#billy approves

As we’ve seen, the Revolution universe won’t let him just sit back and relax.  So sincde he can’t have his peaceful bar, he’s going to pick a group and be loyal to it.  Being a Marine, I think loyalty is a big part of who Miles is.  Like Charlie, he can be fiercely loyal to those he chooses to protect.  But unlike Charlie he’s not blind to their faults. 

He doesn’t seem to hand out loyalty very easily either.  He’s always looking for a second agenda.  And I don’t think it’s happened because of his assassination attempt on Bass.  As Commanding General of the Monroe Militia, his job would have required him to keep an eye out for traitors.  When he captures Rachel, his family and someone it’s implied that he had an intimate relationship with, he still thinks she has secrets from him.  And General Matheson will not be fooled.

You have to earn the right to have Miles care about you.  But once your important, it takes a lot for him to feel otherwise.  Look at how broken he was when he thought he had to kill Bass or how surprised he was that Jim Hudson would betray him.  Miles asks for very little but he expects his loyalty to be returned.  Because once you are important to him, you are very important.  Important enough for him to do the right thing instead of the smart thing.  We see that in the way he keeps putting himself and others in danger for Charlie.  Even when he knows the plan is stupid and will willingly tell her so.  Once upon a time he was that loyal to Bass but we’ll get there.

Beyond loyalty and being sarcastic, Miles’ most defining characteristic is his personality.  Miles is an Alpha through and through.  He doesn’t’ need to be charming or charismatic.  He’s a magnet.  People follow him because they can’t help it.  Everything about him screams confidence, even when he has no idea what he’s doing.  Look at Plague Dogs when he stormed off to rescue Charlie or Chained Heat when he says “we’re gonna Shawshank our asses outta here!”  They’re not the best plans ever created but he just picks a course and runs with it.  Miles does not second guess himself.  He just can’t.  His will is strong enough that nine times out of ten he can bullshit his way through anything.

For betas like Charlie and Bass, that’s a very powerful draw.  A powerful presence like the kind Miles has can keep them from drowning in the questions and confusions of their decisions.  Even when they’re the ones actually making the decisions, they can do it with confidence because Miles is backing them up.  Charlie does this all the time.  Every time she insists on saving the underdog, she looks to Miles because she knows he will back her.  And that’s why she asked Miles for help rescuing the scientist in Love Boat.  Because Miles would have made things go a lot smoother.  Charlie managed to take care of things when pressed but she wanted Miles to back her plan so badly. 

Miles maybe a badass and soldier but he’s not as hard as he pretends to be.  Billy Burke himself has talked about Miles’ gooey center.  And right now the one with a jackhammer straight to that part of him is Charlie.  But Miles is afraid to show how much he cares about anyone.  “Guys like us we don’t’ get to have people we care about.  You only end up letting them down. Or worse, getting them killed.”  Miles has violently tried to push everyone away for just these reasons.  Because he knows how harsh the world is and how badly being linked to him can hurt you.  His idea of protecting people is not to let them get close because then they cannot be hurt by him.

But he cares deeply about the people he calls family.  You can’t tell me Miles didn’t hurt when Danny died.  You go look at his facial expression and tell me that was a man that felt nothing.  Not to mention how he treats Charlie.  His first instinct with Charlie is always to protect her.  To step in front of the bullet or cover her from the explosion or even just hold her when Maggie is dying because Charlie is in pain and she needs comfort.  Miles Matheson would make an absolutely wonderful father if he could just find a good woman.  (Not Nora.  And we’ll discuss why later). 

I think Miles’ perfect woman can go one of two ways.  Either she’s a badass that’s got as much blood on her hands as he does or she’s pure as the driven snow.  If she has blood on her hands, she won’t be shocked when she learns about his past.  If she’s pure, she’ll forgive him because she loves him.  Miles can barely deal with his past himself.  “I ran as far away as I could.  Tried to drink myself to death so I wouldn’t’ have to be that man again.”  If he finds someone, and I hope he does, she has to be able to shoulder the burden that comes with a past as bloody as the one Miles has.  She also needs to be a strong personality.  She can be a beta but not a beta like Bass.  She needs to be more like Charlie.  A follower, but someone secure enough in her own flesh that she doesn’t’ feel the need to change in order to be his perfect woman.  Being able to handle weapons and alcohol are a plus but not required.  Miles could teach her those things.

