Tonight’s burning questions: Is Monroe dead? Why did Porter align with the Patriots? Who is Dr. Horn? And is Aaron a one-trick pony with his firestarter routine? We have some answers, but in true Revolution style, we end with more questions than we started with.
Of course Monroe’s not dead! Rachel digs him up. He wakes up to see Miles and says, “Look at you. You’re happy to see me. You missed me. You’re my best friend.” His first question to Miles is where is his son? “One thing at a time,” Miles says. Charlie asks why Rachel didn’t kill Monroe, instead giving him a drug to mimic death, and she says she did it because “we needed him,” and because Charlie asked her to.
Aaron and Cynthia walk through the square, talking about Patriots telling teachers which books they can use, then the building behind them explodes. Porter, whom we now know is a traitor, goes to Truman. “You set off a bomb in my town, and I want to know why.” Truman answers, “This is Willoughby, USA. Your job is to keep our town happy, healthy and compliant. That’s all. I mean, unless you’re not a loyal American.” He imposes tighter restrictions on the townspeople, saying it’s for their protection.
Dr. Horn (guest star Zeljko Ivanek, looking very creepy) approaches Rachel, and says they’ve met before, when he was with the Department Of Defense Alternative Energies project. She doesn’t remember him. “I get it, after all, you were like the prom queen around there, I was just another rat in the lab. I was hoping you and I could have a little chat.” Porter watches, concerned. Horn tells Rachel that he was on the first boat to Cuba after DC fell, and that Randall Flynn was on that boat. Now Horn is president’s science advisor. He’s been looking for her – he tells her that her work on the nanites was genius, DaVinci work. She says they ruined the world. He shows her picture of the two guys Aaron set on fire. “In this town, nowhere else, nanites have been acting strangely to say the least. And here you are, in this town.” She tells him she’s not doing it, whatever it is. “If not you, who?” he asks.
Rachel tells Aaron that Horn will poke and prod him until he figures out how Aaron did it, and Miles and Rachel tell Aaron that he has to go into hiding. Monroe will take him. “You think I’d be better off with that psycho?” He insists that Cynthia go with him so they can’t use her to get to him.
Desperate Times, Desperate Men
Flashback to seven years after the blackout. Porter and townspeople burn bodies of cholera victims, which includes his wife. When he returns home, he’s met on the porch by a man (Shaw) who gives him a vial of cholera vaccine – and says he’s only there to help. He says he has a few hundred doses nearby, and it’s Porter’s if he wants it. “When something seems too good to be true, that’s because it is. So what do you want?” Porter asks. “What I don’t want is Americans to die from some grimy third world disease. I want my country back. And I want your help to do it,” Shaw responds.
Flashback to nine years after the blackout – Porter has participated in torture, watching Shaw waterboard someone. Washing the blood off his hands, Porter tells Shaw that he went too far. Shaw says they gave Porter medicines for TB and yellow fever in return for his cooperation. “We’re the good guys, remember?”
Porter walks in on Rachel, Charlie and Miles trying to figure out how to get Aaron away, and says he’ll do it. He says he knows about Aaron, because he’s been hearing them talk. He says he can get them out in a wagon, sneaking them out to Monroe. He needs to do it, he says, because he turned a blind eye to what the Patriots have been doing for too long.
Horn tells Porter to tell him everything he knows about Aaron. “What about him?” Horn says Aaron died, but “I heard he came back to life, quite dramatically. So is he Jesus?” Horn thinks Rachel brought him back, and wants to know where he is, if Rachel’s hiding him. When Porter won’t tell him, he threatens Porter, “You’re one of us, aren’t you? Been with us for years.” Porter answers, “I thought I was helping this town, helping the United States, but I was wrong.” It’s obvious that Porter’s cooperation was born from his need to help his friends and neighbors, not from an patriotic interest, and as he sees what he’s really gotten himself into, his willingness to cooperate has vanished. Horn says, “You just looked the other way, so you could get your meds, be a big hero back in town. But you’re the one who opened the door and let us in. You tell me what I want to know, or I’ll start killing your precious townspeople one by one, while you watch. We’ll save your pretty granddaughter for last.” Porter, afraid of what Horn can do, tells Horn that Rachel isn’t controlling the machines, that Aaron is, but he doesn’t know how. He leads Horn to find them. Miles, who had suspected Porter’s involvement, sees him, and tells Rachel, “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to be right about him.”
Meanwhile, Back in Savannah
Jason wakes up with handcuffs on. Allenford says they can’t bring him with them, that he’ll kill them both. Neville disagrees, but is cautious. They hear gunfire about a mile out, and have to leave. Neville tells Jason that if he says one word, he’ll be dead, and cuts him loose. They go up to a house, and are shot at. Jason stands up and gives his name, says he’s a Patriot, and captive. When Neville finds him, Jason has killed the two Patriots. He offers a knife from cuffed hands to Neville, but Neville now trusts him more, and has him keep it.
Allenford says she thinks she needs to go north to find her son. Neville says any Patriots will kill her on sight. She says that if there’s a chance, she needs to go, then she passes out after Neville gives her a drink from his flask. When she wakes up, Neville asks her about her husband, who she had said was Patriot high command. Neville asks where he is.
When Aaron doesn’t show as Porter said he would, Horn says Porter’s cover is blown. Truman sends everyone out to find them, but says to leave Rachel and Aaron alive. They find sewer plans, assume that’s how Aaron is escaping, and get to the door just as Miles gets the sewer cover open. When the Patriots get in, Aaron and Cynthia are gone, but they reach the end of sewer line only to be met by guns. They climb out, hands up. Monroe kills the soldiers. More soldiers shoot at them, and Monroe starts to run away. The soldiers grab Cynthia, and Aaron sets the guards on fire – is this the only parlor trick he can do? Monroe returns and kills the rest of the guards, then leads them out. Cynthia stares at Aaron, while Monroe stares at guys on fire.
Aaron tells Cynthia it’s ok, she doesn’t have to be afraid. But he stops, and says, “But it’s not him you’re afraid of, is it?” Horn threatens Rachel to Porter, saying if he finds Rachel first, he won’t be able to control himself. The night’s final shot is Miles, Rachel and Charlie – Rachel breaks down at the thought of her father being the Patriot traitor.
Answers? Not Likely
I don’t think anyone really thought that Monroe was dead. The Miles/Monroe relationship is one of the central themes in this show, and hasn’t been completely explored, by any means. What’s happened to Monroe’s son that Miles says he has hidden away? He’s sure to figure prominently at some point, but at the pace this show is moving, it could be quite a while until we see him.
Who is this nasty, creepy Dr. Horn? What role does he play with the Patriots? It’s obvious that he’s part of a long-lasting conspiracy, and now that he’s revealed that he knew Rachel when she was developing the nanites, the idea that the power blackout wasn’t an accident, but was planned by some rebel organization, has even more credence. Hopefully we’ll learn more about why they made this world-wide disaster happen, and what they hope to get out of it.
And what part does Allenford’s family play in this? Can Jason be trusted, once the Patriots’ drugs clear his body? He and Neville have never had a great relationship, but can they work together?
Don’t expect any answers from the Revolution writers’ “Power Half Hours.” These enigmatic conversations on Twitter (Thursdays at about 11 am central) are entertaining, but don’t really offer any new information – the writers are deliberately obtuse. You can view last week’s Q&A here.
