The Mid-Season Return of 'Revolution,' "The Stand," Took A Daring Turn

Revolution returned from one of the longest mid-season breaks I've ever seen.  Usually when a network gives a show a huge mid-season break, they're not holding their breath on the outcome of the TV ratings.

NBC is still ranting about its ratings status success.  (See note below)  But regardless of the exaggerated chest puffing, the mid-season return of Revolution seemed to have taken a turn for the better.

The Eric Kripke(Supernatural), J.J. Abrams (Anything sci-fi and hot) produced sci-fi series came back with our heroes running for their lives from a powered-up helicopter that Sebastian Monroe (David Lyons) sent out to kill them with.

SPOILERS FOLLOW (Time Shifted viewers beware)

The episode saw Monroe send out his (with that spiffy logo on the nose of his soon-to-be-doomed) helicopter to smite all resistance that he knew of.  Miles (Billy Burke) and Rachel (Elizabeth Mitchell) went off to find toys to help fight Monroe, encountered some of their own problems, but managed to show up and save a resistance camp.

In the process, Kripke got daring.  Miles tried to down the choppers, but got missiled.  (That's having a missile shot at you, but not having it kill you.)  Then Charlie's (Tracy Spiridakos) brother, Danny (Graham Rogers), stepped up and let loose the shoulder launched missile.

It took out the chopper with the power generator and the second chopper flying nearby, but there was a cost involved.  Danny found himself riddled with bullets from the chopper.

Yes, the very Danny that Charlie spent the entire first half of the season trying to rescue from Capt. Neville, played by Giancarlo Esposito.  (Man, he's awesome in everything he pulls off.)

And top of all this, it seems that maybe, the resistance might have a new member on their team in the form of Neville's son, Nate (JD Pardo).  It seems Nate did not have the stomach for wanton slaughter of innocents.

We'll see how that plot point turns out.

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Despite the high-powered names associated with the show, it has to stand on its own two legs in story telling.

There were a few glaring plot flaws, but not so much that detracted from last night's episode of Revolution, "The Stand." 


When running from a chopper with a big machine gun, I was expecting Miles to tell everyone to spread out.  It just makes it harder to take the entire group down in one fell swoop.

I think they missed a point about needing their necklaces hanging on the rocket launcher when facing off against the chopper.  The chopper was powering the other chopper with its generator which was quite a distance away, and I think this generator could have powered the shoulder launcher.  But no biggie there.

The fact that Rachel used her son to hide some kind of tech in his body, showed the depth of necessity she will go to get things done in this era of Monroe and no power.

And maybe it was a fluke.  Mayne the producers heard the fans, but for the first time this season, Spiridakos did not distract from the story with her whiny attitude that we've seen so far in the first half of the season.

In fact, she contributed nicely to the story.

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There are eight episodes left of this first season of Revolution.  This episode lost 50% of the TV viewing traffic from its lead-in show, The Voice, but these are different genres.  Not sure I'm surprised on that count.

But it took 3rd in the overnight ratings and only pulled in 43% of the numbers that its series premiere took in.  And to be blunt, if last night's episode continues in tone, story and acting, the numbers may actually go up a bit.  Or at least, I should say, I would not be surprised if the TV rating numbers went up a bit.

(Ratings info, via TVMI)

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Note Below:

As far as NBC's marketing of Revolution goes, to date, I've considered it to be a pack of lies.  Yet technically, they finally hit it on the head.  With enough creative reflection, I figured it out.

NBC has been calling Revolution no. 1 new show, ever since it premiered.  But I kept finding that the series ever cracked the top-25 in the ratings charts, and in the 18-49-yr-old demographic, it was 15th in some weeks.

But then I figured it out.  It is the no 1 new show on TV, on Mondays.  (I say that because all the other new shows in the 2012-2013 season were dusting it in the ratings charts.)

But hey, it seems to have hope.  I'm just disappointed in the used-car-salesman stunt that NBC has been trying and pulling the wool over viewer's eyes.

But hey, that's marketing for you!  And whatever works, well, works.  Right?

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