Revolution 1.19 Episode Recap and Review: Children of Men

We began this week’s episode of Revolution with last week’s cliffhanger: Rachel has managed to walk right up to Monroe, and stands in his tent with a live grenade. She flicks the striker, and two things happen simultaneously: one of Monroe’s men wrestles her to the ground, grappling for the grenade, while another soldier hauls Monroe around and pulls him to the ground as well, shielding him with his body. Monroe struggles with the soldier, staring over at Rachel in disbelief; she simply stares back, seemingly oblivious of the man fighting to wrench the grenade from her hands.

At the last moment, the soldier manages to yank the grenade away from Rachel, and he hurls it outside of the tent, where it promptly explodes. Monroe staggers to his feet, his expression still fixed in stunned disbelief, while Rachel makes no effort to get up as well, staring back with a kind of sad resignation on her own face.

Four miles away, a helicopter lands, and Miles, Neville, Nora, Charlie, and Jason climb out. As they all gear up, Miles quips that they likely have an entire army awaiting them, not to mention Monroe, “But, what the hell? Just another Monday, right?” They then set out in hopes of rescuing Rachel.

Aaron observes the ensuing chaos within the Monroe camp through binoculars, having apparently realized that Rachel’s plan did not succeed. He watches as Monroe hauls Rachel out of Monroe’s tent and then marches her over to the Tower entrance, followed by Randall and a contingent of soldiers. Monroe grabs one of Rachel’s hands, forcing it against the computer scanner. Both she and Randall look surprised when the computer flashes “Access Granted” and the doors begin to slide open. They reveal a tunnel, and lights flicker on inside as the group watches.

Monroe heads in, accompanied by Rachel, Randall, and a few of his soldiers. They walk out onto a causeway, with huge pipes running overhead and stairwells leading to multiple levels below. Randall points out a supercollider to Monroe, stating that it’s just the tip of the iceberg in potential weaponry. They keep walking, and Rachel berates Randall in an undertone for bringing Monroe to the tower. She says that it is an insane move, even for Randall, who responds that, unlike Rachel, he has a healthy interest in self-preservation. He then wonders how Rachel managed to get the door open, since he didn’t recall her having the clearance needed. Rachel replies that she has no idea. This leads Randall to conclude that it must have been Grace’s doing, and he informs Rachel that he left Grace in the Tower under supervision, but that she must have gotten loose. When Rachel expresses disbelief that Grace would have managed to take out one of Randall’s men, he retorts, “Who else could it be?” To which Rachel offers no suggestion.

Outside, two of Monroe’s men walk near the Tower entrance, one of them asking the other what Monroe is doing inside. When the other soldier asks the Captain if he is questioning Monroe’s judgment, the Captain quickly denies this. The sight of the Tower doors sliding shut suddenly distracts them. They race over, but the doors close before they arrive, and they pound uselessly at the entrance. Unbeknownst to them, they are being watched on a camera, from within the Tower, by a man. As they shout and bang at the doors, the man hits a few keystrokes on a computer keyboard, and the monitor he is watching flips to a new view, this of Monroe, Randall, Rachel, and the soldiers walking along the causeway.

The man turns away from the monitors, addressing a group of people behind him, stating that it was time to welcome their visitors. This prompts his group to grab weapons off the wall before heading out.

In the nearby woods, Miles and the group are observing Monroe’s camp, searching for Rachel. Nora notices a light in the distance, and they sneak over to it, assuming it is Monroe’s scouts. Instead, they stumble upon Aaron, who is shocked to find them with Neville.

Inside the Tower, Randall has led the group back to the area where he had left Grace. He presses the button for the elevator, and is surprised when it lights up, and the floor indicator shows the cage moving up to them from floor 11. Monroe is more interested in the computer monitors on the opposite wall, which display live global satellites. Randall tells Monroe that the Tower was built to be impervious to everything, including the blackout, and is fully powered. He goes on to say that there is nothing they can’t do from within the Tower, including spying on anyone in the world, listen to anything they’re saying, or kill them, all with the push of a button. He is quick to add that Monroe will need his help to accomplish this. Monroe asks if all of that could really be accomplished from where they stand, and Randall hesitates, stating that they need to get to level 12 first. Rachel attempts to interrupt Randall, shocked and alarmed at what he is telling Monroe, which proves to Monroe that Randall is telling the truth. He starts walking toward the elevator, with the intent of going down to that level with the others.

Outside, Aaron and Charlie exchange a quick embrace. When Aaron asks how things are going, Nora speaks bluntly, saying that if he doesn’t get the power back on, the Rebels and Georgia army will be destroyed. Aaron then reveals that Rachel is in the Tower with Monroe, after failing in her attempt to go down there and kill him by also killing herself. He shows them Dr. Warren’s journal and explains how he can gain access to the Tower by using the override codes inside, once they figure out how to get past Monroe’s troops.

