The Patriot Act (207)

[GateWorld]

REVOLUTION - SEASON TWO THE PATRIOT ACT EPISODE NUMBER - 207 When Aaron becomes the target of a dangerous Patriot scientist his friends attempt to smuggle him out of town, and Rachel's father attempts to use his position to atone for his past sins. VISIT THE EPISODE GUIDE >>

[ZRFTS]

The Patriot Act

Spoiler:

With a title as awesome like that, you may think that it'll permanently right the ship into good territory. Just think about it, that name suggests many things; action, adventure, characters, drama, there's obviously a lot of good that can go into the episode alone. However, as usual with many Revolution affairs, it only manages to barely right the ship, especially considering the disappointment that was the last episode.

Let's start off which what this episode tries to be; a pivotal point in Revolution's current season. We have a mole revealed last episode, we have US troops trying to look everywhere we go, we even have one of our own in danger; the parallelisms between those events and what's happening in the real world is impressive to say the least, it provides the subtle suggestion that we're living in a state where seizure and force is king (which is kind of obvious considering the episode title), suppression of education reigns supreme and we don't know who to trust. It's admirable that they try to raise the stakes by showing us how ruthless these guys can be including flashbacks where another group of "patriots" are interrogating a random guy which just so happens to involve our mole. It's like they're saying to us, "watch this show, I promise you we're not kidding around" but deep in our hearts, I know that the feeling is hollow. Why? it's got ruthlessness, the mole even puts in a good performance but it doesn't exactly set apart the "patriots" from the Militia.

A lengthy conversation.

The focus on Aaron is also admirable. I can appreciate him being given a purpose by being resurrected, being able to set people on fire, etc. and it seems like they're building him up to be something in the future. From what we've seen beforehand, it seems like they're going to be going all after Aaron with guns blazing, leading to an epic battle where Aaron gets closer on learning how to use his powers but that's not what happens in the episode at all. Instead this focus is just "how do we get this important guy out of town?" and not on the danger he can cause or the trouble he can make; in fact the only development here is that his girlfriend now realizes the potential of Aaron and is afraid of him. It's one thing to have him go all "unconscious firestarter" but it's another to not go anywhere with him and have him be an "asset" instead of a character. I'll admit, it does lead to some interesting exploration about the potential of nanobots such as their ability to release energy as well as the consequence of nanotechnology such as the search for energy and the capability for misuse; it was nice they explored that if only for a hot second.

Let's get one thing out of the way, the plot is weak; nothing really grabbed me during it's 44 minute runtime from the discussions regarding Aaron Pittman to the obvious revelation that he's a mole (which was revealed earlier in the episode) to the guest star Doctor who just so happens to have a hand in the nanotechnology. Everything felt like it was half-baked with all the parts together in the right place but not really there which is a shame as it makes the episode feel lesser than it actually is. I'm guessing they were betting so hard that the character moments would make the episode feel better and to their point they're right; Rachel provides some very good emotional performances, even crying a few tears out the end and Monroe plays that awesome guy with a side of vulnerably just well I might say, in fact there were even a few times where his performance was both morbid and hilarious and even Aaron manages to recognize the brevity of the situation and yell like he's never yelled before, being effective in getting his message out. But no matter how good the character moments are, it can't excuse the weak plot.

The tensity is consistent throughout; it actually makes you feel like something bad is going on and you're on the edge of your seat. It is so consistent in fact that it actually gives weight to the confrontations going on in the end. Constantly you'll be thinking "Is Aaron in trouble?", "Is Aaron going to make it?", "will those bad guys win?" and it'll help cut your disappointment in half; however the tensity is not apparent enough making the episode a total chore to watch. For many minutes you'll be thinking "hmm... Wonder what's on the other channels" rather than being engaged in the action; in fact it'll even make you wonder why you're even watching the show in the first place. The few moments of action that happens are competently filmed and executed; it's unusually more realistic than you expect meaning you won't get swordfighting or excessive gunplay, instead you'll get characters in actual struggles and in actual risk and it makes moments such as the firestarting or the surprises such as Jason which brings me to my next point.

