One of the shows that completely came out of nowhere last season, for me at least, was NBC’s contribution to the apocalypse genre, Revolution.
From a slow, rather unimpressive start, where it appeared the show would fail to capitalise on its wildly original premise, and which had me reaching for the off button on the remote, it grew into a multi-faceted, genuinely engaging show that had me looking forward to each and every episode.
Not that it suddenly became the perfect TV show by any measure.
But it improved considerably between the reasonably lacklustre first and second episodes, and the middle of the season, enough to convince me to see it through to the end of the season.
It’s remarkable growth as a show demonstrated that the producers of Revolution had learnt three very important lessons for any genre show:
(1) Having a daring premise but effectively deliver on it consistently.
It’s not enough to simply say this is world in which our characters now find themselves and leave it at that. This new world must be fleshed out, given a life and a spirit of its own. It can’t simply just be there in the background with the characters acting if it’s a secondary concern. It must affect everything they do in ways that the world that preceded did not, and they must be forced to react accordingly all the time.
(2) Keep it real.
It is tempting in a show we love to want the characters we care about to stay around until the series runs its course. But in a dangerous new world where all the rules have changed, and civilisation has usually got the short end of the straw, people face the very real danger of hunger, injury, and yes even death. Especially death. I don’t want to see anyone die, and I bet the actors want to keep their jobs, but for this new scary world to feel real, people must die or be in genuine jeopardy or it simply won’t ring true.
(3) Play on the darker aspects of humanity … but remember the good sides too.
True of any storytelling I guess but very much so in any new Lord of the Flies-ish paradigm. People, most people at least, will tend to favour their own needs in a dog-eat-dog world and it’s that motivation that will fuel every decision and action. Not always of course since the worst of times can often bring out the best in people, and you need to see that or the show will become so dark no will want to watch it, but remembering that the lesser angels not the better ones are usually in the ascendant in these nightmarish situations is a good way to ensure that the narrative cleaves close to what would likely actually happen.
So with all those lessons well learned where does that leave Revolution as it enters its second season with the power back on, nuclear warheads screaming towards Philadelphia and Atlanta, the two main post-power off centres of civilisation, and all our characters facing a world that is likely to be scarier and yes, ahem, darker, than the unpowered one they banished with the flick of a switch.
The official season 2 synopsis gives you some idea, as do the promos (above and below) which are a stark reminder that the world has changed forever and that the restoration of power won’t simply reset things to the way they were before.
In fact they’re likely to get a whole heap worse before they possibly get better:
“In last year’s finale, our heroes made the treacherous journey to the Tower and were able to turn on the power, but at what cost? The effects of this move prove to be catastrophic for everyone. Now, Miles (Billy Burke), Aaron (Zak Orth) and Rachel (Elizabeth Mitchell) have found themselves in a mysterious small town, in the great nation of Texas where Rachel unexpectedly encounters an important figure from her past. Charlie (Tracy Spiridakos) finds herself on a mission in the Plains Nation while Neville (Giancarlo Esposito) and Jason (JD Pardo) search a refugee camp for a lost loved one. Meanwhile, Monroe (David Lyons) has discovered a gritty role in his new environment.”
Revolution returns on Wednesday 25 September at 8/7c on NBC.
UPDATE 18 September
There’s a brand new promo for Revolution season 2 out and about and it’s shows a whole lot more of the world than we’ve seen previously in the show. You can watch it as insidetv.ew.com