[JER] 9:02

TV Programme: Jericho
Season: 2
Episode: 6
Date I watched this episode: 10/07/2009
Time since I last watched this programme: 6 days.

Every fast-paced show needs a slower, character-focussed episode once in a while, and this was Jericho's first. Still, given the thrilling climax to the last episode, I had quite high expectations here. I expected that we'd see the broadcast from Washington DC, maybe even find out a little about what those missiles were doing. Instead this was blown all to hell by the EMP device, but this event was almost incidental and did not seriously create a sense of threat and danger, due to the fact that we casually time-jumped to "2 weeks later". (I thought they would use a flashback device to re-tell the earlier story, but no such luck).

This episode served to shed light on Jake's past. Jake didn't intend to stay in Jericho for this long, and the fact that he has done so has led to fairly dire consequences. We saw Jake's past both in dialogue, especially with Mitch, and also reflected in the current plight of Dale. Dale is taking unjust means to just ends, and is clearly not an intrinsically evil person, but shows how easily Mitch's gang corrupt. Dale "made a deal with the devil" so to speak, to try to help Gracie.

As for Mitch himself, he is your stereotypical cocky thug, showing exactly what Jake must have been like before his extended absence from Jericho. However there are still elements of that old person in Jake, particularly seen in his willingness to take matters into his own hands in order to protect his family. He even threatens to kill Mitch, but he must know that going down that road would lead him back to where he started. That said, the justice system in Jericho now is a bit ad-hoc; there is no real oversight, no courts or trials, and they just need to learn to make their own rules to fit the situations.

The other main story of the episode was less exciting: namely the story about Stanley's corn. While Stanley and Mimi have been growing ever closer, she clearly doesn't understand him with her action to steal the pesticide for him; and she must be crazy if she thinks she is going to get anywhere by doing this. Stanley, on the other hand, was kind of victimised in this episode, both by Gracie (who again and again shows her heartless, cold nature) and Johnston/Gail (whom I was more shocked about). However, it was a strange situation because Stanley is clearly looking out for his own survival and livelihood, but also has to take into account everyone else's. This story led to a cheesy, cringe-worthy scene near the end where everyone helped with the harvest set to happy-clappy music.

I guess we are supposed to assume that Rob Hawkins was the one who set off the EMP. He sent out a message saying "I'm compromised", perhaps referring to Jake's inquisitive nature, but Jake doesn't really know anything yet. We really don't know much about Rob's endgame at this point, but an earlier episode showed him sending the message "The rally point is no longer secure", making me think that Jericho is some sort of rally point for a future plan during the conflict.

Perhaps more intriguing (though not particularly compelling) is Rob's family situation. Rob has clearly only recently come back to his wife and kids, and under very ominous circumstances. His kids in particular don't seem to know very much about him. I would guess that he has been forced to go back with them to maintain his cover. The new partnership between him and his daughter is an interesting development, although I find that Darcy and the children are not particularly good characters anyway.

It remains to be seen whether episodes in the near future will focus more on the stories of this episode or those of the previous five. The town still hasn't found the food, which will cause problems for Gracie's store. And Mitch darkly alluded to a leader of the gang in the final scene, whom Mitch said would be coming after Jake, so that whole thing definitely isn't over. There is still much to come and much potential for this show.