Thursday, November 8, 2012

Revolution 1.07: "The Children's Crusade"

“Awesome! It’s like a pack of hairless Ewoks.”
- Aaron

We star this week in media res. Charlie is getting a militia brand on her arm. Definitely not pretty as she screams bloody murder. Then again, I would, too, if I had a hot iron pressed to my arm. We go back two days to find the gang hiding as a militia wagon rolls by with a kid chained in the back. Miles stops Charlie from drawing her weapon. They can’t save everyone. As they continue on their journey, they come across a kid who appears to be out cold. It’s a rouse though because he pops up and a whole slew of kids of varying ages appear out of the grass and doorways. The oldest boy, Michael, demands to know where Peter is. Charlie figures out that Peter was the boy they saw and tries to explain the militia. The kids have encountered them before. Before Miles agrees to help in any way, he wants to know where the adults are. So Michael explains that the people with the burn marks showed up years ago rounded up their parents and killed them. Apparently it had something to do with the American flag hanging on the wall. Charlie offers to get Peter back and Aaron is vehemently opposed to the idea. He is not a fan of children, despite being the teacher). Miles surprisingly agrees to back Charlie’s play on this one and they head off. I figured out why the minute I saw the flag in the background. Nora has to explain to Aaron that Miles likely ordered the massacre and he feels responsible for orphaning all those kids.

We pay a visit to Philly where Danny and Rachel are having a nice meal. Well, Rachel is. Danny is glaring at his mother for acting like everything is okay. He says they should run when one of Monroe’s boys says that the General needs to speak with Rachel. Basically, she told him about the pendants and the people who had them but the militia has had very little luck tracking people down, except for one person. One of the scientists working with her and Ben on a clean energy project that had the side effect of sucking up all the power. We learn all of this in a flashback to three years pre-blackout with a very pregnant Rachel. She walks in on a test run for the DOD and freaks out that Ben is considering accepting a contract from a Mr. Flynn. Shortly thereafter, Rachel tries to get Brad to give up his pendant but he refuses. Ultimately, when Monroe threatens to kill his daughter, he caves (after calling Rachel a bitch for betraying them). Rachel flashes back again. This time, she is having major pregnancy complications. The baby’s heart has only one valve instead of two and the options aren’t good. As she’s heading back into the facility a little later, Mr. Flynn offers to get her into a medical trial (likely in exchange for the contract). Since Danny was born and is mostly okay and the power went out, I’m guessing she agreed. We also learn by the end that Randall is actually Mr. Flynn and he’s got Grace locked away for who knows what reason. I guess we’ll find that out at a later date.

Back in the present, Miles and company discover Michael and three other kids following them. Charlie tries to tell them to turn back but they’re not having any of it. Glad she finally got a taste of her own medicine. I have to say this episode feels kind of like some twisted version of Peter Pan. We catch up with the militia and find a ship moored off the coast with kids getting uniforms and being ushered off to the boat while Peter looks on. That is not good. Nora tries to make friends with the little girl in the group and Aaron has a bit of a hard time with the heavy set kid (he steals the pendant0. Miles tries to ask about it but Aaron is evasive. Obviously, he doesn’t trust anyone with the knowledge (well aside from Maggie but she’s dead so she ain’t talking). The plan to rescue Peter hits a snag when Nora spots the boat (a conscription facility). So of course, Charlie decides that it will be a fantastic idea to get captured so she can break Peter out from the inside.

She manages to get caught and hauled onto the boat. She joins Peter and a whole bunch of other soldiers-to-be and they get an introductory speech from a guy with an Eastern European sounding name. Miles told Charlie she will need a master key to get Peter out so she’s keeping her eyes peeled. Sadly, one boy says he wants to go home and when he tries to leave (the instructor says he’s free to go) he gets bludgeoned to death. It was off screen but there were still sound effects. Not pleasant. As the recruits are getting assigned quarters, Charlie purposely picks a fight with the big kid behind her. This of course puts her in the infirmary where she manages to take out the doctor. Too bad guards show up and drag her down to the branding room and we pick up where we started the episode.

While all of this is going down, Miles is getting antsy that Charlie is late by two hours. So he and Nora take off (followed by Michael). Aaron is tasked with the younger kids and rather inadvertently the pendant starts working. They are trying to hide from some militia guys who are searching the light house hide out. It’s actually fortuitous that the light house well…lights up. After Nora and Miles get on the boat and free Charlie, they get snatched by some more guards. The light shining over the ship gives them enough time to deal with their captors. They free the rest of the kids on the boat, too. Nice of them to do, I suppose. Not sure why they didn’t torch the boat or sink it or something. Guess that would be too rebellious of them. Miles confronts Aaron about what happened and he finally explains the truth about the pendant. Miles wants to smash it but Aaron refuses to give it up. Charlie intervenes and it looks like at least they know about Grace and her pendant now. I wonder if and when they will find Grace and Randall. I seriously don’t trust the guy. He’s creepy and I’m not sure whether adding him in will make it too complicated in terms of villains (Monroe, Neville) or if it adds a nice layer to the storyline. We’ll have to wait and see what comes next week.

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