Inside the elevator, Monroe and the others watch as the floor indicator slowly dings its way down toward 12. It suddenly jars to a stop, opening its doors on floor 11. Randall steps out and looks around, before stepping back in and pushing the button again for 12. Nothing happens, and he tells Monroe that there must be something wrong with the elevator, but that they can use a stairwell to reach the bottom level. Suddenly, all of the lights go out, before flickering on and off with the sound of an alarm. A few soldiers step out of the elevator as Monroe demands for Randall to explain what is going on. Before Randall can even attempt to respond, the air is lit with gunfire, and several soldiers collapse as they are killed. Everyone jumps from the elevator, most cut down immediately. Monroe is trapped in a doorway, and notices that Rachel has managed to make it down the hall and is punching a password into a locked door. She manages to get the door open, and as she slips inside and starts to close it, Monroe appears and starts to force his way in with her. Rachel tries to keep him out, but he overpowers her, pushing the door open hard enough for her to lose her grip and fall back. Monroe gets inside, closing the door behind him, and Rachel attacks him. Again, she is overpowered, losing her weapon and pulled down to the ground by Monroe. He screams at her to stop fighting, and as they lay there, gasping, he asks her what just happened and who just attacked them, but she simply stares at him.

In Monroe’s camp, Jason and Neville have snuck into the command tent, where Monroe’s power amplifier is. They open cans of gasoline, and Jason pulls a grenade from his pocket. He and Neville exchange a long look, before Jason pulls the pin and flicks the striker. He drops the grenade on top of the amplifier, and he and Neville race from the tent. It explodes behind them, knocking out all of the power throughout the camp. While the flames distract Monroe’s soldiers, Miles, Charlie, Nora, and Aaron run to the Tower doors, and Aaron starts working on the override codes. While he is still keying in the commands, they are discovered by the Militia, who open fire. He finally finishes keying in the sequence of commands, and the doors open. They run inside, and keep exchanging fire with the soldiers, waiting for Jason and Neville to join them. However, they run out of ammo, and Jason and Neville are pinned down by gunfire. Miles orders Aaron to close the doors. He grabs Charlie as she tries to run out, screaming for Jason, and Charlie and Jason exchange looks of horror as the doors close with Jason and Neville still outside.

Within the Tower, Rachel watches a monitor that shows several different areas of the underground compound, while Monroe stalks around the room, searching it, still firing questions at her. Rachel calmly denies any knowledge of who attacked them or how they can escape or where Monroe can find weapons. When Monroe points out that she must know something of the Tower, since she knew how to access the bunker, Rachel only stares at him, refusing to admit anything. Monroe tries reasoning with her, stating that their only chance to survive is if they help each other. This causes Rachel to remind him that she only wants him dead, even if it means her death as well. Monroe accuses her of lying, stating that he has talked to several people who attempted suicide and somehow survived, and that they all expressed regret when they made the attempt. Therefore, he knows what Rachel was thinking back in the tent, and now this is her chance to get out of the Tower alive, so that she can get back to trying to kill him without putting her own life in jeopardy.

Monroe pulls open a cabinet, revealing several weapons behind a glass barrier. He asks Rachel if she knows how to open it, and as Rachel stares at him, conflicted, we see our first flashback of the night:

One week before the blackout, Rachel stands, holding a pendant, while nearby Ben works on a laptop. He assures her that the pendants are merely a precaution, and that the containment protocols are rock solid. Rachel is not convinced, saying that there was still a chance that something could go wrong. When Ben brushes off her concern, Rachel gets in his face, urging him to help her cancel the launch. They exchange harsh words before Rachel backs off, saying that all they ever do anymore is fight. Ben agrees, saying that they just need to get through the week, and Rachel responds that after the week is over they should spend some time apart.

As Miles leads the others along the causeway, everyone looks around in amazement. Charlie, in particular, is finally realizing the part that her parents played in instigating the events that led up to the blackout.

Back in the militia camp, Neville and Jason are handcuffed within a tent. Two men enter, and Neville greets them as Franklin and Riley. He congratulates Franklin on his promotion to Major, and Riley on being made a Captain, telling Riley that he has to be one of the youngest Captains in the Republic. Franklin informs Neville that he knows that Miles was able to get into the Tower with Neville’s assistance, and demands to know how it was done. Neville ignores the question, asking instead where Captain Baker was. He tells Franklin that Baker should be running point, unless the rumors were true, and Monroe blew his head off. Franklin merely repeats his questions, but Neville continues to ignore them, persisting with his thoughts that Monroe has been killing many good men lately, and that Neville himself was a victim of Monroe’s psychotic behavior. Franklin scoffs at Neville’s words, but is interrupted by another soldier, requesting that he go to the infirmary. As he and Riley turn to leave, Neville calls after them, telling them that it’s only a matter of time until Monroe turns on them also. Franklin leaves, but Neville’s words cause Riley to hesitate and stare at Neville for a moment before he, too, leaves. After the militiamen are gone, Jason demands to know what Neville is planning. Neville merely stares at his son, slowly starting to smile.