But back to my original point.  Yes, he is harsh as hell with the people around him a lot of the time.  But there’s a reason for it.  Revolution is not the world we know.  There are no cops or courts or jails to put your faith in.  Not the kind we think of.  This world is a much harsher place than where most of us live.  And Miles has adapted to that harshness.  So yes, he is brutal but it is to teach brutal lessons.  And he softens the blows of these lessons as best he can. 

So let us now turn to how he has impacted and interacted with the other characters on the show.

General Matheson

I consider General Matheson a different character.  Mostly because he is so inheirently different from the Miles we all know and love. 

General Matheson is a shit human being.  He is Strausser-esque creepy and I still can’t fully wrap my head around the fact that he and my baby are the same person.  I mean he’s called “The Butcher of Baltimore.”  He has clearly done some shitty things.  Look at the flash back with Rachel.  That was honestly the only time I was ever afraid/creeped out by Miles.  His moral compass maybe cracked and dirty these days but it’s there.  And it usually points north.

But when we saw him with Rachel…lord was that ever creepy.  She barely raised her voice and he was ready to strike her.  Not to mention that scene in the tent that still squicks me on so many levels.  I mean, Bass is supposed to be the main villain and he has never given me the creepies like General Matheson has. 

And the worst part is we don’t’ know where General Matheson came from.  We know that Miles was the one to fire the first shot in the building of this Republic.  And he probably believed that he had to get his hands dirty to make things better for everyone.  But how do you go from being a Marine to getting rape-y with your brother’s wife?  This makes no logical sense.  And I want to know exactly what went down in Boston.  What led up to it, why Miles was there, and exactly what he did while in the city.  Because if I’m expected ot believe that Miles is trying to make up for past sins, I want to know what those sins are.  So far it just seems like he was a dick to his friend.

Which brings me to another point.  Miles got creepy with Rachel.  He destroyed Baltimore.  What drove him to not be General Matheson anymore?  I don’t think a dead body would do it.  He’s seen hundreds of dead bodies.  He made hundreds of dead bodies.  And he was getting uber creepy with Rachel.  That…I need something more than that to believe that Miles had a wakeup call to what he was doing.  But let us move on.

Charlie

“Eventually you think you mean something to him but you don’t.”  Alec’s words don’t’ just apply to him.  They apply to practically every character Miles has encountered on this show.  Nora, Bass, Rachel, Emma and, if they aren’t both very careful, Charlie.  The Miles that Charlie met in the bar spent many years putting himself before others.  Sometimes, like with Alec, it was deliberate.  Sometimes, like with Bass, there was no other choice.  And sometimes, like with Nora, he didn’t realize until it was too late.  And he treads his relationship with Charlie very carefully for this reason and so many more.

Miles’ relationship to Charlie is one of the most fascinating things about the show.  Charlie could have been anyone when she walked into that  bar—she had no proof of her claims that we saw—but Miles still followed her.  He left what appeared to be a fairly comfortable life with relative anonymity to go on what he was certain was a suicide mission.  People who only care about themselves don’t do that.  So don’t tell me he doesn’t care about Charlie.

Like many relationships on the show, their subtext can be interpreted a number of different ways.  Mostly because it’s subtext and everyone sees things different.  Some people ship them and some don’t.  But no one can deny their obvious chemistry.  The two have oriented themselves to each other like planets orient to the sun after only having been reunited a short time.

Miles has clearly pinned his hopes for redemption on Charlie and I don’t think he even realized he was doing it.  In the second episode we see him rejecting the smart path in favor of doing what Charlie wants.  He knows killing the bounty hunter is their best options but he chains the man up instead solely because Charlie asked him to.  He’s not even surprised when the decision comes back to bit them in the ass.  The bounty hunter tells Miles they should have killed him and Miles’ only response was “That’s what I said.”  But he does this because Charlie asked him not to kill someone.  And how often do you think General Matheson heard people pleading, begging for him not kill them but he just went on ahead.  Yet here stands this slip of a girl who’s never been beyond her own village and Miles changes his principles because she asks.

And that’s only the start.  There are numerous instances of Mile’s rewriting his plans because he worries what Charlie will think of him.  The most recent and obvious one is in “Love Boat”, episode sixteen, where he thanks Charlie.  He’s thanking her for reminding him of who he is, thanking her for showing him that there are other ways to win wars, thanking her for not letting him become General Matheson again.  He knows the things he did in the past were very wrong but he is trying to make up for it. 

And it’s not that Charlie is making him better.  Miles is capable of making his own decisions and making good ones.  But the point is that it is easier with Charlie there.  That’s why Miles doesn’t’ want Charlie to become hard like he has.  Because it is easier to be the hero when she is looking at him like he already is one.  He would do anything to keep that look on her face.

