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Monroe sends Neville off to pick up a package for him, and tells him if he fucks up again—his first two strikes were killing Ben Matheson and not killing Miles Matheson, respectively—the general will be even more pissed off than he seems to be all the time. The rebels blow up Neville's convoy and take him prisoner, so he's just having a really bad run of luck, you know?
Rachel wants to kill Neville immediately, while Miles wants to hit him with a hammer until he tells them everything he knows. But the mastermind of this week's grand plan is Jason, yes, dumb stone-faced Jason, who fools his father into telling him where he was going by convincing him he's going to free him so they can go save Julia, Tom's wife and Jason's mom. Because when Monroe finds out that Neville's screwed up again, he'll kill Julia. But Jason just tells the rebels Neville's goal and leaves him locked up. Which wasn't much impediment, as he gets free, kills Nicholas, and escapes to find Julia and convince her to go on the lam with him.
Since Neville failed, Randall retrieves the package Monroe wanted: it's a nuclear bomb. So the rebels set out on two missions: Rachel has told Aaron what caused the blackout, so they're bound for the west and the Tower, where they will try to turn the power back on. Miles, Charlie, Nora, and Jim are set on stopping Monroe from turning the entire eastern seaboard into a smoking crater.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously on Revolution: Neville tried and failed to kill Miles, then disowned his son for not being enthusiastic enough about massacring innocent people. Danny got himself killed, so Charlie and Rachel are out for Monroe's blood, and Rachel finally started to tell Aaron about how she and Randall caused the blackout.
Philadelphia. Monroe finally admits Neville into his presence, after making him wait for an hour, because the Monroe Republic adheres to the same subtle social cues as the folks on Downton Abbey. Inside the office, Monroe tells Neville that he and Randall were discussing sending Neville to retrieve something important, although Randall throws shade about whether he's capable of this simple task, then smilingly recounts Neville's fuckups: killing Ben, letting Miles get away. He says if Neville worked for Randall, he'd fire him. Neville grits that he doesn't work for him, and calls Randall a civilian in a cheap suit. Randall, outraged, says he's wearing vintage Zegna. Dude, everything is vintage now.
Monroe interrupts all the childish squabbling and tells Neville that Randall deserves respect because he's important to the republic. He instructs Neville not to make him regret sending him on this crucial mission.
Julia Neville chases her husband down the stairs and frets about where he's going and when he'll be back and whether he's in danger, and how she can't pretend any longer that Jason is dead. Man, Kim Raver's nose freaks me out. It points up too much. She tells her husband she's sacrificed too much for Tom and his job. She's looking at everyone, thinking she might see Jason. He reminds her that Monroe will have them both executed if he finds out Jason went AWOL.
Meanwhile, somewhere in Delmarva, Charlie is practicing her sword fighting. The drill ends with a blade at her neck, so Miles chastises her poor form and tells her to do it again.
Aaron flips through Rachel's notebook, utterly bewildered. He stares at one drawing of a little blobby thing with appendages and asks, "This is what caused the blackout?" She tells him there are bajillions of these devices in the world, each one the size of a virus, in the air, on buildings, even in people's bodies, and they're programmed to absorb electricity and replicate. Aaron's mind is blown--he asks if these organisms started reproducing uncontrollably, and she confirms that something went wrong in the Tower. He wants to go there and reprogram the things, disable them, but Rachel says it won't work; they'll just die, and this time she's resolved not to leave her lousy brat of a daughter behind.
Trucks! Monroe trucks! Roaring across the landscape! A militia scout with a ginger beard counts the trucks, then signals to another scout with a mirror. Nora picks up the signal and tells Miles about the convoy. Nicholas and Jim pause their sword practice and Miles compliments Jim on his scout network.
In a Humvee powered by an amplifier, Neville is listening to Lionel Richie on an iPod, which amuses me enormously. The driver doesn't appreciate it the way Neville thinks he should. He's just starting to tell the driver he'll have to teach him about music when an IED interrupts the fiesta forever, hurling the Humvee into the air and slamming it into another Humvee and a minivan that was disabled in the roadway.
His driver dead, Neville stumbles out of the vehicle. Lionel is still singing from somewhere very far away. Charlie and Miles find Neville, and she slugs him in the head, knocking him out.
Guys, Ready for Love just squicks me out so, so much. Shouldn't that one guy have ended up with Delilah, anyway?
