New sci-fi adventure drama series, ‘Revolution’ hit our
screens on Friday night with a double bill exclusively on Sky1 HD. Set in the
modern day, Revolution depicts a world where electricity has mysteriously
disappeared. Within minutes, viewers are transported into the world that will
probably house the series going forward. The characters are forced to revert to
a world without power, and militia groups assume control in the wake of
government collapse. Predictably over dramatic from the outset, the main
character Ben seems like the only person aware of the impending power-cut, and
is seen downloading an unidentified file to some sort of USB key on a necklace.
Unsurprisingly, we see the file hit 100 per cent completely downloaded seconds
before the power dies.
Ben has a wife and two young children at the start, but in
the ‘new world’ without power, the narrative has moved on, so the children are
young adults, and his wife has passed away. Ben is killed by the militia in an
early scene of the ‘new world’, managing to pass the mysterious USB to a friend
beforehand, and thus begins an adventure to get it to a woman named Maggie. We
are presented with scenes of the Maggie character using an old computer, black
screened, with green font, but it is not revealed how she has power, although
she does possess a similar USB key to the adventurers. The non-speaking scenes
of her on this computer are very reminiscent of ‘Lost’ and that hatch, so it is
no surprise the same creators are involved here. In the first episode, Ben’s
son Danny is abducted by the militia forces, and his daughter, partner, and hapless
friend must find his ex-marine brother Miles, who can ‘get Danny back’. Ben’s
daughter Charlie is played by the relatively unknown actress, Tracy Spiridakos,
who, although overly pushed as a strong but vulnerable young woman, gives an adequate
performance.
Revolution is produced by JJ Abrams, who rose to worldwide
fame as the producer of ‘Lost’, and the similarities in production are obvious
throughout. The scenes cut sharply between this ‘new world’ and the initial
period of the outage itself when Charlie and Danny were still children. This is
very reminiscent of ‘Lost’, and the obnoxious suspenseful music linking these
scenes is very much like the 2004 mystery drama. Also like ‘Lost’, new
characters are introduced at every turn, and this over complicates the narrative
structure with too many seemingly important people interrupting the story.
Revolution tries to link modern day people and personalities
with the very common period dramas that are cluttering our television screens,
but it appears to be falling short already. Without the context of a
recognisable period, and the setting of a modern environment, Revolution gets
muddled between the two. Add in overly dramatic sword and gun battles, much
like the ‘pow’ and ‘kaboom’ era of Batman shows, and this series really appears
to be trying too hard to catch all genres.
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| Giancarlo Esposito as Tom Neville |
The saving grace of the show is the
performance of Giancarlo Esposito as a militia leader, guiding ‘his boys’ in
upholding the law of the newly established ‘Monroe Republic’. Esposito rose to
recent prominence as Gustavo ‘Gus’ Fring in the critically acclaimed series, Breaking
Bad, and he continues to impress here. His performance is most believable, and
his conviction portrays him as an evil strong armed upholder of the law, but
his obvious ambition to protect his own family makes him connectable to the
viewer on a very human level. This contradiction of allegiance on the part of
the viewer makes him the standout character, leaving him the root appeal of the
entire show.
Despite its shortcomings early on, Revolution is a
thought-provoking series, and if the writers can endear us to the main
characters as the episodes progress, it may be a relative success. If it
continues to add too many characters and deflects from the protagonists, I fear
the average viewer may lose interest. It is too early to write it off
completely, and the series continues Friday nights at 9pm on Sky1 HD.
