Revolution NBC

“It’s going to turn off and it will never turn back on.”

Such is the ominous beginnings of NBC’s newest Fall TV hit Revolution. The show, produced by JJ Abrams, follows Charlie (Tracy Spiridakos) as she embarks on a journey to save her brother, who’s been captured by the continent’s new military power, and to figure out why the power went out – and if it can ever be turned on again.

Planes falling from the sky, entire cities powering down, and the globe going dark all happen within the first few minutes as we learn that family man Ben Matheson (Tim Guinee) somehow knows about the soon-to-be permanent power outage. Fifteen years later, Matheson – with daughter Charlie and her brother Danny (Graham Rogers) – live in a self-sustaining community where they have been forced to fend for themselves. Apparently, a side effect of using electricity forever means without it, nothing works; sickness without medicine, governments falling, even ice cream is no more.

We meet Charlie, the heroine of the series who wields her crossbow in Katniss-like fashion, after her life has been thrown into turmoil. The Monroe Republic (bad guys in black on horses) led by Captain Tom Neville (Giancarlo Esposito) ride into town, looking for Matheson and his brother Miles.