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Monroe's alive. Obviously. Turns out Dr. Gene just shot him up with a fuckload of barbiturates to give him a borrowed likeness of shrunk death. So Rachel digs him up and Miles makes I-love-you faces at him and then Monroe just slumps around a shack on the outskirts of Willoughby with a massive hangover until it's time for him to get back in the murderin' business.
In town, an old colleague of Rachel's from the Department of Defense has arrived. Dr. Horn is now in charge of science and shit for the president, and he wants to know more about nanites. Specifically, how one can use nanites to set people on fire.
In flashbacks we learn how the patriots recruited Gene: after Mrs. Gene and a bunch of other Willoughbeans died of cholera, a mysterious fellow named Shaw showed up and handed over some very valuable vaccines. From then on, Gene was his pet physician, helping out with little things like waterboarding and torture in exchange for medicines for the town.
So Horn presses Dr. Gene, his mole, to find out what's up with Aaron. Gene, racked with guilt over all the atrocities he's witnessed, turned a blind eye to, and/or aided and abetted, tells Miles, Rachel, and Charlie he knows what Aaron can do and he can smuggle him out of the newly fortified town in his wagon. But he also tells Horn where to meet him to arrest Aaron.
Miles guesses Gene might betray them, so instead of rendezvousing at the wagon, Aaron and Cynthia escape through the sewer. When patriots catch them, Aaron sets them on fire and Monroe kills their backup. Deprived of his prize, Horn threatens to kill everyone in Willoughby if Gene doesn't hand over Aaron and Rachel.
And back east, Neville manages to break through Jason's brainwashing. He turns on Ms. Justine and demands to know where her husband, in patriot high command, is located.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously on Revolution: Aaron turned into Man Carrie, Neville and Ms. Justine found Jason, and Rev. Dr. Gene betrayed Monroe, resulting in his execution. Except he is totally not dead. Not even mostly dead.
From Monroe's POV, we watch as Rachel clears the dirt away and pries open the lid of his coffin. His eyes are rolling wildly, but she tells him not to move. Later, in daylight, Monroe wakes up. Charlie asks what kind of dose Monroe got, and Rachel says it was enough barbiturates to drop a horse. Monroe is dopey as shit, babbling about how happy Miles is to see him. But he doesn't seem to have forgotten about the whole Miles-hid-my-son thing while he was mostly dead.
Charlie asks Rachel why they saved him, and she says it's because they need Monroe. And because Charlie asked her to. And also because hot Australians are basically supporting the American entertainment industry, so let's keep 'em working.
Cynthia and Aaron walk through Main Street, her asking if they're supposed to play along with the patriots' repressive tactics -- apparently they're dictating which books she can teach now. Just as Aaron is telling Cynthia to calm down because the wrong people might be listening, the building to them explodes. Rachel, Miles, and Charlie can see the dust cloud from the house out of town, where they're still at Monroe's bedside.
Aaron comes to, flat on the sidewalk to Cynthia. They're surrounded by the broken and bleeding. Rachel, Miles, and Charlie have come to help; Rev. Dr. Gene hollers for his daughter and tells her to put a tourniquet on the injured woman he's clutching.
Patriot HQ. Gene demands a word with Ed, who says they're too busy trying to find the bombing culprit. Gene accuses Ed of setting off the bomb, killing three people in "his" town. Ed takes umbrage with that last point, emphasizing that it's Willoughby, USA, and Gene's job is to keep the citizens healthy and compliant…unless he's not a loyal patriot. He is a loyal patriot, right?
Outside, with armed soldiers on the barricades, Ed blames the bombing on the Andovers but tells the Willoughbeans they have nothing to worry about. And just to show how not-worried everyone should be, the gates will be sealed and Ed is instituting a nighttime curfew. Yeah, that sort of thing totally makes everyone feel safe.
As Ed speaks, Creepiest Man on TV Zeljko Ivanek approaches Rachel. She doesn't recognize him, and he introduces himself as Dr. Calvin Horn, formerly of the DOD Alternative Energies Project. She just stares blankly. He remarks, with an uncomfortable blend of resentment and yearning, that of course Rachel doesn't remember him, since she was the DOD prom queen and he was just a worker bee. Charlie is giving all this the most heroic side-eye. Horn asks Rachel for a private word as Ed finishes, "God bless the United States of America."
