Why Not The Neville Republic?
One of the prevailing theories about what Kripke plans for Revolution is that, at some point, Neville is going to kill Monroe and take over as the big bad of the series. I am against it, but there are various pointers towards it:
- Julia with her red and purple colour scheme and her scheming is clearly positioned as the Lady Macbeth of the piece.
- Neville’s prominence in the plot.
- Monroe’s passivity by comparison. Although the main antagonist at the moment, Monroe is the Palapatine to Neville’s Vader. He is generally seen in his offices, generally giving orders but not acting on them and his habit of looking pensive about things instead of acting (which David Lyons is good at, but then he’s good at the punchy-punchy-stabby too).
- Giancarlo Esposito is a bigger ‘name’ than David Lyons and it is assumed was promised more of a headlining role than main minion.
I really don’t want it to happen. Why not? I’m glad you asked.
- Both Lyons and Esposito are intelligent, charismatic actors (have you seen Esposito’s smile at cons? It’s ridiculously charming). The problem is that Tom Neville is not a charismatic man. He is stiff and proper, very aware of appearances and discipline. It’s a role not devoid of a certain appeal, but at the moment he’s no replacement for the tragic, tormented and torn leader that is Monroe. His character just lacks the resonance.
- Neville is a bully and a coward. I don’t think this is even a particularly biased opinion - it’s been underlined multiple times on screen. Before the Blackout he was a meek, submissive man; after it was a weak man who hid behind power and violence. He batters his asthmatic, teenage prisoner. He brutalizes his men in staged fist-fights, designed to establish his physical dominance over people he knows won’t fight back. When his son disagrees, he beats him too. There’s nothing wrong with that character archetype, there’s a lot that can be done with it and Neville is also a dutiful man, fiercely in love with his wife and possessed of such a carefully constructed mask of contrived alpha male that you can actually see him carrying it.However, it isn’t a fan appealing subset of characteristics and, again, I can’t see him successfully taking over the space fan-favourite Monroe currently inhabits.
- For some reason, presumably in an attempt to appeal to fans, post-hiatus Neville has abandoned the subtleties of character. Instead of the very precise facade of a gentleman-warrior, he has become Strausser Mk 2: Return of Sexual Inappropriateness as the Shorthand for Being Actually Threatening. He sniffs the hair of sex workers, he refers to Charlie as a ‘pert bitch’ and any interest I had in the character trickles away.
- My main reason though is that it is a waste of both Monroe’s character and the relationship between him and Neville. The persona of Major Tom Neville is constructed in direct response to Monroe - we’ve seen that in the webisodes - so removing that rule that Neville measures himself against would be a mistake. As for Monroe, he’s an awesome character played by an appealing actor and fans love him. Why waste that sooner than you have to?
My solution?
I think it is clear that Neville is going to act against Monroe. His character arc is pointing to that like a destination on google maps. There’s no reason that he has to kill Monroe though. Spend some more time with the militia. In fandom at least the attempt to position the militia as bad and the rebels as good and never the twain shall meet hasn’t met with much enthusiasm. So give us some complex, loyal people around Monroe. We have Jeremy - for a while - and there have to be other people who think the Monroe Republic is the alternative to chaos and survival of the most bastardly. (Know who I want to see, the civil servants working for Monroe to get his ice and source his nice things and keep his sewers from filling the streets with shit).
Then schism it. Neville makes his move and wins - but the Monroe loyalists grab him and run. They claim the North, clinging to Canada. Then shifts everything on the board - new alliances, new loyalties, the resurgence of old loyalties. With Monroe injured and in need of help, could Miles kill him out of hand? Charlie frames her hate around Monroe, but it is Neville who was the visible source of everything bad that happened to her family. Who will she hate more when they aren’t aligned on the same side?
And, personally, I still think that Rachel and Bass had much more chemistry on screen than she does with Miles.
Meanwhile Neville can be the man striving above his capabilities as the new General of the Republic. Esposito is a great actor, that doesn’t mean he has to play a great man. Give him a flawed man who can be a great character and let him be subtle. Let’s see actual acting chops there.