Revolution, Season 1, Episode 17: “The Longest Day”
Written by Anne Cofell Saunders
Directed by Steve Boyum
Airs Mondays at 10 pm (ET) on NBC
“The Longest Day” is about seeing a different side to some of our main characters. Rachel, Miles, and Tom all have moments when we saw a part of them we hadn’t really seen before.
There doesn’t seem much point in going back to see how much of an ass Miles was when he was with the Militia. He was a bad dude back then, and we’re well aware of that. As far as Rachel goes, her steely determination in allowing a boy to die without trying to help him in her single-minded quest for revenge opens up a new side of her. She can be ruthless when she is determined, and where Aaron wouldn’t leave her, she would him. It’s an interesting development, and it remains to be seen how much of an impact it will have.
The rules of the capsules haven’t been clearly enough defined to tell whether that boy could have been saved. The capsule and the nanobots were keeping Danny alive, and had the nanobots been shut down, he would have died. If the capsule had been removed from Rachel to save the young boy, would her leg once again be broken? It’s not clear, and maybe that’s a secondary motivation for her refusing to help the child. She’s in kamikaze mode, as long as she can take down Monroe.
Tom’s determination to save his son, despite all his faults and their disagreements, doesn’t necessarily show that he’s a good guy. But he’s not a heartless one. There may be some humanity left in him yet, though we’ll see how long his small affection towards his son plays out should Jason turn out to be the mole.
On the broader scale, we’ve moved the first few chess pieces in setting up the finale. There are just three episodes left and it’s time to get the ball rolling. It seems that as the rebels are decimated, Georgia contemplates surrendering to the Monroe Republic, and Nora either is about to be tortured or discuss plans with Monroe (should she be the mole), the rebels will steel themselves for the final showdown with the increasingly paranoid Monroe.
– Kris Holt