Watching Jericho

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Opening Morse Code - TO THE FLAG

From CBS.com:
Johnston leads Jericho into battle with New Bern. Although Jericho has far fewer men and resources than New Bern, they have a few things that help them keep their heads above water. Hawkins and Jake reveal to Johnston that Hawkins has the ability to track New Bern’s position via satellite. And with the help of the tank that they took from the fake marines, Jericho forces New Bern to retreat. But the battle is also costly, putting Johnston Green’s life in jeopardy. At the same time, Hawkins realizes that his use of the tracking device is allowing someone to follow his trail.

Originally aired: Wednesday May 9, 2007 on CBS
Writers: Carol Barbee and Jonathan E. Steinberg
Director: Sanford Bookstaver

Recap below the fold…

Jericho, Why We Fight, TV, television, CBS

I really do hope that this won’t be the last recap I write for Jericho…

It’s flashback time…

6 Years Ago

The Green Family is posing for April and Eric’s wedding pictures, and April wonders where Jake has run off to. Grandpa’s missing too, and Johnston muses that “You know what they’re up to”. Gail separates from the group and walks out the doors to present day Main Street, seeing the devastation left from the mortar attack from New Bern. She grabs a man off the street, calling him by name, and asks him for her help, walking off with him.

Jake comes riding up, Eric to meet him, and he asks if everyone is in there. Eric responds that they were just waiting for him to show up, and they walk into a pow-wow with Gray, Hawkins and Johnston. Jake tells them that They (the New Bern army) have taken the Talbot Farm, and there were 60-70 New Bern-ites there, though that is probably just an advance group. Johnston says that Constantino has them out-manned and out-gunned, and that if they split the Jericho force up, all it will do is hand the town on a platter to Constantino. What they have to do is choose where to make a stand, to let them know that they won’t go quietly into that Good Night. He points out that the Richmond Farm (re: Stanley’s Farm) is the best place to make their stand.

Constantino is told that the Talbot Farm is secure, and he tells his men that it’s time to move out. As the camera pans up and out, you see a queue longer than at the DMV of vehicles, all ready to march into Jericho.

Meanwhile, 37 miles away, two sniper-styled guys come up on a nasty car accident (and this would be the Sneak Peak we saw the other day), where they are checking out if any of the people strewn around the vehicle, and while they keep finding the dead, they find one who’s still alive. When they turn the woman over, we see the Not-Dead Heather.

Again, yes, that was my fan-girl squeal you heard from the general Metro Atlanta area.

6 Years Ago

Jake and Grandpa’s version of the Wedding Reception is being held at Bailey’s Tavern, Emily with a haircut very reminiscent of her cut when she was on Birds of Prey, and we finally get to see the Infamous Grandpa. Stanley and Jake are prompting Grandpa to tell them some stories, and he shares one from World War II where the Weremacht Commander had the American forces outnumbered and asked their commander for a total surrender. The American’s reply? Nuts. Which Emily doesn’t understand, but then Grandpa goes on to say that it was his way of telling the Germans to Go to Hell.

Boys and girls, this is what we call “foreshadowing“. Learn it, use it, love it.

Gail shows up to break up the party, grabbing Jake to come back to the actual wedding reception to give the Best Man’s Toast, handing him some thoughts to help him complete that task, and gathers him up to go back.

Present Day

Jake, Hawkins and Johnston are in a side room, and Hawkins tells Johnston that he has access to satellite imagery to track New Bern’s movements. Hawkins stresses that no one can know where Johnston is getting this information, and after a moment he says that it sounds good. When Jake questions his flippancy to the satellite, Johnston replies that today he’s planning on going to war with New Bern, Kansas, home of the nearest Costco, and that the day has gotten just about as weird as he can handle, so he’s not asking anymore questions.

Stanley, Mimi and Bonnie are saying goodbye over the graves of Stanley and Bonnie’s parents, and Stanley tells them that they have to leave the farm, maybe for good, and then “introduces” Mimi to them, saying that he talked about the witch from the IRS earlier to them. Stanley waves Mimi over to talk to his parents, and Stanley starts razzing her, which she doesn’t find funny while standing over his parents’ graves. Stanley mentions that he hopes that someday, they might be buried here, and he would hope that their kids would be able to crack jokes over their graves. Mimi replies that she hopes that will be a long time from now.

