‘Revolution’ 1.12 Episode Recap and Review: Ghosts

After the devastating death of Danny last week, we begin this week’s episode of Revolution with his burial. Rachel attempts to grasp Charlie’s hand as they watch Miles and Aaron shovel dirt over Danny’s grave, but Charlie snatches her hand away, obviously not wanting the comfort. Later in the evening, Nora confirms that Monroe’s helicopters are no longer being sighted. Ramsey states that he is going to take the wounded to the field hospital in Lexington, and tells Nicholas to take the fighters to “Echo Base.” “Regroup, patch up, then back to business as usual,” he tells Nora and Nicholas. Miles appears, flask in hand, and snarkily responds that their idea of “business as usual” is losing. He urges them to hit Monroe hard, rather than simply annoying him with random bombings, and decimate Philadelphia. When the others respond with skepticism, Miles states that he (reluctantly) will help them do this, but only join the Rebels if he can collect some of his Senior Officers to help train them. He tells the others that when he attempted to assassinate Monroe, these people backed him up, and are now in hiding. When Nora asks who these people are, Miles says that he’d like to start by recruiting a guy named Jim Hudson. Nora scoffs at this, asking Miles if he even knows where Hudson is, and if he won’t try and kill Miles on sight. Miles responds that he knows where Hudson is, but he’s not so sure about the second part of Nora’s reply.

The next morning, Miles and Nora head out, after Miles rebuff’s Rachel’s attempt to get him to stay for Charlie’s sake. Nicholas leads the others to Echo Base, which turns out to be an old hospital. As night falls, Charlie gears up to join a group of Rebels in a raid on some Militia troops; Rachel realizes what she is planning to do, and pleads with her not to go out. Again, Charlie snubs her mother, telling her she has to do something before heading out with the others.

Meanwhile, in another room, Aaron is digging through his backpack, and pulls out the two pendants they have collected. He places them on the table and then walks away; unbeknownst to him, the pendants suddenly light up.

Back in Philadelphia, Randall and Monroe stand before an old computer monitor, which displays a map; as they watch, two beacons (the activated pendants) appear on the monitor. Randall admits to Monroe that he can activate them remotely, and occasionally does so, to keep track of them. When Monroe asks Randall why he hasn’t collected them before now, Randall responds that he didn’t have the proper resources to do so. Then, he goes on to tell Monroe that he didn’t come to him sooner because he first wanted to make sure that Monroe was the “right” person to deserve what Randall had to offer. He tells Monroe, point-blank, that he wanted to make sure that Monroe “didn’t have his head deeply up his own ass.” As Monroe stares back at Randall, his face flickers through an amazing array of emotions, before he settles on a slight frown and tells Randall that people don’t usually talk to him in that manner. Randall smiles back, smugly, and responds that most people don’t have the power to hand Monroe a continent.

The following morning, Miles exits a trailer home and tells Nora that Hudson is 20 miles away, in Culpeper, Virginia. When Nora asks who his source is, Miles responds that it was Hudson’s brother, and alludes to using some form of torture to get the information. As they untie their horses and prepare to head out, a man with a scar over one eye watches as they leave. He then proceeds to the North Virginia Militia Camp and rats them out to the captain there. Instead of getting the reward he demanded, he gets killed for divulging his information. None too bright, that one. Not a great loss to the rebels either.

Back at Echo Base, Rachel studies the device she pulled out of Danny under a microscope, while writing down complicated math equations. She is distracted by Charlie’s return from the raid, and rushes after her. Charlie doesn’t stop until Rachel grabs her arm, and turns to reveal blood spatter on her face and clothing. When Rachel expresses concern, Charlie brushes her off, pulling away and stating the blood is not hers.