Miles is the only person in Charlie’s life that has not abandoned her.  Ben, Maggie, Danny and Nora all died.  Rachel has left for her own reasons, as has Aaron.  Miles is the one constant in Charlie’s life.  He’s tried to leave a few times but he keeps coming back.  He has tried to push her away too.  “I’m the one that hurts them.  And I don’t even care about doing it.  So just get away from me.”  But they both end up dogging each other’s steps no matter how hard they try not to.

Miles knows Charlie has abandonment issues.  He’s known since she begged Maggie not to die in Plague Dogs.  Probably had an inkling of it before that when she followed him to find Nora.  That’s why he tries to convince Rachel to stay with them.  Because Charlie needs someone.  And she can’t stand being abandoned, especially the way Rachel did it with no hope of returning.  So Miles has to stay with Charlie whether he likes it or not.  And he really doesn’t like it. Because he sees how his presence is affecting her.  But Charlie needs a constant in her life.  Someone to assure her that she is not as easy to leave as she appears to be.  Miles maybe be the worst parent in the world—in his own mind—but he will do everything he can to take care of Charlie.

And I hated that he played off his love for Charlie in the second half of the season as a promise to Rachel.  Miles would have protected Charlie without any outside prompting whatsoever.  He did that the entire way to Philly.  Look at the way he held her when Maggie was dying.  And how he promised he wasn’t going anywhere.  And he had only known her for maybe two weeks when that went down.  And yes, he went back to being an asshole when they buried her but that can be chalked up to his inability to actually convey real emotions in a healthy way.  It’s much easier for Miles to be a sarcastic asshole than to show he cares about you.

The sheer terror in his eyes every time Charlie is in trouble is not the look of someone that has been ordered to care about their charge.  Look how he held steady when she stepped on that explosive in ep nine.  Or how he covered her when it went off.  Hell, he cried when she was passed out and possibly not waking up.  Because he was afraid she wouldn’t make it.  And after years of not giving a damn about anyone but himself, Miles has found someone that makes him care about them.  Whether or not she is biologically his daughter, Miles has clearly claimed Charlie for his own.  He would rather be hurt himself than let any danger come to Charlie.

I think he sees her as this last bit of innocence in a very messed up world.  Even now, Charlie is still very naïve.  Miles knows how bad the world can get.  He knows the pain a lot of people go through just to survive.  And it has been a long time since he has seen someone like Charlie.  In Chained Heat, episode two, he says “You’re very unusual…that’s not a bad thing.”  How long do you think it’s been since Miles Matheson has encountered someone who balked at the thought of killing?  Miles wouldn’t’ have batted an eye at this.  Charlie only killed two people which is probably a very successful mission in Miles’ mind, two deaths for a camp of rebels I mean, and she was very distraught.  That’s quite the juxtaposition compared to Miles who killed sixteen people in the pilot episode without breaking a sweat.

Charlie is probably a cleaner version of who Miles used to be.  She wants to help people and go on adventures.  Miles was like that once.  Why else would you join the Marines?  And if you say “love of country” or “no other opportunity” let me remind you that the army takes you fresh out of high school too and they are less intense than the Marines.  When the lights went out Miles knew someone had to bring law and order.  He wanted to help people.  But he knows the price to be paid sometimes.  And even though Charlie is learning that price, Miles still wants to keep her hands as clean as possible.  He doesn’t care if the blood on his hands becomes tattooed there so long as hers remain spotless.

But Charlie doesn’t just cling to Miles because he’s family or she has no one else.  As I said, Charlie is a beta.  A beta with a strong sense of self but still a beta.  If push came to shove, she could be a leader.  But she doesn’t have the same presence as Miles.  A lot of her actions are to keep Miles’ attention focused on her.  As an Alpha, Miles has an intensity that makes you feel like you are the whole world when he is focused on you.  Both Charlie and Bass want that attention from him because when he’s friendly towards you, it can make you feel invincible.  Of course if you get General Matheson focused on you, it can be terrifying.  But Charlie has never fully experienced that side of her uncle.  Not directly at least.

Charlie is drawn to Miles’ intense personality because this is not a world she is used to.  Miles knows the rules of this game.  And Charlie has to learn them to survive.  If she can learn them, she can prove her worth to Miles.  And she wants so badly to be worth something to Miles because very few people are.  As I said, this is not a man who hands out loyalty easily.  Especially not since Bass.  So Charlie wants to be his right hand woman.  A part of her probably believes that if she is useful to him, Miles won’t leave her like he leaves everyone else.  There will finally be someone who cares about her more than they do anything else.  That is not something Charlie has had much experience with.  So she acts tough and she learns her sword play in the hopes that Miles will pay more attention to her than anyone else.

