(S01E09) Right now, this show is better than Lost. Yeah, I said it.
While Lost seems to be, well, lost because they've suddenly turned into a show about a prison and a love triangle, this show is doing almost everything right. Yeah, I know, that might not be fair, because this is only the ninth episode of Jericho and Lost is in the middle of its third season. But I sense good things to come from Jericho, and this season of Lost has only showed me that the very structure of the show that I loved that first season and a half has now become a giant weight that's starting to sink the show. But that's a whole other rant for another day.
Ravenwood finds out Eric's address from his jacket and comes to town...
They stop at Stanley's farm early in the morning and act like they're Eric's friends, but Stanley knows better. He says he doesn't know Eric, and they leave. Stanley and the girls go to the Green home to warn the town. Jake and Hawkins get the town to build a barricade on the town bridge, which sets off a gun battle when Ravenwood comes by and tells them they're under government order to get supplies. They said they'll be back in four hours (which I think is generous, but good for the episode I guess).
Jake and Hawkins' plan? To blow up the bridge. Eric doesn't want to do it, and Johnston agrees that they have to be stopped no matter what, but Hawkins starts to make his own explosives.
Blowing up the bridge will mean that the townsfolk on the other side will be cut off, including Stanley. He wants to stay with his sister, while Mimi goes off to be with the rest of the town.
Speaking of the rest of the town, it's the day that Emily was going to get married and she's bummed, not to mention having dreams about what her wedding day could have been. Heather tries to make her happy and plans a whole day of activities, in that best-friend-is-really-annoying kind of way. But their plans are foiled by officials who tell the town to stay inside because of Ravenwood. And by "inside" that means that bar, where Heather gets to know the new doc in town over drinks.
April decides to tell Eric that she's pregnant, but before she can, Eric tells her that he's in love with Mary. This was the only part of the show that I wasn't too thrilled with. It's an OK plot in general, but April just took Eric's hand and it seemed like she was just standing there looking at him for seven hours instead of telling him about the baby. Lame device, one of those scenes where you're just yelling at the screen saying "just tell him!" But he tells her about Mary and she just runs out of the room crying. Gail tells him off. Eric leaves home, and Gail says that April is going to stay with them.
At the bridge, Jakes wires it and himself to blow. The Ravenwood head comes up to him and tells him to surrender. Before they can talk more, Hawkins shoots the Ravenwood sniper dead. The Ravenwood head isn't happy, and calls the rest of the team to come forward. Just then, Eric shows up on the other side of the bridge...with Jonah! They hold guns on the miltary men from the other side. The head guy agrees with Jake that the town isn't that important, so they'll leave. But one day the country and the government is going to be back to normal and they're going to want to help get the town back on its feet.
"And you know who they're going to send? Me."
Gray stills want to blow up the bridge, but he's overruled by Johnston. He's still the Mayor, though for how long in a town that's growing increasingly scared of the outside?
So, yeah, while Jericho and Lost are very different shows, they're the same in the fact that both of them are about a group of people trapped together and cut off from the rest of the world. But while Lost is pummeling us with flashbacks and mystery and a new question every single episode (and answers you're not even sure are really answers), Jericho has a continuing story with so many real possibilities that its actually exciting and dramatic. That island is actually very limiting (which explains all the flashbacks). This small town actually has stories going on inside, and a dramatic mystery of what's going on outside. If anything, it's the opposite of Lost: a group of people who don't want the outside to intrude. And that's interesting to me.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
11-15-2006 @ 9:27PM
Slugraduate said...
OK, I am doubting the idea that Jake has a military/FBI/CIA background. He doesn't seem to be making decisions consistent with this type of training/thinking. This is supported by Hawkins statement that he doubted Jakes common sense and ability to think logically. I am inclined to think that Jake was being followed by the Fed for borderline illicit activities or as a snitch.
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11-15-2006 @ 9:53PM
Andrew Liptak said...
I disagree about the LOST being worse - LOST actually has a lot more likable characters. Currently, I'm still on the fence about the show because of some of the crappy characters in Jericho, such as the girl, boy, shopkeeper and a couple of other random ones. They need to all die by radiation poisoning. Or rabies.
