Revolution – Why can’t you just make sense?

If you haven’t yet seen Revolution and you plan to do so, you may want to stop reading. This article is going to be chock full of spoilers and this is the only warning you’re getting. That said, let’s talk about this newest show from J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions. I don’t watch a lot of television, but I do enjoy a good sci-fi show from time to time. Even with the sometimes nonsensical chronology and complete dropping of plot items, I enjoyed Fringe. I never watched Lost, but I know many people that swear it was a great show. So I was hopeful that Revolution would be an interesting show to watch on Hulu each week as a break from my normal gaming routine. I’m somewhat less hopeful about that as the show returns from its mid-season hiatus.

What’s this all about?

The idea behind Revolution, so far as I can make out, is that the show takes place 15 years after a world wide blackout was somehow created. The tech behind the blackout was made by a startup company that had originally intended to generate free energy, but instead found a way to completely inhibit electricity instead and started working with the US Department of Defense to weaponize this invention. The show follows Charlie, daughter of two of the people that turned off the lights, as she tries to save her brother from a tyrant that happens to be her uncle’s former best friend. Her brother is only taken as a substitute for her father, who was the original target of the militia until he was accidentally killed by them.

While the human saga about the bonds of family and friendship is interesting enough, I’m more concerned about the driving plot behind the whole series; the blackout. From what I can tell, the cause of the blackout actively inhibits electricity. That’s the only reasonable explanation since people would have been able to generate new energy relatively soon afterward instead of continuing to live in colonial era conditions for 15 years. So we have to accept the premise of something that can do that for the sake of the show. We also need to accept that the twelve special amulets can somehow not only negate this inhibition of electrical energy, but somehow work as a wireless battery that powers nearby electrical devices. That’s a serious stretch of the imagination. Even so, we like to suspend disbelief for the sake of entertainment. We’re very willing to hand reality over, to a point, to the writers and let them tell us what’s going on.

Maybe the power just fell into a plot hole

My first serious question is what about biological electricity that is necessary for life to continue? Is this electricity somehow not affected by the mystery thing that has stopped all other forms of electricity on the planet? Seems like the sort of thing that should have been at least mentioned in passing at some point in the first 12 episodes of the show. Even presuming that the low voltage of electricity in animals is what protects them, there are problems with other plot elements. Perhaps this is just an oversight on the part of the writers and shouldn’t be nitpicked. Similarly we should ignore the various other issues of reality like gasoline staying good for 15 years.

However, if a show is going to be enjoyable, it needs consistency in its big MacGuffin. In this case, that’s the blackout and the pendants related to it. We need to know that there are reliable limits to these almost magical items in order to maintain believability. We know that the blackout isn’t an EMP because electronics near the pendants (even as complex as an iPhone) immediately light up. So power outside of the pendants’ range is somehow suppressed or wind, solar, and other energy sources would generate new electricity. We are also told in episode 9 by Rachel Matheson that the pendants have a limited range of 9 or 10 feet and can power stereos, lights, even up to a computer. In order to power something like a vehicle, she explains, they need an amplifier that will increase the power output and the range. Say what? Didn’t a pendant power the generator in the basement of a lighthouse only a couple episodes earlier? That was interesting to the plot, but if the field that allows electricity only reaches about 10 feet, how does the electricity get to the light itself? I’m no expert, but I’m also pretty sure that a friggin lighthouse requires a lot more energy than a car. These are their rules, not mine. I just ask the questions.

They’re just making this up as they go

On the topic of powered devices doing things they shouldn’t, how about the networking of two computers via dial up modem? Sure, the pendants can allow the powering of both computers. Does they also maintain phone lines during 15 years of nobody giving a crap about them otherwise? Does they power the switching stations along the way required in order to just to make a phone connection? Is electricity travelling along those wires somehow immune to the otherwise global effects of this blackout device? Does the (I’m guessing here) satellite network Randall uses to ping and track the pendants not get interrupted by the electricity suppressing field? If using a pendant to power a gas generator in a basement (and miraculously not suffocating) can power a whole workshop, couldn’t an amplifier power a whole electrical plant?

I’m willing to ignore the fact that the actors don’t appear to have aged and that they’re wearing clothing that remains modern looking in a world where those things would be in incredibly short supply. Those are aesthetic choices for the sake of making an appealing looking show. The human aspect of the plot is great and it was heart-wrenching to see Danny get gunned down so soon after Charlie had finally rescued him. What I can’t ignore is when the show sets up its own boundaries and then disregards them whenever it suits a specific plot line. Like magic in a fantasy show, the fantastical tech in a sci-fi show should obey the rules set up for it. At this point, I fully expect to find out by the end of the season that they’re all in purgatory and a wizard did it. It would make as much sense as everything else so far.