From J.J. Abrams (Lost, Alias, Fringe, Star Trek) Eric Kripke (Supernatural), and Jon Favreau (Iron Man, Cowboys and Aliens) comes an adventurous story about people who have grown in up in a reality where electricity either ceased to exist, or no longer works.
Revolution starts out in the past exposing the viewers to the day the black out occurred and the whole world lost electrical power, as a father of 2 Ben Matheson (Tim Guinee) residing with his wife Rachel (Elizabeth Mitchell) in Chicago, Il is frantically on the phone and watching a program download to his lap top trying to save a file to some kind of triangular metal alloyed USB device, as he tells his brother Miles (Billy Burke),“ Everything is going to be shut down forever!” At that moment the cell phone quits transmitting the signal, the cars on the roads come to a halt, air planes fall from the sky, and power grids explode.The character Aaron (Zak Orth) leads us with a voice over into American landscapes in ruins 15 years into the future , as we come to small farming community where he is trying to teach young children the importance of not understanding why physics went “berserk”. Aaron comes off a little different from the rest of cast, as his clothes depicts our own currently modern revival of vintage clothes and there’s not a trace of colonial or military to his personal aesthetic.
Next we are reintroduced to Ben Matheson, who seems to have taken a leadership position in this charming farming community and asks Aaron where his kids, Charlie (Tracey Spiridokas) and Danny (Graham Rogers) are. Aaron tells him they left early to go hunting.
We go to a forest scene in which Charlie is leading Danny to a turned-over-covered-in-brush RV in order to go and explore it’s contents. It becomes clear that something like a vehicle have become relics to the younger generations. Danny seems less than enthused to follow in his sister’s footsteps, but does so anyways. Inside Charlie finds an unused postcard featuring the former Chicago Stadium and swips it for her own. She also peers into a freezer drawer to see the remains of perished frozen food containers in which she flashes back to the night of black out when her parents let her eat a whole container of vanilla ice cream, explaining to her that it’s going to go bad anyways and that she should take the time to remember how it tastes. It’s in this flashback that I think we can get the sense of who Charlie is, or what she represents to the series. In a time of darkness and uncertainty Charlie finds something “good” and innocent in sharing a moment with her parents.
Soon Charlie’s flashback is disrupted by her brother’s wheezing. It turns out he has asthma. Charlie brings him back to their father’s house in the village where Maggie (Ana Lisa Phillips), the town doctor, is able to help him, and she and Ben lecture Charlie of the dangers in this world. Charlie tries to rebutle by explaining she doesn’t believe that everything in the world is bad, but more over she lashes out at Maggie for being one to give her any advice, as clearly Charlie is not found of her father’s relationship with her, which causes Ben to remind Charlie that her mother died “out there” and if she leaves, she’ll end up dead too!
Charlie flees, as Ben tries to say he’s sorry, but Charlie goes to a place where she seemingly has found comfort these past 15 years, at an old Ferris Wheel. Charlie also has hidden vintage Star Wars lunch box where she keeps some memorabilia of the things she holds most dear. There’s another Chicago postcard, a Rubik’s cube, an ipod, and a picture of her mom and dad together. In the meantime, the village gets visitors. A militia called The Monroe Republic. This faction lead by Captain Neville (Giancarlo Esposito) has comes to capture Ben. Ben gives Aaron his USB device, tells him to take it on the road and not to let the militia find it. Captain Neville starts out calm and pleasant, but his words turn patronizing, as his patients quickly runs out. After being threatened, Ben decides to go with Neville and asks Maggie to look after his children, but while they argue, Danny comes toting and pointing his cross bow at them and asks the militia to leave.
The situation escalates, as Danny refuses to listen to his father who is pleading with him to back down, while another villager, Caleb, chimes in with his illegal musket, as only the militia is allowed to own them. Danny shoots first and then several shots on both sides ring out, but Captain Neville is man with skills, but also impatience and he shoots Ben in the crossfire. Maggie and the villagers rush to Ben’s side, Neville takes Danny instead, and Charlie hears the gun shots and runs as fast as she can back to the village. By the time Charlie arrives the militia have left.
