"JERICHO" RETROSPECT: (1.06) "9:02"This sixth episode of "JERICHO" picks up at the same moment where the previous episode, (1.05) "Federal Response" left off. In other words, (1.06) "9:02" started with the citizens of Jericho, Kansas witness the presence of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) soaring eastward over the town's skies, before the time period jumped another two weeks.Despite this exciting opening, I found myself wondering why the series' producers and screenwriter Nancy Won used "9:02" as the episode's title. I realized that it referred to the time in which the ICBMs sent an electromagnetic pulse that disrupted the electronic devices – cellphones, the Internet, television, radios, etc. - throughout the town. But what did it have to do with the episode's plot overall?Come to think of it . . . aside from all electronic devices in Jericho not working (save one), what was "9:02" about? There seemed to be at least three subplots at work in this episode. One of them involved the town's citizens failed attempts to assume some form of normalcy, following the ICBMs' disruption of Jericho's electronic devices. Kids have been stealing from Gracie's Market. And so has a new character named Mitchell Cafferty, who happened to be an old friend from Jake Green's delinquent past. Cafferty’s thefts have put him in the path of Dale Turner, the young shop assistant who managed to stumble across a supply of food for the store. Cafferty has also been stealing horses from various farms and ranches outside of town. When Jake and his mother Gail visit the Green family ranch to feed their horses, the latter is nearly trampled, when Mitch and a fellow thief are in the middle of a heist. This sends Jake on the warpath to take down his former friend. Robert Hawkins becomes aware of the enmity between Jake and Mitch and decides to investigate the pair’s past relationship.Meanwhile, Stanley Richmond is approached by I.R.S. auditor Mimi Clark for room and board in exchange for her labor on his ranch. During their conversation, Stanley discovers worms that have infested his corn crop. He tries to acquire pesticide from merchant Gracie Leigh. But she is only willing to give Stanley insecticide in exchange for profit from half of his corn crop. Even worse for Stanley, Mayor Green is willing to help him get the insecticide if he is willing to share his corn with the town’s citizens. In the final subplot, Allison Hawkins discovers that her father Robert possesses the only electronic device that is still working. She also discovers that he has a map of the U.S. locations that were bombed . . . and a gun. When Allison confronts her father, he decides to tell her that he is a government agent who knew about the September attacks. He also decides to teach her how to shoot. Father and daughter eventually begin to grow close.Many of these subplots proved to be interesting. And all of them proved to have an impact on the characters’ relationships, developments and the series’ main narrative. At first I had a hard time believing that the situation with Stanley Richmond’s corn crop had any future impact. But it did. One, Stanley’s desperation for the insecticide led Mimi to hire a few kids to steal it from Gracie’s Market. This act led to a visit to the Richmond farm by Deputy Bill Koehler, who reveals his aggressive nature for the first time in the series. This storyline also marked the first time both Stanley and Mimi display something other than hostility toward each other. And it exposed Gracie Leigh’s penchant for avarice, which proved to have an impact upon her character’s future development. Gracie and Dale’s encounters with Mitch Cafferty not only played a major role in their characters’ arc, it also revealed Jake’s past with the criminal. And this, in turned revealed how dangerous Jake could be – something that Robert Hawkins found very interesting.All of these subplots – Jake/Mitch Cafferty conflict, Dale/Mitch Cafferty conflict, Robert and Allison Hawkins’ relationship, and Stanley’s corn crop – end up having some kind of impact upon future story and character developments. The question remains . . . what did the episode’s title, which was an indication of when the ICBMs disrupted the town’s electronic devices, had to do with the plot? The lack of electronic devices seemed to have robbed Jericho’s citizens of a sense of normalcy, leading many of them to behave more irrationally or aggressive. But overall, the impact of no electricity seemed more like a metaphor of the disruption in the lives of the town’s citizens, instead of any real impact on the series’ overall narrative. And this is probably why I found the use of "9:02" as the episode’s title a bit weak.However, "9:02" did provide some interesting moments in the series. The episode featured two interesting conversations – one between Robert and Allison and another between Stanley and Mimi. Both conversations changed the relationships of all involved. "9:02" also featured an exciting action scene in which Jake and his brother Eric had a violent encounter with Mitch that I found rather suspenseful. Not only did I find myself wondering if Jake and Eric would be able to arrest Mitch. I wondered how Jake would react once they made the arrest. Needless to say, I was not disappointed by how that encounter turned out. But my favorite sequence proved to be the montage in which Jericho’s citizens arrived at the Richmond farm to help Stanley save his corn crop. After Jake greeted Robert in the middle of the cornfield, the following exchange occurred between the Hawkins father/daughter duo:Allison: [in reference to Jake] Is he a good man or a bad man?
