History Series / Revolution

* {{Expy}}: Aaron seems to be this to [[Series/{{Lost}} Hurley]], but with a RaceLift. Rich guy whose money is now worthless? Check. Big guy who is a [[AWorldwidePunomenon vast source of comic relief?]] Check. Apparent aversion to physical tasks (at least partially due to his size)? Check. [[spoiler:Sees people from his past that no-one else can see, and thinks he's losing his mind? ''Big'' ol' check.]]

%%* TheChick: Maggie.

* FiveManBand: For episodes 2-4, Charlie was The Hero, Miles was The Lancer, Nora was The Big Guy, Aaron was The Smart Guy, and Maggie was The Chick.

* BareYourMidriff: Charlie's clothes reveal her lower belly almost all the time. This seems to have gone to a whole new level in the second half of the first season (which was entirely shot after the first half during the break). Lampshaded by Aaron in "Dreamcatcher" when he refers to Charlie as "belly shirt girl".

* IllBoy:
** Danny's asthma causes some characters to perceive him as weak - to this day Charlie is constantly worrying about him and trying to keep her promise to watch over him. Justified given that this is a lawless, unforgiving CrapsackWorld and other than plant-based medicines there's not a lot that can restore his breathing if he has an attack.
** Danny also uses this to his advantage, to get the drop on a mook who's been harassing him.

** Neville - sort of. Danny technically is not a child anymore, but most characters treat him as such, because of his age, and probably also because he has demonstrated impulsiveness and rudeness and other negative traits common to teenage boys. [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg And his]] [[IllBoy asthma.]]

* FoeYay: Miles and Bass. Neville calls the attempts to catch Miles "a borderline homoerotic obsession", and, boy, is he right.

* RealityEnsues[=/=]AlwaysABiggerFish: [[spoiler: Tom and Julia Neville may have been able to scam Monroe, Foster, and any number of other people before them, but they're now shown to be out of their league with the Patriots--who masterminded ''the fall of the United States government'' (and, coincidentally, modern civilization as well).]]

* ArtisticLicenseAstronomy: The moon certainly seems to be full conveniently often.

* AmbiguouslyBrown: Nora and Nate. The former is [[spoiler:canonically Latina, as revealed in "Sex and Drugs"]]. The latter is revealed to [[spoiler:[[MixedRace have a black father and white mother]].]]

* DesignatedLoveInterest:
** "Nate" saved Charlie's life once, and yet is seen as a heavily implied StarCrossedLovers situation in progress. Aside from that one instance of saving her ([[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil which only really made sense if taken from a certain angle]]), he didn't show any real compassion for her for the most part aside from what even Tom Neville realizes is a crush... which sort of makes ''Charlie'' a DesignatedLoveInterest as well.
** Ditto in both directions. [[spoiler:Though Nate/Jason may end up subverting the shallow part, now that he's revealed to be Tom Neville's son.]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/revolution-logo-500x301_1561.jpg]]

''Revolution'' is an Creator/{{NBC}} TV Series (written by Creator/EricKripke, directed by Creator/JonFavreau, and produced by Creator/JJAbrams) that takes place in a post-apocalyptic future. Fifteen years earlier, an unknown phenomenon permanently disabled all electricity-powered technology on the planet, ranging from computers and electronics to car engines, jet engines, and batteries. People were forced to adapt to a world without technology, and due to the collapse of public order, many areas are ruled by warlords and militias. The series focuses on the Matheson family, who possess an item that is the key to not only finding out what happened fifteen years ago, but also a possible way to reverse its effects. However, they must elude various enemy groups who want to possess that power for themselves.

It has recently been [[http://tvline.com/2015/04/15/revolution-coming-back-comic-book-cancelled/ announced]] that a series of digital comics will conclude the series.

%% Administrivia/ExampleIndentationInTropeLists. This page needs some fixing with example indentation.

* AIIsACrapshoot: [[spoiler:The nano]], in the second season. Starts out as just WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove, but...
** When it shows up, it acts as hallucinations, first as a CreepyChild, then as dead relatives. It gives one person a [[AGodAmI cult following]], and spends an episode {{Mind Screw}}ing Aaron.
** Toward the end of the second season, it develops into a full-blown AGodAmI situation, promising to "upgrade" and "fix" humanity, complete with a [[RoomFullOfCrazy whole house full of crazy]], with people posed to look like advertisement, a woman brushing the same spot over and over until her hair is gone... and her scalp, and "a rat room".

