#exposition blvd

Cal Expo, Sacramento, California

I hope someone puts a bullet into Victor Doyle's face pronto. Can't stand him. I'm not overly fond of Tom and Julia, but Doyle is just despicable. I'm not even sure I know why I find him so loathsome, other than that he's drunk so much of the Koolaid there's no coming back for him. At least with Tom and Julia we have been given their back story so we know why they make most of the choices they do. Not a lot of Charloe in this ep, but one interesting moment. On the surface Monroe is just being pissy because Charlie gets to play with the toys he thought were supposed to be his. Beneath that - why the hell is he asking her about her sex life? What father asks his son's girlfriend how or when she finds the time to bang him, out of fatherly concern for his kid? None that I know of. All that bunk about "Monroe is telling his kid to stay away from Charlie b/c he thinks Connor won't find acceptance with her family" went right out the window with this line of questioning as far as I'm concerned. Honestly, I think his purpose in asking is to actually find out whether or not they are having sex on a regular basis. I don't think he knows for certain because he's only caught them the one time. I think he's determined that Charlie hasn't had time to boink Connor again, and this was his way of trying to confirm that for his own peace of mind. He's trying to find out whether it was a one time thing, or if they have an ongoing relationship. I think he was probably trying to goad her into an "it was just once, fuck off" kind of answer. The thought of Connor and Charlie together obviously weighs heavily on his mind, and it's not just because he's concerned for Connor's future. It bothers him on a personal level, which is evidenced by his next jibe, that of all the people she could screw, she chose to screw a Monroe. Why would he say this? He might as well be saying "you want to screw me but you think you shouldn't so you're screwing the next best thing instead." Or "If you were going to screw a Monroe, why settle for a knockoff when you could have had the real thing." In other words, he's pretty much screaming, DON'T PICK HIM, PICK ME!! He's like a little kid. "I like you, but I don't want you to know that I like you, so I'm going to do my best to piss you off instead to hide how I really feel because I'm pretty sure you don't like me the same way."

Charlie didn't really give us much to go on other than "jeez" and "I think I'm going to be sick" which imply exasperation at Monroe in the first place and disgust at the thought of doing him in the second place. On the other hand, she didn't come back with anything like "oh believe me, we make time to boink as often as possible." And it's probably worth noting that both she and Monroe were so involved in their conversation with each other, that they completely failed to notice Rachel and Miles approaching until Earth signalled everyone to get off the road. (btw, what's with all the camera cuts to Earth?)

I don't guy Gene's super special "omg they're having the sexxors" radar. Not sure what the point of that was. We knew Rachel wouldn't be thrilled about it. What was the purpose of her finding out at this point when nothing came of it? As for Charlie checking out Connor's butt...whatever. It's not like there isn't a graphic making the rounds that has shots of all the guys' butts on it, right? So, non-issue. Women check out guy's butts. Charlie is a woman. Can you blame her?

I'm hoping that this episode is included in Tracy's "Monroe kind of goes to jerkville for a while and dabbles around there" time period. I'm not terribly thrilled with him at the moment. I know some people prefer Bass to be as gray as possible. I'm not asking for him to suddenly become a white hat. But I haven't heard anything from him about motivation beyond acquiring power by restoring his Republic. Yes, he did mention to Connor when they were in the cage that he wanted all the horrible things he did to mean something. That's not quite the same thing as feeling remorse for doing all those horrible things, and it's not the same thing as saying he wouldn't do them again. If the people you are protecting are more terrified of you than they are of the enemy...there's a problem. And somehow he just hasn't acknowledged that yet.

I was honestly hoping that his "death" was going to be a kind of a cleansing thing for him. You can't get much more symbolic than being, for all practical purposes, dead and buried, and then resurrected. After he was captured, he seemed to face some of what he'd done, and he seemed genuine in his remorse, then. But he seems to have forgotten all about that now. Boo. There should be some way for him to continue the redemption journey he seemed to want to start (you can't tell me that all the times he's saved Charlie have been self-serving) and still keep him in character. The hard decisions should be more of a struggle, he shouldn't instantly default to "bang, you're dead." He also hasn't ever said that he wants to do things differently, do things better this time around. He told Miles in this episode that he wants to ditch Rachel and Gene - the people that are currently acting as the moral compass for the group. Not that either of them have the right to do so, writers, where the hell do you get off? Rachel just comes across as sanctimonious. We're supposed to somehow forget the crap she's done and remember she's a grieving mother, who seems to have conveniently forgotten she was ever married. It's amazing how unconcerned she was about that guy's kid who got kicked by the horse in season 1 (that Danny's implant might have saved), but now she wants to save the children of Willoughby. Pfft. If one of those kids was pointing a gun at Danny, she wouldn't hesitate to blow them away. I guess we're supposed to buy softer, gentler Rachel because she had an epiphany in the tower?

