WMG / Revolution

The Tower is ARDNEH

The Tower is really ARDNEH from Saberhagen's Swords universe, and the Nanites are how The Change was implemented. Over time, the Nanites will start to act like magic as the old technology is slowly lost completely.

Whatever is keeping the power off is also enhancing plant growth

Some things and places just look a little too overgrown for 15 years - such as up the sides of Chicago buildings. Whatever is happening is encouraging plant growth either intentionally or not.

• It's also preserving clothes and hair.
• Given that the nanites are responsible for 'enhancing' aspects of human health this may not be as farfetched as originally assumed.

Rachel Matheson is who Grace was IMing with

She's a kind of underground figure trying to bring the power back.

• Jossed - maybe. Episode 11 establishes that in the particular instance we saw she was communicating with someone else. That's not to say Rachel couldn't have gotten at a computer at some point in her travels and used the Matheson pendant.

The lights were turned out by the Weeping Angels.

This lets them move around more freely.

General Monroe has recently captured Rachel Matheson.

That's how he knows the Matheson family may possess the key to reversing the Blackout.

• Confirmed by the second episode.

The blackout is caused by a worldwide solar EMP.

Physicists state that massive solar storms can cause a massive EMP, which is most likely the cause of the big blackout.

• Then what are the lanyard things?
  • Perhaps the lanyard devices can create a reverse "anti-electricity field" which allows electrical devices to work within a short range.
• EMPs affect electrical circuits, not electrical sources. Batteries should still work (provided you can find something to use them with). Old vacuum tube radios, cars made before electronic ignition switches were common (1970's or earlier), analog telephones, etc. would still be usable, as would anything that would be inside a Faraday cage or other shielding (which would include most military equipment and many scientific and medical instruments). Anything turned off is less likely to be affected as well.
  • Also an EMP wouldn't keep electricity from working afterwards for fifteen years.
• As WMG below, Jossed by episode 7.

The Blackout was not a natural event

Ben and his wife knew it was coming, and right before it happened he was downloading datafiles into a flash drive which he then inserted into a medallion like the one we saw Grace using at the end of the pilot episode. The blackout was likely a result of either a government project gone awry or a terrorist act.

• Confirmed as of episode 7. Even worse, Ben and Rachel helped create the technology responsible.

The Blackout was and is still being caused by a military Doomsday Device

Some military people knew it was going to happen. Explains why even the simplest and unsophisticated electrical devices (Chemical reaction AA batteries in flashlights) don't work. This could also explain why there are no steam, diesel or wind engines in the Revolution universe - whatever is stopping electricity is also stopping other forms of energy conversion.

• Verified as of "Children's Crusade". The project was funded by the military. Episodes 11 and 12 reveal that a secret facility called the Tower, seen at the end of episode 8, is the source of the blackout.
• Word of God says that the "blackout wave" moving across the planet in the title sequence and flashbacks is an accurate representation. If so, the source of the effect is most likely space-based, either a satellite network or a facility/device on the moon.
  • A satellite network is more likely. If the facility were on the moon it would have taken the power 24 hours to go out across the globe.
  • The satellite theory is all but Jossed as of episode 11, now that the source of the blackout has been narrowed down to the Tower.
    • The satellite theory may still be on the table if the Tower is in fact a transmitter facility sending commands to satellites which are relayed to the nanomachines. Satellites in geosynchronous orbit will still be there after 15 years and would not have been affected by the blackout. Shut down the Tower, or send the appropriate command, and the nanomachines can be nullified.
    • Also, the latest episode specifically mentions satellites, and that they can still have electrical power to allow Randall to spy on people. (Aside: There are some nice shots of ruined cities in the background of Randall's master console)

The Blackout is caused by Nanites.

Builing up on the above WMG, the cause are nanites in the atmosphere. Originally developed as an Military project to take electricity away from enemies they got out of control. The Nanites siphon off electricity, explaining how batteries failed. The USB-Thingies contain limited anti-Nanites or an limited range "shutdown" signal.

• Confirmed in Episode 13. Rachel tells Aaron that there are little tiny things all around, with two commands: "absorb electricity" and "replicate".
  • I think there is a third command "Power Electric devices" which causes them to release their stored electricity, and this is how the amulets can power up devices when there is no operating generator hooked up and make an Ipad work.

Electricity didn't stop, Magnetic Fields did.

Without magnetic fields, you can't generate industrial amounts of electricity. Also, all electronic devices rely on magnetic-field effects. It explains why there's still lightning (static electricity) and life (bioelectricity). Doesn't explain why batteries and light bulbs don't work, though. Or solar cells, for that matter.

• A magnetic field is just electricity in motion. You don't get one without the other; once you complete a circuit you've got a magnetic field.
• If you could break the symmetry of Maxwell's Equations (that is, effectively break the symmetry of the electromagnetic interaction) you could leave static electricity as a viable phenomenon, but essentially lose everything based on the dynamo. This would still raise the question of why batteries can't supply an electric current to run light bulbs, which do not depend on magnetic fields.
• Because in order to light the light bulb, current has to move through the filament, which would in turn generate a magnetic field (light itself is a form of electromagnetic energy). The bulb supplies the pathway for electrons in the battery to move to the opposite pole.
  • Related to the above WMG: The nanites kill the symmetry of Maxwell's Equations by preventing magnetic fields from propagating, but basically hiding, not breaking, the laws of physics. Incidentally, if you zero out magnetic fields in Maxwell's Equations one consequence of that is any attempt to induce an electric current immediately sets up an opposing electric field which cancels the current. Therefore, the previously-raised question about batteries and light bulbs is answered on the basis that the transient current set up is immediately opposed and so it stops right away.

