Randomly decided to rewatch revolution for the first time after alllllll this time coz I miss Charloe and wow. I can’t believe it’s been almost 6 years since it ended. Where has the time gone!!!
I think that after a busy (and exciting) week, I had an adrenaline crash (or, probably more accurately, an endorphins crash) and suddenly felt super down (also, grumpy/angry with myself because I haven’t written anything since Monday, ugh *headdesk*), so I decided rewatching this particular episode might pick me up.
Prepare for a lot of squeeing. We’re meeting our favourite militia captain this episode.
Okay, we got through the lengthy intro + ‘previously’.
Miles can’t believe Nora’s really joined the rebels. Um, yeah, bringing back the good ol’ US . I’m with Miles on this.
Miloe! “You’re my family, that makes it my problem.” FEEEEEEELS!
Father Nicholas. My, my, that was one long hug with a priest.
I guess reverend Nick hasn’t read Stephen King?
This was such a ‘dying soldier/pretty girl’ trope scene.
Oh! Satan! I mean, JEREMYYYYYYYY!
If we were supposed to root for the rebels, they should have found someone more heroic for this role – it’s like one of the major unwritten rules of cinematography: you wanna have someone who suffers and fears bravely and sympathetically if you want the audience to be on their side. This snivelling wretch was pathetic. *rolls eyes* *tells Jer to shoot him already so we can move on* Boom!
(Why, yes, I am a terrible person.)
Danny!
“If you want me dead, just kill me. Otherwise, I’d like some water, please.”
I love you, Danny, bb.
(BTW, that militia goon knew very well that what he said about Ben wasn’t okay. See, that’s why I couldn’t quite completely hate the militia in the early episodes: they kinda had a point on some matters and at least some of them seemed to have some conscience/moral code. But well, then they turned them into two-dimensional rapey douches because why bother with complex stories and characterisations.)
Charlie is having a bit of hero-worship attitude regarding Nora. We understand, Charlie. Nora was awesome, too, in the beginning.
Aaron and Maggie. Yeah, let the lady go first to protect you, Aaron. (Now, I see, it was there from the beginning, Aaron’s MO.)
(At least Aaron’s scenes serve something: I can take a break to go get something etc.)
Oh, more wounded soldier/pretty girl trope milking.
Yes, Nora, Miles can boil everything down to getting laid.
Oops. Our favourite militia Captain at work.
At least Father Nick was brave.
And pretty boy Sam is dead.
Yeah, let’s spend all those rare bullets.
I loved the paradox here: Jeremy flinches when another man is killed (and I suppose after 15 years in the militia he’s seen and heard it all, he probably doesn’t scare at the sound of the shot; his reaction is more in line of actually caring that he’s lost another man – and yet, he sends more men i;, and, now, in hindsight, with everything we know about Miles and Bass, I think that’s very like something they would instil in their most trusted, especially the one person who has been in it from the beginning (if he hasn’t possessed it by nature already, at least to some extent): caring about people and still doing everything that ‘needed’ to be done for their ‘greater’ goal.)
Yes, bullets are rare! We heard it twice. And then despite of it, bullets weren’t that rare at all, unless it was necessary for a plot point for someone to run out of ammo (I think it happened once or twice? We’ll see on rewatching of further episodes.)
Ah, dead bb boy (it had to be a boy, of course) over rapey milita dudes. Keep ‘em coming them tropes, show. (This is going to get progressively worse the longer the show goes on.)
Ouch, poor Danny. But I couldn’t not sympathise just a teeny little bit with the militia dude (or at least with the wife of his dead BFF.)
Miloe road trip!
Dead people. Yikes.
See, Bass would just keep going and minding his own business.
Miles cared so much. Re: nobody coming to help.
Miles’ guilty conscience at work? Or just brotherly love. Probably both. Re: telling Charlie to not disrespect Ben.
Here comes the goooood part!
JEREMY MEETS MILES!!! MILES MEETS JEREMY!!!
“Who’s Miles?” LOL.
No, Charlie, Miles doesn’t know this guy, not at all, nope.
*flails*
Smug Jeremy is the best Jeremy!
I need to stop typing to watch this scene in peace.
Yeah, tell ‘em, Jeremy. “This is Miles Matheson…”
I love you, Jeremy.
BUT LOOK AT HIM! SUCH ADMIRATION! AND DID I MENTION SMUGNESS?! IT’S GLORIOUS. AND UNCLE MILES IS (note the present tense!!!) COMMANDING GENERAL OF THE MONROE MILITIA!
