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Charlie, Miles, and Nora join up with Nora's rebel faction, led by Catholic priest Nicholas, but find that the rebels have already sustained heavy losses after a skirmish with the militia. They've also lost a man, who tells the militia where to find them (in a place called Hannigan's! Sad, dusty pieces of flair lie neglected everywhere). The militia lays siege to the rebel base, and when the ammo for the rebels' new sniper rifle runs out, the militia overrun their defenses, since Miles's idea of tunneling out through the kitchen didn't work.
The militia leader, Jeremy, recognizes Miles and tells everyone who he is: Monroe's old Marine buddy, cofounder of the Monroe Militia and the Republic itself. Charlie is horrified and Nicholas wants to summarily execute Miles, but Nora is like, he told me this when we were in bed like a million years ago. Miles trades himself to Jeremy for the rebels' lives. But we aren't rid of Charlie so easily. She and Nora blow up a bridge and free Miles from Jeremy's clutches.
In flashbacks we learn how Monroe and Miles spent the first few months after the blackout: walking from South Carolina to Chicago, and encountering The Road-like conditions along the way. Seeing horror after horror as the weeks pass, Miles decides he has to do something about the lawlessness, and it looks like he was the real driving force behind everyone living under martial law now.
Maggie and Aaron, meanwhile, find Grace's house, but no sign of Grace. Her computer has been smashed. But as they sit, depressed, telling sad stories of how the world sucks now, Grace's CD player and Maggie's iPhone switch on, and rather than jump up and down screaming because OH MY GOD YOU GUYS THE POWER IS BACK ON WTF THIS IS AWESOME LET'S WATCH MOVIES, Aaron and Maggie just gape. Then it all goes away again. But now they know power still exists. There is hope!
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously on Revolution: Ben Matheson got murdered and his son, Danny, kidnapped by the Monroe Militia. Charlie and her uncle, Miles, went searching for Danny, who's being held by General Sebastian Monroe. Charlie and Miles added Nora, a rebel fighter, to their intrepid crew. Aaron and Maggie have the silver MacGuffin that Grace can use to turn on the power. But Grace is probably in trouble.
As they walk, Nora and Miles are still arguing about her plan to give the sniper rifle to the rebels, and also, subtextually, about their relationship, which is giving Charlie a case of the squicks.
Eight weeks after the blackout, at Parris Island: Monroe and Miles are discussing Miles's plan to go AWOL, walk to Chicago, and find Ben and his family. Monroe says he wants to come with Miles, but Miles refuses his help: "My family, my problem." Monroe says, "You're my family, and that makes it my problem. I'm not asking you." Aw. Bro love.
Nora, Miles, and Charlie arrive at the rebel base, which is an abandoned Hannigan's restaurant. The base's scouts are about to shoot Nora when someone named Nicholas recognizes her and calls them off. He hugs her for quite a long time, until Miles interrupts their tender reunion. He introduces himself as Stu and Charlie as Frannie. Inside the base, everyone is wounded and festering. I bet it smells lovely. There's also an American flag hanging on the wall, which probably isn't very smart, from what we've learned about how having one can get you shot on sight. A woman calls Charlie over to help her with an injured man, who Charlie sees is actually a boy, and he's dying. It's not helping that her long, luxurious hair is getting all over his wound.
Nicholas tells Miles they were trying to buy some guns, but were ambushed by militia. Twelve are dead, with one missing. Miles asks if the missing man was captured, and if he might be giving up their position to the militia. Nora tells Nicholas they need to pack everyone up and go, but he says the wounded can't travel. Charlie interrupts to tell them the boy is dead, and Miles says, "This is what being a rebel gets you."
The missing man, it turns out, has been captured, and a militia leader is playing Russian roulette with him to get him to talk. The captured guy looks like a grubby Adrien Brody, at the beginning of one of his Gillette commercials. The militia leader starts monologuing about how hard it is to find bullets, then asks the man again where the rebel camp is, putting the gun to his head and pulling the trigger. Nothing happens, again and again, but the man keeps weeping until he finally spills. The militia leader tells his men to move out and leave no survivors. And then he shoots the prisoner in the head.
Monroe's camp. Neville is reading Lee Iacocca's autobiography and Danny is still chained up, sulking. Michael Mosley, from Zombie Scrubs (hey, he's married to Anna Camp! She's really awesome in Pitch Perfect! Which was produced by his 30 Rock costar Elizabeth Banks! This cannot be coincidental), offers him a cup of water, and then deliberately drops it, spilling the water. He talks to Danny about how Danny killed his best friend (the guy who shot Ben). Danny tells Neville he should just kill him if he wants him dead, and if not, he'd like some water. This does not make Mosley happy.