I feel like a lot of Revolution is Bass and Charlie fighting over Miles’ attention.  They are both betas and they both want to be the sole point of his focus.  Bass uses war and killing to achieve his ends while Charlie uses her family angle.  And that’s why she’s currently ahead.  Because her gentler approach is much more appealing to Miles at this stage in his life.  Miles doesn’t want to be General Matheson again.  And Charlie doesn’t want him to be that person either.  So Miles is more likely to pay attention to Charlie than he is to Bass.

Charlie is the closest Miles has come to defining himself through another individual.  And at times in this meta, it might seem like he is doing what Bass did and just completely giving up his sense of self to Charlie.  I don’t see it like that.  Miles always has and always will define himself as himself.  He is Miles Matheson.  Beginning, middle and end.  But Charlie brings a new component to that.  He is no longer Miles Matheson, singular entity.  He is now Miles Matheson, in charge of this bratty young woman that he looks upon like a daughter.  She is an extension of the sense of self that Miles already has.

I want to see more bonding between Miles and Charlie in season two.  I want him to come clean with her about his past and I want her to forgive him since he clearly cannot forgive himself.  A part of me wants them to develop a very unhealthy codependency on each other because they just can’t imagine being separated.  Sort of like the relationship he had with Bass but with Miles being just as invested as Charlie is and just as down the rabbit hole.  But the larger part of me wants them to build a strong, healthy relationship where they depend on each other in equal parts because they both have a lot to learn from each other.

Bass

Bass and Miles have the second most fascinating relationship on the show.  They have been together since they were children.  It would be remotely surprising to me if their mothers met in the damn maternity word.  Especially since they seem to be closer than Miles ever was to Ben.

Their early life was probably normal enough.  Two young boys growing up in a small town.  I imagine they were much like Cory and Shawn in Boy Meets World with Emma as Topanga.  Inseparable since they day they met.  Though I do wonder if Miles was involved in te arrest that caused Bass to lose his baseball scholarship.

Bass is a lot like Charlie.  He’s a beta compared to Miles’ Alpha.  And that has always been his downfall.  After he lost his entire family, he made Miles his entire world.  Because it seemed like Miles would always be there for him.  “You’ve got me.  What would I be without you?  We’ve been brothers our whole lives.”  That statement gave Bass a reason for living again.  In their entire lives, nothing seemed like it could break them apart and that statement cemented it.

Much like Charlie, Bass and Miles have a very complex relationship that can be interpreted a variety of different ways.  There’s plenty of romantic subtext if you choose to see it that way but they can also easily be a BrOTP.  Friendship is just as powerful as romance.  Which is why they are one of my favorite pairing to write because they fit in almost every story.

Bass has built and rebuilt himself around Miles.  His entire identity is built around what Miles needs him to be in that exact moment.  That is the tragedy of Monroe.  He does not have a solid sense of self like Charlie did before she met Miles.  Charlie had a chance to find her own identity before she was swept up in the intense whirlpool that is Miles Matheson.  Bass had no such luck.  He knew Miles his entire life so Miles was like the other half of his soul.  It only got worse when Miles found him at his family’s graves.  Because that was Monroe’s lowest point and Miles offered himself as a way out of that spiral. 

Bass is a follower where Miles is a leader and because of their relationship, he needs that strength to keep himself afloat.  He’s lost with someone to follow.  He has not fully developed any other relationships than the one he has with Miles.  He has other friends like Jeremy and Tom but they are not nearly as important as Miles.  In flash back in “Plague Dogs” he watches Miles pack to find Ben and his family and Bass just says “Let me pack.”  He barely tries to argue the situation with Miles.  He simply understands that Miles is going to leave and Bass must go with him or he will be lost.  Because Miles is everything to Bass.

And I don’t think Miles realized right away the profound impact he was having on Bass.  He tells Bass that Ben and Rachel and the kids are his family and he won’t drag Bass into his problems. But he honestly seems surprised by Bass’ answer.  “And you’re my family.  That makes it my problem.”  Bass, for one reason or another, has cultivated this relationship with Miles to the detriment of all others.  Bass had constructed his entire identity around Miles and Miles doesn’t even know it.  Not at first.

