Why do we do the things we do? Revolution continues to ignore that question as much as it can in order to tell an “exciting” story every week. And ‘The Love Boat’ only further added to Revolution’s constant disregard of perhaps the most interesting part of any story.
In ‘The Love Boat’ – yet another ridiculous title that only has surface value – the return of Tom Neville saw the start of the motiveless decision making for both Tom and Miles. The episode revolved around the capture of a doctor who was manufacturing anthrax for Monroe. Why does Monroe, let alone anyone else, need anthrax in a world without power? The doctor’s explanation for why he was manufacturing it was simple enough, his family was also being held captive by Monroe, but it doesn’t make much sense why anyone would need anthrax in the first place. Thankfully Miles, Charlie, and Nora come to the rescue.
Or do they? It seems the mission was merely to extract the doctor from Monroe and do the exact same thing to him as Monroe was. So not only does Monroe need anthrax but also the Georgia Republic. Even more shockingly, Miles seems to be quite alright with this plan from the get go. In fact he chastises both Charlie and Nora at the beginning of the episode by condoning this kidnapping so that the Georgia Federation can stop Monroe. All of a sudden Miles goes from tolerable scamp to torturous goon all within the first two minutes (he also kills a Monroe militiaman by firing squad in the opening).
Perhaps Miles’s sudden shift in tyranny would have made sense if it were a competition for power between Miles and Tom. Had this been some one-upmanship between the two as both are posturing for power of the rebel group/Georgian army, Miles’s return to his Monroe militia days would have made sense. Instead, Miles simply tries to explain his decision to follow along with this plan by saying, “This is war,” a completely hackneyed statement.
And how about Tom? Sure, he must make his presence felt immediately as the new overseer for the Georgia Republic but his continuing vicious brutality has never made sense. Tom did get a flashback in which he killed an intruder in his home a few weeks after the blackout and needed to blow off steam via a punching bag after letting everyone at work walk all over him but this is completely insufficient for what Tom currently is. While it makes sense that he wants to exact his power as much as possible after having lived a life in which he had no power, one would think he would be trying to start anew now that he had fled Monroe. Tom never struggles with any of his violence, whether it is slapping Charlie around or beating up Jason, his son. Has Tom lost everything that makes him a decent human being? If so his character needs to be explored more so that the audience can see what has made him what he is today.
Although asking for some good answers to why questions is not what Revolution is about. Instead its caricatures never grow and do whatever fits the narrative for that episode. Charlie needs to be uncaring because she has a fight with Miles? No problem. Nora’s ideals need to be thrown out the window so that the group has an explosives expert? Easy. The aspects of the characters are constantly changing to fit whatever the episode needs, which makes it the show dull and uninteresting. There needs to be some sort of internal struggle as Charlie tries to remain the good-hearted girl she is while facing the horrors of battle every day. Miles must actually try and change for the better instead of constantly teetering between the Charlie-softened and Monroe militia versions of himself. Unfortunately the characters’ arc is simply the plot’s arc, mirroring whatever the plot needs.
The dime a dozen reveals also must stop. What good is a surprise at the end of an episode if every episode has two or three surprises toward the end? Aaron has a pristine newspaper clip in Dr. Waters’s journal about how to take down the tower, which could be an interesting twist if there wasn’t supposed to be a twist at the end of every episode. Instead it is a cheap trick in hopes of getting viewers to come back. Because the storyline isn’t very compelling, and the characters are as static and one-dimensional as they can be, the show must rely on the crutch of surprises and twists every week to keep viewers coming back.
“The Love Boat” was no exception to the foolish multiple twists within each episode. Had the show ended after Rachel revealed to Aaron that he was included in the journal it would have been a tolerable surprise conclusion. Instead of letting that moment breathe and allowing the ramifications of what this could mean twirl through the viewers’ heads Revolution decided to cut immediately to Grace in the tower.
After she gets the elevator’s power back on, she utters that tells there person watching over her that Flynn wouldn’t like his going down to the 12th floor. The mystery thickens once the elevator camera goes out and a blood-curdling scream echoes up the elevator shaft. The elevator door is splattered with blood and Grace tries her best to be frantic and scared out of her wits, although it doesn’t really hit home, and the episode ends. What is the point of tacking on this new, somewhat supernatural element to the end of this episode, let alone the show? There is no reason to add a secondary twist after the first one regarding Aaron but Revolution does anyway, making neither moment resonate with the viewer while taking all the punch both moments could have had separately.