‘Revolution’ 1.16 Episode Recap And Review: The Love Boat

This week’s episode of Revolution wasn’t so much a “love boat”…rather, it was a power struggle with several factions, and if you weren’t watching closely, you could become lost on who sided with whom. Loyalties switched back and forth in the space of minutes, but in the end, choices were made, and paths laid.

We begin with Miles and Nora setting explosives within a building. They kill several militiamen, and render a man in a lab coat unconscious. After dumping him down a laundry chute, below which Charlie and Jason await with a laundry cart, the four leave the building with their hostage hidden within the cart. As they leave the Monroe compound, the building explodes behind them.

Two days prior, we find Miles attempting to interrogate a soldier named Pete, whom Jason captured. Pete was trained by Miles, and refuses to divulge information about Monroe, simply because Miles “trained [him] better than that.” When Miles realizes he won’t obtain any intelligence from the man, he has him executed by some Georgia soldiers, while Charlie looks on, troubled.

Later, we see Miles sitting and drinking while recalling Emma’s death. A Georgia soldier walks in and informs him that reinforcements have arrived. Miles is puzzled by the statement, and then startled as Neville enters the room. He leaps to his feet and pulls a gun, but is stopped when Neville hands him a letter from President Foster, which states that Neville is now a commissioned officer of the Georgia Federation, and therefore, now Miles’s partner. Miles scoffs at this, and is clearly irritated at Neville’s smug demeanor. His irritation fades as he learns from Neville that they have a new assignment from Foster: Monroe is weaponizing anthrax, a project headed by Dr. Ethan Camp. Miles and Neville are in charge of capturing this man from Monroe before he can succeed.

As Nora and Charlie follow Miles toward a dock where a steamboat awaits, they argue with him about partnering with Neville, and also the validity of the mission they are going on. They do not believe that taking Dr. Camp from Monroe and giving him to the Georgia Federation to build their own anthrax is the right course of action. Jason catches up with them, and, now silent, Nora and Charlie follow Miles past Neville to board the steamboat. Jason is stopped by his father, who mocks him for being there; Jason simply stares at Neville and keeps moving, forcing Neville to follow behind him.

They all board the steamboat and are greeted by a captain of the Georgia Navy, Richard Lucas, who is going to aid them with getting Dr. Camp out of a Monroe compound in Parkersburg. They head up the river, under the guise of being a fishing vessel.

Back in the Plains Nation, Rachel and Aaron approach a group of people within the Thompson Tribal Lands. Rachel attempts to barter some food from the camp leader, who flatly refuses, telling her that nothing she or Aaron has is worth their food. Rachel reveals that they haven’t eaten in four days, but the man, while sympathetic, orders them to leave, stating again that they don’t have any extra food to give them.

As they head down the river, Neville approaches Jason, and acts as if he wants to reconcile with his son. When Jason calls Neville out, telling him that he’s only there because he can’t stand to be without power of some kind, Neville’s fatherly attitude vanishes. He tells Jason that he is to blame for everything: that, because Jason was a traitor, Neville and Julia had to flee Philadelphia like criminals. Julia caught hypothermia, and almost died; in order to survive, Neville took her to Georgia, all because of Jason’s “selfish” acts.

In Philadelphia, Flynn is sitting in Monroe’s office with Monroe is being patched up by a doctor. Flynn tries to reason with Monroe, telling him that he’s lost sight of the “bigger picture”: that the goal they should be focusing on is to stop the insurgents, not radicalize more of them. Monroe tells Flynn that he will do whatever it takes to destroy the Rebels and the Georgia Federation; when Flynn fires back that Monroe’s actions appear to be focused more on “showing Miles,” Monroe finally loses his equable attitude with the man. He responds bluntly that if Flynn ever speaks to him like that again, Monroe will rip his throat out.

Returning to the steamboat, Miles, Charlie, Nora, and Jason prepare to “liberate” Dr. Camp from the Monroe compound. What happens next is as shown at the beginning of the episode, only now we know who the man is that was tossed in the laundry cart. As Dr. Camp is wheeled onto the steamboat, Neville greets their return with, “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

In the Plains Nation, Rachel and Aaron are walking down a road when they are stopped by the man who earlier refused to trade them food. He dismounts from his horse, and demands that they return “what they took from him.” Aaron reluctantly hands over a packet of food that they had stolen. They try and apologize, but the man pulls a gun, clearly intending to kill them for their theft. Before he can fire, however, Rachel pulls a gun and kills him instead. She and Aaron flee, sure that other camp followers will respond to the gunfire; as they run, Rachel trips and falls, rolling down a small gulley and breaking her leg so badly that the bone is poking through the skin.

