Last month, we gave you a first impression of J.J. Abrams’ new show, Revolution. Now that it aired, we have the opportunity to sit and talk about what we thought. I am a huge J.J. Abrams fan and have high hopes for this show, but the pilot wasn’t as impressive as I was hoping it would be.
This isn’t to say it was poorly done or that the show isn’t promising – I just felt a little unsatisfied because the pilot didn’t add to the story that was already given in the trailer. There was very little to be surprised or excited about and I feel like that could have been avoided if a) the trailer hadn’t been a summary of the first episode, or b) they had packed in more “umf” into the episode. The gist of the story is that the lights went out and they think the Mathesons know something about it or how to turn them back on.
I found Charlie’s relationship to her step-mother (Maggie) to be a bit cliched in the whole vein of “you’re not my real mom,” but both women are highly capable of taking care of themselves and seem to be very strong characters. They are not infallible though; they were attacked by hoodlums while camping out and Charlie nearly got sexually assaulted, but Maggie slipped them some poison whiskey and Charlie was saved by a boy she encountered earlier called Nate. I’m not a fan of Charlie needing saving but I can see how it was a useful device in helping Nate gain Charlie’s trust which is key for the episode and probably the season.
Nate’s character is on the fence – he’s revealed to be a part of the militia from his branded wrist (which probably shouldn’t have been in the trailer), but he saved her from her attackers, and later had her back in a fight scene. I think he’ll be an interesting character to watch, and now that we’ve seen everything from the trailer, the next episode should be all new information and hopefully more exciting. I would also like to see how long it takes them to realize they should ask to see someone’s wrist before deciding to trust them.
This should have been a secret!
