TVSquad

"So they sum it up by saying that Vietnam-era Russian planes using American technology are dropping food with Chinese labels. WTF?"

WTF indeed.

The food is obviously made in China, everything is made in China. :)

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Somebody last week made it pretty well known that they wanted to see some of the insignificant characters die, including Gracie--all I can say is that I hope you're happy now. I'm a bit curious to know the extent of her injuries, although I would not be surprised if she became the newest "sick" person to be tended to, as Johnston Green had been for a handful of episodes.

I am predicting that the confusion in Jericho is just for dramatic plot: in actuality, I'm willing to bet that the Russians and the Chinese are the only superpowers left standing and have offered their support, the same way the Italians did after 9/11, as Hawkins claimed. While the little pamphlets are a little suspicious (honestly, you think the Chinese would be able to offer something a little more helpful), I just can't foresee such a large-scale invasion from another country that begins with a nuclear holocaust. No country in the world would have much to gain by occupying a radioactive wasteland.

The terrorist theory seems to still be most reasonable in my honest opinion. I suppose I'll have to wait around for Hawkins to start playing with his computer to get answers next week.

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I love the interplay between Johnston and Gray.

Solid episode with a little bit of everything to make it a must see episode of Jericho.

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Since the previews into this week said someone dies in the episode, I'm assuming Gracie is a goner. Yay! "Are you stealing from me? How am I going to make a living?" Gag! No one is making a living lady, they're all fighting to survive. Nothing about her character was in the least appealing, so I am glad she is the death. I was worried it might be Stanley, who I have grown to love. LOL

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I suppose that the Vietnam era Russian aircraft with Chinese food and American parachutes would tend to suggest that these were aircraft that wouldn't have been effected by an electro-magnetic pulse, unlike more modern aircraft, like the bulk of the US Air Force.

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Brent might be on to something. For much of the cold war, Soviet military technology was based on obsolete components that would be impervious to EMP, just like the old cars the Jerichoians are driving around.

My big question is where is the multi-national relief force? I suspect that the attack wasn't just limited to US cities, otherwise there would be a NATO or UN humanitarian effort, instead of those Ravenwood thugs.

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Well, has anybody considered that this supposed Chinese food drop IS the "multi-national" relief force, or at least part of it? China donates the food and supplies; Russia provides aircraft that survived EMP attacks; what's left of America (perhaps a military contractor company) provides the tracking technology and parachutes to go with the relief supplies. I failed to see what was so weird or odd about this hodgepodge of countries that appear to be associated with the supplies, despite the fact that the writers of the episode seemed to play it up as such. If anything, it suggested that the U.S. government is either no longer around or unable to do anything now for its people.

As for why a relief force hasn't arrived to Jericho (yet)... well, practically speaking, what would be the point? There are other communities, towns and cities that we can assume are in more dire need for help. So far, it looks like the Jericho residents are managing to survive on their own.

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Part of the package when spending the week in the boonies: I can only watch the basic networks, and can't record anything.

So I can't go back and check this out - but can anyone tell me whether Gracie's killer used his (her?) left hand or right hand? That will go some way for at least the audience to figure out the murderer.

And the revelation that Johnston was involved with somebody before he was with his wife - have we met this woman yet? Is there any other female characters there in Jericho whom we've met who is of that age?

Can't see it being Gracie, but that might widen the list of suspects in her murder to include Pamela Reed's character.

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My thought while watching the show was, if the Chinese (or whomever) were trying to poison the populace with the food, wouldn't they have dropped it in American packaging so that the people would think it was from the US government and therefore clean? I think the fact that it came in Chinese packaging was a sign that... hey guys, you're gov't is screwed, hope this helps.

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When the USA dropped leaflets in Iraq and Afghanistan, they werent in English. Wouldnt it make sense for the droppers use English to communicate with Jericho, if they really wanted to?

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"If anything, it suggested that the U.S. government is either no longer around or unable to do anything now for its people."

Didn't it come out last week or the week before that Washington DC no longer existed? If so, then there would not be a U.S Gov't. Someone refresh my memory.

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Well, they claim that even if DC fell, elements of the federal government would survive. There are hardened bunkers under most of the major locations that are always fully staffed, and many congresspeople and others are often away from DC more than they are in it.

The problem with a functioning government isn't really location, it's communication. Since Hawkins clearly has access to some form of Internet, there is at least satellite communication capabilities.

If I had to guess, what is left of the US government begged the world for help and this is the result. Although the "Do Not Fight" was a little off-putting. If those were relief supplies from a humanitarian mission, why the propaganda?

Maybe the terrorists have China as a backer?