Gray, Jim and the boys meet with the Johnston men, and Johnston starts organizing everyone, preparing for the coming battle. He sends Eric and Jake off with orders, and then tells Gray that he’ll need to be protected because he’s their leader (Yeah, right), and also Johnston will need help in arming their tank, which he says as he pulls a mortar out of his satchel.

Hawkins inputs the coordinates (someone let me know if these are viable coordinates, please?) to track the New Bern movements as Darcy freaks out about the fact that she’s stuck in the “safe room” while her daughter, Allison is out there somewhere carrying a rifle. Hawkins reminds her that Allison is at Town Hall, miles away from the fighting, and that Sam needs her there with them. Finally getting Google Earth to load (sorry, couldn’t help that one), he starts getting a feed from one of the outlying roads, and he sees trucks steadily on their way. He radios Jake to warn him, asking if they have moved the tank into position. Jake tells him that they are still trying to load the mortar round, and Hawkins replies that they may just need it.

Hawkins’ computer starts beeping, showing him that someone is trying to track his connection to the satellite. Darcy asks can they actually track him, and Hawkins tells her that given enough time, they could, and when she asks who, Hawkins nods up to his corkboard and says that it is probably Valente. Darcy looks up at the board, and Hawkins goes on to tell her that while he used to work for Homeland Security, he doesn’t know much about his actual motivations outside of him telling Sara to get the bomb at all costs, and eliminate all of the witnesses. Darcy tells Hawkins adamantly to shut down the satellite feed, but he refuses, saying that until he cracks through the decryption, they’re safe. Just after saying that, one number has been found.

Heather, freshly bathed and in borrowed scrubs and a tee, wakes up in a military-style hospital tent. She slowly makes her way out to the blinding day, and sees Camp Liberty in Southwest Nebraska scrambling as only a military organization can.

Jake, behind a roadblock car, stares off into the distance through his binoculars, waiting for the New Bern men to arrive. Jericho men and women are at their places, waiting as he does. Two men come just within sight and stand for a moment, before waving the trucks up towards the roadblock. Two to three times the number of people are on the New Bern side, and everyone takes up their positions.

Eric mumbles to Jake that they’re going to need that tank just as one New Bern guy with a machine gun and an itchy finger trails a line of bullets up towards the roadblock car.

6 Years Ago

Jake’s at the bar at the real reception when facial-hairless Eric finds him. Eric gets on Jake’s case to quit drinking, and he hands him a folded up paper with yet another Best Man speech on it. I’m noticing a lack of trust trend when it comes to Jake.

Eric goes on to dig into Jake for treating everything, including this very important day to Eric, as some big joke, mentioning that he’s come back from flight school to Jericho as if it’s a large Summer Camp. When Jake asks why he wanted him as his best man, Eric glances over his shoulder to Gail as his answer.

Present Day

The fire fight has begun, Eric and Jake huddled behind the roadblock car. Jake goes to move positions up the hill some to get a better shot.

Hawkins watches all of this from the satellite imagery, and Darcy is going through papers when another digit has been decoded on the tracking. Darcy questions why they (the big bad guys) needed to eliminate all the witnesses, because they either want to detonate the bomb themselves or keep anyone else from doing that. She mentioned that she read somewhere that all bombs have a traceable “fingerprint” as to their maker, which sets off a light bulb in Hawkins’ head.

Jake’s taking heavy fire from behind the trees on the hill as he slowly works up to get a better shot.

Hawkins explains that the uranium has a specific signature to tell where it was made, and Darcy and he come to the same conclusion that the bomb itself is the smoking gun in the conspiracy, and that’s why they need it back at all costs, and another digit has been found on the satellite link.

Jake finally takes out itchy-trigger-finger guy just before the tank comes rolling down the hill, scattering the New Bern people just before shooting off it’s one mortar shell.

Bill pops his head out of the top and says “Did you see what I just did”, and the people of Jericho start whooping it up. Jake and Eric notice Johnston on the ground near the tank, and run over to see that he’s been shot.

