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RSS'Jericho': The ominous Allied States of America
The plot thickens on Jericho -- we learn the Cheyenne government isn't just a vaguely creepy cult of personality, it's a vast, overarching conspiracy perpetrated by the sort of people who make Attila the Hun look like a tree-hugging, seal-smooching peacenik hippy. Plus, Darcy proves her smarts, Jake sees the light, and Beck starts to sense that something is amiss.
People get the spoilers they deserve.
The new president is coming to town, so the secret service is swarming. The Pres wants to address the fine folks of Jericho from Stanley's front porch, as it is apparently the only photogenic building left in Jericho (or the only outdoor set the production company really has left. Whichever.) While he's in town, Hawkins and Chavez make plans to expose the depth of the government's depravity.
Among the overt evidence that the Cheyenne government is bad news:
- They're distributing new textbooks (A New America: A Comprehensive History) with a whole section on the decline and fall of the first republic. In their version of history, America started to go wrong after World War II when we declined to bomb the Ruskies during the Cuban Missile Crisis and when we pulled out of Vietnam instead of bombing it back to the stone age.
- The president invites Gray to attend a new Constitutional Convention. Eric objects -- no one elected this guy, so how does he get to monkey around with the constitution?
- Journalists seems to be on a leash -- not reporting real news, parroting the press releases that the government puts out. That stuff about a potential plague being stopped by the Mississippi? Lies. Rumor has it people west of the river are dying, too.
Plus there are databases that cross-reference voter registration with face recognition software, overbearing Secret Service guys, and lots of none-to-subtle indications that this isn't the U.S. of A. that the good people of Jericho are used to.
When Chavez is pulled off to patrol duty, Darcy and Hawkins need to improvise. Darcy pinches a secure radio, which causes the Secret Service to put everyone on lockdown. This leaves the main command center lightly staffed, which allows Hawkins to break in and download the entire Government Database of Big Bad Secrets. He must have a hell of a big hard drive. (Wow, that sounded much more obscene than I meant it to.) He finds out that the Cheyenne government has evidence that the bombs that went off weren't manufactured in North Korea, but were instead decommissioned Soviet bombs.
The problem is, Chavez took one for the team by attacking the Secret Service guys before they could spot Hawkins, and he's the one with contacts in the Great Independent State of Texas. He's now in custody. Jake proposes a workaround: There's an ink-stained wretch of a journalist covering the president's tour, and he seems like he still has a heart, a soul, a spine, and other bits of physical and metaphorical anatomy necessary to take on the government conspiracy. The journalist initially pooh-poohs the idea of the public bothering to read the story at all, then gets infused with the spirits of Woodward and Bernstein and agrees to break the story. Problem is, he apparently called his editor on an unsecured line, and he has an extremely convenient heart attack. Jake is shocked, shocked that the government would do such a thing -- although if they were willing to kill millions in major population centers, I fail to see how he can be surprised that they'd off one snarky journalist.
Jake loiters around the police station when they transfer Chavez and smacks him around a bit until Beck has his soldiers pull him off. When Chavez is being transferred, Beck figures out that he must be a Black Ops guy, and immediately tries to track down the transport team. Too late -- they're dead. Jake passed Chavez the handcuff keys while he was roughing him up, and Chavez took it from there. He meets up with Hawkins and takes the flash drive with the evidence to meet his contacts in Texas.
Highlights, thoughts and odds and ends
- The Saga of Stanley and Mimi continues -- and hey, Bonnie's back! It's a good thing she's around, because Stanley can be a bit dense. He jokes that Mimi's friends better be prepared to buy the expensive stuff on her registry, not realizing that most if not all of Mimi's friends and family are dead.
- Bonnie continues her helpful streak, buttonholing a J&R operative to ask her to track down any surviving members of Mimi's family. There's aren't any. Oof.
- On a lighter note, how cute was Mimi rhapsodizing about bar codes and spreadsheets?