As Miles sits, brooding, Neville enters the cabin and offers Miles a flask, telling him that he and Miles “make a hell of a team.” Miles accepts the proffered flask and takes a drink. He and Neville then head into another room where Dr. Camp is coming awake. Neville tells the bound and gagged Dr. Camp that he has been liberated by the Georgia Federation; when he pulls the gag down, Dr. Camp pleads to be let go, stating that Monroe is holding his wife and daughter captive. As Nora and Charlie enter the room, they overhear Miles telling Dr. Camp that Monroe no longer has the man’s wife and daughter; that, at the same time that they were rescuing Dr. Camp, Neville had been busy rescuing Dr. Camp’s family. Miles then tells him that Dr. Camp will only see his family if he cooperates with them and starts making anthrax for Georgia; basically, nothing was changing except for who held the man and his family captive.

Miles turns to leave, but he is confronted first by Charlie and then by Nora, both of whom are outraged with what they overheard. Nora tells Miles that she is leaving; that she thought Miles had changed when he came to her for help rescuing Danny, but that this mission proved to her that he hadn’t.

Aaron manages to carry Rachel into an abandoned ambulance. Despite Rachel’s protests, he pulls her leg straight, forcing the bone back into her leg. As he starts to splint it, Rachel pleads with Aaron, telling him that she is virtually dead and that he needs to continue on to the Tower with the journal. Aaron replies that he is not going to leave her, that she wouldn’t leave him; Rachel tells him honestly that, if their roles were reversed, she would leave him, because the undertaking is too important. Aaron again demurs, saying he doesn’t want to do this alone. Rachel tries a different tactic, and throws Aaron’s prior desertion of his wife into the argument, asking him why he could leave his wife to fend for herself, but wouldn’t leave her. Aaron brushes off her statement, saying that she’s just trying to make him angry enough to leave, and he sets about getting her leg properly splinted.

The next morning, as they head back up the river, Charlie enters the room where Dr. Camp is being held and offers him water. Dr. Camp tries to reason with Charlie, asking for her help, and Charlie is clearly torn with what is going on. Before she can say anything, a siren starts wailing; a boat with Monroe’s flag approaches for a routine inspection. Neville hurries down below, while Miles and Nora try and act casual on the boat deck, as part of the fishing crew.

Monroe’s men board the steamboat, while below Neville opens a hatch and he and Charlie hide inside with the doctor. After one of the soldiers inspects a document that Captain Lucas hands him – apparently something that allows Lucas’s steamboat to stay active – the militiamen begin a casual search of the boat, “as a formality.”

Hidden below, Neville pulls a gun, and points it at Dr. Camp. Charlie protests, and Neville tells her that if the Georgia Federation can’t have the doctor’s skills, then no one can. This prompts Charlie to pull a gun on Neville, who can only glare at the girl in a stalemate while they listen to Monroe’s men searching the boat.

One of the men finds a large bullet, and this is presented to Captain Lucas with a reminder that carrying ordinance is illegal. Lucas pours some loose diamonds in the man’s hand, asking if they can let the “mistake” slide; the man hefts the diamonds in his hand and then pockets them, telling Lucas not to let it happen again. As he turns to leave, he glances over Lucas’s shoulder to where Miles and Nora are on the boat deck, pretending to coil rope, and then wishes the captain a good day.

Once they are told the men are gone, Neville and Charlie put up their weapons and climb out of the hatch. Neville shoves the doctor against the wall, and when Charlie intervenes, Neville slaps her in the face, mainly because she had pointed a gun at him. Before he can do more, Miles arrives, throwing Neville against a wall and putting him in a choke hold. Miles warns Neville that if he ever touches Charlie again, Miles will “snap his pencil neck.”

Back in the Plains Nation, two men on horseback are walking past the ambulance when they hear a banging noise inside. They dismount, and as they go to open the back doors of the ambulance, Rachel fires her weapon. The men wait until she has exhausted her ammo, and then open the doors. They ask Rachel where Aaron is, just as Aaron comes up behind them. He manages to stab one man, but is then grabbed by the other man, who proceeds to choke him. Rachel manages to kill both the man that Aaron had stabbed as well as the one choking Aaron. Afterwards, she and Aaron lay gasping on the floor of the ambulance after confirming they are both okay.

On the steamboat, Charlie confronts Miles once more on the decision to hold Dr. Camp and his family hostage so that he can create anthrax for them instead of Monroe. She asks Miles how this is any different from what Monroe did to her mom; Miles responds that it isn’t any different, but certain things need to be done in a war situation. He reminds Charlie about what Monroe has already done, and will continue to do, to try and destroy their family; that Monroe will stop at nothing to win, and therefore, they have to do the same. Again, Charlie asks Miles to let Dr. Camp and his family go; when Miles refuses, Charlie turns and leaves. She then proceeds to lock Miles in the room. Nearby, Neville hears the commotion, and as he heads towards it, Jason comes up behind him and holds a cloth over Neville’s nose and mouth. Whatever is on the cloth causes Neville to pass out, and Jason stuffs him in another room and locks the door behind him.

