Jericho: Finale

Jericho ended the series with a bang, capping off what may have been the most successful long-form civics lesson with a generous helping of whiz-bang action, kick-ass characters and intriguing "what if" situations. This time, we were spared the cliffhanger ending, but there's still room for a TV movie, a move to cable, a comic or (shudder) endless fanfic.

A show divided against itself will not spoil.

The show doesn't waste any time getting to the meat of the matter -- no sooner have Jake and Hawkins discussed how dangerous it's going to be, how the bad guys know who Hawkins is now, how the Mission Is Everything, than they end up in Cheyenne, in Gray's hotel room. Remember Gray? The somewhat toadying mayor who went to Cheyenne to participate in the new Constitutional Convention? He's disillusioned by the process, so he's willing to listen when Jake and Hawkins tell him that things are going to hell back home. Jake urges him to leave the Federal District and go back to Jericho, where they need a leader who isn't in hiding.

Hawkins gets in touch with Chung, a fellow operative who's embedded in J&R. The trio figures out J&R will probably use an ambulance to transport the bomb to a disposal facility, then find the hospital. Hawkins and Chung storm the ambulance bay, but one of the drivers shoots back -- and then shoots his fellow agent. It's the mysterious John Smith! He kills Chung, wounds Hawkins, and is about to put a bullet in my favorite bad-ass's brain when Jake comes in, guns blazing. Exit one completely crazy, ill-thought-out plot point. Let us never speak of it again.

While Hawkins bleeds in the back of the ambulance, Jake careens it through the streets of Cheyenne, seemingly at random. Hawkins gets brilliant -- he gets Chavez on the phone, gets directions, and sends Jake through the gates of the Texas Embassy. Awesome! Chavez has the ear of the Texas governor, so the boys are granted asylum while the Cheyenne army is kept out. The Texans stabilize Hawkins, but he refuses to be taken to the hospital -- it's about the mission! That's all that matters! Did any of you include that phrase in  your Jericho finale drinking game? Because I hope you've saved up for a new liver.

They've got to get the evidenced to Texas, and that's where Jake's flight experience comes in handy. Hawkins wants to stay to try to delay the army (mission! Drink!) but Jake overrules him and loads him in the plane. It's a tense flight to the Texas border, and the guys are intercepted by a couple of Allied States fighter jets. We're a consular plane! You can't shoot us! Says Jake. Wanna bet? Say the fighter pilots. Just as they're about to shoot, the Texas Air National Guard comes roaring out of the sky and shoots the planes down. Holy crap! I wasn't expecting that. It's going to be full-on war now, with Texas joining the East-Coast government against the Allied States. Hawkins and Jake blather a bit about the new American Civil War, and how everything will change, and how they made history, and that's true, but it's sort of rubbing salt in the wounds, because we probably won't get to see it. Sigh.

Back in Jericho, Beck is instructed to initiate a Phase Three Operation -- entire sections of town will be declared centers of insurgent activity and anyone caught in those areas will be shot on sight. Eric thinks they've got to fight back , and he agrees to meet with the hated Phil Constantino of New Bern. He restrains himself from killing Constantino on sight -- hey, that's progress! -- and listens to Constantino's pitch -- we can fight these guys, but no more of this namby-pamby leaving survivors crap. The army is our enemy, and we can't leave survivors. Eric seems to be considering this... but fortunately, he's not that far gone. He won't take that step over to the dark side.

Stanley is tired of hiding -- he wants to bury Bonnie on the farm. He gets her body and several of the rangers dig her a grave. Some of Beck's soldiers come to take him in, but Mimi pleads for time, and they get 30 minutes to say their goodbyes.

But a lot can happen in 30 minutes... Beck drags Heather into his office -- how could you steal information from me! You're working with a terrorist! Heather says she believed Hawkins' story, so she had to help him -- just as Beck would if he ever heard the truth. Which, fortunately, Beck does -- his soldiers have bundled up all the evidence from Hawkins' truck, but they haven't sent it to Cheyenne yet. Beck gets the whole story and resigns his commission -- he tells the evil government he's no longer taking orders from them. When his men see the same evidence, they fall in behind Beck. They get ready for a firefight.

In the end, Gray breaks out Johnston Green's "Don't Tread On Me" flag -- it flies proudly in Jericho's main square. Thus always to tyrants. Beck, his men, the citizens of Jericho, the Republic of Texas, the remains of the country east of the Mississippi -- all will be arrayed against the corrupt government of Cheyenne. Pity we won't get to see it play out...

Highlights, thoughts and odds and ends:

• When Gray and an anonymous delegate bemoan what a sham the Constitutional Convention is, they specifically give a shout-out to the Second Amendment. "It's a lot easier to pacify a country when its citizens can't shoot back." I'm a Quaker-educated, East Coast-raised liberal, but the show almost makes me want to stock up on weaponry.
• Another impossible thing this show has done: It made me cheer for Texas. That never happens (Sorry, Editorial Andy -- even cool Texans like you  haven't been able to counteract that whole East Coast anti-Texas thing.)
• I loved that they gave Johnston Green the last word in Jericho. It seems right.
• Mimi and Stanley exchanged vows (sort of) by Bonnie's grave. It was sweet, but a little superfluous.
• I know they had to get the bomb to Cheyenne so we could have the awesome Texas Embassy scene (oh, I loved Jake panicking and begging them not to shoot, when he still didn't really know where they were), but I still think the John Smith plotline was ridiculous. I wish they'd come up with another way.

In the end, Hawkins remains a bad-ass despite the blood loss, Jake performed admirably as a hero created by circumstance, the citizens of Jericho rallied 'round the flag, and Beck saw the light. Did the finale wrap things up well for you? Are you satisfied, bitter, disappointed, giddy, a little of all? Will you lobby for Jericho to jump to another network -- or medium -- or do you think the show has run its course? Are there still people out there who think the show is a liberal Hollywood attack, even though it was a love letter to the Second Amendment?

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