Summary
“Chapter Eight — The Rebellion” predictably doesn’t really end, but it does boast some major plot swerves and solidly-shot action, and a second season seems pretty justified to me.
This recap of La Revolution season 1, episode 8, “Chapter Eight — The Rebellion”, contains spoilers. You can check out our thoughts on the previous episode by clicking these words.
You probably don’t need me to tell you this, but no – it doesn’t end properly. This is basically a standard feature of Netflix original series’ at this point, and while it’s lamentable, you can also argue that La Revolution deserves a continuation, and the best way of getting one is to leave half of the plot unexplained. Having said that, “Chapter Eight – The Rebellion” really does feel like a finale, with all the requisite skirmishes, shocking developments, and major moments. A few unanswered questions seem reasonable in the face of all that.
Anyway, La Revolution episode 8 opens with Marie being presented as bait for Donatien, along with a note, while everyone else readies themselves for all-out war. Again, this feels very finale-esque, and it’s clear that Madeleine is going to be an integral part of the proceedings, especially after the penultimate episode’s revelation about her parentage. Ophelia even leaves the Fraternity to protect her back at the estate as the revolution really starts to get underway, with Elise right there at the head of the line with Marianne. This is probably just as well since Ophelia arrives right on time to save Madeleine from one of the infected noblemen.
And then it all kicks off. This chaos is perfectly welcome, for a couple of reasons. One is that the show is simply excellent at staging it. La Revolution has consistently looked great and continues to here in “Chapter Eight – The Rebellion”, really embracing the carnage but also smartly dotting it with little character moments, such as Joseph continuing to be a doctor, first and foremost.
There’s a palpable sense of escalating despair in all this, with our heroes gradually losing ground, threatened with being overwhelmed. And it culminates in a properly shocking development as Ophelia betrays Team Peasant, shooting and stabbing Elise, fatally. She leads Donatien away, and he later kneels before Louis XVI and his gnarled Nosferatu fingers. It’s a pretty major arrival, though we see very little of him beyond those hands.
Of course, it’s Elise’s death that serves as the inciting incident for this version of the Revolution. The French flag is raised by the rebels. The real fight has just begun.
In the meantime, Madeleine is taken to the Bastille on Louis XVI’s orders, where she’s taken before her “perfect twin”, the ghost girl she has been seeing all season, the Patient Zero from whose sickly veins the blue blood is being siphoned. The entire room is lined with jars of the stuff. As Madeleine’s emotions get the best of her and her telekinetic powers begin to rumble the furnishings, the creepy scientist type conducting this process smiles. Madeleine, he thinks, is beginning to understand. But is the audience?
Well, no, not really. La Revolution season 1, episode 8 doesn’t really explain much about Madeleine’s true nature, and it left many other questions unanswered too, such as what the deal was with Oka’s powers and why Elise couldn’t be revived with the blue blood. But these are, I suppose, questions for another time. With a genuinely surprising character turn, a major, unexpected death, and plenty of scope for a continuation of the story, La Revolution bows out in “Chapter Eight – The Rebellion” as a likely candidate for continuation. Unless Netflix gives it the chop, that is, which is a possibility we must consider, even if it’s only for the sake of irony.
What did you think of La Revolution season 1, episode 8, “Chapter Eight — The Rebellion”? Comment below.
