We lived in an electric world. We relied on it for everything. And then the power went out. Everything stopped working. We weren't prepared. Fear and confusion led to panic. The lucky ones made it out of the cities. The government collapsed. Militias took over, controlling the food supply and stockpiling weapons. We still don't know why the power went out. But we're hopeful someone will come and light the way.
Revolution is an NBC TV Series that takes place in a post-apocalyptic future. Fifteen years earlier, an unknown phenomenon permanently disabled all electricity-powered technology on the planet, ranging from computers and electronics to car engines, jet engines, and batteries. People were forced to adapt to a world without technology, and due to the collapse of public order, many areas are ruled by warlords and militias. The series focuses on the Matheson family, who possess an item that is the key to not only finding out what happened fifteen years ago, but also a possible way to reverse its effects. However, they must elude various enemy groups who want to possess that power for themselves.The series premiered on September 17, 2012 and was ordered for a full first season after only three episodes. NBC ordered the second season on April 26, 2013.
Adventure Town: While there is an overarching story, each episode finds the protagonists somewhere new with a new 44-minute adventure.
After the End: A rather interesting example as this future is not caused by war or disease but rather 15 years after electricity stopped working.
Ambiguously Brown: Nora and Nate. The former is canonically Latina, as revealed in "Sex and Drugs". The latter is revealed to have a black father and a white mother.
Amusement Park of Doom: In "The Plague Dogs," inhabited by a psycho and his attack dogs.
Anachronism Stew: Not so much with the gear, which is par for the course considering the apocalypse, but the combination of a pre-industrial, feudal agrarian society and industrialized armies seems unlikely and ultimately unsustainable. Surprisingly Truth in Television; many societies had this kind of imbalance.
Charlie persuades Miles to spare a bounty hunter who later on hands them over to the militia.
Danny manages to save Tom Neville from certain death and still ends up being rearrested.
Anyone Can Die: Absolutely. At first we only had a case of Tonight Someone Dies and a Death by Origin Story among the important characters who died. But as of "The Stand", we now have a brutal case of Shoot the Shaggy Dog that resulted in one of the main characters, who's abduction was the main driving point of the first half of Season 1, getting killed.
Archaeological Arms Race: More or less. One who can make pre-blackout tech work will gigantic advantage.
Armies Are Evil: Everyone knows what happens when the militia comes to call.
Arm Cannon: Charlie gets one in Episode 2, but it's highly inaccurate and only works once.
Artistic License - Chemistry: In Episode 12, sulfuric acid is shown being dispensed from a plastic bottle. Sulfuric acid at a concentration high enough to accomplish what Rachel is attempting would oxidize the carbon in the plastic and should only be stored in glass or ceramic containers.
Artistic License - Economics: The lack of an even small scale industrialized economy notwithstanding, the Monroe Republic doesn't even seem to have an official currency. However, we've only seen how the lower classes live; there may be currency in use by the elites. Medieval societies (and even pre-modern or modern societies experiencing an economic downturnnote
including the United States during the Great Depression
) often used this system, with barter for goods and services being the main form of exchange for the masses. But then, there have been several references to gold being a valuable commodity and presumably a medium of exchange. Supplementary canon material indicates the existence of "Militia Trade Dollars" at a rather hefty exchange rate to actual gold.
Artistic License - Engineering: Electricity isn't the only thing Monroe needs to get his helicopters flying. These machines have sat idle for 15 years, and fuel and lubricants do not last indefinitely. There's also a good chance that the avionics have physically degraded with time and exposure to the elements.
Artistic License - Pharmacology: It's highly unlikely that the asthma inhaler Grace uses to treat Danny has a shelf life anywhere near 15 years, especially without temperature controls. Of course, Grace does appear to have access to some high technology and a larger conspiracy, so it's possible new medications are being manufactured somewhere.
Naturally the show hasn't gotten around to explaining how electricity got "turned off", but an Acceptable Break from Reality is needed to accept the series. At least it's lampshaded by Aaron in his opening lesson that physics shouldn't have caused batteries and other such things to stop working. According to writer/producer/creator Eric Kripke, the cause of the blackout was revealed to a physicist who said it was plausible.
Episode 7 ("The Children's Crusade") has started the slow process of revealing the cause of the blackout. Ben and Rachel, along with Grace Beaumont, were trying to develop a new form of clean power - only for it to wipe out all electricity in the general area. This was later revealed in episode 13 to be a bunch of nanobots that absorb electricity and replicate themselves. The Defense Department wanted to get their hands on it, natch. And they still need to explain how they developed the pendant things to counteract their device...