** [[spoiler: Nuclear weapons are pre-programmed with their mission profiles, and cannot usually be reprogrammed immediately. It seems unlikely in the extreme that American nuclear missiles were targeted on Philadelphia and Atlanta just prior to the blackout (although the possibility exists that the rump US government could blame the strikes on a third party).]]
*** [[spoiler: Which they did come Season 2. No word yet on how they explain that the nukes went off in the very cities that the Monroe Republic and Georgia Federation were supposed to be launching to other places.]]

** [[spoiler: Nuclear missiles are subject to dual-key control at the silo (assuming the problems with a loss of contact with squadron command have been resolved). Even if a missile was still functional after 15+ years of abandonment, and targeted on the appropriate city, there would be no way to fire it without manually turning the keys.]]
*** [[spoiler: It should be noted however that it was planned all along to launch nukes at Philadelphia and Atlanta. So who is to say that the US government in exile did not sneak in teams to repair and rearm the nukes in preparation for the attack? That would solve the problems of the missiles needing maintenance and the keys. Targeting the missiles at the cities may have been a problem though, since that would require access to the computers and power. Possibly the exile government has access to their own pendants since as of the end of Season 1 not all have been accounted for.]]

* ActionGirl: Maggie, Nora, and Charlie.
* ActuallyIAmHim: Miles in the pilot.

-->'''Neville''': ... and you have a borderline erotic fixation on Miles Matheson. There, I said it.
-->(several episodes later)
-->'''Neville''': (to Miles, about Bass) Are you ''that'' blinded by your man-love for that son of a bitch?

* ApocalypticLogistics: When the Blackout stops electricity from working civilization collapses and millions die. Fifteen years later, the Monroe Republic has serious logistical issues and can't even mass produce bullets and has just managed to get a steam train working again. However, when electricity is brought back, various vehicles and even helicopters are quickly made operational even though their systems must have degraded a great deal during the intervening period and any replacement parts would be in similar condition. There is also enough gasoline and aviation fuel to operate them.
** This is all approximately backwards. Ammunition stores for decades and the USA has an enormous stockpile of it; it should be the absolute last thing a paramilitary force in the Midwest is having issues with. However petroleum distillates all decay quite quickly so the only way to have ''those'' fifteen years on is to get some crude oil and start up a refinery.

* ArtisticLicenseChemistry: In Episode 12, sulfuric acid is shown being dispensed from a plastic bottle. Sulfuric acid at a concentration high enough to accomplish what Rachel is attempting would oxidize the carbon in the plastic and should only be stored in glass or ceramic containers.

* ArtisticLicenseGeography: When the blackout comes, Maggie is Skyping with her kids in England from Seattle. She comments that it is past their bedtime. A quick glance at the window shows that it is dark outside in Seattle as well. There is a nine hour time difference between England and Seattle. Stayed up past bedtime? Heck, it's almost time to get up!
** Or else it's just winter in Seattle.

** Drexel the druglord, who is introduced to the audience by threatening to kill Miles in cold blood just for showing up on his property--only for him to reveal that his gun isn't loaded and laugh his head off. He doesn't get any saner.

* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler:Aaron]]. [[spoiler:And Bass is, to all appearances, apparently dead, only for Rachel to revive him in secret later on]].
* BadassInDistress: Miles spends a lot of Season 2 this way.

-->'''Miles''': I thought you were all about forgiveness.
-->'''Nicholas''': ''Christ'' forgives. I'm not Christ.
* BareYourMidriff: Charlie's clothes reveal her lower belly almost all the time. This seems to have gone to a whole new level in the second half of the first season (which was entirely shot after the first half during the break).
** Lampshaded by Aaron in "Dreamcatcher" when he refers to Charlie as "belly shirt girl".

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Don't mess with Aaron. [[spoiler:He might just burn you alive with his new superpower]].

* BigBad: General Monroe, initially. However, it gets more complicated as the first season goes on. First, it becomes a BigBadEnsemble when Randall is introduced running his own scheme, becomes a loose BigBadDuumvirate when they team up halfway through the season, and goes back to being an Ensemble in the season finale as [[spoiler: Neville starts a coup against Monroe, while Randall commits suicide... only to turn out to have been working for the in-exile US President.]]

* BigBlackout

* TheBigGuy: Nora.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The nanites.

* BoundAndGagged: Charlie, in Episode 4.