Dying Ben begs his daughter to go to Chicago to find his brother Miles at the former Grand Hotel and says that he will help her get Danny back. He tells her she is strong, like her mother and that she can do this. She nods and Ben dies. Soon Charlie is ready to go and so is Maggie, after a brief despute Charlie excepts Maggie’s offer and they leave the village, but Aaron too chimes in and says that he is also coming, because Ben was his friend.
Captain Neville and the militia stop to get water and Neville feels compelled to tell Danny why he took him, -that General Sebastian “Bass” Monroe (David Lyons) might have his head for this and stoically Danny says he hopes so. Neville again goes from pleasant to agitated at a snap and smacks Danny across the face and reminds Danny who‘s fault it is that we‘re in this situation and then walks away and tells another member to take his letter presumably back to base. Danny had noticed that the screws connected to the metal pipe on the wagon that he is hand-cuffed to are loose and he begins to work on his escape.
Charlie comes to meet Nate (JD Prado) at another water source location. Although they introduced themselves by name, Charlie doesn’t give out any details and gets some water and returns to her group. Soon Charlie, Aaron, and Maggie see a pair of airplanes abandoned on a runway. Aaron wants to stop revealing he was once worked for Google and was worth 80 million dollars! Maggie is skeptical, but Aaron insists that their our probably things they could use/take such as a medical kit. Charlie is then woken to bandits about to slit their throats (a reminder to what her father was warning her about). Maggie brilliantly lures them to a whiskey bottle in her coat pocket. Two of them pass the bottle to each other while the third begins to further assault Charlie. Two of them start to cough up blood and become ill, and then suddenly Nate kills them all with his bow and arrows…Charlie has chosen to trust Nate whom says he happens to also be going to Chicago, arguing again that she doesn’t believe that everyone is a monster, but Maggie is skeptical, but still ends up going along with Charlie’s decision.
In the meantime while the Militia is sleeping, Danny is able to break free, beat a militia member with a pipe, and escape the militia, until he finally comes a highly pollinated field where he passes out due to a severe asthma attack. The others reach Chicago and The Grande Hotel. Miles doesn’t just give himself over, let alone he eventually comes to tell Charlie that he is not interested in helping her and why should he. She tearfully responds to him, “Because we’re family.”. .Miles looks at her like she’s nuts and doesn’t change his position, eventually Miles spots Nate as member of the Monroe Republic (his arm is branded) and Miles becomes rather agitated that Charlie wasn’t smart enough to not lead them here and tells them to get out.Soon the militia comes for Miles and a battle ensues. Miles is excellent with his sword, but is severly out numbered. Suddenly Charlie and Gang return and try to help Miles, who seems like he could handle it from there. Aaron makes an attempt to hit a militia member over the head, but not succeeding, but luckily Maggie comes from behind and stabs him! In the meantime Charlie had ran outside from Militia members to try and un-jam her crossbow, but she could do it in time and tries to defend herself with her bow alone…Nate comes kills the officer and quickly walks by her, letting her go free.
Danny then wakes up from his sleepy slumber in a nice house, but is a bit weak. He meets a women named Grace, who explains she gave him asthma medicine that can help him, in which he never had seen before. Additionally she gives him an enhaler, vaguely explaining that it was her son’s. She questions him, but sees how week he is and doesn’t have the heart to kick him out.Captain Neville however, has tracked Danny and comes to Grace’s front door. She lies to him about Danny. Again he starts of pleasantly overly explanatory, tries to establish a link between them by asking about her career before the blackout. She said she was an algebra teacher and he reveals that he was an insurance adjuster and that those skills of telling when people are lying never goes out of style. She is forced by a nod to admit she lied about Danny not being there and points him in the direction. Danny hers them coming, but he isn’t quick enough and is again taken by the Monroe Republic.