(Bass was so ready to just say ‘bygones be bygones’ and reinstate him – hell, by the phrasing, he never deposed him at all, if only he would come back. MILOE FEEEEELS all over the place.)
Poor heartbroken Charlie.
I must write Nora & Jeremy (or Nora/Jeremy, hehe) knowing each other.
And then: “He taught me everything I know!” with yet more awe etc. And, you know, just so everyone would be clear whom to thank for the militia tactics and all.
Yeah, Miles isn’t going to deny it. Sorry, Charlie.
Padre is not Christ.
SASSY JEREMY <3
LOL, how haven’t I noticed this before, but who’s Jeremy referring to as ‘kid’? It should be Charlie, but he’s talking to Miles. He’s looking at Charlie, though.
(I could also write Jeremy/Charlie. Ah, writing dilemmas.)
Yeah, Miles, look him in the eye and tell him he’s a liar. And he actually does. And obviously Jeremy isn’t a liar. Oh, God. This is so good.
Now, Miles, don’t punch your BF.
Um, yes, Charlie, Miles knows General Monroe. Very well.
Yeah, Miles, don’t talk that way to Charlie, she just wants to understand.
There you go, why the militia are vicious.
Oh, a commercial Aaron break. *breathes* I actually needed this after all the delicious tension.
Miles’ sass. Yeah, Miles, go back to your boyfriends. Yeah, Jeremy’s gonna keep his word. And Miles is right: you can’t find Danny if you’re dead.
(They should’ve both gone with Jeremy straight to Philly. At this point I started writing In Enemy’s Hands. (Don’t read that crap, it’s terrible, and I find new remaining typos whenever I look at it again, ugh. I should do a rewrite for style/grammar (I mean, I am satisfied with the plot/characterisation), but I don’t have the time/patience for it.)
(I may need to dig out and reread the early Miloe and Chain-of-Command fics. *sighs*)
No, Charlie, they aren’t gonna kill him, don’t worry. Also, Father Nick, that’s not very Christian of you,
Danny boy! Being so very clever! <3 Methinks Tom admired it.
How does Jeremy not know why Bass wants Miles? (Oh well, another writing fiasco. They really didn’t think things further than an episode ahead at a time, did they?)
Well, yeah, if I were Bass, I’d have a shorter fuse, too, after everything. But nice that they are talking about him.
More Miles/Jeremy sword fighting! Jeremy is like ‘wow, I forgot this guy has moves!’
Boom goes the bridge. That was beautiful. (I know, I enjoy weird stuff.)
Flashback. Evil dudes. Bass doesn’t want to meddle in their business.
Bass objecting to what Miles is getting up to.
Here goes everything: Miles takes justice in his hands while Bass is utterly appalled. Let’s remember this for the future, shall we. (Alas, the writers won’t.)
Jeremy! Look, at you, you’ll live to see better times.
Miles calling himself names. But Charlie’s not that innocent anymore, she does see a bit of shades between black and white. And, yeah, Miles still does give a crap.
End credits. Just kidding. Aaron bragging/yammering about his glorious past. Boo-hoo.
The pendant is doing a thingy. I mean, nanites! Remotely deactivated via pendant by Randall, I suppose.
Rachel, easing your freak-out by shoving the responsibility for your kid on your other kid… Oh well.
Bb!Charlie is very observant.
Moar swordfighting! “… but he didn’t say how many limbs.” Um, I think there’s at least one appendage of Miles’ Bass would miss. (Just kidding, just kidding.)
Charlie pleading for an enemy’s life. Aww. It’s gonna come back to bite her, but still.
“This little place called shut-up-and-stay-here.” Best.
I love how these Militia guys just refer to Monroe as ‘Monroe’. Aren’t they supposed to be terrified of him? That would warrant respectful referring to him at all times, wouldn’t it?
Charlie is very displeased at how this dude returned her kindness as in convincing Miles to spare his life.
Oh, right, Nora stole militia gold. I forgot about that. (I can use this in that fic.)
Tom is such a diligent servant of the state, stopping on his urgent errand to punish a law-breaker. Sassy Tom. Me likey. Also, I liked Tom back when he seemed to give a damn about his men.
Oh, look, torture!
I knew Bass was just playing the good cop, but boy was he good at it. Super sinister. I think he might have even meant it what he was saying here. In his own brain-scrambled way.
Well, expendable rebel #1, you might not be scared, but you’re dead anyway.