- Gray seems like his typical spineless self for much of the episode -- he doesn't ask any questions of the president, he doesn't care about the new textbooks rewriting history ("I don't think it's a problem for editors to have a point of view"), and he agrees to attend the Constitutional Convention. At the end of the episode, he reveals he's going so he can work from the inside. He wants to ask the uncomfortable questions about what's happening to the Constitution and such, but he needs to be there to do it. While he's gone, he appoints Eric interim mayor. The Greens are back in charge.
- I loved Darcy's quick thinking with the stolen radio. Instead of panicking, she manages to secrete it on an overlooked shelf in the office -- the sort of place it's plausible for someone to have left it and overlooked it. Nice improvisation, Darcy!
- There's one file in the Government Database of Big Bad Secrets Hawkins isn't able to open -- something called Project Boxcar. Ominous!
- Evil Overlord Valente tells Beck he's sending in a private contractor with experience in the area to take over administration of the town. Its Ravenwood, led by Goetz. He's the guy who tried to take the town back in season one, and left Jake with this threat when it didn't work: "You know, things are gonna get back to normal someday. The government will put itself back together. They'll want to help all you get back on your feet. And you know who they're gonna send to help you? Me."
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Zap2it Twitter Talk 
GREAT episode!!
JERICHO keeps getting better and better!!
I really miss Johnston though. :(
I think CBS made a BIG mistake in losing him.
Hell of a return. So far this season is better than the 1st. I hope it returns for a full season.
I had my doubts about Chavez, but he appears to be the real deal. I'm sure we'll see more of him soon.
Major Beck seems to know what Jake is up to, but doesn't do anything to stop him. I believe he will be a good ally.
Ravenwood's return can't be good for the town. I hope Ravenwood get what's coming to them.
I'm definitely digging this season's stripped down approach. Since they only got 7 episodes, they are packing each one with a lot more action and information and keeping the fluff from last season to a minimum. I had just thought to myself that we hadn't seen the kid from the first season when it looks like he'll be back next week. Also, they picked a good guy to be the "President". He's just the kind of weasly guy you'd expect to be in "power" during this sort of crisis. Meanwhile, the real power is a **** Cheney look-a-like. Can't wait to see what happens next.
The writers have done a good job in keeping the action moving while retaining at least some of the townfolk we so came to love. The new government is so EVIL, a real opportunity for CBS to hammer home their political beliefs. However, all I see is all the more reason to be vigilant from propoganda from both sides and get your own gun.
Well, I knew that CBS would be ramping up the violence and intrigue this season, since they moved to the 10 PM time slot and had only 7 episodes ordered. I know most people really like the new direction of the series (unlike the new direction of the stripes on the new flag), but I have to say I'm disappointed.
It's like the producers decided that the "family" would be left out of this drama. Mama Green was conveniently MIA from town this week (she's in San Fran looking after Eli Stone;-)), no more school kids, no Allison or Samuel Hawkins, etc. Sorry, but it just seems like everything has turned into the Poor Man's Version of "24".
Let's see: Robert Hawkins= Jack Bauer
Darcy= Chloe O'Brien (the smart helpful female)
Jake= Tony/ Chase/ Curtis (loyal sidekick)
Emily= Kim Bauer (stupid, useless female)
Gray= this year's incompetent CTU director
Evil President from "Father of the Bride"= President Logan
Last year, the producers said that Jericho was a UNIQUE show because it focused on how regular families would survive if a national tragedy/ nuclear explosion happened. This year the writers gave us a retread of all the conspiracy storylines that have happened on "24", especially in season 5. Don't get me wrong-- I love all the intrigue, treason, back-stabbing, car chases, etc. that occur on "24". That show focuses on PLOT advancement, while most of the secondary characters are dispensable (mostly killed off). Jericho started out focusing on the development of the characters, their relationships, blah, blah, blah. In last night's episode, I cared mostly about Stanley, Mimi and Bonnie planning the wedding and trying to search for any living relatives. :-(
Oh, well. At least the writers are giving us the answers that they brought up last season. I agree with LIBERTY's comment that CBS is probably invoking more paranoia about not trusting anyone, especially the government (which means grab your shot gun and form a militia?).
