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Revolution 2.16 "Exposition Boulevard" Review: What We Do For Family

Mar 14, 2014

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    This week’s episode of Revolution, “Exposition Boulevard,” was written by the team of David Rambo and Trey Callaway and directed by Nick Copus. Rambo and Callaway last collaborated on “Happy Endings.” Both titles sound like they could be references to the structure of a narrative, but this week’s seems to be at least partially a dig at itself for the amount of exposition taking place in the episode. Characters reunite and have to tell their stories to each other and we also get a nice juicy flashback in this episode – something we haven’t had a lot of this season.

    The episode begins right where several storylines left off. Most importantly, we are right back in the middle of the Mexican standoff between Miles (Billy Burke), Tom (Giancarlo Esposito), Rachel (Elizabeth Mitchell), and Jason (JD Pardo). Tom is using every angle to try to convince Miles to give up Monroe (David Lyons). Just as Miles seems to be weakening, the Patriots, lead by Doyle (Christopher Cousins) arrive and allow Rachel and Miles to escape and find Monroe and company.

    The episode has two main themes running through it. The first is the power of suggestion and the art of manipulation. The most obvious example is Kim (Jaz Sinclair) and Dillon (John Omohundro), the soldiers that Miles and Monroe find spying on them. They have been indoctrinated by the re-education camp. They have numbers tattooed inside their eyelids that act as activation codes to make them do whatever the activator wants or to kill. This is beautifully shot with close-ups of their eye and the mouth of the speaker. This is a good way to de-humanize them. We also learn that Jason has a code too that Doyle is going to exploit against Tom. Sinclair does a really terrific job at playing the various incarnations of Kim – soldier, scared teenager, killer. I was sad to see the end of her character when she kills her father and slits her own throat.

    Tom is also a master of manipulation. He starts the episode by creating doubts in both Rachel and Miles’ alliances. Rachel worries that Miles is too much like Monroe, and Miles begins to doubt Monroe’s motivation. Tom is not able to manipulate Doyle for two reasons. First, the both hate each other with a passion. Doyle tells Tom that he considers it a personal affront that Tom and Julia (Kim Raver) are still alive. Secondly, as we learn from the flashback, Doyle is himself a master manipulator. Doyle was the re-education consultant to the DOD, and he is the one behind the re-education camps.

    However, Tom sees that Doyle has completely alienated Truman (Steven Culp) and is quick to exploit it. The flashbacks finally give us some insight into Truman. When the blackout occurred he was a prison guard at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It’s six months after the blackout and the guards are mindlessly following their last orders to feed the prisoners. Truman is starting to question what they are doing when Jack Davis (Cotter Smith) then Secretary of Defense, now President, arrives with Doyle and Roger Allenford (David Aaron Baker) in tow. Davis’s plan now that the real President and Speaker are dead is to get rid of the Vice President to open the way for him to take over. Davis comes across like a zealot as he tells the assembled that they were being destroyed from within by parasites and perverts and the blackout is their chance to atone. Only the strong will survive in this new America. Doyle then tells them that they will be the new founding fathers. Truman is happy to have the responsibility taken off his shoulders and looks on eagerly.

    In the present, however, Doyle’s brow-beating and demeaning comments are starting to have an adverse effect on Truman’s loyalty, so he agrees to help Tom capture Monroe without Doyle’s knowledge. When that plan fails, Doyle calls Truman a “feeble-minded child.” Truman laments that he didn’t sign on for this. Tom is quick to exploit his advantage and suggests that “It’s all on Doyle – someone should do something about him...” And clearly, Truman is starting to think about doing it.

    In the present, we also see President Davis brow-beating and threatening Allenford. He tells him that the bootcamp is extremely important for taking Texas, and that if Allenford can’t get the cadets in the field, he’ll have Allenford, Doyle, and their families shot. I have to wonder if Davis isn’t pushing Allenford to the point where he will have had enough. I somehow also think that if Davis went too far against Doyle, he would regret it.

