Patriot Games (204)

[GateWorld]

REVOLUTION - SEASON TWO PATRIOT GAMES EPISODE NUMBER - 204 Rachel becomes suspicious of the Patriots, who are now occupying Willoughby as the town's saviors. Monroe surprises Charlie by coming to her rescue, and Neville finds a way to advance within the enemy's ranks. VISIT THE EPISODE GUIDE >>

[escyos]

Excellent!

Spoiler:

Really liked how Neville just casually assumed command of the duty officer like nothing, really great scene, and how he made sure that the opium den where Cooke was would be shut down and his body would be found.

A lot of people leave comments on the facebook page that they don't understand the show and how Aaron could have "powers". It was never implied that he had control of the nanites at all. Sure he has some connection with them, but I doubt he had any control over that. I wager that the nanites felt an emotional response in him when he saw Miles being cornered and so they took it upon themselves to alleviate his stress by burning the Patriots alive.

Also people keep talking about Rachel and Miles' relationship saying that it isn't right etc. but thats the point. The writers want them to have an unhealthy-for-them-both kind of thing to create tension.

Did not see Ken suddenly revealing himself to be a patriot. Although now that I look back I do see some things. He was insistent that everyone come within the walls of the town and stay there when the bandits were near, obviously so more people could be saved by the Patriots; and how he was unwilling to help Rachel save Miles as he knew that people had to be sacrificed to show that the bandits were very bad which would itself show how much better the Patriots are.

And with the patriots killing a few bandits each night to bring back will further show people that they are the savior they need. Further proof that they will go to great lengths to ensure they are seen as the best.

[ZRFTS]

Patriot Games

Spoiler:

Tonight, on this episode of "Nobody's Watching Revolution" we get a plot which explores the patriots and exposes them for what they really are; or at least reinforces that they're bad news bears. Whatever the case, the focus is on Rachel as she tries the best to stumble her way through a plot that is less of a character study and more of a study on how to be obvious.

Let's get this out of the way, they really make no effort in making our villains look subtle. Understandable since they want them to be a powerhouse but really, this just made the episode looked tired, old and boring. Wherever we go we get hints of "The Patriots are bad news, they're planning something dastardly, they're on the inside, they do deplorable stuff, they're mysterious." and they're not even hints at all, they're thrown at us all at once like the audience wouldn't be able to get it otherwise. We get what they can do, we've seen at least some of their potential and to further the fact that they're bad is just an exercise in futility. Considering the character of Rachel is involved, this just dilutes her journey and makes it more about the Patriots rather than the psych of Rachel. It doesn't matter whether we're shown a train or them killing other people or even them walking around, this just ruins any suspense the episode had in store for me.

Good old USA.

Even worse is that this obviousness ruins many of the plots; we get a Charlie/Monroe plot that is very, very disappointing, this was supposed to explore their dynamic but instead went the route of they're forced together and now they have something in common. Sure, it was nice to see Monroe act like a gentleman but if all we were going to get is one scene relating to them than it just seems like a waste; especially considering that they're going to Willowbury at the end. On a side note, Monroe saving her was nice even though the fighting itself was inconsistent; nice to see certain amount of hints being thrown around. Aaron's plot has been heavily hinted in the plot description but even he is sidelined to being a mystery, not a good mystery but an obvious mystery at that. It does hint at the potential of Aaron, how he can control the nanites and potentially serve as a leader for them but in doing that, it just makes the nanites feel more generic and I'm predicting that they're either going to serve as a benefactor or something that wants to destroy humanity which would make it a ripoff of such things such as Skynet.

The saving grace of said episode has got to be Rachel who executes a nearly pitch perfect performance of paranoia. It feels like we're in her shoes as she walks around seeing the almost creepy nature of pitch perfectness, progressing into creepiness as the episode goes along. That creepiness provides one of the few clever moments of the episode as it showcases the ulterior motives that these patriots have; the innocent nature of Halloween contrasted with the protective nature of a lockdown, it provides an atmosphere that is absolutely perfect for the episode and perfect for Rachel as she sneaks around the town, trying to find out their motives, trying to make people believe her, trying to seem sane as people put her down for being injured, even yelling at her dad and let me tell you; she puts a lot of ferocity and bite into her performance. At first glance, it may seem like she's crazy but that's the wonder of it, there's multiple layers to it from self-doubt to stunning fear and each layer of that manages to show in her brief moments; it won't make the episode good but at least it'll keep you coming back for more.

Dead standstill.

And Nevil, well let's just say his plot involves misdirection and deviousness even though his plot is getting tiring at his point. We can expect what he's going to do, kiss ass, move up the ranks, deviously frame someone to get his way and let's be honest, nothing can top that awesome performance in the previous episode so everything feels a bit mellow and a bit disappointing even though they're obviously taking a bunch of pages from the Lost playbook. It was nice to see him care for his son even though his care wasn't evident in the last episode but I just want to see him be the family man he once was. Vengeful Nevil is getting stale and predictable and if all we're going to see him do is try to climb the ranks than I think his plot needs an intervention. At least something good comes out of this episode in that there's an heir of who to trust and who not to trust, by showing someone's best friend as for the opposing side, it not only enhances the character story but that of Revolution's as well which is good as this show needs a lot of help at this point.

