Jericho

Previously on Jericho: Mimi got a job working for the (probably) evil Jennings and Rall, Hawkins got proof of the government's involvement in the attacks, President Tomarchio was smarmy, and Goetz from Ravenwood came back into town. I hope he wasn't expecting a parade.

A convoy pulls up to a military checkpoint in Indian Springs, Missouri. The leader of this road gang comes out, and it's…Dale Turner (Erik Knudsen), sociopath-in-training! He's trying to get to a trading post, but is turned around.

Back in town, Major Beck (Esai Morales) introduces the Green boys to the new man in charge. Upon seeing Goetz (D.B. Sweeney), Jake (Skeet Ulrich) draws his gun. Beck got the Ravenwood half of the story and doesn't pay much attention to Jake's ranting about body counts in Rogue River and New Bern. Goetz intimidates Jake with tales of Jake's time working for Jennings and Rall. Later Jake tells his brother Eric (Kenneth Mitchell) all about him and his men killing a little Iraqi girl with no consequences thanks to the “good” people and J&R.

Emily (Ashley Scott) helps Dale unload his recent haul, including vaccinations for the Hudson River Virus. I can't tell if this Virus is a vitally important plot point to the entire series, or a massive red herring. He got the vaccine on the black market, and Emily is freaked that the Virus has indeed jumped the Blue Line.

Goetz shows up to take the vaccine, because it's illegal and will be sent back to Cheyenne to be destroyed. Goetz promises if the town needs it, J&R will supply a clean vaccine. Probably at a nominal cost. Emily, Heather (Sprague Grayden), Dale and the Greens radio a quarantined town and decide they need to get the vaccine back. Emily goes to ask Dr. Kenchy (Aasif Mandvi) for help to inoculate the whole town when they get the vaccine back. It's so weird seeing a correspondent from The Daily Show on a serious drama.

Meanwhile, Eric asks J&R rep Trish for help dealing with Goetz, and while she stands behind the company, she expresses her sympathies for the town's plight. Heather asks Beck for help rescuing the other quarantined towns. Jake tells Dale “not” to hijack the truck carrying the vaccine. And by “not,” he means, “here's exactly how to do it so you don't get caught.

Goetz intimidates Trish a bit, and then is worried by an extremely large purchase order for syringes. This leads him to intimidate Dr. Kenchy. The surgeon does his best to stand up to this uncivilized monster, but Goetz is too scary to resist. When Jake realizes Goetz knows, he rushes off to the warehouse holding the vaccine.

In the warehouse, Dale and company flee with the vaccine while Jake is left with several guns trained on him by Goetz' men. Miraculously he gets a call saying the vaccine made it to Cheyenne and was destroyed. As everyone gets vaccinated, Jake is confused by how it all happened, but Eric has an idea of who helped them. Indeed, Trish is at J&R, shredding documents about her involvement in falsifying the records. It's weird that both the new major recurring characters (Trish and Beck) are turning out to be quite good.

Also at J&R, Trish and Bonnie (Shoshannah Stern) have a nice silent conversation in which Trish invites Bonnie to come back with her to Cheyenne to see the large world outside Jericho. Someone, Cheyenne's population was increased by more than tenfold to 800,000. After some beautiful silent conversations with her brother, the Richmonds realize they both love each other and want what's best for each other, so Bonnie decides to go because Stanley (Brad Beyer) wants her to be happy. Given what we learned from our exclusive interview with Lennie James, this shortened season resulted in cutting an extended storyline set in Cheyenne, which likely would have featured Bonnie and Gray Anderson (Michael Gaston). That's a show I'd love to watch.

Deputy Jimmy, awkward and adorable as always, shows up at work and is shocked by the government's “Wanted” flyer featuring Sarah Mason. He tells Beck about her connection to Robert Hawkins (Lennie James). Darcy is freaked, but Robert's solution is to head right over to Beck and create a big lie about his FBI investigation. Hawkins does his best to turn Beck against Valente, and it looks like it may work. I still don't have a handle on what Beck's role will be in this season's endgame, but I know it will be pivotal.

Finally, Hawkins took a piece of fax paper with a bunch of random numbers from Beck's office. It's a code he and his CIA friends used to communicate with each other in the open. It's a phone number, and when he calls it, he doesn't recognize the voice. The mystery man simply says, “I know who you are, I know what you're trying to do, and I want to help.

Next week on Jericho: Remember before the season started when executive producer Carol Barber said there would be a death "so heinous, the town would rise up against the Cheyenne government"?  I'm very scared for everyone.


-John Kubicek, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image courtesy of CBS)