Ultimately Miles decides to go with Charlie, but explains their going to need help. He takes a final drink grabs his stuff and walks out the doors of the bar and into the light of day.We flashback again to reveal that Miles military buddy is in fact Sebastian “Bass” Monroe. And when they reach the military base Miles shows his access card and is aloud to enter. Bass says he can’t find his, but looks at one of guards and says, “You know me.” He quickly shows him his wrist which has the Monroe Republic Logo inked in black and they let him in.Back in the present the letter Neville sent earlier reaches camp and we come to see that Bass is the one that is looking for Miles.
The final scene however is back at Grace’s house. She has secret computer room and her own USB device the same as Aaron’s. It appears the device allows her to create or use energy in a certain radius. The computer boots up and she suddenly typing back and forth with some unknown figure. Grace says the Militia has come, the other person asks, “did they find it?” and also then asks, “what do we do now?”
References - Bad Robot is known to use many pop cultural, philosophical, allegorical, cultural, scientific, and/or historical references with in the construct of their works to both establish themes, but also to bring fans together. The following are some both spotted in the episode, but a couple are just maybe references.
Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi: One of the most more influential and cinematic advances of it’s time, George Lucas brought us Star Wars: a galactic family saga told across six films that infused various philosophies, cultures, and genres in film all together to tell a story of a boy who lost his innocence and his humanity, and how his children, especially his son, was able to save him, despite almost loosing all hope himself. Return of the Jedi is specifically referenced on Charlie’s lunch box. It hints that her story (and maybe Danny’s) is a coming of age story where a younger generation can save, or revive and older generation in a time of darkness by giving them A New Hope. But also about how an older generation may be able to rely on the younger generation to give them the direction they need to succeed in their quests for freedom of oppression (or to find peace). It may allude to military tactics, advanced technology, eastern philosophy, criminals turning heroic, freedom fighters, and the reuniting of family.
AC/DC: A Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Band founded in the 1970’s is actually names for a pre-existing abbreviation: “alternating current/direct current” Electricity. This may mean we are dealing with a piece of technology, like a Dynamo Electric Generator…
Monroe Republic: The character General Sebastian “Bass” Monroe may be a reference to the final founding father and fifth president of the United States, President James Monroe. Monroe fought in the American REVOLUTIONARY war and was known for “The Monroe Doctrine” which outlined laws about dealing with European invasion/intervention and is a hallmark in American Foreign Policy . (Which maybe hints about hidden motives of the British accented character Maggie and why she was ‘with’ Ben and why she’s following Charlie). President Monroe also lived during two conflicting American ideals “The Era of Good Feelings” and “The Panic of 1819”. Another possible reference, (which came to me while looking into Grace) lead me to a famous Grass Roots or original founder of Blue Grass musician, Billy Monroe. Blue grass was initially of Irish heritage, before it was infused with Gospel, Blues, and/or Jazz.
Sebastian who’s name meaning derives from Latin and is named for a place in Asia Minor, also in Greek translates to “Awe, Reverence, to be ashamed, and dread”, and is associated to a 13th Century Saint of the same name (St. Sebastian), was a Christian Martyr. He was eventually was tied to a tree and shot with an arrow from the Christian persecution of the Roman Emperor Diocletian.
Grace/Graceland: The character Grace happens to be an African American women who seemingly may be part of a resistance movement against the Monroe Republic. As Monroe may also be a throw back reference to an American President and certain revolutionary American idealism, might Grace also be too, as some of American history (The American Civil War) was about ‘slaves’ (or minorities) fighting/revolting for freedom. American History in culture and/or philosophy is also full of Judeo-Christian themes woven in doctrines, laws, and political movements. Grace Biblically has many meanings such as beauty, providence, good will, agreeable, rejoice, integrity, ect. African American culture is also heavily associated with Christian themes and “grass roots” in partaking in building America, as they brought and have influenced America culture with Gospel music. In fact it’s these themes that also inspired the farm turned “colonial” mansion “Graceland“, eventually bought by Elvis Presley (a Musician known to be “The King”of Rock’n Roll, while also trying to bring a larger audience to African American music) and allegedly is his final resting place.
