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Revolution - Episode 2.19 - '$#!& Happens' Review & Highlights

May 5, 2014

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I’ve gotten into a habit of thinking of this show as a fun mid-week diversion – high-action plot, snappy dialogue, and a little sci-fi mixed in. Man, I wasn’t prepared for the emotional punch of this episode – especially since I’ve never thought of Jason as being much more than pretty wallpaper, and never really liked Neville. But the scene of Neville discovering that his son was dead was rough. And this was compounded by the thought that Jason was probably right when he said a few weeks back that Julia was likely dead by now too.

Both Giancarlo Esposito (Neville) and Tracey Spiridakos (Charlie) delivered gut-wrenching performances as Neville slowly teased out the details of his son’s status. There was excellent writing and direction with this too. There were probably a million ways this news could have been delivered, but this slow, torturous revelation, combined with some earlier flashbacks of Charlie remembering some tender moments with Jason, effectively drove in the punch.

And then there was Miles. We went deep and dark with him this week – literally and figuratively – as he got himself trapped in a basement, bleeding to death and remembering a drunken hallucination of his dead brother who was confronting him with his demons.

This episode was an emotional powerhouse. It was named “$#!& Happens,” taking its name from a bumper sticker on what looks like might be part of a car; and happens, it does. Miles hits this piece of debris while fleeing from a group of Texas Rangers, and this action starts his really bad day.

We follow Miles as fights off the Texas rangers, getting stabbed in the process, and then heading off to search for cover and first-aid among a wreck from before the blackout. He sees a first-aid kit, heads toward it, and falls through the ceiling of a structure underneath, only to have find himself blocked in and to discover that the first-aid kit only contains a single band aid – hardly enough to treat his wound that is oozing blood.

As Miles get progressively worse, and contemplates ending his life, his story parallels some bad days of other characters. The scenes of the multiple stories are nicely woven together, with occasional flashbacks, such as the one with Charlie and Jason, and Miles’ own painful memories. For Miles, this takes the form of an experiment the nanites were performing on him about six months earlier. They took for the form of his brother Ben, who confronts Miles on sleeping with his wife, and tells Miles that he will only get them killed. 

And now for the rest. I groaned when I saw the show was really going to go there – Rachel and Monroe with a past sexual history. I was hoping they wouldn’t. Rachel already had sketchy morality with her role in cheating on her husband with his brother and the still-unclear reasons around her desertion of her family. To find out she cheated on not only Ben with Miles, but on both with Miles’ best-friend/mortal-enemy, Monroe, puts her into unredeemable territory.

And this doesn’t look good for Monroe either. He’ll no doubt be judged less harshly than Rachel because women are always judged more harshly, but Monroe has a tendency of pursuing Miles’ girlfriends – first Emma and now Rachel. He has some seriously messed up issues with Miles.

I guess the show was making a point about how deeply damaged these characters are. We’ve been seeing an admirable moral stance Rachel has been taking lately, in being the voice in advocating for setting limits. And we’ve seen more of the brotherhood between Monroe and Miles lately than the animosity. It’s tempting to forget the ugly history and start putting the characters on a pedestal. This reminded us that these two, like Miles and Charlie, are also deeply flawed.

High Points – For me, the standout scene is when Neville learns of Jason’s death and pulls the trigger. A very close contender is a drunken Miles in his flashback – being taunted by Ben and hallucinating a murdered Rachel and Charlie.

Low Points – This would be Monroe kissing Rachel. I needed a shower after that one.

Hottest Action – This episode was more of an emotional journey than action episode, but Miles fighting off the Texas rangers – and expertly hitting them all took the spot of hottest action this episode.

Best Quotes

Miles (after he gets stabbed): “I’m having a bad day.”
Miles (after wall falls overhead, shutting him in): “Yeah, very bad day.”

Priscilla/Nanites: “Next I think I’d like to know what pizza tastes like.”

Priscilla/Nanites (listening to Starship’s “We Built This City”): “I’m starting to think this is the finest song ever written.”

Neville: “I got news for you kid. There is an anchor around that boy’s neck, and it is you. He had promise before you turned his head. Before he chose you over his own blood. You are the worst thing that ever happened to him.”

Monroe: “You are a hypocritical bitch and you are grinding him into the dirt. You look at girlfriend from Hell in the dictionary. There is a full-page glossy of you. With all your wining, your nagging about doing the right thing. The good thing. You … Where the hell do you get off with this holier than thou crap? Cause lady, I know you. You’re no Mother Teresa. You’re a screwdriver-wielding psychopath.”

