OK, the “with Bret Michaels” may be a bit of an overstatement. I like bandannas as much as the next girl, but come on! Fifteen seconds of music, no close-up? Still, it was fun to see someone we recognize. Oh, and there was the “mummified corpse of Steven Tyler” mentioned, but (fortunately?) it wasn’t on camera. Isn’t New Vegas fun! Here’s more of Bret Michaels than you saw in the episode, talking about the questions Revolution brings up and his own survival skills:
We finally meet the President of the US in this episode! President Davis meets, in a few sinister minutes, with Tom Neville. From Neville’s reaction, I wonder if this was the man who was president when the lights went out. He tells Tom that Julia is still alive – just barely, it sounds like – and will only stay that way if Neville finds, and kills, Monroe. Davis knows all about Neville’s background, and threatens Julia’s life: “You so much as sneeze in a way I don’t like, I’ll have her tongue cut out and then her eyes, and then we’ll see where we go from there.” I didn’t vote for this guy.
After getting the typhus antidote and saving Gene, Bass convinces Miles that they need more guys to help them defeat the Patriots. Bass, Connor and Charlie head back to New Vegas to find an old friend, and Miles and Rachel hang back in Willoughby. Those of you who have been waiting for a hook-up of some kind should be happy – Miles and Rachel finally settle their 20-year itch when he takes her on a date that’s as romantic as fugitives can manage – a night out pretending to watch a drive-in movie (“Please, don’t say The Notebook…”); and “Charloe” finally happens – ah, but wrong Monroe! A bored Charlie decides that Connor’s just the thing, which causes a much more restrained reaction from Bass than you might expect. On their first walk through New Vegas, they hear Bret Michaels playing on stage. “You know that guy?” Charlie asks Bass. “The world’s going to end, and there will still be Bret Michaels… and cockroaches,” he answers.
Bass, who had been a prizefighter in New Vegas before being kidnapped and running off with Charlie, agrees to one fight for his old promoter, as a cover that will allow Charlie and Connor to steal the money they need to hire mercenaries from his (female) friend Duncan. Even Bass seems overmatched with the Hulk they send into the ring, but our boy proves his shirtless self is still the toughest around, and takes down the giant. And in a heist reminiscent of Ocean’s 11, Charlie and Connor make off with the nights’ take – at least for a while. They’re caught, of course.
Aaron and Priscilla make their way to Lubbock, where they find their old college friend Peter, who had helped write the code that unknowingly created the nanotech. Peter is now a store-front preacher, leading revival meetings that really do heal the sick. They watch him call down the nanites – which Peter believes is a miracle from God – and heal a woman burned and blinded in the Atlanta nuclear bomb attack. Aaron and Priscilla try to explain the truth to Peter – they’re locked up for their troubles, so they won’t “bear false witness.” “Don’t you find this 700 Club stuff creepy?” Priscilla asks Aaron. “Super creepy,” he replies.
Neville makes his way to Willoughby, and after checking in with Truman, finds Monroe. He and Jason tell Monroe that they’re in Willoughby to take their revenge on the Patriots for killing Julia in the nuclear bomb attacks – they try to get his trust so he will lead them to Monroe.
This episode was fun – sure, watching Bass get completely whomped and then come back and defeat Goliath with a flying head bash is lots of fun, and Neville seems back in his slimy double-dealing form. Hopefully, Aaron and Priscilla meeting up with Peter will put some more attention on the cool science part of this science-fiction show.
Last week, a commenter on my review took offense to my opinion that the show is moving much too slowly, and not revealing any answers to the first season’s questions about the motives of the Patriots, or the effects of the nanotech. Did I not understand that all would be revealed in time, could I not enjoy the slow development of the secrets (well, they didn’t say it as nicely as all that…)? Nope. A good dramatic show should carry the viewer along and have enough potential plot points to continue revealing layers of story, renew viewers’ interest, and not get stale over the long haul. While tonight’s episode might have moved pretty well, it still did next to nothing to push the plot along. This isn’t a sit-com, where you can have a different story every week – this is an episodic drama, where each part builds on the previous and sets up the next. Rather than being a narrative, I feel like this show is in danger of becoming a game of telephone – nobody knows what the next statement will be and nobody has any overall vision for the total story. There are so many avenues to explore with the scenario that’s been set up, but we need to get through the “who” and “what” before we can get to the “what’s next.”
Revolution takes a break for the Olympics, and will return February 26.
