Take Three: Revolution

Revolution: Season 1, Episode 3 “No Quarter” (D+)

There’s a reason I keep watching this show. I know that it’s exactly the kind of series that I should love, yet it’s so horribly put together that watching it ends up being frustrating more than anything else. It’s mainly due to the awful dialogue and the miserable structure, in which, once again, Miles gets captured and has to get himself out of it, and swordplay rules the day, though the episode made it nearly halfway without focusing on the ancient form of combat and instead presenting the exciting alternative of gunfire! The big reveal that Miles was in charge of the militia is decently interesting, though to presume that he didn’t train them well enough to defend against two women hatching a hair-brained plan in mere minutes doesn’t seem likely. Mark Pellegrino is a great choice to play another general, but having intimidating figures as heads of the militia won’t be enough to make this show worthwhile if the good guys are all extremely detestable. This show would be a whole lot better if the characters didn’t speak to each other. Aaron and Maggie sure lucked out just stumbling into a home with working electricity, but I wouldn’t trust them to be able to figure out what to do with it. I’m astounded by the concept of someone with asthma faking an asthma attack when all the torture he endured from an angry Michael Mosley should not have given him the energy to fake such an attack, more likely to endure a real one. Danny is just like LJ from “Prison Break,” a character only significant for motivating other people’s actions, who would be much better off forgotten. The music is maddeningly annoying, and I’m slowly losing reasons to continue watching this show. The problem is that, terribly as it was delivered, I’m a sucker for the concept of having another baby born in the United States. Bring on the revolution, but please make it better, especially since it’s the first drama to be picked up for a full season.

What I’m Watching: Covert Affairs

Covert Affairs: Season 1, Episode 4 “No Quarter” (B)

I have to say, I enjoyed this episode much more than the three that came before it. Maybe it’s the pairing of someone with Annie for the whole episode who is able to up her game and also impress in his own right? Perhaps it’s the casting of an actual Israeli actor as an Israeli (sorry, “NCIS”), and no less than Oded Fehr, who played terrorist Farik on Showtime’s “Sleeper Cell.” While Fehr’s Eyal can’t hold a candle to Shaw of “Chuck” in terms of coolness, he is pretty slick and definitely keeps Annie on her toes. It’s a shame that these twist-oriented shows still insist on painting Israeli agencies as entirely corruptible, even if it’s not Eyal who was ultimately the mole. All I kept thinking while Eyal and Annie were running around together is how much better this show would be if Katee Sackhoff was playing Annie. While it’s possible that Sackhoff might come across as too cocky, the way Piper Perabo said “plenty!” when Eyal questioned her level of field experience made me want to throw up. My critique of CIA protocol for this week is to point out that taking an agent off an active case for him to perform a perfectly-postponeable lie-detector test seems foolhardy and stupid at best. Auggie’s anger at being interrogated helps to make him an interesting character, though from the start he was always much more interesting than all the rest. It’s good to see more of Peter Gallagher, who for some reason isn’t a regular credited cast member, although his messy marriage antics are starting to get a little irritating.