Revolution, Season 2, Episode 11: “Mis Dos Padres”
Written by Rockne S. O’Bannon & Ben Edlund
Directed by Michael Offer
Airs Wednesdays at 8pm (ET) on NBC
Revolution‘s been barreling along at such a high pace of late, the flaws are more pronounced than ever. The river of captures and rescues of our cast reaches its absolute zenith here; Monroe is rescued twice from the same predicament by Miles and then Rachel, and Gene also finds himself in captivity twice. We have reached peak rescue mission. It is over. Please stop this, Revolution.
Elsewhere, Charlie acts supremely bratty and feisty in a few moments in a manner which seems out of character for the cold-hearted killer into which she has supposedly evolved. The writers also fail to flesh out the reemerging Grace to any degree — she is purely here to deliver exposition. Aaron, meanwhile, is ostensibly referred to as a God for his unwitting role in creating the omniscient nanites, making it ever more frustrating that he dismissed them a couple of episodes back. The Nevilles make like they don’t know each other while surrounded by others in a tent, but freely discuss their power grab as soon as they step outside, with dozens of soldiers within earshot. All of this smacks of careless scripting. And still, there’s a lot to like this week.
Monroe has an interesting immediate future as he works to rebuild the republic with his son. We can’t truly be sure if this will pan out, but it’ll be interesting to see if the Monroe Republic 2.0 will have a different moral code, one aimed at the good of the masses, in the light of the horrors perpetrated by the return of the United States government. Then there’s the typhus plague, which throws a fresh spanner into the creaking gears. Without a way to mass produce the drugs needed to combat the disease, quarantine is the only option. The red herring for the nature of the Willoughby camp, when Jason mentions the town in the list of brainwashing site locations, is cute and works well.
In Washington, the Nevilles’ plan takes a twist as Jason breaks in to dear ol’ stepdad’s office to find out what he’s up to. Of course, he’s planning on expanding the brainwashing programs. The Patriots quickly figure out Jason is to blame and swiftly take him into — you’ve guessed it! — custody. Sigh. It’s a frustrating episode since for all the promise it holds on a number of fronts, the producers cannot get away from the capture/rescue trope that’s becoming incredibly off-putting. There are plenty of other ways in which they can create compelling drama, especially in a world where you’ve got omnipresent micro machines that can burn a person to death at any time. It’s time to ditch the rescue operations and focus instead on what makes Revolution such an odd, unique show.