    Meanwhile the nanotech continues to manipulate Aaron (Zak Orth). He and Priscilla (Maureen Sebastian) continue on their way ‘home’ to Texas and stop for the night. Aaron remarks on how happy Priscilla seems and she acknowledges that she is. She attributes it to them having been through hell but still being alive and together. She continues to get closer to him and finally suggests they sleep together. Aaron is quite ok with it. At the end of the episode, however, Priscilla walks out into the woods alone at night where she seems to be communing with the firefly nanotech – they swarm around her happily. Have they made a baby nanotech and really expanded their family? Has she been being influenced by them all along or just since they left Lubbock? Given that she didn’t want Aaron to save them, I’m assuming it’s only since Aaron fixed the code.

    The second main theme is family. Families are used against each other – Priscilla’s promise of a reuniting of family with Aaron is a strong motivator for him. Davis uses threats against the families of Allenford and Doyle even while spending the day with his grandson. Doyle is controlling Tom through Julia. Monroe wants to re-establish the republic for Connor (Mat Vairo).

    The episode begins with a reuniting and blending of families. Monroe is giving Charlie (Tracy Spiridakos) a hard time about sleeping with Connor just as she is reunited with her mother and Monroe is reunited with his brother-in-arms, Miles. Miles tells Monroe about Tom and is even sympathetic to some extent because the Patriots have Julia, forcing Tom to work for them. Monroe has no sympathy, but is full of pride for his own son. Miles expresses surprise that Monroe is happy his kid’s a killer. Monroe answers – “family business.” For those familiar with Supernatural, you will have recognized that as a signature line from that series too.

    When they re-group with Gene (Stephen Collins), he tells Rachel that Connor and Charlie are sleeping together because he knows the signs because he already raised a wild daughter. They are certainly setting them up as the Romeo and Juliet of the series. Of course, Jason makes an interesting addition to the equation, and he is certainly not happy about Charlie’s new boyfriend.

    The group splits on how to handle the child soldiers. Gene won’t allow them to be killed and Rachel sides with him. Miles defends them against Monroe even while Miles remains somewhat ambivalent. Monroe is the most pragmatic of the group, pointing out that everyone is someone’s kid. Using children really is a clever idea as most people would hesitate to hurt a child or believe that child could be bad or a threat, resulting in them letting their guard down as Gene does. Monroe continues to chafe at not being in charge.

    Ultimately, Gene insists on returning the children to their families which turns out to be the wrong decision as both Kim and her father end up dead. Monroe wants to kill Gene before he gets them all killed by being too empathetic in a war situation. Miles urges Rachel to be realistic and acknowledge that there will inevitably be collateral damage. Rachel goes back to family when she says she can’t let them kill someone else’s son.

    They are still faced with the problem of Dillon. Gene maintains that he’s a good kid, but Miles insists he’s a problem that they have to take care of. Miles tells Rachel to be smart, but she insists that she’s been smart, and she’s tired of doing the smart thing and having everyone die – she’d rather do the right thing. Rachel cuts Dillon loose and ultimately Miles can’t shoot him. I can’t help but think that this kid is going to come back and kill Gene for their stupidity. Rachel praises Miles for not taking the shot, but he’s not so sure it was the right thing.

    Meanwhile, there is an epic fight when Tom and Truman’s men attack. There’s a great shootout, during which Charlie comes face to face with Jason and knocks him out. There is a terrific sequence that cuts back and forth between Tom fighting Monroe and Jason fighting Connor. Connor sees Tom beating the crap out of Monroe and goes to help him, and when Monroe sees Jason beating the crap out of Connor, he also goes to help him. It seems that father and son have bonded!

    The final scene between Monroe and Miles is a powerful one. Miles knows Monroe like a brother and realizes that Monroe is lying about why he wants to win this fight. Monroe is angry that Miles didn’t kill Dillon. Miles realizes that Monroe wants the republic back so that he can rule with Connor – Miles disgustedly calls it the family business – the second time the phrase is used in the episode. Monroe turns the tables and asks Miles what he is fighting for. Monroe presses and asks what Miles is going to do – retire? Play house with his girls? Is there, in fact, no possibility of these men ever having a normal family life? In the end, Miles is unable to tell Monroe what he’s fighting for.