Nora and Nicholas lead Neville, hooded, into the rebel base. Charlie hands Rachel the pendant they got from the Humvee. Rachel wants to Neville kill him immediately, in retribution for Ben and Danny's deaths, but Miles says the intel he has is more valuable than revenge. Rachel stalks off to make some more useless rage doodles.
Nicholas shoves Neville into a chair, shackles his ankles, and pulls off his hood, telling him dryly to get comfortable. Neville says he overheard the others calling Nicholas "Padre," and asks if he administers sacraments and hears confessions. Miles is more than happy to let Neville confess to him, and puts a toolbox down on a nearby table. He pulls out a hammer, because someone needs to fill the void Johnny Crowder left, I guess. Neville says he won't talk, but Miles points out that he did last time, when Miles threatened to kill Julia.
Miles says they had thirty pounds of diamonds in the Humvee, and asks what they were looking for. Neville asks Miles instead how it felt burying Danny, because Tom Neville is a sick bastard. Miles continues his line of questioning, and Neville keeps talking about Danny, saying he liked him. It's upsetting Miles to be reminded of Danny's death, so he punches Neville in the face.
Neville provokes Miles, asking if he thought rescuing one kid would make up for the all the lives he's taken. Miles answers by punching. Neville spits out a bunch of blood--ack--and says he can't talk if he's dead. Miles hisses that he's not going to kill him. They're just going to beat the stuffing out of him, let him heal, then repeat the process, for as long as it takes.
Rachel destroys the latest pendant while Aaron watches. He asks if she's okay. It's pretty damn clear she is not.
Nicholas greets a group of rebels, including Jason. Charlie tries to stop him from going inside the base, but he already knows they have his father, and he wants to talk to him. Miles says that's not happening, because Miles isn't an idiot. But he does leave himself open to the haymaker Jason throws at him for threatening his mother. Jason's group leader cocks her weapon and asks if there's a problem. Jason says there's not, but Miles isn't about to trust him, and tells him to turn around and scamper off, and if he comes back, Miles will "bash your little boy band face in." Jason, of course, doesn't know what a boy band is, because he spent his childhood staring at silent Lionel Richie album covers.
Night. Neville's still chained to his chair, and he probably has to pee by now, right? Rachel brings food to the cell and the guard says he has to take it in. Rachel agrees, then drops Neville's apple and knocks the guard out with the tray. She's about to open the cell door when Charlie catches her and asks what she's doing, as if it isn't perfectly obvious.
Charlie approaches her mother slowly, like you would a wild animal or Amanda Bynes, and says they can't kill Neville because they need him. Rachel pleads that it's only a matter of time before he escapes (spoiler alert: she is totally right), and tells Charlie to get out of the way so she can kill him. Charlie hollers that she'll kill Neville when Miles is done with him, but Rachel sobs that this is the only chance they'll get. Charlie hisses that this is a war and they can't get emotional. Rachel tells her she sounds like Miles, which Charlie takes as a compliment.
Rachel goes off to have herself a good cry, and Miles interrupts her before she can get somewhere private. She asks him how it's possible that he's better for Charlie than she is, which really freaks him out. She breaks down into tears and Miles slowly wraps his arms around her while she cries. He pets her hair, and I'm really starting to believe y'all's theory that Miles is Charlie's father.
Neville's cell. Still no dinner. Still no peeing. Tell you what, this hotel is getting a lousy review on Tripadvisor. Jason lets himself into the cell, so I guess the guard is still down for the count? He asks his father what he's doing there. Neville can't believe his son is with the rebels--as if he had anywhere else to go? It's a long way to the Federated Republic of Affleckistan--and asks if he's come to gloat. Jason asks what he did so wrong to disappoint his father so much.
Neville replies that he tried to protect his son from this awful, hard, cruel world, and maybe he overshot the mark a tad. He says he was always proud of his son, though, which Jason recognizes is bullshit. He turns to leave, without even giving his poor father that grubby apple from outside, and Neville asks if Jason still loves about his mother. He points out that Monroe will kill Julia if he doesn't come back, and asks Jason to let him get back to her.
Jason unlocks Neville's handcuffs and leg irons and asks where they're going. A cement factory in Finley, Neville says. He can't tell him anymore. That's fine, Jason says, and opens the door to Miles, Nicholas, and Jim. Neville cannot believe his son betrayed him--and Julia--this way, while I'm impressed that J.D. Pardo's acting fooled anyone.