Back at the rebel base, Miles tells Nora she's accomplished what she wanted to, giving the rebels her gun, and they should get out before the militia comes to polish off the rebels. But Charlie wants to stay and help. Miles is incredulous at all this stupidity. Charlie reminds Miles that he said they needed Nora to get Danny back, so she's going to stay and help Nora. Miles stomps off, wishing for a bucket of scotch to dunk his head in.
Aaron and Maggie have found Grace's house. There's laundry drying on the line, but no one answers the door when he knocks. Instead, the unlocked door swings open. Aaron starts to enter but Maggie pulls him back and draws her knife. She goes in, Aaron following and calling for Grace. In the living room there's a photo of Grace with her two kids. Up in the attic, Grace's computer setup is smashed, but Aaron finds pieces he recognizes in the wreckage. "A CPU," he says. "Last time I saw one of these I was happy. And so, so rich." He says it looks like Grace built a computer, and why would she do that without electricity? But there's no sign of Grace. Maggie says it's clear something bad happened to Grace, so they shouldn't stick around in case whoever hurt her comes back. Aaron insists on staying.
Rebel base. Charlie is putting a boy's arm in a sling, and says he'll be fine, that she broke her arm in three places and it's fine. Miles finds Nora and tells her he understands, that she's doing this rebel thing because she loves Nicholas. She asks, "Can you boil everything down to getting laid?" He can, in fact. She tells him Nicholas is a Catholic priest. "So you're not his type," Miles gibes. Nora confirms that she's here for a guy, but that it's not Nicholas. She tells Miles to get ready to go in five minutes.
Nicholas instructs the walking wounded to put as much distance between themselves and the restaurant as they can, and they'll reconvene at another base in two months. And then the windows explode with musket fire. The militia has the place surrounded and they bombard the restaurant with bullets, hitting the broken-arm kid Charlie was talking to in the gut.
Nicholas gives the gut-shot boy last rites. He dies. Miles asks Nora who the best shot is. It's Trevor. Miles sends him up the roof with the sniper rifle to target assailants who get closer than ten yards. Nora calls Charlie, but she's still paralyzed over the dead boy. Nora tells her she needs her to hold it together and help.
The militia is closing in. Up on the roof, Trevor loads the sniper rifle and starts picking off militiamen. The commanding officer orders his men to fall back. In the kitchen, Miles is ripping off a piece of the wall, over Nicholas's protests that they have no equipment to dig a tunnel. Miles says they'll use chair legs, kitchen tools, whatever they can find to "Shawshank our asses out of here."
After nightfall, a militiaman breaks cover and runs toward the restaurant. Trevor shoots him. Another militiaman asks the leader what to do. He tells him to send in another man. The man protests that Trevor is cutting the whole platoon down. The monologuer-in-chief begins sermoning about how Trevor is using a Marine Corps M40A rifle, and that's why it's illegal for civilians to own weapons. He bitches about how much ammo Trevor has, but says that sooner or later he will run out, so he tells his subordinate to send in another man for Trevor to spend his bullets on. The man moves out of cover and Trevor shoots him.
Nora is making pipe bombs out of potassium chloride and bleach. She says anyone who trips the wire she's strung across the front door will end up with their junk in their hands. Charlie asks if Nora thinks they can beat Monroe. Nora doesn't think they'll live to see sunrise. So Charlie asks why she's here. Nora begins explaining that she was with Miles, and then there was Frank, who was very nice and didn't know what Nora was capable of (pipe bombs, chain-gang labor, seducing teenage quarterbacks, etc.). She explains that one night they were set upon by drunk militiamen, and after Nora knocked a bunch of them out, Frank dumped her, because even when a woman saves your bacon in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, some men are still threatened by strong ladies. Charlie asks who the guy that Nora joined the rebels for was. She says it was a little boy. She was five months pregnant when that incident happened, and miscarried. She says she's with the rebels to make the loss of her son mean something, so if she has another baby it will be born in the United States.
Monroe's camp. Mosley kicks Danny awake. He's still sore about the guy Danny killed, who was named Templeton. I sincerely hope he was a rat voiced by Paul Lynde. He starts telling Danny about Templeton's wife, and what is with all the villains monologuing in this episode? He tells Danny he needs to tell Templeton's wife he avenged her husband's death, and starts beating Danny with a sack of rocks. Eeesh.
