Jericho

Previously on Jericho: Goetz killed Bonnie, and in return, Stanley killed Goetz in a morally questionable act. Jericho and New Bern appeared to come to an agreement, seemingly united against the oppressive occupation of Ravenwood and J&R.

Major Beck, none too pleased about the murder of Goetz, orders his men to round up the usual suspects: those being our main characters. They invade Mary Bailey's bar. Jake (Skeet Ulrich) and the Jericho Rangers are holed up and Stanley (Brad Beyer) wants to turn himself in.

Jake walks into town to take full responsibility as sheriff. He offers his surrender in exchange for the other Rangers to go free. Beck accepts the surrender, but not the terms. Beck interrogates him for the truth, but he actually knows exactly what happened and he just wants Stanley. When Jake refuses, Beck promises to more or less torture him by withholding food and water until he gives up Stanley.

Back at the Ranger hideout, they don't want to give up on Stanley or Jake. Their plan is to hijack an Army re-supply convoy. They leave a note saying they'll trade all the supplies for Jake. Beck urges Jake to write a letter asking his men to abandon their tactics. Jake holds strong, but now Beck is mad, ordering his men to get all the Rangers. He declares Jericho an open insurrection, which means he can shut down the town's power and bring in a massive army of soldiers. The best part of all this is that, while we sympathize with Jake and the town, Beck's actions aren't as purely evil as Goetz' methods.

Heather (Sprague Grayden) storms into Beck's office to argue about his tactics, defending her town and its Rangers. She says she can no longer tell the difference between Beck and Phil Constantino. He wants her to talk to Jake, but she refuses and blames Beck for all of this.

The warm lights send Jake into a flashback with…Grandpa! The man who told us all the story of “Nuts” is back! He passes on sage advice that people are depending on him, and Jake must stand by his unit at all times. Jake questions why Bonnie was allowed to die. Grandpa says Beck is the answer. Grandpa tells him this has all happened before, back in the Revolutionary War. Yes, Grandpa is asking Jake to start a revolution!

Beck comes back for more interrogation, bringing the folders of Jake's dad and grandpa chronicling their military and political records. Jake says his dad and grandpa never would have let it get this far, ceding control of the town to the military. He vows to take back the town of Jericho. Meanwhile, the people are outside, burning down the J&R building.

Gail Green shows up to take care of Jake. Pamela Reed is back in the house, and great as ever! She asks Jake to find a way out of this by telling Major Beck what he wants to know. He refuses, and when she goes in to hug him, she whispers that Eric and the boys are coming to get him. It was all an act for the guard! I knew Gail wouldn't disappoint us.

Gail gets back to the Ranger hideout and, though she was blindfolded, she can remember how the ride felt to backtrack and find where they're hiding Jake. She remembers it smelled terrible, and instantly everyone knows it's a hog farm. They go in and successfully get Jake out.


Robert and his family (holy crap, the Hawkins children live!) move into a cabin. Robert gets a call from Chavez in Texas, ordering him to bring the bomb down to sway Texas from joining with Cheyenne. John Smith calls Robert and warns him against giving Texas the bomb. John wants Robert to take the bomb to a different secure location. Robert ignores him and to get to Texas, Robert stole a J&R truck and badge to get through the checkpoints safely.

John Smith calls back, knowing that Hawkins is on the road to Texas. John is disappointed and decides to find another way to bring down Cheyenne. Indeed, John calls up Major Beck and rats out Robert Hawkins as the man who has the nuclear bomb. Beck sends his men on a car chase after Robert, along with a helicopter that eventually runs him off the road. Robert flees, and the military gets possession of the nuclear bomb.

The next morning, Hawkins gets a call from John Smith and wonders how he knew exactly where he was, since the phone is clean. Robert determines John Smith was actually the mastermind of the whole attack. He acknowledges that he did, in order to liberate American from the corrupt ties between the federal government and J&R. But the company is now more powerful than ever, you say? Well, that's also part of the plan, because J&R is now entirely centralized in one area, so when the government brings the bomb back to Cheyenne, John Smith is going to get it back and destroy Cheyenne.

Robert goes to see Jake and tells him what happened, and how they need to stop it, but since they know who he is, he needs Jake to come along and help. Jake agrees.

Next week on Jericho: it's the season finale. Maybe the series finale. I'm not even sure they know which of the two endings they'll be showing yet. Either way, get ready for a revolution.


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