Revolution 1.14: "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia

“You’re in, too. Your mom told me to take care of you. So I figured I’d drag you in front of a nuclear weapon.”
-Miles

As you can probably tell from the title, we got to see the Georgia Federation in this episode of “Revolution,” and it’s nothing like what you think. I could go into much more detail, probably a whole post’s worth, on why the condition of the Georgia Federation versus the Monroe Republic isn’t realistic, but I’d rather avoid the flame war. So instead I’ll just link you to this article which pretty much explains the whole thing. On the positive side, I can really see the new direction of the show in this episode. I feel like the creative team is really working on deepening the characters while expanding the mythology of the show. And this time, since much of the episode takes place in the Deep South, the Spanish moss on the trees is actually appropriate. Note to the creative team for the future if the characters ever go back to Rebel HQ: I’m looking out my window here in actual Annapolis, and there’s no damn Spanish moss.

Early in the episode, we see that Monroe has gone even more off the deep end than he already was. Neville’s aide tells Monroe that Neville and his wife have escaped. He also says that he has intelligence that Jason is still alive and is fighting with the rebels now. Since Jason was supposed to be dead, that’s not good news. It means Neville has been lying about a lot of things. Monroe is incensed, and he vows revenge. He also turns his rage on Neville’s aide. The aide prostrates himself and tries to do everything he can to convince Monroe that he’s still loyal in spite of his boss, but it’s not enough. Monroe shoots him right then and there. And stuff like that is why I don’t find Monroe to be all that compelling of a villain. I like my villains with shades of gray, and Monroe is batshit crazy and moustache twirling to boot.

Speaking of batshit crazy, Rachel and Aaron are on their way to the tower to turn the power back on, but they need to make a stop at the house of Dr. Jane Warren. Rachel says that Jane is the only person who knows enough about the tower to tell them what to do to fix it. Jane, however, is kind of off her rocker. Sarah thinks she’s the Rousseau (from “Lost”) of this particular story, although I think Rousseau is a little farther gone than Jane. Jane has a very clear motivation for her actions. Rousseau’s just been by herself for too long. Anyway, when they’re almost at Jane’s very remote house in the woods, Rachel and Aaron are stopped by some highwaymen. They’re about to rape Rachel and rob Aaron when they suddenly spontaneously combust thanks to Jane shooting them with something that seemed to activate the nanobots in their bodies. Jane doesn’t play.

At Jane’s house, we’re also introduced to Jane’s partner, Beth. Jane is really vehemently opposed to Rachel’s plan to turn the power back on, and it’s quickly apparent why. Beth had stage 4 cancer before the blackout, and the nanobots have somehow eaten the tumors. If the power turns back on, Beth will die. Jane tries to lay a guilt trip on Rachel about how Danny will die too, but Rachel informs Jane that Danny is already dead. So clearly Danny had some sort of sickness (maybe the asthma?) that the nanobots were supposed to fix, but we don’t know what exactly that sickness was. Anyway, after catching Rachel snooping through her library, Jane and Rachel have a yelling match that is overheard by Beth. Beth wants Rachel to turn the power back on even if it means she will die. A distraught Jane gives Rachel a notebook of the information she needs before telling Rachel and Aaron to leave her house and never come back.

In other Matheson news, Miles has gotten some intel that Monroe’s goons have taken the nuclear weapon to Georgia, and they most likely intend to detonate it there. So the crew is going to the Georgia Republic, and we get our first glimpse at a part of the post-blackout world that isn’t the Monroe Republic. Our first glimpse of Georgia is pretty much how you’d expect Georgia to be. Lots of Spanish moss and a remote cabin that serves as a guardhouse. Monroe wants Charlie to seduce, then kill the guard, but they discover somebody else has already done the job. Miles recognizes the knife that was left behind at the scene, and he knows that they’re dealing with his militia protégé Alec. We get a flashback to when Miles first gave Alec the knife during Miles’ militia days (it had belonged to both his father and grandfather), and in subsequent flashbacks, we learn about Alec and Miles’ falling out. Alec had been sent to kill a bigwig in Texas, he failed the mission and was seen, so Miles has to send him back to Texas to face justice in the interests of not starting a war between the Monroe Republic and Texas. Needless to say, while it makes sense, Alec didn’t appreciate this arrangement very much.

Anyway, the crew eventually arrives in Atlanta, which is surprisingly civilized considering there is no electricity. The people are all wearing clean, modern clothes and appear to be shopping at well-stocked shops. This all, as I mentioned in the intro, pretty much makes no sense. The team wants to capture Alec and get him away from the nuke, but chaos erupts when a Monroe helicopter drops leaflets warning of an imminent nuclear detonation. Miles finds Alec pretty quickly, and they get into a knock down, drag out fight that is only ended by Charlie’s bow and arrow. Miles is captured by Georgia Federation forces, and Charlie is left to deal with Alec. Alec taunts Charlie about being his replacement, and how Miles is going to screw her over too. When Charlie says that she thinks things will be different because Miles is her uncle, Alec alludes to something horrible that Miles once did to Rachel, but he doesn’t say what it was. So Rachel is left doubting if she can trust Miles.

Miles, meanwhile, has been taken to see the President of the Georgia Federation, Kelly Foster. Apparently they have a history, because she tells Miles that she should slit him for what he’s done and holds a knife to his crotch. Is there any woman on this show that Miles hasn’t banged? Anyway, Miles is finally set free when he convinces President Foster that he’s the best person to find the nuke and stop Alec, since he’s the one who trained Alec in the first place. Miles does indeed find Alec, and he ends up killing Alec as Monroe is trying to give the order to detonate the nuke. Charlie sees that Miles has killed his former sidekick, and a part of her has to wonder if she’s next. President Foster is very happy that this threat is over, and she essentially drafts Miles and the rest of the Rebels to serve as a second front (the Georgia army being the first) in the upcoming war against the Monroe Republic. I’m thinking that’s not what the rebels had in mind.