Photo courtesy of imdb.com
When I first saw the trailer for Revolution, I was pretty skeptical. It seems as though everyone is coming out with a post-apocalyptic something. There’s a creepy obsession with what will happen if something goes horribly wrong in the world, and I didn’t think even J. J. Abrams (Lost, Armaggedon) could give that idea a fresh twist. I’m happy to say I was wrong, and I’m interested in where this show is headed.
A teenaged girl named Katniss, I mean Charlie (Tracy Spiridakos), is the main character of the show. After a militia separates her from everyone she loves, she has to go on a mission to find her uncle (Billy Burke) and save her brother, Danny (Graham Rogers). Accompanying her on this quest is her father’s girlfriend (Anna Lise Phillips), who Charlie can’t stand, and her father’s dorky friend (Zak Orth), a former millionaire who used to work for Google before everything went to hell.
Not even the technological apocalypse can stop Charlie from displaying typical teenage angst or from making passionate statements about the power of family. There are times when her wide-eyed whimpering gets irritating, but she kind of redeems herself by finding a crossbow. The other members of the group make up for her drama, and it’s always fun to watch Giancarlo Esposito play a bad guy.
The concept of losing all sources of power in the world is intriguing. I thought the decay of the world after only 15 years was a little extreme, but it was interesting to see how the lack of technology changed people’s lives. Governments fell and militias and republics rose. Medicine is basically nonexistent, and luxuries can’t survive in the harsh new reality. They don’t even have ice cream anymore! They somehow manage to have nice clothes and stay clean, but they don’t have ice cream. That’s not a world I want to live in.
The creepiest part to me was watching commercials during the show and realizing that none of the items advertised would be possible if something like this actually happened. Freaky.
And of course, the ending is shot in typical J. J. Abrams fashion: Something startling is revealed, everything you thought you knew turns out to be wrong and the next episode can’t get here soon enough.
Revolution details:
Where: NBC
When: Mondays at 9 p.m.
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It was an interesting show and with the power of J.J. Abrams, it might have some staying power. I, however, am not so optimistic. My coworker at DISH pointed out there is really no explanation for why, so suddenly, electricity is just gone. It’s a rather fantastic idea to say we permanently have no electricity so I’m curious what they do with that idea. I wasn’t home for the premiere so my Hopper DVR recorded it. It has this sweet feature called PrimeTime Anytime which automatically records anything on the four major networks during prime time. I got Revolution, Bones, and Mob Doctor automatically recorded without me having to remember to set reminders for them. I am still interested after the first episode. That said, the rapid decay of buildings, the unexplained permanent loss of electricity, and the somehow perfectly styled citizens bothers me, maybe enough not to watch too much longer.