Ax Crazy: Drexel the druglord, who is introduced to the audience by threatening to kill Miles in cold blood just for showing up on his property—only for him to reveal that his gun isn't loaded and laugh his head off. He doesn't get any saner.
Badass Preacher: Rebel Leader Nicholas is a Catholic priest. Doesn't stop him from fighting for what he believes in.
Big Bad Duumvirate: In the second half of the season, as Monroe and Randall team up. Randall makes it clear that he's not subordinate to Monroe, and Monroe's comments to Neville indicate he's planning on double crossing Randall as soon as he's no longer needed.
Big Damn Heroes: Miles and Rachel's appearance in Annapolis - with a laser-guided missile launcher - in "The Stand." One almost expects Rachel to invoke this trope, and Miles to declare, "Ain't we just!"
Body Horror: The heat-ray weapon used by Jan, Rachel's friend in "The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia." Basically, it's a tightly-focused microwave-y beam that cooks the target. Alive, if need be. And when she uses it on two militia soldiers...hoo boy, is it nasty.
Charlie, big-time. By the end of "Soul Train", she could beat Miles in an angsty-brooding-stare-off.
The same episode reveals Neville's origins as a kindly, mild-mannered family man who would go the extra mile for one of his clients. Then the blackout happens...
Call Forward: In a flashback to the Trenton Campaign (that happened 10 years ago) Monroe jokes that they will run out of bullets and will have to use swords like pirates. He was right.
Canada Does Not Exist: Played entirely straight. In the map of North America shown in the early first season, the USA is split into six different nations; meanwhile, apart from a couple of small pieces of British Columbia, southern Manitoba and the Maritimes included on the fringes of three of the American states, Canada is a complete blank. It's particularly jarring when the Monroe Republic surrounds the Great Lakes on the American side but does not incorporate southern Ontario at all.
Celebrity Survivor: It's implied that one of the Affleck brothers is governor of what once was California.
Character Development: Charlie has slowly and surely undergone this. The end of episode 11 has her becoming the hero that the setting needs.
Character Shilling: Done by Nora on behalf of Charlie, just in case we had forgotten how "special" she is. In fact, Miles can't ever seem to call her out on being an Idiot Hero without being seen as a bastard.
Child Soldiers: Mooks employed by the Monroe Militia start out as such, being forcibly conscripted from their homes and families.
Cliffhanger: Episode 10, the midseason finale, ends with Monroe using the locket to restore power to a fleet of attack helicopters and going after the heroes.
Conservation of Ninjutsu: Played totally straight when Miles fights off an entire militia in the pilot. As promised, he's "good at killing".
Cozy Catastrophe: Despite collapse of modern civilization, things don't look that bad.
Crapsack World: The post-blackout world of the show. Especially the Monroe Republic, judging from the fact that the Plains Nation people go in for very colorful clothing and arts and crafts, while the Georgia Federation's technological lead is clearly farther advanced and can provide a high enough standard of living that even relatively ordinary people can dress like only the wealthiest people of the Monroe Republic can.
Curb-Stomp Battle: Episode 11 demonstrates this quite graphically with Monroe's helicopters slaughtering an entire rebel camp while the camp had no time to react.
Darker and Edgier: Episode 11, "The Stand" (the first episode after the show's four-month hiatus), starts the second half of Season 1 in this direction, with enough graphic war violence that NBC slapped the episode with a Viewer Discretion Advised warning.
Ditto in both directions. Though Nate/Jason may end up subverting the shallow part, now that he's revealed to be Tom Neville's son.
Divided States of America: The series takes place in the 'Monroe Republic,' which, along with the other powers in what used to be the US (along with parts of Canada and Mexico) is portrayed here, as well as on-screen in episode 5. In the pilot, Miles ( formerly The Dragon for the series' Big Bad, who would know) specifically mentions that Monroe wants the secret to the blackout so he can have factories turning out military hardware so that he can "butcher the other republics." For those of you keeping track at home, the Republics seem to be:
The Monroe Republic: New England and the Great Lakes area
The Georgia Federation: The Southeast. Apparently the major rival to the Monroe Republic, and possibly allying with the Plains Nation to eliminate it
Texas: Texas, with what appears to be parts at least of Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana, as well as a sizable chunk of Mexico
The Plains Nation: the Midwest from Minnesota to Montana
Wasteland: Utah and the Rockies
The California Commonwealth: The West Coast including a sizable chunk of British Columbia. Considered to be "heathens" by at least one high-level Monroe Militia officer (Neville)
Dont Go In The Woods: Charlie and her brother have been repeatedly told not to go wandering because "it's not safe out there", despite being in their late teens/early 20's and obviously able to handle themselves. Justified in that we don't know whether or not bandits or wild animals beyond the capability of Charlie's crossbow to take down are in the woods. And the militia appears to be just as bad of a threat, if not worse. The militia may have also imposed restrictions on how far ordinary citizens are allowed to range from their homesteads, just as medieval serfs (and plantation slaves in the pre-Civil War South) were bound to the estates of their masters. Get caught without a pass and you may wish the bear had eaten you first...