Once again, the elevator is in use within the Tower, as Aaron, Miles, Charlie, and Nora also attempt to access level 12. The elevator stops on 11, and everyone stares in shock as the doors open to reveal blood-splattered walls and motionless bodies. As the elevator doors close behind them, Miles catches sight of a body that reminds him of Rachel. He hurries over to it, and to his and Charlie’s relief, it is no one they know. Charlie starts to ruminate on who killed them, and with what, when the forgotten elevator dings to life, and they all look at it, suddenly realizing that it had returned to the ground floor and was now coming back down.

They race down a corridor, not wanting to be there when the elevator doors open. Miles leads them into a room that appears to be a laboratory, and they quickly barricade the door. He pries a vent off of a large air shaft at the other end of the room as someone starts pounding on the door. The group escape into the airshaft – Aaron grabbing something off a nearby table – just as the pounding stops and something blasts a hole through the door.

In the bunker, Rachel sits against a wall, watching Monroe strike a golf club against the glass panel to no avail. He finally tosses the club away in frustration, and accuses Rachel of knowing how to open the panel and access the weapons behind it. To his surprise, Rachel agrees with him, and then she proceeds to tell him that he was right about everything – that she didn’t want to die, and she wanted to see Charlie. When Monroe asks why, then, she won’t help him, Rachel responds that he also killed Danny. Monroe tries to claim that Danny’s death wasn’t his fault, as he was not there when the boy died, but Rachel calls him out for always having excuses and shifting the blame elsewhere.

Monroe listens to Rachel’s outburst, and at the end, nods slightly, as if accepting her words. He turns away, staring at a wall of pictures of the Presidents of the United States, before sweeping some items off a hutch in frustration. Still staring at the wall, he tells Rachel that he didn’t mean for any of this to happen, and that he didn’t know how everything got so out of control. He then turns to her, telling Rachel that he has a son, and that he’s been looking for him, but he wonders what his son would think of him, if he knew everything that Monroe had done. He then apologizes to Rachel, telling her that he will no longer make any excuses for his behavior and that he knows exactly how much blood is on his hands. As Rachel listens, she starts to cry, and we see the second flashback of this episode:

Four months after the blackout, Ben is in an abandoned house, working to put a computer together. He takes his pendant and is able to power up the machine. He types out a message, asking if anybody is out there, and while he is waiting for a response, Rachel enters the room. She tells him that she went into town for supplies, and couldn’t handle the smell, saying that people were no longer burning the bodies of the dead, but simply leaving them in the streets to rot. She says that she saw a little boy around Charlie’s age, skin and bones, who ran away when he saw her. Rachel starts crying, saying to Ben that they were at fault, that the blackout and the catastrophe afterwards was their doing, and she isn’t sure if she can live with that. Ben consoles her, and goes on to say that what they did before didn’t matter any longer, and the only thing that should matter is their children. He starts to cry as well, telling Rachel that they had to hold on, and stay alive for Danny and Charlie. Rachel touches Ben’s face, and nods her understanding, and the two embrace. In the background, Ben’s computer monitor flashes a new message: Grace has seen his communication and is responding.

Deep within the Tower, Miles, Charlie, Nora, and Aaron have managed to elude those chasing them. Nora wonders at the type of weaponry used against them, and Aaron explains that they were coil guns, using electromagnets instead of gunpowder – something he saw once on Mythbusters. Miles wants to try and get ahold of their own coil guns, and Aaron tells him that there is an armory up ahead. He holds up what he had grabbed from the laboratory: a map of the compound. The group heads toward the armory, and are nearly discovered by some of the Tower inhabitants. Miles instructs the others to stay behind, as it would be easier for him to proceed alone. He manages to evade those looking for them, but when he reaches the armory, he discovers that it is empty of weapons.

Back outside, Captain Riley has returned to the tent where Neville and Jason are being held. Neville, sensing the young man’s wavering faith in Monroe, tells him that the only thing wrong with the Monroe Republic is Monroe himself. He urges Riley to see the truth of the matter – that Monroe has become paranoid, erratic, and not fit to lead. Riley responds by asking Neville if he thinks he should be the one leading the Republic; and for the first time, Jason speaks up, telling Riley that his father may be many things, but one thing he always did was take care of the men, and they always loved him for it. Neville, obviously overcome by his son’s faith in his leadership, urges Riley to help them lead a revolt, to kill the few remaining soldiers still firmly loyal to Monroe for the greater good of a better world. Riley appears torn, clearly wanting to believe Neville, but he hesitates, telling Neville and Jason that he’s not sure if they speak the truth, or are only looking to save themselves. He then storms out of the tent.

