1.15 - Semper Fidelis
Opening Morse Code - THEY WILL NEED IT
From CBS.com:
When U.S. Marines come to town, the citizens of Jericho consider what their lives will be like when law and order is restored and the nation begins to recover from the bombings. The soldiers also bring word of a great victory by the military in the war abroad. But not all is what it seems as Jake and Johnston begin to ask some tough questions. Meanwhile, Hawkins discovers that Sarah may not be who he thinks she is.
Originally aired: Wednesday March 14, 2007 on CBS
Writer: Stephen Scaia & Matthew Federman
Director: James Whitmore
Recap below the fold…
Jericho, Semper Fidelis, TV, television, CBS
People are leaving Jericho, and Johnston is trying to convince them to stay, but he’s failing because they don’t see as they’ve got anything to stay for, with all of the resources in Jericho dwindling away to nothing.
Stanley, Mimi, Gray, Roger, Emily and others are going over the now infamous numbers on the blackboard, and Gray and Roger start arguing about keeping the refugees around. Gray sees them as a drain on the town’s resources, and Roger sees them as valuable members of the community. As they’re arguing, Johnston comes in to tell them that the group are about ready to leave, and Gray takes it personally, saying that there’s no way that the town’s going to make it through winter without something happening, and that “they’re” going to have to make some hard decisions, citing his opinion that the last ones in should be the first ones to go, e.g., the refugees that came in with Roger.
Man, this guy doesn’t realize how big of a hole he’s digging for himself as the Duke Nukem of Mayors. He seems to have good intentions for protecting the town, but there’s that old axiom of the Road to Hell being paved with them, and Gray’s building the freaking Yellow Brick Road here with human life.
Jake’s still recovering from his bit o’ hypothermia from the last episode, snoozing in the Green living room, when he’s woken by the house rattling. Eric, on horseback, rides onto Main Street telling everyone to clear the streets, as Jake gets up to look out the window. Cutting back to Main Street, some Marines and their tank show up, rounding the corner and stopping right in front of Town Hall and asking who is in charge, which gets Gray off the steps and down onto the street to introduce himself.
On a sidenote, what’s with the hand-signals to stop marching? They’re not on some secret reconnaissance, they’re in the middle of a town street, surrounded by people… ok, it’s just me, then.
Gray introduces himself, and the Sargent of the Marine group responds in kind. When Gray looks a little confused at the Alphabet Soup that the Marine gives out for his group, the Gunnery Sargent responds with, “We’re the US Marines, and we’re here to help.”
What seems to be the entire town (or who’s left in it) comes out to see the Marines, including Gail and Jake, separately. Above the murmurs of the crowd, the Sarge is telling Gray and everyone that they are prepping surrounding towns for the Army Corps of Engineers after they won the war. What war? Gray (and I) ask, and the Sarge responds, telling them we nuked the hell out of Iran and North Korea, who presumably who attacked us. Terrorists brought the nukes into the US, but they got “the big dogs” of the two countries. Eric asks the Sarge what happens now, and when the Sarge says that the former Secretary of HHS (someone help me with this acronym) is in charge, and Jake ruins it by bringing up that they’d heard that there were six different people vying for the President’s position, and all the Sarge says is that has been resolved and that the government has been reunified with the new capital being Columbus, Ohio. He goes on to say that they’re working on getting each town one by one back on the grid with power and everything by the end of the year, which sends everyone to a happy place, the likes of which probably haven’t been seen since V-E day in Jericho. Stanley gets a little tweaked when he sees Bonnie making out with that hipster kid she picked up before the hiatus, but Mimi gets him to let it go as Jake starts giving them grief about getting a room.
The Hawkins Family haven’t obviously heard the Marines coming into town, as Hawkins is grabbing boxes and the rest of the family is packing everything up. Sara comes back from filling up the vehicles, and when she asks how it’s going, Darcy responds coldly with a “We’re ready when we’re ready”. Sara, with nothing other than a sly look at Hawkins, blows it off and goes to get the rest of her things from downstairs. Allison makes a smart comment about how many times they’re going to have to move, and Hawkins says that this should be it. Allison looks a little shocked, and in her best teenager replies with a “You’re going to stay in one place from now on?” which Hawkins has no response for.
