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Revolution, Ep. 2.12: “Captain Trips” slows down the rampant pace

Revolution, Ep. 2.12: “Captain Trips” slows down the rampant pace

Revolution - Season 2

Revolution, Season 2, Episode 12: “Captain Trips”
Written by Paul Grellong & Jim Barnes
Directed by Steve Boyum
Airs Wednesdays at 8pm (ET) on NBC

After weeks and weeks of rampant plotting, Revolution takes its foot off the gas and finally gives us all a breather.

“Captain Trip” is a marked change in pace from what we’re used to and doesn’t feature much in the way of action outside of a few violent flurries, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing as it allows us to take stock and absorb what’s going on.

The typhus plague introduced in “Mis Dos Padres” absorbs most of the main characters in the A-plot, with Rachel jumping in to help Gene and Charlie get to the bottom of the problem, while Miles, Monroe, and Connor monitor this situation from outwith the quarantine camp. It’s set up like a procedural: there’s a mystery going on and it doesn’t take Rachel until the last act to figure out what’s happening. People are dying from typhus, but it’s a non-contagious, weaponised strain that’s targeting the “undesirable” members of Willoughby — the mentally ill, the alcoholics, the elderly — in a Patriot mission to “purify” the town and achieve a manipulated Darwinist vision. The show neatly glosses over any Nazi references, but it’s clear there’s a link between those dosed oranges from a few weeks previous and the typhus laying out some Willoughbytes and Patriots.

That dovetails into Gene falling ill and the gang trying to obtain the meds required to cure the plague, but Connor is left facing a band of gun-toting Patriots as the episode ends. It’s a slow-burning storyline, by Revolution’s standards, but one which works reasonably well.

Elsewhere, the Nevilles’ carelessness catches up with them as they are captured and forced apart amid their search for the captured Jason. Really nice work by both Giancarlo Esposito and Kim Raver both as they attempt to track down Jason and in the smartly used returning flashbacks, in which they learn how to survive in the first few years after the blackout.

Revolution - Season 2

Aaron doesn’t have much to do this week, other than to argue with the nanites as they take the form of Cynthia and urge him to return to Texas to find the answers to his questions. The nanites are sending him (and Priscilla, who they have forced into accompanying him) in circles, perhaps out of spite for him rejecting their aid, or more likely to let the writers figure out what’s next.

It’s a solid outing and somewhat of a reset as the show positions itself for the latter section of the season. We all had a chance to take a breather. Except, of course, for those of us struck down by typhus.

– Kris Holt

[wpchatai]