I don't see it... 4 episodes in and it's the same show as the previous one except with better acting and more mystery; same awkward effects, same inconsistent action, same consistent plot holes. This episode is no different; while it does present us with a mystery, they instantly ruin that mystery by telling us the most obvious things that we need to know; that they're dangerous, they're manipulative, they're worse than the Monroe Militia and they're more fear provoking. Not only does this ruin Rachel's plot (which is pretty good) but it also ruins the plots of Charlie/Monroe, Aaron and to a small point Nevil who's shtick is becoming tiring; which is a shame because all of those plots had promise but instead we got small tastes of what could of been. This episode could of been good but instead it's just another in the long line of Revolution episodes.

5.0/10

[VampyreWraith]

I really enjoyed the episode.
Aaron is reminding a bit too much me of Irisa(Defiance) though. I'm not really sure how I feel about Aaron's storyline yet.
I loved Rachel in this ep. Miles was pretty good in this ep too. I'm not a fan of the Miles/Rachel pairing, but I kind of like how it's being handled right now.
I loved all of Neville's scenes.
I also loved the interaction between Charlie and Monroe. I really like how they are reluctantly working together for now. I so don't want it to turn into some kind of romantic relationship though(I only mention this because I keep seeing comments in different places about pairing the two up romantically).

Question about spoiler tags: I wasn't around for pretty much the whole summer; since I've been back, I've noticed people (in several different folders) spoiler tagging discussion about the episode in threads devoted to the episode they are discussing. I thought we were allowed to discuss the events that occur within an episode(and events that occurred in previous episodes) without using tags, in threads dedicated to the episode. Did the rules change while I was away? I know that discussion and speculation about future episodes needs to be tagged, but does discussion about the current episode in an episode's thread need to be tagged too? It's confusing if everything needs to be tagged, since I can't really tell what is discussion about the episode, or what are actual spoilers/speculation for future episodes.

[knowles2]

Anyone else sad that Rachel didn't die? or is it just me.

It not fun when it seems our core group are invulnerable.

Still the only story I am enjoying is Aaron, when the nanites healed him, thousands of rats died, through you would have thought other people would have notice, I wonder what will the cost be of the nanites taking out two of the patriots guards will be. It be awesome to see that Aaron can use the nanites to his benefit but each time he does it has an unknown effect/cost.

Enjoying watching Nevill rise to power inside the patriots. Even if the means he doing it by are predictable, especially in this episode. Still I think they need to get on and reveal the patriots grand plan before it gets tiring.

[knowles2]

Question about spoiler tags: I wasn't around for pretty much the whole summer; since I've been back, I've noticed people (in several different folders) spoiler tagging discussion about the episode in threads devoted to the episode they are discussing. I thought we were allowed to discuss the events that occur within an episode(and events that occurred in previous episodes) without using tags, in threads dedicated to the episode. Did the rules change while I was away? I know that discussion and speculation about future episodes needs to be tagged, but does discussion about the current episode in an episode's thread need to be tagged too? It's confusing if everything needs to be tagged, since I can't really tell what is discussion about the episode, or what are actual spoilers/speculation for future episodes.

Personally I never use spoiler tag in episode threads. If people want to avoid spoilers they can stay out of the thread. Plus using tags makes it hard to follow the discussion.

[Bagpuss]

The rules haven't changed.

Some use the spoiler tag in the individual threads to cut the post length view down,but it's not compulsory ,unless instead of commenting on,say "Patriot Games" they want to tag anything that's about upcoming eps.

(In open Show Gen Disc threads,(eg SPN) usually the norm is to tag ,unless the title or opening post carries a "Spoilers for X Season" or other obvious sign that tags aren't needed.)

[mr_kennedy]

Interesting storyline for Aaron, But i think the best storyline is Neville storyline the guy is just so enigmatic you don't know what his going to get up to next

I really like Charlie + Munro together, this pairing just works... also i don't find Charlie so annoying atm

Spoiler:

I got to say i really liked how every character had something going on in this episode, aaron with the firefly thing (i guess), Miles i guess was rounding up the last of the war clan, Rachel trying to figure out the Patriots and having her friend be one was a nice touch... Munro saved Charlie that was cool, Neville looking for Jason and trying to destroy the patriots from within

[VampyreWraith]

The rules haven't changed.

Some use the spoiler tag in the individual threads to cut the post length view down,but it's not compulsory ,unless instead of commenting on,say "Patriot Games" they want to tag anything that's about upcoming eps.

(In open Show Gen Disc threads,(eg SPN) usually the norm is to tag ,unless the title or opening post carries a "Spoilers for X Season" or other obvious sign that tags aren't needed.)

Ok cool, thanks for the clarification. I wanted to make sure I wasn't doing something wrong by not putting everything in spoiler tags.

[Bagpuss]

Y'welcome!

[escyos]

It not fun when it seems our core group are invulnerable.

Ben died, Maggie died, Danny died, Nora died. I don't think they're invulnerable and I doubt Rachel's wound was that life threatening as to warrant people stating that she miraculously survived.

[knowles2]

Ben died, Maggie died, Danny died, Nora died. I don't think they're invulnerable and I doubt Rachel's wound was that life threatening as to warrant people stating that she miraculously survived.

None of our motley crew this season has died and all have survived attempted on their lives and major trauma.

[escyos]

None of our motley crew this season has died and all have survived attempted on their lives and major trauma.

True, but I don't think we can expect every character to always survive, that is what we have been shown.

[lopo30]

Rachel have that inplant that her son had for broken leg in last season. Maybe it helped there to with the arrow.

[ZRFTS]

Rachel have that inplant that her son had for broken leg in last season. Maybe it helped there to with the arrow.

Yeah but with the power being gone for good and the destruction of the tower, I can assume that the nanotech is sentient and wouldn't respond to commands implemented in that implant; nor would the implant work.

Unless...