The Sarge and Johnston are bonding over Military stuff and Johnston asks him how long it will be until the Army Corp of Engineers are going to get to Jericho, and the Sarge responds with a “Could be two days, could be two weeks” but asks them to get a wish-list together of everything that they’ll need to get up and running again. Gray offers the Sheriff’s office as the Marines’ Command Post, and Mary Bailey comes up to offer the tavern as a liberty call, and the Sarge sends his boys off for some of her ’shine, after one of the PFCs calls the Sarge “Sir”, which, dude, he’s a non-commissioned officer, not an officer. To say that there’s something fishy here might be a tad obvious, but we’ll see.
What looks to be the only woman PFC, Maggie, asks if there would be a place to scavenge for parts to fix their radio, which got wiped out some time back. Jake steps up to offer his help for that, saying that he’s not an expert, but he can improvise.
Down in the basement, Sara’s using her Mystery Decoder PDA to say that she’s close to the package to whoever it is that wants it. Yeah, I thought it was the guy that she killed in the alley, but obviously not. Hawkins comes down as she’s putting it away to say that he’s re-thinking the idea of leaving his family again. When she pulls out that it never mattered before about his family, he replies with a “It does now”. When Sara makes a comment about the fact that it’s going to take Darcy’s throat being slit for him to “get it”, Hawkins pulls an about-face and agrees to drop the family off at the safe house, and he and Sara to keep moving. He looks a touch distracted for a moment, then kisses her.
My god, man, please tell me that you realize she’s going to kill you once she finds out where you’ve hidden the bomb, and you’re stringing her along as she’s trying to do to you.
Bailey’s Tavern is even more hopping than usual, with the town coming out to welcome the Marines. Mimi and Stanley have a place at the bar, and Mimi’s happy about the fact that the government’s back up and running, because that means that there’s going to be paperwork and accountants again. Stanley grimaces, saying that he’ll be in debt again, and she tells him not to sweat it, because New York made it. After her comment that by next year, she’d be walking in Central Park again, Stanley shakes his head and doesn’t say a word.
Bonnie’s Beau, Sean, AKA the Hipster Kid, comes up and exclaims that he could totally be a Marine. Stanley, of course, can’t let that one slide, and starts harassing him, which Bonnie, of course, doesn’t appreciate in any fashion, and lets him know via sign language before she takes off, grabbing Sean and leaving the bar. Mimi tells Stanley that it’s just a phase that Bonnie’s going through, and once everything calms down, she’ll drop him, which of course Stanley follows up with her giving him a ride out of town when she leaves for New York. She tries to convince him that leaving town isn’t the same as leaving him, but he doesn’t buy it. When she says that maybe he can come with her, he says that he’s sorry, but that’s not his life, and takes off. After he gets up, Mimi mumbles to herself that this really isn’t her life here.
Sara and Hawkins are getting hot and heavy down in the basement, and they break away long enough for Sara to tell him that she missed him. Hawkins steps back and says that they should start loading up the truck, and Sara leaves him to go upstairs. Hawkins, that lovable man, waits until she leaves the basement to pull her Mystery Decoder PDA out of his back pocket, which he swiped off of her while they were making out. Damn, I love that man. He scans through her messages, and does something with authentication that I can’t quite make out.
Emily and Roger run into Jake at Bailey’s Tavern, and Emily asks how he’s doing after the wreck, and Jake replies with a “doing better than the truck”. They laugh a little, then take off, leaving Jake to go and chat up the Girl Marine, Maggie. She tells him that she’s not seen anything like this since entering the CZ (Contamination Zone), of which Jericho is in CZ 12, and they’re doing better off than most of the towns that Maggie’s been in since entering the CZ, in particular Lawrenceville being in a horrible state. Jake asks Mary if they can take apart her jukebox, and after some smart comments from Maggie regarding removing the three Spin Doctors albums on there, Jake says that there’s an old Ham radio in Town Hall that they can take apart, leaving Mary her music.