    What did you think of the episode? Do you think Dillon is going to prove to be a problem? Will Monroe kill Gene? Do you think that Truman will kill Doyle? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

29 comments:

  1. Thought this was really fun episode and some of those things I had thought about earlier (like Jason still being able to programmed/something will be off with Priscilla) finally showed themselves.

    "Kim – soldier, scared teenager, killer. I was sad to see the end of her character when she kills her father and slits her own throat.



    I agree She did a great job!! The actor who played her father (Tyrees Allen) is also a villain on the fifth and final season of Alias named Gordon Dean and Alias occasionally featured various types of sleeper agents much like this episode showed us two kinds, --but I was not expecting the nanites to use Priscilla as a host! (and I know you watch POI so you might enjoy this, Gordon Dean was originally Amy Acker's character, Kelly Peyton's boss, but ultimately encouraged Arvin Sloane, the main villain of Alias, to kill Dean, which he does)


    I also really loved [again] the allusions to The Garden of Eden with the apples and the Tree of Life/Knowledge in Aaron and Priscilla scenes.


    I hope for the story's sake that Dillon comes back to help them, because even though realistically Monroe might be right in that this is war, I think Miles had an epiphany, as Rachel serves a moral compass in relation to fact that Monroe's own motivations are seemingly dark and that again we hit a first season progression from where Miles was emotionally during "The Children's Crusade".
    It's not that I don't think that Miles could never play house, but more over it's Bass (and maybe his own father) that never let him believe he could, but ultimately, I think we're not there yet since this is story about war and that ultimately being a Matheson probably means you fight for family, --for a better future and where you basically fight for freedom!


    I really like Truman, but I hope the writers don't have him defect only to immediately be killed! (which is something they seem to like to do), but I do like that at least he is original member of the US Government and seems seperate to the DOD conspiracy...


    Thanks for also pointing out the Supernatural factor! It's good to know and see it from that fan perspective! :)


    Thnaks again as always for another great review Lisa!

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  2. Really great episode one of my favorites and I just know that letting Dillon go is going come back to haunt Miles somehow and David and Billy's scenes together are phenomal. Thank you so much for the great review!!!!!

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  3. Good review, but I gotta say . . . I am officially DONE with Rachel. Seriously, what planet is she from? "Let's win this war without killing any more mothers' sons." Uh, good plan, there, genius. Rachel wouldn't recognize the smart thing if it crawled up her pantleg and bit her on the ass.

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  4. After watching the episode the first time, I was so mad that Miles was portrayed as a man so under Rachel's influence that he forgets who he is. I watched the episode again yesterday and I changed my mind. I actually love it that Miles did the morally right thing (not shooting the kid even if it comes back to haunt him) as it shows the progression in his character. He has a conscience now and of course the conscience causes him some problems as it always does.
    I do wish the writers would stop making Rachel the voice of conscience for Miles (and even claiming she has always been that for him, as that is not true..Charlie was his voice of conscience and could have stayed so even though she is a warrior now as well).
    It would be more convincing if we had seen the development in Rachel's character from the ruthless killer who doesn't care who dies as long as she gets her revenge (again, the writers changed the story by claiming Rachel did the smart thing at the tower..she didn't, she only went to the tower to get revenge on Monroe and it backfired in the most tragic way), to the character who now is Miles' conscience. It really doesn't convince me at all, and I bet, she will be all about revenge and a full out war again when that kid comes back and hurts or even kills Gene.
    Monroe...well, I haven't trusted him even this season, and this episode kind of showed me that I was right...I still hope I am wrong and this will not drive a wedge between Miles and Monroe as I love them together and they need to fight together to win against the Patriots.
    And I really hope that Miles will realize he is fighting for a higher reason and is fighting for the good of the country. His fight started because he wanted to save Rachel's hometown and in a way he still does it (mentioned it again this episode) but I hope as he learns more of the plan of the Patriots, he realizes there is more at stake than one small town..and he fights to save the soul of the country. Of course, we don't know if we get a Season 3 but this would set up a Season 3 wonderfully.
    Overall, Ioved this episode but I am a Miles fan so any episode that is a Miles episode and which also shows us new insight into his character is an episode I love.
    P.S. I loved how well Monroe and Miles know each other...Miles calling Monroe out on his goal to re-establish the republic as a family business, and Monroe calling Miles out that at least he has a goal which Miles doesn't. Intense acting, and great writing.