The series takes place in a alternate timeline of The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008).

• In this timeline, a more threatening and dark Klaatu arrived in the 50s but did a more private demonstration and warning to just a few selected people. Those selected realized that there was no way in hell that they'd be able to do everything Klaatu asked them to do, so spent the next half-century reverse-engineering what little tech he left behind to create the lanyards. It was originally hoped that that technology would be able to be shield the whole world, but before they could create larger versions of it, the blackout came from Klaatu's people.

Rachel Matheson is actually the head of the Republic of Monroe.

She’s just using Bass as a human shield and as an easy way to avoid a War Crimes Commission if the lights ever come back on. Bass is far too deferential to her until he drops his gambit on her and turns the tables against her.

• Related: Rachel Matheson is not the head of the Republic, but has spent the last 11 years building support among the troops and will launch a coup soon, unseating Monroe and putting one of the largest states in the old continental US under competent leadership. Because that's our Juliet.
• Very Jossed. Bass is torturing her old friends, as well as using her son against her as a hostage for her good behavior.

Charlie and Danny will face off against one another as a possible civil war ignites at season's end.

Both kids have led sheltered lives, but while Charlie's always pushed the edge and shows that she believes in the 'greater good' (even if she has to kill or do questionable things), Danny has seen how not following the rules and going against the established order leads to horrible results (his father and other villagers dying because he got in Neville's way). Also, both have met older mentor/father figures who have a specific world-view and set of morals, both are starting to see the world through the eyes of those men, and both are starting to question their own views as they're seeing more of the world themselves. Combine Miles' I Did What I Had to Do attitude with the Hope Bringer Charlie's starting to become (because the slaves and the resistance will hear of what she's done) versus Neville's A Father to His Men view and Danny's fledgling Survivor Guilt perhaps leading him to become The Atoner - not to mention the Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling vibe they have, and Charlie's being told by her mother to be the dutiful daughter and watch over Danny, no matter what happens ("Don't you let go of him!"), and when they finally meet up after their experiences... their reunion may just have Unfortunate Implications, as they become the Cain and Abel that represents the opposing sides in these new Divided States of America.

• Hella Jossed.

Maggie is going to die in the fourth episode.

The trailer for "The Plague Dogs" indicates that someone is going to die.The fact that we saw the picture of Maggie's kids means that she's going to be the one to die.

• Confirmed.
• Curse you, you Genre Savvy troper!!!!! (This WMG was put up before the episode ran)

Danny is mentally challenged.

Maybe it's just me, but the way that his actor plays him is almost entirely lifeless. The more reasonable excuse is just that he's a bad actor, but sometimes it just seems too convenient. The methods by which he tries to escape, the rationale and conversational tone he employs, the total lack of expression on his face. It's really odd, honestly, but it makes his character a bit more unique. Or at least, it's the only way I can keep myself from thinking, "C'mon, give that line some meaning!"

• Made me lol.
• The character's actor Graham Rogers has only been acting since 2011, and in only six works to date. He simply needs experience. Besides, the first season finale revealed that there was nothing wrong with his brain, it was just that his lungs weren't formed and he was born premature. If it weren't for the nanotech capsule repairing his lungs but not enough to prevent him from having asthma, he would have died. So it's Jossed.

Jason Neville is meant to be an Expy of Lyndon James.

• They're both African-American ^note  though Jason is mixed race , they both use knives as weapons, and they both use the alias "Nate".

The conditions in the Former United States are not what the whole world is like.

There's apparently no contact with other countries not because the rest of the world is in the same condition as the former United States but because they are actively avoiding contact.

• The rest of the world may have already started to re-industrialise or even have figured out how to make electricity work again but they're keeping it secret from the former USA until a stable peaceful government arises.
  • So are there rump states in what's left of Canada and/or Mexico, waiting to build their strength and reclaim their pre-blackout territory while the former USA restabilizes? Are they receiving support from the rest of the world?
    • Definitely guessing that some kind of Republic of Quebec exists, and is biding its time to get the other side of the St. Lawrence river back. Also, looking at the map, it seems that the California Commonwealth is still heavily dominated by what today is California proper. Bets on a nascent Cascadia movement to break away British Columbia and the Washington/Oregon lands and form their own country not dominated by a geographically concentrated population?
    • Fry mentions that 70% of the Texas military is deployed to the southern border. This implies the existence of one or more Mexican successor states, or perhaps even a rump Mexico, armed and organized well enough to pose a serious threat.
• Confirmed. The Georgia Federation is considerably wealthier than the Monroe Republic. Also, in Season 2 Mexico is seen for the first time and is described as wealthier than the US successor republics. Notably, Mexico is referred to as 'Mexico', is organized enough to operate armed border checkpoints, and does not seem to have fragmented the way the United States did.