Samuel gets some help from Sara to carry a box down the stairs, and she realizes that her Mystery Decoder PDA is missing. She pulls her gun, taking care not to let Samuel notice, as downstairs Hawkins is going through all of her messages on the device, realizing that she’s the one to watch out for. At the same time, Sara turns from confronting Hawkins by herself down in the basement, and turns back to Samuel, who’s looking through an activity book from his box. Hawkins goes back upstairs to find Sara holding onto Samuel, gun in hand, as she says, “I think you have something of mine.”
Sara and Samuel sit down on the couch, the child’s back to them as he goes through his coloring books, while Hawkins puts down his gun and holds up the Mystery Decoder PDA, asking her if this was what she was looking for. She asks him when he fell back in love with his wife, and he just laughs.
Johnston and Gray are going over their efforts to keep the town in order since the bombs dropped with the Sarge over at Town Hall. The Sarge is impressed with their efforts, but tells them that with the efforts that Jericho has made, it will drop them down on the list for rehab-ing their area. Gray gets pissed, rightly so, because their planning is a black mark against them in the government’s eyes, by what the Sarge is telling them.
Jake and PFC Maggie are disassembling the old Ham Radio in another room, and Maggie brings up the fact that Jake looks like he got into a prize fight with Mike Tyson, pre-ear biting. Jake tells her that they got ran off the road, but he doesn’t really remember much other than just trying to stay alive. Jake turns to over to her, asking her if the Marines are all that they can be for her. She says that she’s had a good run, other than the fact that she never expected to be fighting other Americans, though they are people who are making bad calls in even worse times. Jake pulls out the old line “What’s someone like you doing in a place (career) like this?” to her, and she says that she got bored a few years ago and wanted to see the world, though all she’s seen is Omaha. Jake says that he’s seen the world, just all of the bad places. Maggie bites back with the fact that Jake’s got this “brooding, bad boy image down to an art”.
Samuel’s coloring, while Hawkins asks Sara if she was just playing him with the video of her being held captive by the three black masks. She diverts the issue by saying that they were living together, and now he’s got a family again. She goes on to say that while she was working for someone, now she’s working for herself.
Jake asks Maggie what she’s going to do when the Marines cut her loose, and she says that she tries not to think about it after all the things that she’s seen. She asks him if he ever thinks of flying again, and he says sure, because you’re safer in the air than on the ground. She says that the radio operator’s got it good, because they get to stay in the tank, and Jake asks her how the radio got shot then. She responds with a comment that he doesn’t think a girl can get out and kick a little ass now and then? She finishes with fixing the radio, and gives it a try, getting someone on the radio not too long after her first try. The Marines over in Dodge City say that they need their whole battalion back there ASAP, and Jake, I guess, plays dumb over what he’s heard and asks her what they said. She tells him that they’ve just been ordered back to the base.
Hawkins asks Sara what she’s going to do with the package, and she says that she’s going to sell it and get as far away from there as possible. Hawkins just laughs at her and asks her what happened to her. She gives what to me is a standard disillusioned person-gone-evil response with not trusting human beings. Darcy interrupts them by walking into the house, seeing Sara’s gun, and asks what is going on, calmer than I expected. Sara says that she has just been discussing with Hawkins what is more important to him, his family or his job, Sara’s gun never leaving sight.
Gray’s trying to sort out what’s going on with the Marines leaving, and the Sarge tells him that they’ve got orders that he can’t discuss with him, and that the Army Corp of Engineers will be through eventually for the town. The Sarge and one of the PFC’s discuss whether they have enough fuel to get back to Dodge City, and Gray tells them that he can get them fuel and other supplies to get back if they make Jericho a priority on their list. The Sarge agrees, to me, a little too easily for the bribery.
Jake and Maggie flirt some with each other. Jake offers her to come back to Jericho when this is all over, because she seems to be a good fit there. She declines, saying that she won’t make it back here again, and I don’t think it’s because of not liking Jericho (and Jake). They very awkwardly kiss, and get very busted by the Sarge, who says that the Mayor wants to show the town’s appreciated, and get their butt out there now.