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  5. Thanks! I don't think I've kept it a secret that Lyons is my favorite on the show... ;)

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  6. OMG! YES! She is officially an idiot... I realize that we need someone to raise a voice for humanity but.... I'm a bit sad for how they've written her character.

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  7. Unfortunately, I'm traveling, so I only had the opportunity to watch the show once - I like to watch twice before reviewing usually. I think Miles' end goal is to defeat the Patriots completely, not just in Willoughby. I hope that they do continue to show Monroe in a different light - the way we saw him earlier in the season in flashbacks. I want him to re-discover the person before he lost his wife and child. I still think that's possible. Unfortunately, I think that a lot of the plotting/characterization issues are a factor of having too many cooks in the kitchen. Often the more exec producers there are, the harder it is to have a single consistent vision....

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  8. Thanks. Definitely a good Garden of Eden allusion. In fact, the green fireflies winding around Priscilla at the end even reminded me of a snake...

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  9. Fully agree with you about too many writers and executive producers...I am not sure if this is common practice nowadays when writing a TV show, but it definitely does not work well with Revolution.

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  10. Well, they could have let Charlie keep part of her humanity and keep her as the voice of conscience..would have made more sense than rewriting the character of Rachel.

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  11. I don't think she's being an idiot, unrealistic, but not an idiot.


    I understand Rachel's position here completely. She lost one son to collateral damage and right now she's on the verge of loosing Charlie, because Charlie's attitude and interest in Conner is in line with the "Monroe way to be" (carefree), because Charlie thinks she doesn't have to care and to live in the moment (which IMO is sometimes a mistake).


    Rachel knows darn well what sacrifice is. She left Danny and Charlie behind allegedly to protect them, but ultimately it didn't.


    This episode also goes back to The Children's Crusade and if Rachel wouldn't be half right, it wouldn't have affected Miles the way it did with him realizing he's just blindly following Bass again and not actually thinking about what it is he cares about...


    If these characters, --If Miles is going a FREEDOM fighter, then he has to have some moral standards. Smart may win wars, but it doesn't necessarily make you a good person --and if you're not fighting for a better world, then you may not ever make a better world.(especially since this a work of fiction) We're suppose to have characters that are heroes, have a conscience, and care about how they go about winning a war ...(In Star Wars the only I ever valued that Yoda said was when he told Obi-One not to take his win as "a victory" implying there are no victories in war, because war is a horrible thing, and to remind him that Jedi are meant to only fight to keep the peace)


    We'll have to wait and see though if Dillian resurfaces and if he comes back to bite them, or if he will help out.

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  12. I actually think it's a combination of having too many episodes per season to fill in and not knowing if they have another season...


    At the beginning of the season Krikpe said that we might see another side of Monroe, but to say that he will just change, -we shouldn't count on that. (and a lot of the Bad Robot villains end up on again and off again rotten things till the end of the series).


    I do think Monroe is a little different, but he still hasn't seem to learn his lesson and Conner is just another way for him to try and gain power again--gives him another excuse to live to be able to take it all out on someone else. The only reason Monroe is here is because Charlie went to get him and convinced him that they needed Monroe to defeat the Patriots and his first conversations with Monroe were about how he does not want to get sucked back in. So I think they are actually going back to the narrative at the beginning of the season.


    The question we should be asking about Monroe is 'can a tiger change it's stripes?' -I was struck when he told Conner in the New Vegas fight cage that he wanted Conner to have a family before creating a Republic, suggesting the he mentally understood what was wrong with himself/his approach to life, but if Monroe is a true sociopath than the problem lies in that he can't "feel" and that makes it much much harder for him to ever change and in that sense the writers are being true to whom Bass is.