Philadelphia. Monroe sulks, as is his wont. Randall comes in and volunteers to go make the pickup that Neville failed to do. Before he leaves, he actually says that it's so hard to find good help these days, so, you know, he's the worst. Monroe just looks glassy eyed and checked out, like he's SO BORED with everything. Maybe that was his iPod Neville took and he wasn't finished with his audio book of Cujo.
Miles points out Finley on a map and compliments Jason on getting the intel out of Neville. Jason asks what will happen to his mother, and Miles says they can send someone to get her out. Jason doesn't believe him, because Jason might be pretty, but he's not quite as stupid as he's acted lately.
Nicholas tells Nora to try and stay alive out there, while Charlie informs her mother that she's going on the mission. Rachel's pretty much resigned at this point, and tells Charlie she'll try really hard not to gouge Neville's eyes out while they're gone. As they walk, Jason tells Charlie that word of Danny's sacrifice convinced a lot of new recruits to join the rebels. Charlie replies that Danny's the reason she joined.
Nicholas and a great big guy come in to talk to Neville, who says he wants to confess so he'll have a clear conscience when he dies. He asks if he can kneel. Nicholas says Neville must think he's an idiot, and then all the artifice is gone. Neville growls, "You don't want to know what I think of you," then surges out of his chair, knocking Nicholas back and, with a blade he was hiding behind him, slashing the other guy's throat. "Father, forgive me," Neville says, and stabs Nicholas right through the diaphragm.
Miles's group surveys the cement factory, which is surrounded by guards. Randall comes out with a briefcase, and Charlie points him out to Miles. Jason draws his bow to shoot Randall, but before he can, they're spotted and the guards attack. Randall hustles to his Humvee and flees.
Fighting. Shooting. No shortage of ammunition here. The lady who was in charge of Jason's squad gets killed. The rest of the rebels live, but Randall has escaped. Nora and Jim come out of the factory and send Miles in for a look around, where he finds that most of the objects have hazmat symbols on them, which I'm guessing isn't standard for a cement factory.
Philadelphia. Two ladies who lunch--which seems to be a species that survives even at the end of the world--offer Julia Neville their tepid condolences on Jason's death. She sips her tea and smiles that he died a hero of the republic, and that comforts her. And then her husband bursts through the front door, bleeding everywhere and Julia boots her guests out.
Tom flings everything he can grab into a suitcase while Julia asks what they're going to do: hide in the woods? Sleep in the dirt? They have a nice house, with sheets and paintings on the wall! Neville points out that her Monroe will totally effing kill them regardless of how nice their place is, so they need to go. Julia finally agrees and goes to pack her stash of La Mer.
Rachel asks Miles how big Randall's briefcase was. He looks at the drawings she has spread out on the table, and she guesses the man was giving Randall a bomb. Jim is like, this is bullshit, you guys. But Rachel has an idea.
Nora sadly draws a blanket back from Nicholas's face and mutters that they should've killed Neville. Tactically, yes, but he's pretty much the most interesting character on the show, so it's a good thing he survived. Outside, Rachel tells Charlie she needs to leave. Miles objects; he doesn't think it's a good idea, even if she does make it across the Plains Nation to the Tower--big if--and turns the lights on, to give power back to Georgia and Texas and Affleckistan and everyone else. She tells him that if the bad guys have power, the good guys need it too. Miles points out that there aren't any good guys, but Rachel just asks him to look out for Charlie.
Miles says he won't let Rachel do this, and she sadly tells him he can't be the old bastard loner Miles anymore. He needs to take care of Charlie the way he didn't take care of Rachel. Ooooh. He is totally her father, you guys. Miles grabs Rachel and kisses the ever-loving hell out of her until she breaks free and goes off to certain death.
Miles tells Aaron he's sure to get himself killed along with Rachel, but Aaron just asks Miles to find the bomb. Charlie wants to go with Rachel and Aaron, but Rachel's resigned herself to not coming back. She tells Charlie she loves her. Charlie hugs Aaron, then pitifully asks her mother if she's coming back. This time Rachel says she won't treat her daughter like a child and lie to her. And then she and Aaron just fuck off to god only knows where. Miles glares handsomely after them.
week: Monroe's decided to blow up Georgia, so Charlie and Miles head south and find he's not too popular there, either.