Everyone gathers around to clear the way for Jake and Eric to carry Johnston into the farmhouse, and Jake yells to Emily to go and get Gail as they lay him on the table. Hawkins radios Jake to congratulate them on their rout, and Jake breaks the news that Johnston’s been shot. Hawkins reminds him of the supplies and treatment, and then says that the town will look to him now right before he launches into recommending the best course of action for the Jericho people to take next. He tells him that the New Bern people have regrouped at Talbot’s Farm and are probably gathering their things back together to attack Jericho again. Hawkins tells him that he’ll keep an eye on the satellite imagery to keep tabs on their movements, and impresses upon Jake to stay close to the radio as another digit unlocks.

Heather goes in search of the commander of the military personnel, and is directed to a guy getting stitched up over to the side. She quickly sums up the New Bern/Jericho war to him, and tells him that she needs their help to stop it. He replies that his orders are to secure the surrounding roads and nothing more, saying that he’s a government employee, and Heather responds with “Which one?”. He laughs, and says the United States Government. When Heather questions that they had heard that there were six different governments vying for the title of United States, he responds that while their are still some holdouts (The East/New England sector being one of them), but they have consolidated at the new capitol of Cheyenne, Wyoming. He dismisses her back to the medical unit under guard.

Johnston waves to get all of the people watching him weakly, and then tells Jake that the people of Jericho are ready to survive, and they’ll make their stand here. Jake agrees, and then Johnston turns his head to Eric, apologizing for everything that he’s had to go through, but that he’s strong. He tells him that he loves him, and everyone realizes that this is it for Johnston. Johnston muses that he wishes that Gail was here, and when Jake tells him that she’s coming, he tells him to tell her that he loves her. He starts to apologize to Jake for being so hard on him and at the last moment, he tells him that he’s proud of him, then he’s gone.

While I figured that was going to happen, man… I just can’t believe it.

Jake and Eric step out onto the porch to the waiting town, and their faces pretty much say everything.

6 Years Ago

The glass has been tapped, and Jake stands, almost knocking over an ice bucket, which Johnston saves, as he starts to make his Best Man’s Speech. He begins by asking if anyone else has a speech for him to read, and he goes onto to say that all of them are pretty lame compared to how he knows Eric. While he says that he picks on his brother, he is very proud of him, for how giving and caring he is.

Present Day

Jake simply says to the crowd, “My father’s dead. We’ll get through.” and walks back into the house, the deputies and Gray following solemnly.

Jake tells them that they have to get Gray back to town, and when Gray tries to balk, Jake tells him that they’ll need a leader, and they’ve already lost too many of them today. Just as Gray seems to want to say more, Gail comes into the house, stopping for a moment until she finds Johnston’s body, which she goes straight over to.

Outside, Jake’s having a moment, and Emily finds him, pulling him close to let him cry. He pulls himself back together as he hears Hawkins’ voice over the radio, and walks away from Emily. Hawkins says that a large group of New Bern’s men are on their way, and that they maybe have fifteen to twenty minutes before they appear. He also asks about some train tracks, where he sees an engine pulling three cars filled with men towards Jericho, just as the tracking decodes the last digit of the satellite feed. Darcy yells at him to disconnect, but he tries to gather some more information before he does that, finally having Darcy disconnect the connection to the satellite. When Jake asks what’s going on, Hawkins simply says that he’s on his way to him.

Jake looks to Emily and strides over to her kissing her before walking away to the Jericho army.

Hawkins tries to comfort Darcy by saying that while they decoded the tracking on the satellite feed, they didn’t have enough time to get an exact location from it, so they were safe. Darcy asks him where he’s going, he simply tells here that he’s got to go stop a train before leaving.

The Colonel is making his report to multiple flat screens set up in a command center, explaining the areas that they have under control, and those that they are having problems with, especially the I-70 corridor due to roving gangs looting everything that they can. He also goes onto to say that what Heather had told him about the New Bern/Jericho war, which he refers to as a skirmish.

Dude, the blond woman on one of the lcds is Carol Barbee!