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  13. "I do wish the writers would stop making Rachel the voice of conscience for Miles (and even claiming she has always been that for him, as that is not true..Charlie was his voice of conscience and could have stayed so even though she is a warrior now as well)."


    Rachel has to be his conscience now, because Charlie isn't. I know a lot fans didn't really like Charlie the first season, but even though the character is more fun to watch now, her innocence was lost. I don't think the writers are saying that Rachel has always been his voice of reason, but more that she now is...(we still haven't heard the story of why Miles thought Rachel was dead and if this coincides @ the time when Miles attempts to assassinate Monroe?) But Charlie has lost her moral compass and Rachel is just now realizing it...I think Miles and Rachel both have done sudo-immoral things in the past and this is there chance to get it right.

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  14. The writers actually said it during "Revelation revealed" that Rachel has always been his voice of conscience...which I see as a blatant and unnecessary rewrite of Rachel's character. I understand why there needs to be a voice of conscience but I don't think Rachel is the perfect choice for it because of her history. It's the same rewrite as her character saying she has always done the smart thing...Rachel has never done the smart thing..she actually has done some very stupid things which backfired horribly. The writers have done a wonderful job in showing how Miles' character has developed from the "Butcher of Baltimore" to who he is now (a real hero with all of his old demons) and if Rachel is supposed to be the female counterpart to Miles (and she obviously is), I wish the writers would have shown the same development in her character as well.

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  15. Ah, I did not see that one! Interesting comment! :D


    ...like I said, it could still be true in the sense that 1. Charlie is their daughter and Charlie's voice of reason can at time be equivalent to Rachel's being her daughter (fate/genetic)...2. The missing history between them during the Monroe Republic yeas could also prove this to be the case, because that might have been how Miles was able to survive it, through listening to Rachel (and visa versa)


    Rachel at least is willing to ask questions that the other characters don't (except for when it comes to Aaron) so I do think she anchors them all down. I don't think anyone one the show is a perfect voice of reason. They all have problems, but I do think Rachel's heart is trying to be in the right place more than most of the other characters, because she cares so so much (and that's what makes her over emotional and do some questionable things, but I think we can't expect a perfect person) I think Rachel is a counterpart, but she's coming from the opposite side of the pool..

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  16. Except it always grated on me that Charlie - who was pretty sheltered in that little community was always telling the more experienced adults what to do. I like Charlie way better now... :)

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  17. It is common to have several executive producers, but they often work in concert so that you don't even realize that there is more than one person really guiding the ship. Kripke was helped by Bob Singer on Supernatural, for instance, but Singer was more a character-builder than plot driver. I think the issue here is that there was more input in season one and this season has been a bit of a course correct to shift to more of one vision. Kripke never did grossly illogical things on Supernatural.

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  18. There is still lots of Rachel backstory to be revealed. I wonder if her acting as his conscience had something to do with his trying to kill Monroe? It's possible we already know this one way or the other - sorry, very tired today... But still lots of backstory to be filled in.

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  19. Nice review of a good episode. Don't have a clue what the hell is going on with the nano. Whatever it is, I'm not a fan of it.

    Some interesting insight into Truman's past, and I was really glad he went with Tom's plan of trying to be better than Doyle. And, while obviously I want Monroe to stay alive and with Miles, I really wanted Tom/Truman to win since Doyle is a horrible person. And the fight scene was awesome.

    Be interesting to see how things go between Tom/Jason now. Presumably this is why he was going all Terminator earlier in the season - he had been activated. Can Tom snap him out of it again?

    Rachel is just so ridiculously stupid. It's as Monroe said, everyone is someone's kid.

    Glad that Miles now knows Monroe wants the Republic back, and I'm glad he finds it ridiculous. Miles is obviously fighting for Rachel.