LOL, really, Charlie, when Miles want to kill people, just let him. (But then, she really never learnt that lesson. Which was good for her. And for him.)
Yeah, Maggie, I don’t think yelling when there’s creepy guys galore crawling about is wise. I guess you were lucky this time?
Ah, Charlie is a little genius! *rubs her hands together* *laughs* *gloats*
I feel sorry for Jason, though. Poor puppy, look at him. (I didn’t even like him that much the first time around, but now…)
Also, despite Charlie’s understandable disappointment/resentment and Jason’s stalking and helf-truth and omitting other truth’s, Charlie’s first instinct in 1x01 was actually right: Jason was one of the goody guys.
(This is making me sad, though.)
Oh, more compassionate Tom. Really, I liked him in these early episodes when he seemed like a complex character: sure, doing (necessary) evil things for what (perhaps a greater good) he believed in, but also having some sense of morality – he had a sort of gentlemanly air. And, his sassiness was a plus. I hated when they turned him into unnecessarily sexist, selfish, power-hungry two-dimensional asshole.
Aww, Charlie. My heart broke for her when she talked about not sleeping more than an hour at a time (also, because I know from a personal experience about checking up on whether someone is still breathing.)
I love Maggie. But why did they pair her with Aaron?. Their scenes were so boooooring.
Okay, but turning the power on – if we took a logical way with it – wouldn’t just magically solve all your problems and flipped the world back to a pre-blackout state in a blink of an eye. It should take years of rebuilding, not just infrastructure, but the social structures: there was a whole generation almost grown up without the lights that wouldn’t take it to having them all of a sudden any more easily than the previous generations took losing the power. *sighs*
Although, look at the damn continuity: as Aaron speculated, the blackout was, indeed, man-made! *applauds*
Did Tom recite the Bible by heart, or did he have a copy?
Oh, Danny, I love you, but you’re a silly, naïve boy. But brave, I gotta give you that.
Tom knew what he was speaking about, though, re: anarchy. (Yay, we had continuity in S2 flashbacks!)
Oh, hi, Basscopter!
Nora got arrested on purpose, yes that will go into that canon-divergent fic that may or may not just stay in my head, but…
Oh, right, Miles was supposed to keep away from her. Why? And What did she owe him?????!!!!!
Nora’s becoming Charlie’s role model pretty fast. I approve. Charlie’s losing her innocence, and yet she’s still kinda naïve. But she also kinda has a point about 30 innocent people. (Although, I don’t think they were as innocent as Charlie thought. Maybe it’s just me being disillusioned?)
BTW, cinematography-wise, the juxtaposition of the flashbacks vs. the present was fabulous. Also, foreshadowing of Rachel’s stabby ways.
The beginning of Charlie’s body count: 2.She’s right, though: they should’t have to do this. How much it weighs on Miles that if he did his job better (and were a less shitty and self-absorbed bad-at-emotions friend), they wouldn’t have to?
Oh, god, Patriots! The United States. Ahahahahaha.
Randall. Oops. (I see what you did here, show.)
Did the writers actually plan this? (re: S2) *gasp*
Magically opened door. Rachel looking like a princess. Must have had terrible time in Philly. (So far.) But seriously, one of the reasons I couldn’t quite understand her hatred for Bass was that we never saw him doing anything to her before the 15 year mark: he sicced Strauser on her afterwards, but before: it was Miles who choked her and apparently tortured her and took her captive. And ‘that night in Philly’ whatever it was sounded consensual (okay, as far as it could be, considering she was his prisoner, because if it weren’t, why wouldn’t Rachel say so in his face (and for the audience)?
Argh, why do I even bother. I know why, I needed a better explanation of their relationship (among others). And we didn’t get it. Ugh.
Oh, Bass, so self-deprecating, poor bb.
Tell me that he isn’t sorry about Ben. You can’t. At least, he’s more affected than Rachel.
Woo-hoo, murder attempt #1!
BTW, I remember thinking, what if Danny was Bass’s kid? *sighs longingly at the possibilities*
Yeah, just one long post. So much for liveblogging.
Rachel. Mother of the year.
Charlie likes Bugs Bunny better than Grandma. (Poor bb!Charlie must have had quite a withdrawal from cartoons in the first days/weeks after the Blackout, which we’ve never seen, because why follow up on things you mention, right, writers?)
Bass!
Phone-shaming Miles.
Benjamin calling.
