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By Desmond Ho, Staff Writer
Revolution is one of the most promising and highly-anticipated new shows to come out in the 2012-13 television season. The show is set in a post-apocalyptic future, 15 years after a blackout in which the planet’s electricity mysteriously goes dark. In this time span, the government has fallen apart, and people have adapted to life without the luxury of technology. People must hunt for food and are on constant alert for other survivors. They resort to using swords and other medieval weapons to defend themselves for firearms are rare. Humanity is under the rule of the Monroe Republic, which rises to power after the fall of the United States.
The main story focuses on Charlie Matheson (Tracy Spiridakos) and her reluctant uncle Miles (Billy Burke) as they try to uncover the cause of the blackout. The key to solving this mystery is a flash drive Charlie’s father Ben (Tim Guinee) gave them before his death by the Monroe Republic militia. Charlie and Miles are accompanied by Aaron (Zak Orth), a former Google executive and friend of Ben’s, and Maggie (Anna Lise Phillips), the late Ben’s girlfriend. On top of that, they must save Charlie’s brother Danny (Graham Rogers) from imprisonment by the Monroe Republic, which is led by Tom Neville (David Lyons).
While the show’s premise is intriguing, the pilot is fairly predictable and brings few original ideas to the table. There is a slight focus on family drama that is comes off as cliché and uninteresting, but luckily does not make up the entire show. I was somewhat surprised by the amount of death and violence in the show. However, the bloodshed is executed tastefully and the action is easy to follow. It is well-paced and dull moments are seldom experienced. However, the frequent plot twists thrown at the viewer diminish their impact, and weaken the show. The show would probably have more weight if it were to slow down at parts, but the speedy pace is understandable for the show risks cancellation, being a new show and all.
There is a critical issue I had concerning the lead character, Charlie. She is the protagonist yet she comes off as annoying and rather unlikable. Sure she has no noticeable flaws. She does not like killing and represents the paragon of the show (at to the writers). The character is made worse by Tracy Spiridakos’ abysmal acting. During important dialogue scenes, Spiridakos tends to randomly overemphasize words and flickers between blank expressions to overly exaggerated ones. The combination of all these makes me wonder why Charlie was cast as the main character.
Revolution is a fairly decent show with a good concept and story, but desperately needs work in the other areas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwfCRAtkYEI
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