did the booboos outweigh the character development? How many landmines out of four?

Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

6 comments:

  1. Allo, Billie.
    Nice "nitpicky" review. :)
    This show has become a weekly comedy show for me.
    Not just borderline ridiculous but my jaw keeps dropping with the truly ridiculous storylines.
    At least it's a comic relief after watching Homeland.
    Sorry.
    It's just that it's so frustrating a show that has JJ's stamp on it.
    Maybe if they cancel it, great episodes will come out, like Last Resort. :)
    Like I said before, when watching this show, i'm in a low if not no expectation mode.
    It's my comedy hour, see. :)

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  2. Hi Billie, I agree this was definitely a nitpick-inducing episode. Here's an additional one: how were the land-mines even functional? Aren't the detonators usually electric? Didn't Nora herself say it a few episodes back, that the problem with making bombs in a non-electric world is that there's no good way to ignite them?

    Also the torches - if they make a huge point of showing that they are burning low, why do they all burn normally again in all of the following shots?

    I can usually suspend my disbelief, I don't expect a TV show to get everything right, but I expect them to be at least internally consistent.

    Regardless, I like the show. I just hope they can pay a little more attention to details in the future. (Assuming of course that the show survives its 4-month hiatus.)

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  3. NBC believes the only reason why people watch Revolution is because it comes after the Voice. So if the Voice comes back in March, then Revolution comes back in March. (I personally dont watch the Voice)

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  4. Owwwww! This episode hurt with so many flaws!

    I was sooo certain they'd say there was some kind of hallucinogenic gas in the air (a trap!) because there's NO WAY they'd be lacking air so quickly in a place that big! The thought didn't even occur to me. So when they said "no air" it totally pulled me out... ugh!

    Didn't particularly care for the hallucinations either, or the introduction of interesting characters who are immediately killed off.

    The only thing that saved the episode for me were Rachel in the final minutes. Can't wait to see how Bass reacts to that!

    Plus it was interesting to finally find out what happened between Miles and Bass!

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  5. This show reminds me of Lost as well, but for a different reason. Intellectually, this show is a non-starter for all the reasons listed in your review, Billie, and the comments above. This week's was silly to the point of head slapping. Rachel using the pendant to listen to a CD player? Well, at least the woman has great taste in music.

    But (and it's a big but), I just love these characters and I want to see what happens to all of them. I am really enjoying the Miles character who just gets more interesting every week. Even Charlie, whom I couldn't stand all that long ago, is getting better. I really liked her this week, especially her hallucination about her dad.

    The highlight was the final scene with Rachel killing Dr. Jaffe. I loved the juxtaposition of both the mother and the daughter killing a man who stood in their way. Badass women!

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  6. Mixed feelings about this one, as it seems like the plot is finally moving along, but the glaring logic problems, as mentioned. I think there was a line were Aaron says "Oh, this totally makes sense" or something like that, and then explained how they were running low on oxygen in a huge tunnel that they had JUST sealed. I laughed out loud - a lot. I'm trying hard to like this show, and for the most part I do, but when something that silly happens, it just totally takes you out of the story.

    I read on a previous post that the reason the shows reviewed on this site are because these are shows with great storytelling (except for Glee, which I can find no explanation for) and I would agree with that. This show has a lot of potential for great storytelling - then the go an muck things up a little. And just when I was starting to get used to Charlie's frowny-faces (seriously, that poor woman is gonna have permanent forehead damage) they go and put it on hiatus for 3 months. Way to go NBC. Well, at least I have 1 more to go - I haven't watched the last episode yet. Great review, as always.

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