Revolution: "Chained Heat" Review

Note: Full spoilers for the episode follow.

The second episode of Revolution continued the story in a confident manner, introducing several new elements along the way.

Daniella Alonso (Friday Night Lights) was introduced as Nora, someone Miles described as “really good at blowing stuff up.” And while we didn’t get to see that particular skill set, there was still a decent amount of action in this episode – something that’s always a question when you move from the always higher-budgeted pilot of a series to the regular episodes.

The portrayal of the agreeably Han Solo-like Miles as especially talented in this regard continued – most notably when he managed to fight and stab someone while he himself was handcuffed. And Charlie had some very cool moments herself, first when she managed to deftly chain up Nate, and second when she used that hidden wrist gun.

However, the episode was pretty inconsistent with the pilot as far as Charlie having hesitation to kill her enemies in the midst of battle (and Miles' concerns on that front), considering she’d shot a dude with a crossbow last week - in front of Miles, no less. At least the flashbacks to right after the blackout did a nice job of showing how Rachel tasked Charlie with being Danny’s protector – and how Mama showed that when someone tries to take your stuff and won’t listen to your warning, you shoot that person. Either way, by the end of the hour, Charlie had killed two guys in the midst of freeing a bunch of enslaved workers, so hopefully this issue has been put to rest.

I do hope this show gives us a better reason to care about Danny as the weeks go on. Right now, the quest to save him is meant to the main point of concern for Charlie, but he’s a pretty blank slate at this point – as is Nate, whose name isn’t Nate.

Better served here were Aaron and Maggie. Aaron had better lines than in the pilot, including “Great, they’re having a sale on heroin!” and his description of the blackout as having “cornholed the laws of nature.” His insistence that it was a manmade event, if correct, does give us our first kernel of tracking down the source as an actual person.

Maggie meanwhile had a legitimately poignant scene, revealing she carries her old iPhone with her because, “Somewhere inside are the only picture of my kids” – a sad line that rings true in this day and age, when having physical photos is less and less common.

This episode very quickly revealed a different side of Neville in an efficient manner, as we saw his genuine concern over one of his men being mortally injured, while expressing, “the Monroe militia is the one thing between us and total anarchy.” This is where hiring an actor like Giancarlo Esposito really pays off, because man can this guy sell conviction like no other.

Less involving is Monroe himself, which could become an issue as the series goes on, given he is meant to be the main villain – the Emperor to Neville’s Darth Vader. Even when cutting open a man for saying he’s not scared of him, he doesn’t really convey menace, at least so far.

Hopefully the inclusion of Rachel isn’t his storyline improves things – you can never go wrong with more Elizabeth Mitchell. The original version of the Revolution pilot sent to critics in May had the reveal of Rachel being alive (then played by Andrea Roth) at the end of that first episode. I was a bit worried the producers had decided to really drag out that reveal when they cut it from the pilot, so it was good to see it was simply held for one week.

Lastly, Grace and her old school computer got an unpleasant surprise with the arrival of Randall – who had an electronic prod of some sort that is our second example of power still working in certain devices. Curiouser and curiouser...

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