NBC’s ‘Revolution’ season 2, episode 5 review: How Aaron sets the world on fire

There were moments over the past couple of weeks where we have felt like “Revolution” was falling back into some bad habits, and by that, we are really referring to almost all of season 1. But like a doctor, the show has a cure for what ails us: An Aaron episode.

Ever since the first season, this former tech mogul with his awesome beard has been the best part of the show. He’s someone we can relate to in an apocalyptic world, since he’s not out there surviving because he has huge muscles or anything of the sort. Instead, he’s finding a way to persevere through his intellect and his general know-how. He’s also a little bit of a romantic, which is why there was something tender in watching his story all about a teacher encouraging him to smile, as he was desperate in the time between the incident at the tower and the present.

In carrying this over to the present, his story was largely about the subject of whether or not he could reconcile his new ability (which is basically Nerdy Pyro from “X-Men”) with still being a good person doing the right thing. He’s now a guy who can see visions and actually contribute to the cause, but there is a major caveat: He’s practically a narcoleptic but with nanites.

On the subject of things that we never thought we would see, how about Miles and Monroe working together again? This could have gone very badly, but not only did they figure this out, but their reason to work together for the time being to try and take on the Patriots made for a pretty good story. Rachel, of course, was not entirely as interested in working together as a team. It was actually Charlie’s idea to bring him in the first place. So for now, Monroe lives, and the question is how long that will last?

Of course, we would be remiss to not feature another important force against the Patriots: Jim Beaver, Texas Ranger. It’s the coolest Ranger since Chuck Norris! The “Supernatural” star brought something new to the show, but then he went out in the same way that he did on “Supernatural.” Monroe shot him in order to frame the Patriots for it, and now we have that first reason for conflict between him and Miles (and that didn’t take much time at all).

Overall, we were surprised by this. While the Patriots are still not that interesting of a group and the show was still slowly-paced, it was the best episode in weeks. For the time being, we’ll take that since it makes it easier to forget the flaws. Grade: B.

If you want to see some more “Revolution” scoop, including a preview for next week’s episode, just be sure to click here!

Photo: NBC