Rachel: “Cause I know you pretty well too, Bass. You insecure child. Miles is a good man. His only problem is you. You’re like poison. You’re like this devil on his back, and he knows it. And he hates you for it. And why? Why? Because you can’t bear to be alone. You won’t be happy until you drag him down into the mud. You’re that pathetic.”

Charlie: “I don’t think I deserve it, but somehow I’m getting a second chance. I get to wake up and see tomorrow, and I guess I want to. So now I need to figure out what kind of tomorrow I want to see. And I’ll tell you one thing, whatever it looks like, I want Miles to be there.”

Priscilla/Nanites: “But you don’t get to make demands. It’s the other way around. Now if you bring this up again, I’ll have to kill Priscilla. Maybe the rest of your friends. I will take that pizza though.”

Ben/Nanites: “Why don’t you just go home, screw my wife, and sleep it off?”

Ben/Nanites: “You’re my brother. Did you even have the decency to tell me? You’re going to fail them, like you always do. Because we both know who you really are. Savage. You’re an animal, and people suffer around you because of it. And sooner or later, they will die. And it will be your fault.” [Miles sees image of dead Charlie and Rachel and smashes mirror.] “They’re not even your family. They’re mine. Do me a favor. Leave them. Abandon them. Like you did Monroe. Before you really hurt them. They’ll be better off, we both know it.”

8 comments:

  1. Thank you for the review it was fantastic episode and Giancarlo and Tracy were amazing!

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  2. Thank you for this great review. You captured my thoughts and feelings exactly. Loved the action scene when we were reminded what a badass fighter Miles is, but my favorite parts were when we got to really delve into the deeper layers of especially Miles, Charlie and Neville. This might very well have been the first time I felt and even cried for Neville, and how good is it that Charlie has regained her will to live again.
    I know some people do not like the episode because they feel it didn't move the story along, but in my opinion this episode was much needed to remind us that these characters are not just in a fight with the Patriots, but also in a fight with their own darker sides, and this episode was wonderful in this regard.
    Monroe and Rachel were not so much a surprise to me....I always felt there was more going on between them in Philadelphia. Whether she was forced to it or did it to gain an advantage (which I believe she did because she was that kind of person back then) has yet to be seen. It is good to be reminded that Rachel is not the perfect person she is trying to be right now, and that she does have a very dark past. The kiss...well, I always wanted to see how Monroe and Rachel would be together...yeah, done that, does not have to be repeated (and this comes from a none Charloe shipper). It seemed a bit forced and yucky.


    One thing I thought was interesting and surprising. The Nanos not only had the power 6 months ago (or longer) to appear to humans, but they chose Ben's form to appear to both, Aaron and Miles around the same time. I wonder if they used Ben's form to others as well, and we will see more of him again.

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  3. The "high-action plot" was in season one. Season two is a snore-fest by comparison. They have had a total of two battles (involving more than just the main characters vs a few others), and the second was mostly off-camera action. In season one there were regular battles, sword fights in the first half of the season, and running gun battles in the second. Since M&M decided to oppose the Patriots, there has been exactly one attack on them, one. There are only three episodes left, and the supposed war against the Patriots has yet to start. One skirmish does not a war make.



    The good thing about the entire season is that the directing improved considerably, and it appears the shooting schedule was relaxed - but then again, the lack of action also accomplished that. This gave the actors and actresses the ability to grow into their characters, and deliver much better performances. If this could have been combined with the style and pace of season one, even with the techno-magic, it would have been a relatively strong show (2.0).



    It is nice to see that Kripke is going even further in the last episodes, highlighting the acting talent now. This gives the show the value of a demo reel, so cast can find another show when this series ends in three more episodes. Two enforced hiatuses, the second being so close to the end of the season can only mean a wrap order from NBC. I hope it goes out on a bang, but the trailer for the next episode does not show any evidence of that.

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  4. Thanks for the comments! It was a really fantastic episode, and that scene between Charlie and Neville floored me.

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  5. i do so totaly agree with you about rachel and monroe.!
    this was so not necessary.

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  6. Couldn't have said it better! Nice review :) The fact that Monroe and Rachel had a past, not too shocking... the fact that they kissed... well, one week later and I am still trying to put my eyes back into their sockets! Not really needed, but probably put there because the writers want to piss off the charloe fans. :D I do have to admit that Connor was a bit of a brat in this episode lol loved what he said to Monroe, I was kind of shocked to see that Monroe did turn around and pop him one for saying that lol

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  7. haha, thanks for the comments! If the Monroe/Rachel kiss is about saying something darker about the characters, then ok, but if this just turns into a triangle (assuming there's time left to develop a triangle), then totally unnecessary and damaging to the characters.

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  8. Yup. Agree here too.

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