At Willoughby's only bar, Horn explains over drinks that he was on the first boat to Cuba when DC fell, and Randall Flynn was with him. He brags that he's now the president's senior science adviser. Rachel is…well, she pretends to be impressed. Horn has brought a present with him: Rachel's wanted poster. He confesses that he's the one who sent it out because he wanted to talk to her about the nano-tech. He compliments her work, comparing her to Da Vinci. When Rachel grits, "We ruined the world," Horn maintains that she's still a genius.
Horn is interested in using the nanites for more than just killing the power; he shows Rachel pictures of the soldiers Aaron burned alive and says he wants to know if the nanites can be modified to release electricity rather than absorb it. Rachel thinks it's impossible, but Horn mentions how strangely the nanites in Willoughby have been acting. Isn't it a coincidence that they act up around her? Rachel hands back the photo, still claiming innocence. Horn, frustrated, asks who might be responsible for all the nanite-related havoc.
Rachel knows who it is. She's run straight back to Rev. Dr. Gene's living room, where she tells Aaron that it's only a matter of time until Horn figures out that Aaron's the one with the power of the nanites inside him, and even though Aaron doesn't know how to control the power, that won't stop Horn from trying to find out. "So what am I, E.T. now?" Aaron asks. More like one of Dr. Mengele's victims, buddy. Miles says they need to get Aaron away from Horn, and suggests that he'll be best off with Monroe. Aaron freaks out, because: crazy genocidal maniac. (Horn, though? Way creepier than Monroe. Even creepier than Titus Andover.) Aaron insists that Cynthia go with him and rightly points out that she's the best way to get to him. Rachel and Miles protest that it's too difficult with the barricades and the curfew, but Aaron puts his panicky foot down.
Rev. Dr. Gene has been listening to all this through the air-conditioning ducts. Flashback: seven years after the blackout. Surrounded by other Willoughbeans, I suppose, Gene looks down at a mass grave, then lights a match and sets the bodies aflame.
Gene comes back to his house to find a man on the porch asking for him. The man offers his condolences on Mrs. Gene's death, and says cholera is an awful way to go. Without identifying himself, the man hands over a small vial of vaccine. He says they have hundreds more doses nearby, and it's all Gene's if he wants it. Gene recognizes that this is too good to be true and asks what the man wants. "What I don't want is Americans to die from some grimy third-world disease. I want my country back. And I want your help to do it," the man says. And that's how Rev. Dr. Gene became a patriot.
Jason wakes up again in the warehouse where Neville and Ms. Justine have taken refuge. Neville hands him something to drink to help clear the drug from his system. Ms. Justine snorts and says if Neville unties Jason, he'll kill them both, that there's nothing Neville can do to reverse Jason's training. Outside they hear gunfire; Ms. Justine speculates it's more cadets, about a mile away. She wants to flee. Jason wants to be freed. They bicker back and forth until Neville tells them both to can it. He draws his huge knife, tells Jason to keep his trap shut or he'll kill him, and then cuts the ties binding Jason's hands. Ms. Justine watches in horror.
Miles, using a mirror, signals to Monroe. Inside his recovery house, Monroe is laboriously putting his boots on when he notices the flashing signal. He grumbles something about being hungry, then grabs a pen and paper to take down the Morse code. He sighs when he realizes what the message is.
Dr. Horn greets Dr. Gene. Dr. Gene is somewhat less than enthusiastic. He notices the Patriot Symbol lapel pin Horn is wearing and flashes back to images of the patriot symbol on cloth, his own bloody hands, someone being waterboarded. Horn asks Gene again if Rachel has said anything, and Gene snaps out of his reverie, then lies that she hasn't, she's just been arguing with Charlie. He promises to tell Horn if Rachel does say anything relevant to Horn's interests.
Out on the street, Gene watches as Willoughbeans put up a makeshift memorial of stuffed animals and flowers on the bombed-out building. A sign says, "We will miss you, Daddy." Gene flashes back to nine years after the blackout. He's in what looks like the storage room of a department store, surrounded by mannequins, as a couple of patriots waterboard a man. They stop pouring the water and take the hood off the man's head. The man pleads to go home, that he has a daughter. The patriots resume waterboarding. They're not even asking him any questions. When they stop, the man is unconscious.
