NBC’s new post-apocalyptic action-adventure series premiered last night, and based upon the network’s track record when it comes to sci-fi & fantasy serialized storytelling, Revolution should be a big pile of suck.
Exhibits A, B, and C.
However, unlike its predecessors, Revolution has some serious behind the scenes creative firepower — the show is created by Supernatural mastermind Eric Kripke, had its pilot episode directed by Jon Favreau (Iron Man), and is executive produced by sci-fi genre kingpin and Hollywood golden boy J.J. Abrams.
And while I previously made a case for why Revolution is something to be excited about, it’s all just buzz until you watch the show. While it’s certainly not a flawless pilot, there’s enough action and intrigue to get me interested in returning to this bleak dystopian future week after week.
Thankfully it’s not THIS bleak of a future.
Here are 3 great moments from the series premiere of Revolution:
1) THE BLACKOUT
Sure, snippets of this scene have dominated Revolution’s TV spots, but it still delivers. It’s chilling watching cars die and planes falling out of the sky while all the power in the world is lost in an instant, especially as our gadget-addicted society becomes more and more reliant upon and obsessed with electronic devices.
Gold medal winning Olympians celebrate less than this dink.
2) POISON WHISKEY
If there was one character that I cared the least about in the first half of the pilot, it was mousy medical doctor Maggie (Anna Lise Phillips). Up until halfway through the episode she basically just makes doe eyes at her soon-to-be-dead boyfriend, chirps in an annoying accent, and mixes some herbs into healing tonics.
She’s also the character that suffers the most from not having access to a post-apocalyptic hair salon.
Maggie soon proves herself to be more than the token “patch-up-the-other-characters-after-combat” doc when, while being held hostage by bandits, she tricks them into taking swigs of poison whiskey. Not bad.
3) THE SWORD FIGHT
This is the big climax of the pilot and it does not disappoint. Here we finally get to see series lead Miles Matheson (Billy Burke) in all his badassery, and after he slaughters the shit out of over a dozen militia men, it’s hard not to get excited about what Kripke and co. will have their grumpy anti-hero do in future episodes.
It’s a safe bet it will include a lot of stabbing and scowling.