Sigma (“S”) and the standby button: Since I brought up the Monroe Republic, I would like to detour to take a look at their logo/signature. It’s looks like an “M” encased in a circle, but when you rotate it a quarter counter clockwise you can see the “M” now looks a little like the Greek Upper Case Letter Sigma. (Which is the equivalent to our letter “S”). But for whatever reason the Sigma also looks more like our letter “E”, which could lead us to E = Energy. I also noticed that the lower case Sigma looks like an “o” with a line attached like a little tail. Our Revolution logo also has a special looking “o” motif of our modern day power sign an “o” with a line penetrating it, which actually was not originally the all in one power button, but the “stand by” button. It’s this along with the metallic USB devices that lead me to believe that the Energy is not gone, but literally have been put to “sleep“ on stand by.
Lord of the Rings: - Erik Kripke himself has already stated that his pitch for the series is “Lord of the Rings on the American Highway.” The USB devices can be worn like necklaces and then is reminiscent of the ring Frodo wears on a chain like a necklace. In Lord of the Rings the Ring itself is metaphoric for carrying a dark and terrible burden and the ring must be destroyed. Even though we start in America and we see a great deal of American colonial aspects within the clothes and settings, there is also a bit of European Forest People, or Medieval undertones with high boots, swords, and bows, which Lord of the Rings also has. J.J. Abrams has also suggested that the scope of Revolution can go beyond America and I have wonder if that is something that is hinted with the Maggie character?
The Matrix: This is a maybe reference since there is no definitive evidence, but the reason I thought of it was when Captain Neville rides into town and takes of his sun-glasses, which reminded me of the glasses Neo and Morpheus wore in the Matrix films. Neville also is the only character to where a long jacket. Additionally there is a minor character in The Matrix: Reloaded and Revolutions named Maggie, who is a medical officer and a “rebel”. If there would be more proof down the line, some kind of direct reference, then I might speculate that there could be something about the energy in this universe not being “normal” to begin with, or that something like a matrix reality is being creating, or has been created. (we could be in ‘the matrix‘)
A Game of Thrones: Again no definitive evidence, but Neville explains that to Danny that taking him instead of Ben may lead to Bass Monroe having Neville’s “head on a stick”. Although it’s something that might generally play to medieval culture, it is also an iconic part of A Game of Thrones as Ned Stark's head is put on a stick… -Additionally Revolutions Musical score has strums of Sitar-like chords. HBO’s Game of Thrones opening title sequences also has similar swishes of Eastern styled chords. And like Star Wars, GOT has multicultural aspects and like Lord of the Rings, a bit of medieval culture mixed together. Game of Thrones (or The Song of Fire and Ice series) is about both repeating cycles of life, war, and political gain: power and control.
Dies of Fire: So far there is no direct references to the series written by S. M. Sterling, but fans of the Emberverse series most likely see a very similar retrospective concept. I will be keeping my eyes out for an actual reference.
Speculation: I think the power is not gone, but being redirected and having an effect of ‘energy being on stand by’, which leads me then to a piece of technology that is redirecting the energy and/or absorbing the energy to put into something else, which then may also require another force to break/block the electric field. The USB devices seems to either restore or penetrate the blocking force in a small radius. -But thinking about Star Wars and something like “the death star”, I have to wonder if the energy is being used to create some other piece of technology? -I also think that maybe the USB devices may be multifunctional, and I wonder if they also don’t “fit into” and activate another device/piece of tech?! (another reason why they are burdens) I think Rachel Matheson could be the one writing back to Grace, if not her, then an unknown character.
