Damn. Why wasn’t this show as good at the beginning as it is now? Maybe the producers are panicking a little bit about the uncertainty of a second season and have decided to pull out all the stops. Whatever the case, this week continues “Jericho”‘s roll of excellent episodes.
This was a very Green-heavy week – Jake and Eric are still in prison, Johnston finds out about it and goes after them, and Gail gets a lot of face time both as a result of her work in the hospital and her sketchy relationship with Eric’s girlfriend, Mary – but, of course, Hawkins gets some face time as a result of having gone with Jake to rescue Eric, and we also visit with Dale and Skylar for a bit, too.
The Greens
I gotta say, I spent a decent amount of the episode not entirely sure that Eric was going to still be among the living by the time the closing credits rolled; I really liked the way they kept things uncertain on that front. I’m also consistently amused by the fact that, although Jake’s clearly the bad boy of the family, his dad is clearly still the biggest badass in the gene pool; Gerald McRaney has been consistently impressive with the way he walks that line between being a good ol’ boy and being a guy you’re rather intimidated by. I have to say, though, that what I wasn’t overly impressed with was the return of Maggie; she seems a lot less witty and entertaining now than she did in her initial appearance. As far as Gail and Mary, I’m glad that they didn’t just provide an automatic reconciliation and an instant happy ending; that it’s taking awhile for them to have some respect for each other actually feels rather realistic.
Hawkins
Actually, I guess he doesn’t necessarily need his own individual write-up here, since his appearances were all tied in to the Greens, so I’ll just say that, as an agent, I would’ve expected him to be a bit more skeptical about Maggie’s story when she came running up to them. But whatever.
Dale and Skylar
Damn. Dale’s just got the look of one of those guys you’d describe as “quiet, kinda kept to himself a lot” after he’s done something really, really awful…and he’s only getting more bitter. That whole “you and me against the world” attitude is gonna get him killed soon. I just sense it. Meanwhile, Skylar’s becoming more and more sensitive since the incident with the Mayor about trying to declare her parents dead. How long ’til they come back? Because you know that at least one of them will. You just KNOW it.
Anyway, next week looks to be another nice, dark episode as well. New Bern vs. Jericho, winner takes all. All I’m saying is, they better wrap this shit up in the season finale, because if there’s no second season, I’m gonna be pissed if things end in a cliffhanger…
Closing note: I went to the show’s Wikipedia entry to confirm the name of a character, and, um, did anyone else realize that the morse code you hear when the show’s title card pops up is different each week? There’s a separate Wikipedia page for each episode, and they indicate what’s been said in code. This week’s was “We Pledge.” Is this information being posted elsewhere, or is there just a morse code expert out there who’s writing up the entries each week…? Either way, it’s a pretty cool maneuver by the producers, and I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to become aware of it.