The guy doing the waterboarding is the one who recruited Gene with the cholera vaccine (his name is Shaw). He calls Gene over to wake the man up. Gene sticks a needle into the man's neck and injects him—probably with amphetamines. That seems like it would do it. Shaw thanks Gene, then resumes the torture.
Gene washes his bloody hands in a bucket outside. He picks up a piece of fabric with the Patriot Symbol on it and dries his hands. He asks who the man Shaw was torturing was, and Shaw replies easily that he was from Austin, and an enemy of the United States. Gene wonders if the man might have been innocent, and nearly breaks down from the trauma of having witnessed the torture. He tells Shaw it's not right. Shaw gestures toward Gene's wagon—loaded with 500 doses of vaccine against TB and yellow fever. He reminds Gene, "We're the good guys, remember?"
In the present, Charlie shows Miles and Rachel a diagram of the town based on her recon. There are more than a hundred soldiers patrolling, she says, in addition to the ones on the wall. Miles dryly says he's out of ideas unless Aaron can go through the wall Kool-Aid style (I think he tried that last season). Gene pops up and says he can help. Rachel thinks Gene should stay out of it, and this might be a good time for Gene to confess his involvement with the patriots and tell them he's reconsidering his involvement?
Miles asks what Gene's plan is. He explains that once a week he goes to collect herbal medications, like cottonwood and yarrow bark. (Sure. "Herbs." That's what's kept everyone in Willoughby from dying of diphtheria the past ten years). He shows them the secret compartment in the floor of the wagon where he conceals the medicines. He can sneak Aaron out in there. Rachel and Miles don't think it'll work. Gene insists that he has to do something. The others reluctantly agree.
Neville (who's found himself some bad-ass shades), Jason (whose hands are cuffed), and Ms. Justine (who looks pretty spry for being a few days out from a fatal-looking gut wound), move past a low building. Neville scouts and starts to say he thinks the coast is clear when a bullet strikes the ground right to him. The three take cover as cadets fire on them from inside the building. The shooting stops. Neville holds up his gun so Jason can see and pats the side -- he's out of ammo.
Jason stands up and identifies himself, raising his hands and saying he's a captive. "I'm a patriot! I'm coming in!" he hollers to the other cadets. A moment later, he calls back, "Come on out, it's safe." Ms. Justine shakes her head furiously, telling Tom not to trust him. Tom just jumps to his feet and strides off to meet his son.
Jason, his hands still cuffed, holds a bloody knife. He's killed both of the cadets and has a spray of blood on his neck. Tom has a mixture of pride and utter horror on his face. He sheaths his own knife and takes the weapon from Jason. Jason flexes his jaw in his most actor-ly way.
Willoughby. Aaron asks Cynthia if she's ready to go. He apologizes for taking her from her home, and she says home is where they're together. So home's about to be a tiny little box under a wagon. And a sewer.
Gene packs up a few items in his home. Shaw enters behind him, in the khaki uniform of the patriots. He makes small talk, telling Gene he looks terrible. And then he delivers his real message: Horn wants to see Gene. At HQ, Horn greets Gene jubilantly, then asks to know everything Gene does about Aaron Pittman.
Gene stalls a bit, then Horn explains what he really wants to know: Gene declared Aaron dead, and then Aaron came back to life. After establishing that Aaron isn't Jesus, Horn asks how Rachel performed the resurrection. Gene acts dumb, but Horn is done playing nice. He demands to know where Aaron is.
When Gene says he doesn't know, Horn coldly replies, "Why are you lying? You know my reputation. You know what I'll do to you." He asks why Gene isn't cooperating, since he's been part of the cause for so many years. Gene protests that he thought he was helping. (But I guess he couldn't help Aaron's fourth-grade student who was stricken with polio?) Horn scoffs at the protests, since Gene was part of Shaw's work. Zeljko inclines his head as he speaks in such a way that his eye sockets become bottomless, black and evil holes. He tells Gene to give up Aaron or he'll start killing townspeople, easy as that. He'll save Charlie for last.
Gene chokes out that Rachel isn't controlling the nanites, Aaron is. Horn looks like a psychotic kid with a new toy.
