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In Willoughby, it is nighttime, always. Forever. Like Tilda Swinton has showed up but she's brought darkness rather than winter and no Turkish Delight, ever. In the dark, the patriots capture Aaron and Cynthia and turn them over to Dr. Horn. It turns out the good doctor had a religious fanatic father who wouldn't get medical help for Horn's sick mother, and that's what turned him into Dr. Mengele.
So Horn decides to torture Aaron until he understands what's up with the nanites, because Horn has a brain tumor and he wants Aaron to cure it. Rachel, meanwhile, wants to drop a whole bunch of poisonous chemicals into the bunker where Horn and the rest of the patriots have camped out, but Miles stops her. Not because her father is there—no, Rachel is totally cool with her father suffering a hideous death, but Aaron's life apparently means something to them.
And in North Carolina, Neville finds Ms. Justine's husband and brings him to where he has Jason guarding her. Commander Allenford, it turns out, isn't really the sentimental type, because he just berates his wife for her disloyalty and then shoots her dead. Neville looks distinctly unamused by all the mishegoss.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously on Revolution: Rachel busted Monroe out of death-prison. Rev. Dr. Gene is collaborating with the patriots. Neville manage to un-brainwash Jason and is now going after Ms. Justine's husband at patriot high command. And Dr. Horn wants to know how Aaron sets shit on fire with his mind.
Miles has abducted a patriot soldier and is interrogating him at the Willoughby municipal pool. And by "interrogating" I mean "punching in the face until teeth fly everywhere." The soldier gasps that Horn is working, all the time. Miles wants to know where, and the soldier says Horn has men looking for Miles and Rachel and Aaron. The soldier's assertion that Horn will do something terrible to Miles, Rachel, and Aaron once he finds them does nothing to dissuade Miles, he just grits his teeth and says that's why he plans to find Horn first, and then puts his face-punchin' glove on his other hand.
Charlie sneaks up onto a roof to watch Ed Truman address the people of Willoughby. Ed is blaming the bombing on Miles. Gene watches, horrified, as Ed tells the people the man they knew as Stu was General Miles Matheson, and they think he bombed the town as retaliation for Monroe's execution. Ed also says Aaron was helping Miles. At Ed's nod, Gene gets up on the platform and tells the Willoughbeans how Miles and Aaron tricked him. Gene loudly proclaims that Rachel and Charlie had nothing to do with Miles and Aaron's treachery. "I just want my family safe," he says dully.
Aaron, Cynthia, and Monroe are hiding out in one of Willoughby's finest land-bound yachts. As Monroe swills from a flask, he tells Aaron that the reason Miles and Rachel haven't come to meet them is because all their careful plans went to shit. Aaron insists that they wait for Miles and Monroe puts his hands up, half defensive, half joking, telling Aaron not to light him on fire.
Charlie comes back to the pool and asks her mother who the soldier is—the one Miles has been torturing. Rachel brushes him off as unimportant. Charlie relates what Ed told the town and reluctantly fills Rachel in on Gene's role. Charlie wants to split in a hurry, but Rachel has A Plan. Which means a lot of people are going to die.
Neville approaches a patriot regional outpost in North Carolina, which used to be the Glendon Art Museum. Several soldiers pull guns on him, and Neville says he's here to speak to Commander Roger Allenford. He holds up a diamond solitaire ring and says he'll only speak to Allenford.
Allenford's tent. He's assessing some Degas sketches (I think. I don't pretend to know anything about art) and Neville asks if they're real. Allenford dismisses the soldiers and asks Neville if Ms. Justine is alive. Neville confirms that she is. Allenford turns, and he's the guy from Sex and the City whose spanking-themed porn Miranda found. I liked him. I thought that show was too harsh on his harmless little enthusiasm. Anyway, he's not that nice here. Neville says Ms. Justine is safe and hidden. Allenford is impressed with Neville's balls, walking into his office and telling him his wife is Neville's captive.
