Revolution

I'm taking a break from Marvel Marathon to rant about this crap (Which is good, because I don't have to research old comic book stories just for a review). There are good people working on this show: J.J Abrams is a producer, as is Iron Man director Jon Faverau, who directed the pilot. But, this show sucks, which reminds me why I need to stop being hyped for upcoming television shows. I was super hyped for Terra Nova last year, but it ended up sucking, and sucking hard. But even it doesn't compare to this. Bear in mind I'm writing this based on the first two episodes, because that's all I'm planning on watching.

So, as the promos say, all technology in the world shuts off. All electronics go out, all cars stop working, planes fall out of the air. Of course, guns still work just fine. Isn't storytelling convenience great? So mankind falls back into feudalism, which is where we meet our main characters, living in a village 15 years after the blackout. There is Ben Matheson, a man (scientist?) who predicted the blackout. However, Ben is killed shortly after his introduction by the villain of the piece, Cap. Tom Neville, a member of the Monroe Republic militia (That is the name of the area they live which is headed up by Sebastian Monroe, who I guess will end up being the real villain: kind of a Darth Vader/Emperor thing). Following his death, his daughter Charlotte (Known as Charlie) swears revenge, and goes to find her Uncle Myles, based on her father's dying breath. Charlie...... so she is a tough, resourceful young woman who provides for her family by hunting with her weapon of choice: the bow and arrow. Gee, DOES THAT SOUND FAMILIAR????

But give Katniss Everdeen credit: she is nowhere near as annoying as Charlie. She whines and complains constantly, and the actress clearly has clue what she's doing, constantly trying to make anannoyed face for the camera. After all, she's supposed to be tough, right? Yeah, Jennifer Lawrence she ain't. So she and boring ragtag group find Uncle Miles, and he's a jerk. Yeah, the stereotypical cynical, one-liner spewing jerk who you know will go on a character arc which will result in him accepting his niece and becoming a good leader, blah, blah, blah. And Miles also feels guilty, because he was once friends with Monroe. Let me explain this idiocy: right after the blackout Myles and Monroe go to a military base where I guess Myles was stationed. Myles gets in with his ID, and Monroe gets in with...... a tattoo on his arm which bears his last name. So, the world just went to hell, and you let in a guy based on a tattoo? Even if Sebastian Monroe is known to them, maybe there's another guy who has a tattoo on his arm? Maybe the tattoo is military grade, but then why did Myles have to show his clearance instead of his own tattoo? You'd think the military would be on high alert, but I guess not. Before long Danny, the ungodly annoying little brother to Charlie is captured by Cap. Neville, who forces him to ride with them. They find a rebel towards Monroe who is hiding guns: punishable by death. They kill him and find the symbol of resistance: an American flag (symbolism, I'm sure) When Danny seems to disapprove, Neville demands to know the problem. The answer? "I think you just kill because you like to kill. Because you're a murderer. A psychopath." That line made me laugh so hard that I had to pause the show for a good five to seven minutes to regain my composure. The idea that this is Neville's only motivation: that a seemingly evil but sane man would do all this just so that he can kill? God this show is lazy. That and the delivery of the line is so forced, so weak and so painful that it is downright hysterical. Finally, there is the plot of Miles finding Nora. In fact, that is the plot of the whole second episode. Who is Nora? "She's really good at blowing up stuff." Yeah, that's all we get. She's good at explosions. Why should we care about them looking for her when we know nothing about her? Nora ends being a lot like Miles: cynical jerk who is working for the resistance. What is the goal of the resistance? To bring back the United States. Assuming this blackout is global, that is a dumb plan. It's implied that all of the country is split into these republics, and Monroe's Republic is just one of many. How is Nora going to destroy them all, restore democracy, get a new President, get all of the States back together and somehow get these people to honor the Constitution? Plus, what about the rest of the world? Do they just get hung out to dry? Then there is the whole kill-or-don't-kill issue. Seen it before, you're not doing anything new. As a matter of fact, everything here has been seen before, and that is one of the biggest problems. The concept of a post apocalyptic world is so overdone that it no longer carries any weight. The only way to make this seem powerful is to really drive home the fact that the world has ended. There is no future, there is barely a sense of history. There is just brutal survival. That would need to be adult and maybe a little graphic, but that can't happen: it's network TV. With better writing and acting, this might have worked on HBO or AMC. Even Fox probably would have let more stuff go. But this isn't HBO or Fox: it's on NBC, one of the worst networks around today. 

So there we go, criticism over. This show sucks, and the fact it has gotten decent ratings is beyond me. There are better television shows out there. Speaking of which, The Mob Doctor, a show which looked kind of good is also terrible, although I'm not getting into a review of that. It's just bad and the TV season has not been kind to me. Don't fail me now, Walking Dead.