Dreamcatcher (215)

[GateWorld]

REVOLUTION - SEASON TWO DREAMCATCHER EPISODE NUMBER - 215 Aaron awakens to find himself in a world with power, where he is still married to Priscilla and running his company — only to learn that the nanites have created a virtual world to get what they want from him. VISIT THE EPISODE GUIDE >>

[Perelandra]

IMO this has been the best episode this season-I enjoyed it the most.
Curious to see if others agree with me.
Loved the twist at the end.
will elaborate more later-limited time now due to work schedule.

[VampyreWraith]

I thought it was great, and it's definitely one of my favorite episodes of the show. My favorite part was that whole scene in Miles' motel room(or apartment or whatever). I found it really amusing.
I'm kind of glad the nanites aren't dead. They actually seem more interesting now for some reason. I liked how they spoke using Horn's form, and how they seemed kind of menacing towards the end. I wonder what other things want to move on to.

[tomstone]

Man, this Episode definitely had my attention. I have not tuned in so far, because the middle parts do not keep my attention. This time I was yelling at my Screen while Aaron was fixing the code to the point where my Dad thought I was angry at him.

I dont know if I like this development in the end. I mean those things are becoming much to sentient and Powerful. By now there is hardly anything they could do to get the Power back.

[Perelandra]

^^Yeah I wanted Aaron to prevail and the nanites to die-but the premise of the show is no power so it won't be that easy to get rid of the reason the power is off.

[garhkal]

I thought it was great, and it's definitely one of my favorite episodes of the show. My favorite part was that whole scene in Miles' motel room(or apartment or whatever). I found it really amusing.

Bearddy McGee.. Loved that nickname for Aaron. But the twists of 'letting him thing he was free when he wasn't' was spot on!.. Well done all involved.

[Looney]

LOL! My friend has called me Beardy McGee for a decade. I had to text him the second I heard it.

I didn't care for the first half of this episode. It got good with the motel scene. I found the twist to be very predictable and I really didn't want it to happen because that would have been an interesting turn for the show to take. My problem with the nanites is that they really have too much power. What crazy way could they possibly come up with to defeat them now?! This could have been and should have been a series finale script instead of a late Season Two script. I would have enjoyed it more if that had been the case. I am not saying I want the show to end, just that I wish they hadn't done what they did with this story and saved it for the real defeat of the nanites.

[garhkal]

One thing i was wondering.. Aaron was trying to input a virus before the 'nano's destroyed the pcs.. BUT did they stop it taking?

[Looney]

I think the point was that the Nano had a problem; Aaron made it worse; then they tricked him into correcting it.

[Perelandra]

^^Yes Aaron did not want to correct it he wanted them to "die." then the power would hopefully come back on and maybe life get back to "normal" if possible.
They tricked him into correcting it.

[garhkal]

I thought it was more his 'wife' who wanted them to die more so than Aaron himself.
BUT after this weeks ep, it seemed she is revelling in their still being around.. WTF?

[ZRFTS]

Dreamcatcher

"Flashes Before Your Eyes", "Happily Ever After", "The Real World", "Home", "Cloverdale". All of these episodes have something in common. They're set in an AU, they're set in a dream, they're set in a clever creation of an entire world and this is what Revolution's newest episode "Dreamcatcher" has in common with those episodes in that it's set in an AU and it features sci-fi technology. Case in point, power goes back on, Aaron wakes up like nothing is wrong and that's it basically.

First off I have to commend the staff for basically taking what is essentially the golden rule in episodes like this. "The audience is too smart to realize that X episode will be real." and turning it on it's feet as we get barely any scenes regarding the real world, only this alternate world. Wherever you go there are flashes and slight hints that something is wrong but that's what makes this episode, it's the slow progression. You get Aaron believing this is real, then you get what is essentially a manifestation telling him it's the enemy, then we get swords and guns appearing out of nowhere and he's basically on the run from a manifestation of Dr. Horn and it's just so immersive. I'm starting to believe that these writers are not looking down at the audience like a bunch of dodos even though they have failed to explore science vs. religion in a way that's insightful.