What happens to the militias hoarding firearms when they run out of ammo?

• They gear down to less-advanced weaponry, making sure that the population is still one or two levels below them. This was discussed in the Episode 10 flashback to the siege of Trenton, when Miles and Bass explore that very possibility in the middle of a battle. It's why Monroe's troops are carrying black powder muskets and why Bass is so desperate to get the electricity going: he's running out of pre-blackout ammunition for rifles and machine guns; there's a war ready to break out at any moment; and he has lots of pre-blackout ordnance that relies upon electricity just waiting to be used.

Bass Monroe isn't evil, just incompetent.

He's the Peter Principle in action, he's risen to the level of his own incompetence. This is why the Militia and Republic have become so brutal and torture-prone, because it's the only methods that Monroe knows to get things done. It's also why he resents Miles for leaving so much, because it stuck him with a responsibility he wasn't prepared to handle. He's always afraid of what will happen when he finally loses his grip. It's also why he's so desperate to gain the military advantage from having the power back on. He knows he needs it.

• Confirmed and Jossed. Monroe is a bad guy who used to be good, but he reveals in the first season finale that he never really cared about the stuff he was doing, and that he was only following what Miles wanted to do. He does get away at the end, but he loses all his power, and Tom Neville calls him foolish, deranged, and suffering from a borderline erotic obsession with Miles Matheson.
  • That said, it's more like what he thought Miles wanted. It is likely that Miles, by the time social order was imposed over the Monroe Republic, was content to tolerate the rebels as a necessary inconvenience of maintaining a neo-feudal empire whose resources were heavily devoted to the military.

The pendants were designed to entirely cancel out whatever is causing the blackout, but...

...it only works when all twelve of them are together. As for the fact that they seem capable of turning on entirely at random, here's an idea: perhaps they were pre-programmed to turn on for a few seconds at random intervals, and every once in a while the timing would have all 12 active at the same time. To put it another way, imagine that each pendant is like its own individual moon, and every six months or so there's twelve full moons in the sky.

• A real problem then that Rachel has destroyed at least two of them. Considering Rachel seems to want to turn the power back on, this was self-defeating.
• Jossed. The Tower is the key.

Revolution began as a Care Bears fanfic

So you have a world where physics have been turned on its ear, and can only be temporarily fixed by the application of one of the pendants. And when has the pendant been sent to be used? By Aaron, when he was angsting out in Grace's living room, and then again when he was sure he was going to die, and by Grace when she was either alone in her big empty house or sure she was going to die.

It will eventually be revealed that the pendants are powered by negative emotions, and that Monroe will team up with No-Heart to use the negative emotions to Take Over the World. In the season 1 finale, Monroe will utter the line, "Cry! Cry for your fuhrer!" But then he'll get zapped by the sudden arrival of some weird little anthropomorphic ursine beings.

• But Grace has been shown to be calmly using the pendant; why does it work for Aaron under emotional stress only? And then there's that frakking hiatus coming up.
  • Like the Care Bears, each pendant is keyed to a different emotional state. Grace's is keyed to work when she's calm; Aaron's when he's upset. By having all 12 pendants, all possible emotional states are represented, meaning the power can go on under any conditions.
• Jossed. Randall can power them remotely to see where they're located.

The blackout tech was originally supposed to be some sort of zero-point energy source.

The blackout tech is obviously some kind of field effect that the pendants can cancel and it seems to work by grounding out or inhibiting most forms of electrical current. You could potentially get that effect by mucking around with the electromagnetic zero-point field. It's also, to be honest, the only thing this troper can think of where any serious scientist or engineer could potentially be going for a clean energy source and get a power nullifier by accident. Such an effect might also be immune to shielding by Faraday cages and the like.

• Jossed. It's nanites.

The God-Emperor of Mankind is running things behind the scenes.

The God-Emperor of Mankind is actually running the whole thing behind the scene as part of his plan to unify Terra. he needs to get the pendant without revealing himself to anyone yet. So He works through proxies and those proxies work through other proxies. He hopes to use the pendant to run his underground labratory to create the Adeptus Astartes and unify Terra so that he will Personally lead Mankind to the stars.

• So would that make Miles Matheson the Warmaster?

The pendants restore power, but also heal electronics

This is why Maggie's Iphone had the pictures again.

• I seem to be alone in believing that the pictures on Maggie's iPhone were her imagination while she lost consciousness and died. She already knew what pictures were on it, and what she's seeing is what she expects to see. Also, her phone "statics" on like an old TV, and doesn't have to go through any boot sequence.
  • So how was Aaron able to see them?
  • Also, not sure if that was the same episode, but when her iPhone powers on, they're in Grace Beaumont's house, not the diner where Maggie dies. When the pendant powers up, Grace's CD player starts playing as well. Her phone does go through the boot sequence (it shows the Apple logo on white background), but it is a VERY fast boot, nonetheless. When Maggie dies, I believe she is just staring at the blank screen either imagining or hallucinating, though I think the viewer is only shown the blank screen.
• Remember, the Nannites were originally supposed to SUPPLY power, but instead drained it (which is why the government funded further research to make it into a weapon) - What the pendants actually do is activate the nannite's original intended function, causing them to power electronic devices instead of draining them. This explains how an Iphone with a long-dead battery can work, and a computer can work with no generator hooked up.