He explains in more detail the locations of New Bern and Jericho, and we pan up to see one of the screens containing Valente, who tells the Colonel that they’ve tracked one of the terror suspects to within 200 miles of that location. He tells the Colonel that capturing this suspect is of top priority to the President (Marcinko? Like the Rogue Warrior author? Crap, I can’t tell, but man, sometimes the jokes just write themselves with something like that.) and the Adminstration, and the Colonel asks if he should re-prioritize, and Valente tells him to go immediately and crush the skirmish to capture the terrorist.

Slimy bastard.

Hawkins is riding his horse across a field.

Stanley tells Jake that he’s planning on asking Mimi to marry him, trying to keep things light until he stops Jake and tells him that he doesn’t want to die today. Jake stops for a moment, and tells him that he is going to make it out of here, which seems to help him.

Hawkins comes up to Jake and tells him that there’s not much time, and when Jake questions him about the train, before Hawkins can answer at first, Jake leans into him and asks him if he has a really good plan. Hawkins tilts his head and looks at Stanley, saying, “Hey, I need to borrow your tank.”

Hawkins climbs onto the tank, and Jake reminds him that he can’t shoot anything. Hawkins responds that he isn’t planning on it, and when Stanley starts to explain the throttle and such, Hawkins cuts him off by saying that this isn’t his first time. Jake and Hawkins exchange “Good Lucks” as they head in separate directions.

Emily tries to comfort Jake by saying that Johnston is watching over them now, which flips us over to…

6 Years Ago

Johnston is leaning against the statue outside of Town Hall, staring up at the sky as Jake comes out like a man escaping a pit. Johnston asks him if they’re still doing the Bunny Hop inside, and Jake tells him that he thinks it’s the Macarena. Johnston compliments him on his speech, saying that he didn’t know he was such a sentimental fool. Jake quietly says, “Mom wrote it” to which Johnston laughs and replies, “Ya think?”.

Johnston continues by saying that he still got up there to speak, and there are always going to be times that just because you don’t want to do it doesn’t have anything to do with what you have to do. When Jake tells him that he doesn’t have to worry, Johnston replies that he doesn’t think his worrying days are going to be over anytime soon, but they will be one day. One day, Johnston knows that Jake will grow up and be something, and that day will be the best.

Grandpa shows up with a 30-year-old bottle of single malt that he and Johnston are planning on sharing down by the lake, and Johnston invites Jake along. He says that he’ll follow after seeing Emily off, and Grandpa and Johnston walk off into the dark of Main Street.

Present Day

Bill brings Jake the New Bern walkie-talkie, saying that Constantino wants to talk to him. Constantino gives Jake his condolences on the loss of Johnston, which is hard to take from such an ass, to be honest. Constantino heads straight into telling Jake that Jericho is out-manned and out-maneuvered by New Bern, and that if he gives up now, no one else will get hurt. When he presses Jake for an answer, Jake pulls out that quote from Grandpa’s story in the flashback and responds simply with “Nuts”. When Constantino doesn’t get it, Jake tells him that he can go to hell and that in regards to Johnston’s death, Jake’s coming after Constantino for it.

Heather is being taken to Cheyenne, to presumably “keep her safe”, and she breaks away from her nurse to talk to the Colonel. He tells her that they’re packing up because Jericho has been moved to Priority One, thanks to her information, and he promises her that they will get things back to normal. Heather hears the flag whipping in the wind, and looks up to notice for the first time that the stripes on this flag are vertical, with 20 (?) stars in the blue field (Have I told you how much I love the interwebs? Because Wikipedia already has a mockup of the flag here). Hmm, ok… my first thought is who the hell has the time to tear apart a standard flag and rework it like that when everything’s gone to hell, and secondly, I’m going to have to get cracking at figuring out the significance of those changes. Leave your thoughts on it in the comments.

Jake gives his St. Crispin’s Day Speech to the gathered people of Jericho, saying that Johnston expected them to take a stand there, and that’s just what they’re going to do.

Trucks pull up, and the dust is so thick from them, Jake yells out for them not to waste their rounds, to wait for a clean shot. Hawkins, sitting on the tank, waiting for the train, looks slightly shocked, but mainly desperately stoic at the sound and sight of multiple helicopters as they go over him. Jake keeps everyone together, waiting for that shot, when finally it looks as though the dust clears and he yells out for everyone to fire.

The credits roll.

While this recap is long enough, I really have only one thing to add…

Man, I love this show.