‘Revolution’ Review: Soul Train

Well! Another night, another great development in Revolution. I’ve said it before and will likely say it again – this show started off rocky, but each episode gets better and better as we learn more about these characters, and how their backgrounds impact their decisions in the new world.

We begin episode 5 (Soul Train) with Captain Neville having a spar off with one of his men. He invites Danny to take a turn, and when Danny refuses, Neville punches him until Danny is forced to defend himself. As Neville’s men laugh, Danny is quickly subdued. Neville stares down at the boy’s bloody face, and we see the first flashback of this episode: On the day of the blackout, Neville is sitting in an office while a younger man, obviously his boss, sits behind a desk and fiddles with a smart phone. He criticizes Neville on the way that he handled an insurance policy, and abruptly fires him, with most of his attention still focused on his phone.

Back in the present, Charlie and Aaron stand at Maggie’s grave site. Miles urges them to stop wasting time that could be spent catching up with Danny. The group begins to head out, and as they are walking, they hear the sound of a train horn. They make their way into Noblesville, and discover that Monroe has a working train, and that it is heading to Philadelphia in the morning with Danny and Neville aboard.

Already in Philadelphia, Monroe visits Rachel, reminding her again that Danny will be there soon. Rachel breaks down and promises to tell Monroe whatever he wants if he releases her son; Monroe agrees that she will tell him everything, because he will have her son, and he leaves.

In Noblesville, Nora argues with Miles about the threat of a working train in Monroe’s hands. She, Miles, and Charlie head into town to scope out potential buildings that Danny could be held captive in, while Aaron is left behind to guard “Nate.” As they leave, Miles warns Charlie and Nora that the minute they find out something about Danny, they should return to the dilapidated building where they were hiding, reminding them that they only have one shot to rescue him.

Neville is holding Danny in an old bank vault, and he begins to tell Danny about how things were, and how hard he used to work to earn money. Danny cuts him off, telling him that he is tired of listening to Neville’s “mind games.” When Neville warns Danny to be careful in what he says to him, Danny responds by asking Neville if he’s proud of beating him up. Neville pauses, and we receive the second flashback of the episode: Neville is arriving home from work. His neighbor Rob, a young man, is out on his porch with some friends, while loud music blasts from inside. Neville asks Rob if he could turn down the music, and Rob blatantly ignores Neville’s request. Neville enters his home, and is greeted by his son, Jason, and his wife, Julie. When Julie asks him how work went, Neville shrugs off the question, not telling her that he was fired. He heads into the basement, and proceeds to take out his frustrations on a punching bag. When he catches Jason watching, he invites his son to take a try, telling him, “We only hit the bag, we never hit people.” Seconds later, the power goes out.

Returning to Noblesville, Nora enters a bookstore and talks to the owner, Ken Hutchinson (did everyone catch that he was making a copy of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”?). After proof is exchanged that they are both part of the rebel movement, Nora asks Hutch how many others are in the town, and discovers that Hutch is the only one left; the entire unit, including his wife, was wiped out by the militia. Recovering from her shock, Nora tells Hutch that he is no longer alone and that they are going to blow up the train.

Outside, Charlie is peering into an office building when she is confronted by a suspicious Neville. Charlie invents a cover story about spying on her boyfriend, and when she realizes whom she is speaking to, she decides to follow Neville when he walks away, instead of following Miles’s instructions from earlier. Neville leads her into an alley and then overpowers her. While demanding to know who she is, Miles appears, and frees Charlie. Upon recognizing Miles, Neville realizes that Charlie is Danny’s sister. Miles urges Charlie to run, and then he and Neville grapple. In a brief stalemate, Miles tries to get Neville to exchange Danny for Nate, but Neville tells Miles that he has his orders, and that Danny is too important a prisoner. He tells Miles to go ahead and kill Nate if he has to. Neville tries to find out why Miles left the militia, but some of Neville’s men interrupt them, and Miles makes his escape.

