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Dude, I'm sorry but this show is freakin' AWESOME! I'm a little worried I won't have much to make fun of. Well, except for the continued excessive candle use. Again. But, seriously, this show is simply delightful -- you don't have to think too hard and you don't have to remember too much but just when you think you've predicted it, YOU HAVEN'T. With food running low in Jericho (and now I'm halfway to a dirty limerick), the men (and Bonnie) have to go hunting. Setting aside whether anyone should be eating animals that have been exposed to radioactive fallout, Stanley and Jake go a-hunting. With Mimi. Stanley thinks she needs to learn the way of the Cheney and aims to teach her. Before they can make their first kill, the Hunting Party's old white truck (white=good!) is rammed off the road by a new black Chevy truck (black=BAD!) and ransacked. Jake spends most of the episode pinned under the truck while Stanley tries to warm him and keep him awake, but once Dad arrives, we get another delicious piece of Jake's puzzling past: he may or may not have intentionally killed a ten-year-old girl in Iraq. During this revelation and follow-up at home, we get to see Jake vulnerable for the first time, and Gerald McRaney acting the hell out of the scene. Meanwhile, Hawkins and Sarah go to find the Old Man, but all they find is a Dead Man, and it's not immediately obvious if he was Old before he was Dead. However, a Bald Man, who was spying on them earlier, is in cahoots with Sarah to eliminate Hawkins just as he (or they?) have eliminated three out of eight people in their "team." While Hawkins follows Sarah's advice and makes plans to move his family a safe distance away from him, Sarah goes out and neck-snaps the Bald Man. To death. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
It would appear as though the Apocalypse is brought to us by Windows Vista. Seems appropriate.
Snowflakes blow through the cold, blue light of early morning, and Dad and Eric -- with packs and yoga mats strapped to their backs -- return to the town. A random villager calls, "Any luck out there?" Dad shakes his head. Lady, if they had any luck, don't you think they'd be dragging a carcass? It's not like they would have left it in the car, since they didn't actually drive a car. Dad and Eric enter Mary Bailey's tavern to warm up, and tell Jake and Stanley that they saw no animals to hunt, not even rabbits. Stanley suggests, "Think it was the fallout? Maybe radiation killed the deer." Mmm, yellowcake venison! Eric explains that they didn't even see any carcasses, and went out fifteen miles. Stanley tells Jake that they're going to have to drive out for their hunt, and when Eric mewls over using too much gas, Jake says, "We can live without power for now -- make fires to keep warm -- but we won't see spring if we don't eat." Yes, Jake, because heat is the only power-generated thing the town needs. Is no one on a respirator at the medical center? What if someone has a heart attack? How will they power the paddles? What if April gives birth prematurely -- as I am convinced she will, because why else would we have a pregnant character if not to milk an emergency C-section, premature birth, or miscarriage out of her? -- what will you have to power the incubator? Actually, here's a thought: my childhood winters in Minnesota always featured bright blue skies and raging sunlight. It's true that there was often a windchill that figured thirty below zero, but it was sunny. Since Kansas is not near the coasts and doesn't have to deal with lake or ocean effect, I'm thinking it might have similar winters, so let's just forget wind power and start installing solar panels. Determining that the rest of the town can "scrounge around locally" for prey, Jake announces that he and Stanley will take a car out as far as they can. Oh, and Mimi's coming with them. What? Yeah, Stanley wants to make sure she knows how to trap and shoot in case something happens to him. Because if something happened to Stanley, no one else in Jericho would help her? What a rude town. The Greens roll their collective eyes at this chivalry. Dad points out a forty-below sleeping bag, hands over his wind-resistant lighter, and reminds everyone how dangerous the roads can be. Do you think Jericho knows about Season Shot? Kill and season your birds in one blow!
Hawkins House. Sarah and Hawkins pack up for their trip. "I'm guessin' the good folks of Jericho don' know about this stuff," Sarah observes. Why did Sarah suddenly have to put on a small-town accent there? Also, don't mess with the good folks of Jericho, Sarah, or you and me are gonna have words. Hawkins says that Jericho doesn't know a lot of things. Isn't that the understatement of the year. Their voyage to the Old Man will take only two hours. Sarah's surprised at the Old Man's proximity, but Hawkins explains that when the Old Man chose the rally point, he wanted it in his own back yard. How odd that Hawkins seems to know more about the Old Man than Sarah does. I'd have thought it would be the other way around. Hawkins says he thinks the Old Man has been watching him ever since he broke off communications a few days ago. Sarah asks if Hawkins is worried about what they're going to find out there. "You're not?" Hawkins wonders. "We can handle him -- it's you and me," says Sarah. "Let's get to work." I definitely think she's harboring an unhealthy obsession with Hawkins. I mean, it stands to reason: he was her boyfriend before the attack, and now people and boyfriends are scarce. Especially ones who understand what Sarah does, whatever that is. She seems to have no one left in the world except Hawkins. Furthermore, Hawkins isn't as alone as she. He still has his family, and she already knows full well that he would choose them over her.
