Jericho (2.6)

Tuesday, March 18th, 2008 at 10 PM

CBS

Jericho, Season 2 - Episode 6 - "Sedition"

CBS

Marmot: This is what I hate about Jericho: they're halfway through one of the best, most thrilling episodes of the whole show. One that is full of emotional moments and they have to throw in a joke. A cornball joke at that.

Manatee: What Joke?

Marmot: When the mom came back from talking to Jake, she was trying to tell the Rangers where she was taken, and she said it smelled really bad. So then they cut to the Timon & Pumbaa of Jericho, those cops, and they say in unison, "hog farm!" So unnecessary. They could have just cut to the hog farm and left it a little more cerebral. The writers patronize their audience. That's what makes me angry about this show. But I don't think it's just Jericho. It's all CBS shows.

Manatee: Oh yes, more comic relief from the country bumpkin cops. Best line: "It's not a government, it's a company, and you're just middle management."

Marmot: That was a great line! It's sure to show up in Skeet Ulrich's Emmy submission tape. Poor Esai Morales. The guy comes in for 7 episodes, gives a great, subtle performance and is berated by castoffs from Scream.

Manatee: Well, he is sort of middle management... Hawkins gave him a chance to be great... the chance to help him and Jake in a new American Revolution, and he declined.

Marmot: He has no other choice, though. He's a military man, through and through. He thinks not for himself; only his country.

Manatee: Even if his country is not his country anymore? What if George Washington had been like Beck?

Marmot: Then colonial times would have been a lot funkier. Oh, not that Beck. Well hopefully Major Beck (not the rock singer) will come around in the final episode and help Jake and Hawkins in their righteous cause. Maybe that's where they get the fighter jets we see them flying in the promos for next week.

Manatee: Fighter jets?! Maybe that's why this season has been so bad... they were saving all the big bucks for the last episode VFX! How ridiculous did that look? [insert Top Gun joke here.]

Marmot: I can't wait...if "Danger Zone" is not playing during that scene, I am going to be extremely disappointed

Manatee: Let's talk a little more about last night's episode, then I am interested to get your take or ideas on the finale (which will most likely be the series finale). Story question: When Jake is freed, Hawkins sees him and Jake asks about Chavez and Texas. How did Jake know about that since it all came about since he was imprisoned? I can't see that it happened OS, since Hawkins enters the cabin asking to talk to Jake...

Marmot: I have no idea. I don't think anyone at Jericho does either. Furthermore, how do the Rangers get the Army uniforms and Humvee? The ones that they used to create the decoy. I watched the scene twice just to see if I had missed something. I think the finale is going to be pretty straightforward. Jake and Hawkins hijack (or are given by Beck) fighter jets to fly to Cheyenne, then single-handedly stop the Guy On The Phone from blowing it up with Hawkins' bomb. You know, like any other series finale. Then Jake wakes up, and it was all a dream. Here's another plot hole: Hawkins is this super smart guy, always on top of stuff, can outwit anyone - yet he never thinks that there might be a tracking device somewhere on the nuclear bomb he has been carrying around for 9 months?

Manatee: Because the writers could not think of something more clever. There has always been so much mystery surrounding Hawkins and his talents and abilities, but I think in the end we will be disappointed in his ending. I think there will be a lot of strings still untied, and I'm not sure we will learn all the answers about Hawkins. I think a lot of stuff was messily tied up around him (like Sara, etc) and then they try to cover up the mess with another explosion or hijacking. I think the guys got the decoy gear off screen, I did not really question that too much. I feel like they've done something similar before.

Marmot: The uniforms & gear question really bothers me. If Jennings & Rall is really so meticulous about keeping track of everything, how were some bumpkins able to take it right out from under their nose? And if Jennings and Rall aren't keeping track of it, the military is, and they're just as meticulous. Its a minor point, I know, but for some reason, it's really driving me crazy.

Manatee: Because they did set it up that they are meticulous and organized, and then these morons go in and easiy steal a bunch of stuff. A few episodes ago they made a big deal about the vaccines being switched out and the $10,000 cover up. So this switch in procedure is a little disconcerting since it was previous set up in another tone.

Marmot: What do you think the odds are that the nuke is dropped on Cheyenne next week?

Manatee: I'd say... hmmm... it won't be dropped. They'll save the city at the last second. What would make a great ending is if there is a cliff hanger and we don't know if it gets dropped. I want to see a revolution dammit. Not just Jericho fighting a few army guys... I want tea dumped into the harbor, a midnight ride, a Boston Massacre, and a Treaty of Paris.

Marmot: I want to see Jake and Hawkins storm the Bastille!

Manatee: These are all good suggestion, but alas the final episode is already shot... what do you think will happen?

Marmot: Well, they shot two endings – a cliffhanger and a continuation into next season and a final, wrap everything up ending. My guess is that it's over, and Jericho will end next Tuesday. Jake and Hawkins will stop the bomb, probably with Beck's help. Jennings & Rall will be exposed for what they are, and the US Government will return to their normal state.

Manatee: Boring. How disappointing.

Marmot: How do you think it will end?

Manatee: I think that they will save the day, our questions on Hawkins will never be answered. Half the cast will not even appear in the finale. Cheyenne will look like downtown LA. The conspiracy will be uncovered, the bomb probably won't go off, and the bald headed guy will get away and have a spinoff.

Marmot: That's a dumb ending, too. Let's make up our own.

Manatee: Ok, Jake and Hawkins decide they are really in love, and leave the country via Fighter Jets to get married in some exotic place. Is that better?

Marmot: Much. Then Bonnie comes back to life and her Stanley and Mimi ride away on a magical unicorn that takes them back in time to before the bombs were dropped.