Speaking of which, there's a slight moralistic issue here involving the nanites where they were previously depicted to be childlike, instead they're a menace instituting a full range of emotions; in part you'd actually believe that the nanites are some sort of godlike creature that can't be stopped, that'll stop at nothing to manipulate and get it's way. Are the nanites different than what we percieved them as, do they truly percieve themselves to be god; that isn't explored much but no matter because they play the enemy so well; they actually give excitement and reason to an episode that would of been all "hey look at the electricity, look at how cool it is and how we use it for everything." and "This world is perfect, boy look at the blackout world with all of it's scare food and all of it's militias and all of it's famine that is easily solvable." The sheer fact that they're everywhere, the sheer fact that they're unstoppable and could mess with Aaron at any time is one of the few things that provides excitement to Revolution and it makes us think, it makes us wonder; will Aaron win, will Aaron make it out alive?

[SIZE=1]Just another day for Aaron.[/SIZ

Also speaking of which... Aaron provides a very decent performance here even though much of it is the mopy Aaron we've come to know and love. Zak Orth really does a good job compensating for his deficiencies by using lots of humor, lots of emotion and lots of commanding. He can be stern when he wants to and he can be scared when he wants to and the fact that this episode is about him finally facing himself and braving the feats is a testament to himself. This right here is character growth, a character growing out of his inability to be brave and finally proving himself to be the man he's supposed to be; seriously he's seriously jumping off a building and stabbing people and it's all thanks to above average writing. Seriously you give Aaron the ability to be more and you give him a purpose to be on this show. With all the memorable lines, with all of the things he has to deal with, he's that much stronger for it and for that, I commend them.

There's also the other characters you have to deal with and they are about the same as their Revolution counterparts. The best part for these characters has to be when they're unaware of themselves which provides some interesting character insight and some interesting character threads. How would Miles be with power, how would Rachel/Monroe be with power, it's a short glimpse but it's that glimpse which makes the episode good. When they're aware, they're nothing more than fodder for Aaron as they hotwire, try to wake him up from his dream and just support him. Of course there's also Priscilla and she's above average here as she acts like the usual wife that Aaron expects; the one who loves, the one who cares and the one who shows emotion. Even though she's just a figment of the enemy, she provides a loving performance that makes me think that the enemy must have connection to the people outside of Aaron's world. If there were just a bit more scenes between her and Aaron then maybe, maybe this episode might be better for it character-wise.

Poor, poor Aaron.

Of course, requisite flaws hold this episode down. I don't know if this was done for episode purposes but wasn't it made clear that Aaron worked for Google and was one of it's execs in Season 1. In this episode it shows that he's the boss of his own company. It's just another sign of TPTB retconning Season 1 mainly because they don't feel that it's up to snuff. Sure, Season 1 was bad but it's a part of it's history; you can't just erase it from history! Much of the real world stuff just pissed me off for lack of a better term, everything doesn't feel right and much of it seems like an obvious ploy to deceive the viewing audience; I kept thinking nanites the whole time because that's what it feels like, nanites. In order to fool an audience, you have to have mystery though I will say that the third act had me completely fooled even though it's purpose was to extend the nanite plot for who knows how long and additionally I was afraid it would fall into it's own tactics. Plus Zak Orth seemed to be overacting a bit in a few scenes.

This may quite possibly be the best episode of Revolution yet though it isn't saying much. The writers seem to have struck gold combining an interesting plot with tense action, an intricately constructed world, fan service and insightful exploration into various subjects though they seem to get a bit caught up retconning history and giving away too many hints but somehow the greater of the odds seems to cancel it out. Still, I fear that it'll return to it's meidocre self come next episode and all of this will be for naught, no matter. We just have to enjoy it while we can...

8.0/10