I’m still in utter amazement at Revolution’s turnaround. 

"There Will Be Blood" continued to prove how different of an animal Revolution Season 2 is in comparison to the slow motion train wreck last season turned out to be.

Comedy, action, humor and drama seamlessly blended together in this entirely new show. No longer suffocating under the weight of its self-imposed mythology and territorially tensions, Revolution is now free to go back to telling emotionally compelling story with its unique premise.

Charlie, one of the biggest headaches of Season 1, is now a young woman full of funny quips, sarcastic glances - and a lot of butt kicking. She’s not quite up to speed with the hand-to-hand combat in comparison to her archery, but when lines as brilliantly scathing as the following come out of her mouth, it's all good:

Well, then you're even dumber than you look, which believe me makes you seriously dumb. | permalink

I suddenly don’t seem to care how well she can hold her own in a fight.

However, I’m not entirely sold on Charlie yet. Her adventure is fun, and growing into an adult instead of being a teenager definitely works in her favor. But her Monroe-chasing adventure makes no sense at this point. Right now the only idea I’m getting from these two is an awkward pairing. Again, the comedy is terrific, yet aside from that I’m not getting much. Unless it’s all about her running into the arms of the stupidly handsome bounty hunter then, well, Charlie is free to sprint.

For Monroe, there’s always been a bit of a soft spot. He’s mostly a deranged and psychotic man, but sometimes he does have good intentions. He built the Monroe Militia up into the vision that he and Miles dreamed of; and Monroe’s bender of booze, bets and general bemoaning fits into that core of his: he couldn’t protect his people. It doesn’t mean a lot considering his decent track record of kidnapping or killing his own people, but the sentiment is there nonetheless.

Additionally, the idea of Monroe being captured, being on the run and generally watching his back at all times suits him better than being behind a desk or chasing his obsessive desire to finish things with Miles.

Miles, too, is in a situation that is foreign to him. He’s under the rule of a brutal former headmaster. Whatever is happening there - blood transfusions for a sick woman or maybe she is a hemophiliac - I’m ready for Miles to escape.

Finally, there’s Aaron. He’s come back to life and the only explanation he has is the nanites. Still, he seems to be the only one under the affects of them. People are still dying and rats are dying in very large quantities. It’s not a Torchwood: Miracle Day problem, but the rats might represent a plague-like warning. There’s a definite religious based feel to the show this season.

The nanites are even delivering Aaron a message via Ben. He’s a chosen one. Last season danced around the idea of the nanites doing more than just electricity, particularly when Rachel uses them for healing, so Aaron being completely healed isn’t out of the nanite realm of possibility. The nanites acting differently feels very much like Aaron’s AI ideas coming to life.

As a refresher, “The Love Boat” introduced the idea of Aaron programming a computer to know who is doing the searching and the culture at the time of the search. It basically means better context for searches and improved efficiency. Aaron's code might be working on him... or his code might be using him to provide more relevant context and results for more than what the nanites were ever programed to do. Almost like a literal Skynet.

Two More Thoughts:

1. Neville is quickly making his way towards the secretary’s inner circle. There’s a lot more to see: a letter written in Arabic and the connection to the war clan.
2. Rachel is slowly and stubbornly admitting she has some feelings for Miles. She’s not willing to identify what they are, but she is willing to head into a war clan’s camp to save him.