NBC’s ‘Revolution’ fall finale review: Family matters
The first half of “Revolution” this season really felt as though it was buildup to a couple of things, and both of them occurred within the first few minutes of Monday night’s fall finale. First, we saw Miles, Aaron, and everyone else arrive in Philadelphia for what was set to be the face-off of the century between Miles and Monroe. In addition to that, we also had an opportunity to see Rachel alongside Charlie for the first time … even if their reunion was rather short-lived.
For the span of a few minutes, Charlie and her mom played catch-up before we were (again) faced with a situation where someone was threatened to do something in order to protect someone else. In this case, Rachel opted to save both Charlie and Danny’s lives by agreeing to help finish up the amplifier, which in Monroe’s mind was really the last thing he needed in his quest for world domination.
Of course, you knew that nothing was going to be so easy for him. Charlie and Danny quickly amounted a counterattack, which caused a chain of events leading to not only Rachel’s own escape, but the Miles vs. Monroe showdown of the season. In what was clearly the show’s strongest scene to date, it finally felt as though Monroe was finally going to meet his end courtesy of an epic speech all about family. However, the arrival of his guards at the last minute more or less guaranteed that this didn’t happen. The good news coming out of this episode is that the entire family is now together; as for the bad news, let’s just say that the Monroe Republic has a whole team of helicopters with guns. They looked as though they were about to open fire, and then … massive cliffhanger until March!
In some ways, this finale illuminated really what is both great and frustrating about this show at the same time. The action sequences were strong as always, and you could feel the intensity of some of these moments. The problems, however, began the moment the scenes ended. None of the characters are still fully believable, and this episode still felt like a great deal of wandering from one season to the next. We’re hoping that the second half of the season will feature all of the characters situated more in Philadelphia, that way the setting can become almost as much of a character as the people themselves.
Overall, what was your take not only on the “Revolution” fall finale, but all of season 1 thus far?