Revolution
Episode 18: Clue
By: Carlos Uribe
Revolution
is a show set 15-years after electricity died.
Spoilers
Ahoy!
I
like the idea behind Clue. I really do. It's smart to put together a
whole bunch of characters that barely trust each other in an isolated
area. It's smart to have members of their group show up dead as they
quickly figure out that the killer is one of them. There are a few
problems with Clue that ended up being it's downfall. The first is
that the characters killed are supposed to be high-value targets but
they basically only exist in this episode. It makes sense since
Revolution can't kill any of the main characters but it would have
been nice if we at least knew who these one-off characters were
beyond “pilot” and “random guy”. I honestly have no idea who
the second character who was killed was or what he was doing on the
mission. He's basically a red shirt despite having a name. The whole
impact of these murders could have hit home if the audience had at
least some idea of who they were. It's by necessity that these
characters couldn't be crucial to the narrative but that doesn't mean
they had to be total strangers. Is anybody going to miss the pilot?
The second character who got killed? Nope. It feels like a cheap
narrative trick to have these unknowns be the first two characters
killed because it felt like Revolution was playing it safe. Nobody
that mattered was going to die which hurt the overall stakes that the
main characters were in danger from this killer. The only two
characters that did die were at the end of the episode and it was
disappointing for two reasons. The first character that died was in
only one episode before this and he held promise for the tension he
couldn't maintained with the rest of the rebellion. The second
character is the one who did kill the people and his death was simply
a waste of the actor's talent. Yes-the character deaths should be
recurring characters that we know but they shouldn't feel like the
writers didn't properly utilize the actors or were wasting any
promise that the characters had.
The
title “Clue” refers to the boardgame and movie that's all about
figuring out whose the killer. There's multiple suspects, potential
murder weapons, and a detective tasked with solving the crime. The
detective in this episode is Miles. It's a bit odd that not a single
character suspected him of being the killer considering the mistrust
that they had for each other. It's just as odd nobody really
suspected Charlie. Just about every other character was fair game and
the writers tried their best to give them proper motivations to build
the level of mystery. Nora is suspected because she had been broken
by Monroe and she's under pills whose side effects include paranoia
and psychotic behavior. It doesn't help that she was found
unconscious near a knife with a cut on her arm. The theory that she
gut hurt while killing one of the guys was floated around but Miles
refused to believe it was her. Neville is suspected because he's
Neville and nobody in the group trusts him. Nate is suspected because
he was seen speaking with a militia officer who had offered him a job
to kill Miles in exchange for Charlie's safety. He refused the job
but the pocket knife found in his pocket made him a primary suspect.
Seaborn is suspected because he had been able to easily get Nora out
of the militia camp and could be a spy from the Monroe Republic. It
is Seaborn who is last murdered by the real killer. The final suspect
is Jim who had been away from the characters for the last few weeks.
His motive is that the militia was threatening to kill his wife, he
didn't really believe in the cause, and he's mad at Miles for ruining
his personal life. This is supposed to come as a big betrayal but it
doesn't really work because we never really got to know Jim or his
relationship with Miles. We're simply told they're friends and that
was as far as the writers went. His motive makes sense but the reveal
that he was the killer felt like a practical choice rather than an
organic one. It doesn't help that he's barely been present since he
was introduced. He was supposed to be a general that helped train the
rebels but he's largely been absent from having any role in the
narrative. His betrayal therefore lacks any shock value and is a
disappointing way to end what could have been a promising character.
The
sub-plot involves the tower. Rachel and Aaron finally reach it but
they've been beaten by the Monroe Republic. They were able to easily
set up base despite being in the middle of two Plains tribes. I'm not
sure why this threat is established seeing as how they play
absolutely no role in this episode. The Plains Nation is also
developed a bit in the main plot with the “clue” plot in that the
killer tries to place the blame on the tribes by leaving the bodies
as to how they would leave it. In other words: the Plains Nation is
developed a bit but it remains a non-entity despite the references to
it. Anyways, Rachel and Aaron can't just walk into the Tower anymore.
They have to figure out a way to get to the door. As for the
Republic? They also can't get into the Tower since the people inside
it have managed to lock Randall out. Which makes Randall nervous
since the only reason he's alive is because he promised he could get
Monroe inside with the promise of giving him weapons that make the
drones look like little toys. This is basically just a way for the
show to stall anyone getting into the Tower for a whole episode. This
will allow the rest of the characters to catch up so that they can
turn the power back on or what-have-you. This doesn't mean that
nothing happens as the episode actually ends with a pretty good
cliff-hanger.
Nobody
might be able to get into the Tower but Rachel shifts her goals. The
whole reason she had traveled to the tower was because she wanted
Monroe dead. She was hoping that his enemies would gain the
technology they need to defeat and kill him. She doesn't care about
helping people but about her singular cause of revenge. So when she
sees Monroe in the camp, she changes her tune. She decides she's
going to avenge the death of her husband and son by killing Monroe.
Aaron can use the distraction she creates in his assassination by
using the book's override codes to get into the Tower. It's a plan he
doesn't like because this means Rachel is going to die but he has no
alternative plan. Rachel basically manages to infiltrate the base by
stealing a militia costume. She walks into Monroe's tent and makes
them aware she's there. I'm not sure if that was necessary when she
could have just thrown the grenade at him. I guess she wanted him to
know who killed him. This would have been an effective cliff-hanger
because viewers would wonder if she can or is able to carry it out.
The episode takes it a bit further by having her actually pull the
pin and such so that it'll explode. There's nothing quite like
cutting to black and all you hear is the noise of the grenade being
armed. It'll be interesting to see if the series is actually
interested in killing off two major characters in one stroke. Will
Rachel die? Will Monroe die? It's actually a pretty good cliff-hanger
that makes me want to see what happens next. There's two episodes
left in the season and the narrative momentum is slowly picking up
even as it takes a huge detour with the whole “clue” case going
on.
Clue
is an okay episode of Revolution. It suffers big problems because it
can't make the life-and-death stakes for the main plot work and
revealing Jim as the traitor had no real impact. He was too
undeveloped and his relationship with the characters wasn't fleshed
out enough to really make it shocking. Since we knew him for such a
short period of time, it's difficult to care that he betrayed them.
The sub-plot was better even if it stalled the antagonists being able
to open the tower due to that pretty great cliff-hanger. The show
does suffer some problems with the Plains Nation being more of an
idea than an actual country while the characters who have technology
doesn't seem like it's a big deal to the people around them.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please be respectful of people's opinions. Remember these reviews are MY opinion and you may disagree with them. These are just TV shows.
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.