By Keckler
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.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!