REVOLUTION RECAP: Tower of Terror

Revolution 1.19 Children of Men

Rachel is as we left her – in Monroe’s tent, holding the grenade without the pin. His body guards wrestle her down and the grenade rolls out of her hand and explodes in the middle of the tent but no one is injured. Rachel is captured and Monroe uses her hand print to open the Tower. Rachel and Randal talk as they walk through the Tower. Randal thinks that Grace must have changed the codes so Rachel could enter and he could not.

The doors to the Tower shut and lock a few minutes after Monroe, Rachel and Randal enter, locking them in. Randal shows Monroe some of the Tower’s capability – they can do nearly anything – if they can get to level 12. They get into the elevator, but it won’t stop on 12, and they end up in a firefight on 11 with some unknown assailants brandishing some space-age weaponry. Rachel escapes the melee into an office and Monroe manages to follow her.

Meanwhile, Miles, Nora, Charlie, and Neville amass their small posse a few miles away and head towards the Tower. They stumble onto Aaron, who is watching Monroe’s men and the Tower from a distance. Aaron tells them that he can get them in with the help of the notebook. They plant a bomb in one of Monroe’s tents to cause a distraction, but it only buys Aaron a few seconds to attempt to get them in. Right as they run low on ammo he gets Charlie, Nora and Miles in, shutting the doors behind them, leaving Jason and Neville outside in the middle of an intense firefight with Monroe’s army.

Monroe tries to convince Rachel to help him get out of the Tower alive. He finds a bunch of guns in the office, behind glass, but he can’t get them out. He asks where they are and suggests that she knows how to get to the guns. Rachel tells him that they are in the presidential bunker and that she knows how to open it, but he killed Danny (and Ben…indirectly) so she will never help him. Monroe tells her that he has learned that he has a son and he wonders what his son would think of him (seriously? what else could he think of him?).

Before the Blackout Flashback: Rachel and Ben are fighting about their role in the program and she tells him that she thinks they should spend some time apart “after the week is over”.

Neville and Jason have been taken captive by the Militia army, who wants Neville to get them inside the Tower. Neville tries to make a connection with the Militia men, whom  he used to command. He tries to turn one of the officers and Jason also appeals to the man.

Team Miles finds the scene of the bloodbath outside the elevator – there are no survivors and they quickly realize that Rachel isn’t there. Before they can check out the scene any more, the elevator starts heading towards their floor. They run and barricade themselves behind a door in a room filled with animal cages and then escape through a ventilation shaft.

Flashback: After the blackout, Ben uses a pendant to power a computer. and ask cyberspace if anyone else is out there. Rachel has just returned from the town to buy supplies – there are bodies everywhere, and kids are starving to death. She can’t believe that they were part of causing it. Ben tells her that what they did before doesn’t matter, only Charlie and Danny. They have to stay alive to keep them alive. While Ben comforts Rachel, Grace tries to communicate with him via the computer.

Miles, Charlie, Nora, and Aaron head to an armory to rearm themselves but it’s empty when they arrive. Rachel sees them on a security feed and Monroe promises to save Charlie if she opens the gun safe for him.

Charlie and Aaron are on the run inside the Tower and one of the government men knocks some shelving units onto Charlie, trapping her. He approaches with his gun to finish her off and is shot from behind – Monroe stands there with a weapon. Rachel, also armed, is behind him. She ushers Charlie and Aaron into the hallway where they run smack into three armed guards.

Meanwhile, Monroe and Miles face off once again, but we don’t get to see the conclusion.

Rachel, Charlie, and Aaron are brought into the living quarters of a colony of people. They are searched and their weapons and the notebook are taken. Grace approaches from the back of the crowd. Rachel’s old friend Dan is also there. The people have been living in the Tower since the blackout – they were left there the night of the blackout and serve as guards for the Tower. They disabled the elevators to keep level 12 safe.

They were the ones who opened the door so Rachel and Monroe could enter and although they killed everyone else (except Monroe), they purposely spared her. Dan burns the notebook, despite Rachel and Aaron’s appeals to him to turn the power back on to make things better for everyone outside. Grace makes Rachel admit that if they flick the switch, either the power will come back on, or she will set the entire world on fire…although Rachel thinks the odds of the later are slim.

Outside in Camp Monroe, one of the Militia officers finally agrees to join Neville and Jason to overthrow Monroe. He has convinced 11 other officers to join their quest, but they will have to take out one man first to get the rest to follow suit.

My Thoughts:

There was a lot going on in this episode – the entire cast was finally in the same place and much of the action took place inside the Tower. The idea of an entire colony of people living below the ground for 15 years is a pretty amazing thought. Then again, with as messed up as stuff is above, it likely seems like a fair trade off to forgo the sun for safety and all the other conveniences of home (although could they really have enough food for them all for 15 years?).

Monroe and Rachel’s scenes together are fun to watch. They are both pretty damaged, although Monroe worse than Rachel of course (or so I’d like to believe). As long as Rachel has someone that she loves in the world, she’s vulnerable to his manipulations.

I’m now taking bets on the outcome of the Miles-Monroe standoff. I think the odds are that both will survive the finale next week, but I could see a cliffhanger with one of them close to death at the end. Assuming Monroe does survive, will he find that his entire Militia has turned against him when he exits the Tower?

Gotta love the “Tower Dilemma” – turn on the power and life maybe gets better or maybe North America bombs itself into oblivion. Or maybe the world burns when the switch is flicked. Not exactly a decision that I’d want to have on my shoulders.

Next week’s finale is looking to be epic (and violent!)

Watch the REVOLUTION season one finale next Monday at 10/9c on NBC!