Miles and Nora arrive at Culpeper, with Nora joking that it reminds her of “Stepford”: the town looks almost normal, if you look past the fact that no cars are there. Kids are playing on swing sets, and people are biking and driving horse-drawn carriages down the paved streets. After tying up their horses, Miles stops someone briefly to ask after Hudson, and is undaunted when the boy responds that he doesn’t know that name. They walk toward a sign post that lists various town areas, and Miles immediately remarks to Nora that they should head to the library. When they arrive there, they find Hudson, who is apparently the “librarian.” When confronted by Miles, he claims ignorance of knowing him, telling Miles that his name is “Henry Bemis.” They are approached by a woman, who introduces herself as “Henry’s” wife, Sophie, who is obviously oblivious of her husband’s past life as part of the Monroe Militia. Hudson and Miles exchange some veiled conversation, where Hudson tries to make Miles leave and Miles refuses. Finally, Hudson waves Sophie away, and gestures for Miles and Nora to precede him into his office. Once there, Miles starts to apologize, but turns to discover that Hudson has pulled a gun. Hudson demands that they leave immediately, and in the course of the conversation reveals that he was the one that got Miles into Monroe’s bedroom during the assassination attempt, and that instead of doing what he was supposed to, Miles ran off and left the other men to fend for themselves. Miles admits that that is why he has returned; he wants Hudson to help him once again in killing Monroe.

Back at Echo Base, Charlie goes off to another room, and pulls off her top, revealing that she just lied to her mother, as her left shoulder is lacerated. Rachel catches her attempting to clean the wound, and Charlie quickly redresses, telling Rachel that it’s nothing and she’s going to head back out on another raid. They exchange heated words, with Rachel trying to dissuade Charlie, and Charlie firing back that her mother has no right to order her to do anything. The argument culminates in Rachel slapping Charlie across the face; when she tries, to apologize, Charlie gathers her things and leaves the room, passing Aaron on her way out. Rachel turns and starts to call out to Charlie, when she is distracted by the sight of the lit-up pendants in the other room. Alarmed, she rushes over to them, while Aaron stammers out that they “often do that;” he gets more flustered when Rachel says they SHOULDN’T do that, and demands to know when it first started. He tells her of the time the pendant went on while at Grace’s house, and also inside a lighthouse when they were rescuing Charlie. Rachel asks him why no one ever mentioned this to her before, and before he can answer, a hand-powered siren goes off. The two run outside, where they are told that vehicles are headed their way; when Aaron expresses bewilderment over how that could be possible, Rachel responds that it’s because Monroe has power once more.

In Culpeper, Miles tries to convince Hudson to rejoin the fight in killing Monroe. When Hudson tries to resist, stating that he has to do better, be better for his wife whom he loves, Miles fires back that she doesn’t even know his real name, and that he can’t run from his past forever, that it will eventually catch up to him no matter what. From the expression on his face, he’s not only telling this to Hudson, but revealing that he has already learned this lesson. Hudson still refuses.

Monroe’s vehicles head closer to Culpeper, with Randall in the lead, while the Rebels hurriedly pack and start to flee. Aaron and Charlie run into each other, both wondering where Rachel is. They discover her inside, pouring various chemicals into a pan in a sink. While Charlie urges her mother to come with them, Rachel responds that she needs to first destroy the pendants, as that is how Monroe found them in the first place, with the help of Randall, whom she knows is part of the group heading their way. Charlie again tells her mother that they should just forget the pendants and leave, for which Rachel responds that every pendant Monroe collects means more power in his pocket, and can result in another kid dead. She goes back to pouring chemicals while a stunned Charlie watches. Aaron tries to argue with Rachel, telling her that the pendants can’t be destroyed, and then is amazed to see Rachel pull them apart easily, revealing that the top of the pendants were actually flash drives. He demands to know what are on the drives as Rachel tosses them into the pan of chemicals; as they sizzle and are destroyed, she responds, “Nothing, now.”