My Quick Review IMO a Pilot is not to be perfect, but a way to establish the initial story, introduce us to the characters, and give a taste of the style of the series. Although I think it’s true the actors are still finding their footing and some lines and performances we’re a little too dramatic, I felt that they did what should do. I also think we shouldn't be too quick to judge the characters. Bad Robot’s stories are often empirical in nature in terms of creating situations where characters are faced with hard decisions, and those decisions start to reflect who those people really are. It’s true it appears Charlie is an over enthused young adult, but her passion and belief in something good might make up the difference in the long run. Additionally it’s clear from Miles remarks, that Charlie is written to be that way in this first episode, and I think there is a story here about two generations being able to learn from each other, and that Charlie herself may be able to give something back, hope. Danny is more stoic and even in the flashbacks he was crying, while Charlie seemed to be more careless and/or adaptable when the power goes out. Billy Burke’s and Giancarlo Eposito’s performances where probably the best and the most natural. Although Miles seems to be this lonely alcoholic bad a** type, I think he will have skills and he could also be a danger to Charlie. Captain Neville is patronizing and has this simmering disposition. He seems to care about ‘the truth’ and explaining it to others, trying to justify his actions and/or make connections with others, but we see several times his patients runs thin and this makes him an intriguing character. With Nate, Maggie, and Grace we really get very little about their backgrounds and why they have come to be where they are. For Grace it seems she is fighting in the resistance, but I am interested in her past and the story about her son. With Maggie and Nate I am not so sure if they are as they appear. Another great performance was Zak Orth’s. Aaron is probably the easiest person to like and we might be able to speculate that although he’s not a physical fighter, his technological expertise might come in handy down the line. Like Grace and her son, I am interested to find out what happened to Aaron's wife. Tim Guinee, David Lyons, and Elizabeth Mitchell's characters where really left in the dark in terms of knowing very much about them, but I think it’s clear that what is going on between all the Matheson’s and Bass is what really ripped the family apart and that is what the black out is a metaphor for. I thought the cinematography was wonderful, especially the outdoor scenes. I thought the fighting was fun, not the best, but did not give us too much of it. It was reminiscent of Pirates of the Caribbean’s choreography, which keeps the mood light. The music was interesting too. Although there were some touches of Lost, but mostly it held it's own, with hints of eastern strings woven in. For those that may criticize the young character's clean and vibrant looks, one need only to remember that entertainment can be an art form and since this really a Dystopian-Post Apoco TURNED Utopian REVIVAL story, one can see the artistic importance to making the younger generations seem bright, energetic, and alive.
The Bad Robot Factor: For me half the fun of watching Revolution is knowing that it is a Bad Robot production. IMO they really are artists, as their works tend to have some things in common from names, types of characters, riffs, Easter Eggs, juxtapositions, and themes. Every week I will write a bit about those things after the recap. Last year I tried to do this for Alcatraz, but I didn’t keep it separate from the recap itself and so I have decided for those that did not like that, that I would make a specific section for it so that one has the option to not read it.
Let’s start with Charlotte “Charlie” Matheson. Charlie or Charles is a reoccurring name of characters that end up in a lot of Bad Robot works including Alias (Francie’s cheating boyfriend Charlie), Lost (Charlie Pace, Charles Widmore, and Charlie Hume), Fringe (Charlie Frances), and Super 8 (Charles Kaznyk). Sadly last year’s new Bad Robot Production, Alcatraz, did not make it for a second season, but for those of you who gave it a shot or read about it, you knew that the story was partially centered around the Madson family, with Rebecca Madson being our female lead. Madson seems pretty close to Matheson, and last year I commented that Rebecca Madson is also very close to Rebecca Mader’s name, who played Charlotte Staples Lewis on Lost. In some ways you could see Charlotte Staples Lewis in Charlie Matheson in the sense that they are both explorer types and perhaps both tenacious about their family and origins. But Matheson and Madson might also mean that some of the plot of Alcatraz could spill over, and be recontexualized into Revolution, which isn't hard to consider, since most of Bad Robot TV series revolve around Government conspiracy/experiments in some way.
