Revolution - 1x20 "The Dark Tower" - Overview & Speculation

Hello Revolutionaries! The season finale has finally come and gone! This week is another one of those crazy weeks for me, so I'm just going to go through some of my favorite moments and/or some points of interest.

First there's Nora's death. For those following my recaps and comments on SpoilerTV, I had felt quite certain that something bad would happen to Nora before the season ended with most of my speculation riding on Nora's hallucination sequence while walking through the subway in "Kashmir". The alligator biting Nora's leg under the dark water was surely a metaphor that also happened to parallel Maggie's death in "The Plague Dogs".

Seemingly in another heroic act Nora decided to support the love she sees between Team Matheson, which seems to have cost her, her life.

However, not yet reading any interviews that explicitly say Nora is officially a goner, I have to make a point for being a main character-death episode, we didn't really see who Nora really was, what made her tick, and or why she was willing to risk her life for Miles and his family....or if it is The Tower.

Whether alive or not, it seems imminent, much like Ben Matheson, that Nora's back story needs fleshed out and I would suspect to see more of her in flash backs, possibly relating to new season 2 characters.

This leads me to Aaron's point about the blackout being intentional, something I thought from the start, as I could never understand how these militia's, especially Monroe's, would rise to power so quickly and that the United States would be reduced to almost nothing on the former U.S. continent, unless someone planned this. My first suspicions directed me to Monroe himself. In the "Pilot" Monroe did not have his military I.D. on him during the night of the black out, but the the guard on duty let him in the military base through viewing his iconic "M" Matheson/Monroe brand on the bottom of his wrist. This points out that his brand already meant something before the blackout. Then in "No Quarter" Charlie is being chased by a Monroe Republic Soldier, but ultimately is a trap leading him to Miles, as Miles is able to tackle him and use him to get information. In that scene the soldiers back pack spills open to reveal a silver and black "Monroe Republic - "M" logo-ed aluminum pop can! I do not think without electricity these cans could be made, which leads me to believe that they were made before the blackout.

But the season finale's end leads us to think about something else. We know now that the U.S. did not completely parish, but instead was reduced to at least one U.S. Colony with alleged former President waiting for his patriots to do their thing so that they can control and/or start take back the former U.S. This makes me think that besides Randall and/or former defense officials have been working towards this goal, then so could have the rebels. 

We have yet to understand how the rebel's started, but the fact that they have been primary targeting the Monroe Republic and that this Republic is the territory of the former United State's Capital, historic origins, and economic center, makes sense that the rebels are fighting for "this" President. 

And going back to Nora and how she briefly behaved in the flash back, as Monroe denounces the rebels fighting for the former U.S. and this being an iconic moment for Miles after being blast upon during his Birthday celebration with Monroe, realizing that Monroe's actions and hate towards the U.S. are beyond strong, hits Miles hard. I think given where the new colony is (Guantanamo, Cuba) and Nora's ethnicity and her association with Texas, and the idea that Nora ended up with the Rebels Nora ends up,  may point to she was a rebel the whole time or something in particular changed her allegiances. Another reason I think this could be the case, is because again her hallucination sequence doesn't just point out an upcoming unknown event, but the possibly of her fears manifesting out of guilt.

Her one episode with strong flashbacks ("The Ties That Bind") revealed to us a possible murder scene (her mother's), but also pointed out rather unresolved issues with Nora's father, as both her parents resided in Texas (another clue sprinkled through out the second half of season). We don't get any clues of whom her father was, but I suspect there is missing link here and it wouldn't surprise me if he is former U.S. Military.

At any rate it seems Texas and regions next to it are going to playing a more significant role next season, as besides using Nora's death and association with Texas as a possible lead in, so was Texas dropped nearly once every episode during the second half of the season, including the mentioning of some incident/conflict involving Alec and The Monroe Republic,  Priscilla's (as we caught up with her in the finale) new place of residence, to Revolution actually switching filming locations to Texas, and due a lot of historic references dropped in this episode in similitude to JFK's assassination, Cuban Missile Crisis/Cold War, portrait of former President Bush highlighted with hidden key card, and by extension, Guantanamo Bay!

Some scenes I liked in the episode were Bass and Miles running in parallel in the woods while the helicopter attempted to gun them down, Bass being in the direct center during a freakish lightening storm, Nora throwing the fire extinguisher to trigger the bomb,  Charlie refusing to leave Nora's side and confronting her mother. to Miles freeing Bass and explaining that no matter what, despite how much he hates it, they will always be brothers, and Randall sealing his fate.