This doesn’t mean I don’t think Miles meant it when he said that he and Bass were brothers.  Miles rarely says things he doesn’t mean.  But I don’t think he realized how much Bass would take those words to heart.  Bass has no real sense of self outside of Miles.  And Miles simply cannot understand that.  He is sense of self.  He has complete and total control over himself nearly one hundred percent of the time.  He has never let outside relationships define him. He has friends and lovers and subordinates but they are just small puzzles pieces of the complexity of Miles Matheson.  Miles is an independent automaton that defines himself on himself and never on other relationships.  It’s part of being an Alpha. 

But Bass does not have that luxury.  So when Miles tells Bass they are brothers, that statement becomes Bass’ new identity.  That is how he perceives and presents himself to the world.  As an extension of Miles Matheson.  His most basic identity at this point is “I’m Miles Matheson’s brother, Sebastian Monroe.”  Miles and his personality are first.  Bass is a subset of this personality. This is different from Miles’ relationship to Charlie because Miles defines himself as “I am Miles Matheson, uncle and father figure of Charlie Matheson”.  Miles is still first but Charlie adds a new subset to his identity.  Charlie’s identity is “I am Charlie Matheson, Miles Matheson’s niece.”  They are almost on equal footing because Charlie had a developed sense of self before she met Miles.

Miles completely misses what is happening to Bass because he has only ever seen himself as himself as I said above.  So he cannot relate to the identity crisis Bass is going through.  Miles has sometimes floundered, but only in the sense that he is not sure if he is Miles or General Matheson.  Is he a good guy that may occasionally do bad things or a bad guy pretending to be good to get his way?  Either way, he has never questioned that he is Miles Matheson.

It’s not until things start to sour in the Republic they built together that Miles finally understands, in part at least, how much Bass has been warped by everything.  Remember that it was Miles that fired the first shot when they were on the road.  Bass tried to talk him out of the murders but Miles insisted that they had to do something.  For a very confused Bass, this meant that they needed to be ruthless to bring law back to this world gone mad.  And that is a policy he has followed to this very day.

“It was easier…simpler with you here.”  BASS HAS NO SENSE OF SELF WITHOUT MILES.  He pretty much just fucking admitted it with that quote right there.  Bass might be the “President” of the “Monroe” Republic but I will bet you any amount of money that Miles was the one really calling the shots. Bass doesn’t have the skill or personality to lead large groups.  Much like Charlie, once again.  Small groups are one thing but he doesn’t’ know what to do with an entire country. 

Miles was probably whispering in his ear the entire time.  Bass is now drowning in this position of power that he neither wants nor understands.  He knows that there needs to be laws and people need to be safe.  But the exact ability of how to do that escapes him.  Bass had relied on Miles to make those hard decisions for him but Miles is no longer there.  “Whereas you terrify, I inspire.”-Tom Neville to Bass Monroe.  Bass has been following the policy Miles set way back when they first met Jeremy.  Be ruthless, be terrifying, to whatever it takes to bring back what was once here or there’s going to be nothing left.  The only way Bass knows how to lead is the way Miles showed him.  And I think we can all agree that General Matheson is not a person you should be basing your leadership style on.

That’s where Bass’ paranoia comes from as well.  When Miles left, so did a piece of Bass.  And a very large piece at that.  That rankles at Bass.  If Miles can leave, who else would do the same?  Miles was supposed to be Bass’ other half.  The sun to his moon if you will.  So pulls the reigns in tighter on everyone else because he won’t allow them to leave the way Miles did.  “It wouldn’t’ be the first time a friend tried to kill me.”  All Bass knows is that if Miles can put a gun to his head, then anyone can and that is a frightening place to be in.

I think Miles actually pushed Charlie away because she reminds him so much of the relationship he had with Bass.  Miles has learned the hard way what happens when people get too dependent on him.  He doesn’t want Charlie to turn into Bass.  Miles knows if he can keep her at arm’s length, she might survive where Bass did not.

“I hurt people, Charlie.  And I don’t even care when I do.”  Miles knows what he does to people.  It took watching Bass’ downward spiral but he does know that his dark side can easily creep into other people.  He got that first inkling when he saw those five coffins draped with the American flag.  “Bastard is going to mess with my family, I’m going to mess with his.”  That’s Miles’ first indication that Bass has warped himself to be what he believes Miles needed.  And Miles is scared that Charlie will end up the same way.  So he pushes Charlie away to protect her.  But he forgets that she had a sense of self before she met him which makes her much healthier than Bass ever was.