Father and son.

I admire their attempts to ingrain a theme of trust in the episode. Trust in the people we love most, trust in Neville and his son, Trust in the cause of your own comrades and well, that's about it... It seems like they want to go deeper than the average TV show and conjure up discussion wherever it goes and this episode has some merit; what is the tolerance of what you're willing to be able to handle, will your history be impacted by the broken trust, what about the people we've trusted for years and who are we to trust anyway. All good questions, apparently answered by equally better shows such as "Once Upon a Time"; still, it's admirable that they even wanted to ask those questions in the first place and for that I give them a gold star. Neville and Jason's plot had nothing much going for them other than the fact that it involves debrainwashing and believing whether or not there's an act to be had. I do appreciate what they tried to include in that senator woman though, find myself getting closer and closer to her every day.

Sorry to disappoint you but this is not the episode you were looking for; sure, it's got almost everything but it isn't prepared, mixed or even baked properly. All you get are brief flashes of promise followed by a swift kick in disappointment; but this is tolerable disappointment, one where the producers put the extra time and effort in order to produce something that's above average and that is commendable but after watching the show for 1 season and 7 episodes, don't you want to expect more than just mediocre episodes with the occasional above average episode?

6.0/10

[VampyreWraith]

I enjoyed the episode.

Monroe acting all loopy because of the drugs Rachel gave him was great. Everyone seemed a bit too accepting of Monroe which seemed kind of weird to me. The episode was more focused on Aaron, Horn and Rachel's dad(Gene?) though, so hopefully they'll spend more time exploring how everyone feels about working with Monroe in another episode. I love Monroe, and I want to see the character redeemed, but it should be a gradual thing. If the show is serious about redemption for the character, and they want to give it any depth, I don't think that anyone should be too trusting or accepting of him right away.

I liked what they did with Rachel's dad. He's not a bad guy, he was just trying to do what he thought was best for his town and the people in it; and then later trying to protect his daughter and granddaughter.

Dr. Horn is one creepy dude lol. He seems pretty interesting. I loved how Rachel was trying to play dumb while he was questioning her.

Terminator Jason was interesting, so was Tom drugging Allenford and wanting to use her to go after her husband and the other patriot leaders.

I hope they don't go overboard with Aaron's nanite powers. Once powers are introduced it creates an easy fix to things and then the writers have to come up with stuff to explain why those powers can't be used every time there's any danger.

[mr_kennedy]

I enjoyed the episode.

Monroe acting all loopy because of the drugs Rachel gave him was great. Everyone seemed a bit too accepting of Monroe which seemed kind of weird to me. The episode was more focused on Aaron, Horn and Rachel's dad(Gene?) though, so hopefully they'll spend more time exploring how everyone feels about working with Monroe in another episode. I love Monroe, and I want to see the character redeemed, but it should be a gradual thing. If the show is serious about redemption for the character, and they want to give it any depth, I don't think that anyone should be too trusting or accepting of him right away.

I loved the line no miles i'm hungry when he was reading morse code and yes i want to see them Redeem Munro, he just seems to really work as a good guy or at the very least anti hero

I love Miles & Munro together they have great chemistry

I liked what they did with Rachel's dad. He's not a bad guy, he was just trying to do what he thought was best for his town and the people in it; and then later trying to protect his daughter and granddaughter.

Dr. Horn is one creepy dude lol. He seems pretty interesting. I loved how Rachel was trying to play dumb while he was questioning her.

I liked that about Rachel's dad aswell i'd like to see more of this

I haven't seen that guy from Heroes in awhile, its good that they seem to have him playing the bad guy of the show i always thought his characters could be evil at any given second, tho i don't really recall him playing an over the top bad guy like he seems to be in this also he helps fill the evil void left by munro's redemption storyline

Terminator Jason was interesting, so was Tom drugging Allenford and wanting to use her to go after her husband and the other patriot leaders.