** Rachel also, to an extent.

* CharactersDroppingLikeFlies: Within the first season itself, lots of named characters end up as dead as a door nail. By the first season finale, [[spoiler: Charlie Matheson, Rachel Matheson, Miles Matheson, Aaron Pittman, Priscilla, Priscilla's daughter, Tom Neville, Jason Neville, Julia Neville, Kelly Foster, Grace Beaumont, and Sebastian Monroe]] are the only big characters still alive. Not only that, but trailers for the second season have made it very plain that a number of those characters still alive are going to end up as dead as a door nail too.

* ChekhovsGun: Aaron's brandy tin. [[spoiler: Later used in a rather neat ''Film/AFistfulOfDollars'' moment a la Marty [=McFly=]'s similar version in ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'']]

* TheChick: Maggie.
* ChildSoldiers: {{Mooks}} employed by the Monroe Militia start out as such, being forcibly conscripted from their homes and families.

* {{Cliffhanger}}: Episode 10, the midseason finale, ends with [[spoiler: Monroe using the locket to restore power to a fleet of attack helicopters and going after the heroes.]]

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: The explosive-filled log in "Soul Train" is made of considerably darker wood than the other logs in the pile. Overlaps with an inversion (in live action) of ConspicuouslyLightPatch.

* CozyCatastrophe: Despite collapse of modern civilization, things don't look that bad.

** As of episode 14, the Resistance and the Georgia Federation have allied to open a two front war against Monroe.

** Neville, at times.

* FalseFlagOperation: Pretty much a staple of Season 2. [[spoiler:The "Patriots" are killing off Andover's clan and making it look like they're still active. Meanwhile, Bass has impulsively gone in for a frame-up of the Patriots by murdering a high Texas official.]]

* FanDisservice / MsFanservice: Seeing Frank in his underwear in the episode "Austin City Limits", in combination with the lingerie-clad young ladie in the same scene.
-->'''Frank:''' I should probably go put some pants on, huh?
-->'''Miles:''' Please.

-->'''Bass:''' You didn't recognize her?
-->'''Miles:''' I wasn't looking at her ''face''.

* AFatherToHisMen: Captain Neville.

* FauxDeath: [[spoiler:Monroe, courtesy of Rachel, surprisingly]].

* FoeYay/HoYay: Miles and Bass. Neville calls the attempts to catch Miles "a borderline homoerotic obsession", and, boy, is he right.
* ForWantOfANail: [[spoiler: "The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia" reveals that the Georgia Federation not only still has a trading fleet of tall ships, but is in regular communication (and possibly a military alliance) with England. If only Maggie had travelled there instead of the Monroe Republic, she might have made it home to her kids after all...]]
* FourStarBadass: [[spoiler: Miles]] and Monroe.

* FromNobodyToNightmare: Prior to the blackout, Monroe was a sergeant in the United States Marine Corps. Now, he's the warlord of a large chunk of what used to be America. Likewise Captain Neville used to be an insurance adjustor (but, as the {{Flashback}} in episode 5 reveals, he was fired on the day of the blackout).

* [[spoiler: GovernmentInExile: The season finale reveals that the US President's been running one out of Cuba since the Blackout.]]

* HappilyMarried: Aaron and his wife before the blackout. He was a rich tech mogul who desired nothing more than giving his wife everything she could possibly want, unaware all she wanted was him. After the blackout, she proved [[spoiler:this wasn't just an act by staying with him. But since he had no useful skills in a world without electricity, he left her behind with a group of survivors so he wouldn't hold her back]].

* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Nate/[[spoiler:Jason]].
* TheHero: Charlie.

* HollywoodTactics: The restaurant fight in episode 3 had a lot of poor tactical decisions all around.

* HopeSpot: In episode 11, [[spoiler:Danny dies taking out Monroe's only power amplifier with him. By doing this, he effectively brought Monroe back to square one. Randall shows up on Monroe's doorstep not too long after, and not only offers him ''more'' power amplifiers but soldiers, weapons, and a full team of scientists]].

* {{Hypocrite}}: The preacher in episode 3, for all his preaching, condemns Miles to death the instant he finds out that [[spoiler: Miles is one of the founders of the Monroe Republic]]. This could be taken as an indication of the CrapsackWorld the characters live in, because anybody who tries to be a good person in such a world is doomed to be this. Charlie, ironically enough, proved to be more forgiving than the preacher on the matter!

** Also played multiple times by Rachel

** InvokedTrope by Captain Neville when he and Danny are trapped in the storm cellar.

*** He was reluctant to save Neville, so it's more of a case of HonorBeforeReason.

* ItGetsEasier: Both Charlie and Aaron have demonstrated this, from being hesitant to use deadly force in the pilot to both becoming efficient killers by episode 5 (with Charlie killing ''in cold blood' on at least one occasion and agreeing to do so, [[spoiler: though she ultimately doesn't go through with it]], on another).