So, I know canonically Miles is the older brother, but he always felt like the younger one to me. Like Ben was the good first child, mama’s boy etc. And he already was married with kids. It just made more sense to me. (I tend to always write with Ben as the older of the two in mind even if it maybe doesn’t reflect in the writing.)
And: the blackout. Intro. Pretty scenery.
That kid looks like the next Strausser.
Ben! Father of the year. Bitching about how the kids better be hunting.
Charlie. Look at this image of innocence.
Danny’s trying to be a good boy.
Old dusty places are great for asthma.
Ice-cream.
Christ, the show was contradictory from the start. Now they are happy loving family.
Cue asthma attack. I told you so.
I wish we got more Danny and Maggie.
Grrr. Okay, Ben, decide, ether you want the kids to be out hunting and contributing to the family or you want your asthmatic son to stay put and not strain himself and your daughter to stay put and safe at home.
This, show, I swear. And yet I still love it to bits.
Uh-oh.
In rolls the Militia.
So in however many years since Ben and Rachel took in Aaron, they didn’t think to explain to him what they did with his code and other such pesky little details?
Really, why didn’t Ben just lie? Also, Maggie walked the states up and down the East Coast and never thought of asking Ben about his last name being the same as of one General Matheson? Do you want me to believe she didn’t hear of Miles in all that time?
Tom is evil. But I gotta love him.
Oh, Danny. See, shit like this is going to get you killed.
Why didn’t the militia shoot the guy with a rifle instead of the unarmed Ben?
God, this show was so full of bullshit from the start. Let’s play a game of how many times does it take me to rewatch it until I no longer love it? I think this is my third/fourth?
Ohh, the designated OTP's (that’s why I resisted shipping it with all I had) first meeting.
Ugh, rapey dudes. Maggie’s poison whisky. Maggie’s badass. Nate’s stalking came in handy.
For an asthmatic kid Danny managed to get rather far on his own until pollen knocked him down.
Ah, Chicago. Miles! I needed more Miles and Maggie.
Oh, Charlie.
Jason calling Miles ‘buddy’. Like he wasn’t supposed to be afraid of the big bad General Matheson he must have known.
On the other hand, imagine bb!Jason growing up in the early pre-militia days. Imagine him calling Miles ‘Uncle Miles’ because Julia would totally insist it was a polite thing to do. Imagine Miles being super annoyed but secretly pleased (and wondering about bb!Charlie every time he heard any of the kids in the camp (because by then there was a whole bunch of them) refer to him as ‘uncle’.)
Grace!
(Aside point, while Charlie pleads with Miles to help her get Danny back, I have a new fic idea: it has to do with Nora and Jeremy knowing each other and Jeremy acting according to Miles’ wisdom of leverage and all, you know, if Bass knows it, surely Jeremy, whom Miles taught everything he knows, does, too.)
Jason’s got some moves. And balls, going at General Matheson like that. Yeah, Miles, I don’t think throwing them out will stop Charlie from sneaking up on you.
No wonder Miles didn’t feel like running, though. Oh, Jason, really ‘we don’t wanna hurt you?’ LOL. It’s General Matheson! WTF.
I guess Miles kept up with a vigorous training routine to keep in shape whenever not drinking.
And then everyone was just frozen by surprise when Charlie and co. showed up. (Seriously, it was 4 to 1, how come the other three goons didn’t jump Miles when he turned his back on them. But Militia were generally incompetent apart from a few people. I guess we could ascribe it to Miles leaving? *shrugs*.)
Oh, Ben and Rachel as a loving couple! I forgot about that. (Damn Riles mess. But at some point Rachel and Ben must have loved each other, too, right?)
Flashback Bass. And present-day Bass! Yum. (Okay, at this point, despite ample evidence, I still didn’t quite get the connection between Miles’s BFF and General Monroe, because I am slow like that.)
Why would you ask if they found ‘it’ (the pendant? The computer?) Obviously if they had, Grace wouldn’t be contacting you with ‘militia was here’ as in the past. I assume they’d have packed up everything and taken it to Monroe?)
Okay, the celebratory revolution birthday pilot rewatch is happening. Although liveblogging will probably consist of just one long post because of reasons.
Okay, revo rewatch is not happening tonight because I’m too lazy to fire up my laptop, the tumblr app keeps crashing, and my notes app has just eaten all the sarcastic remarks (why, yes, there were quite a few) I managed to put down by the time I got to the title cards.
Grrrr.
So, tomorrow. (Which is probably even better, so I’m not the first starting with the usual rant.)