In Stanley's beat-up truck, Mimi complains about how slow Stanley is driving. Jake explains that they only have half a tank, and Stanley hopes it will get them to Flint Springs. Jake and Stanley then proceed to argue about white tails and terrain and hunting jargon, until Mimi interrupts to say it's crazy to think she's going to learn how to hunt. It's even crazier when you consider that her ineptitude could scare away precious quarry. Maybe Stanley should have started her with BB guns and tin cans. Stanley argues that everyone is doing his or her part; Bonnie's been out twice. "Good for frickin' Bonnie!" Mimi snaps. Where is frickin' Bonnie, by the way? "Bonnie grew up on a farm!" Mimi goes on. "The closest I ever got to the outdoors was the Ralph Lauren section at Neiman Marcus!" Stanley tries to compare hunting with bargain shopping, but Mimi counters, "Bargains? At Neimans? Sometimes I forget that the biggest designer in your closet is Wrangler." And my estimation of Stanley has dropped even farther -- I would have figured him for Levi's at least. Then again, I guess even Levi's have entered the realms of ridiculously expensive jeans. Jake chuckles over their "domestic squabbles." Stanley tells him to knock it off, and Mimi says, "This isn't squabbling." I'm surprised she didn't say "This isn't domestic."
The hunting party stops suddenly when they see a pack of dogs rooting around debris. Dude, are they eating bodies? Probably not at this family hour. The hunting party walks closer, and Mimi observes, "These dogs have tags." That poses an interesting question: would a pet dog ever eat his owner if his survival instincts kicked in and his owner was already dead? I'm not even going to get into the "Would owners eat their pets?" question because I just can't go there. Looking past the dogs, we can see spreads of more debris reaching across the plain. Jake snatches up a plastic bag and reads, "Wall Drugs, Wall, South Dakota." Jake, honey, it's Wall Drug. No plural. Mimi wonders if that's where all the people were coming from. "Think about it," Jake says, as Mimi wanders off. "South Dakota without heat or electricity or food being trucked in." "It's gotta be even worse in North Dakota or Montana," says Stanley, irritatingly leaving off Minnesota, which would actually have the coldest temps in the U.S. I wonder how many would decide that going to Canada was a better idea. I mean, I know it's colder, but assuming that Canada didn't get bombed -- and we've seen nothing to date that names any part of Canada as a hit -- wouldn't Canada be able to help? ["Eyes on your own maple syrup, America! Also, not all of Canada is cold; Vancouver barely even gets any snow." -- Wing Chun] Would it have been affected by the Don't Mention the EMP? Would Alaska? Hawaii? Shouldn't Hawaii be flying supplies in to the rest of the country? Mimi carefully walks up to a mound of clothes and, suddenly realizing what it is, removes her hat, grabs her forehead and breathes, "Oh, my god." Jake and Stanley walk up and pull back the tarp to uncover a dead woman. Jake says, "I read about this at Black Jack -- mass migrations. Hundreds, thousands of people heading south. Trying to outrun winter." Mimi, still very shaken, asks if they should be doing that, too. The camera pulls up and back to reveal a present-day Trail of Tears. Bodies are everywhere. Hey, forget the Mystical Black Man -- what about finding some Mystical Native Americans? If anyone in this country has the history and resources to know how to survive without electricity even in the most extreme weather, it would be them.
Tonight's Morse code message is, "Hey, Dumb-Ass, didn't your mother ever tell you to wear a hat?"
After the commercial break, Stanley is pacing something out. "How far is it?" Jake yells annoyingly. Dude, only when the guy has stopped pacing and counting should you ask. Otherwise, you're going to interrupt his train of thought and -- remember, we are talking about Stanley here -- he'll forget where he was. Stanley stops counting and turns to announce that it's about sixty yards. Mimi does some quick calculations and determines, "That's almost a hundred people just across." Jake adds, "The way the ground is trampled, you gotta figure five or ten times that amount [sic] of people came through here." It would be thousands of people heading south to Texas and Mexico. Stanley notes that it would take weeks to get there: "Mexico's borders could be closed." Wouldn't that be ironic. Mimi points out that they don't even know if there is a Mexico anymore. Stanley suggests catching up with them, but Jake says that, since they barely have enough resources for their own town, they can't be taking on more ballast.