The Dragon: Captain (later Major) Tom Neville. While not Monroe's actual second in command, he appears to be part of Monroe's inner circle, and is the most recognizable villain after the General himself.
After Neville defects, Captain Baker takes on the role until Monroe has him killed in a fit of paranoia.
The Dreaded: Sgt. Strausser is one the most feared members of the militia. Even Miles describes him as the only person he's afraid of.
Dropped A Bridge On Her: Maggie. She's briefly taken hostage by some random crazy dude who shows up from nowhere, gets stabbed in the leg, and then she bleeds to death.
Dudley Do-Right Stops to Help: Most episodes focus on helping the Victim of the Week rather than the overall goal of rescuing Danny. That changed due to Danny being rescued in episode 10 and then Danny getting killed off at the end of episode 11.
Enemy Mine: As of episode 14, the Resistance and the Georgia Federation have allied to open a two front war against Monroe.
Everyone Has Standards: In episode 11, Jason Neville decides that slaughtering groups of people with air strikes is completely unacceptable. His father does not react well to his son taking a stand.
Bass describing how he'd use a working Blackhawk helicopter against the other republics is pure ham.
Expy: Aaron seems to be this to Hurley, but with a Race Lift. Rich guy whose money is now worthless? Check. Big guy who is a vast source of comic relief? Check. Apparent aversion to physical tasks (at least partially due to his size)? Check.
The Faceless: Randall in his first appearance in episode 2. Then, in episode 7, he's actually seen. Turns out he's the same Department of Defense guy who offered to help Rachel and Ben with their project.
Fallen States Of America: Justified, since social order collapsed after the blackout. The Stars and Stripes are now referred to as the "rebel flag."
Most civilians carry low-tech weapons like swords and crossbows even though cartridge firearms were invented before electricity was harnessed. This is explained as guns being illegal for civilians to own. However, that doesn't explain why militia members, who are allowed to have guns, only use muskets. Could be explained by most of the modern ammunition being used up during the intervening 15 years. Musketballs are probably easier to manufacture with primitive technology. This theory is verified by Episode 3, with Jeremy mentioning that pre-blackout ammunition was a rare commodity and that copper jackets and smokeless powder were beyond at least the Monroe Republic's manufacturing capabilities.
The intro sequence suggests that more advanced firearms were stockpiled in droves. It's likely that to conserve on ammo and supplies, only the front line and combat militia would be handed AK-47s and the like, while the rest are given muskets. This is confirmed in later episodes: as the group gets closer to Philadelphia, they encounter more and more squads of soldiers with semi-automatic rifles, such as Sgt. Strausser's squad and the soldiers guarding the power plant.
Fatal Family Photo: Maggie would've been fine if she had just ditched her cell phone containing a picture of her children.
Faux Action Girl: Charlie could be this. As one previous entry mentioned, she's incompetent. On top of that, she usually ends up being saved. However, she managed to not screw up in episode 2 by tricking Nate and succeeded in killing the warden and another man. It may be because she isn't good with closerange or unarmed combat, she is a good shot with her crossbow, but since crossbows can't fire as quick as a real bow after a single shot she tends to be helpless. Which may be why her father warned her notto go into the woods. Too many people in the village have gotten hurt or killed trying to save her ass.
Five-Man Band: For episodes 2-4, Charlie was The Hero, Miles was The Lancer, Nora was The Big Guy, Aaron was The Smart Guy, and Maggie was The Chick.
For Want of a Nail: "The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia" reveals that the Georgia Federation not only still has a trading fleet of tall ships, but is in regular communication (and possibly a military alliance) with England. If only Maggie had travelled there instead of the Monroe Republic, she might have made it home to her kids after all...
At the end of episode 3 ("No Quarter"), Maggie's iPhone reactivates thanks to the power-activating pendant, and the lock screen shows the date as Monday, September 17 - the date of the show's premiere in 2012.
In episode 5 ("Soul Train"), Hutch is seen with a Harry Potter manuscript.
From Nobody to Nightmare: Prior to the blackout, Monroe was a sergeant in the United States Marine Corps. Now, he's the warlord of a large chunk of what used to be America. Likewise Captain Neville used to be an insurance adjustor (but, as the Flashback in episode 5 reveals, he was fired on the day of the blackout).