“That was for you…I never cared about that.  The only thing I cared about was watching your back.”  Miles is surprised when he hears those words.  It isn’t until that moment when everything completely fell into place and Miles realizes how badly he has fucked up Bass.  A part of Miles firmly believed Bass could stand on his own two feet.  It would be challenging but he would be able to do it.  And it was easier to believe that Bass had taken Miles’ darkness and just made himself worse with it than to believe that Miles himself was the reason Bass had fallen so far.  But at this moment, Miles realizes what really happened.  He realizes that Bass has been defining himself using Miles and Miles had no fucking clue.  That’s why Miles went back for him.  Because Miles hates that he cares about this monster he has created but he can no more turn off his feelings for Bass than he can turn off his feelings for Charlie.

“Sometimes I would get jealous of the things he had.”  Bass has been using the same “look at me” technique that Charlie has but with far less success.  Bass is jealous because anything that takes Miles’ attention from him is a threat because Bass needs Miles to define who he is.  Really, most of Revolution is a giant goddamn temper tantrum thrown by two kids with an oblivious and absent father.  Bass is doing everything in his power to get Miles to look his way.  Because, much like Charlie, he knows how intoxicating it can be to have that attention focused on you.  So every action he has made has been to get attention.  Because even if Miles is giving him negative attention, it’s still attention.  It’s still Miles giving that attention and giving Bass an identity.

I want so badly to know what was the final straw that broke the camel’s back between them.  Because you don’t murder your brother for no reason.  And don’t tell me it was rebel kids or losing Rachel.  I already said Miles Matheson used to make dead bodies for a living.  I’m going to need a better excuse than that for him nearly taking Bass’ life.

Nora

Nora could have done so much and they destroyed her character.  When they first introduced her, she was incredible.  She didn’t take shit because she knew who she was and what she was doing.  And they turned her into this washed up version of Bass and Charlie where she needs Miles to be whole.  We got hints that she and Miles worked together and I don’t think Miles would work with someone that couldn’t at least pretend to have their own identity outside of him.  He does not strike me as the type to like sycophants.  “You used to make such a team.  The general and the bounty hunter.  Like Bonnie and Clyde.”  Bass apparently shipped them like FedEx.  Except for the part where Nora took Miles’ attention away from him.  But I still wish we had gotten some of their backstory.

Nora has been shown in canon to want a family and children.  While I believe Miles would make quite the father, I also believe he wasn’t ready to settle down when he first met Nora.  Miles is not the type to want a conventional family.  That sort of life wouldn’t suit him.  He’s born to be a fighter and a protector.  He wouldn’t’ be satisfied with the “Leave it to Beaver” sort of life.  But we are led to believe that this is the sort of life Nora wanted when they were together.

“It’s not like you to fight for a lost cause.”  “I fought for us.”  Nora clearly knew the relationship was over before Miles did.  IF they met when Nora was a bounty hunter, it’s likely that Miles thought she held the same beliefs as him.  He thought she wanted the same things out of life.  But Nora realized quickly that Miles wasn’t in this for the same reasons she was.  And she held onto that relationship because Miles is a powerful force but she knew it was over before Miles.

I think Nora’s biggest problem is she keeps coming into Miles’ life at all the wrong moments.  When they first met, Miles wasn’t interested in family.  Now he has all the family he can handle with Charlie.  He really doesn’t want the added complication of pursuing a relationship with an outside person.  He barely knows what to do with Charlie, he can’t exactly add to his problems right now.

This doesn’t’ mean that he doesn’t care about Nora.  We saw him reach for her hand in “Sex and Drugs”.  He does care about her.  A lot.  But Charlie is his priority right now.  NoraxMiles ship has sailed.  That part of his life is over.  He doesn’t feel for her in a romantic fashion anymore.  Now it’s more like best friends/ brother-sister relationship.  He still cares but not as intensely as he once did.

He clings to Nora romantically because Miles makes shit romantic decisions.  And because Nora is reaching to him.  And he needs some reassurance of his own.  All the times he is with Nora, it’s because the people Miles used to look to are not there.  Specifically Charlie.  When he’s kissing Nora in episode eleven, Charlie is hugging Danny.  When Nora reaches for his hand in…I think its episode thirteen, Charlie is having a moment with her mother.  When Miles is banging Nora, he has just come off of having a very intense fight and make up with Charlie.  Once again, it is not that Miles is defining himself by Charlie.  It is that Charlie makes it easier for him to keep to the straight and narrow.  Nora is a sort of Charlie substitute.