Jericho. Emily poutingly enters the holding area for the refugees and looks around. She spots Roger and nods at him. He excuses himself from the skinny blonde lass he's talking to, and walks over to his fiancée. He takes a clipboard from someone and tells Emily confusingly that he came down "early...late, I guess." He didn't want to wake Emily because she looked so peaceful. "Peaceful? Really?" Emily snorts, reminding him that her life is NOT easy. Roger starts to ask if Emily had another one of "those bad dreams," but doesn't wait for an answer as he directs someone to put down a box. For his part, all Roger could do was think of the refugees, and then he remembered the clothes in their attic. "I thought that sweater looked familiar," Emily says, nodding over at someone with a forced laugh. Roger explains that the woman in Emily's sweater was on a layover in Kansas City when the bombs went off; her husband and two kids were in Denver. Roger explains that since he led these people to Jericho, it's now up to him to make sure they are taken care of. Emily asks what she can do to help. "Talk to them. Follow your instincts," Roger tells her, backing away. "The truth is, I'm winging this myself." Emily looks sort of annoyed as she surveys the refugees.
Hawkins House. Sarah and Hawkins still haven't quite gotten their trip underway. Darcy appears in the kitchen with her arms crossed. Sarah goes to wait outside. Hawkins tells Darcy that he should be back before dark. Darcy wonders at what point she should start to worry. Not answering, Hawkins tells her that this is the last time, and that after today, he's back for good. Hawkins leaves. I like how Hawkins had the foresight to bring a few African tribal masks to hang tastefully on the walls.
Greenhouse. Dad returns home and tells Mom how ineffectual a hunter he is, and that Jake is now out on the hunt. Mom and Dad discuss the cold house, and that April's at the clinic, but that she promised Mom she'd take a nap. That right there? That nap thing? Would totally be meaningless if April wasn't pregnant, but since she is, we can now rest assured that something's going to go wrong with the baby, and that we're going to be dealing with an emergency situation. I welcome that, because maybe it means we'll see Aasif again. "Feels like a storm's coming in," Mom predicts. Dad thinks they need to seal up the doors and windows. Mom's been collecting old sheets and linens to do just that. Haven't any of them heard of weather stripping or nailing plastic over the windows? It also seems like it would be a good idea to close off most of the house to keep the heat in a smaller area. Mom then drags a bottle of bourbon off a table and says, "Look what I found hidden in Jake's closet." Mom and Dad laugh fondly at their son's underage drinking. "At least he was drinking the good stuff," Dad says, examining the label. "I used to hide the most awful rotgut in the world behind my mother's china cabinet." Mom and Dad get thoughtful for a moment and wonder, "What do you think?" "On an empty stomach?" "I'll get the glasses." Dad chuckles and unscrews the cap to get a whiff of the bourbon.
Hawkins and Sarah pull up to a small house; while they're looking around, someone is looking at them through binoculars. All SWAT teamy, Hawkins and Sarah pull guns, go inside, and crouch around. Hawkins feels for a secret door, and they enter a room full of busted electronics. Sarah wonders, "Why would anyone destroy all of this? If they wanted it out of commission, they could have just taken it. Be worth a fortune after the EMP." I don't get this part. Does she mean that all this equipment is EMP-resistant? Hawkins suggests that the person or persons unknown either didn't care or just didn't care about the stuff. He then finds a body and determines that it's been dead for a couple of days, "give or take." On that timeline, Sarah could be the murderer. "But we just heard from him yesterday," Sarah counters. So, this is the Old Man we've been hearing about for...two episodes? I feel gypped -- he doesn't even look old. As Hawkins points out, "We heard from someone, remote uplink," we see that the guy watching them from outside is also listening to them. Sarah wonders, "Who could have done this?"
The hunting party is on the road again, and they start to make bets on the first kill. Aren't they cute? They're betting things like eggs, chopping wood, and tax return consultation. "How about foot massages for a week?" Stanley proposes. "For me, not for him." Mimi smiles, "We'll talk." Since Stanley's eyes don't seem to be on the road, Jake orders him to stop. There's a big, black, fancy truck blocking their path. It has tinted windows. It's an evil truck. Jake says that the truck is staking its territory. Jake tells Stanley to turn around; they'll find another road. Stanley turns his old white truck around, revving the engine something awful, and the evil black truck gives chase. I wonder if it's racist as well. The evil black truck closes in on Stanley's bumper and pushes us into commercials.
After the commercials, the hunting party tries futilely to get away.
Abandoned house. Sarah and Hawkins determine that whoever killed the body was known by the victim, and that the destruction of the electronics didn't extend to completely ruining drives. Sarah exposits that the Old Man had information on the entire team. Hawkins hooks up some drives and says, "Let's find out where everybody is."