Happily Married: Aaron and his wife before the blackout. He was a rich tech mogul who desired nothing more than giving his wife everything she could possibly want, unaware all she wanted was him. After the blackout, she proved this wasn't just an act by staying with him. But since he had no useful skills in a world without electricity, he left her behind with a group of survivors so he wouldn't hold her back.
In "Home", we discover that 15 years later, Priscilla has found someone else and is living in Texas.
Hard Head: Charlie must have a bionic skull. In Episode 9, not only does she survive getting shot in said noggin - a grazing wound only, but she then hits her head on concrete steps hard enough to cause bleeding and a near-death experience, yet she eventually wakes up and shrugs it off, even though in real life (as has been proven in the sad case of actress Natasha Richardson and many other cases) a head wound of that nature has the potential to be fatal.
Hobbes Was Right: Seems to be the Militia's justification of their actions.
Hollywood Tactics: The restaurant fight in episode 3 had a lot of poor tactical decisions all around.
Hope Spot: In episode 11, Danny dies taking out Monroe's only power amplifier with him. By doing this, he effectively brought Monroe back to square one. Randall shows up on Monroe's doorstep not too long after, and not only offers him more power amplifiers but soldiers, weapons, and a full team of scientists.
Hypocrite: The preacher in episode 3, for all his preaching, condemns Miles to death the instant he finds out that Miles is one of the founders of the Monroe Republic. This could be taken as an indication of the Crapsack World the characters live in, because anybody who tries to be a good person in such a world is doomed to be this. Charlie, ironically enough, proved to be more forgiving than the preacher on the matter!
When Charlie kills the chain-gang warden and the guard for the sniper rifle. Also leads to a Your Approval Fills Me with Shame moment, when Miles congratulates her for it.
Charlie has also invoked the trope again since then.
Invoked Trope by Captain Neville when he and Danny are trapped in the storm cellar.
When a storm drops a huge pile of rubble on Captain Neville, Danny has the perfect chance to escape, and let a dangling stove kill him...so naturally, he turns around and digs him out. He actually seems surprised about being handcuffed...
He was reluctant to save Neville, so it's more of a case of Honor Before Reason.
Captain Tom Neville in episode 5. He has Danny sitting in a chair, and he thinks it's a good idea to not tie him to the chair and to turn his back on him. And this is after Danny has openly shown himself to be a Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass, The Dog Bites Back, and showing a refusal to be intimidated or impressed by Neville, and just giving him Shut Up, Hannibal! responses.
Charlie runs with it in "Sex and Drugs" when she agrees to assassinate O'Halloran for Drexler in exchange for saving Nora. She learns that unlike The Sociopath drug lord Drexler, O'Halloran is a former police officer and family man—and yet attempts to go through with the plan anyway. Yes, Charlie, kill off a potential ally who has a strong enough force at his disposal to destroy Drexler's fields, rather than have him help to destroy Drexler's operation and save your friends.
I Have No Son: Jason Neville went against his father's orders, and as a result, Tom Neville considers his son dead to him.
Danny's asthma causes some characters to perceive him as weak - to this day Charlie is constantly worrying about him and trying to keep her promise to watch over him. Justified given that this is a lawless, unforgiving Crapsack World and other than plant-based medicines there's not a lot that can restore his breathing if he has an attack.
Danny also uses this to his advantage, to get the drop on a mook who's been harassing him.
I'm Dying, Please Take My MacGuffin: Knowing he is about to be captured, Ben Matheson gives his lanyard to Aaron. Then is accidentally and fatally shot a few minutes later.
The Resistance is supposedly causing a lot of problems for the Monroe Republic but beside Nora, none of the rebels the protagonists meet seem competent enough to cause that much trouble. It's possible that the resistance groups in other areas of the Republic are much more competent or maybe the strength of the Monroe Republic is also exaggerated.
Likewise, the Monroe Militia makes numerous tactical mistakes and neglects technology that would give it an edge even under the constraints the program has imposed (no bayonets for muskets, no body armor, etc.) Truth in Television, as military dictatorships usually don't have very good militaries.
Irish Cop: The O'Hallorans, the neighboring family that is burning Drexler's poppy fields, are a long line of such, although the father's primary motivation is personal—Drexler killed his daughter with a heroin overdose.
Ironic Echo: What Rachel says to Aaron, in "Home", after Aaron found his ex-wife, Priscilla:
Rachel: You think that you'll apologize, and everything will be okay.
It Gets Easier: Both Charlie and Aaron have demonstrated this, from being hesitant to use deadly force in the pilot to both becoming efficient killers by episode 5 (with Charlie killing ''in cold blood' on at least one occasion and agreeing to do so, though she ultimately doesn't go through with it, on another).
