On tonight’s new episode of The Tom Neville Show, “Dead Man Walking”, the best scene was shockingly not a Neville scene. Near the very end, a new character rides into the town of Willoughby, a mysterious Dr. Horn whose high-level connection to the Patriots implies big trouble ahead for our man Neville and his gang. I’m excited because, even though all Dr. Horn did this week was literally ride into town and wave hi, he’s played by Željko Ivanek (at right in the above photo), a recurring supporter from the great Homicide: Life on the Street who’s popped into dozens of movies throughout my lifetime and made them better places to be, for at least the span of his own scenes. If Revolution is adding him as a Big Bad, then…well, between him and last week’s strong episode, I may consider being excited about the frequent scenes that don’t have Giancarlo Esposito in them.

Whither Tom, you might ask? America’s favorite post-apocalyptic antiheroic grudge-holder is still on the road with Justine Allenford, erstwhile Patriot and former Secretary of Defense, now on the lam after daring to protest the reprogramming centers that the Power That Be are using to brainwash young men into mindless soldiers. Two hours from the center where Justine knows Jason Neville is being held, they stumble across a training killzone for reprogrammed cadets, find bodies, and find themselves under fire from said cadets…including Jason, who no longer recognizes Dad thanks to his new mind-control regimen.

While Tom and Justine take to the sewers for a game of cat-‘n’-mouse, Justine reveals the centers were a deal-breaker in her employer/employee relationship because her own son was indoctrinated in one of them, with presumably undesirable results. Worse still, Justine couldn’t easily walk away because her own husband is higher up in the organization. I get the impression one does not simply quit the Patriots. The operating rule, as she puts it: “Country before family.” If the Patriots’ plans can truly be called a country.

Jason, newly buff but drugged into oblivion, catches up with Dad and thrashes him with an intensity that the rest of the main cast were around to see it. Janice interrupts Jason with a lead pipe to the head, allowing Tom to tie up his son and begin the deprogramming. No way could Jason be healed of this kind of trauma in one week, especially when the showrunners only doled out five or six minutes to the Nevilles this week, but it’s enough time for Evil Jason to taunt Tom tastelessly. (Fun trivia, Dad: my dead mom/your dead wife was cheating on you! U MAD? Gonna CRY?) If it were anyone but Jason, Tom would kill him where he stood. Since it’s Jason, Tom glowers, restrains himself for once, and prepares for a long, dark night of saving his family’s last survivor.

Side note: in this week’s flashback we learn that Tom first met Miles and Monroe three years after the blackout. As the birth of Monroe’s baby to his girlfriend Sherry takes a terribly bloody turn, Tom happens to be the closest warm body that Miles randomly commands to go fetch water. Thus was an alliance born!

Next week on The Traveling Nevilles, expect heavy detox action as Tom and Jason perform their take on that famous episode of Little House on the Prairie where Pa Ingalls had to help Albert go cold turkey from morphine.

…

…meanwhile, back in Texas, everyone else is all like:

Miles: He’s trying to kickstart a feud between the Patriots and the Republic of Texas, but nothing’s working. Monroe’s crazy plan backfires, the two sides rejoice in their plans for a treaty, he has no way to gain an audience with the chief Texan in the entourage (Anthony Ruivivar, most recently the voice of Batman on the just-pulled Beware the Batman), and Rachel is a backstabbing saboteur. Without a single victory to Miles’ name this week, he ends the episode drowning his sorrows in self-pity and cheap post-apocalyptic liquor.

Monroe: Someone tells on him for murdering Fry, Texas Ranger. He’s surrounded, arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to death by lethal injection. (Monroe is amused that it’s not a quick bullet to the head. His response: “Isn’t Texas adorable?”) Miles tries to organize a breakout, but a still-bitter Rachel informs the Patriots, who relocate him to an impregnable bank vault. Miles is not happy with Rachel.

Monroe’s last request on Death Row: a visit from Miles so he can confess that he had a son with Miles’ old girlfriend Emma (who died in season one). Monroe wants Miles to find and take care of him. Miles drops a bombshell: Emma already told him years ago. Miles arranged for the kid to go into hiding where his then-tyrannical dad would never find him. Monroe is not happy with Miles.

(In the flashback mentioned above, we’re privy to the sad death of Monroe’s first baby and baby-mama. Hence his obsession with reconnecting with his second try, the boy who lived and got away from him.)

Monroe is walked to his execution, where his needle is personally administered by Rachel and Gene so they can revel in their revenge up close. Rachel sticks him and pushes the plunger; he passes; he’s buried. The End. And we’ll never ever see him again because nothing about this was a trick or anything at all. Nope nope nope.

Aaron: Obsesses on the circle-in-triangle motif that’s been appearing on key items. Keeps doodling it on the front cover of a copy of Marvel’s The Saga of the Original Human Torch #4 (July 1990), instantly reducing its eBay value from one buck to one dime, if eBay still worked. His meditation is interrupted by former Forbes reporter Bonnie Webster (Alanna Ubach), who recognizes him from his days as a Google exec. She’s in town with the other Texans as part of the first press corps we’ve seen sanctioned by a blackout-era government. The only other shred of info she shares before exiting is that the man credited with the detective work on Monroe’s case, Texas Ranger Malcolm Dove (Barry Tubb), is kind of an idiot incapable of such a feat. Otherwise, Aaron doesn’t do much this week except notice that same circle-in-triangle symbol on the side of Željko Ivanek’s wagon.

Rachel: Refuses to let go of her son Danny’s murder by helicopter bullets, or her husband Ben’s murder by Neville, or all those other season-1 deaths that occurred under Monroe’s rule. Wallows in vendetta all episode long, until after Monroe’s execution. Final scene: she grabs a shovel and commences exhuming Monroe’s coffin, either because this somehow figures into her top-secret plan to save America, or because she wants even more revenge by defiling his body and maybe setting the coffin on fire.

Charlie: Compared to her mom’s present status as an irritating rage-aholic, Charlie doesn’t seem so bad anymore.

Gene, Rachel’s dad: Happily assists in Monroe’s execution, then reports directly to the Patriots, to whom he tattled on Monroe. Surprise twist: Gene is not just a backstabbing saboteur, he also has leverage over the ranking Patriots on site due to an unrevealed inroad with the mysterious Dr. Horn…who, as noted above, is comin’ to town.

To be continued!

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If you missed all of last season and would rather read about Revolution than spend hours playing TV catchup, the MCC recap of the season 1 finale has links to MCC recaps of all first-season episodes, for better or for worse. MCC recaps for the current season of Neville & Son are listed below as handy reference for fellow members of the fan club. Thanks for reading!

9/25/2013: “Born in the U.S.A.”
10/2/2013: “There Will Be Blood”
10/9/2013: “Love Story”
10/16/2013: “Patriot Games”
10/23/2013: “One Riot, One Ranger“