Jake hangs out the window of the white hat truck and tries shooting at the evil black truck, but the hunting party is rammed off the road, and Stanley's truck flips.
Sarah and Hawkins have a back-and-forth about too much domestic bliss softening Hawkins. "Not bliss," Hawkins corrects. He is then distracted as the drive boots up on his Samsonite laptop. He opens a directory, and we see eight files with names: Hawkins, Mason, Chavez, Woodworth, Cheung, Miller, Ritts, and Pierce. Woodworth, Pierce, and Ritts are tagged as "Terminated," and the other five are "Whereabouts unknown." That's just bullshit. If this is the Old Man's stuff, he knows where Hawkins is because he Google Earthed him. Unless it wasn't the Old Man who Google Earthed him, and instead was his FBI cohorts. Or it's the FBI who knows where Hawkins is, and not the militia folks. Dammit, if this show gets cancelled, they had better give us some explanations. Which one of those people is Sarah, do you think? Oh, IMDb and CBS's dossier on her have her as "Sarah Mason."
Refugee Refuge. Emily gives people water, and one guy -- apropos of absolutely nothing -- says, "Karaoke bullfighter, right?" Emily and the rest of us are, "Excuse me?" "At that bar in Barcelona, you decked a bullfighter who tried to get you to stop singing that song...?" Random Refugee goes on. No "Hey, you're Emily, right?" Just a leap right into some of her personal history. Creepy. However, given that Emily was singing "Stairway to Heaven," I think I'm on the bullfighter's side. Emily asks if Roger told him that, and then smiles in the direction of her fiancé. "He also mentioned that you like Oreo ice cream and white daisies," Random Refugee details, adding that she shouldn't be mad at Roger because he was trying to keep the troops entertained. Yeah, Roger's a regular Marlene Dietrich. "He kept talking and somehow...we kept moving," Random Refugee concludes. Great, with the white lights and the Moses leading the Jews out of Egypt type of thing, we've got the makings of a good ol' Branch Rogerian. Emily walks over to where Roger is playing Scrabble and calculating what a word is worth. That word? "Testify." Yep, we're gettin' some religion in Jericho. Now if we learn that Roger led his refugees across a river of stopped water, we KNOW they are planning on conquering the town and are probably hiding trumpets under their beds. Roger asks Emily what's up. "I'm a little tired," she tells him. "I'm going to head home and get cleaned up." SHE'S tired? Isn't she the one who slept in? Roger thinks he's going to stay there a little longer, if she doesn't mind. Emily's face clearly states that she does mind, but her mouth says, "Yeah, yeah, of course." Emily tells Roger that she'll see him when she sees him, and walks off. She looks back once to see Roger already engaged in another Scrabble game.
Mom and Dad get drunk. They toast Jake, and Mom observes, "Who would've known six months ago that you'd be toasting him." Dad agrees, "Well, God knows Eric wouldn't have hidden the bottle." No, Eric's would have been a bottle of mother's milk. Sitting on Dad's lap -- she's now contemplating smothering him -- Mom laughs and says that Dad and Jake always had more in common than Dad wanted to admit. Dad reminisces about his hunting trips with Jake. Jake could sit in a deer stand for hours and they wouldn't even say a word to each other. That's bonding. Dad worries that Jake will forget the good times they had together -- that he'll forget they were once "buddies." Mom assures Dad that Jake remembers, deep down. The wind whistles through the cracks of the house, and Mom says she hopes Stanley and Jake are okay. She doesn't say anything about Mimi, so we know she hopes Mimi's dead.
Mimi's the first member of the hunting party to come to. She calls out to Stanley -- quietly at first, then loud and panicky. Dragging herself out, Mimi sees Jake flung outside the truck, but pinned. His temple is bloody. Mimi shouts his name. Jake's eyes flick open and he looks around: "What happened?" Instead of answering, Mimi tells him that Stanley's not moving. "What?!" Jake breathes, sitting up way too suddenly for someone who was just tossed on his head. Mimi helps him to sit up, and they look over the wreck of the good white truck to see the evil black truck returning. Jake gasps at Mimi to hide. Mimi doesn't want to leave Stanley, but Jake bellows at her, so she does a crouch-run to some brush. Jake has the foresight to fling a few bottles of water and a flashlight after her. Mimi could have grabbed far more than that. As Jake scrabbles to reach his gun, which is just out of his reach, we can see that the evil black truck has stopped some distance off, and that four men in black ski masks are standing to it. Evil black ski masks. Jake strains for his gun. The evil ski masks walk toward the wrecked truck. Jake strains us right into commercial break, during which time, I'm very afraid he's going to get a hernia.
