Revolution Episode 1.08 Ties That Bind

It's night when Charlie, Miles and company approach a heavily guarded suspension bridge spanning the Allegheny River. Aaron wants to find another bridge, but the next closest is 100 miles away in Morgantown. The Militia torched all the others, and boats are torched on sight, thanks to Miles' strategy to protect Philadelphia back when he was in charge. Nora bribes a guard, then gives the others a nod; it's time to start the crossing. It's not long before Miles knows they're about to be ambushed and orders everyone to run on the count of three. Strausser orders his men to shoot, and our heroes run back in the direction they came, ultimately dead ending in an alley. With the Militia hot on their tail, they head for the rooftops.

When the heat is finally off, Charlie remarks that she's never seen weapons like those the Militia were using - machine guns. Miles knows the machine guns mean Strausser, the only man in the Militia he's truly frightened of. Now there's no way they'll make it across the bridge. True to form, Strausser kills his corporal when he delivers news of Charlie and Miles' escape. As the group heads off to the Morgantown bridge, a flare lights up the sky. A soldier yells out a message for Nora: the Militia has Mia. Ignoring Miles' warning that it's a trap, Nora takes off running. Ducking into an alley abutting Main Street, Nora is stunned to spy her younger sister Mia, bound, gagged and strung up from a streetlight.

Two months after the Blackout, 15-year-old Nora and 8-year-old Mia are hiding under a bed. Someone's in their house, someone with a gun. The girls don't get out from under the bed until morning. Telling Mia to wait in the bedroom, Nora finds their mother dead in the other room. Rather than tell Mia the awful truth, Nora claims their mother left a note telling them to meet up at their father's house. Back in the present, Strausser yells out to Nora: Mia's binds will suffocate her within the hour, unless Nora turns over the necklace and Miles.

Charlie, Miles, Aaron and Nora fall back to an abandoned building to regroup. Aaron can't understand how the Militia knows about the pendant, but Miles knows Nate (aka Jason Neville) told them everything. Miles orders Aaron to give him the pendant, then tries to smash it without success - the pendant won't break. Miles insists they can't turn over the pendant to Strausser; it's too dangerous. If Monroe gets hold of it, thousands will die. Nora steps in. They're not turning over Miles or the pendant to Strausser; she has a plan to get Mia and kill as many Militia as possible, but she's going to need help.

Back in Philadelphia, Neville finds Jason in a stable tied to a chair, being beaten by a guard on orders from Monroe. Rushing to Independence Hall, Neville interrupts Monroe, who's being briefed by Colonel John Faber on the illumination of the lighthouse. It turns out Jason bribed a stable hand for information on Strausser's whereabouts. Neville admits Jason is probably worried about Charlie and offers to "handle" him, but Monroe has already decided to heed Faber's advice to send Jason on a diplomatic expedition to the California Commonwealth, which everyone knows is a near-death sentence. In the end, Monroe offers Neville a choice: Jason goes to California or faces execution for treason.

Nora lights a fuse, which starts a chain of explosions in stores along Main Street. While the Militia scramble to attend to the fires, Nora and Miles free Mia, then run into the woods. Mia doesn't like Miles, nor does she like his plan to cross the river at Morgantown. Rather than walk 100 miles, bounty hunter Mia claims she knows a coyote who runs an illegal ferry 10 miles away. Suddenly, Miles spies torches - it's Strausser and his men! The group seeks refuge in an old drainage pipe.

Four months after the Blackout, young Nora and Mia walk on the beach in Galveston, Texas toward their father's home, which they find deserted. Upset that neither of their parents is there, Mia demands to know what's going on. Nora admits their mother is dead, but swears their father isn't. Not knowing what else to do, she tells Mia they'll sit tight until their father returns. In the present, Miles, Charlie and company climb to the roof of an abandoned factory to look for Strausser. Mia pulls Nora aside with news: she found their father, alive and well in Texas. Mia wants Nora to go back on her promise to Charlie and leave for Texas right now. When Nora insists that she made a promise to Charlie - it's about family - Mia points out that she is Nora's family, and going to Philly is suicide. The next day, the group reaches the coyote's location on the river, only to find him dead and his boat torched. Strausser must have beaten them there...