Robert: Baby, there is no such thing.In that one line, Robert Hawkins said more about humanity’s moral ambiguity than any other person – fictional or real – ever has.Do not get me wrong. I enjoyed "9:02" a good deal. It was interesting to see how the ICBMs’ impact upon the town’s electronic devices affected the citizens. And the episode featured some very good performances, especially from Skeet Ulrich, Pamela Reed, Lennie James, Erik Knudsen, Jazz Raycole, Brad Beyer and Alicia Coppola. But if I must be honest, I wish that someone on the production staff for "JERICHO" had given this episode a better title. This sounds like a shallow criticism. But if one looked at the episode, the ICBMs’ impact upon the town seemed to have a minor impact upon the episode’s narrative, aside from the Robert and Allison Hawkins’ familial relationship.
Below is a list of my favorite episodes from Season One of the All Access CBS series, "STAR TREK: DISCOVERY". Created by Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman, the series stars Sonequa Martin-Green as Commander Michael Burnham: "FIVE FAVORITE EPISODES OF "STAR TREK: DISCOVERY" SEASON ONE (2017-2018)
1. (1.09) "Into the Forest I Go" - While ignoring Starfleet's orders, U.S.S. Discovery's commander, Captain Gabriel Lorca decides to use the ship's new core drive in an effort to help end the Federation's war against the Klingons.
2. (1.07) "Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad" - While the Discovery crew enjoy a party, an unwelcome visitor boards the ship to seek vengeance and bring about a series of bringing about a twisted sequence of events that involves a time loop. This episode has been recently nominated for a Hugh Award for writing.
3. (1.02) "Battle at the Binary Stars" - Incarcerated in one of the U.S.S. Shenzhou's brig for disobeying an order, First Officer Burham struggles to escape, while the ship is under attack by the Klingon Empire. Later, she joins her commanding officer, Captain Georgiou, in an audacious plan to prevent war.
4. (1.13) "What's Past Is Prologue" - With the U.S.S. Discovery still stuck in the mirror universe, Captain Lorca plots a coup against the Terran Empire's ruthless leader, the Emperor Philippa Georgiou. Meanwhile former Starfleet officer Michael Burnham struggles to find a way for the Discovery's return to their universe.
5. (1.11) "The Wolf Inside" - As the crew continue its deception as being a part of the Terran Empire, Burnham undergoes a merciless mission in hopes of helping the ship return home.
"JERICHO" RETROSPECT: (1.05) "Federal Response"
After my surprised delight over the narrative for the previous episode, (1.04) "Walls of Jericho", I wondered if my delight would continued into the next episode. I would not judge (1.05) "Federal Response" to be better than its predecessor. But it proved to be quite surprising . . . from a certain point of view.
I am not stating that I found "Federal Response" disappointing, as I did (1.03) "Four Horsemen", but I would not view it as one of the better episodes of Season One, let alone its first half. In this episode, the citizens of Jericho deal with mysterious messages from the Department of Homeland Security and several fires caused by a series of power spikes. The episode begins with a handful of Jericho's citizens playing cards inside Mary Bailey's Tavern at the break of dawn. The electricity, which had shut down in the previous episode, returns and telephones all over town start ringing. Jericho's citizens receive a recorded message telling everyone to remain calm and that help is on the way. The Emergency Alert System is put into place as televisions display a message ordering citizens to stand by for further instructions. Also, it seems that someone within the government has ordered the blockage of all computer IP addresses. Even worse, the town becomes plagued by a few power spikes. One of them blows up a transformer on the public library's roof, setting it ablaze and severing several power lines.
For nearly a decade, I had firmly believed that "Federal Response" was mainly about the series of fires that popped up around Jericho. And for the likes of me, I never understood what the fires had to do with the series' main narrative. Now, the fires did have something of an impact upon one subplot . . . namely the marriage between Eric and April Green. The series had already established that their marriage was strained and Eric's affair with tavern owner, Mary Bailey. When Eric and April's home is destroyed by one of the fires, the former discovers that his wife had filed for divorce before the September bombs in the series' pilot episode. This discovery led April to reveal that she had changed her mind about a divorce and wanted to give their marriage a second chance. So far, Eric has not made up his mind about that situation.