Three of the actors are Bad Robot Alumni. Elizabeth Mitchell had a large part and gained a huge fan base on Lost for her portrayal of Juliet Burke. Billy “Burke” guest stared in a season one episode of Fringe (In Which We Meet Mr. Jones) as a former love interest of Olivia Dunham, Lucas Vogal, whom like his Revolution Character was a former U.S. Military member, and Zak Orth also guest stared on the first season of Fringe (The Ghost Network) as man named Roy McComb, who could draw and/or construct small scale models of Fringe events as they were about to happen!
Other Reoccurring names include Ben (Lost, Felicity), Miles (Lost, Super 8), Aaron (Lost), and Rachel (Lost, Fringe, Felicity, Alias), Daniel/Danny/Danielle (Lost, Alias), Grace (Alias), and Tom/Thomas (Alias, Lost)Bad Robot also likes to re-use objects in their works to convey metaphors and ideas relating to the characters and themes.
The Ferris Wheel was first made iconic in Cloverfield, but actually makes it’s first appearance in Alias (A Broken Heart) set in the background across the water. It’s a special moment for them. The Ferris Wheel also appears in an episode of Alcatraz (Ernest Cobb) and Person of Interest, as POI shares a bend with Cloverfield in general being set in New York, sometime at Coney Island, and both focusing on the use of cameras. Bad Robot also started co-producing Mission Impossible series for the third and fourth films in the franchise. Kerry Russell (Felicity) cameo’s to play agent Lindsay Ferris.
Going back to Alias for a minute, If there is one character I thought of while watching Charlie Matheson in this Pilot episode, it was Sydney Bristow. Both their stories start their adventures having to do with an important person in their lives being taken away from them, both named Danny. Obviously the difference is that Sydney’s fiancé` dies, where as Charlie’s brother is just taken, but in both cases it’s “Danny” that sets things in motion for those characters. Beyond that you can see that Sydney and Charlie are both warm, heart on their sleeves, sometimes impulsive, and very determined characters. This also brings me to speculate that Charlie’s mother Rachel is still alive, and it points out this idea that Charlie and Danny, like Sydney, may not really know whom their parents/relatives really are and what they are all involved with.
Danny is also a variation of Daniel and we know in Revolution Charlie is short for Charlotte. On Lost Charlotte ended up being rather important to Daniel Faraday...
The Lunch Box. Again Charlie’s vintage lunch box is another nod back to one of Lost’s main female characters, Kate Austen. When Kate was a child (The Incident) she and her childhood best friend, Tom Brennan, went to the local drug store to steal a New Kids on the Block lunch box, which we had learned earlier (Born to Run) is for their “time capsule” that they dig up when Kate comes home on the run from law enforcement to visit her mother who had become ill. The significance in Lost was that the contents inside the lunch box, specifically Tom’s toy air plane, was a way to convey “fate” and not being able to escape it in the Lost universe and also that Kate is one of the people to be touched by Jacob, and has the possibly to become one of the new kids [on the block] to protect the Island one day. The Island itself could also then be coined as a time capsule for ever preserving and showing the connections of everyone through time and space in various ways. For Charlie I think it’s significant in a very similar way, but that fate aspect came from her taking the postcard she found in the RV back to her lunch box/time capsule, as she comes to walk by the stadium in order to find Miles later in the episode. Additionally Charlie’s Lunch Box was a vintage Return of the Jedi Lunch box, which might not only reflect the Luke Skywalker in character, but also the idea that she may have to let go of some of her childhood notions, her past, in order to preserve and protect it. Like a Jedi, It’s clear that Charlie and maybe Danny needs some guidance to be able to control their emotions better.