Some criticisms are:
Not having Nora's story more fleshed out before her death.
Neville being able to use C4 and blast his way into the Tower
Having key cards give access to Level 12
Killing most of the Tower Peeps, before getting to know most of them. (Especially Dan)
Leaving us with Jason not doing much of anything.
How can we turn the power on without Power Plants? (but I could buy the nanites being conduits as they 'shut down'?)
No new sci-fi technology reveals.
No new details about Tower Peeps/Level 11 confinement.
No reveal about the possibility that Charlie may not be Ben's daughter.

Some final thoughts:
I'm thinking that somehow Grace will able to best Neville and she and Aaron will be able to get access to the Missile Launching Computer Room, but will have to turn off the power in order to do so. The lightening storm around Monroe could either be an indicator that things are still going to go wrong, or that this is what the Hadron Collider is for--to keep things from going wrong by absorbing some of the electricity/energy.

Again Charlie comforts those at the time of their death. Her choice to stay with Nora was touching and I'm glad Nora didn't have to be alone in some of her final moments. It was also nice, since she was going to die, that she died in Miles arms, seemingly being with the one person who ended up really mattering to her.

I was also really glad that Monroe made it! David Lyon's performance is just too good waste, as he and Neville are both the kind of villains I hope we see through a longer haul and maybe even see some redeeming or reforming, as it would be nice to see Monroe team up with our guys some more and/or have an opportunity to confront his son.

I really really loved that scene with Bass and Miles running from the helicopter, because it's the idea that their past, which has turned on them is still pushing them forward together, despite their ideological differences.

As for Charlie and Jason, I think they both will take greater precedence with their parents, as both find themselves seriously disappointed by Rachel's and Tom's values shown again in this episode.

Rachel I think will have to work harder than ever to prove herself, but I do think what Randall did put her own reality back into perspective. I liked how she first reacted to him trying to figure our why he wanted the power on. It's one of the very few times I've seen Elizabeth Mitchell play it more comical.

I hope the next chapter gives Miles some reflection time, because he really didn't do so much of that here, as he stepped more into a leadership role, but it made Nora's death seem more inconsequential, which I think is a shame. I hope we some more blatant reaction, or that we get a sense that maybe her death made him rise to the occasion more. Made him want to do better by everyone...

Anyways, Did you like the finale? What do you think will happen in season 2? Will you miss Nora? Do You hope to see her in flashback's? Sound off in the comments below!!!!

References:

Historic: The Cuban Missile Crises, The Cold War, Guantanamo Bay, and the Assassination of John F. Kennedy.

From Wiki:

Cuban Missile Crisis — known as the October crisis in Cuba and the Caribbean crisis (Russian: Kарибский кризис, tr. Karibskiy krizis) in the former USSR — was a 13-day confrontation between the Soviet Union and Cuba on one side, and the United States on the other, in October 1962. It was one of the major confrontations of the Cold War, and is generally regarded as the moment in which the Cold War came closest to turning into a nuclear conflict. It is also the first documented instance of the threat of mutual assured destruction (MAD) being discussed as a determining factor in a major international arms agreement.

The United States considered attacking Cuba via air and sea, but decided on a military blockade instead, calling it a "quarantine" for legal and other reasons. The US announced that it would not permit offensive weapons to be delivered to Cuba, demanded that the Soviets dismantle the missile bases already under construction or completed, and return all offensive weapons to the USSR. The Kennedy administration held only a slim hope that the Kremlin would agree to their demands, and expected a military confrontation.

John F. Kennedy Assassination----
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time (18:30 UTC) on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas. Kennedy was fatally shot while traveling with his wife Jacqueline, Texas Governor John Connally, and Connally's wife Nellie, in a presidential motorcade. A ten-month investigation in 1963–64 by the Warren Commission concluded that Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone, and that Jack Ruby also acted alone when he killed Oswald before he could stand trial. Although the Commission's conclusions were initially supported by a majority of the American public, polls conducted between 1966 and 2003 found that as many as 80 percent of Americans have suspected that there was a plot or cover-up.

Many conspiracies center around President John F. Kennedy's assassination. From the CIA hiring mafia, to vice President Lyndon B Johnson's revenge and climb to power (Which Johnson was from Texas by the way) and/or a vexed Richard Nixon, leave many speculate that Kennedy made many enemies.

The following is a website that chronicles the possible threats and relationships Kennedy may have had at this time. Please note the following speculations are not considered completely factual, but the website author's outline for speculation centered Kennedy's death, as it has never been officially declared a conspiracy by the U.S. Government.
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/CIA/Who_Killed_JFK.html

Gauntonomo Bay--
The United States assumed territorial control over the southern portion of Guantánamo Bay under the 1903 Cuban-American Treaty. The United States has complete jurisdiction and control over this territory, while Cuba retains ultimate sovereignty. The current government of Cuba regards the U.S. presence in Guantánamo Bay as illegal and insists the Cuban-American Treaty was obtained by threat of force in violation of international law. Some legal scholars judge that the lease may be voidable. It is the home of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, which is governed by the United States.