But what did the fires have to do with the series' main narrative? Not much. But it did drive forward another subplot that proved to be more important. After the Emergency Alert System has been put in place and the IP addresses are blocked, the mysterious Robert Hawkins uses a portable satellite transceiver in his backyard to access his laptop. While Robert works on the latter to send a message, Jake and best friend Stanley Richmond go to the local pumping station to give access to water for the firemen trying to put out the library fire. Once their mission is a success, Jake goes to the roof with Stanley's rifle scope to search for any other fires. Not only does he spot the fire that will consume Eric and April's house, he also spots Robert working on the laptop. More importantly, Robert sees Jake watching him. Later, Robert forces Jake to accept his help in trying to save Eric and April's house in order to ascertain what the latter knows. Later, Robert checks Jake's background and discovers that the latter has visited a series of countries and now has a flagged passport. In the end, both the Federal "response" and the fires allowed Jake and Robert to realize that neither is what the other seemed to be. And their realizations will eventually drive the pair to develop a future relationship that will have a major impact upon the series' main narrative.
Aside from the matter regarding Eric and April's strained marriage, other personal dramas featured in this episode drove the series forward. For the first time, Jake hinted the trauma of his past five years to his father. And for the first time, Johnston Green seemed more than ready to welcome back his recalcitrant son. Robert's family life remains strained, as he tries to discipline his older offspring Allison about her use of water. The teenager refuses to listen to her father, still resentful of the past. And Robert refuses to listen to his wife Darcy's warning about how to treat their children, hinting that he might be forced to leave again. Stranded IRS agent Mimi Clark tries to warn Mary Bailey that Eric might not be serious about her. Dale Turner and Skylar Stevens grow even closer, after one of the fires destroy the trailer where Dale lives. And Jake's reaction to Emily Sullivan getting injured by a fallen power line hints that he still harbors strong feelings for her. Rather surprisingly, all of these small, personal dramas will eventually have some impact upon the series' future narrative and subplots.
"Federal Response" also featured the usual first-rate performances. The episode featured solid performances from most of the cast. But the performances that really caught my attention came from eight cast members. The messy love triangle between Eric, April and Mary proved to be realistic and complex, thanks to the first-rate performances by Kenneth Mitchell, Darby Stanchfield and Clare Carey. Alicia Coppola gave an interesting and wry performance as the observant and sardonic IRS agent Mimi Clark, who believes she knows how the Eric/Mary affair will end. Both Gerald McRaney and Pamela Reed were excellent as Jake and Eric's parents, Johnston and Gail Green, in scenes that featured the pair's separate reactions to Jake's current presence in Jericho. But my favorite performances came from leads Skeet Ulrich and Lennie James, who did excellent jobs in conveying their characters' reactions to the current crisis and personal demons. More importantly, for the first time they truly hinted the strong chemistry that will make them one of the better action teams in science-fiction/fantasy television.
As I had stated earlier, "Federal Response" proved to be an interesting episode that managed to contribute to the series' narrative . . . by a hair's length. It also featured some solid performances, along with first-rate ones that include both Skeet Ulrich and Lennie James. But there is one thing I forgot to add . . . the episode also ended on an ominous note. The town's citizens felt a distinct rumble - as if the ground was shaking . . . before they rushed outside and spotted what appeared to be two ballistic missiles soaring through the night sky above Jericho.
"JERICHO" RETROSPECT: (1.04) "Walls of Jericho"The previous episode of CBS's "JERICHO" - (1.03) "Four Horsemen" - proved to be something of a disappointment for me. I felt certain that I would feel the same about the next episode, (1.04) "Walls of Jericho". Thankfully, my assumptions proved to be wrong. I would never regard "Walls of Jericho" as one of my favorite episodes of the series, let alone the first season. But I have to give credit to screenwriter Ellie Herman for creating one of the stronger narratives among the series' first batch of episodes. "Walls of Jericho"not only proved to be a very solid episode with a strong and centered narrative, it also contributed a good deal to the series' overall narrative.Jake Green and several other citizens of Jericho are at Bailey's Tavern, watching three scenes of a news report regarding the bombings over and over again, when the power dies. With no television to watch and no booze left, Mary Bailey orders everyone to leave. After Jake encounters schoolteacher Heather Lisinski on the street, they discover a man inside the local pharmacy, dying from radiation poisoning. With the help of Eric Green, Stanley Richardson and a few others; carry the man to the town's medical center. With no power for the hospital, Jake's sister-in-law, Dr. April Green reveals that gas is needed for the generator. While Jake and his friends scour the community for gasoline, newcomer Robert Hawkins forces his family to rehearse the cover stories he had