I hate that they ended Nora but I love how they did it.  Nora thought she was second best to Rachel.  That all her time with Miles was as a substitute for this woman he couldn’t’ have.  But when push came to shove, Miles chose her over Rachel.  He refused to leave her side.  Because he cared about her.  And she cared about Charlie.  Charlie is the closest Miles has come to letting an outside relationship define him.  He wants her to look up to him.  And Nora sacrificed things to be with and take care of Charlie.  So Miles put Nora above Rachel in that instant because it was important to both him and Charlie. 

But he cried at her death because Miles loved Nora.  Not always in the romantic sense but he still loved her.  And her death is one of the first ones that has really struck him.  I think it was also important for Charlie to see Miles in that state and to know that he can care about people and be hurt when they are gone.  Because he has seemed to be unaffected by the amount of death surrounding them.

Ben

Given what we know about the family, I could probably define this relationship in three words.  Sam and Dean.  Miles told Alec that he was from a long line of soldiers.  And he went into the Marines.  But Ben was trying to make clean energy for the world.  Sam and Dean.  But that’s clearly only the beginning of their relationship.  And it’s so damn vague.

I have so many questions about this relationship, you don’t’ even know.  Miles has barely even admitted to having a brother.  Most of the time it’s like he doesn’t care that Ben is gone.  We never even see him grieve for the man.  But then you get scenes like the one in “Plague Dogs” where Charlie calls Ben a coward and Miles lashes out.  It’s one of the very few times we see Miles actually angry with Charlie and it’s because she insulted Ben.  This implies that the two were close.

Yet when Aaron asks Charlie what she knows about Miles her answer is “The only thing Dad ever said was that he was good at killing.”  This doesn’t imply the closeness we got before.  Most of this can be chalked up to Ben knowing about his brother being “The Butcher of Baltimore.”  But how did he know that Miles was in Chicago?  Miles must have come and told him at some point.  Which then begs the question, how did Miles know where Ben was and did he tell Ben that Rachel was dead?  Either way, I want to know how Ben reacted when he saw his little brother on his doorstep.  And I firmly believe that Miles is the younger of the two until told otherwise. 

Back on topic though.  Did Ben die still angry at his brother or did they achieve some measure of peace between them before Miles moved on to Chicago?  I’d like to think that the only reason Ben kept most of the truth from Charlie was that she was so eager to leave Syvania Estates, if he had told her that Miles was reformed, she would have rushed to his side.  Which would not have been a smart idea.  But we won’t know what happened until we are given more details.  We know Miles is not prone to grieving about the dead but I think he probably felt something at the death of his brother.  And I’m not sure his lashing out at Charlie really gave that relationship enough credit.

Rachel

I have feeling about these two and none of them are good.  She is Ben’s wife.  That is a line I can’t see Miles crossing. So I really hope that their little fling happened before Rachel was with Ben.  Or at least before she married him.  Because if Miles was helping Rachel cheat on Ben…that just doesn’t’ seem like the Miles that we know.  I can’t imagine this man full of pride and honor two timing his own brother like that.  My personal head canon is that Rachel was originally with Miles but saw Ben as someone who was both more stable and better able to keep up with her intelligence.  And Miles would never begrudge his brother a chance at happiness.

Of course there’s the whole thing with General Matheson that I just hate thinking about.  Bad enough that it’s implied Rachel and Miles once had something but to get rape-y like that with your brother’s wife?  There are just so many problems there that I can’t put into words.  And why does Miles want that kind of power anyways?  What insanity is going on in his head that he is ready to strike this woman at a moment’s notice?  This guy who was talking about how they had “to do something.  Or there’s going to be nothing left.”  I mean, what the hell happened?

I feel that his relationship with Rachel is only partially sexual attraction.  The rest is, you guessed it, Charlie.  Miles cast Charlie in the role of daughter.  So what better way to make her feel secure than by being with her mother?  Miles probably sees this as a way to build continuity for Charlie.  They are still a family and still bonded by the same things that bonded her original family.  He keeps talking about his promises to Rachel but only because he wants Charlie to know that they are still a family unit.  Never mind that Charlie would be fine with just him and is really only clinging to Rachel because family is precious to her and not because she endorses Rachel’s actions.  Remember that Charlie barely knows Rachel at this point.

Everyone has been talking about how Rachel’s decision to leave Nora affected Charlie.  I think it affected Miles too.  I think it woke him up.  He went back into the Tower to save Rachel and Charlie and what did he find?  Charlie being attacked and Rachel nowhere in sight.  I think Miles finally realizes that Rachel’s priorities are not his and are not what they should be.  Miles is focused on Charlie and how he can teach her to survive in this world.  Rachel is focused on destroying Monroe and getting vengeance for her dead son.  These are not priorities that line up Miles’.  Nor does he condone them. 

