PILOT REVIEW: Revolution

REVOLUTION

Starring: Billy Burke, Tracy Spiridakos, Giancarlo Esposito, Zak Orth, David Lyons, Anna Lise Phillips, Graham Rogers, JD Pardo, Tim Guinee, Maria Howell, and Elizabeth Mitchell

Created by Eric Kripke
Written by Eric Kripke, Directed by Jon Favreau

Revolution is an apocalyptic new sci-fi drama from NBC about a world without power. A mysterious blackout occurs that wipes out everything - lights, phones, etc. The show picks up 15 years later where militias have taken over and the planet has resorted back to a farming society. The cast includes the Matheson family - Dad Ben (Tim Guinee) knows more about the blackout than most and is killed early on by the militia when his son Danny (Graham Rogers) tries to save him. His daughter Charlie (Tracy Spiridakos) and his love interest Maggie (Anna Lise Phillips) are joined by former Google executive Aaron (Zak Orth) as they set out to find Ben's brother Miles (Billy Burke), who is also being pursued by the militia. Other characters include the Monroe Republic warlord Sebastian Monroe (David Lyons), a former friend of Miles', and Monroe Republic captain Tom Neville (Giancarlo Esposito). Rounding out the main cast is a militia soldier Nate Walker (JD Pardo), Charlie's supposedly dead mother Rachel (Elizabeth Mitchell), and a woman (Maria Howell) who tries to hide Danny after he escapes but who also has a big secret and twist at the end of the episode. I won't spoil it!

THE GOOD: There's a lot I really liked about Revolution. It's not like anything else on TV. The whole ambiance of the show is very cool with its throwback feeling set in the future. The opening was intense and set up an interesting storyline while some of visual scenes, such as post-blackout downtown Chicago, were very interesting. Some of the characters are early standouts but none more so than Giancarlo Esposito as the villainous captain. He commands every scene he's in. Despite all the good points to the show, I wasn't sure if I was going to stick with it in future episodes until the very last scene. Now I just have to come back so props to the writers for setting up future episodes with that twist.

THE BAD: Not everything about the pilot worked and unfortunately it was the main characters' quest that I enjoyed the least. I want to like Tracy Spiridakos but she wasn't that believable in this pilot. Her speech to Billy Burke's Miles that ended with "because we're family" was downright bad. She just didn't see driven enough or interesting enough. I hope she grows in the character because it seems like she'll have a lot to do in the weeks to come. I also wasn't a huge fan of Anna Lise Phillips. And my constant fear with a show like this after an intriguing pilot is where will it go from here. It has to tow the line of staying interesting and twisty while not creating too many questions without answers. It's always tough for shows like this, we'll see if Revolution can do it.

BOTTOM LINE: I'll be eagerly awaiting the ratings from Revolution because it is one of the biggest question marks of the season to me. It's good and it's interesting, but will it appeal to all audiences? And can it keep up the quality after the high octane pilot? Like the plot itself, the show is one of the biggest mysteries to me this season and how it does might show if the audience is ready for the next epic mystery or if it will be seen as another dud in the post-Lost era.