created for the new identities they have adopted. He is recruited by Deputy Sheriff Jimmy Taylor to help maintain the peace in town. They interrupt a party held by wealthy teenager Skylar Stevens and Robert is unpleasantly surprised to find his daughter Allison there. Jake and the others successfully find enough gas for the hospital. They also discover that the stranger's name is Victor Miller, who had been driving Shep Cale's truck when he arrived in Jericho. Shep had been one of the four men who had left town to discover information from the outside. It is believed he had committed suicide. And unbeknownst to Jake and the other Jericho citizens, Robert knows Victor Miller.My main beef regarding the previous episode, "Four Horsemen" was its narrative. Although it continued the series' main narrative, it lacked a central plot of its own and the story seemed to be all over the map. I certainly cannot say the same about "Walls of Jericho". Two incidents contributed a great deal to the episode's narrative - the power outage and the discovery of Victor Miller. Both incidents led Jake Green and some of Jericho's other citizens to search for gasoline that could provide power to the local clinic. More importantly, Miller's presence in Jericho both centered the episode's plot, but also provided a major contribution to the series' main narrative - one that will resonate into Season Two. His presence also added another notch to the mystery that surrounded Robert Hawkins. Speaking of the latter, the search for gasoline and Miller's presence led Deputy Sheriff Jimmy Taylor to recruit Robert to temporarily help him maintain law and order in Jericho. And this act not only led Robert to reconnect with his daughter Allison in a very unexpected way, it will resonate later in the first season. See how everything seem to connect with the Victor Miller character and search for gasoline? This is why I feel that screenwriter Martha Mitchell made "Walls of Jericho" is one of the stronger episodes of Season One's first half.The episode also featured some very memorable scenes that featured strong acting. If I must be frank, I was not that impressed by the Green brothers, Stanley Richmond and Heather Lipsinski's search for gasoline. It seemed like the typical scramble for resources and survival that marked Season One's early episodes. However, I do admire how the screenwriters allowed this search added to one more notch in the decline of Eric and April Green's marriage. I thought it was a very subtle move on their part. "Walls of Jericho"did feature some very powerful scenes. One of them proved to be a minor scene between Robert and his young son, Samuel. It was such a minor moment near the end of the episode, yet it revealed just how damaged Robert's relationship with his family really was. Even more interesting proved to be Robert's interrogation of Victor Miller, once he found himself alone with the latter. I found it interesting due to Robert's discovery that a traitor existed within the mysterious group to whom he belonged. Yet, he later discovers that his son harbors very little trust in him. Another powerful moment featured a debate over whether or not to feed the dying Miller a drug to gather more information from him. Jake, Robert and Eric wanted to use the drug to revive Miller's consciousness in order to learn more information - even if this act will cause him pain. As a doctor, April opposed this action on the grounds of compassion. The conflict between pragmatism and compassion resonated strongly in this scene. This same conflict also played a part in a scene in which Jake had to shame Jericho's citizens into helping him search for a group of survivors that also might be dying from radiation poisoning, and in Gracie Leigh's refusal to contribute gasoline for the town's power generators. It is interesting how these three scenes featuring pragmatism vs. compassion ended differently. This conflict will prove to have a major impact on Gracie's story line, later in the season.I have very few problems with "Walls of Jericho". Actually, I only have two. If it were not for how it affected Eric and April's marriage, I found the gasoline search rather unoriginal and a little sophomoric at times. This episode also marked the showrunners' continuing attempt to create a romance between Jake and Heather - especially in a scene in which she unexpectedly encounters him leaving one of the clinic's showers. And despite the presence of a half-nude Skeet Ulrich, I still failed to sense any romantic spark between the pair. What can I say? Jake and Heather tend to generate a sibling-like vibe.Thanks to a strong narrative and interesting subplots, "Walls of Jericho" featured some first-rate performances from members of the cast. I was especially impressed by Kenneth Mitchell and Darby Stanchfield as Eric and April Green, Jazz Raycole as Allison Hawkins, Beth Grant as Gracie Leigh, and Candace Bailey as Skylar Stevens. But I believe the best performances came from Skeet Ulrich - especially in the scene in which Jake shamed the town's citizens for their lack of compassion; Adam Donshik, who had to portray the dying Victor Miller; and Lennie James, who added more depth to the mysterious aura of Robert Hawkins. Although "Walls of Jericho" featured an uninspiring potential romance and a search for gasoline that failed to grab me, I must say that it proved to be one of the stronger early episodes of "JERICHO". I have to credit fine performances from a cast led by Skeet Ulrich and Lennie James and a very strong narrative written by screenwriter Martha Mitchell for making this episode very fascinating . . . at least for me.