Allenford acknowledges that if Ms. Justine is guilty of sedition, she should be punished. Neville speculates that Ms. Justine's indiscretions have cast a shadow over Allenford's previously spotless career and says bringing her to justice would solve all his problems, no? Allenford regards the ring and asks why. Neville just wants Allenford as a useful friend, and offers to bring him to Ms. Justine.
Back in Texas, Miles surveys the patriot headquarters from a roof. I can't believe they'd leave the roofs undefended. Ed is escorting Gene into the HQ. Inside, Horn demands to know where Aaron is, and again threatens Charlie and Rachel. He has an idea: he wants to start executing everyone Aaron knows, and see if that gets anyone to talk. Ed doesn't like that, as it would mess up all the work he's invested in Willoughby. Horn derides Ed's slow-conquering strategy, and says if he has Aaron, he'll learn everything he needs to know in just a few months. Yeah, but that doesn't really solve Ed's problem.
Charlie's broken into a cabinet in the pool building. Rachel riffles through it and hands her daughter a withered energy bar. Charlie asks if it's food. "People used to think so, yeah," Rachel says. Charlie sniffs it and says she knows Rachel's angry with Gene, but she doesn't know all his reasons for working with the patriots. Rachel asks if Charlie doesn't hate Gene, and Charlie says she doesn't. "You're a better person than me," Rachel says. EVERYONE IS A BETTER PERSON THAN YOU, RACHEL. YOU ARE THE WORST.
Charlie denies it, and says she hated Rachel a long time. JOIN THE CLUB, CHARLIE. She hated her for abandoning her and Danny, and for killing Nora. Rachel says this is different. Sure, you always have great reasons for destroying the world, Rachel. Charlie grumbles that hating is easy, forgiving is hard. Ugh, the hugging and the learning are making me want to vomit.
Miles interrupts and says it's "like Epcot East Berlin" out there. He shares that he confirmed Punchy Face's intel that the basement of the paper factory is the patriot HQ, and it will be very difficult to infiltrate -- and/or drop a bomb in there, like Rachel wants to. He reluctantly tells them that he saw Ed walking in with Gene.
Back at Boat Graveyard, Aaron goes below, where Cynthia is huddled against a wall, with an expression of ultimate WTF My Husband Is a Pyro Murderer on her face. She asks if Aaron killed Carl, her husband. Aaron says, "He hit me," and Cynthia understands. She seems more upset about the fact that he lied than about the whole murdering-by-fire thing, and tells him to leave her alone.
Miles paces around in the dark, outside at the pool. He pulls up his sleeve and looks at his arm; the hand Titus Andover smashed way back when has gone septic and there are hideous red lines of infection running up his forearm. Shit, Miles is going to end up like Hershel.
Rachel and Charlie are enjoying some mother-daughter time. That is, they're making bombs. Rachel says dryly that she always dreamed of cooking with her daughter. Charlie asks if it's safe to carry, and Rachel says the ingredients are fine separately, but when they drop them down an air shaft into patriot HQ, they'll kill Horn and everyone else. Charlie asks what will happen if Gene is inside when the time comes. Rachel doesn't say she won't kill her own father.
Aaron leaves the boat to find Monroe striking out into the dark. He asks why he's leaving, and Monroe says he's going to find Miles. Aaron pleads with Monroe to stay. Monroe says he held up his end of the bargain, and now it's Miles' turn to supply the knowledge he needs. They both duck down when they see a pair of people with torches at the edge of the clearing. There's a tiny sound and Monroe leaps into action, killing a patriot soldier who stumbled upon them swiftly and almost silently. Aaron is still immeasurably freaked out by how good Monroe is at murdering people.
Monroe climbs back up to the good ship Pittman, and when more soldiers come closer, he kills all of them. Like, all six of them. But there are still patrols on the outskirts of the clearing, and surely they heard the gunshots. Monroe tells Aaron they won't kill him, but him…well, he's supposed to be dead already.