Neville seems to be the end result of the process, going from his pre-blackout life as a man who lacked the courage to confront his Bad Boss and asshole neighbor to a man who not only is willing to slaughter an entire rebel encampment (including noncombatants) but is excited at the prospect of doing so.
It's Personal: Rachel is now fully dedicated to return power to the world. Not because it would be better for everyone. It's only to allow Monroe's ennemies to have occasions to kill him. Never get a mom angry.
I Warned You: (Subverted) Miles, after Dixon shoots at Monroe and hits Emma instead, killing her.
Just the First Citizen: President and General Bass Monroe. The name alone is scary enough.
Kick the Dog: Captain Tom Neville beat up and humiliated Danny in front of the militia. Bass Monroe is engaging in this off-screen, mainly through the use of veiled and not-so-veiled threats.
Lady Macbeth: Julia Neville, who in episode 8 suggests to her husband that he might make a better ruler than the unstable Monroe.
Revealed in episode 2 ("Chained Heat"). Creatively called The Resistance, they use the regular American flag as their symbol, and identify each other by requesting biographies of Joe Biden. Unfortunately, they keep getting killed off and on the run.
Most ironically, the Monroe Republic's capital is Philadelphia, and Monroe himself works in Independence Hall.
Legally Dead: Rachel. Episode 2 reveals us she had been kept prisoner by Monroe. The fall finale reveals that even Miles, who personally processed her when she turned herself in to the Monroe Militia, assumed that she had since died.
Lens Flare: In episode 7, the pendant randomly turns on and activates the lighthouse in the middle of the big fight sequence.
The Load: Aaron sees himself as such which is why he abandoned his wife—he felt he was only hindering her chances for survival post-blackout.He got better.
Long Game: Rachel has apparently been doing this for almost 15 years, keeping Bass from being able to master the secret of electricity. She discovers it's become a bit of a Deal with the Devil by the time the series starts.
Low Angle Empty World Shot: Used fairly often to save on having to close streets and dress them with trash.
Grace, the woman who helped Danny, has one as well, and it seems capable of restoring power (in a limited area, at least). Grace and at least one other party also have a primitive (early 1980's level) computer with acoustic modem capability—implying telephone service as well as electricity—and appear to be coordinating some larger agenda.
As of episode 5, Rachel has revealed the existence of 12 pendants. Three have been accounted for, and the whereabouts of the remaining nine have yet to be revealed.
To be true, we have seen three of them and the action of a fourth (the one used by Grace's correspondent.
Episode 8's map shows seven in the former borders of the USA. Presumably the other five are either "dead" or are in other places besides North America.
Episode 9 reveals that the pendant has an approximate range of 9-10 feet when active. They can apparently be activated if you touch the flash drive part a particular way.
Episode 12: Rachel removes the flash drives from two pendants and drops them in tubs of chemicals to destroy them. This might help explain the other five missing pendants, except it's pretty strongly implied they can only be tracked when active anyway - except when Randall's remotely pinging them.
After Danny's death in "The Stand," the episode ends with Rachel cutting a small capsule out of his side. And it's blinking. Hmm...
Made of Iron: Charlie, in episode 7 where she literally shrugs off being beaten into unconsciousness twice and getting branded, to boot and comes back swinging.
Nate/Jason is revealed to be a militia spy as soon as they get to Miles. Some time later we find out that he is Neville's son.
Joseph Wheatley, ostensibly of the rebels (possibly going by "Captain Burke"). In fact, he's been a militia spy for some time. Also, Mia, Nora's sister.
Any named militia officer other than Monroe or Neville (i.e. Strausser and Jeremy)
Strausser is more of an Elite Mook in that he's the lowest-ranking member of the Monroe Militia to merit a name so far, yet has highly-specialized skills that Bass relies upon to get certain dirty jobs done.
Motive Decay: Charlie's search for Danny. She says she needs to get to him as soon as possible so as to avoid him being in danger too long, but sees it necessary to save literally every person they come across along the way who isn't with the militia, putting herself and her group in danger every time for people who they'll most likely never see again. This would be an In-Universe trope, but, over time, the rest of the cast doesn't even call her out on it. Rendered moot as of episode 10, due to Team Matheson rescuing Danny. Episode 11 ends with Danny getting killed off.
Nanomachines: The cause of the blackout. For as yet unknown reasons, electricity-draining nanomachines created by the Defense Department replicated out of control.
Never Forgotten Skill: Exemplified, where the world has suffered an electricity blackout for 15-and-change years, but all of the soldiers have more or less retained all of their smooth skills behind the fighter stick of a Huey helicopter.