"JERICHO" RETROSPECT: (1.03) "Four Horsemen"
The last episode of "JERICHO", (1.02) "Fallout" ended with Jake Green and the citizens of Jericho, Kansas seeking shelter from a rain storm that might possibly be radioactive. This next episode, (1.03) "Four Horsemen", picks up several minutes later.
A great deal happened in this third episode of "JERICHO". And much of it proved to have consequences in later episodes. The episode began with farmer Stanley Richmond arriving at his farm during the rainstorm, only to find his sister Bonnie, Jake Green, Emily Sullivan, Sheriff Deputy Jimmy Taylor and Sheriff Deputy Bill Kohler seeking shelter inside his basement from the rain. Jake contacts his sister-in-law Dr. April Green via walkie talkie on what to do about Stanley, who may have been exposed to radiation. Meanwhile, Jericho's latest newcomer, Robert Hawkins, dons a Hazmat suit and goes outside to move a large metal container from his truck to a storage locker on his property. In one scene that went no further than this episode, some of Jericho's citizens briefly witnessed a Chinese media broadcast inside Mary Bailey's bar, before the broadcast went dead.
Once the rain stops, Jake contacts his brother Eric, who is at the town's only fallout shelter, to see about releasing those citizens who are stuck inside the town's only salt mine. Later, Jake convinces his father to send a group of volunteers to search for news throughout the Kansas countryside. Those volunteers include local businessman Gray Anderson, who has ambitions to become Jericho's next mayor. Jake becomes another volunteer. He manages to stumble across a plane filled with dead passengers that was forced to make an emergency landing and its flight recorder. Jake returns to Jericho with the flight recorder and finds evidence that the plane carrying Emily's missing fiancé had landed with all passengers alive.
As I had earlier stated, a great deal happened in "Four Horsemen". One important scene featured Robert moving the mysterious container to his property. This container, which nearly played a part in the apocalyptic disaster that struck the nation at the beginning of the series, would have an important impact upon Robert's family before the end of the first season and an even bigger impact upon the series' narrative by the end of Season Two. Jake's discovery that Emily's missing fiancé may have survived the bombings ended up being played out before Season One ended. Gray Anderson made another attempt to broadcast his intentions to become Jericho's next mayor will end up having consequences down the road. After his boss, storekeeper Gracie Leigh, donated a good deal of her supplies for a town square picnic; Dale Turner stumbled across a stalled freight train with a large supply of undelivered goods that will provide conflict among Jericho's citizens and other characters. And the road trip that led Jake to the downed plane also sent Gray across the Kansas countryside. The results of Gray's trip would alert Jericho's citizens on just how catastrophic the bombings proved to be for the country. But despite all of the action that filled the episode, I found it disappointing after the last scene faded from my television screen.
I certainly had no complaints regarding the performances in this episode. Both Skeet Ulrich and Ashley Scott continued the skillfully acted tension between the Jake Green and Emily Sullivan characters in one scene in which the former tried to convince the latter to join him on the road. Another pair of performances that caught my attention came from Lennie James and April D. Parker, who did an excellent job in conveying the emotional tension between Robert and Darcy Hawkins. Tension between characters seemed to be the hallmark in this episode. Gerald McRaney and Michael Gaston had a fascinating scene together in which the latter's Gray Anderson openly chastised McRaney's Mayor Johnston Green for the lack of more than one fallout shelter in Jericho. On the other hand, Brad Beyer definitely provided a great deal of sharp humor in his portrayal of local farmer, Stanley Richmond.
But the despite the action that pervaded this episode, along with the tension between several characters and the continuation of various story arcs; "Four Horsemen" failed to completely satisfy me in the end. What was the problem? Despite the many story lines that filled the episode, it had no main narrative. "Four Horsemen" started out focusing on Jericho's citizens waiting out the rain (which may or may not have been radioactive) and ended with the so-called "four horsemen" hitting the roads of Kansas. In other words, the narrative or narratives in "Four Horsemen" simply sprawled all over the episode. The rain story line, in my opinion, should have began and ended in the previous episode, (1.02) "Fallout". And I also believe that screenwriters Dan O'Shannon and Dan Shotz should have focused this episode on the citizens' need to learn more news about the bombings - leading to the departure of the "Four Horsemen" near the end.
I suppose there is nothing else I can say about "Four Horsemen". It featured a good number of story arcs that proved to be relevant for the main narrative of "JERICHO". And it also featured fine performances from a cast led by Skeet Ulrich. But the lack of a strong or centered story line in this episode led to a good deal of disappointment for me.