The confrontation between Miles and Monroe will not end the way you think it will.

Consider this: The previews for one of the next episodes shows Miles and Monroe in Monroe's office with just the two of them in it. Monroe is asking if Miles is going to kill him. Interestingly, the preview does not show Miles's response. Now, you might think it's obvious that Miles is going to kill the guy, but it might not be. The fact is, Miles has not explained why he defected, he has not revealed that he took Rachel into his custody, and it is odd that the militia has not hunted him down for so long. For all we know, he might not have defected at all, and was just playing everyone. Maybe he'll retake his place as general and have Monroe locked away. Maybe he'll dissolve the Monroe Republic once he ends up in charge. The bottom line is that a big surprise may be headed our way.

• Jossed. The trailer, for once, does not spoil. It was all in Miles's head.

Cpt.Neville will kill Monroe or at least try.

The interaction with wife, along Monroe Idiot Ball moment of threating Neville family I think is foreshadowing towards this outcome. How it could happen is Monroe and Miles get into a fight, Miles is put into a spot to finish him but freezes. Monroe tell Neville to save him, but instead kills him. Or Monore is about to be killed Neville comes in, apparntly to save him, but kills. Neville takes over blames the heroes. Or either of these could happen and he could fail, leading to some sort of redemption arc

• Episode 10 did seem to be leaning that way. It still could end up being that Neville commits the coup d'etat his wife wants him to do, upon which he becomes a more dangerous Big Bad than Monroe ever was. Curse you, cliffhanger!
• Episode 13 has Neville on the run with his wife after Jason defects to the rebels and foils Neville's mission to obtain the nuke. Neville knows his days with in the Republic are numbered now that Randall seems to be calling the shots. It's unlikely that Neville would choose to join the rebels (or that they would accept him even if he were so inclined) but very likely that he's assembled his own faction within the Monroe Militia with which to lead a coup. Or the whole thing will be Jossed when Bass or Randall stop Neville at the city gates and have him shot.
• At the end of Episode 15, it is revealed that Neville is defecting to Georgia, giving them high-level secrets, and will probably be assigned to replace Dixon in overseeing Miles' Georgian team. (Hilarity will ensue...)
• Episode 19 has Neville convincing a MR Captain to side with him against Monroe. He apparently still harbors ambitions, nursed by his wife, of becoming its new leader, as well.

Flynn is piloting the helicopter.

He's using his or Grace's pendant to make the chopper work, having sneaked into the compound to keep tabs on the Matheson group. He wants them for much the same reason as Monroe; the whole blackout thing and the Matheson connection to it. He isn't firing on our heroes, he's firing at approaching Monroe soldiers or maybe some of those tarted-up Monroe choppers. He'll rescue the group and force them into another Deal with the Devil to recover the pendants ahead of Monroe.

• Jossed.

Charlie is really a Fake Ultimate Hero

Despite massive amounts of Character Shilling, she really isn't all she's cracked up to be, although she is getting better. Possible alternatives are Rachel (who stalled Monroe for 15 years and has shown herself capable of both physical and intellectual acts of prowess), Miles (who knows where all the bodies are buried—literally—and has a lot to answer for but will end up redeeming himself at the end), or even Danny (who's shown some surprising depth, and was the one to kick off the confrontation between the Mathesons and the Monroe Republic to begin with).

• As of Episode 11, it's not Danny. Heroic Sacrifice, yes, but...

Randall Flynn is Randall Flagg.

Both Revolution and The Stand are set in post-apocalyptic worlds, and Flynn is trying to control this world, just like Flagg did. Flagg has been known to take on multiple identities, often with the initials R.F., and he has repeated a first name (going by both Richard Fannin and Richard Freemantle), so the fact that Flynn has the exact same first name as Flagg doesn't necessarily eliminate him from being one of Flagg's aliases.

• Oh God, that's seriously creepy. Say what you will about 1000-page tomes like The Stand (revised) but Stephen King knows how to write evil guys who seem to have amazing powers of perception and movement.
  • The Tower has been mentioned. And "The Dark Tower" is the title of the season finale to boot. Now, we may all panic, because apparently, Flynn already not only knows where it is, but knows what to do with it.
  • And now in season 2, Miles is using the alias "Stu Redman".

The series is written by the lazy writers from That Mitchell and Webb Look.

"Oh no! The world is poorly from not enough electric!"

Flynn is using Monroe and will likely betray him later on

You don't really have to guess to tell that Flynn has his own agenda. Monroe is simply a means to an end. Flynn needs the manpower from Monroe's militia to achieve his goals easier, and he can easily obtain that by giving Monroe electricity.

• Episode 18 has Monroe learning about the Tower's existence. He confronts Randall Flynn about it and threatens to have him killed on the spot. Randall only survived because he managed to convince Monroe that the Tower has weapons more powerful than Monroe's helicopters. As it is, Randall got reduced to a mere toady to Monroe. It will take a lot for Randall to make a comeback from that.
• Confirmed as of the season finale. Randall was aiding Monroe as part of a Xanatos Gambit to get the Monroe Republic and Georgia to destroy each other, and use Monroe's resources to get to the Tower and turn the lights back on for a presumptive successor US government that would then take control of the East Coast.

