I took a break from writing another entry in this year's Fall TV Preview series to watch the premiere of NBC's Revolution, season 2, "Born in the U.S.A."
And let me tell you, I can't remember a grimmer hour of television that wasn't hidden on cable and on later in the night. This was NBC, at 8 pm, on a Wednesday. And this show featured the sort of depressing stuff that I expect to see on the premiere of The Walking Dead, over on AMC later in October. I saw enough of Revolution last year to understand that this show is set in a difficult dystopia full of hardship. And I know that last season ended with the threat of a nuclear missile strike.
But when this season began with the fact that ICBMs did, in fact, obliterate Philadelphia and Atlanta, and that this sent our heroes into a tailspin of depression . . . well, that was unfortunate. But then stuff just started stacking up. Miles was hiding some sort of secret that left him covered in blood and so afraid that he had to burn the evidence. Charlie was alone, stalking Monroe to exact the revenge she couldn't get last season. Rachel and Aaron were trying to put the past behind them (and their inability to stop the nuclear strike) by finding a new beginning in Texas with Rachel's dad.
Then we find out that a band of marauders are surrounding the Texas town. And the invade and Aaron gets killed fighting off these bandits. But the sheriff and Miles are captured and led to the headquarters of the marauders (decorated with hanging bodies that you would expect to see on Game of Thrones.
Just misery on top of misery. It makes me wonder about the zeitgeist of the time, as we so willingly embrace these tales of despair. It is too easy to say that all of the global problems and fears of the past twelve years have led us to this sort of prime time television, but maybe there is a portion of truth about it.
No comments:
Post a Comment