Cynthia screams for Aaron. As he runs toward her, he's tackled and injected with something. He blacks out watching Cynthia struggle with the soldiers.
At patriot HQ, Dr. Horn is shooting up (himself, not Aaron). Because of course he is. He opens a toolbox full of his vintage torturing tools and flashes back to eighteen years before the blackout. Teenage Horn is watching his father pray. The same box of tools is to his father. Teenage Horn interrupts and says she -- the woman in a bed between them, presumably teenage Horn's mother -- isn't getting better. Horn's father insists she will, that he's praying as hard as he can. Horn hesitantly says maybe his friend's dad, who's a doctor, could come see her, and his father chalks everything up to God's will and insists teenage Horn pray with him. Awesome.
Back in Willoughby, Miles is providing cover from a rooftop, with a rifle, as Rachel and Charlie sneak across the main town square. Charlie blows a dog whistle, sending the patriots' new canine unit into a frenzy. Finished with her duties, she joins Miles on the roof as Rachel spy-games her way toward the HQ. Miles spots Gene, headed for the building, and signals to Rachel to abort the mission. Rachel presses on. Miles prevents Charlie from leaping off a rooftop to stop her dumb-ass mother.
A wagon carrying Aaron and Cynthia pulls into the town square. Soldiers drag the Pittmans into the HQ. Rachel continues setting up the poisonous gases. Inside, Cynthia is stunned to see Gene, but Horn shares that Gene helped him find them.
Gene asks Horn to let Cynthia go, and Aaron pleads, saying she has nothing to do with anything. But Horn wants to keep her as insurance against Aaron setting everyone on fire. Aaron gasps that he's sorry as, up on the roof, Rachel assembles her chemicals to drop into the air shaft. She's just about to let them go when Miles stops her, telling her Aaron's inside. (And Cynthia, you guys. Remember Cynthia?)
Flashback. Teenage Horn sits to the bed where his mother lay sick. The bed is empty but for a Bible, so the praying doesn't seem to have worked. Horn's father grabs him by the collar asks him what he did—he holds up a pill bottle. Horn says his friend's father, a doctor, gave him the pills and that he didn't want his mother to die. Horn's father said the mother died because of him. "You prayed for a miracle," Horn says. "But there are no miracles." His father slaps him.
In the present, Aaron pleads with Horn to release Cynthia as Horn injects him with something. Horn wants to talk about how Aaron perked back up after two and a half hours without a heartbeat. He picks up a scalpel and says they'll start by seeing just how resilient Aaron's body is. Horn dismisses Gene, but Gene says he's staying, that he wants to be here to help Aaron if Horn hurts him. Horn subtly gestures with the scalpel as he says he won't go looking for Rachel if she doesn't cause trouble, and firmly dismisses Gene again.
Gene leaves. Horn starts cutting. Aaron screams.
In North Carolina, Ms. Justine is trying to free herself from her cuffs. Jason cocks his gun at her and she pleads with him to let her go. She asks why he's doing this and he tells her to shut up. She keeps trying to convince Jason that his father doesn't care about him, and Jason just about chokes her to death. He lets go and then stares at his own hands. She guesses that he's not quite deprogrammed, and Jason's vision goes to that shimmery, druggy way it was before, confirming that he's not.
Neville is bringing Allenford to Ms. Justine, walking through the woods, but he stops when Allenford cocks a gun and points it at him, asking if Neville hurts her. Neville calmly tells Allenford that he can't get to Ms. Justine without him because of Jason, and asks what Allenford plans to do: run away with his wife, like Romeo and Juliet? Neville cackles about how awesome Ms. Justine must be in bed, considering what her husband is willing to do to rescue her. Allenford growls that the patriots will kill Ms. Justine if he brings her back, and Neville points out that Allenford, as citified as he is, can't hope to survive in the wilderness, especially with the patriots hunting them. Neville asks what hope their son will have if he has two traitor parents.
Dr. Gene is plodding down some dark hallway when Charlie pops out to distract him so Miles and Rachel can choke him into bunnies and abduct him.