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Umm...I know bombers can fly very long distances, but Chinese Migs fighters couldn't have come all the way from China. They don't have that kind of range. So wouldn't they have to have come off an aircraft carrier? And even if most of the major American cities have been nuked, much of the U.S. seventh pacific fleet would still be around (with enough firepower to totally destroy China if they so wanted to, and to defend the West coast). Therefore I think if these were actually Chinese aircraft, the Migs operating off an aircraft carrier, then this carrier was allowed into our waters by our navy to help distribute aid. The parachutes containing the U.S. tech also suggests this. That they are coordinating with what's left of the U.S. government that is now probably based out of New York, which was said to have survived the attacks.

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i see nothing nefarious going on, though obviously one should take caution at first (which the charaters did). china donates food, america packs it up and puts on the parachutes, old russian planes are used to drop it off (since they are one of the few kinds of planes that can still be used after the emp attacks).

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I am surprised no one has mentioned this yet, If the EMP knocked out everything how is Ravenwood able to use their Humvees? Also Jonah's men used a pretty new truck to transport the generator? I have also seen other instances where modern cars were used. Seems like a pretty big loophole to me.

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"I am surprised no one has mentioned this yet, If the EMP knocked out everything how is Ravenwood able to use their Humvees?"

The thing about EMP's is they only affect thing within a certain radius, and only affect things which aren't "battle-hardened" to foil them. Hence, Hawkins's laptop still works. Humvees *might* fit into this category, too. Jonah's truck? Might've come from anywhere ... they may have traveled far and wide, and stolen whatever they came across. Quite curious, all the same.

What I wonder is, the EMP we saw set off over Jericho was, what, weeks after the initial bombs? This tells me that at that point in time, as we were launching our ICBMs, *somebody* was attacking us (or, for some reason we were attacking ourselves).

That's a scary thought. I like the idea that countries would unite to help us out, but it's also possible that a wannabe superpower would also kick us while we're down, just to make sure we stay down.

In the preview for next week, I see Google Earth. Which tells me the Internet is still running ... is this likely? I know that ARPAnet was originally designed to outlast the localized effects of EMPs and nukes, but the current 'net is much different in many ways. Plus, I know that Google is massively distributed among hundreds of giant datacenters, with tons of redundancy built in, but it seems a bit surprising that Google Earth would still be working ... dunno why.

Finally, here's a thought about the generators. How hard would it be to set up the generator such that, as soon as it powers up, it sends a signal, via satellite if you like, back to its senders ... lets 'em know that it's been turned on. If it has GPS (and if GPS is still working) then its senders can also pinpoint its location - even see if it's moving, assuming the signal continues.

Now *that* would be interesting. In a way, it would tell the senders who's alive, and where they are. Would make it easier to send more relief packages in the future to a good location (and if possible, to get up-to-date satellite imagery of the people using your generator).

I'm a genius. Yep. Hope the writers thought of this. he he he

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"Wouldnt it make sense for the droppers use English to communicate with Jericho, if they really wanted to?"

Didn't they? The food items were written in Chinese, but the fliers were in English.

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Has any one noticed how green everythig is this time of year in Kansas,especially the corn stalks? And also it doesn`t seem that cold and it`s always sunny. Oh well;just a thought.

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Wow.. how many generators do the Chinese have, anyway, if they could afford to drop one for a tiny little town like Jericho? If every town with, say, 3,000 residents were to be given a generator (and we're not talking about a tiny Honda generator here) that would pretty quickly grow into a logistical and financial nightmare, wouldn't it?

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As far as relief efforts go whoever is in charge will more than have their hands full with the northeaster seaboard.. Yeah, New York wasn't nuked, but that may be causing more chaos in the long run than if they had been nuked. Look at it, you have a city of 8.2 Million people without food, heat, running water, and many trapped in their buildings without elevators. Add to that the panic of fallout and the loss of contact with the rest of the nation. You have a recipe for waves of refugees spreading out into the countryside, taking anything they can just to survive. Then the people who's stuff just got looted will have to move on and take from the next town over, and so on. I'm just hoping that the writers recognize this and don't try to go the entire route of: "NYC is AOK, it the new national capital! And look over there, President Giuliani is jumping over a shark on water skies! Yeah!"

And as for the EMP it was most likely form a nuclear detonation in the upper stratosphere. And what it would wipe out and where depends on a number of conditions, such as the exact design on the devices, where it was located, if it was hooked up to a grounded outlet, and how far away the nuke was. Depending on the exact design of the cars, some wold probably survive. All that really matters is that the car's computer is encased in a grounded metal box (essentially a Faraday cage), and how the wires going to it are routed (also why you are generally safe if lightning strikes your car). If you were worried about a EMP strike and wanted to make a "battle hardened" storage area all you'd have to do is take a Microwave oven, snip all the prongs on the plug except the ground, and plug it into a grounded outlet. Generally you have to take Military InfoSec with a grain of salt, since the information is being fed into them by contractors who like to sell as many products at high markups as they can ("never ask a barber if you need a haircut"). They'll never tell the Army that a $5 part will better suit their needs than a $5,000,000 tactical support system. A lot of stuff would have survived a EMP blast, especially if it was plugged into a good surge protector.

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