Never Trust a Title: "When the Lights Went Out in Georgia". The title implies we'll see events during the Blackout, but the episode proves to be anything but.
The trailer for the sixth episode, "Sex and Drugs," suggested that the price to heal Nora's infection was Charlie's freedom, and Drexler would make her a sex slave—at least for one night. That was only the editing, though. While he was clearly attracted to her, when he said, "I want her," he did want her - to kill his neighbor who's been torching his opium poppy garden.
"Kashmir". Monroe's meeting with Miles exists only in Miles's mind.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Rachel's initial confession about the pendant ends up with a succession of Oh Crap moments for her as she discovers just how single-mindedly obsessive Bass Monroe is. She could be considered directly responsible for the capture and torture of Dr. Jaffe and indirectly responsible for the capture of his daughter, since Bass apparently got the idea from capturing Rachel's family and thus spotting her weakness.
At least not in the pilot - odd considering that bicycles predate electricity.
Averted in Episode 2, a woman and child are briefly seen riding one in flashback, one week after the blackout. Later on, bikes are seen for sale on a market.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Jason Neville warns Charlie about the air strike coming in 12 hours, and this is when he lost everything. Charlie thanks him for the information, but refuses to take him in, because he's part of the militia.
No New Fashions In The Future: Justified. No electricity means no factories, and thus no mass production of clothes. Whatever the characters are wearing was either manufactured before the blackout in 2012, or stitched/sewn by hand after the fact, which makes wardrobes an odd combination of early 21st century and a few centuries prior.
Nuke 'Em: After allying with Randall and gaining a permanent source of power, Monroe manages to build a nuclear bomb and attempts to use it to destroy Atlanta and cripple the Georgia Federation. Fortunately, the protagonists stop this just in time.
Again in Episode 10 when Monroe manages to get several helicopters equipped with miniguns flying.
Topped off in Episode 13 when Miles and the rebels learn that Monroe has obtained a nuclear weapon.
Offscreen Teleportation: The Militia marches away in episode three, yet the off screen protagonists manage to figure out where the militia is going, get ahead of them and set up a trap at a bridge - all on foot.
Only The Chosen May Wield: Miles' "lucky" Bowie knife, which proved to be less-than-lucky for Alec (to whom Miles had gifted it some years earlier). So far it's credited with having saved the lives of three generations of Mathesons over a 75-year period. What are the odds Charlie will end up with it?
Parental Abandonment: As far as Charlie and Danny are (initially) aware, their father died in the first episode, and their biological mother abandoned them sometime after the blackout and is presumably dead. As the story progresses, we learn that their birth mother is still alive, however, a fact that, so far, is known only to Danny and later Charlie Miles and Aaron.
People's Republic of Tyranny: The Monroe Republic is implied to be this, considering that their military force consist of militias who force their citizens to pay taxes with food. Given this throwback to feudalism, and with Monroe leading what appears to be nothing more than a military dictatorship, it's a republic in name only. We can only guess if any of the other "republics" are so in more than their names.
Miles confirms as much in "The Song Remains The Same" when he tells Rachel that while the Monroe Republic having the power back on is a bad idea especially since they seem to have obtained a nuclear weapon, none of the other American successor states are any better (and Miles seems to think Texas is a good deal worse).
Pet the Dog: Captain Tom Neville has been shown to do this towards Danny a time or two. The same goes for his son, Nate/Jason Neville.
Product Placement: Not a smartphone, but "You still carry around an iPhone?". Made a little funny when you realize that Aaron used to work for Google - makers of the Android smartphone OS. Not that it works, anyway. Maggie only carries the phone around for sentimental value.
Punch Clock Villain: In episode 2, Neville mentions that while he may not like what he has to do, supporting the Monroe Republic is what needs to happen to keep some semblance of order.
Rank Up: Upon returning to Philadelphia with Danny, Neville is promoted to Major.
Reassigned to Antarctica: Seems when Monroe wants to punish someone without outright killing them, he sends them on expeditions to California — Neville comments on how "those heathens" tend to send their people back "in a box".
Then again, Neville shows signs of being The Fundamentalist, so likely anyone who doesn't think exactly as he does would be regarded as a heathen. More than likely California is sending back Monroe's people dead to send a message to Monroe not to get any ideas.
Religious Bruiser: Neville and his men stop to pray while taking Danny to the prison camp.
The guy who gives up Miles and Nora's ultimate destination in "Ghosts" gets the same treatment. The Monroe Militia for all of its other deficiencies seems to be Dangerously Genre Savvy when it comes to dealing with defectors and informants.
Averted with Mia, Nora's sister, by Strausser, of all people. In exchange for the power pendant, he spares both their lives.