Even after the commercials, Jake is still straining. The evil ski masks are still walking. Jake gives up and plays dead. The evil ski masks root around the truck, turn Jake over, kick at Stanley, and loot all their stuff. After all that straining, how did Jake manage to calm his breathing sufficiently that he wasn't heaving his chest, which would have given him away? The men appear to take everything -- water, hunting packs, the jackets right off of the two guys, and Jake's lighter. Furthermore, I think they also took their gloves, because Stanley was definitely wearing them when they found the Trail of Tears. However, Jake still has one glove on. Hey, here's a question -- what's with all those plastic gas containers? I thought they only had half a tank, which, I'm assuming, was IN the tank. They wouldn't have been stupid enough to bring empties, would they? God, they would, wouldn't they? The evil ski masks take off, and Jake bellows for Mimi. She crouches to him and tells him to help her with Stanley. Jake smacks the side of the truck and says he can't move. He flops back onto the ground.
"Ritts, Woodworth, Pierce -- that's half the team," says Sarah. "We're being hunted." They look at satellite photos of a car exploding. "It's worse than that," says Hawkins, clicking to another image of some dead bodies. "That's Woodworth and his wife. They were in Richmond. That's his daughter. Anyone close to us is in danger, too." The "Mystery Woman" thing on CBS's Jericho site had Sarah saying she was heading to Richmond when the bombs went off. I think she's one of the hunters. Sarah tells Hawkins not to worry about his family: "It's just us, Chavez, and Cheung left." Sarah says, "We'll get back out on the field, stay in the weeds until we can connect with the chief." Great. Now's there's a "Chief." Looking at another image, Hawkins isolates a shadowy figure by the house and zooms in on it. It's some bald guy -- probably the guy watching and listening from outside -- that Hawkins doesn't appear to recognize. Sure enough, we get a look outside, and it's the same guy.
Mimi tends to Stanley, who is finally waking up. He gets to his feet, but as soon as he puts weight on one of his legs, he bellows about busting his ankle. Stanley hops over to Jake, who says, "I'm okay, I'm just stuck." I really don't see how he can be okay with a truck on his leg. I mean, the only way his leg isn't crushed is if it's in a perfect indentation in the ground, which then rises to an exact height on either side of the leg so that the truck is resting on the raised ground but not the leg. That's a whole pile of serendipity. Stanley makes to lift the truck, but Mimi stops him, insisting that they can't do it themselves, and that it might make things worse. Jake suggests that they dig him out. Simple Stanley says, "Help me get the shovels, they're in the bed of the truck." Stanley? Your truck is upside down. Anything in the bed of the truck would be on the ground. Do you see anything on the ground? Someone needs to teach Stanley about gravity. "Uh, it's gone," Mimi breaks it to him. "All right, get the jack -- the jack's back there," Stanley decides. Stanley has a concussion. "They took everything," Mimi practically whispers.
Dovecote. Emily's in a loosely tied bathrobe -- which, COLD -- poring over some photos of her and Roger. There's one of her at the Grand Canyon, one of Roger in San Francisco, something dark that looks like Vegas, and another of Times Square. Who takes only one photograph per trip? Roger walks in and asks how her bath was. "Lukewarm," Emily says ruefully. "Then lukecold, and then pretty much icy." Emily and Roger laugh over their hangover from the Times Square photo. Then Emily gets serious and asks if Roger remembers the last thing she said to him before he went to Chicago. "That I was selfish and didn't listen -- something like that?" Roger grins. Emily tells him, "You have no idea how that ate at me while you were gone. I just kept thinking that was the last thing you were gonna--" "You were right," Roger interrupts. Emily says that when she saw Roger with "those people," it was like he had found himself. Roger sighs that he's still just trying to figure it out. Emily sniffs that they aren't those people in the photographs anymore. Roger agrees, but says that he still loves her; that hasn't changed. Emily stares at him, but she doesn't tell him she loves him back; she just strokes his hair.
Because it hasn't occurred to her that the sun might be warm, Mimi paces in the shade of the truck. Jake can't feel his legs, and because the ground is frozen solid, it's sucking the heat right out of him. Mimi wants a fire, but there are fumes from the truck all around them. Also, no lighter. And, I'm pretty sure, no flint and steel. However, they do have broken glass, and they could focus the light to start a fire. They have to get back to town, but Stanley's going nowhere on his bum ankle. Jericho has a patrol five miles out of town, and Jake doesn't think they've come more than ten. What happened to Jake's other glove? I know he had it on after the evil ski masks left and now he doesn't. Maybe Stanley ate it. Stanley protests that it's too dangerous, but Jake insists that either one of them goes for help, or they all die there. Stanley finally agrees, and Mimi collects the flashlight Jake threw and gets directions from Stanley: left, second right, left, right. And then there's a big sign pointing the way to Jericho. "Mimi, I--" Stanley starts to say. "Don't worry," she interrupts. "I'll be careful." She takes off running.