Sara’s got her gun trained on Hawkins, and tells him to get the package. Hawkins says no, and Sara puts the gun to Samuel’s head. Hawkins tells her that he’ll get the package, but she’s got to put the gun down. He heads downstairs.
Jake’s cleaning up their work area in the Sheriff’s office, when he hears Maggie’s radio come on. He picks it up, and hears someone on the other end, telling him to get off of the official Marine channel, right as Jake gets blasts coming through in stereo. He looks out the window, realizing that the guy that he’s hearing on the other end isn’t all that far away as a light show starts up in the night sky. He heads outside, and everyone in town is watching the fireworks that Gray’s set up to show off for the Marines before they go.
Jake grabs Stanley because he realizes that something’s wonky, and asks him to grab some guys and do a sweep, in particular looking for someone with a radio. Stanley and Jake part just as Mimi comes up to them, wanting to talk to Stanley.
Gray’s set up a feast for the Marines and everyone, another show of the town’s appreciation to them. Gray gets Johnston to say some words for them, and Johnston goes on to say that the Marine’s Code of Semper Fidelis, Always Faithful, is wholly appropriate for the times as they are. As they toast, some of the PFCs make a monsterous faux pas by saying the more Army-appropriate Hoo-Ah, which both Johnston and the Sarge notice, the Sarge obviously cringing a little. Johnston tries to chat a little with the Sarge, and he makes the same mistake that his boys have by saying Hoo-Ah, which gets Johnston up and out of his chair in a flash, Gail following him quickly.
They find Jake and take the conversation downstairs, where Jake tells them that he heard the fireworks over the radio, which means that the Marines have a guy right outside of town, and he sent Stanley to investigate for him. When he asks Johnston to tell him that he’s crazy, Johnston replies that if Jake is, so is he, and relates what happened in the dinner. They discuss what their options are, since these people who are posing as Marines have enough firepower to wipe them out, and they can’t get Gray away from them to let him know what they’ve figured out. Johnston thinks that they need to most importantly get the tank away from them, and Gail mentions the fact that even without the tank, they have a room full of hostages, and half the town’s supplies. Jake gets that look that we’ve all come to recognize as a plan forming in his brain, and tells his parents to get back upstairs to the party before anyone realizes that they know something, and he’ll work on the tank.
Back at the Hawkins House, it’s become a stand-off between The Family and Sara upstairs, while Hawkins works on destroying his concrete block wall down in the basement to get to the package.
Maggie is putting together the supplies as Jake finds her and asks her how Dodge City, 200 miles away, is getting the sound of their fireworks over the radio. She tries to play it off at first, and then Stanley is heard on Maggie’s radio, saying that they found this guy with the radio camping just outside of town. Maggie pulls a gun on Jake, and he says that what they must do is come into a town and take a bunch of their supplies and then leave, which she responds with the comment that he doesn’t know what it’s like out there, which Jake unfortunately knows a little too much. She goes onto say that they got all of the equipment that they’re using because of a food riot in their refugee camp after the Marines there retreated and left it all behind. They had taken the stuff to see about food in the next town over from the camp, and it worked so well that they just kept doing it. Jake tells her that there’s no way that she’s taking Jericho’s supplies and she keeps him occupied until the Sarge comes up and uses his gun stock on the back of his head, knocking Jake out cold.
Hawkins brings up the bomb from the basement, and Sara makes him open the barrel up to show her that it is real. Darcy realizes what it is, and gives Hawkins a ration of grief for keeping it in the house, before Hawkins tells her to be quiet.
The Sarge asks Maggie if she told Jake what was going on, and she responds that he figured it out because he heard the fireworks over the radio. They discuss what to do now, Maggie saying that they should just leave, and the Sarge saying that it “would be Greenville all over again”. He makes the comment that before he was just a PE teacher who had watched too many movies, and now he’s a Marine. While they are arguing, Johnston, Gray and the others surround the Marines and hold them there.
