Revolution - Pilot

OH OH...something is happening around the world and the end result is that there is no electricity left anywhere on the planet. Everything is turning off and will never turn back on. Everything with an electrical circuit just fritz off - all over the planet - without warning.

In some ways ending the world this way would be even worse than the zombies. It was pretty terrifying to watch everything shut down, planes fall from the sky ect... They don't explain why all of this is happening but who wants to have their mind cluttered with all that science stuff? It'll hurt your brain if you ask too many questions and I think the show is designed around that premise.

Then it's 15 years later and on ONE day everything turns to shit for the happy family we are reintroduced to. Something really bad forces their lives in a totally different and hopefully for the viewer, more interesting direction. I have my doubts on the latter.

We know the father has a secret hardrive that he passes to a trusted friend - no doubt the father had everything to do with shutting down the planet in the first place and like a numnut just sat around for 15 years, enjoying life in his little Smurf Village - all the while civilization was crumbling around him. If the damned drive is so important, why has he not delivered it to where it could do the most good before now? No, today is the day to die and leave the responsibility to your teenage child to fix.

This thing is part Hunger Games part Incredible Journey. It has the reek of 'teen adventure' all over it. Like last year's failed Terra Nova, it won't be as edgy as the concept demands it be.

I hate that the main character is a girl named CHARLIE who has a RETURN OF THE JEDI lunchbox full of memorabilia (Rubick's Cube?) from the time when the lights were on. It's all layered on a bit too thick for me, including the death of the Mother who probably is only just missing - ready to be found when the story demands it.

If anyone thinks this girl will be staying in her tiny home village then they have never watched TV before and we don't have a story. To make sure she makes her journey the bad guys in black kill off her father and kidnap her brother, putting Charlie on the path towards, obviously, turning the lights back on. I know, it doesn't make any sense to me either.

All of Charlie's companions are stereotypes especially the chubby geeky guy who knows 'wisdom' from the ancient times - the bright and shiny times when you could watch cartoons while toasting a Pop Tart. He's like their Gandalf only this wizard has all the episodes of Star Trek committed to memory.

Menace. All menace by the evil government militias looking for a secret that of course the girl is carrying. She is on her way to find her brother who has been taken away by government goons. Again this all takes place is a 'Hunger Gamesish' world.