Sarah tells Hawkins what they're going to do. She knows a safe place, and they are going to stash Darcy and the kids there before the two of them get back on the move. She's all about the two of them working together -- this is her third mention of it. Hawkins won't leave Darcy and the kids alone. When Sarah insists that he doesn't have a choice, Hawkins says, "No, see, because I've got leverage. If they kill me, they'll never find the package." Sarah points out that it's not him they're going to kill: "It'll be Sam or Darcy or me -- anything they can use to get to me." Not Allison? Maybe Allison is "The Chief." "'Anything they can use to get to me,'" Hawkins repeats, and then looks around him as if he just thought of something. "The bodies, these half-smashed drives, this whole set-up..." Sarah looks scared, as she should. "If someone had wanted to destroy all this, why leave the house standing, huh? Why not just burn it all down? Someone wanted us to see all this," Hawkins decides. Sarah's face relaxes as soon as Hawkins says "us." The guy outside, the hunter, moves around. Inside, Hawkins and Sarah pack stuff up. Now inside the house, the hunter moves into a doorway with a gun drawn. Hawkins determines that they're being played, and says he needs to get home. He steps toward the doorway where the hunter lurks, but Sarah stops him, saying that they need to think of a plan. Hawkins thinks the whole plan could have been to lure them out there, and that now he needs to worry about protecting his family. Sarah asks about the package, and Hawkins decides, "It'll need to be moved." There's a long pause, and when Sarah and Hawkins leave the room, the hunter is gone.
Jake shivers and groans with cold. Stanley brings over a small handful of straw and...puts it under his HEAD? Why doesn't he cover Jake with the straw? Who cares if he has a pillow? Oh, Stanley, you are so, so simple. Stanley tells Jake encouraging things, like how they've been through worse. There was this one time when two of them got stuck on the roof of the town hall in the middle of lightning storm. They were afraid the lightning was going to set off their fireworks, and there's some contention over which one of them screamed like a little girl in wanting to get off the roof. I vote for Stanley. I don't know why. Jake strikes me as the quietly-wetting-his-pants type. Stanley offers Jake some water, but discovers that it's frozen right through. Wouldn't Stanley have noticed that it was solidifying? Wouldn't Stanley's body heat have kept it from freezing? No, no, no! Of course not, because Stanley's a zombie, and zombies have NO BODY HEAT! Jake tries to send Stanley to an abandoned cabin he saw up the road, but Stanley refuses to leave him and even lays his vest across Jake's chest. He likes his brains warm. They argue whether or not Mimi's going to make it back, but Stanley says, "Mimi's strong -- she'll find her way." Why aren't they huddling together for body heat?
Mimi's jogging down a road. She stops at a T intersection and looks around. She repeats Stanley's directions and remembers that she's supposed to look for a sign. Mimi moans and sees a fallen Jericho directional sign. Yeah, well, didn't they do that to keep Ravenwood and other people from finding them? "Oh, GOD, I hate this place!" Mimi bellows to the snowflakes. Heh. Mimi looks both ways and starts jogging again.
Night has fallen, and still the boys do not huddle. Didn't they see The Voyage Of The Mimi? Capt. Granville got hypothermia and two of the crew had to strip and keep him warm. Ben Affleck played the captain's son. Far from huddling, Stanley's off examining his hands for hangnails or something. He calls back to Jake, but Jake is unresponsive. Stanley hops over to him, makes him sit up, and tells him to start talking. Jake shivers that he's sorry for leaving the way he did five years ago. Stanley tells him that it doesn't matter. "I was gonna call," Jake breathes, and mutters that they never got to go backpacking in Costa Rica together. No, Jake just went to South and Central America for other reasons. Stanley promises that they're going to go and learn how to surf and sleep on the beach, just as soon as the planes are "up and running again." By way of keeping Jake awake, Stanley wants to know what Jake's been up to for the past five years. He asks about San Diego: "How was it?" "Warm," Jake shivers. Stanley laughs, "Beaches, blondes, huh?" Jake pops his eyes open with difficulty and tells Stanley that he was flying planes. "Really? That's cool, man, your grandfather would have been psyched, huh?" Stanley says, talking to Jake like he's eight. Stanley wants to know if Jake had a girl in San Diego. "She's dead," Jake shivers. Stanley's momentarily confused, and tells Jake that he can't know that: "It all depends where she was when the bombs went off, right? I mean, she could have made it, right?" Jake insists, "She's dead. It was my fault." Jake wants to lie down and die, but Stanley won't let him, and rocks him back and forth. Okay, so they're sort of huddling now.