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11-17-2006 @ 2:15PM
Big D said...
Arrrrrrrgh...
because this episode is why I never watch a show live anymore, with a dvr you can skip through stuff like this:
"Speaking of the rest of the town, it's the day that Emily was going to get married and she's bummed, not to mention having dreams about what her wedding day could have been."
Arrrrrrgh, because I am house sitting this week in a home without a dvr/vcr. These scenes are the kind that people like to quote when they claim a show has jumped the shark... the rest of the show was good this week though. Whew, just had to vent....
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11-15-2006 @ 11:13PM
Adam said...
In response to Andrew's, do keep in mind that this is still the ninth episode--if I remember correctly, LOST to me had a ton of crappy characters through that episode... that is, until they developed them more in later episodes. It's a literary tactic used in a long-term series--I'm pretty sure Jericho is following the same path, so not to worry about those little annoyances.
Anyways, this episode didn't seem to have the momentum as the previous, so I was a bit disappointed. Perhaps this has to do with the fact that they've torn a wide hole into the Jericho world, where now they've got some supply-hungry military men with their eye on Jericho's treasures. Sadly, I don't see this Ravenwood situation going away quietly as I am sure they'll pillage the next town upriver, use their bridge, and launch a surprise attack in the middle of the night.
I am excited about next week's episode though--I've been a little information hungry this whole time, probably why that last episode was so satisfying. I've been craving knowledge of the outside world so badly that this next one should be great. I am sure that everyone reading this can fully agree.
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11-16-2006 @ 12:03AM
raj said...
I Agree with Andrew Liptak, some characters in Jericho are better off dying.
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11-16-2006 @ 12:07AM
Ryan S. said...
It was a good episode. I think that this show is better than Lost at the moment is that there is movement toward a story climax, while Lost was just marking time for six episodes.
Slight Spoiler from the preview for next week
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Next week's looks interesting, the preview shows a sign that says "Don't Fight, The Chineese are your Friends." And i highly doubt that Ravenwood is going away, they are coming back and it will be good.
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11-16-2006 @ 12:24AM
TedSez said...
I'm surprised that more people aren't annoyed by how the menfolk fight and make all the important decisions in this show, while all the perfectly strong, healthy women stay back as caretakers -- or, in this episode, spend the day getting drunk and mooning over a wedding that was supposed to happen while a war is going on right down the road. This show seems to be dividing itself over life-or-death issues and relationship issues, which is fine. But the gender lines seem old-fashioned and surprisingly sexist.
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11-16-2006 @ 9:04AM
buzmeg said...
Jericho is Jerico and Lost is Lost, why do they need to be compared to each other?
I watch and enjoy both.
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11-16-2006 @ 9:13AM
Rick said...
In response to TedSez - remember this is small town america where most of the women tend to do just that on a daily basis. Why would now be any different.
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11-16-2006 @ 9:31AM
Walt said...
It's not necessarily the dramatic plot turns that will make or break this show -- it's how well the audience enjoys the bits of soap opera between the action.
With LOST, you had the implied love triangle early on, complete with the woman with the mysterious past.
With JERICHO, you have Jake and Hawkins with mysterious pasts and several women with love issues. Oh, and Mayor McCheese.
Aside from the logic errors of both, JERICHO runs a bit slow for my tastes, but the spouse likes it fine. While we're both still watching, I'll take a break when the soap opera parts come on, and if I get back in time to see the other action parts, great. If I don't, no big loss. The show is slow enough to where there's nothing that happens that changes the town...
Ultimately, that is the problem with prison shows like JERICHO is -- the scenery doesn't change, and if you don't have characters that change, it's hard to make out one episode from the next. If this happens, you lose the "serial drama" allure, and your audience will change.
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11-16-2006 @ 9:56AM
Michael said...
Better than Lost?!? You must be kidding.
Lost has interesting, dynamic characters that I actually care about and a mystery that is intriging. Jericho has one mystery that as soon as they resolve it, I'm done. I want to know who attacked and once I have that info, I'm done. There is no other reason to wtach the show other than that. It's certainly not the characters who are all walking cliches.
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11-17-2006 @ 9:14AM
TeresaMac said...