I want to see a lot less Miles and Rachel bonding.  He knows now that Rachel’s priorities don’t include Charlie in the way his do.  So I want Miles to pull Charlie away from her mother.  Under the title of protecting her, of course.  He has stuck by Charlie through everything and Rachel really hasn’t.  So I feel that MIles would think that Rachel wouldn’t be a good influence on her daughter.  So he allows Charlie to become closer to him so he can protect her from whatever Rachel has up her sleeve.  And Charlie isn’t really complaining because Rachel fucking left Nora and we saw how badly that pissed Charlie off.  But Miles came in and took care of Nora so he’s not on Charlie’s shit list like Rachel is.

Emma

Oh, I could psychoanalyze her relationship with Miles and Bass until I’m blue in the face.  There’s so little we know about her and the part of me that ships Miloe wonders if she wasn’t just around to make Miles and Bass seem less gay.  Like “look we hang out with a girl, clearly we can’t be doing each other.”   And Emma was okay with it because she liked them both and she has a good heart.

But then I remember the scene between Bass and Emma and that was love right there.  Apparently a powerful enough love that they were able to both betray a guy they had known their entire lives.  Who is also really big on loyalty.

Miles says he used to be engaged to Emma.  And we see him grieving intensely for her after she’s died.  But here’s my thing.  He never went to find her.  Not in fifteen goddamn years has he bothered to check up on this woman.  It’s not like the town went anywhere.  Bass clearly knew that Emma was there even before they landed.  So it was possible for Miles to find her if he really wanted.  So why didn’t he?  If he loved her so much why was he running around after Rachel and Nora and god knows how many prostitutes?  Like really, why am I supposed to believe he loves this woman when he didn’t even acknowledge her existence until Bass put a gun to her head?

Other characters

This will be a roundup of all the characters that have had interaction with Miles but not enough to justify having their own section.

Jeremy.  Man has been there from the beginning.  And he clearly knows what sort of relationship Miles and Bass had with each other.  He talks about it in episode three when he’s leading Miles in chains.  So he’s a part of the inner circle but he’s still a captain which irks me.  But he clearly drank the koolaid since he’s helping Bass.  But he doesn’t seem to blame Miles the way many other people do when talking about the downfall of the Republic.  Maybe because he understands that Miles doesn’t know what it’s like to have an identity crisis the way Bass did.

Tom.  Clearly he hates Miles but I’m not entirely sure why.  Yes, Miles held a sword to his wife’s throat.  But it was to get his friends back and Tom would have done the same damn thing.  We know Tom wants power.  Maybe he always thought Miles never gave him the respect he deserved?  Because we’ve seen Miles sass Tom like there’s no tomorrow.   He just really doesn’t care about this man or his plans.  It’s like Miles doesn’t consider him a worthy enemy.

Kelly Foster.  My god, Miles has a magic penis.  That is the only way I can explain her putting a knife to his crotch.  Crotch means something went down in bed and she is pissed.  So Miles has a magic penis.

Jason.  Miles really wants this boy to stay the hell away from his surrogate daughter.  Not just because he’s militia but because that’s how fathers are.  So even though Jason saved Charlie’s life, he’s never going to be good enough for her in Miles’ eyes.  And I hope he keeps it that way.

Danny.  Oh, Danny.  You had such potential.  You could have gone one of two ways.  You were either going to be Miles’ little Marine or you were going to fucking hate him.  Because Miles can’t have both Matheson children and he probably wouldn’t see Danny as useful at first with the asthma and all.  So Miles would naturally focus on Charlie.  But I feel like Danny would have really worked hard to prove himself to Miles.  And Miles would have loved the chance to train him into a Marine.  I am sad we will never get to see this.  But you can’t tell me that Miles didn’t care about Danny at least a little bit.  Because he was grieving when the boy died.  Maybe because Charlie is now the only thing left in this world of Ben.  And Miles does seem to have some hero worship where his brother is concerned. 

Wrap up

Miles Matheson is a wonderfully written and complex character.  I love seeing him on my TV every week and I would watch this show for the sass alone.  But I do caution the writers to be careful.  They haven’t always handled characters so well and I don’t want Miles to turn into a male Mary Sue.  He’s not there yet and I hold out hope that he never will be.  But I think the writers have done a fantastic job with him so far and I cant’ wait to see him in season two.