Flashback to Monroe and Miles walking to Chicago, six months after the blackout. They come across an orange tent, the occupants of which are dead on the ground, their campfire still smoking. Monroe says they can't do anything about it, but Miles isn't yet the jaded, callous Miles we've come to know. He can't believe what he's seeing, how quickly the world has fallen apart. Poor Miles, so pretty and sad.
Present Miles has a few more lines in his forehead. He helping Nicholas dig the tunnel. Occasionally they hear Trevor's rounds pop off above, and Miles asks how many Nicholas thinks he has left. Looks like not that many, but the militia hasn't run out of men yet. They're blasting with Nora's bombs to dig the tunnel faster, but the charge makes the roof collapse, just as Trevor runs out of ammo. Charlie and Miles argue about how it's a lost cause outside, and she says this is just like how her father always capitulated when soldiers came to town and gave them whatever they wanted. She says he was being a coward. Miles yells at her not to disrespect her father's memory. The tripwire Nora set blows, and the militia come storming into the restaurant. Much sword fighting ensues, and the militia leader recognizes Miles. Which can't be a good thing. Miles gets him in a headlock, blade to his throat, and drags him into the back room.
Miles tells Nicholas they can trade the CO's life for their own. The CO addresses him as Miles, which of course isn't the name he gave Nicholas. Nicholas asks what's going on, and Miles says the CO might as well tell them. He explains that Miles is the founding general of the Monroe Militia and of the Republic itself, second only to Monroe. Charlie's teeth are horrified.
Nicholas says he should slit Miles's throat. Charlie can't understand what's going on. Nicholas can't believe Nora brought Miles into the rebel base. Miles says regardless, they can trade the CO for their safety, because he made the rules. Jeremy, the CO, says the rules have changed and Monroe doesn't negotiate with traitors. Miles knocks him unconscious because he has had it with the monologuing. Charlie demands an explanation for why Miles knows Monroe (wait till she finds out her mom is with him right now!) and Miles is like, oh my god, kid, you have been nothing but trouble since you showed up in my bar. But he explains that he knew Monroe, very well, and he was in charge of the militia, and he's murdered plenty of people. Charlie gets all teary and precise with her diction, and I wish I believed anything she's doing. Miles says this is why he knows she can't beat the militia, because he trained them to be brutal, and smart, and vicious. But none of them are nearly as deliciously unshaven as he is. "When you see them coming," he says, "you don't fight. You run."
At Grace's house, Aaron is digging through the bits of Grace's computer, and tells Maggie he hasn't found anything useful. She's found salt and curry. Aaron's frustration boils over and he compares the MacGuffin to "Lucy yanking some enormous cosmic football just as Charlie Brown's about to kick it." Maggie's like, get your shit under control, man.
At the restaurant, the militia is about to break into the walk-in freezer, which seems to be where the rebels are hiding. Nicholas wants to make a suicidal last charge out the door, right into musket fire. Miles says it's a terrible idea, but they should make a trade. He slaps Jeremy awake and says if they let the rebels go, he, Miles, will surrender. Jeremy also wants the rifle. Miles agrees. Nora asks how they can trust Jeremy, and Miles says he's known Jeremy longer than he's known any of them, and he knows he'll keep his word. "What about your word," Charlie asks, sanctimoniously. God, Charlie, SHUT UP ALREADY.
The militia lead Miles away. Charlie mopes that they'll kill him. Nicholas doesn't seem all that broken up about it, and calls Miles a war criminal. That seems to be a poor semantic argument. Is there an actual war going on?
Monroe's camp. Mosley comes over to mock Danny some more, and Danny starts having an asthma attack. Mosley bends down and Danny grabs him around the neck with the chain in his handcuffs and starts choking him. He tells Mosley if he touches him again, he'll kill him. He lets Mosley go, and just then notices Neville watching him. Neville seems kind of okay with all this. He's one of those no-blood-no-foul captors.
Jeremy's forced march. Jeremy asks Miles if it's true, if Monroe wants Miles because Miles knows how to turn the lights back on. Miles asks Jeremy if he thinks it's true. Jeremy thinks it's crazy, that Monroe is just obsessed. He says Monroe has been different since Miles left: "Angrier. Shorter fuse. Not like the good old days." As the militia is approaching a bridge, the first man trips a wire and IEDs explode. In the confusion, Charlie shoots a militiaman and Nora tells Miles to come with them. He grabs a sword from a scabbard mounted on a nearby horse's saddle and knocks Jeremy down. They run to the other side of the bridge, then Charlie fires a flaming arrow into a bag she dropped, blowing up the bridge. Miles gives Jeremy a weary look across the river and scampers off after the ladies.