Also, I hate to keep nitpicking, but Eric continues to be STUPID and hypocritical. He had just told Gray that he didn't trust Tomarchio because he was never elected to be the president (so his position should be illegitimate). Then moments later, Gray tells him that he's APPOINTING Eric to be the acting mayor while he's attending the Constitutional convention. Eric, you were NOT elected to be the town's mayor either. In fact, isn't Eric ***uming a position of power without an election? How long is Gray supposed to be out of town? Weeks? Months? Why couldn't the town's Councilmen (or village board) VOTE on who would take over Gray's job, even if only temporarily. Eric has been shown to be emotional and hot-headed in the past!
the ratings dont seem to be to good for Jericho so im not getting my hopes hope for a third season, but dosnt mean im ganna quite watching, I love this show.
ok, so i just started watching jericho just this past week after a friend suggested it to me and since i have nothing else to watch (thanks writers). I actually watch the first season in two days giving the show a chance and getting hooked by the 13th episode or so. And finally watched the new episode last night and thought its getting very interesting. One of my pickles with the show's 1st season was that i didn't really care about the fluff they kept sticking in...i wanted to know what was happening with the country and New Bern and Hawkins. I think hawkins is one of my favs. Anyway, last night i loved because it gave no real fluff and things were progressing. Thank god for darcy. i hated her last season but i loved her after last nights episode. I hope we really get to solving this cheyanne/texas thing i would just die if it comes to the 7th ep and i still have no answers. Ok and ravenwood scares the heck out of me and i am a bit nervous for the town. Oh and i miss johnston!
Paige, I had to laugh at your "24" comparison, even if I don't necessarily agree with all of it. For one thing, Emily can't possibly be compared to Kim Bauer, as Emily doesn't say "like" every other word and doesn't have the type of whiny voice that would turn the Pope into Jigsaw. The rest of it, though, I do see as valid. Really, if this is Jericho's only sin (copying the action-oriented plots of another show), I'll be willing to let the writers by with a mere slap on the wrist. It's still a lot better than I thought it was going to be. I thought I'd miss Johnston, too, but as a second episode p***ed without his presence, I suddenly realized...I actually don't. Maybe it's just me not being a Gerald McRaney fan, I don't know. Now I do miss a few of the other cast members that have yet to make appearances (if they will at all), but for the most part, the paring down of the cast list hasn't harmed the show too much. The only major problem I'm having with the plot to date is that everything seems to be moving at an almost ridiculously fast pace, in terms of things getting back online and back to (relative) normal. I realize there are contingency plans in place in case something like the nuclear bombs going off does actually happen, but I get the feeling that a flyspeck town in Kansas would not suddenly become the focal point of two opposing versions of New America. Unless there was oil there...then World War Three would likely break out and the impending marriage would get shoved way, way into the background. That's my only problem; otherwise, I've been very happy that Jericho's back!
I hope everyone knows that Gail won't be back (she's on ABC's Eli Stone now)...they already conveniently wrote her out of the show.
Paige, you have some valid points, but remember that
1) "Jericho" was actually cancelled. I'm sure from the point-of-view of the network, one reason was that the "family stuff" (what some here are calling fluff) wasn't working, at least not as well as they had hoped.
2) The show was brought back on a trial basis, for only 9 episodes. I'm sure one of the conditions is a reduced budget. See Sarah J's comments about the outdoor set. A cut-back cast is surely another effect.
3) If the ratings warrant, though like Scotty B. I'm not getting my hopes up, they can always expand back out and re-introduce characters (except for actors who've moved on, like Pamela Bellwood) in Season 3.