* ItsPersonal: Rachel is now fully dedicated to return power to the world. Not because it would be better for everyone. It's only to allow Monroe's ennemies to have occasions to kill him. Never get a mom angry.

* IWarnedYou: (Subverted) Miles, after Dixon [[spoiler:shoots at Monroe and hits Emma instead, killing her.]]

* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:Julia Neville]], probably. The character might have escaped death a second time if the show hadn't been canceled.

* TheLancer: Miles.

* LongGame: Rachel [[spoiler:has apparently been doing this for almost 15 years, keeping Bass from being able to master the secret of electricity.]] She discovers it's become a bit of a DealWithTheDevil by the time the series starts.
** [[spoiler: The Patriots]] have been running a scheme to take over North America since the Blackout, with the present day events of the series only being the latest moves.

* MadeOfIron: Charlie, in episode 7 where she literally shrugs off [[spoiler: being beaten into unconsciousness twice and getting branded, to boot]] and comes back swinging.

** Rachel.
** Charlie is starting to show signs of this, too.

** [[spoiler:Nate/Jason]] is revealed to be a militia spy as soon as they get to Miles. Some time later we find out that [[spoiler: he is Neville's son.]]

** [[spoiler:And Gene Porter.]]

* MotiveDecay: Charlie's search for Danny. She says she needs to get to him as soon as possible so as to avoid him being in danger too long, but sees it necessary to [[ChronicHeroSyndrome save literally every person]] they come across along the way who isn't with the militia, putting herself and her group in danger every time for people who they'll most likely never see again. This would be an InUniverse trope, but, over time, the rest of the cast doesn't even call her out on it. [[spoiler: Rendered moot as of episode 10, due to Team Matheson rescuing Danny. Episode 11 ends with Danny getting killed off]].

* [[spoiler: {{Nanomachines}}]]: [[spoiler: The cause of the blackout. For as yet unknown reasons, electricity-draining nanomachines created by the Defense Department replicated out of control]].
* NeverForgottenSkill: Exemplified, where the world has suffered an electricity blackout for 15-and-change years, but all of the soldiers have more or less retained all of their smooth skills behind the fighter stick of a Huey helicopter.
** Aaron seems to have no problem programming computers again

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Rachel's initial confession about the pendant ends up with a succession of OhCrap moments for her as she discovers just how single-mindedly obsessive Bass Monroe is. She could be considered directly responsible for the capture and torture of Dr. Jaffe and indirectly responsible for the capture of his daughter, since Bass apparently got the idea from capturing Rachel's family and thus spotting her weakness.

* NoSell: [[spoiler:When Bass agrees to one more fight in New Vegas, he gets put up against a man at least a head taller than he is. When Bass tries a surprise attack, the fellow just stands there, impassive.]]

* NukeEm: [[spoiler:After allying with Randall and gaining a permanent source of power, Monroe manages to build a nuclear bomb and attempts to use it to destroy Atlanta and cripple the Georgia Federation. Fortunately, the protagonists stop this just in time.]]

** As noted before, Rachel.

* OohMeAccentsSlipping: [[FakeAmerican David Lyons]] suffers from this from time to time.
* ParentalAbandonment: As far as Charlie and Danny are (initially) aware, their father died in the first episode, and their mother abandoned them sometime after the blackout and is presumably dead. As the story progresses, we learn that [[spoiler: she is still alive,]] however, a fact that, so far, is known only to Danny and later Charlie Miles and Aaron.
* ParentWithNewParamour: Ben with Maggie.
* PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny: The Monroe Republic is implied to be this, considering that their military force consist of militias who force their citizens to pay taxes with food. Given this throwback to feudalism, and with Monroe leading what appears to be nothing more than a military dictatorship, it's a republic in name only. We can only guess if any of the other "republics" are so in more than their names.

* PluckyComicRelief: Aaron.
* PoliceAreUseless: [[ExaggeratedTrope Exaggerated]] in Season 2 for Willoughby. First, Sheriff Mason is anticlimactically shot to death in the second episode. In the very next episode, Riley, the only competent authority figure who could take his place, gets an arrow to the chest. Then a bunch of Texas Rangers show up led by a man named John Fry. [[spoiler:However, Fry gets abruptly shot in the back by Monroe]]. Just when things couldn't possibly get worse, it's revealed that [[spoiler:the Texas Rangers were EvilAllAlong and were working with the Patriots]].

