Episode Report Card Strega: C | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Daddy-O
By Strega | Season 1 | Episode 10 | Aired on 11.21.2006
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.It's a very special Thanksgiving episode! Jake declares war on turkeys, which is ironic since he's in one. Then some Russian bomber planes drop packages of food and supplies, along with greetings from China. Naturally, the Greens first suspect that the food is poisoned, but after Gray eats some with no ill effects, they decide to warehouse it all until they can decide how to divvy up the goods. Jonah tries to strong-arm Gracie, so I guess he does like knickknacks after all. Dad rescues her, puts an end to the deal with Jonah, and then basically blackmails her himself. But he's very cheerful about it, so I guess that makes it okay. Stanley discovers that a pallet of food and a gigantic generator were dropped on his property. Mimi goes off to tell Jake, and while she's gone, Jonah's men clobber Stanley and steal the goodies. Dad tries to reason with Jonah, and when that fails, he prepares to lead a daring assault. But before that can happen, Emily sneaks onto Jonah's compound, knocks some guy out, and steals the stuff back. So Emily's a ninja. Mitchell almost shoots her as she makes her getaway, but Jonah stops him. Also, Jake finds a microchip in the parachutes that identifies them as being from the USAF, just to muddy the waters a little more. The rest of the episode is spent moving everyone's storylines another inch forward. And giving Dad some funny lines, which is the main reason this episode got a "C+." Dad tells Eric that April's pregnant. Eric says that he'll help take care of the baby, but that he's sticking with Mary. Stanley and Mimi finally get it on. Hawkins helps to set up the generator so that he can bring cheesy pop songs back to Jericho. Thanks a lot, Hawkins. Oh yeah -- and someone ambushes Gracie in her store and murders her. And if it wasn't Mitchell who killed her, trying to frame Jonah so that he can take over the gang, I will be really and truly stunned. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Previously: the same clips as always were shown, plus the townsfolk caught a glimpse of a Chinese news broadcast, Eric dumped his wife, and Jake wanted to form a militia.
We open with Jake, Stanley, and some redshirts scampering through some trees while tense music plays. Then they're hiding behind a log, and Jake signals to Stanley. I'm just guessing, but the hand signals look like they might mean "gouge out your eyes or shoot yourself -- Jericho is starting." Stanley shakes his head. He's a brave man. Did anyone seriously think they were facing any kind of enemy after the clips of Dad talking about how Jake should train people to defend the town? Jake signals to the redshirt -- or, technically, redhat -- next to him, who's more agreeable. Redhat fires. A turkey squawks and flutters behind a tree. And another minute of TV time is flushed away. Jake sighs, "We'll get 'em next time. Let's get back on patrol."
Then Jake and Stanley are walking along. Stanley says that everyone's trying, and they certainly are.
Hawkins Homestead. Hawkins explains to Darcy that he decided against joining the turkey-hunt. Darcy admits that it'd be nice to have a turkey for Thanksgiving. If only they lived in farm country. Allison and Samuel suddenly wander in, and Hawkins asks if they'll mind doing without a turkey. Allison does a double-take and tells her father, "I'm a vegetarian." Samuel says he's glad that Hawkins will be there for dinner, and asks why he always missed Thanksgiving before. Hawkins says that he was away on business trips: "[Thanksgiving] wasn't a big holiday where Daddy was working."
Main Street. Mom is apparently helping to run a food drive. You might wonder who would be stupid enough, even in this town, to donate food when everyone seems to be depending on Stanley's corn to survive. That question is answered when Emily walks up with a box of donations. As Mom adds packages of cheese-based food product and soup to her pile, she asks where Emily got all this stuff. Emily says that it was in her garage: "Roger was such a planner you'd think we already had five kids." Wow, Roger didn't even live in Jericho and he was already crazy. Mom seems to think that stockpiling food for your not-even-conceived-yet children is reasonable, but she does sound dubious about the idea of having five children. Emily admits that she was planning on just having two, and then Mom gets bored and abruptly invites Emily to join the Greens for Thanksgiving dinner. Emily says that she usually goes to her aunt's house. Mom seems relieved. Maybe I'm projecting. Then Emily asks if the Greens still play football before dinner, and Mom chuckles, "There are some things even the apocalypse can't change." Then Gray passes by carrying a ballot box, and Mom mentions that the election is going to be next week. A week? Oh, right: if it's Thanksgiving now, it's been weeks since the last episode. Emily asks if Dad's nervous about the election, and Mom smirks, "Not as nervous as he should be." That's a weird thing to smirk about. Unless she means, "Not as nervous as he should be, considering I'm planning another murder attempt."