NBC’s ‘Revolution’ season 2 episode 6 review: Did Monroe face his execution?
For those of you who have long felt that Monroe is one of the best characters on “Revolution” (and we are one of them), you probably appreciated tonight’s episode. This provided us with a greater sense of insight into just who this man is, and what he was potentially losing as he went on a cold, lonely walk to his doom.
The moment of Monroe’s “execution” is one that we have been working towards for almost the entire series. This is a bad, bad man who has done terrible things. He’s cruel, violent, vindictive, and capable of mass destruction. He’s also responsible for the death of Danny and many others. This guy was a Big Bad during season 1 for a reason, but as with many shows that enter year two, we suddenly saw him almost neutered so far this year. Some of the edge was gone following the dismantling that we saw during the season 1 finale, at least until the events that led to him being sentenced to die.
But, of course, you knew that there had to be some sort of twist here. While “Revolution” has killed off its fair share of characters over the years, Monroe is someone that is so popular, you knew that he was not really going to be gone forever … right? Well, here’s the rub about this episode: We know that Monroe is not dead yet based on the previews for next episode, but why tease us? It’s like the show is trying to stall giving us the best story possible, and just giving us a little bit over time until we get to that point. Rather frustrating, no? We like to think that there were about a million or so better ways that the show could have handled this. Instead, the episode ended with more backstory, and a scene involving Neville.
This is why “Revolution” is “Revolution” sometimes. Even when you have a great character like Monroe, you somehow find a way to deprive us of the best part of the story. Until next week, when we will hopefully find out more. Grade: D+.
Did this episode of “Revolution” work for you, and are you excited to see what happens next? We want to hear some of your thoughts below! Meanwhile, click here if you are curious in seeing a preview for next week’s new episode.
Photo: NBC
Mary
November 6, 2013 @ 4:58 am
I’m not sure I agree with the rating but I guess it really depends on just how disappointing it is that they handled the “is he really dead?” question. Personally it did ruin a lot of suspense. They could have at least faked us out and waited to let Rachel dig him up the next episode. I’m hoping that they don’t have some other big (stupid) twist involving Bass. Like he really is dead and we just saw him in a flashback or some weird crap like that. So I guess I could see the D rating if that is a real downer for you.
There are a couple of other things that I didn’t particularly like about the episode as a whole, including the Tom/Jason scenes that were terrible, that may have contributed to your rating.
I’m more apt to contend a couple of your statements about Monroe himself though, more so than the rating.
First off, I don’t think he’s neutered in this season, we’ve seen him in action way more than we ever did in season one. He’s had some sort of fight scene in every episode. Monroe isn’t “neutered”, he’s broken. The show has been leading up to this for quite a while. Monroe started to unravel around episode ten and has continued to devolve emotionally. He is coming to terms with what he’s done now, and he hates himself for it. He is alone and in some scenes even seems confused. He’s so desperate for family that he falls right back into sync with Miles, doing what ever he is told and referring to Miles as “pal”. My hope was, and still is, that they won’t use the cliche redemption through death with Bass’ character.
Second, I don’t think it is fair to call Monroe cruel and vindictive (though the other terms hit the nail on the head), or even to say he is a “bad, bad man”. Monroe is no worse than Miles and he definitely isn’t any worse than Rachel. I’m not saying he hasn’t done terrible things but he can’t be labeled a bad man unless you want to label Miles and Rachel bad too. Hell, Aaron has burnt people alive, that one chick that was sleeping with Cynthia’s ex husband didn’t even DO anything and he murdered her. Monroe isn’t good or bad, he is just a guy doing what he has to. I’m not saying it excuses him but even before the introduction of Shelly in the last episode, Monroe had a very tragic past. His family all dies and he turns to Miles as a substitute for that love and eventually instead of trying to reason with Bass, Miles tries to murder and ultimately abandon him. If you take that one deleted scene from episode 15 as canon (and I do) Bass didn’t even want to be in the military. Monroe has done cruel things or more so, he has ordered others to do cruel things for him, but I don’t think it is fair to say he as a person is cruel. I think he’s just become desensitized and hardened from all of the trauma he’s experienced. I don’t think Bass is vindictive either. He never really wanted to kill Miles, no one will ever be able to convince me otherwise. He needed answers from Miles. Bass was desperate to find out the “why”. After he got that at the tower, he left Miles alone, even though he still had plenty to be angry about and even as Bass is being dragged to his “death” instead of cursing Miles for keeping his son from him, he tells Charlie to take care of him. Charlie is much more vindictive than Bass.
I guess it boils down to how far you want to look into Bass’ character but again, even before Shelly we were given a lot of context into who Bass really was, some of it was more subtle but it was there, almost to the point where the scenes with Shelly felt unnecessary. I looked at my girlfriend after the episode and said “as if his life didn’t suck hard enough!”
But, I think there were good and bad things about this episode, over all I don’t feel like it was weak. I enjoyed it but I enjoy anything that has to do with Bass or Rachel xD I’m a little bias
jami
November 2, 2013 @ 1:31 pm
WOW you clearly are not a fan of the show. Sorry you got stuck with the Review of Revolution. That would be like me getting stuck with The Office the worst comedy show I ever tried to watch.
Clearly the best episode of the season. Yes I even knew Rachel would save Monroe. NBC would have killed the show by killing Monroe or Rachel off. Revolution has a small but loyal fan base. They tried to humanize Monroe through flash backs. Monroe (A.Skywalker killing the Sand people caused him to fall to the Dark side of the force) Monroe can be redeemed, Rachel told Monroe she would follow him to the grave for killing her son and husband which he did not order, they both died because well let’s face it Danny did not make the best decisions.
The shock came when we realized that Rachel did not deliver Bass to the Patriots it was a mole that I was even surprised. NBC was smart to show promos of next weeks episode with Monroe. They have killed a lot of characters in Season 1 killing Danny and Nora, not that they were fan favorites may have turned people off to the show. I gave the show an A+. My co-workers and friends said the same thing they were really worried Revolution was going to kill Monroe, and I almost thought they did, until I saw Rachel with the shovel. I wish the critics could be a little more neutral when you give a recap.
You guys rave over The Good Wife/Nashville a snore fest and crucify Revolution on a weekly bases. To bad Stephen King can’t do the recap, he is a true fan of Revolution!
BlondieAmbition
November 1, 2013 @ 11:27 pm
WOW, a D? That’s nuts. You totally missed the point. #1 we needed to understand Monroe; we new his family’s death had to play a part into the breakdown of a good man. But seeing these flashbacks, gave us a bigger picture of a man we have known little about. I see what u are saying about your ‘rub’, it’s just not warranted. #2 We needed something big to happen to solidify this group, to redeem the past, the pain and move the storyline forward. A near death gave us a Miles that realized he loved him still; a Charlie that has come to care for Monroe; a Rachael that is willing to pit aside the woman that her daughter sees, and honor her wishes, and the man she loves, despite the pain he has caused. It all produces some version of forgiveness; which gives that if they could overcome that, they can overcome an enemy bent on destruction.
No question a solid, believable performance by David Lyons, who is the best actor on the show. In the cemetery scene and again in the death of his baby and his girl, we see a man who can portray suffering vividly. The man is good.
It also provided an element of surprise with Rachael’s dad being the man behind what we now know is a mask; a Patriot co-conspirator.
Endearing character study; a tale of redemption and hope.