Episode Report Card Keckler: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Back To The Salt Mines
By Keckler | Season 1 | Episode 13 | Aired on 02.27.2007
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.People, this is why I freaking ADORE this show. Lots of awesome bits of half-info, but still mucho to snark, scream, and drink about. After Jake and the Sheriff -- is Jimmy the Sheriff now? He's got a sheriffy face -- find an elder-sicle in his home, the town residents realize that they need to get some heat happening. Heather -- YAY, HEATHER -- brings up the brilliant idea of using the windmills (did you know Jericho had windmills? Me neither) to harness a little wind power for the town, so Jake, Dad, Heather, and Frodale take off for a trading post Roger told them about on some old fairgrounds called Black Jack. While they're away, Roger finally shaves, and then tells Emily some fruity story about how he saw a beautiful light that led him to the refugee camp. It's understandable that Emily decided it wasn't quite the time to tell him how she killed a man, but I'm beginning to wonder if she even remembers that herself. In an onerous but awesome succession of scenes, Mom verbally bashes Mary Bailey (IN HER OWN BAR!) for breaking up her happy family, but then leaves some fruity note behind that indicates that she will eventually forgive Mary Bailey and welcome her with reproving but open arms. Hawkins brings Sarah home to meet his family, and Darcy -- understanding at once that the two of them are lovahs -- hates her on sight and decides that she's dangerous. Sarah and Hawkins have secret talks about The Old Man, who has contacted Sarah regarding The Package, and unless he's got something explosive going on, I'm pretty sure they're not talking about the contents of Hawkins's pants. After Hawkins and Sarah agree to leave Jericho together to take out The Old Man, we are left with Sarah texting The Old Man in a way that makes us believe she's potentially terrible, horrible, no good, and very bad. Over at Black Jack, the Away Team sees firsthand that the trading post doesn't take kindly to thieves. Black Jack seems to be in possession of some extraordinary news of the nation. For instance, there are six people claiming right of presidential succession; Germany has also been dropping aid on towns; it's predicted to be the worst winter "in decades;" and Sacramento, California and Cheyenne, Wyoming agreed to stop fighting. That last one gives me severe giggles. When the Away Team can't get the necessary part, Frodale (concealing his still smoking gun) tries to steal it and is almost hanged. Luckily, some new friends help the Away Team bash their way to freedom without the part. Most upsetting is that Heather decides to leave Jericho with the new friends -- one of them is an old friend of hers: a cute old friend -- in order to manufacture the necessary part from memory so that Jericho can prevent another AARP-sicle and conserve the rest of their candles for Emily's brow-waxing necessity. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Jake and Jimmy destroy some perfectly lovely Craftsman-style stained glass as they break into a house. After calling out the inhabitant's name and remarking on how cold the house is, Jake and Jimmy see a lump of blankets on the floor of an upstairs room. Grimacing with resignation, Jake pulls back the blankets to reveal a dead senior citizen. All Jimmy can think to say is "Temperature dropped so fast." Jake adds, "It's going to be a long winter." He must have seen the dead guy's shadow.
In Jericho's town hall, Mayor Gray attempts to keep his chattering constituents calm. He tells them that they are currently using the generator to power the town hall for three hours a day, and the med center for six hours. He points to some numbers on a blackboard and explains how much fuel they have. It's not much. He then points to some other numbers on the blackboard, which represent how much they need to get them through the winter. It's a lot. They will be completely out of gas and diesel in two weeks. Dad mutters something about dancing girls, which makes me think Mom has stopped trying to poison him and is now attempting to gaslight him. Dad mutters that Gray is just scaring the crap out of everyone and that's not right. No, it's better to coddle them and make them think that everything's peaches and cream on the fourth of July. Dad groans that he's going to need a hobby. By this point, Jake and Jimmy have slipped into the meeting; Jimmy sidles over to Hawkins -- what's going on? There are black people there who aren't the Hawkins family! Where did they come from? -- and tells him that one of the refugees claims to have been a cop in St. Louis. Aha! It's like a code word. Okay, so should I be worried that my apartment manager also used to be a cop in St. Louis? Hawkins reacts to this news by following Jimmy out of the meeting. Gray continues to yammer gloom and doom; Heather turns to Emily and wonders, "What about the windmills?" Emily gives her a blank look. She's just so good at that. Mom and a few others also look over at Heather, so she says more loudly, "Wind power -- we should be building windmills." Gray points at her, nods, and calls up their "chief engineer down at the mines," Harry Carmichael. Oh, can I call him "Hoagy" and hope he and Lauren Bacall do a jazz duet at some point in this show? Hoagy explains that they had been looking at the wind turbines for weeks now with Mayor Green, but that it's going to take time to build something to connect it to the grid. Time, Mayor Gray adds -- this town really does have some colorful mayors, no? -- that they can't afford. Heather looks around in confusion, trying to find someone who would understand her MacGyver brain. Emily just looks confused.