In Revolution episode 109 entitled “Kashmir”, Team Miles convinces some rebel fighters to help them get into Philadelphia to rescue Danny in return for a shot at killing Monroe. Because Philadelphia is now impenetrable from the surface, the only way to get there is underground through old subway tunnels.
Using the tunnels reminded me of Lord of the Rings, where the Fellowship navigated the Mines of Moria to travel under the Misty Mountains instead of over them. Since this was a Led Zeppelin-infused episode, perhaps they should have played “Misty Mountain Hop”. In Lord of the Rings, the entrance collapses and the only way for the travelers to escape is to continue through the mines to the other side. This parallels events In this episode where Charlie accidentally sets off a land mine and the resulting explosion blocks their entrance. The only way out is to keep going on through to Philadelphia.
As a result of the tunnel collapse, the group finds that their oxygen supply in the tunnels is getting low and one by one, the members of Team Miles start hallucinating. Many viewers at this point were crying foul over this particular plot device. The reality that such a large tunnel would not have other sources of ventilation and become oxygen deprived that quickly is a bit of a stretch. However, I am willing to give this show some creative license with this type of thing in order to tell the story they want. The bottom line is that the hallucinations were a fun distraction to watch and allowed us some insight into what is going on in these characters’ psyches.
Besides Lord of the Rings, the group’s trippy experiences with oxygen-deprivation reminded me of The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy and the group were in the poppy fields outside of the Emerald City, Philadelphia being the Emerald City in this case. Charlie is Dorothy, Miles is the Tin Man, and Aaron is the cowardly lion. I would not equate Nora as the scarecrow, she’s too smart for that. Perhaps Jason (aka not-Nate) would be better suited for that role.
What is Right vs. What is Easy
A favorite quote of mine from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is when the wise old wizard Dumbledore talks to Harry about “… when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy…”. The characters in Revolution have faced many difficult choices, and we see that the easiest route is usually not the morally right one to take. There is a lot of temptation to take the safe, easy, or familiar route rather than facing the dangerous, difficult, and unknown.
Miles
We saw just how easy it would be for Miles to fall right back into his old ways as Bass’ buddy and military cohort. Only one of Miles’ deep dark secrets was revealed this week, because I assume his closets are chock-a-block full of skeletons. It seems it was an extremely difficult choice to abandon everything he knew because he finally grew a conscience. Going back to Philadelphia doesn’t just put his life and those with him at risk. An equally large danger is risking his new found and seemingly fragile sense of duty and family.
Charlie
After being shot by Wheatley (a graze to the head only) and knocked unconscious, Charlie loses herself for a while in the fantasy world of being back at home in Wisconsin with her dad. By this point in Charlie’s journey, she realizes how good she had it before her father was killed and her brother abducted. She is having a nice moment with Ben when she realizes it is not real. Instead of holding onto the fantasy, she wills herself back to facing the cold hard world because she knows she still has to find Danny, even though it still seems a nearly impossible feat. Charlie is showing a maturity, and a fierce loyalty to family. I think that loyalty is rubbing off on Miles too, at least I hope it is.
Rachel
This week Rachel had to make a couple of hard choices. The easy choice would be to cooperate with Monroe and build what he is looking for, giving him the power of the pendant to fuel his army. This choice would have kept herself and her son safe. However, she made a different choice, the harder path. The scene with Rachel pretending to build a power amplifier when she was actually building a bomb reminded me of the movie Iron Man, when Tony Stark was held against his will by terrorists. In Iron Man, Tony Stark is ordered to build a missile, but he uses their ignorance to instead build a way to get out of his captivity — creating the Iron Man suit. Unfortunately for Rachel, Dr. Jaffe decides to rat her out, but he ultimately gets the raw end of the deal. Rachel is a shrewd woman, and killing the backup scientist is a sure way to keep herself, and her son, alive, at least for now. This scene was a shocking look into a character that I have not quite been able to figure out. I’m not saying that I like or trust her character any more than before, but I feel that I am starting to understand her a little better. It seems that she would do anything to protect her family, but at what cost? In this case, I question whether this was this really a choice between easy and right. Jaffe may have betrayed her in the end, but I don’t think he deserved to die. It wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t right either.
The Pendants
I had a random thought about the pendants this week. I am wondering if the pendants really can bring the power back on, permanently and worldwide. It seems like they are a dampening device, to disable whatever is disrupting the ability for electrical things to work. But this seems like it can only temporarily mask the symptoms rather than providing a cure. The real trick will be to “turn off” whatever is causing this persistent issue with the power. In addition, I am not convinced that Randall is the one that is controlling the power-off device. He is clearly involved with the group that has the pendants, but perhaps there is another group who is controlling the continued effects of the blackout.
Question of the Week
Will the show leave us with a big cliffhanger for the fall finale next week, will it wrap up the current rescue-Danny storyline, or both? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!