I hope they don't go overboard with Aaron's nanite powers. Once powers are introduced it creates an easy fix to things and then the writers have to come up with stuff to explain why those powers can't be used every time there's any danger.

Terminator Jason was good i agree, and i bet Allenford will end up working with Neville in taking down the Patriots

I kinda like Aaron's Power's storyline i hope they get more into it make it crazy

[VampyreWraith]

I loved the line no miles i'm hungry when he was reading morse code and yes i want to see them Redeem Munro, he just seems to really work as a good guy or at the very least anti hero

I love Miles & Munro together they have great chemistry

LOL, yeah, I loved that line. Monroe does make a great good guy/anti-hero. And I love the chemistry between Miles and Monroe as well. Their dynamic is pretty much my favorite part of the show right now lol.

I liked that about Rachel's dad aswell i'd like to see more of this

I hope there's more on Rachel's dad, and that he doesn't end up dying trying to save Rachel or Charlie. I can see that happening with the way things are going, but I really don't want him to die.

I haven't seen that guy from Heroes in awhile, its good that they seem to have him playing the bad guy of the show i always thought his characters could be evil at any given second, tho i don't really recall him playing an over the top bad guy like he seems to be in this also he helps fill the evil void left by munro's redemption storyline

He seems way more creepy evil, than Monroe ever was, I think that's good lol. His creepiness borders a bit on being funny though, like when he was asking Rachel if she remembered him, or when he asked her dad if Rachel had talked about him. I kind of giggled at how stalker- like he sounded.

Terminator Jason was good i agree, and i bet Allenford will end up working with Neville in taking down the Patriots

I kinda like Aaron's Power's storyline i hope they get more into it make it crazy

Yeah, I can definitely see them working together.

If they get really crazy with Aaron's powers, I think they need to either kill him off(I really like Aaron, so I don't want that to happen), or make it so that he can't use his powers again after that point.

[garhkal]

For aarons powers i really think they are going the route that he can't control them, but the nannites react to real strong negative emotions of his..

[Perelandra]

I liked this ep better than the 2 previous. And yes Horn is really creepy! With that "prom queen" line to Rachel.
I feel sorry for Gene(Rachel's dad). I feel like he did what he felt he had to do to protect/save the townspeople. I also hope he doesn't wind up getting killed off.(but I'm afraid he might)
I like Miles/Monroe, too.
Neville continues to be good, as always.

[VampyreWraith]

For aarons powers i really think they are going the route that he can't control them, but the nannites react to real strong negative emotions of his..

I hope that he can't actually control them. I also hope we get some sort of answers regarding what's going on with Aaron and the nanites some time soon.

[garhkal]

I feel sorry for Gene(Rachel's dad). I feel like he did what he felt he had to do to protect/save the townspeople. I also hope he doesn't wind up getting killed off.(but I'm afraid he might).

If he does have to die, i would like it be in some 'grand fashion' like he sacrifices himself to allow the others to escape.

[Looney]

If he does have to die, i would like it be in some 'grand fashion' like he sacrifices himself to allow the others to escape.

I feel like it is a TV show and Gene is doomed to the exact fate garhkal mentioned! But who knows. I personally hope not because I like Stephen Collins and his character provides and interesting dynamic; a Revolution character who has done something wrong and needs redemption . . . oh wait a second.

[garhkal]

On another note.. What drugs do you think they are using for the 'reprogramming' of those kids?

[VampyreWraith]

A mix of opiates, barbiturates, hallucinogens maybe?

I was bored so I actually googled "drugs used in brainwashing" (I hope the police never have a reason to look at the search history on my laptop, I've made some really questionable looking searches lol). I couldn't really find anything specific, mostly it was a bunch of stuff about the CIA brainwashing people using LSD and barbiturates; and an article on Jim Jones, saying that he had a warehouse full of Valium, Morphine, Demerol and a few other drugs, that he may have used to control people.