Mrs. Neville is gonna die by the end of the season.

Since Kim Raver is set to appear on the new NCIS: Los Angeles spinoff starting in fall 2013, she probably won't be able to stick around on this show much longer.

• Although, with NCIS: Red being passed over by CBS, maybe Mrs. Neville may have earned a stay of execution from the writers.
• There's some good news and some bad news. The good news is that Julia Neville is alive and well in Atlanta, Georgia, as of the first season finale. The bad news is that Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles are headed to Atlanta and Philadelphia. Unless those missiles are stopped in some way, she's going to go up in a mushroom cloud.
  • Jossed. Julia fled Atlanta just before the city fell to the Monroe Militia when the bomb hit, and survived. She returns in "Everyone Says 'I Love You'" and apparently is once again scheming with Tom, this time to undermine the Patriots.

The Tower is NORAD.

Miles says in "The Song Remains The Same" that to reach the Tower one must cross the Plains Nation. Colorado is right on the far edge of the Plains Nation from the Monroe Republic, so this would make sense.

• Also, in "The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia," Rachel told her old friend that she was going to Colorado.
• Episode 18 has Randall Flynn being forced to explain to Monroe about the Tower. Apparently, it's a Department of Defense building that contains things in there, besides turning the power back on. Things that the President himself knew nothing about, and would make Monroe's helicopters and drones look like mere toys in comparison. Not only that, but there's an unknown group of people inside the Tower, who are experiments or super-soldiers for all we know.
• Episode 19: it was once discussed in the Headscratchers section that Randall's HQ looked like the LHC. We now know it was a brand-new, super-secret collider built in the USA itself. Rachel says it was the Vice-President's super-special hideout as well; "Cheney used it".

Governor Affleck of the California Commonwealth will be played by Jennifer Garner.

JJ Abrams is having a bit of fun with the name, y'see.

• More or less confirmed in 2x18 with the line "Now I know Governor Affleck hasn't been right since her husband died..."

Those pendants in Afganistan will come into play.

Remember how the blackout initially started as part of a localized field experiment in an Afghanistan raid? The marines involved in that raid had to have been issued at least one pendant, or equivalent device, to ensure that their own equipment stayed functional. Which means that the only group on the planet, aside from the science team, to have power post-blackout was a US military unit in Afghanistan.

• Given later revelations it appears the pendants were actually created and distributed in secret. Thus, a US team in Afghanistan standing by to flush out an Al Qaeda or similar terrorist base would have needed some other method of cancelling out the effect of the nanites. It is entirely possible it was a sniper team with a mirror-signalling system to launch a missile when the team judged the base would not be able to launch countermeasures - this is under the circumstance where they assumed the nanite electricity blanketing effect would be localized in scope, not worldwide.

Miles (or Monroe) is Charlie's biological father.

Between her mother's renewed attraction to Miles, and her comment about how Monroe used to be more fun, there's a fair chance that the Rule of Dramatic Parentage will come into effect. Having Charlie's dad be dead isn't much fuel for the fires of storytelling. She was never really that motivated by it in the first half of Season 1. But having her discover her father isn't who she thought he was makes for cheap, ready melodrama. Plus, it'll help split up Charlie and her mom now that their relationship has started to recover.

• The fact that Charlie acts like she's Miles's kid sometimes lends credence to this possibility.
• It also explains why Miles brushed Charlie off at the beginning: knowing Bass Monroe's strategy of holding family members hostage against good behavior, he's trying to avoid any association with Charlie to protect her. YMMV if an estranged niece is more or less effective as leverage than an illegitimate daughter.
• Rachel has as of Season 2 admitted to having an affair with Miles while still married to Ben. In "Everyone Says 'I Love You'" we learn that they were involved with each other six years prior to the blackout, which just about works out for Charlie's age at the time of the blackout. It's entirely possible Miles is Charlie's father after all. Which, unfortunately, makes Ben the series' designated Butt-Monkey even before he was killed in his first appearance!
• Not helped by Rachel's "20 years is enough foreplay" statement.

Bass unknowingly killed his own son

at some point.In "Home", Emma reveals Bass fathered her child and then sent him away. What if he became a high-ranking militia soldier who got offed by Bass in one of his recent randomly-murdering-people episodes?

• Or even an ordinary soldier who got killed by the rebels (or Georgia, or even Miles himself—now that would send Bass even further over the edge!)
• Or could be anyone who died of whatever causes exist out there (Bass is not going to be too happy about that.)
• Jossed. Miles told Bass before his apparent execution that his son is alive, and that Miles had him hidden for his own protection. Miles is keeping Bass locked into their alliance of convenience by promising Bass the location of his son. In Season 2 episode Three Amigos we get to meet Connor Monroe, now a grown man and leader of a small band of cartel enforcers and every bit the Deadpan Snarker his father is.