Outside, the Militia ram through the gates and onto the hospital grounds. Randall gets out of his vehicle, a handheld tracking device in hand, and orders the men inside. As he and the militia head down the now-empty halls, Randall consults his device, and watches as the two trackers suddenly flicker and fade from his machine. He orders the exits sealed, and the group splits apart to do so. Randall, along with two men, head into the room where the pendants were last tracked, and Randall stares down at the destroyed flash drives in fury. He picks up the remaining pieces of the pendants, and we see the first flashback of this episode:

A year before the blackout, Randall sits at home, drinking orange juice and working on his laptop while his wife washes dishes in the sink. Their doorbell chimes, and they open the door to reveal two US Marines, who ask them if they are the parents of Sergeant Edward Flynn. Randall’s wife, Lisa, begins crying, already knowing why the two marines are there; they listen as they are told that their son was killed while stationed at Bagram Air Base in Kabul, Afghanistan. An additional scene shows Randall sliding his son’s dog tags out of an envelope, while in the background his wife is back at the sink, weeping.

Back in the present, a little outside of Culpeper, Nora and Miles prepare to leave, while Nora tells Miles they will simply have to find someone else. They hear the sound of a horse whinnying, and turn to discover a kill squad approaching Culpeper, headed by the captain based out of the North Virginia Militia Camp. They are unseen by the squad, and Nora says they need to return to Culpeper, as the men are likely after Hudson; Miles agrees, speculating that the men could also be after him. They manage to sneak back to Culpeper, and confront Hudson once more in the library, telling him that a kill squad is on the way and that Hudson’s cover is blown. Hudson immediately blames Miles, accusing him of leading them to Culpeper. Miles offers his and Nora’s assistance, telling Hudson they can fight them off together. Once more, Hudson refuses to fight, once again using Sophie as an excuse. Miles – obviously annoyed with this excuse by this point – fires back at Hudson that “guys like them” can’t have that, as they will eventually let them down or get them killed. He tells Hudson that they are killers, period, just as Sophie walks in and asks who “Jim” is.

Back in Philadelphia, Major Neville requests an audience with Monroe, wondering why he was not sent out on the mission to retrieve Rachel. Monroe responds that Neville needs time to grieve for his “dead” son, and that Randall would handle it. When Neville questions whether or not Monroe trusts Randall, Monroe admits that he does not trust him, but then stares at Neville and states that it doesn’t matter, since Neville knows that Monroe trusts no one.

At Echo Base, Charlie has her crossbow at the ready, and Aaron and Rachel follow her as they attempt to evade the Militia. They hide in an old Radiology room and Charlie demands to know who Randall is. Rachel responds that he used to be the Assistant Secretary of the Department of Defense – and her boss. Aaron makes the connection and realizes they were building a weapon; Rachel agrees, but states that it didn’t start out that way. Before she can say anything further, Randall, using a megaphone, calls to her from outside, chiding her for destroying the pendants, but saying he really came there for her. He then proceeds back into the building, and as he walks the deserted halls with two of Monroe’s people, we see the second flashback of the night:

One month before the blackout, Randall walks through the D.O.D. with Ben and Rachel in tow. He informs them that they should prepare to deploy the weapon they created in four weeks, starting with the Taliban compound in Peshawar. Ben and Rachel argue for more time to continue testing the pendants, and Randall brushes them off, stating that the longer they wait, the more American soldiers are killed, and they are not the only “eggheads” in his employ; the deployment will happen with or without them.

Charlie, Rachel, and Aaron sneak out of their hiding spot and continue attempting to evade Randall. They sneak into another room, and Rachel attempts to apologize to Charlie, saying that she has failed her in every possible way. Before Charlie can respond, the door of the room is flung open, and two Militia enter, loudly demanding for the trio to put their hands up. Charlie manages to shoot one of them with her crossbow, and keeps the other one busy while Rachel and Aaron flee out another exit. As Charlie makes her own escape, she puts a crude barricade across the door and then slips around the corner. Before she can reload her crossbow, she hears the remaining man stumble out of the room and head in her direction. She quickly grabs one of her arrows, and in a cold, calculated move, waits until she hears the man come close, and then swings around and stabs him through the chest with it. She then proceeds to grab his rifle and head in the direction that Rachel and Aaron fled. She meets Aaron, who says that he and Rachel got separated; Charlie hands off her rifle to him, and they go in search of her.