  The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States military located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in January 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees it had determined to be connected with opponents in the Global War on Terror including Afghanistan and later Iraq, the Horn of Africa and Southeast Asia. It is operated by the Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) of the United States government in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, which fronts on Guantánamo Bay in Cuba.



The reason I chose to bring these things up, is because there are a lot of parallel's here. It wouldn't surprise me that this U.S. President in Cuba was either the former vice president, or the assassination attempt on his life failed, but I will be curious to see if he is a victim or perpetrator.

It's unclear to me if we're going to be dealing with Cold War association in terms of having Russian connections in taking down the U.S. in Revolution, but at the very least we can speculate some references to Spanish American history, including the history of Texas, The Spanish American War, and/or the Mexican War.


The Dark Tower and The Stand: In this episode the references seem more about the general ideas themselves, and Revolutions own themes, rather than direct parallels to either of King's novels, accept to say that Randall Flynn's death, being a reference to Randall Flagg, may point out that this President is an equivalent to The Dark Tower's Crimson King. 

The scene where Nora, Bass, and Miles end up in water way reminded me a little of Star Wars New Hope Death Star Garbage scene

Bad Robot factor:

Missile Launch!!!!!!!!!

Alias' plots partially centered around the idea that the cold war marches on in the present time, as character Irina Derevko, a K-Directorite spy, sent to the U.S. from Russia in the 1980's to infiltrate a CIA agent for State Secrets, continued to seek weapons of mass destruction through out the course of the series. During the series finale of Alias ("All the Time in the World") Irina trades Arvin Sloane stolen missiles  for a Rambaldi artifact 'The Horizon'. The Missiles are scheduled to launch from Hong Kong to Washington D.C. (U.S. Capital) and London, England. Michael Vaughn is able to get to Julian Stark, the one actually over seeing the launch, by shooting him in the leg and forcing him to give up the launch codes to disarm the missiles!

Additionally "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol" also takes a page from Alias' Series Finale, as MI:GP features a Swedish-Russian born nuclear strategist, Kurt Hendricks, who plans a nuclear attack on the U.S., by first framing the U.S. with a bombing attack on Russia's Kremlin. Ethan Hunt and his MIF agents have to go into 'ghost protocol' mode (black opps no assistance from the US Government) to figure out who "Cobalt" (Hendricks) is and to stop him from from using a nuclear missile launching devise stolen from the Kremlin to use on the U.S.

Note: As mentioned in other overviews, Charlie and Rachel's relationship is similar to Sydney and Irina's on Alias. Much of the series explored what it would be that Irina Derevko would commit herself to, her daughter or her strive for power. In the series finale, Irina, despite telling Sydney that she loves her, ultimately makes a deadly choice and chooses The Horizon over Sydney. This is very similar to what we saw in this episode of Revolution with the exception that the exploration is still on going, as Rachel did not die and because there's probably a better debate here about the importance of turning the power back on (or not), along with the fact that Rachel is morning the loss of her son. Additionally "if" it turns out Nora went out of her way to infiltrate the Monroe Republic by getting close to Miles, then we might also be able to parallel Nora with Irina Derevko, as she did that to Jack Bristow.

OK. Without being too spoilerish we know we are surely going to need to cast this President. Just for fun I think it would be cool to cast Terry O' Quinn or Titus Welliver. Then we have Monroe's son, which is hard for me to think someone young enough. If Ian Somerhalder wouldn't still be attached to The Vampire Diary's, he might have been an alright choice, but it's hard to think of someone who could have David Lyon's elegant features. There is also a casting call for a 60 year old scientist named Gene. Obviously I dream of John Noble for that part, which would be pretty cool if he also has to sport a southern accent. Speaking of which there is also a casting call for Annabeth a 30-something who runs a large establishment (something like, if not Las Vegas) and one of the things I loved most about about Jennifer Gardner's performances as Sydney Bristow, was her uncanny way of picking up accents (well except that Japanese Geisha one!). Everyone once in while she would sport a southern accent, being on the verge of something stereo typically of Texas. So since this is a dream wish list, if Jenifer Gardner could wip out that accent and get some cowgirl wear on, I think she would make a fun antagonist, whether it be this Annabeth or someone else.

What about you guys? Who would you love to see in Revolution?!