*SPOILERS AHEAD*
Now this is how you stage a finale.
Power plays, shifting alliances, plot twists, explosions (some bigger than others; or at least with the potential to be), fist fights, gun fights, relationships broken, relationships rebuilt … and death. Lots and lots of death.
It had everything you could possibly ask for in a high stakes end to a season that has kept ratcheting up the pressure notch by carefully calibrated notch till the inevitable point of no return was reached and … BOOM!
All hell broke loose.
For a start, and most importantly for the beating heart of the show, Miles (Billy Burke) and “Bass” Monroe (David Lyons) patched things up, in a manner of speaking.
Well as much as a deranged dictatorially-inclined now-deposed tyrant (Monroe), and a reformed fighting-on-the-side-of-the-somewhat-muddied-angels military genius (Miles) can after shooting at each other with massive guns and fist fighting not once but twice.
Their aggression somewhat spent, and Miles technically holding the upper hand after decking Monroe convincingly in the leaf litter, Miles and his estranged childhood pal finally got a chance to talk things out a little.
Miles admitted that whether he liked it or not they were still brothers and always would be, a bond that was tested but not found wanting later when he crept into the one-time Monroe Republic’s camp – now ruled with a faux-benignness by a man who has changed sides so many times his head is still spinning, Major Tom Neville (Giancarlo Esposito) – and freed “Bass” from a sure death at the hands of the man who once feared and obeyed him unquestioningly.
While Monroe sprinted for the hills, Miles used the diversion to creep into The Tower, by a damn big hole blown into the concrete under the immovable door by Neville’s newly-acquired minions, to rescue some more people – Rachel (Elizabeth Mitchell), Charlie (Tracy Spiridakos), Nora (Daniella Alonso) and Aaron (Zak Orth), all of whom were doing their best to switch the lights back on.
Of course nothing is that easy, and while they had a head start courtesy of the fact that the D.o.D. had acquired Aaron’s MIT coding to use for their own nefarious purposes, meaning of course that Aaron was able to easily access the systems they needed to turn the power back on, they had to brutally fight their way down to the infamous level 12 with the loss of a considerable number of lives on the way.
Including most sadly for Miles, Nora who died in his arms as he raced with Charlie to save her.
While there is certainly something between Miles and Rachel, a connection that existed long before the nanites plunged the world into inky darkness, and one which will likely be given a good and I imagine rather messy airing come season 2, you could tell that Miles passionately loved Nora and that her loss was a savage blow on the cusp of their mission being fulfilled.
Nevertheless, grief stricken though he was, he raced with Charlie to level 12, managed to take out a squad of militia troops commanded by multiple turncoat Neville (who naturally enough would have survived since he has something like 9000 lives at last count) so that Rachel and Aaron with some deft computer coding and the flick of a single key could light up the world again.
But even this magical moment, the culmination of a season of plotting, planning, running, hiding and shooting (lots and lots of shooting … oh the shooting that was had!) was marred by a set of events that no one, and I mean, no one saw coming.
It turns out that Randall Flynn (Colm Feore), while still as nutty as a squirrel’s lair, was actually a U.S. patriot all along.
As soon as the world lit up again, he darted into a sealed, bullet-proofed computer-filled room where he proceeded to launch two ICBM nuclear missiles at Philadelphia (capital of the once Monroe Republic) and Atlanta (capital of The Georgia Federation) in an attempt to wipe out any resistance to the re-establishment of the United States of America …
… whose President, it turns out in a twist worthy of a rather nimble gogo dancer during a rather active routine, was safely ensconced in a U.S. colony at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba!
Cue dramatic music and an audible gasp (perhaps not Games of Thrones “Red Wedding” loud but loud enough).
Alas Flynn did not live long enough to witness the possible restoration of his beloved republic, and promptly shot himself in the head while Miles, Charlie and Rachel looked on horrified, and while the world above turned lights on and off, and came to the joyous realisation that power had returned, Revolution morphed into a whole other storytelling animal.
It’s founding, intriguing premise intentionally neatly wrapped up in a bloodied bow, the show is ushering in a whole new era where the world, shell-shocked and infrastructure-poor after 15 years in the industrial wilderness, must grapple with a whole new reality.
And it won’t simply be a case of Business As Usual the way it was pre-blackout.
No, political realities have changed irrevocably, there will need to be a massive rebuilding effort to get civilisation back to even a shade of what it once was – which raises my only criticism of the episode which is that the lights would not not simply pop straight back on everywhere after 15 years of degradation and neglect; but I acknowledge that that pesky reality was subsumed to the greater need of narrative dramatics – and I predict an almighty battle to pick over the spoils of a brand new and in some ways far more dangerous world.
Step into the light kids … but don’t put your guns away just yet.