Episode Report Card Couch Baron: C | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT ...Is Another Man's Dickhead
By Couch Baron | Season 1 | Episode 17 | Aired on 04.03.2007
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.A boy and a girl hunt a rabbit and come across the hidden tank. That's not explored further, but I'd imagine it could be important later. Hawkins pretends to be Sarah and communicates with her bosses wirelessly. He coaxes them to a location of his choosing, and through surveillance realizes that they were going to kill her rather than pay her. He manages to plant a tracking device on their truck, and ends up getting some interesting photos out of the deal, although he's not sure who the big boss is. Skylar and Frodale continue their quest to get their hands on as much merchandise as possible, and by the end of the episode, they've got their own little general store up, complete with heavily-armed hired muscle. Bickering over the dwindling rations is in full force. After a short town-leader bitchfest, a reluctant but firm Gray tells the refugees in the church that the town can no longer take care of them, prompting a free-for-all that results in the refugees barricading themselves inside. Tear gas is used to drive them out; however, one of the refugees menaces Gail, and elsewhere, Roger struggles with Gray and shoots him. Roger then won't allow Jessica (I think that was that cute medically-proficient refugee's name, anyway) to treat Gray unless he agrees to feed the refugees until spring. Phil moves into sniper position to try to pick off Roger as Emily tries to convince Roger to let Gray get treatment. Jake busts into the room in time to get Roger and Emily to hit the deck, although they take so long to do so that it would have served them right if they'd gotten plugged in the skull. Or at least lost an ear or a few strands of hair. Roger agrees to take the refugees out of town, but not without bringing along a hostage. He initially wants Gray, but agrees to take Jake when he volunteers instead. However, Gail, fresh from her encounter with that just-like-you-and-me refugee, has convinced everyone to give up enough of their rations for the refugees to stay. Due to the gunplay, however, the reprieve is not extended to Roger, and he gets ready to hit the bricks, denying Emily's request to accompany him, much, I'm sensing, to the chagrin of the forum posters. Gail takes some refugees into her house, including the one that menaced her. Roger leaves, and Jake tells him to go to New Bern, because from what I understand, they're rolling in extra food over there. In the end, the town is gathered around listening to a radio broadcast, which seems to stir something in Jimmy. Oh, and did I mention the part where Hawkins is an FBI agent? I've never seen this show before, so if I got anything wrong, don't...oh, what the hell. Email me! Want more? The full recap starts right below!
First off, many thanks to the handful of readers who emailed and straightened me out on the errors I made in the recaplet. I simply did not have time, enjoyable as it would have been, to go back and catch up on all the recaps of the previous episodes, and although I did watch last week's episode, my attention during the first few scenes was still somewhat diluted by my efforts to sneak peeks at the CBS website to figure out who the heck some of these people were. I think I've got it all straight now. Well, aside from wondering why most of these people do most of the things they do. But I have a feeling that on that front, I'm in the same leaky boat as all you all.
We open on a young girl running through the woods. The uncertainly ominous music suggests that she might come across a guy in a mime's mask intent on raping her, so until we know better, I'll just call her Sylvia. However, it turns out that she's hunting a rabbit in tandem with her brother, who catches up with her and tells her she's making too much noise. Agreed, at least on general principles. They quickly catch sight of their prey and chase it until it runs into a slight crack between the locked doors of a barn. Sylvia's brother orders her to crawl through a little doggie-door-looking opening. She asks why, and he tells her, "So we can eat." Hmm, young children reduced to hunting for their own supper. Could it be that the show is subtly trying to tell me something? Anyway, Sylvia goes in, and doesn't have the gun, so is she trying to scare the rabbit back outside? Creepy dissonant music plays as Sylvia discovers the tank the Jericho inner circle took from the Semper Faux. That's still not as scary as a psycho mime. Her brother calls her "Katie," which is fine, because they're off the screen in two seconds anyway, and I've had my prairie-related fun. Also, a reader told me that these are Jimmy's kids, not seen since the pilot. And...nothing against Jimmy, but if he's their dad, I think maybe the rationing in their household is the slightest bit inequitable.
Outside the church, Jake is cutting past a long line of people clamoring and shuffling and generally making an awful lot of noise for extras who aren't allowed to talk. We hear a looped-in "Come on, Jake, there's a line here," causing Jake to send a withering glare back down the queue. The Skeet is not a fan of uppity ADR. Jake makes his way inside, where the people in charge are obviously freaked about the high proportion of people to rations. After an unnecessary comment from Phil that I'm willing to bet is in character, Jake heads into Gray's office, wherein Roger is conveniently just up to the part of the conversation where he's chewing Gray out for the deception involving the Semper Faux. As the readers also pointed out, the kids obviously told someone who didn't know about the lie, which is why this whole brouhaha is happening now. One wonders what they were talking about until Jake and the cameras showed up. Perhaps Emily was speaking her mind, but somehow I don't think that would have taken very long. Gray tells Roger that the town had to believe help was on the way, and points out that their current apportionment of half rations is a lot more than the refugees had before they got to Jericho. Now, as a guest recapper, I have to draw conclusions about the characters a lot more quickly than perhaps I ordinarily would. Existing heuristic research can help in this situation, and luckily, some such research with which I'm familiar is that when a person reacts to a logical and rational-sounding point with a dismissive, sarcastic smile, he or she is a total fucking douchebag. I'll admit that this conclusion isn't foolproof, but I'll at least use it as a working theory where Roger is concerned. Emily obnoxiously asks Jake whether he knew about the ersatz nature of the Marines, and he admits that he did, but backs Gray up on the contention that the town needs not to lose hope. The two sides bicker, Phil having entered to throw in his own xenophobic opinion. Shut up, Phil. I'd tell you to rescue a cat from a tree, but obviously you wouldn't even share.