Flashback. Monroe and Miles are still walking. They come across a big man in the woods kicking someone to death. Another man is going through the victim's bag. Monroe wants to just keep walking, but Miles tells the kicker to get away from the kickee, and draws his weapon to back up his order. The big man drops his knife on the ground. Monroe tells him he should just run, but Miles tells him not to move. The big man apologizes and says he was just trying to find something to eat. Miles asks about the couple in the orange tent and seems to decide, without any evidence or indication from the other man, that this guy was responsible for those murders.
Miles says they can't call the police, or put the man in jail, and over Monroe's protests, he shoots the big man's friend, then the big man. I gotta, say, everyone on this show is very good at killing people with one shot to the chest. Didn't we learn from the Lost pilot that that isn't always effective? Monroe can't believe what Miles just did, and asks him if he plans to walk around killing people now. Miles says somebody has to do something, or there won't be a civilization left. He bends to the man on the ground -- and it's Jeremy. They help Jeremy up and walk away.
Present day. Miles asks Charlie to tell him what she's brooding about back there. He says he wants to hear her tell him what a monster she thinks he is. He tells her she doesn't understand, and she says that he did manage to save all the rebels back at Hannigan's, so part of him must still care about others. Well, yeah. He seems to have founded the militia with good intentions, to protect the weak, at least. He tells her she's wrong.
Grace's house. Aaron tells Maggie a story about a kid who used to beat him up in the fifth grade. "Kid was the Mozart of wedgies." Aaron gets all the good lines. Aaron says he grew up, and it got better: he got three hundred employees and four homes and a terrific wife, but the punch line was the blackout. The world went back to being the schoolyard where the bullies are in charge. Man, that is a terrible joke.
Over on a table, the MacGuffin chirps. Aaron grabs it, and it's lit up. He looks at the Discman on a table by the window, which has just switched on as well. He picks up the headphones and "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" is playing. I think I'd start crying if I hadn't heard Marvin Gaye in fifteen years. Maggie's iPhone turns on and there's the picture of her kids and how she doesn't burst into tears I don't know. (We decided a few days ago that Maggie must have been on vacation in the States when the blackout happened, because otherwise she'd have actual hard-copy photos of her kids. Even in this electronic age, everyone still has real pictures. I have like forty pictures of my nephew just on my fridge.) Then the music stops, the phone blinks off. "How?" she asks. Aaron doesn't know. But let's never leave this magical electronic house!
time: Aaron says they can't tell Charlie and Miles about the MacGuffin. Someone has been following them, someone's gonna die, and someone FINALLY duct-tapes Charlie's big mouth shut.
Miles says they can't call the police, or put the man in jail, and over Monroe's protests, he shoots the big man's friend, then the big man. I gotta, say, everyone on this show is very good at killing people with one shot to the chest. Didn't we learn from the Lost pilot that that isn't always effective? Monroe can't believe what Miles just did, and asks him if he plans to walk around killing people now. Miles says somebody has to do something, or there won't be a civilization left. He bends to the man on the ground -- and it's Jeremy. They help Jeremy up and walk away.
Present day. Miles asks Charlie to tell him what she's brooding about back there. He says he wants to hear her tell him what a monster she thinks he is. He tells her she doesn't understand, and she says that he did manage to save all the rebels back at Hannigan's, so part of him must still care about others. Well, yeah. He seems to have founded the militia with good intentions, to protect the weak, at least. He tells her she's wrong.
Grace's house. Aaron tells Maggie a story about a kid who used to beat him up in the fifth grade. "Kid was the Mozart of wedgies." Aaron gets all the good lines. Aaron says he grew up, and it got better: he got three hundred employees and four homes and a terrific wife, but the punch line was the blackout. The world went back to being the schoolyard where the bullies are in charge. Man, that is a terrible joke.
Over on a table, the MacGuffin chirps. Aaron grabs it, and it's lit up. He looks at the Discman on a table by the window, which has just switched on as well. He picks up the headphones and "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" is playing. I think I'd start crying if I hadn't heard Marvin Gaye in fifteen years. Maggie's iPhone turns on and there's the picture of her kids and how she doesn't burst into tears I don't know. (We decided a few days ago that Maggie must have been on vacation in the States when the blackout happened, because otherwise she'd have actual hard-copy photos of her kids. Even in this electronic age, everyone still has real pictures. I have like forty pictures of my nephew just on my fridge.) Then the music stops, the phone blinks off. "How?" she asks. Aaron doesn't know. But let's never leave this magical electronic house!
time: Aaron says they can't tell Charlie and Miles about the MacGuffin. Someone has been following them, someone's gonna die, and someone FINALLY duct-tapes Charlie's big mouth shut.