Anyway, back to Bass. He's not wanting to move forward he's wanting to roll back the clock, restore the glory of the Republic with his bestie at his side. Only it's new and improved b/c now it's a legacy to leave to his son. Forget elections or anything silly and democratic like that. I know a popular Charloe future is for Charlie to be at the head of the Republic, or maybe Charlie and Connor both. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I don't like that future. Someone will have to step in and fill the void if they do manage to get rid of the Patriots, but I don't think it should be associated with Monroe in any shape or fashion, because I don't think they will ever be able to erase the stigma that name carries. I don't think they'll ever be able to convince anyone Monroe didn't personally nuke the East Coast, not to mention all the other stuff the Republic is supposed to be notorious for.

He did have a good point when he asked Miles what he was fighting for. Miles illustrated he didn't really know why he was fighting, other then that he has been pulled into this fight against his will by first Charlie and now Rachel. And as I mentioned above, if they do manage to wipe out the patriots, they will create a void - Miles knows this, he just hasn't wanted to think that far ahead (or like Charlie he believes they won't get that far). They've switched places. Once upon a time Miles was the visionary, Bass just went along with what Miles did.

Miles is going to have to stop being led and work with Monroe to come up with a plan for what happens once the Patriots are out of their hair. I could see Charlie as a figure-head for a rebellion/resistance, but again, I don't think they can go back to the Monroe republic, or even the Matheson republic. It will have to be, or it should be, something new.

I was a little surprised at Monroe's and Miles's shock at how young those recruits were - they looked 14 or 15 to me. Didn't the Republic conscript kids? Is that something Monroe started after Miles left? In The Children's Crusade, Michael is 14. I can't find out how old Peter was (the one who was conscripted) but I find it hard to believe he was 4 years older. Maybe 2? I don't know.   I'm hoping that Bass asking "should we kill them" was just a scare tactic on his part. I know he was serious about killing Dillon after he found out about the trigger, but I hope he's not so far gone that he's automatically going to kill a kid just for wearing a patriot uniform. Also, WHAT MOVES OF CONNOR'S IS BASS TALKING ABOUT??? I SAW NO MOVES. I THINK THIS IS WISHFUL THINKING ON HIS PART. IT'S THE SAME KIND OF BRAGGING PEOPLE DO AT LITTLE LEAGUE GAMES. THE END. Not much to say about Priscilla and Aaron, other than I called it that she wasn't really Priscilla about the time she started talking about that apple. I'm not convinced that Aaron isn't still trapped in his head. I still get a V-ger kind of vibe from the Nano; I think ultimately it wants to merge with it's creator. Mission accomplished, I guess. (ew) I don't know, maybe Priscilla is just being influence by the Nano now, like Peter. If Peter isn't actually just a nanite person himself. It's interesting to note that no one has ever seen the Nanite people for sure except Aaron. As far as we know, everything Aaron has experienced since he left Willoughby could be in his head - Priscilla, Grace, Peter, et cetera. I guess we'll know for sure whether or not Priscilla is the nano if they make it back to Willoughby and no one can see her but Aaron. Didn't she have a husband and a daughter to get back to?

Jarlie reunion? Underwhelming. I feel bad for the Jarlie shippers, they were robbed, especially now that "murder puppy has been activated." (credit to whoever livedblogged that the other night, it wasn't me).

I did enjoy Monroe kicking Tom's ass, though, and swooping in to pull Connor out of the fray when it looked like Jason was about to kick his.

Thoughts on the patriots themselves - nice sledgehammer, guys. Way to drive home that the Patriots are Fanatical Right-Wing Boogeymen.

Next week's episode is "Why We Fight." I hope maybe Monroe gets a wake up call and realizes that as bad as the Patriots are, he was just a stones throw away from being them (his "I don't know whether to kill these guys or write them a fan letter is a little scary). I hope Miles gets a wake up call and realizes if he doesn't work with Bass now (and be a mitigating influence), he's going to have a problem on his hands down the road and wind up in the same situation he was in during season one - having to kill his best friend. I'll believe Rachel when I see it - to me most of the time it still seems like she can't see Charlie because she's still wallowing in her grief over Danny. Maybe that sounds callous, but I'm with Charlie - she's still alive, she still needs Rachel. Danny doesn't.

Wow, I had more thoughts than I thought.