* ProductPlacement: Not a ''smartphone'', but "You still carry around an ''iPhone''?". Made a little funny when you realize that Aaron used to work for Google - makers of the Android smartphone OS. Not that it works, anyway. Maggie only carries the phone around for sentimental value.

* RealityEnsues[=/=]AlwaysABiggerFish: [[spoiler: Tom and Julia Neville may have been able to scam Monroe, Foster, and any number of other people before them, but they're now shown to be out of their league with the Patriots--who mastermineded ''the fall of the United States government'' (and, coincidentally, modern civilization as well).]]

* SacrificialLamb: [[spoiler:Maggie]].
* SacrificialLion: [[spoiler:Danny]].
* SadisticChoice:
** Drexler is fond of these.
** Strausser tries to force one on Rachel when he [[spoiler: asks her which of her children she wants to die. Rachel, MamaBear that she is, TookAThirdOption and stabbed Strausser.]]

** Rachel.

* ScavengerWorld

--->'''Monroe:''' I... I like the Civil War.
--->'''Aaron:''' ''Yeah we get that!''

* SlowElectricity: The power goes out so slowly that characters can go outside and watch as each house goes out - and room-by-room, oddly enough. We don't know enough about the source of the blackout to know if this is justified or not (the source could be slow-moving).
** [[spoiler: Seems to be justified, according to the episode "The Song Remains the Same" the blackout was caused by the rapid replication of {{Nanomachines}} which are probably coming from The Tower.]]

* TheSmartGuy: Aaron.
* SmugSnake: Neville.

* [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens Sufficiently Advanced ...]]: [[spoiler: The nanites.]] Scientists who know why the world turned off can perform some amazing feats. They can bring about miraculous cures, or burn people alive from the inside out. They dance around this trope, with one scientist shutting down the word "magic" and replacing it with technology.

* TenLittleMurderVictims: The episode TabletopGame/{{Clue}}.
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: As revealed in episode 12, [[spoiler:Randall got the [=DoD=] to knock the power out for the entire world just to stop the war in Afghanistan - see WellIntentionedExtremist below.]]

-->'''Rachel''' (to Miles): "How is it that you are better for Charlie than I am?"

* WarIsHell: Episode 11 has this trope as the premise, with the air strikes systemically wiping out entire rebel camps.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: In "Ghosts," it turns out that Randall [[spoiler:lost his son in Afghanistan a year before the blackout, leading him to convince the rest of the [=DoD=] to go forth and use the Mathesons' power-suppressing invention to put an end to the war.]]

*** [[spoiler: What the Patriots are doing to their child conscripts makes Slotnick's training ship look like a Cub Scout campout in comparison.]]

* YouCantGoHomeAgain: Rachel has to point this to Aaron more or less at the beginning of episode 11. In that same episode, [[spoiler: Jason Neville]] is told to not even bother going home again by his own father.

* AppliedPhlebotinum: [[spoiler:The nanites have the ability to reproduce infinitely without any noticeable consumption of mass; absorb electricity; emit electricity--both alternating and direct current--in quantities large enough to power anything from an iPhone to a major city; instantaneously heal compound fractures; partially cure asthma; suppress the spread of cancer; and (as of the Season 2 opener) apparently revive the dead. And a few episodes later, ''set people on fire'']].

* WomanScorned: Possibly President Foster, given how she threatens to castrate Ben when he first shows up in the Federation, although it is unclear if this is because of something he did to her personally while undercover in the Georgia Federation, or if it's just over what he did to the faction as a whole.

* AbortedArc: Ben plans to recruit a bunch of former militia officers involved in his coup attempt to the Rebels, calling it a crucial step, but the only one we see him actually find is Jim, and that doesn't end well.

** Overlapping with FantasyGunControl above but most of the Monroe Militia tactics assume they won't be dealing with anything more advanced than their broadly Civil War kit. This is despite the fact they are from the part of the United States where what amount to sniper rifles are very common and would be absurdly lethal against that kind of formation display. Lampshaded more and more as the show goes on, see TooDumbToLive below for how this actually works with snipers and IEDs.

** Miles [[spoiler:apparently relies on his reputation of lacking any compunction about gender when it comes to killing, since he]] effectively makes his threats stick in order to get what he wants.

* What Are Records?: Since the younger generation is almost wholly ignorant of pre-Blackout culture. When Miles comments on Jason's "boyband face", Jason asks what a boyband is.