History Series / Revolution

* TrainingFromHell: New conscripts into the Monroe Militia are confined aboard an old ship anchored in the middle of a river and subjected to beatings and psychological pressure until they are molded into proper {{Mook}}s. After that, presumably something resembling actual military training begins, although given the performance of the militia in the field one wonders if this regimen is strictly ForTheEvulz.

* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler:Aaron]]. [[spoiler:And Miles is, to all appearances, apparently dead, only for Rachel to revive him in secret later on]].

* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler:Aaron]].

* PuttingOnTheReich: [[spoiler:Subtle, but a guard stands under a sign that reads, "One Nation, One People, Indivisible." Given what The Patriots have been up to, one gets the definite impression they're playing very fast and loose with what the slogans actually stand for.]]

* ArchaeologicalArmsRace: More or less. One who can make pre-blackout tech work will have a gigantic advantage.
* ArmiesAreEvil: Everyone knows what happens when the militia comes to call.

* WretchedHive: All cities are apparently like this now: "If you were smart, you left the city. If you weren't, you died there."

** [[spoiler:Joseph Wheatley, ostensibly of the rebels (possibly going by "Captain Burke"). In fact, he's been a militia spy for some time. Also, Mia, Nora's sister.]]

** [[spoiler:And it's further elaborated on in "Exposition Boulevard" when the usurper-President Davis insists that the population loss and subsequent wars and conflicts are "natural selection". It's pretty obvious that the Patriots embody a "survival of the fittest" ideology, as evidenced by Davis speaking of the inscription under the Pyramid: "A new order for the ages." The Founders of the USA likely didn't mean the same kind of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Order_%28Nazism%29 new order]] that Davis means, though.]]

* TheManBehindTheMan: Randall turns out to have been taking orders from [[spoiler: the last US President, in exile in Cuba.]]

* MindScrew:[[spoiler: The Season 2 episode "Dreamcatcher" takes place almost entirely in Aaron's mind, as the nanites manipulate him via dreams of a life without the blackout in order to repair their faulty programming.]]

* ManchurianAgent: [[spoiler: The people "recruited" by the Patriots and stuck in their reeducation camps are brainwashed, to be activated and turned into loyal soldiers whenever they hear their individual number, which is tattooed on their inner eyelid]]. Monroe even refers to them as "Manchurian Candidates".

* MagicThroughTechnology: The nanites. Aaron's ressurection has been seen by some as an actof God. [[spoiler: Later his friend Peter uses them to heal the sick and blind and even after being told the real cause still thinks it's just God working through the nanites]]

** [[spoiler:And it's further elaborated on in "Exposition Boulevard" when the usurper-President Davis insists that the population loss and subsequent wars and conflicts are "natural selection". It's pretty obvious that the Patriots embody a "survival of the fittest" ideology.]]

* MindScrew: The Season 2 episode "Dreamcatcher" [[spoiler: takes place almost entirely in Aaron's mind, as the nanites manipulate him via dreams of a life without the blackout in order to repair their faulty programming.]]

* {{Flashback}}: Several in the pilot and beyond. Being JJAbrams, it's about as mandatory as a [[Series/ThirtyRock Liz Lemon party.]]

-->'''Necille''': (to Miles, about bass) are you ''that'' blinded by your man-love for that son of a bitch?

** "Fear and Loathing": [[spoiler:The ending of the episode seems to imply that the ''[[{{HSQ}} entire series up to this point]]'' has been Aaron's long dream of a CrapsackWorld.]]

* WhamEpisode: The season 1 finale. And ''how!'' [[spoiler: Nora dies, Monroe is on the run from Neville's coup, and the power is restored... at which point Randall launches nukes at Philadelphia and Atlanta, then shoots himself. And it's revealed he was working for the American GovernmentInExile.]]

* WhamEpisode:
** "Fear and Loathing": [[spoiler:The ending of the episode seems to imply that the ''[[{{HSQ}} entire series up to this point]]'' has been Aaron's long dream of a CrapsackWorld.]]

** "Fear and Loathing": [[spoiler:The ending of the episode seems to imply that the [[{{HSQ}} ''entire series'' up to this point]] has been Aaron's long dream of a CrapsackWorld.]]