Revolution: Plague Dogs Review

And with this we can all more or less agree that Revolution has major stones.

Spoilers for the episode.

So we're a few episodes in to Revolution, and so far it's been good. Not great, but good. This week was no exception. As usual, we've got four plot lines: Charlie and company, being stocked by both Nate and and psycho with some dogs at an old amusement park, Danny and the Militia in a storm, Rachel and Monroe, and flashbacks for both Maggie and Rachel.

I'll start with Danny and Militia, or, more specifically, Danny and Neville. Thus far, I've been glad the writers haven't decided to make Danny the whiny, annoying "forget the world, my problems are what matter" jerk most genre shows seem to love in teenage boys (and as a teenage boy, I've gotta say I find that cliche a bit offensive), and I found it interesting when he and Neville get trapped in a storm cellar together. Neville has a son, apparently, something I'm intrigued by, who Danny reminds him of. The captain also gives Danny a crash course in post-electricity ethics. Here's hoping for a Neville-flashback episode soon. Anyone with a high opinion of Danny had it lowered by the end of the episode, when Neville manages to guilt trip the boy into saving him, and recuffs him. Fail on your part their, Danny boy, you're gonna have to wise up.

By the end of the episode, we've learned that Monroe needs Danny so he can torture him in front of Rachel for information. Now that is evil. Speaking of Rachel, her flashbacks show us when she first left her family, apparently because Miles, back in his militia days, recruited her for something. In the words of Hurley: "Uh... what?". Looking forward to seeing where that one goes. The Maggie flashbacks, the main point of the episode, were heartbreaking: she was stranded in America after the blackout, walked all the way to the east coast from Seattle, and couldn't find a single boat to take her back to England and her kids (bit of a stretch, but hey). This was to the point where she was about to do herself in, and then the Matheson clan found her. Hat's off to Anna Lise Phillips for really selling this one.

At the amusement park, Miles is considering leaving because he'll get everyone hurt, much to Charlie's dismay. And then they're attacked, Nate is drafted into their little group (really?), Maggie gets stabbed in the leg, Charlie gets kidnapped by a villain (who had a backstory, which I thought was unnecessary because he was only onscreen for about 8 minutes and just ate up screen time), Miles goes all BAMF-tacular, and Maggie dies. Yeah, you read that right. Was it the most heart-wrenching TV character death I've ever seen? No (still either Fred or Charlie), but it took major balls to kill off someone important in episode 4 (even Whedon waited for episode 9 kill Doyle), and it got me a little bit. RIP. The writers were trying to stress the point that everyone leaves Charlie, which I and probably most people were picking up, and it was really sad when you thought about it, but then Charlie actually said "everybody leaves me" while crying her Tobey Maguire tears, and I rolled my eyes a bit. A message to the writers: we get the point. You don't need to be so blatant about your underlying statements, so stop driving them home to point where they lose their impact. Assume people watching your show are smart. Miles is staying though, so that's good, and apparently Nate is too (rolls eyes).

In the end, Revolution maintains it's status as a good show. Will it ever be great? Time will tell, but that probably won't happen until it's stops cramming too much into one episode and being so blatant about what it's saying (and maybe has Charlie take some acting lessons. That Tobey Maguire crying is getting old).

Final Rating: 75%