Mimi's flashlight finally dies, and instead of keeping it for a weapon, she throws it away. Them cityfolk is smart! Mimi calms herself down and tells herself she has to keep moving. Headlights appear down the road. Mimi freezes and remembers what Stanley told her, so she runs to the side of the road and dives out of sight. Or maybe she falls. Can't be sure. The car stops, and people get out. "Please don't hurt me! Please don't hurt me! PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!" Mimi shrieks. It's Mom and Dad. Mimi hugs Mom and shrieks with relief. They all get into the car. And there's very little in the way of shrieking.
In the darkened Dovecote, Emily finds Roger -- by the light of six candles in the hallway -- rummaging through a closet. "Those are hideous," Emily announces, looking at what Roger has in his hands. "Are those the sheets from your old apartment? Because you can't expect anyone to sleep on them." I know, nuclear attack refugees are so picky. It's either Egyptian cotton or it's birth defects for several generations. Roger assures Emily, "If anyone asks, we'll pretend someone else donated them." Hey, remember how that old guy died last week? Maybe they should be making use of his house for the refugees. Roger paws through some hanging clothes and stops. "Your dress," he announces, quietly. Emily looks up. "Guess I shouldn't be seeing this, huh?" Roger admits. Emily: "Day's sort of come and gone, so...." She trails off, shrugging. "It'll come again," Roger says heartily. "You think?" Emily wonders. "I do," Roger intones. They both laugh. Silly, cultish Roger. Emily tells Roger that she's got a pack of Ramen Noodles with his name on it. "Great, I'll deliver these to the shelter and come back and wash up," says Roger, picking up a box. Emily stops him, and you totally think she's going to be a bitch about him going out again, but instead she says, "I'll come with you." All the better to keep Roger from telling the random masses about their "first time."
Mom, Dad, and Mimi pull up to the wrecked truck. Mom runs out, yelling, "Jake -- it's Mom and Dad, honey!" She brings over a blanket and drapes it over Jake. Dad shakes Stanley awake and tells him to get in the truck and get warm. Stanley asks for Mimi, who calls out that she's right there. Mimi helps Stanley over to the truck, as Mom pleads with Jake to wake up. Jake opens his eyes, and Mom tells him that they started to worry when the storm came and the hunting party hadn't come back. Doesn't seem like much of a storm to me. A few flakes and flushes of wind -- nothing major, really. Also, I should mention that I'm sure Mom and Dad are stone-cold sober. They started drinking in the morning, and since it's probably fairly late now, I think they're okay. Dad looks at Jake's leg and says that they won't be able to get the truck off him. I don't understand why Mom, Dad, and Mimi can't employ a seesaw effect to get the truck off Jake. The flatbed is on the far end, and if they just all leaned on that, I think they could raise the part that's trapping Jake. Dad sends Mom back to town to get help: "You signal when you're coming back, so I know it's you." Mom says she'll flash the lights. Dad employs rallying tactics to get Jake to wake up. He announces to Jake that he knows what Jake is made of, so Jake's going to be all right.
Hawkins and Sarah arrive back at Hawkins's house. They swing the door open and enter the dark house. Guns drawn and in their crouch mode, Hawkins bellows for Darcy and his kids. The door is still open. Darcy comes downstairs in her robe and gets a flashlight in her face for her trouble. She holds out her hands and says that the kids are sleeping. Hawkins sighs with relief. Dude, someone SHUT the door, they aren't heating the neighborhood! "What on earth are you doing?" Darcy asks, looking at Hawkins's gun. Hawkins apologizes and immediately tucks it behind him. Darcy catches sight of Sarah and glares before heading back upstairs. Hawkins follows her. Sarah looks peeved.
Dad proceeds to do what Stanley did in his attempts to keep Jake awake, and Jake proceeds to do with his dad what he did with Stanley: he apologizes. When Jake closes his eyes, Dad makes him open them again and look at him. Dad's face is so close to Jake's, I almost expected Jake to ask if Dad got into his alcohol. "I can see her," Jake says. "See who?" Dad demands. "The girl," Jake explains. "What girl -- Jake, I think you're hallucinating, son," Dad says loudly, in a tone that makes me giggle. Jake explains, "When I was in Iraq--" I can't tell from Dad's reaction if this is the first time he's hearing about Jake being in Iraq or not. "--there was this girl. She couldn't have been more than ten or twelve," Jake whispers. Dad tells him to save his energy, and that they'll talk when they get home. "I killed her, Dad," says Jake, his voice breaking. "I killed a little girl." Dad closes his eyes in sorrow and lays his cheek against Jake's.