As Aaron sits, guarding Nate, he stares at Maggie’s iPhone while the pendant sits on a table before him (I’m sure I’m not the only one that went, “Why, why, WHY is it out in the open, Aaron??”). Aaron accidentally knocks over the table, sending the pendant flying into the caged area where Nate is being held. Nate grabs it, but offers it back to Aaron after Aaron says it belonged to his wife. Nora walks in, and tells Aaron to warn Miles and Charlie that she and Hutch are going to put a bomb on the train. As she leaves, she tells Aaron that Miles has to find Danny before then, because they are going to destroy the train regardless if Danny is on it.

Miles confronts Charlie as they head back to their hideout. He yells at her for letting her emotions dictate her actions by following Neville and ruining their element of surprise. Charlie breaks down and demands to know why Miles has to be so cruel toward her. She says she remembered him from when she was a little girl, and he was a nice guy. Miles tells her that the “nice guy” is dead, and walks away.

Neville decides to leave for Philadelphia immediately now that he knows that Miles is there to free Danny. As he watches his men lead Danny toward the train, he recalls a time, 6 weeks after the blackout, when he and his wife discussed the possibility of leaving their home. They hear glass shatter, and Neville goes downstairs and discovers his neighbor Rob has broken in, and is stealing their supplies. Jason appears, and Rob threatens to hurt Neville if he and Jason don’t go back upstairs. Instead, Neville attacks Rob, who gets the upper hand and starts to strangle Neville. Neville manages to get free, and proceeds to punch Rob repeatedly until the young man is apparently dead.

Back in their hideout, Charlie begs Nate to help them find Danny. When he refuses, Miles heads toward him with a knife, but Nate manages to escape.

Cutting back to Philadelphia, one of Monroe’s men is telling him about how the Georgia Federation has formed an alliance with the Plains Nation, and that they are amassing troops along Monroe’s border and initiating fighting. Monroe fantasizes about wiping them out with a Black Hawk chopper and gaining complete control over the former United States.

As the train prepares to leave in Noblesville, Nora places explosives inside a hollowed out log and smuggles it onto the train. As she and Hutch watch, she sees Danny inside the train, and has second thoughts about blowing it up. She and Hutch argue, and he stabs her to keep her from removing the bomb. Charlie, Aaron, and Miles appear just as the train is pulling away, and Nora tells them about the bomb.

Charlie and Miles grab some nearby horses and manage to get aboard the train. As Miles heads for the bomb, Charlie looks for her brother. She manages to catch Danny’s attention, and he attacks Neville so that Charlie can get into the boxcar. They are just making good their escape when Nate appears and grabs Charlie, and while they struggle, Neville gets a hold of Danny and orders Nate to bring Charlie to him. Instead, Nate throws Charlie off the train. Miles jumps off as well after getting rid of the bomb. He and Charlie watch in frustration as the train speeds away. They return to Noblesville, and regroup with Aaron and Nora. Miles attempts to comfort Charlie, and tells her that her “nice guy” uncle is not dead; he just can’t be that guy until he kills Monroe and they save Danny. Charlie shrugs him off and says that she now understands what he meant earlier. Instead of wasting time on emotions, she is ready to move on to Philadelphia, and they begin walking.

The train makes it to Philadelphia, and as Neville is walking on the train platform, he is greeted by his wife. Julie embraces him, and then turns to Nate, greeting him as her son, Jason. His identity revealed, Jason watches as his parents walk away, and we receive the final flashback of the episode: a memory of Neville showing the younger Jason a knife, and telling Jason that he needs to learn to fight, and that fear and weakness will mean their death.

Above, Rachel watches as Danny is lead away. She turns to Monroe, who asks her one final time what her husband Ben was working on before the blackout. She admits she was working on the project as well, and as the episode ends, we watch as Rachel sketches a picture of the pendant, and tells Monroe that there are 12 pendants and they are the start to getting the power back on.

That’s it for another week! I hope everyone enjoyed this episode of Revolution as much as I did! Revolution returns in 2 weeks, on October 29th, where we hopefully will see what Monroe does with the information Rachel is now willing to tell him. Until then let us know what your thoughts and theories are in our comment section below!