Nighttime. Gene alerts Horn and Shaw to Aaron's imminent arrival, but it seems Miles has taken extra precautions because instead of Aaron and Cynthia, two strangers walk into the center of town. Miles, watching through binoculars, apologizes to Rachel, saying he wanted to be wrong, but they've confirmed Gene is working with the patriots. Miles points out that the patriots knew about the war-with-Texas plot, and they knew where to capture Monroe. He mutters that he figured it out when he looked into Gene's eyes: "Trust me, I know what desperate and guilty looks like." He tells Rachel she can't freak out right now, because they need to save Aaron. Just have Aaron set some guards on fire! That should do it.
Speaking of, Ms. Justine is staring into a fire. She tells Neville she needs to leave, go to Cincinnati to find her son. He reminds her that she's a wanted fugitive and hands over his flask for her to drink from. But Neville's success with Jason has emboldened her, and she's determined to do the same for her own boy. She slugs back some booze and starts to slur, then passes out in a heap. It's great that Neville's supply of roofies survived the fall of the Monroe Republic, you know?
Willoughby. Dr. Gene stares at the woods morosely. Horn observes that he's been stood up and that obviously his cover has been blown. He wonders mockingly what Rachel will think of him now. Well, since she hasn't gutted Monroe like a carp for killing her son, it's unlikely she'll take bloody revenge on her father for betraying some schlubby former Internet billionaire they met in Michigan.
So the plan now is for Aaron and Cynthia to escape through the disused sewers. In a basement (possibly of the water treatment plant? I can't tell, because as ever, it is dark), they try to pry up a manhole cover, without success.
Ed commissions his men to search every inch of Willoughby for Aaron and Rachel. Horn, looking over a plan of the city, notices the sewer line.
Miles and Aaron manage to get the sewer open, just as Ed and his men break in the door upstairs. Aaron and Cynthia climb down and Miles pulls the cover back into place over them. (And then he, Rachel, and Charlie vanish into thin air, for all the continuity in their movements.) Ed and his men run down the stairs and Ed yells for a crowbar.
The escapees hustle through the sewer. Cynthia thinks she sees a light. But when they move the gate aside and come out the end of the tunnel, someone is pointing a gun at them. So they just crawled through a pile of shit for nothing.
Aaron puts his hands up so the patriots won't shoot him. He and Cynthia climb out of the sewer, hands up, and then Monroe pops up dispatch the two soldiers handily, one with a slice across the throat, the other with a gunshot. Woozily, he sinks to the ground because he's still a bit fucked up from the Judy Garland's worth of drugs Gene shot him up with.
Those weren't the only two soldiers, obviously. Others, attracted by the sound of Monroe's bullet, start shooting at him, Aaron, and Cynthia. It looks like one of them might have winged Monroe, or maybe he just passed out. Aaron surrenders immediately, telling them he'll come quietly if they let Cynthia go. The soldiers don't listen, wrestling both him and Cynthia to the ground. As Cynthia screams, Aaron marshals his nanites and sets the soldiers on fire.
The two people going up like torches naturally attract attention. But Monroe's able to kill the other two who arrive. So I guess he's feeling better. Aaron just lies on the ground and pants as two more people burn to death. Monroe stares, intrigued. Cynthia, probably remembering how her ex-husband died, stares in horror.
Neville wakes Ms. Justine from her drugged stupor with a bucket of water in the face. She's handcuffed to a post. He grits that she was so worried about trusting Jason, but she worried about the wrong Neville. He interrogates her about her husband, who she said was patriot high command. He wants to know where, exactly, that high command is located.
Monroe leads Aaron and Cynthia through the night. He's practically giddy as he asks how Aaron does that neat party trick. Aaron tries to reassure Cynthia not to be afraid of Monroe, then realizes she's probably more afraid of him.
In town, Horn monologues about his feelings to Gene. He's frustrated. He's upset. He wants to start killing people -- people like Rachel -- to make himself feel better. Gene promises to find Aaron.
Charlie, Miles, and Rachel are in some abandoned, warehouse-looking building. Charlie says they need to move soon, since the patriots are searching everywhere. He says Rachel needs a moment to collect herself. Rachel just sits there and sobs because her daddy's a traitor. Charlie kneels and embraces her mother. Possibly touching her for the first time since she returned? Miles watches, conflicted.
time: Rachel can't forgive Gene. Monroe helps Aaron escape. Rachel wants to kill Horn to free Aaron, but that might involve killing Gene, too.