The Breakdown
Revolution opens with Charlie attempting to brush off the advances of some men in a bar. The men try to gang up on her, and she fights back. Charlie handles herself well but begins to feel groggy. One of the men drugged her. Monroe busts in and saves her as she passes out.
Rachel wakes up for the first time after taking the arrow. She goes outside to find some kids dressed up in costumes; it’s Halloween. Rachel wanders around town and sees people wearing U.S. Government uniforms. She’s also stunned to find the U.S. flag flying in town.
Miles catches up to her and fills her in on what happened. He introduces her to Ed Truman of the U.S. Government. Truman explains that they are trying to restore order, but Rachel doesn’t seem to trust him.
Neville breaks up a fight in the Georgia Federation refugee camp. The commanding officer later tells him that he’s waiting for Neville to screw up so he can kill him.
Rachel thinks that the Patriots were in league with Randall. She argues that they need to take action. Miles says that the group has been doing some things outside of Willoughby. He’s going to look around Titus’s camp to see if perhaps to the two sides were aligned.
That’s not good enough for Rachel; she breaks into Truman’s office to look for information about the group. Truman catches her and takes her to her father, who promises it won’t happen again. Another one of the Patriots asks if Rachel is going to be a problem. Truman replies that he’ll get back to him on that. Someone is found wandering outside of town. The Patriots kill him.
Rachel later argues with her father about the Patriots. She tells him that she believes that they were working with Randall. He replies that it doesn’t need to be her fight and then explains how she scares him. Her father says that she can’t fix everything.
The Patriots later bring the man they killed to the doctor. They tell him and Rachel that the Andover clan got him, and this is why they want people to stay inside the walls.
Charlie wakes up with Monroe looking after her. When she asks why he helped her, Monroe tells her that it’s a show of faith. He knows he can’t make up for what he did, but he wants to try. Charlie calls him a sociopath who will do whatever it takes to get what he wants. Her words appear to hurt him, but he tells her that she doesn’t have a choice. He needs her to take him to Miles.
Neville sees the marks on the CO’s arms and takes mental note of them.
Aaron passes out and has some kind of vision. It shows Miles investigating the Andover camp. Miles seems to sense him for a moment. He then turns his attention to some rustles in the room next door. Miles opens the door to find Titus, who claims that the Patriots packed his people onto trains and sent them away. He curses the Patriots’ betrayal while explaining that he escaped.
Neville stops in what appears to be the local drug/sex house. He pays the attendant in diamonds, and she takes him to the CO’s room. The commanding officer is there with a needle in his arm. Neville finds the man’s gun.
Rachel tells her friend Ken about the Patriots. Unfortunately, he’s a member of the group and attacks her. While he’s preparing to kill her, Ken explains that the Patriots have been planning this takeover for years and that he can’t have her running around talking about the group. Ken attempts to stab her, but she kicks him away. Rachel frees herself and kills Ken in self-defense.
Cook wakes up with Neville asking how Allenford will react to hearing her CO has a drug problem. Neville offers him a deal: no crap details, a promotion, and his son’s whereabouts. The CO swears that he doesn’t know where Jason is, but Neville doesn’t believe him. He kills Cook.
Miles witnesses the Patriots executing two of Titus’s men, but one of the guards catches him. He kills the guard and runs for his life. Two guards find him, but they are set on fire by what appears to be Aaron’s nanotechnology. A stunned Miles later explains this to Rachel.
Tom steps in for the now missing CO, which is a post Allenford that lets him keep.
The show ends with Monroe and Charlie nearing Willoughby.
Analysis
I’m not sure what to make of this episode. It was straight-forward for the most part, and a lot of the pieces moved into place for the plot to move ahead. The problem is that the Monroe/Charlie portion of the story was pushed aside. Let’s get this straight: Monroe kills Charlie’s brother and holds her mother hostage, but the writers don’t see fit to spend more than a couple short scenes dealing with the two characters? That doesn’t make sense at all.
The rest of “Patriot Games” was well-done. Every side story had a place within the overall plot and the acting was solid. Elizabeth Mitchell (Rachel) continues to carry this show, and her skills were on full display through the episode. Overall, it was another good night for Revolution.
