All of the "F" Words

These last few weeks have given us time to reflect on many things including Christmas, our plans for the New Year (goals, resolutions, or, if you are like me your word for the year), and maybe just some general refocusing. And there has been a lot of time to do all of this because there have been so few distractions for most of us (unless you, too, just moved into a new home and are still unpacking). Family has come and gone. Probably. If they are still here then you have a lot of family or they stay a LONG time. You are probably back to work. You may have even scratched a good many items off that Honey-Do List. And if you live alone, that list is your own list. Whatevs.

What I am getting at is that during this time life comes to a halt, changes, we get a lot of stuff done, and then in a couple of weeks, it all changes again. What happens? Our regularly televised programming comes back. Yep. Our favorite shows come back from the mid-season hiatus they took and all that free time dries right up. And that leads me to the show that has me trolling youtube looking for a fix every so often, because I just CAN'T WAIT until it comes back. J.J. Abrams and Eric Kripke joined forces to roll out the tour de force known as Revolution. It is the first show I have watched on NBC in forever. It would take an Abrams or Kripke production to bring me back. And, oh, what a show. If you are not watching that this blockbuster on Monday nights at 10pm, you are missing out.

I have posted the trailer for this show before, though it was a while ago, and couched in a HERE'S TO YOU posting.  So, I am going to post it again for anyone who missed it, or just didn't watch it.  That way you are up to speed for this post.




Okay, wasn't that amazing?  It gives you a pretty good idea where this show is going.  Yeah, it is about a time when the lights have gone off, there is no electricity, or batteries, or power of any kind.  A world where there is no USA anymore.  The government fell, militias rose.  Within that scope a writer gets to tell all kinds of stories.  Of course we want to know HOW it happened.  And, these writers will get there.  And HOW to fix it.  I imagine that they will get there, too.

But, like all Abrams/Kripke productions, at the heart of the story is CORE stuff.  Family.  Freedom.  Friendship.  Fighting.  Forgiveness.  It's all the "F" words.

Let's start with family.  That is at the heart of the show.  The Matheson Family.  Charlotte "Charlie" feels responsible for her younger brother, Danny.  She seeks out the aid of her uncle Miles; she hasn't seen him since she was a child.  These two have to work together.  When you start out as just family by blood but discover that you are family by choice and love, that becomes powerful.  Family.  How far would you go to save yours?



Without spoiling anything (I don't think), let's move on to friendship.  This element is explored through various paths.  Several people picked up the quest to help Charlie find Miles.  They were all merely friends.  Not family.  Keep in mind, this was a dangerous quest.  That asks a lot of a friend.  None of these people were really equipped for a war, either.  Then you have other people getting caught up in this mess, thinking they are on the "right" side, only to discover that maybe they aren't.  It really plays hell with your psyche to find out that maybe you were fighting on the "wrong" side of what amounts to a war for years.

And then there is the Friendship that started it all.  Miles and Monroe.  Best friends since children.  They only started the Militia to save people.  Irony there.  People were dying with the blackout.   Someone had to "step up."  The thing is that "Power corrupts.  Absolute power corrupts absolutely."  Yeah.  That sucks.  What happens when you realize that your best friend has become the Dark Side Incarnate?  And you are his Commander-In-Chief and passed on everything you know about how to kill people?  And, for the record, that is what you do best.  So, you have the best trained killing militia ever.  ::You have seriously screwed the pooch::  I would have used another one of those infamous "F" words, because it definitely applies, but I am really trying to clean up my language for the New Year.

What we have here is one of the most Intriguing Friendships of the Show.  We have had glimpses into how it began, where is has been, and where it is going.  Miles and Monroe:  Friendship gone seriously sideways.  Now this hurts.



I feel certain that there will be a lot more Fighting to come based upon how the writers left it.  There are also plenty of opportunities for some Forgiveness and Renewed Friendships.  Family was reunited and I think we might see some Family torn apart.  If Freedom is to be had, it will have to be Fought For, because that is simply where they are.  What I think we will see at the end of this season is the main characters find a Foundation.  They will know, without a doubt, what and who is worth Fighting For and that will make everything easier.  Friendship.  Family.  Freedom.