NBC’s ‘Revolution’ season 2, episode 1 review: Charlie, changes, and David Schwimmer

When we first saw the pilot for “Revolution” last year, we went into it with hopes of seeing something great. Unfortunately what we were left with was something that was shallow, poorly-written, and constructed mostly of characters we cared nothing about. Even when there was a lengthy hiatus between the fall and spring seasons, not a whole lot changed. The visuals and the action sequences were outstanding, but unfortunately, this is really the only thing that we can look back at with a sense of fondness.

My, what a change a year makes. We are not ready yet to call this the most-improved show of the year, but we can say beyond the shadow of a doubt that this was better than season 1 … or at least it was until the final ten minutes, where we lost someone that we loved last year. Almost everything was substantially better from the writing standpoint, and we actually went the entire hour without feeling as though we wanted to boo Charlie off the stage. She was far less whiny in her pursuit of Monroe, and felt like there was a complete recreation of what this role should be rather than some sort of ageless wanderer with a gun.

We also felt that there was at least a little more fun thrown in here tonight. For example, who would’ve thought that David Schwimmer was the last member of the “Friends” cast to survive? We guess it couldn’t be Matthew Perry, given that “Go On” was killed by NBC last spring. Zing! The entire world felt very different this year. Miles and Rachel have some definite tension this year courtesy of the presence her father, and Neville is far more interesting now as a broken man trying to make sense of his life. (Who knew that the government was still around?)

Just when we were feeling really good about this episode, they had to go and make us completely miserable again over the loss of our beloved Aaron. He was our personal favorite on the show, and we were starting to believe that he was going to turn things around and be lucky in love. This is where we come to a dilemma when it comes to the story the rest of the way. While this was a much-improved episode versus most of the spring, does that make up for losing a character that we really loved? Nobody else left is as likable, and now “Revolution” has to work to make us want to cheer for some of these other people. Luckily, the end of the episode still gives us hope. If “Revolution” really wanted Monroe dead, they wouldn’t have given him as much hope as they did.

Did you think “Revolution” was a much-improved series tonight? Click here to watch a promo for next week’s episode!

Photo: NBC