Unbeknownst to them, Rachel has been snagged by Randall. She pleads with him, saying she will help him bring back the power, but not with Monroe. Randall responds that he doesn’t plan on bringing back the power world-wide; after what happened when the world first plunged into darkness, he would rather keep it controlled by a small group. “The blackout wiped the world clean, burned it down,” he tells Rachel. “And when you burn down the old, new things grow…yes, people died, it’s a tragedy; but you either let that grief define you, or you learn from it.”

As the group exits the hospital, Charlie opens fire with the stolen gun while Aaron hides nearby. In the ensuing chaos, Rachel body-slams Randall against one of the vehicles and makes a run for it. She, Aaron, and Charlie make their escape, fleeing to where the rebels have relocated.

As the kill squad enter Culpeper, they find it in a much different state than when Miles and Nora arrived; the streets are deserted, people hiding in their homes. As they march down the silent street, Hudson appears and introduces himself, while Sophie watches from a window above. Miles also appears, and warns the captain that the group should surrender, as they are surrounded. As Nora sneaks up behind the group, the captain scoffs at this bravado, and orders his men to capture Miles and Hudson. Most of the men have swords; the few that have guns are the first to go, with Miles, Hudson, and Nora working in unison to decimate the troops. At one point, Hudson pauses, and stares up at the window where Sophie is watching; the captain, still on his horse and doing nothing to aid the men, follows Hudson’s glance and walks his horse off, leaving the men to their fate. He breaks open the door of the library where Sophie is hiding, and just as he finds her and threatens to kill her, Hudson appears from behind and kills him instead. Later that evening, as the bodies of the killed Militia are being disposed of, Hudson tries to approach Sophie and explain things, but she pulls away from him and walks off, no longer trustful of him, while Nora and Miles watch. Hudson walks over to them, and tells Miles that he has once again ruined his life, and as a result, he will commit to going with Nora and Miles.

The three head out, and after discovering Echo Base abandoned, meet at the rendezvous point, which Nicholas had informed Nora of before she and Miles left. They find Aaron first, and he points out where Rachel is. Nora and Miles watch as Charlie approaches her mother, and finally offers up an apology of her own. The two console each other over Danny’s loss. In the background, Nora reaches out and grasps Miles’s hand.

As Randall heads back to Monroe, we see the final flashback of the evening:

Randall sits at the head of a conference room table the night of the blackout, while video-conferencing with two men located at Central Command in Kabul and Tower Command. He asks for a status update, and is informed by the Kabul person that the “virus” is in place. He then asks the Tower person if they are ready to deploy, and when told so, issues the order for them to deploy the weapon. Tower asks one last time if Randall is absolutely sure about this; as Randall stares at his son’s dog tags, cupped within his hand, he curtly tells the Tower person to execute.

The episode concludes with Rachel sitting next to Charlie as she sleeps, stroking her daughter’s hair. Aaron approaches, and demands to know what, exactly, is going on. Rachel tries to dissuade him, but Aaron persists, stating that Ben and Rachel were the only ones that took him in, and now it’s his turn to help her. Rachel ponders a moment, before finally agreeing to tell Aaron everything that she knows. The first thing she begins talking about is the place called the Tower.

Well, folks, there you have it! This review got a bit wordy, but so many things happened – both subtle and complex – that it was hard for me to leave things out. I find it interesting, as more and more flashbacks are shown, that it seems like the blackout occurred due to past factors in those characters’ lives, and even in the future, a lot of what makes them “tick” is what happened to them in the past. Would Randall have pressed for the pendants (and this “virus) to be deployed so quickly if his son had not died? Let us know your thoughts about this episode in the comments section!