Charlie, Jason, and Nora free Dr. Camp. They then go above deck, and force Captain Lucas to reveal where Dr. Camp’s family is. His wife and daughter are on a smaller boat, which is soon heading for Lucas’s craft. As the smaller boat approaches, the two men aboard notice that Lucas’s boat seems oddly empty; the men quickly tie their boat up to Lucas’s and climb aboard. Before they get far, Charlie and Jason appear with weapons drawn, and the men are held at gunpoint while Charlie goes with Dr. Camp to the other boat, where the doctor is reunited with his family.

Suddenly, Neville appears, after waking up and managing to escape the locked room. He forces Jason to drop his weapon, and after the rest of the boat crew is released, Nora and Charlie are also disarmed. When Neville expresses disbelief over how Jason has turned against him, Jason replies by saying that he hates his father; this prompts Neville to punch Jason and knock him to the ground. He then jumps down to where Nora and Charlie stand, and points his gun at Charlie. Before he can do more than threaten her, Miles appears, having also escaped, and he attacks Neville for once again trying to harm Charlie. He knocks Neville down, but Captain Lucas appears and points a gun at him. Neville orders Lucas to shoot them all: Miles, Charlie, Nora, and Jason. When Lucas hesitates, Neville reiterates his command, and Lucas cocks his weapon. Before he can fire, he is suddenly shot down; not by anyone on the boat, but by the group of Monroe militia that had earlier boarded the vessel. The leader of the men had apparently recognized Miles when he was bidding Lucas farewell, and rather than take him on then and there, had gone back to a nearby encampment for reinforcements.

As Neville and the crew of the steamboat return fire, Charlie, Nora, Miles, and Jason manage to untie the smaller boat and escape with Dr. Camp and his family. Charlie thanks Miles for doing what he did, but Miles brushes aside her words and thanks her instead.

Two days later, at the Rebel-Georgian Coalition, Miles is going over paperwork when Neville storms in with his weapon drawn. Charlie and Jason are also in the room, and Charlie once again points her gun at Neville. Miles casually greets Neville, asking him how he managed to escape the Monroe ambush; Neville responds that it cost him all of his men to do so. He then demands to know where Dr. Camp is. When Miles reveals that the doctor is gone, Neville states that he will find him; Miles scoffs at this, telling Neville that he is not smart enough to figure out where the man has gone. Infuriated, Neville threatens to return to Georgia with all of the troops; again, Miles mocks him, saying that he is winning more and more battles, and at the end of the day, President Foster cares more about that then about Neville’s pride.

Miles leaves, heading for the privacy of his sleeping quarters. He pours himself a drink, and is just sitting down when Nora appears. She tells Miles that she isn’t leaving, because she has discovered a secret: that Miles isn’t such a bad guy after all. She then climbs into Miles’s lap and pulls off her shirt, and the two embrace.

As Aaron and Rachel sit beside a campfire, Rachel once again informs Aaron that he has to make it to the Tower. Aaron angrily states that, while he used to be one of the biggest advocates for turning the power back on, he has come to realize that some things are more important than that. Rachel tells him that he doesn’t understand; that when she says he has to make it to the Tower, she means he, personally, NEEDS to go there. She then hands him Dr. Warren’s journal, telling him that it is like a “spell book,” and contains everything about the Tower. She tells him to open the book to page 74; when he does, the page contains a newspaper clipping about Aaron. Aaron asks Rachel what he is doing in Dr. Warren’s journal, but she can only shrug, not knowing the answer.

We conclude the episode back in the Tower, where Grace has just succeeded with getting power back to the elevators. She is still guarded by Austen, who demands to know if the elevators will go down to Level 12. After Grace reluctantly nods, Austen handcuffs her to her desk, telling her that he will go down to “investigate.” He ignores Grace’s attempt to dissuade him, and – proving that he really is dumb as a brick – even gives a little wave as he pushes the down button on the elevator. As the doors close, Grace frantically starts trying to free herself, while keeping an eye on a monitor that displays Austen inside of the elevator. The elevator abruptly stops on Level 7; Austen looks up at the camera, and asks Grace through the monitor why the elevator isn’t moving. Suddenly, the monitor shuts off, and Grace looks behind her in horror as Austen’s screams echo up from the elevator shaft. He falls silent, and the elevator suddenly starts rising again. This causes Grace to struggle harder with her handcuffed hand, but she is still trapped when the elevator dings to a halt behind her. She turns, fear plain across her face, and we see blood splattered on the inside of the elevator doors as they slide open.

Thoughts on Revolution Episode 1.16: The Love Boat

So! What did everyone think about last night’s episode? I’m sure I’m not the only one that cheered when Neville was put in his place by Miles. What do you think made Miles decide to free Dr. Camp? What part do you think Aaron plays in the creation of the Tower? And – what do you think happened to Austen?? I’m not sad to see him go! Do you think Grace knew that Austen would want to investigate the elevators without Randall there – and knew what might happen to him if he did so? Let us know your thoughts on this episode in the comments section below!

Responses

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  1. Miles is the scoundrel with a heart of gold. He realized that Charley was right to free Dr Camp.
    I’d like to see more of the Rachel/Aaron tower storyine.
    Thanks for the recap.