Aaron's software

In "Love Boat" we discover that Aaron is explicitly referenced in Jane's book. We also learn that whatever is in The Tower, it is actively set to repel and kill humans who try to enter it. The code Grace is looking at resembles that of a Role Playing Game. Did the Tower somehow end up being infested by a Real Life Grue? If so, was it programmed using Aaron's code?

• Will it be revealed that Aaron was actually subcontracted by the Mathesons to write the code? (Or more likely a program which was subsequently modified—which is why Rachel doesn't want him looking at it?) While he knew his end of the project he didn't know any more than was necessary, which is why he didn't know the significance of the pendants. It would explain why they took him in when he didn't have any useful skills at first to contribute to the community: he was a friend and was trustworthy.
  • Partially confirmed. Rachel admits Ben knew "something", and insisted on making sure Aaron was always nearby.
• The Grue is Jossed. What's killing people are soldiers with super-special EMP guns.
  • Erm, not quite. We don't know what's in Level 12 yet, and it could just be that Level 12 (the "too-powerful" place that shouldn't be opened) is where the Grues are kept.
  • Definitely Jossed as of the finale. Rats.
• It was confirmed that his code runs the tower.

The other republics

Season 2 will take place in Texas. This is in light of the fact that the production is going to move from Wilmington, North Carolina to Texas. Now, what better way to show off locations in Texas than to move the production there? The big question is how Texas is going to become involved in the events of the show.

• Texas has been name-dropped quite a few times over the last four episodes. Perhaps Miles is going to arrange a Georgia-Texas alliance to take down Monroe. There's been some bad blood between the Monroe Republic and Texas in the past and President Foster's about ready to throw in the towel unless Miles can come up with something to save the war effort. This also raises the possibility of Priscilla and Aaron meeting up again.
• There's also a chance that Mia, Nora Clayton's sister, might pop up again, because she was heading to Texas. It's true that she's The Scrappy, and there are good reasons behind that, but the character could try seeking redemption, or become a cool Evil Counterpart to her sister, as opposed to being a whiny, selfish brat.
• Given the revelation of a resurgent rump US Government seeking to reassert control over North America, Texas, having long been associated with an independentist streak in US politics could, akin to Texas in Jericho (Texas was the heavyweight which could swing the direction of a brewing civil war in the US) be reluctantly turned to by Miles et al as the deciding factor of any battle due to come in Season 2.
  • Most of the above is confirmed. Season 2 has taken place mostly in Texas, and Miles was as of the most recent episode attempting to maneuver Texas into a war against the Patriots. While Miles was hoping to do so with actual evidence that the Patriots had ill intentions, Bass was a little more straightforward. In a fit of Pragmatic Villainy he shot the Texas official Miles was negotiating with and framed the Patriots for the murder.

The power will not be turned back on by the end of the season

To try to explain, the show is going to have a second season. Several characters have talked about the Tower as the means to turn the power back on, but they don't know that for sure. In fact, episode 16 showed that someone or something will kill anyone who tries to go down the levels of the Tower. Not only that, but episode 18 reveals that there's a group of five or six individuals in the Tower who can apparently keep Randall Flynn himself from entering the Tower. Are they unable or unwilling to turn the power back on? When you think about it, the power couldn't be turned back on just by pulling a switch. Finally, the blackout is the premise of the show. Usually, you do not end the premise of the show without ending the show itself.

• Episode 19 shows that there is a good reason, albeit extremely low-probability, for the power not to be turned back on. It seems that the nanites have a slight problem: instead of simply dying and thereby restoring electricity, something could go drastically wrong and, as Rachel says, "set the world on fire".
• Jossed as of the finale. The power has been turned back on, and people who have been putting themselves in position for fifteen years to take advantage of the way the Blackout basically wrecked everything are now ready to swoop back in and snatch power for themselves again.
• And then subverted as the Tower's computers crashed and couldn't keep the power back on.

The "US President" is acting on secret directives handed down from President to President, against the day when Randall would finish his job.

