Second episodes are always tricky beasts, they either keep the momentum going or they fall flat on their face trying to explain everything, but Revival's second episode "Keeping Up Appearances" lands somewhere in the middle of that spectrum. After the brilliant pilot that had me hooked with its clever take on the zombie genre, this episode takes a more measured approach, focusing heavily on character development while the mystery elements take a bit of a backseat but still adding to them, branching out with more mistery to investigate like why Em died and who supply her with tons of durgs??. The episode opens with Em waking up in a creek, spitting out a ring which immediately sets up more questions than answers and frankly thats exactly what we need at this stage of the game, the show is clearly not interested in giving us easy solutions. What really works here is how the writers handle Em realization that she's different now keep in mind at this point she doesn't know anything about revivers but something feels off, her attempts to get high fail miserably, drugs don't work on her anymore and when she cuts herself the wound heals instantly, its a nice touch that shows how being a reviver affects every aspect of them, this is going way beyond just some type of Zombie, seems simple and brilliant at the same time. The scene where she punches the mirror and her hand heals while the mirror stays broken is a perfect metaphor for her situation, she is healing but everything around her is still shattered, are all human problems can only be solved if one become a reviver? no drugs, no pleasure, more appreciation for life itself, think about it?!. Dana's reaction to learning about her sister's condition feels real too because its this mix of sadness, humor and caring for her little sister, the shock and confusion are played really well by Emelanie Scrofano who continues to be the emotional of the show. The way she tries to protect Em from the police while dealing with her own professional responsibilities creates some nice tension, even if it doesn't quite reach the heights of the previous episode's climax.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13951052/
- Platform: Peacock
The hospital sequence with old Arlene coming back to life is where the episode really kicks into gear, the idea that revivers can regenerate from having their scalp completely removed looked terrifying, specially when her brain starts to regenerate, I knew and was expecting this to happen in a good way. Steven Ogg's introduction as Blaine adds more mystery to whats to come next, his cryptic comments about gates of hell opening suggest there is something much bigger going on here than just random resurrection. The way he appears with the baby after Arlene's rampage got me thinking first how the fuck and second why? how did he end up with the baby? does he have any powers over revivers or certain revivers, see how this series just keep generating questions by the minute that keeps you thinking, oh lord keep this writer safe and healthy because he is the BOSS!!!. The maternity ward sequence was very creepy and intense as its such a delicate place to have a crazy zombie like Arlene running around on top with her super powers but then gently hold a baby before running off with it creating this situation between nurturing and menacing behavior. Ibrahim's autopsy scene earlier keeps giving us detail on how the reviers ability to regenerate work, this becomes crucial when we learn about Em's brittle bone disease later. The hospital chase feels a bit rushed though, like they wanted to get through the action quickly to focus on the character stuff, which is fine but it does make the pacing feel slightly uneven throughout the episode. Wayne's growing hostility towards revivers becomes more evident here and knowing that his own daughter is one of them adds this tragic irony to his character that the show is clearly building up, its amazing how the show keeps on adding and building up on this characters and the revival event. The aftermath of the hospital incident had everyone debating whether to lock up all revivers, feels very timely and relevant to current social issues.
Em's drug complex situation is handled with a lot of sensitivity, its not your classic thrown in jail or slap the F out of you situation as big sister, mostly because how good of big sister Dana is to Em, also the fact that Em can't get high anymore becomes another way her reviver situation isolates her from normal human experience and the discovery of her stash leads to some great sister bonding moments. The conversation between Em and Dana about their mother's death adds needed context while also explaining why Em was at the bridge that night, the timing being the anniversary of their mom's death makes her presence there feel organic rather than coincidental and give more clues to the hole situation. Dana's investigation into the drug supply chain leads her to discover that Em's roommate Kay has been arrested for drug offenses, which opens up another thread of mystery about who Em was really involved with before her death, to all this lets add the very dramatic situation when Em was driving when their mother died adds a ton of guilt and trauma to her character, explaining why she turned to drugs in the first place and why she is struggling so much with coming back to life. Professor Wymer's scenes with Em at the bar feel a bit melodramatic but they serve their purpose in drawing the line in the sand that he wasn't involved in her death and that their relationship had ended badly. The ring that Em vomited up turns out not to be his, which eliminates one suspect while adding another mystery to the pile, whose ring was it? and why did she have it in her mouth when she died?. Em's confrontation at the bar came out of rage, it was not about fighting it was about feeling pain and overcome it, sings that she is getting fed up with everythig going on and even makes me think she could turn out violent in the future, its a dark but understandable response to her situation. The introduction of Roadie as another reviver gives Em someone who understands what she's going through and his invitation to join his band, based on his appeariance and his idgf expression makes him a loose canon, Em is about to make some questionable choices, he reminds me a lot of how aged modern vampires think and look on movies, they are superior and know can out run 99% of humans so they dont need money or power, all they need is time.
The family drama continue to be one of the show's strongest elements, Wayne's protective instincts towards Em because of her bone condition create this tragic irony now that she is actually indestructible and his growing anti reviver agenda makes the situation even more heartbreaking. Dana's struggle to balance her professional duties with protecting her sister feels real and the way she lies to cover for Em shows how far she is willing to go to keep the family together. The way Em uses her condition to feel alive again through violence is a bit worry and distrubing but generate the perfect effect and makes a lot of sense for someone who is so devastated and have found an escape gate to finally say fuck it let all hell loose, she also finally beats one of her worst fear and its her brittle bones and wanted to test her new limits. Ibrahim's character continues to develop nicely, his outsider perspective on the town's problems provides a good counterpoint to the locals reactions and he also has this weird friendship with Dana that will most likely end up into something more intimate. The political maneuvering between Wayne and the mayor over how to handle the reviver situation feels real because any other politic would want to take advantage of the situation, different people would absolutely have different opinions on how to deal with this situation. Kay's final revelation about knowing Em's killer is just so beautiful, creating such a huge cliff hanger without feeling forced or manipulative and setting up whats comming up so nicely and smooth as the story keeps expanding the world while keeping the focus on the main characters and the multiple subplots that keep coming up.
Episode 2 of Revivals feels like a solid addition if not spectacular follow up to the pilot that does exactly what it needs to do in terms of character development and world building, even if it doesn't quite match the energy and excitement of the first episode, and this is probably because of one single scene, the Arlene chase at the hospital if it was a bit longer would probably be as good or better than the pilot. The slower pace allows deeper character exploration specially with Em's journey of self discovery and Dana's struggle to protect her family while doing her job.
There are also the mystery elements that keep expanding enough to keep me interested without feeling like its a never ending situation and the introduction of new characters like Blaine and Roadie does promise things going to get spicy. I think about it and cant figure out how they just not rushing things out, the episode does take its time to let the characters process their own situations like what Em is doing at trying to figure out what happen to her but after the bar fight I think thats not relevant for her anymore, she really cared about her romantic situation with Professor Wymer but now that its out of the page her character probably going to turn darker on the inside. The cliffhanger ending is effective without being cheap and the setup for future episodes feels like natural build up rather than forced. Overall its a great episode that serves its purpose in the larger scale while keeping the character development and different investigations going on at once, honestly this might turn out to be one of the best series of 2025.
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