One of the contents in Charlie’s lunch box was a Rubik’s Cub. Cubes and boxes are something often a motif in Bad Robot Works (Mystery Box, Box Company, ect -Lost, Massive Dynamic Logo -Fringe, Box part of Peter’s Machine -FRINGE, Polymorphic ’white Rubik’s cubes’-Super 8, The Cube-Alias) that represent the multiple aspects, or sides, of something may have, in terms of us unraveling a mystery, as the Rubik’s cube itself is a puzzle to be put together.
Another interesting parallel comes from after Neville comes to re-capture Danny who was residing in Grace’s house. She has a secret computer room and her own USB triangular device in which she can access a certain radius of energy. Her old style computer and her secret communication is reminiscent to Walt’s communication from the Hydra back to Michael on the swan’s apple computer. Additionally Grace herself is reminiscent of the Other: Beatrice Klugh (April GRACE) In “missing pieces” extra video (The Deal, Room 23) we also learn that Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) and Ben (Michael Emerson) knew that Walt was special, or had special abilities. Additionally it is speculated that it is some version of Klugh who says (when played backwards) “Only fools are enslaved in time and space.” on The Room 23 video footage. That phrase may apply in Revolution to Grace, going back to Biblical and American themes of African Americans being able to no longer be slaves to the establishment.
Other References to Lost: Airplanes falling from the sky (which is also in Fringe - Welcome to Westfield), a crashed airplane on a runway and a non crashed plane on a runway = Oceanic & Ajira. Aaron’s allergic to bees and vintage rock-music shirts (Charlie Pace = people don’t realize that he isn’t useless - warm hearted), Danny having asthma ( Shannon = having asthma and not wanting to be useless) two characters first names are Maggie and Grace (again Shannon - was played by Maggie Grace), Aaron’s comments about wanting Charmin (Reminiscent to Hugo on his fruit diet), Maggie stitching up Miles (Kate stitching up Jack -both Maggie and Jack are doctors), The Stadium (Sports = Fate -Jack, Desmond, Penny, Dogen ) Thinking about Lost’s younger 20-something characters, like Shannon, Boone, and Charlie, I realize how exceptionally desperate they were to find their places in the world and be accepted by others who have come before them. With Shannon it was a tragic love story, with Boone he become the apprentice of (Darth) Locke and died for it, and Charlie who was eventually so horribly rejected by Locke (and Eko), and later after the swan implosion desperately Locke needed him, through Desmond’s awareness to all the other ways other versions of Charlie had died, changed the reason of his current death and proved that he wasn’t useless, because he was able to set things in motion that helped saved the people he came to love most. IMO that was one the most important deaths and spiritual aspects told in Lost in terms of dying for a real cause. I speculate It’s that theme again (and unlike LOST) is going to be more high lighted and celebrated in Revolution. (Hope will “LIGHT” the way)
The style of story telling is told with flashbacks, just like Lost, in order to establish a relativity between now and then.. Captain Neville in particular with his pencil pushing background is similar to the story of John Locke, as going to the Island for John was just like Revolution’s tagline: "when the world lost power, I found mine.” John’s whole background alluded to someone who wanted to be a military leader and provide for others, to be recognized. Neville may share a bend with Locke in authoritative issues. But Neville also reminds me of two opposing characters presented in Super 8, Captain Nelac and Dr. Woodward. But Nevelle also seems like he has a lot of integrity and so I am also reminded of Marcus Dixon (Alias) and Phillip Broyles (Fringe).
The Supernatural Factor: I would love to also do a Supernatural/Erik Kripke factor, but sadly I have yet to see much of Supernatural (I know. Shame on me) and so my knowledge is less than limited, but If you guys are interested I could set something up where you can e-mail me and tell me what references or parallels you think you see and I can post and credit some of them! -Just let me know in the comments below if you're interested in this. For now all I can tell you is that this is also a tale about two brothers...