• Here's how it works: The worldwide Blackout was an unintended side effect of the nanites. When Randall initiated the Tower's startup, it was intended to start up nanites that would only turn off electrical power in a localized area. Even in Afghanistan, Al Qaeda are going to be using motorized vehicles to move around, and electrical generators for necessary things, like laptops and whatnot. Remove those logistical abilities, but keep US Satellites operational, since they're out of the atmosphere, and you can target and flush out more Al Qaeda soldiers than you otherwise could.
• But Ben, Rachel and Grace did not want Randall to have that power - if you can use it against one group of people, what's to stop Randall from, say, deciding that Mexico needs to be power-suppressed and invaded before they can regroup?
• So they used Aaron's "back door" to purposely boost the replication rate of nanites, which meant they hit a critical mass and when the Tower went on, all the power went off around the world (as posited elsewhere, the least bad of a set of bad alternatives, given the momentum and funding being funnelled into this project, even to the extent of developing a super-secret collider; given that the LHC cost about $5 billion and the SSC budgeted at $12 billion we're looking at a circa $30 billion project, plus or minus a generous error bar). Grace et al must have decided that they would simply wait out people like Randall; he seems to be at least ten years older than the Mathesons, so Rachel and Ben probably decided to play a very, very Long Game. It would have worked, too, albeit after waiting forty years.
• Here's the meat of the WMG: The then-US President in 2012 (which we can assume to be Obama) wrote a directive to his successors, outlining how the US Government would seize back control over the United States proper contingent on returning electrical power to the world. Each President since then has been waiting against that day, even if it means nuking the successor state capitals to forcibly reinstate control back in D.C.
  • Which, of course, makes the nascent returning US Government the Big Bad of the second season. The Monroe Republic Rebels who've been using the US flag as their standard for the last fifteen years are probably going to get the worst shock of their lives.
  • Depending upon what Obama and the rest of the line of succession were doing at the time of the blackout, it's possible that the entire Constitutionally-mandated line of succession was wiped out or left isolated during the blackout and events afterward. The 2012 election being in progress doesn't help matters: because the power is out, no election can be held, and a significant faction that wants Romney to be elected may claim a conspiracy to stop the election (note that this does not implicate all Romney supporters, or Romney himself—who may not have survived after the blackout either). Amid the confusion and chaos, a small group of officials decides to take charge 'for the duration'. The rump US government in Cuba may consist of opportunistic lower-level officials who had access to contingency plans and appropriate security clearances to access facilities like the Tower, and under the Constitution may not be legitimate at all (particularly if the 'President' in 2028 was never elected, or is still the same man or woman who headed the plot in 2012).
  • Dan and the rest of the residents of the Tower may have been aware of this, which is why they were so adamant about keeping the power off: they were, in fact, the last representatives of the true United States seeking to keep the Tower out of the hands of this power-hungry clique. Which means that our heroes (and Disc-One Final Boss Monroe) actually enabled the real bad guys. Note that Randall was an Assistant Secretary of Defense—high enough up in the food chain to have access, yet low enough to fly under the radar. This allows the writers to posit an evil US government without rendering judgment on either political party (since the Speaker of the House and Secretary of Defense—#3 and #6 in the line of succession—are Republicans in a Democratic administration). The 'President' may be a similarly-titled political appointee, general officer, or career civil servant who saw an opening and took it.
• Update to this WMG as of Season 2:
  • The US Government has clearly been "preparing the ground" for a LONG time. They've been sending Randall to scour North America for fifteen years. They have at least one bounty hunter team avidly searching for Bass Monroe for a show trial. They even have moles in social-outcast clans who are trained in writing Arabic, a language almost nobody in post-Blackout North America would know how to read. While the directives may not originate from Obama or any legitimate President they do indicate a chain of command that almost immediately swung into action when the Blackout hit against the day when they could eliminate any successor states.
  • The "President" is revealed to be a middle-aged man named "Davis".
• Now Jossed. The entire upper echelons of the US government of 2027/8 have been in power, effectively, since 2013. In a scene "Six Months After The Blackout" in Guantanamo, a fleet of tall ships arrives, offloading, among others, President Davis and his henchman, Doyle. It is thus abundantly clear that whoever survived in Washington, DC were largely second-tier staff, but some of the actual Administration survived at the time.
  • Davis says he is US Sec Def "One Year After The Blackout". He was Sec Def in the old Administration, and at the time, serves the Vice-President. He proposes an outright coup d'etat, and justifies it with the kind of religious right-wing fervor commonly seen among extremists.

The Presidential administration in Last Resort is the same as in Revolution

After their plot to distract from the impeachment proceedings by nuking Pakistan fails, the administration resorts to the blackout in an attempt to stay in power and avoid uncomfortable questions raised by the Colorado incident. When this fails, they hide out in Cuba and bide their time until they can forcibly take back the United States and remake it into their own image. Note that the official who ordered the strike on Pakistan (and subsequently on the Colorado) was an Deputy Secretary of Defense (similar to Randall's title, Assistant Secretary of Defense).

• This works as an AU, in which the finale of Last Resort ends with Kylie being arrested seconds before she can kill the President, leading the Administration to hit the Nanite panic button, figuring that they can always come back a year or two later and clean things up to their liking after the post-Blackout chaos wiped out their opposition. But the Genre Savvy Tower soldiers and civilian staff realize what's going down, and immediately move to barricade themselves inside. So, when Randall (or someone else) tries to re-enter the Tower, all they can do is reach the first floor. With no portable source of electrical capability (Randall must surely have suspected the existence of pendants at some point in his search and devised a way to track them; even if not, his access to the satellites still orbiting Earth would have guided him to suspicious sites where electric lights were coming back on, or the like), it would have lengthened into a fifteen-year-long journey before the Administration which foiled Kylie's plot could return to seize control.
• Given how brutal, dishonest and malicious the "Patriots" have proven themselves to be so far, this is fully in line with the character of the Administration of Last Resort which went so far as to cover up its complicity in a nuclear strike on Pakistan, and unconcernedly went about its business until Captain Chaplin snapped his fingers under their nose.
• The term "Patriot" is tossed around with the same connotations in both shows...hmmm....
• It's not quite Last Resort but it gets pretty darn close. Secretary of Defense Davis makes no bones about usurping the legitimate succession to the office of President, and is perfectly willing to let the world go to hell if it means getting his brand-new "pure" vision of the United States of America.

Using the Tower will make people go EVO.

