Television: Revolution, "The Song Remains the Same"

Okay, so there's this dark tower . . .

Rachel tells Aaron all about these microscopic computers that absorb electricity and replicate (themselves?) . . . Maybe the writers will finally find a use for Aaron as a computer dude. Aaron thinks so, too, because he wants to go to the tower and help reprogram these tiny nano-whatsis but Rachel won't go because it won't work and it's too dangerous. No story line for you, Aaron!

Neville and Flynn are at odds, each wanting to be Monroe's best friend. (But we all know Monroe's heart remains with Miles.)

And the show could only get rights to old Lionel Richie music.

Our fearless band, meanwhile, takes Neville hostage. Rachel lobbies to execute him, but Miles wants to at least interrogate him first. Problem: Miles isn't actually all that threatening. Just . . . Not scary. And Neville manipulates Miles's temper with amazing ease.

And then Jason (Neville's son if you haven't been keeping track of names) turns up as a new Rebel recruit and wanting to see his dad. Hmm. Conflict of interest?

Rachel attempt to sneak through to see and kill Neville but is confronted by Charlie. "It's only a matter of time before he escapes," Rachel tells Charlie. She's evidently become familiar with the way the writing on this show works. One step forward, two steps back and all that. No progress is ever really made here. Which might be fine if we were at least exploring interesting characters or something, but we're not. The characters are all pretty flat. So . . . Take an interesting premise, stretch it out well beyond the point of interest, and populate it with shallow characters that are difficult to care about . . . And you have Revolution. A real shame since it started with such promise.

Jason goes to see his dad, looking for closure. Neville uses Jason's mother as leverage in order to convince Jason to set him loose. But it turns out Jason was just playing along so Miles could get the information he (and the Rebels) needed.

Monroe sends Flynn out after the absent Neville.

And Neville gets loose, as predicted. And we're back where we started yet again.

Except Neville goes to get his wife and flee Monroe, admitting that Monroe is unstable. And the Rebels discover Monroe has been trying to develop nuclear weapons.

Rachel decides she needs to leave. She wants to get power back for everyone, level the playing field. Hey, Aaron! You've got a gig after all!

And for a long time they've been hinting about some past relationship between Miles and Rachel, but the fact is no one cares. That's the biggest obstacle for this show, at least for me: The writers haven't been able to really make me care, either about the people or the situations they face. I want to, but I can't. They've given me so little to work with. Perhaps venturing outside the Monroe Republic will boost things a bit. From the previews, Georgia makes Monroe look like a third-world country . . .