Strausser tries to force one on Rachel when he asks her which of her children she wants to die. Rachel, Mama Bear that she is, Took a Third Option and stabbed Strausser.
Sanity Slippage: It's suggested by several characters involved in the militia that Monroe's been suffering from this somewhat ever since Miles defected.
Randall may have undergone one triggered by the death of his son, resulting in him co-opting the Mathesons' research to produce a superweapon—initially to end the war in Afghanistan but ultimately to destroy the world order and start anew.
Scenery Gorn: Many shots of overgrown modern stuff.
Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: Jason Neville decides not to call in the air strike on the rebels and even warns Charlie about the air strike occurring in 12 hours.
Semper Fi: Both Miles and Bass were Marines prior to the blackout.
Shirtless Scene: Neville gets one in "Soul Train," as he and his men are in the Noblesville bar boxing. Predictably, he takes the opportunity to vent his frustrations on Danny.
The second half of the episode "The Plague Dogs." Miles and the gang spend the entire time trying to save Maggie after she was stabbed in the leg. Even after Aaron manages to suture the wound, Maggie informs everyone that she's already lost too much blood and she dies.
The first half of Season 1 was all about Charlie and Miles rescuing Danny after he was captured by the militia. After ten long episodes, Danny is finally reunited with his family...and then abruptly gunned down by a helicopter in the eleventh episode.
Shown Their Work: Danny's asthma attack is treated with ephedrine, a pre-modern asthma medication that can be extracted from a weed indigenous to the greater Chicago area.
Shut Up, Hannibal!: Danny has given this to Captain Tom Neville a few times, and Neville is not happy about it. At all. Fortunately, Neville is under orders to keep Danny alive, so Danny is not worried about being harmed or killed as a result.
Sigil Spam: Is there anything Bass Monroe doesn't like putting his logo on?
Slow Electricity: The power goes out so slowly that characters can go outside and watch as each house goes out - and room-by-room, oddly enough. We don't know enough about the source of the blackout to know if this is justified or not (the source could be slow-moving).
Seems to be justified, according to the episode "The Song Remains the Same" the blackout was caused by the rapid replication of Nanomachines which are probably coming from The Tower.
In "Sex and Drugs" and "The Children's Crusade", Aaron takes up the role of Only Sane ManDeadpan Snarker after Miles decides to agree with Charlie rather than argue with her anymore. However, not only is he then the target of Charlie's Character Shilling via Nora, but he drops it after those episodes.
He kind of picks it back up again in "Kashmir". He recognizes the symptoms of oxygen deprivation and this is what makes the rebel group realize they have to leave the tunnel network, and quickly.
Implied with Bass Monroe, who unlike Neville, never loses his cool - at least, not as severely.
Strausser, at least as of "Sex and Drugs" is being deliberately set up as one.
Miles on occasion is hinted as this.
Stealth Pun: One of the first things Mia talks about is how she was Missing In Action.
Steampunk: The Georgia Federation has reverted to this full-stop, converting buses and agricultural machinery to steam power in response to the loss of electricity. Miles notes that their standard of living is substantially higher than that of the Monroe Republic at least partly as a result.
Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: After a hiatus of several months, Danny, the person the protagonists were trying to rescue for the first half of the season, gets gunned down.
Television Geography: The protagonists have been traveling from Chicago to Philadelphia. There is the occasional mention of places and landmarks, but as far as the universe of Revolution is concerned the entire route from Chicago to Philadelphia is rolling hills and trees - despite the fact that there are many flat, treeless stretches across Illinois, Indiana and Ohio and the area is largely urbanized. While the depopulation of major cities after the blackout let the greenery return with a vengeance, flat open plains wouldn't just magically fill up with trees because there's no electricity.
Tempting Fate: The guy that steals the Mathesons' food in the second-episode flashback is threatened by Ben with a gun. Double-subverted as it initially appears that Ben won't do it, but then the flashback resumes again just in time for Rachel to pull the trigger.
The commercials for the fourth episode made it seem like one of the protagonists would get killed. They weren't kidding.
The commercial for "Sex and Drugs" made it seem like Nora would succumb to her stab wound. She didn't.
Too Dumb to Live: The "well-trained" militia has just stepped out of a fatal battle where they got their ass handed to them by a lone sniper and tripwires and they proceed to walk right up to a choke point (a bridge) in a two-column formation with no scouting party, rear guard,or dedicated prisoner guard. Surprise surprise when they get waylaid by a tripwire right next to the exploding bridge and lose the prisoner.