In response to TedSez: I am with you - was completely surprised with the total lack of women in the standoff last night - on the other side too - lots of women in military now.
And in response to Rick: I think sometimes small town/rural America might have slightly less romantic notions about women being frail, as they have a pioneer past, and memories of strong women who worked and had to fight to survive for and with their families. I've read a few pioneer women bios, and they had to deal with a lot! And do it with a gun sometimes :) And mayor's wife certainly seems to be in this mold.
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11-16-2006 @ 11:10AM
MrsEldubya said...
WooHoo... DB Sweeney! I'm looking forward to Ravenwood coming back if we get more DB Sweeney.
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11-16-2006 @ 11:11AM
Gene said...
I have to agree with the comment about the division of the sexes on this show. Almost every woman on Jericho is whiny and self-absorbed with the exception of Jake's mom.
Another thing that really annoys me is the "life goes on" aspect -- the Halloween festivities earlier, the girls running around getting drunk, it all seems so ridiculous and unbelievable. One month after the bombs, these people act like it's summer vacation.
The flashbacks/dreams were a drag. As in Lost, they generally serve to stop the story cold and drop you into what seems to be a soap opera. Hate them. At least on Lost, they are well-written and tell a complete story in and of themselves -- the Jericho flashbacks just crashed in and stopped the show. By the second half of the episode, I was skipping past them and watching only the bridge stuff.
Too much Lifetime drama in this show. Not enough gritty realism about life after the attacks.
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11-16-2006 @ 11:21AM
Dusty T said...
good show. A bit cheesy -- but the concept alone (partial & random nuclear holocost) is enough to make this show a winner.
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11-16-2006 @ 12:30PM
jeff smith said...
Hey Bob at least you didnt't leave out any major points this week, good job for paying attention finally! If they would just lose the sappy story lines backed up with that awful soundtrack this show could make the top 10. I fast forward every time the blonde girl comes on cause she is just not a good actress and her story line is a dead end. I keep waiting for Jeb and Matt from "Red Dawn" to pop up and yell "Wolverines". Bring on Chinese!!
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11-16-2006 @ 4:04PM
SD said...
I was actually quite bored with last night's episode. I really don't care about any of the characters except Hawkins. The mother and father both grate on my nerves. The Hawkins mystery is the only one I want to know about and of course, who bombed the US. I'll probably give it one more episode before I stop watching.
There's now frakking way this show is better than LOST. Jericho has absolutely no depth to the story or to the characters. LOST tells it's story very slowly and the fast-paced, results-driven people of this world just can't handle that.
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11-16-2006 @ 6:07PM
La-di-dah said...
I liked this episode - the scenes with the actions were the best in terms of suspense, but I also liked the flashforward dreams (smart, it was). But most of all, I liked that no one told Eric that April was pregnant. I hate when a man stays with a woman whose heart he will break just because.... and I think it would seem cliche for me otherwise as well. Let April take care of herself. And I hadn't thought about the role of men v women, but it is an interesting point. I hope they will develop this a bit. Otherwise, Eric (who I always thought was a dumbass) stepped up! What did Jake say to his dad about the security force? I did not catch it:(
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11-17-2006 @ 4:23PM
Right Coaster said...
I am amazed that no one is thinking about the future on this show. How do they expect to get through the winter? Where will the food and fuel come from? They only seem to live day to day, or should I say episode to episode. Also, on Stanley's farm there is a beautiful view of tree-covered hills. Are there really views like this in Kansas? I've never been there and always imagined it being mostly flat. I was rooting for the demise of Johnston, but knew it couldn't happen - this man has the constitution of a superhero, but he is tedious beyond belief. I think I still see him as the bad guy in Deadwood. Also, were the blond and Heather friends before the bombs? I thought they only met afterward, which makes the wedding daydreams weird, because she is the maid of honor in them.
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11-23-2006 @ 6:12PM
Big D said...
re #19:
The wedding daydreams are just that, daydreams. They are not flashbacks, they are taking place after the two have met & gotten to know each other. And I think we all agree that they (the town) do not seem worried about the future with the scenes they are showing us. Jonah's group is the one that is preparing the way most of us think they should, they are stockpiling, have multiple vehicles running etc.
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