• This is the Nanite Event. The theme song to Generator Rex is "Revolution" for a reason.
  • Seems to be confirmed with Aaron; he's starting to turn into a Physical God with the ability to smite his enemies using the nanites. He did that with Cynthia's husband after catching him cheating on her, and again with the two Patriots who were about to kill Miles. Once he gets this ability under control, Aaron will be a Game-Breaker.

The current US President is Ron Swanson

As of the end of Season 1, the president is someone selected by an idiosyncratic process, whose job is to sit in a bunker and decide who the American government should nuke. Sound familiar?

Jason Neville and Tom Neville will try to kill each other one of these days

As the first season has shown, their relationship is quite dysfunctional. Episode 11 had Tom beat up Jason and throw him out because Jason refused to follow orders. Episode 13 had Jason revealing that he tried so hard to please his father, but he has evidently given up after tricking him into revealing information to the rebels. Episode 16 had Jason working against his father and Tom eventually tried to have him shot with everyone else. Episode 17 had Tom engage in petty childish taunting, but saved Jason's life when Jason ended up in danger. Episode 18 had Tom try to stop Miles Matheson from killing Jason. The first season finale has Jason trying to keep his father from going too far and failing miserably. The fact is their relationship is so on again, off again that it's practically inevitable that there will be a showdown between them, and it's likely to happen in season 2.

• "Dead Man Walking" is really heading in this direction now, what with the revelation that Jason's been reprogrammed by the Patriots.
  • Jossed; see below.

Adding to the above, Jason will die by the time episode 2x11 ends.

We could conceivably be looking at an "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight between Tom and Jason, and Jason will finally realize how wrong he is and stop fighting - only for his Patriot S.O. or whomever to shoot him in the head as punishment.

• Jossed. Jason is killed by Charlie in "Austin City Limits" (episode 2x18) when his Patriot programming is activated and he is ordered to assassinate the President of Texas.

Captain Baker is still alive.

You never actually see him get shot - Monroe closes the door and you hear the shot. Baker knew Monroe was losing it and the guards in the room agreed. They simply fired their gun and then escorted him away.

• Probably he died in the nuclear attack on Philadelphia, however. Out-of-verse, Mark Pellegrino is now a regular on "The Tomorrow People", so he was probably written off the show at that point.

The Nanites also provide power.

That's why flashlights can be operated long after the batteries should have died, lighthouses work, Atlanta lights up without an operating power station, etc. They connect up to the copper wiring and supply the charge.

Monroe kidnapped by U.S Government

So they can put him on trial for the nukes and use it as a rallying point.

• Confirmed if the teaser for Season 2, Episode 6 ("Dead Man Walking") is accurate.
  • Even worse, Rachel's dad is the one who rats him out!

David Schwimmer is the last surviving friend because...

He simply ate the other five.

The bounty Hunter guy is Monroe's Son

He looks a little similar to Monroe, and is involved with Monroe's story.

At least a few of the writers want the Monroe militia to win

Aaron will use his new technopathic powers to revive Monroe.

In the words of Dean Winchester, "you're not a true hunter till you've died and come back at least once." Aaron's already done this, now it's time Monroe got to share in the experience.

• Jossed. Rachel purposely O Ded Bass with barbs and then dug him out.
  • But he might still be able to revive Cynthia, or at least heal Miles. Which would be impressive on its own.

A blackout in real life will end the show.

Before the show can have a proper ending, there will be a blackout that will make it impossible to finish the show. But at least we will get to live it.

• Be careful about cursing things into existence, dear Troper.

The next plot arc of "Revolution"

The end of "Fear and Loathing" implies the entire 1.5 seasons we've seen have been Aaron's long dream of a world without electricity. Forewarned by his knowledge of how a worldwide blackout can occur, Aaron proceeds to attempt to foil both the Mathesons and Randall in order to get rid of the nanites and keep the power on.

• Not bloody likely. Knowing Abrams and Kripke, the un-apocalyptic world from the end of "Fear and Loathing" is the dream, not the other way around.
• "Dreamcatchers" tells us that it was literally All Just a Dream, set up by the nanites to trick Aaron into repairing their code.

The Monroe/Matheson Militia will come back, led by Charlie and Connor

Charlie will grow to enjoy being in power, especially after getting command of the fighters/mercenaries from New Vegas, and will eventually help Connor retake and run the Militia.

Why Aaron failed to stop the Nanites in "Dreamcatcher"

Aaron should have recruited everyone he's known from the series to fight the Nanites. That is, he shouldn't have ignored Nora when he ran into her at random on the streets of New York; he should have called Tom Neville's insurance agency to recruit him; etc.

Brett Michaels is a Patriot agent

Michaels was seen performing in the New Vegas sideshow; he is also known to have Type 1 diabetes. The only way he could have possibly survived this long is if he has a steady supply of insulin, which requires refrigeration for storage. Refrigeration is possible under blackout conditions (it was, in fact, invented without electricity) but probably not in a sideshow tent camp. Who's keeping him supplied?

Mr. Austen was killed in Love Boat by...

The fact that the elevator stopped at a special balcony, which basically stranded him with The Crimson King.

• Mr. Flynn has not left me a plaything in so long...so very long...

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