Gray sideswipes the Sarge, disarming them, which makes the others give up there weapons pretty readily. Johnston says that he’s a disgrace to the uniform that the Sarge wears, and the Sarge says that it’s not a uniform, it’s just a costume. Eric quizzes him about all the things that he said about the war, and the Sarge replies that no one really knows what is going on out there, with half of what he said being lies and the other half conjecture. Gray tells him that Jericho still has laws, and that tomorrow he’ll let the town decide what to do with all of them, which is when Johnston pipes in with the fact that is a horrible idea to let the town in on this at this point. When Gray says that they’ll find out eventually, Johnston agrees, but says that by that time, the worst will be over, but the people will need the faith that the Marines have given them just as much as the food that they’ll need to get through the winter. Gray asks Johnston what they should do with the Faux Marines, and Johnston empties out the cartridge of one of the guns before handing it back to them, saying that they’ll get their Heroes’ Exit, Hoo-Ah.
Sara, who looks a touch crazed at this point, is still holding the gun to Hawkins and wants to make sure that Hawkins won’t follow her. She says that for insurance, she’ll take Samuel and leave him just outside of town, which is when Darcy loses it and attacks her. Sara throws her off easily, but loses her gun as Hawkins knocks her down, crashing into the coffee table.
Hawkins starts to throttle Sara, and she quickly gains the upper hand in the fight, both of them destrying multiple pieces of furniture before Sara pulls out a knife and slashes at Hawkins. All of a sudden, Sara goes down, a gunshot to her chest, given by Allison, standing as Hawkins showed her how to when firing a weapon.
Allison lowers the weapon as Hawkins goes up to her and asks her if she’s alright. When he tries to apologize, she keeps repeating that she’s alright, and I for one believe her. Darcy comes up to her and says that she is not fine, and then turns to Hawkins to yell that they are not fine. Darcy asks him how long until someone else comes looking for them, and that they are not safe as long as they are around him. She grabs the kids and starts to push them out the door, before Allison stops and looks at him, saying that she loves him, and he responds in kind. He tries to call for Darcy before she walks out the door.
The Faux Marines are marching out of town to a grand celebration, as Jake walks up to Maggie and asks her to get away from the rest of them before they get her killed. She tells him that it’s not possible, because if she leaves them, the only thing that they want women for in other places is for something not fit for primetime, and Jake tells her that she could stay in Jericho. She negates that, because it just wouldn’t work after the story they had told to get into town.
Stanley’s got a gun, which he quickly puts away as Mimi confronts him, and tells her that it’s not a good time to talk, which she ignores, calling him a Cornhusker. He refutes that, saying that Cornhuskers are from Nebraska, and that he’s a Jayhawk instead. Mimi admits that he drives her crazy, and while she knows that she can’t stay in this town forever, she also knows that she can’t leave him either. Stanley gets that goofy look on his face and says “Really?” before kissing her to Stanley/Mimi ’shippers out there weep for joy.
Hawkins mends his wounds as best he can as he hears Sara’s Mystery Decoder PDA ringing, finding a message asking her status on it. He types that he’s dead and that “she” has the package, but he needs to know where to meet to drop it off. The message responds with the location is TBD (To Be Determined) and Good work before he signs off.
The goys take the Faux Marines out to the alley where Sara killed that guy last episode, leaving them with a few days worth of food to get them by, and when the Sarge asks for some water, Johnston comes up to him, ripping off insignia before telling him that they’ll make do. Johnston goes on, in a louder voice for the whole group to tell them that they’ll leave their weapons behind on the tank, and the Sarge tells them to do it before they take off out of town, leaving their weapons and the tank behind. Jake gives a last look to Maggie, telling her to be careful.
Jake asks Johnston what they’ll do now, and Johnston says that they’ll soldier on. (Ha-ha, Johnston, funny man). He follows up that rejoinder with “You never know when you might need a tank” after asking Stanley if he can store the tank in his barn. Johnston turns and walks down the road, leaving Gray the Mayor of Jericho still, but Johnston is the one in charge.
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