Things are heating up in the Tower, as one of the inhabitants discovers Charlie, Nora, and Aaron. He fires his coil gun, causing them to scatter. He manages to get Charlie in his sights, but Miles jumps him, and the two grapple briefly before Miles kills him. Miles takes the man’s gun and he and the others regroup and keep searching the compound.

In the bunker, Rachel notices Aaron on the monitors, followed by Nora and Miles. She is visibly shaken when she sees that Charlie is also there. Monroe comes over, and when he also observes the group, he urges Rachel again to unlock the guns, telling her that, no matter what he’s done in the past, he does not want to see another one of her kids get hurt, and he will help her keep Charlie safe. Rachel tells him that he is lying, and Monroe accuses her of wanting to kill him so badly that she’d let Charlie die rather than have him protect her. Rachel glances back at the monitors, and then asks Monroe about Miles, to which he responds that he can make no promises there. However, he swears to her that he will save Charlie, and Rachel opens the cabinet to the guns.

Another group of Tower inhabitants discovers the group. While Miles and Nora divert them, Charlie and Aaron keep moving, and, unbeknownst to them, are followed by one of the Tower guards. He fires his coil gun at Charlie’s back, hitting a nearby shelving unit by accident. The unit collapses, trapping Charlie underneath. Aaron returns to her side, and freezes as the man trains his weapon on him and prepares to shoot. Before he can, he is shot in the back, and Aaron looks in stunned disbelief as Monroe steps out of the shadows. He walks over to them as Rachel appears, also toting a gun. She and Aaron start pulling the debris off Charlie, and while they are distracted, Monroe turns and walks away. Charlie attempts to chase after him when she is freed, but Rachel restrains her, pulling Charlie and Aaron in a different direction. She leads them into another room, but they don’t get far before they are discovered, and overpowered, by another Tower faction.

Miles and Nora remain behind, Miles exchanging fire with some of the Tower occupants. Suddenly, Monroe appears, killing one of the Tower men. Monroe calls out to Miles, asking him if he’s ready to settle their conflict with each other once and for all. Miles swings out of his hiding spot, and he and Monroe scrutinize each other, weapons raised.

Rachel, Charlie, and Aaron are taken to another part of the Tower compound. They are led into a room occupied by not only Tower men, but women and children as well. As these people gather before them, their guards quickly search them, taking away any weapons. Dr. Warren’s journal is also taken, much to Aaron’s angst. Rachel is startled when Grace appears, and Aaron also expresses shock at the woman’s appearance, as she was the one he had been searching for so very long ago when Ben had given him the pendant. Grace greets them warmly, welcoming them. Another man steps forward, speaking Rachel’s name, and she stares at him in astonishment. When Charlie asks her mother who the people are, Rachel tells her that the man, Dan, and others were left in the Tower, working, the night of the blackout. She looks back at Dan, and tells him that she thought he was dead. Dan replies that they remained within the Tower, guarding it, especially Level 12, which was too dangerous to remain unprotected.

Outside the Tower, Captain Riley returns to the tent, seeking affirmation from Neville that the man is serious about his commitment to lead the militia once Monroe is removed. Neville convinces him, and Riley quickly unchains Neville, telling him that there are 12 soldiers with them, and that if Neville gets rid of Franklin, the remaining soldiers will also fall in with their cause. He hands Neville a gun, and then turns to unchain Jason. Neville praises Riley for his decision, and as Jason walks over to him, Neville asks him if he’s ready.

We end the episode with Dan taking Dr. Warren’s journal and dropping it in a metal container. As Rachel pleads with him about the validity of turning the lights back on, he dumps lighter fluid over the journal, telling her that returning power would simply give weapons to the entire world so that they could kill each other. Rachel argues that at least then, everyone would be able to defend themselves and that it would be a fair fight. Aaron also jumps in, telling Dan it would mean medicine, and clean water, and reason, and that they’d be able to help people and make things better. In response to their words, Dan strikes a match, and sets fire to Dr. Warren’s journal. As they watch it burn, a bewildered Aaron states that he doesn’t understand Dan’s reasoning. Grace tells Rachel to explain to Aaron what will happen if she flipped the switch.

Rachel simply replies that the lights will go on, but Grace refutes her words, telling Aaron and Charlie that if the power is turned back on, maybe they save the world…or maybe they set the world on fire.

Thoughts on Revolution Episode 1.19: Children of Men

So! What did everyone think of these revelations? Do you think Rachel’s one-in-a-billion estimate of a world in flames means they should take the chance and flip the power back on? How do you think Monroe and Miles’s standoff will end? Will Monroe leave the compound, only to find that his militia has been taken over by Neville? Let us know your thoughts about this episode in the comments section below!