When I watched the pilot for Revolution, I was hesitant.
Sure, there were some fun elements (science fiction on network television!) and the fight sequences were well conceived (especially on a television budget), but the show didn’t blow me away. Even in the next couple of episodes, much of my thought process went through one of the following phases:
1. Poor Gus Fring. Stuck here after having so much fun getting blown up in New Mexico.
2. Ooh fancy swordfights.
3. SHOCKING TWIST THAT I SAW COMING
But around episode three, things started to change. Most fundamentally, the episodes began to take on a more Lost-ian quality, becoming more solidified thematically around a single idea, and focusing more and more of their narrative point of view (and most importantly, the narrative point of view in the flashbacks) around one character.
Perhaps it shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise for them to make this transition, considering that the show is executive produced by JJ Abrams, but after last night’s episode (which gave us an insight into the past of Aaron, currently functioning as the show’s less-entertaining version of Hurley), the show has converted structurally to full-on Lost mode (complete with dissonant sound effect alongside slow camera push-in to remind us just which character is providing POV for the flashbacks).
It’s not as good as Lost. In particular, they haven’t yet mastered the greatest feat that Lost managed to pull off (especially in early seasons), in finding balance between telling a highly serialized story while making each episode emotionally stand-alone (in particular because of the way it managed to focus on whatever our lead for that week was dealing with emotionally via flashback and the present).
But it’s showing promise. So it stays on the DVR.
