Violet recaps Season 2 Episode 17 of Revolution, titled Why We Fight, where Miles accompanies Gene to find help in Willoughby, and Monroe makes some plans of his own while Miles is gone! Following the recap, both Violet and Josh share their thoughts on the episode.
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Episode Recap of Revolution, Season 2 Episode 17: Why We Fight
- The kid that Miles let go last episode instead of shooting is leading the Patriots towards them. Gene decides to go into town to get help, and Miles goes with him. Neville tries to convince Truman to poison Doyle. Two Patriot soldiers tell Neville that Doyle wants to see him, and beat him up when he resists.
- Miles and Gene sneak into Marion’s bar as she’s closing up. They disarm themselves to get her to trust them. She tries to run off, but Miles catches her and drags her down to the basement. Gene tells Marion what the Patriots have been up to. It turns out Gene and Marion were together for awhile. Just then, Truman shows up for dinner because he and Marion are together. Marion goes up to greet him, while Miles and Gene watch through the cracks in the floorboards.
- Charlie is upset with Connor about his plans with his father to start up the Monroe Republic again. They see a fire in the distance and everyone goes to investigate. It’s Duncan Page’s men, but she is dead. They are now out for vengeance against the Patriots, who killed her. Apparently the Patriots are taking out any war clans they can find. Monroe assumes leadership of the men.
- Marion discreetly hides Miles and Gene’s weapons from view. Monroe and his new men move out to attack the training camp, despite Rachel’s protests for him to wait for Miles. Charlie joins in because her guys are going. Neville wakes up tied to a chair, next to Jason, who is also tied to a chair. Doyle shows Neville the numbers inside Jason’s eyelid, and says that Jason already told him everything about Neville. Doyle begins to strangle Neville with a belt, but is interrupted by gunfire outside.
- As Monroe and his men attack the Patriots, Neville uses the distraction to get the better of Doyle and strangles Doyle with the belt. Connor seems to have second thoughts about following in his father’s footsteps. When Gene accidentally makes a noise, two Patriot soldiers almost find them, but Marion stops them just in time. Marion tells them she doesn’t know what to believe, and reveals that she is engaged to Truman, but will get them a way out.
- Monroe finds Doyle’s dead body. One of Monroe’s men reports that there are 4 cadets unaccounted for. Monroe finds a book written in Arabic. Marion tells Truman she wants to go for a walk, and when they get outside they discover the training camp was attacked. Marion thinks she made a mistake, and tells Truman about Gene and Miles.
- Before Gene and Miles are able to leave the basement, a couple of Patriot soldiers attack, and Gene is shot. Miles fights back and is able to get a gun from one of the soldiers, and shoots the other. They run into Marion on their way out, and she accuses Gene of knowing what his people did.
- While Monroe, Connor, and the others celebrate, Rachel scolds Charlie for participating in the attack. Rachel and Charlie have a discussion about what they’re fighting for. Although Truman suspects Neville of strangling Doyle, Neville convinces Truman of the benefits of reporting that Doyle was the victim of a terrorist attack.
- When Miles returns and learns what Monroe did, he punches him. One of Monroe’s men translates the Arabic writing, which says that the cadets are being taken to Austin to take down the Texas government and kill their President.
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 2 Episode 17 of Revolution: Why We Fight
Ughhhh, Miles and Gene were so close to getting Marion to see things their way, but Monroe had to go and screw everything up! Now, thanks to Monroe, the prospect of getting any help from the citizens of Willoughby is all but lost to the Rebels after their attack on the training camp. Before that, they actually had the possibility of gaining support, but definitely not anymore. They look like the terrorists now, not the Patriots.
Looks like Monroe is getting what he wanted, which was soldiers to follow him so that he could build up the Monroe Republic again. That was funny how Miles called him and Connor out on it. Speaking of Connor, it seems like he might be changing his mind about joining up with his dad to recreate the Monroe Republic after seeing what his dad did in the attack. But that seems kind of weird that he would have a sudden change of heart because of that, considering that I’m sure he did things just as bad, if not worse, when he was working for that guy in Mexico all those years.
So, now that Duncan is dead (random, albeit convenient for Monroe), does Charlie own those guys for life? I thought maybe when they found out Duncan was dead, they would consider themselves released from their service to Charlie, but then she said she joined the attack because her guys were going. The question is, will they remain loyal to her when it comes down to a choice between staying with her or joining Monroe, considering all their friends are part of Monroe’s army?
Guess it’s not really an issue right now, with the groups obviously staying together, at least for the time being, so they can prevent the takedown of the Texas government!
Regarding Neville’s story, that was an interesting and convenient way to get rid of Doyle. I wonder how quick and how far Truman will rise up in the Patriot hierarchy, and how Neville will benefit from it.
Notably absent from this episode were Aaron and Priscilla, so I’m looking forward to seeing what they’ve been up to. Hopefully they can catch up to the group soon!
So, the preview below says that someone is going to die in the next episode. It tries to make it look like Charlie, but I’m pretty sure it’s not her. Who do you think it will be?
Josh’s Thoughts: Revolution, Season 2 Episode 17: Why We Fight
So there was a lot of stuff going on this episode of Revolution. The big deal that concerns me the most is what Monroe seems to have going on. He clearly is amassing his new army in order to get his empire back, and even Miles is able to see it. This new found power is already causing trouble for the “Rebels” as he attacked Willoughby, which caused civilian casualties, thereby vilifying the resistance group to many Willoughby natives. Monroe is certainly not helping the cause as much as he thinks he is.
This episode seemed to focus on a particular theme: Why each individual is fighting this war against the Patriots, hence the name of the episode: “Why We Fight”. We know Connor’s and Monroe’s reasons. Rachel admits she is fighting for Charlie. Charlie seems to be fighting for the sake of fighting, Dr. Gene Porter seems to be fighting for Willoughby. It was interesting seeing some back story for some of the Patriots this episode, so we get a sense as to why they are fighting as well.
I thought for sure we would see Duncan again, who seemed to have died in some Patriot battle we did not get to witness. I thought that was a bit unusual, as she seemed like she would have been a recurring character. Monroe is more than happy to take advantage of the situation though.
I think my favorite scene/storyline of this episode is Miles and Porter trying to explain their position to Porter’s ex-girlfriend, and seeing how easy it can be to vilify someone. It seemed as though Miles and Porter were about to reach her, when Monroe decided to screw everything up.
I am curious to see where Revolution goes from here. Based on Monroe’s moves, I have a feeling that there will be a separation of Monroe and his men from the main group again, and there may be two enemies to deal for Miles and company–the Patriots and Monroe. So far they seem to plan to stick together though, and the state of affairs in Texas will probably help keep the group together for at least a little while longer.
The last thing I want to bring up is Tom Neville. That conniving, slithering man nearly got his due, until Monroe screwed that up as well, inadvertently at least. But now he has his manipulative tendrils in Truman, and he has been able to come up with an excuse as to why Doyle is no longer with them.
Overall, I enjoyed this episode. It is trying to ask the moral ambiguous questions of the virtues and vices of war, and I am enjoying the different ways these questions are brought up and answered.
Scenes from Revolution, Season 2 Episode 18: Austin City Limits
Here are scenes from the next episode of Revolution, titled Austin City Limits:
