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Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Revolution: Blah Blah Bad Guy Blah


When the world falls apart, the general outlook is that we will have a never ending supply of ordinary, misogynistic bad guys at our disposal. They won't have much to offer other than annoyances and wasted time while we trek on our way toward some important mission in the hope of saving the world. At least that's what I've come to expect by watching Revolution.

These baddies share so many similar traits that it's not only difficult to tell them apart, I don't really want to take the time to differentiate them or learn their names. The only multi-faceted character on the wrong side of the law is the leader, and I'm not so sure he isn't actually a good guy, and the jackasses under him completely misunderstand the mission.

I don't really have a lot to say on the episode, because it played out like so many before it. What I do wonder is this: Where is the influence of Eric Kripke? Through at least six seasons of Supernatural he managed to keep the good guys ticking with a hint of evil and the bad guys alive with their touch of merit. Sure, every once in a while someone would pop up that was just despicable, but overall characterization ruled. The subtle nuances that kept the world gray was what made the show (and continues to this day) so damned interesting.

Revolution doesn't have enough gray. Aaron is so good that when he asks to be shot, he deserves it. I honestly don't know if he was being heroic by shooting himself or if he just plum forgot about the flask. He's always so sure he's useless that he is particularly just that. He even left his wife for lack of guts.Eric Kripke doesn't write characters like that. At least he didn't on that other show.

So what gives? Is this a show for simpletons? Are we to believe that if the characters were deeply cut and made complex choices that the regular network viewer wouldn't be able to follow along? Snippets of Monroe, the amulets, working computers, what caused the blackout, Rachel and how she ended up with Monroe....there is hope for a more interesting tale here.

I may be completely off base and missing the very thing that I think makes this show for the thick-skulled. My skull could be too thick to understand the more sophisticated threads holding Revolution together. If that's the case, please tell me about them. With sincerity, I want to know what I'm missing. With one of the shows I was most anticipating, I'm not yet ready to give up, but I wish the stories were a bit deeper as our intrepid survivors make their way to Monroe.

1 comment:

  1. I have to admit I expected more from this show. I agree w/ you about Kripke's influence, I don't see it much. I see it resembling Lost more and more as each character is shown in its past when the blackout occurred.

    I usually find shows gather their momentum at about the fourth episode but this one is actually boring me and I am watching it hoping it will come to a good storyline.

    As for electricity, I expected someone to reinvent what Thomas Edison did. I mean, Edison did start from where they are now. He had no computer. Obviously, with the evolution of electronics and computers comes the dumbing down of society.

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