Dr. Gene wakes up and asks why Rachel and the others haven't fled the town. They say they can't leave without Aaron, and Gene confesses that Horn threatened to kill Charlie and Rachel if he didn't give Aaron up. Miles doesn't have time for family recriminations hour, he just wants to bust Aaron out, but Rachel wants to deliver a great awesome monologue about how Dr. Gene made her think she was crazy. He tells her how terribly her mother died, and that suddenly he could help, because the patriots gave him medicine. "I didn't realize who they were until it was too late," he says.
Rachel isn't inclined to cut her father any slack, even when he asks, "You've never done a bad thing for a good reason?" Rachel is THE WORST. Gene says he doesn't want her forgiveness if her hate will keep her alive; he just wants her to run. From outside, Ed hollers that he knows they're in there, and they have one minute to surrender. Gene protests that he didn't know. (How could he? He was bunnies). He volunteers to stay behind while they escape and try to give them some more time. Charlie protests.
Ed tells his men to prepare to fire, but Gene comes outside, hands up. Gene repeats Horn's promise to leave Rachel alone, but Ed says this is about how Miles "bombed the town," wink wink. When Ed gets close enough, saying that Rachel will go free if they hand over Miles, Gene pulls a knife and holds it to Ed's throat. Miles, Charlie, and Rachel flee out the back door as Gene tells the other soldiers that if they move, Ed dies. Ed quickly gets the upper hand, disarming Gene, and his men move in, shooting after Rachel, Miles, and Charlie as they run. Miles returns fire a couple times.
Dr. Horn watches as the slices he's made in Aaron's skin heal immediately. He speculates that the nanites are repairing Aaron's cells, oxygenating his blood, and wonders why. Aaron appears disinclined to cooperate, but gasps that he has no idea. Horn starts monologuing about his father. "He was a horrible, stupid man who based his whole life on a fairy tale," Horn says, before acknowledging that his father was right -- an invisible power can save people, it's just not from heaven. And Aaron will teach him to use it, he insists.
Aaron gasps again that he doesn't know how to control his power. Horn looks down at his cramping, gnarled hand, and says they'll figure it out somehow, because Horn has a brain tumor. (He knows this…how?)
Jason pops up from his half-dozing state when his father approaches, with Allenford. Neville reassures Jason that everything's okay as Ms. Justine bursts into tears and starts compulsively apologizing. Allenford wearily mops his forehead and says Ms. Justine writing that letter about the reeducation camps was stupid. She protests that she just didn't want what happened to their son to happen to anyone else. Allenford tells her they're both in a fuck load of trouble, and Neville reminds him to stay clearheaded. Ms. Justine wants Allenford to kill both Nevilles so they can run. He asks where they can go. (Canada? Is Canada still nice, or has it been overrun by crackheads?) Ms. Justine says she loves Roger, and he replies that he loves her as well, and then he shoots her.
Willoughby. Daytime, for the first time in, like, a fucking week. Charlie asks Rachel and Miles how they plan to get Aaron out, and Rachel says they're also going to rescue Gene. Miles is all, it's super touching that you've had this personal breakthrough, but what we really need right now is, like, armored cavalry? Or a great idea?
Horn monologues some more about how he's learned that Aaron heals as a response to physical trauma. Well, sure. Nobody heals when they're not hurt. He's not going to grow an eleventh finger, or a tail. But his burning-people-alive thing is in response to emotional trauma. Horn injects him with something and then the soldiers bring Cynthia in, struggling. Horn apologizes perfunctorily and says maybe if they get Aaron in an appropriate state he can heal someone else. Why would he think that? There's no evidence of that. This is just bad science. Horn leaves, saying it's about to get very unpleasant in that room, and a soldier approaches Cynthia with a scalpel. The soldier stabs Cynthia and Aaron screams. The torches on the walls erupt.
week: Charlie, Rachel, and Miles attack patriot HQ. But maybe Aaron has done a little of the work for them.