Some time later, a car approaches. Dad whips out his gun and points it. The car's headlights flash; we can see another car behind it. Dad yells at them to hurry up. Everyone gets out, including Mom and Eric. Three of them lift the truck, and Dad smoothly pulls Jake out from under. They get him on a paramedic board.
morning, Sarah is sitting in front of Hawkins's fire. Hawkins comes down and tells Sarah that she was right: he needs to get his family as far away from him as possible. Sarah says that he's doing the right thing. Hawkins crouches to Sarah's level and says, "After they're safe, you and me need to get back in the field. That's half our team gone, Sarah, and whoever did that did it for a reason." Sarah asks how Hawkins is going to tell Darcy. He'll tell Darcy after he's moved the family, because she'll never agree if she thinks Hawkins won't be with them. I wonder if Hawkins knows about Sarah and is now just telling her what she wants to hear to ensure his family's safety from her before he takes her out.
Greenhouse. April tucks additional blankets around Jake and says that he's better off at home than in the med center. It's warmer. Because they keep the home fires burning. Mom brings Jake a mug of something and asks about his injuries. The cut on his head isn't very deep, and neither leg is broken; he just has hypothermia. It will take a few hours for him to stabilize. Jake groans, and Dad asks for a minute alone. April leaves. Dad sits down to Jake. Shuddering, Jake looks over at his dad and begs him to forget what he told him. "Afraid I can't do that," says Dad, leaning close to his son. "I've seen a lot of things in my time, Jake. I've been to war. I know what war can do, I know what men can do -- terrible, terrible things. I know what I did. You can talk to me." Jake sort of sobs and ducks his head into the blankets, crying gently. Dad strokes his head, and shushes him while his own face breaks tragically. He kisses the top of Jake's head, his eyes full of tears. "When you're ready, son," he whispers brokenly. "When you're ready." Jake sits there, shaking and crying and cold-swollen as Dad leaves the room.
Mimi and Stanley step out into the bright light from the darkness of the medical center. Stanley's on crutches. Mimi looks around and half-laughs in delight. "You okay?" Stanley asks, surprised that Mimi's happy about anything Jericho-related. "Yeah," she says, and then looks at him in concern and asks about his sprain. I'd be more concerned about those patches of white on his face -- did he get frostbite? In a temperature where you can't even see their breaths? Stanley confesses that, for a while there, he didn't think he would ever feel anything again. Mimi tells him that when she was on the road, there was a moment when she didn't think she was going to make it. She stopped for a rest and didn't even want to move. "But you did -- you did make it. And I knew you would," Stanley tells her. Mimi nods, tearing up. Stanley kisses her loudly on the cheek. Mimi looks embarrassed. She puts a finger up to his mouth and notes that his lips are still cold. "Yeah," Stanley muses, "maybe you can warm them." He says it in this totally goofy, nerdy, overly pronounced tone. Mimi laughs, puts her hand on his face, and tells him gently that it's the worst line she's ever heard. Stanley knows: "I've got others." "Shut up," Mimi tells him. "Okay," Stanley agrees, gamely. He and Mimi hobble off together. Where the hell is Bonnie? Are the two of them still in a fight even after Stanley almost died? She's one bitchy deaf girl.
Hawkins house. Hawkins tells Darcy that they're leaving the morning; he doesn't know where to yet. Darcy doesn't like this. I wouldn't like it either; that is one nice house. I'm telling you, for a big kitchen, I'll take a little fallout. Hawkins reminds Darcy that when he came to get them in D.C., he told her it wasn't safe there, but that he couldn't tell her why. Sarah appears in the doorway and says that she's going for a walk. Hawkins nods. Sarah leaves. Hawkins tells Darcy that he has something people want, and that they'll stop at nothing to get it. It's putting Darcy and the kids in danger. Darcy agrees, uncertainly, "Okay, so, then we go." As Darcy says, "I trust you," we see Sarah taking her walk. She walks up to someone. Darcy asks if Hawkins trusts her. Before Hawkins answers, we're back with Sarah and the hunter. The hunter growls, "You're late." "You're impatient," Sarah retorts. Back at the house, Hawkins says, "Yes." "Okay, then listen to me," Darcy tells him. "Sarah is not on our side. Now, whatever's gone on between the two of you, I'm telling you, she's not here to help us." Sarah and the hunter face each other. The hunter says that Hawkins is starting to put the pieces together, and that they need to locate the package. "We've already eliminated the other three targets -- why are you stalling on this one?" the hunter asks. Sarah punches the hunter in the throat, turns him around, slams him to the ground, and snaps his neck. The body drops. "Because this one is different," Sarah hisses. I love it when people talk to dead bodies. It's so dramatic. What is she going to do with the body? Maybe she'll present it to Hawkins as proof that she's on his side.
week: the Marines come in and restore power, hurrah! Then they turn bad and the lights go off again, boo!