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  20. I am glad that I wasn't the only one who thought "Supernatural" when both Miles and Monroe said it. There are a lot of small similarities between the two show and that line really didn't help. lol

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  21. I think he learned his lesson, but then Connor came into the picture. You can see that transformation quite clearly in episode 10 where he tells Connor "trust me kid, it's a dead end" he saw that Connor was very similar to him in that he wanted power too. So when he goes back, in order to get his son to at least acknowledge him. He goes along and says "You're not aiming high enough" Thus sociopathic Monroe was born again. Only this time, he is a little more human.

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  22. There are some really good ideas, this season just lacks the focus and structure. So when that happens, a big tragic melting pot of too many stories trying to be crammed into 22 episodes and what episodes to cram them into. Plus, the story has been dragged, and dragged, very little has been accomplished in 16 episodes and the story is still stuck.

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  23. Ya, I think that's another important thing, where I agree with Maureen that we have seen a nice progression with Miles, but I think the reason we don't see the progression as aptly with Rachel is because we have yet to see a lot of her backstory the way we have with Miles (and really Monroe too)...

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  24. I'm not disagreeing with you, but if a character goes back to their old ways ("reborn" as you put it) it does mean that they haven't "really" learned anything, because ultimately they haven't moved on otherwise they wouldn't go back (like drug addicts), ...or in a sociopaths case, are just good manipulators, but just can't feel anything deep.(because sociopaths don't just start feeling one day and then start the next they tend to be apathetic through and through...)


    I think we get to see him be more human only because he's out of his first-season element (most the time he was in his office) and although I would like to think he became a little more human coming so close to death over and over, I'm more inclined to think we just got to see how convincing-likable he really is and how he was able to appeal to Miles for most of their lives...


    Don't get me wrong, I would love for Conner to be able to reach him, assuming Conner isn't too much like his dad, but after Irina Derevko, Arvin Sloane, Charles Widmore, and William Bell, I'm thinking Bass will always crave his power over his friendships/family, unless they would make Tom the ultimate villain...

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  25. Except that these terrorist (actually sleeper agents is a better term) ARE children (which means they are not at the age where they actually can make "good" rational decisions. New research suggest that the brain actually doesn't get there until one's mid 20's) , were coherst, and became something they did not anticipate becoming.

    "I's not the moral, ethical, or even sensible thing to do. That doesn't mean KILLING them is the only other option, either--which is as much a part of the problem here."



    I agree with the second part...that the problem that another option was given, but this is how you make drama.


    And IMO the idea is to hit on things from earlier in the season and last season. Most the characters digressed after the Tower. It became a major blow--an epic failure. Rachel thought she was nuts and had a major breakdown, which she's still recovering from--she letting Charlie be wild, because she thinks she has no right to step in at this point, Bass became a lone wolf, but was has been showing his true colors now that he has a son and somebody to hate again--similar to Tom, Charlie lost her innocence and is taking unnecessary risks, Miles is torn between helping Rachel and helping Bass and slowly letting himself forget what he stands for by sliding "right back in line" with Bass.


    All the characters are IDIOTS one way or another, because they still don't really know whom they are and what they believe in (except maybe Bass and Tom) and that's the journey we're on. I agree we're not seeing balanced debates, but it's because the characters and world they live in is unbalanced, but that doesn't mean that Rachel's position isn't understandable, and/or that the writers won't use Dillian to make a statement about this either way.

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  26. I've seen Kripke bring some pretty disperate storylines together in the past... I'll wait to make a final judgment...

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  27. It is how you make drama, yes, but I would suggest that it's not how you make very good drama....

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  28. I hope Connor does become his little hope of light. From what Mat has said in recent interviews, Connor begins to question Monroe's morals . So hopefully that means that he isn't going to turn out to be like his dad. ^_^

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  29. It depends on what the point/philosophy of the series is going to be at the end of the day. In the short term if Dillian ends up somehow saving/helping them, then we see that Rachel's instincts were correct and the writers are making a point that despite our flaws it's still is important to care about the other people and their misfortunes and/or to for humanity to stop and question their motives, because in this case it isn't simple, because they are children being used as warfare...


    I think with high concept dramas it's more often about idealism than realism and so your often going to have to suspend disbelief and accept stupid situations for the sake of the philosophy being presented.

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