Geek TV Review: Revolution Series Premiere

Revolution, NBC’s new post-apocalyptic drama premiered Monday night.  15 years after a mysterious incident has caused all electricity as well as working machinery such as vehicles to shut down, we find a world learning to live without.  The government as we know it has fallen and been replaced by independent republics.  We are introduced to the Monroe Militia, run by a former military man, General Monroe.  He believes Ben, our main character Nora’s father, of having special knowledge as to why the lights have gone out and sets his militia to retrieve the man and bring him back for questioning.

Ben is killed during the attempted abduction.  Though, not before he can pass a device which appears to be some kind of key to the power outage to a close friend.  He also gives Nora the location of her Uncle Miles and tasks her with tracking him down to aid in the rescue of her brother who was taken in lieu of her dying father.  She and her cohorts head off in search of her uncle in the city of Chicago.  The show then follows their journey to the city, while treating us to some fantastic shots of what the creators believe the world would look like after 15 years of no power of any kind.  Would the creators of the History channel’s Life After People disagree with the extent of reclamation that nature has managed in just 15 years?  Probably so.  Yet, this is not a drama on the Science channel.  It’s NBC people, cut it some slack.  The group’s journey ends in Chicago where they encounter Nora’s uncle and inform him of the situation.  He is reluctant to aid them but after an impressive battle with Monroe’s Militia, chooses to assist his niece in her attempt to locate and rescue her brother.  There are a few twists and turns to the story that I will intentionally leave out.  So as to allow any of you that have not watched this show to experience it for yourselves.

I had incredibly high hopes for this program, considering the pedigree that its crew brings to the show.  It was created and written by Eric Kripke, who also created and wrote the WB’s Supernatural.  The pilot episode is directed by Jon Favreau of Iron Man fame.  As well as executive produced by J.J. Abrams, famous for more successful television programs than I care to mention, but namely the former ABC hit Lost and the recent motion picture remake of Star Trek.  I probably assumed too much based on the names behind this show.  Because it didn’t deliver a pilot episode that leads me to believe it will be a hit.  The basis of the story is interesting, even if some of their science is a bit fuzzy.  In a post apocalyptic environment, some characters do seem a bit too well groomed, while others seem to have reverted back to 19th century attire already.  Firearms have been banned, owning one being considered a hanging offense, which explains everyone but the military’s propensity for crossbows and swords.

In conclusion, this show does have promise!  It didn’t meet my high expectations but I have faith in the minds behind it to add  more intrigue to the story line and to do a better job with the character development.  Because at this moment the only character I truly enjoyed seeing on the screen was that of Uncle Miles.  He’s just a plain ol’ badass.  Also, it might have specifically been the ending of this episode, but this show had an eerie similarity to the 2006 CBS drama, Jericho.  This happens to be a show that I thoroughly enjoyed but did not gain any real mainstream success.  Which I don’t believe bodes well for Revolution.  I recommend giving the program a chance.  I will assuredly continue watching.  Though, I would warn viewers not to get their hopes up because I expect this series to go the way of Kripke’s Tarzan and Abrams’ Alcatraz rather than it achieving the success of Supernatural or Lost.

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