Julia visits her husband in his study - she's got something for him. She calls in their maid Rose, who also cleans house for John and Anita Faber, where she overheard that their son Stephen is working with the Resistance. Monroe is sending Jason to California for asking a stable hand one stupid question - what would he do if he found out about Stephen...? Back in Pennsylvania, Mia decides not to go with the others to the Morgantown bridge; she's going to head back to Texas, but not before putting the screws to Nora, in hopes she'll come along. Overhearing their conversation, Charlie tells Nora she's free to go. After all, they're not family. Nora silently picks up her pack, nods to everyone, then gives Miles a passionate kiss, telling him, "I'll see you around." For his part, Miles doubts it.

Monroe and Neville watch as Faber is tied to a chair and beaten in an Independence Hall prison cell. To think Stephen Faber had enough ordnance to blow them all to Kingdom Come! He was captured and executed with seven other rebels just outside the city. Despite the fact that Faber claims to be estranged from his son, how can Monroe know for sure - how can he trust Faber's loyalty? Neville has heard Monroe's implicit message loud and clear. Since Monroe now feels he owes Neville, he has reconsidered Jason's situation. Jason will remain posted in Philadelphia, as long as Neville keeps him in line.

Mia and Nora haven't gotten too far when they're surrounded by Strausser and his men. Telling Nora it's okay, Mia hands Strausser Aaron's pendant, then confirms she led Miles and the group to the ferry, just as Strausser asked. Nora is stunned to discover Mia made this deal in order to save both their lives. Once Strausser and his men ride off, Mia confesses she's been working as a bounty hunter for the Militia for the last year. Since the Militia knows who she is, once Strausser found her, she had no choice. And furthermore, she never found their father. When Nora insists she would never lie to Mia like this, Mia points out Nora lied to her about their mother's death. Nora turns on her heel and walks, telling Mia not to follow her.

Aaron stops walking, suddenly realizing the pendant is gone. He accuses Miles of stealing it, but Miles knows it was Mia, a point underscored by a hail of Militia bullets. Pinned down, Miles puts his hands up, offering himself to Strausser, unaware that Nora is infiltrating the soldiers' ranks. Miles buys time, chattering about Strausser's sociopathic tendencies, which allows Nora to grab a rifle and start shooting. She charges up to Miles and hands off her rifle, which unfortunately has no bullets. Miles does battle with Strausser, but has to leave the job undone in order to escape, jumping into the river with Charlie, Aaron and Nora.

That night, Miles approaches Aaron to talk about the pendant. All Monroe cares about is weapons, and if he gets hold of the pendant, thousands of people will die... all because Aaron couldn't tell that a girl had her hand down his pants. Meanwhile, Nora apologizes to Charlie; she shouldn't have trusted Mia, even though a couple of years ago, Nora would have done the same thing. Nora flashes back to her first night in Galveston with Mia. Mia asks if they're going to die. Nora insists that her only job is to watch out for her sister, to keep her safe. Meanwhile, Strausser turns over Aaron's pendant to Monroe, who promises a reward for his loyalty.

After checking on a badly beaten Jason, Julia joins her husband in his study. Jason's going to sleep for days, and surely, Monroe will sleep well tonight, thanks to Neville's hard work. Julia's worried: ever since Miles left, Monroe has become increasingly paranoid and erratic. Look what he did to Jason! And it's only a matter of time before he does something similar to Neville. Despite Neville's protests, Julia is convinced Monroe's not fit to lead. The Republic needs a real leader, someone strong, who isn't afraid to do what needs to be done. In Julia's opinion, Neville always underestimates himself; there is no limit to what he can achieve.

Monroe finds Rachel working in her lab, where she's hard at work building some type of machine. Her hands her Aaron's pendant, saying, "Now you have everything you need." Elsewhere, Randall pulls Grace out of her locked cell to see something important. He brings her to a bank of monitors containing several maps, tracking the pendants. Randall has been watching Ben's pendant, which took off for Philadelphia like a shot. Randall assumes Monroe now has it. And he's not going to do anything about it... but she is. Randall turns around to survey a giant room, filled with what might be an enormous super-computer. What is going on?