Danny appears to be trying this. He's developing talent as an escape artist, freeing himself from handcuffs twice (and eluding the militia for several hours the first time) and faking an asthma attack to lure a militia soldier who was taunting him into a near-fatal beating. He even manages to land a good punch on Neville during the impromptu boxing match. Neville, for his part, seems to be encouraging this in an offhand way either out of sentiment as a father or possibly to recruit Danny to the Monroe side.
Aaron took a level when he was forced by Drexler to duel with Nora—Aaron turned the gun on himself, shot himself in the chest (actually, where he kept his flask, which absorbed the shot)—and then shot Drexler when Drexler came to check the body. He's been leveling up in almost every episode since then, to the point where even Miles no longer intimidates him.
Charlie. She killed a militia lieutenant in episode 7 and didn't even blink, and this was after she agreed to kill other militia soldiers in cold blood. She can kill without needing her crossbow, and has become fairly proficient with actual firearms. It's almost like she's Miles's kid, not Ben's.
Rachel (to Miles): "How is it that you are better for Charlie than I am?"
The Rebellion collectively looks like it's about to, courtesy of aid and advisors from Georgia.
The Tower: Played straight, and name-checked. We honestly don't know what it actually is called; it has been and may actually *be called* The Tower.
The preview for episode 3 gave away the fact that Miles and Bass co-founded the Monroe Republic and her Militia.
Far worse is the episode 4 promo, which reveals someone dies in the episode, and it was very easy to deduce that it would be Maggie.
Oh, and the trailer for the pilot episode was essentially a short recap, spoiling the entire events of the episode up to the cliffhanger.
Training from Hell: New conscripts into the Monroe Militia are confined aboard an old ship anchored in the middle of a river and subjected to beatings and psychological pressure until they are molded into proper Mooks. After that, presumably something resembling actual military training begins, although given the performance of the militia in the field one wonders if this regimen is strictly For the Evulz.
The normally flat, emotionless Captain Neville eventually resorts to slapping Danny upside the head to keep him quiet. No telling if he'll get worse as the series progresses.
Averted with the preternaturally calm Monroe so far...not that it makes the viewers any less keen to see him get his Bass kicked.
Played straight for Monroe in "Nobody's Fault But Mine." When Miles and Monroe finally confront each other, Monroe has the opportunity to kill Miles. Instead, he drops his gun and literally begs Miles to come back into the Militia, saying that he needs him. Miles just gives him a "The Reason You Suck" Speech, at which point Monroe loses it completely.
Villain Team Up: Monroe and Randall ally in the second half of the season.
Villainous Demotivator: Monroe. He keeps losing good commanding officers. His habit of killing anyone (including families) who might have possibly betrayed him tends to leave people... uncomfortable. And dead.
War Is Hell: Episode 11 has this trope as the premise, with the air strikes systemically wiping out entire rebel camps.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: In "Ghosts," it turns out that Randall lost his son in Afghanistan a year before the blackout, leading him to convince the rest of the DoD to go forth and use the Mathesons' power-suppressing invention to put an end to the war.
Addressed during episode 3. To him, the guy who Danny killed was just the Militia member who killed his dad. To a fellow Militia soldier, he was a friend, with a loving family, and a name: Templeton.
And then completely ignored as Charlie and company slaughter entire squads of militiamen at a time.
The rebel side comes in for this as several people are introduced for one whole episode, and then are all slaughtered by Wheatley.
Who's Laughing Now?: In "Nobody's Fault But Mine", Neville launches into this sort of speech with Aaron. He practically accuses Aaron of being a rich boy who bullied workers huddled in their cubicles. It's not clear if Aaron really was that type of person or if Neville simply equates every rich CEO with the Jerkass boss who fired Neville shortly before the blackout.
Drexler. He claims to be adding verisimilitude to the story he feeds Charlie, but his readiness to do so suggests he's willing to do the real thing.
Charlie gets slugged by a militia soldier and later by a militia recruit in episode 7, thereby establishing she must possess a jaw of iron.
Miles apparently relies on his reputation of lacking any compunction about gender when it comes to killing, since he effectively makes his threats stick in order to get what he wants.
Neville - sort of. Danny technically is not a child anymore, but most characters treat him as such, because of his age, and probably also because he has demonstrated impulsiveness and rudeness and other negative traits common to teenage boys. And hisasthma.
Also, the Militia soldier mentioned above. He really wants revenge on Danny.
Wretched Hive: All cities are apparently like this now: "If you were smart, you left the city. If you weren't, you died there."
You Can't Go Home Again: Rachel has to point this to Aaron more or less at the beginning of episode 11. In that same episode, Jason Neville is told to not even bother going home again by his own father.
Neville tells his wife this after his mission to obtain the nuke for Monroe fails and he realizes that thanks to Randall's influence his days in the Republic are numbered.
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