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Okay, getting the inconsequential (read: boring) storylines out of the way first: Emily attempts to pull some students together in order to pretend to still be a teacher. After depressing the hell out of all five of her students, who realize they have better things to do than listen to Emily prattle on about how the U.S. doesn't exist any more, Emily and Allison sort of bond over their screwed-up families. Later, Darcy promises her daughter that she loves her no matter how many people she murders. In other knotted family ties, Mayor Dad is acting depressed and refuses to leave his camouflaged tree house, which makes Mom fret and hold conversations with April's gravestone, and Mimi struggles with Bonnie's hormones and spends most of the episode pouring her heart out to a chicken. (The chicken later dies, but it might have been from a self-inflicted hatchet wound to escape Mimi's confidences.) The big news is that Jimmy and Jake break into Hawkins's house to figure out if he's one of the fake F.B.I. agents who aided the terrorists. Jake sees enough in Hawkins's Magical Basement to convince him that he and Hawkins need to have a little handcuffed tête-à-tête. Hawkins tells Jake how he is now CIA -- not FBI, for those keeping track at home -- but it was an SD6-ish branch of the CIA, off the books, secret, undercover, rogue, whatever. Anyway, Hawkins -- using flashbacks, so we will believe him -- tells Jake that they were tasked with infiltrating a huge U.S.-based terrorist cell that was suspected of absconding with some old Soviet nuclear weapons. To do this, Hawkins -- with Sarah as his handler -- had to worm his way into the terrorist cell. It's very convoluted and confusing, but I also suspect some hidden awesomeness; I just have to unravel it. The big news is that Hawkins realizes that The Old Man -- as seen in satellite photos Hawkins took last week -- is the same guy who was heading up their secret CIA branch project thingy. After all this, Hawkins gets loose from his handcuffs, pulls a gun on Jake, orders him to get rid of Jimmy (or Hawkins will), and then unloads his weapon and says they have to trust each other. And THEN Hawkins takes Jake into the shed and shows him his package. Jake, his innocence lost, realizes that things will never be the same again. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Huge thanks to Couch Baron for covering last week's episode with his usual brand of complete and total awesomeness. I'm not too sorry to have missed recapping it, except for all the Waco jokes I could've made.
The writers decided not to give us a time-stamp on this first scene and risk further hair-tearing by yours truly, but I think it's safe to say that, since Darcy's got a wig on to approximate longer tresses and she and Hawkins are laughing and smiling together, this is BTB (Before the Bombs). Spectacularly clad in a red satin version of Marilyn Monroe's blowy white Seven Year Itch dress, Darcy smiles and laughs and kisses in Hawkins's general direction before he helps her into a cab. Hawkins tosses a casual look over his shoulder, and his smile dies when he catches sight of some suit studiously not looking at him. Just as Darcy asks what's up, the suit locks eyes with Hawkins and nods. Hawkins continues to stare at the suit, and after several groups of people pass by, the suit disappears into thin air. It's a stupid manipulation used only to create unnecessary mysteriousness. When we actually see this scene play out in flashback mode, the guy doesn't disappear. Dude, don't they realize Hawkins is mysteriousness personified? At this point, they don't need to invent any more! Sigh. Anyway, we flash back to present day and note that Hawkins is lying alone on his bed, remembering better times of ladies in red and non-disappearing disappearing men. Hawkins proceeds to mope all over his house until his BlackOpsBerry beeps with a message that reads, "When can we meet again? We're growing impatient." I have to say that the idea that these people type on these little machines in complete sentences is totally ridiculous. It would be more like: "Meet again? Impatient! Kill you!" And forget dealing with apostrophes. Hawkins thinks, his fingers paused over the teeny tiny keys, but he slides the BlackOpsBerry closed without responding. Hawkins leaves his house and jams a paperclip between the door and the jamb. Oh, Hawkins and his high-tech ways! It reminds me of when Anastasia Krupnik placed a single hair on top of her diary and then left the diary lying around the house, just begging to be read by her hippie, privacy-honoring parents.
In town, Jake carries Emily's stack of books -- all Little House on the Prairie -- and asks if holding classes is really worth it for six kids. Emily, her coat flapping wide -- guess the coldest winter in decades is really over -- smiles that six kids in a conference room is "not Harvard, but it's a start." I would like to note that while Emily is acting footloose and fancy-free about the weather (and oh-so-very cheerful in the wake of her fiancé's banishment), Jake is still sensibly zipped into a thick coat and sporting gloves. Because he's Jake. Emily thinks it's important for them to start getting things back to normal. "I've gotta be honest with you; if I'm a kid, going to school isn't exactly high on my list of priorities these days," Jake notes. Jake, was going to school high on your list of priorities even when you were a kid? The hidden bottle of bourbon hiccups, "NO!" Jimmy plods anxiously towards Jake and Emily and asks if he can borrow Jake for a few minutes; he needs Jake's help. "Gotta get you a bat signal or something," Emily snarks, as she takes possession of her own books and walks off. Shut up, Emily, you don't even know the half of The Super Skeet. And even if you did, you wouldn't be able to comprehend it. You'd probably just lecture him about his past wrongs and get all squintily judgey with him, while conveniently forgetting about the time you killed a man. (Just to watch him die.) Jake wisely ignores Emily and asks Jimmy what's up. Jimmy says that he's seen one of the fake FBI badges that the radio report said were being used by the terrorists. Here's a question: how does Jimmy know it's a fake badge and not just a badge? Jake takes a deep breath and asks, "Where?"
Unannounced, uninvited, and unsanctioned by the laws that Frodale knows don't exist in Jericho any more, Jimmy gets himself and Jake into Hawkins's house. Hee -- did Jimmy jimmy the lock? Because I don't think Hawkins detects any evidence of a forced entry later. Still standing outside, Jake spreads his arms wide and says, "I never went to law school, but I'm going to go ahead and guess: this is breaking and entering?" "It's called probable cause," Jimmy responds. "It's called paranoid abuse of authority," Jake counters. Hey, I thought you said you didn't go to law school! Is that just another one of Jake's lies? Shut up! I'll bet he's a secret lawyer who goes around secretly arguing to everyone that his secret opinion is the only opinion to have. (Hi, Dad!) Jake pleads with Jimmy to leave before Hawkins comes back and finds him prying up the floorboards. Jimmy impatiently explains that Hawkins has an FBI badge, and it could be one of the fake ones. Jimmy goes on that he questioned Hawkins's family on the matter. They all said that Hawkins was FBI. "But," Jimmy Columbos, "When they said it, they all had this look on their face like there was something that they weren't saying." Jake flares his eyes at Jimmy and notes, "Sort of like the look I have on my face right now." Heh. Jimmy confuses me when he says, "Look, I had a hunch and I was right." What exactly was the hunch that he already knows he was right about? Has he broken in to Hawkins's house before? Moving on, because I never get that explained, Jimmy says that Hawkins won't be back from patrol for a while, so they might as well poke around. Jake reluctantly gives in, but before entering the house, he catches sight of the fallen paper clip. Oh, Hawkins's high-tech detection devices are no match for Jake! (Because he's Jake.)
In the basement, we get a shot of what I guess is a busted lock, and Jake asks Jimmy if he did that. "Uh, yeah," Jimmy admits rather shamefacedly. When did he do it? Just now? Back when he and Gray first combed through the house? Or are we supposed to glean from the busted lock and the fact that Jimmy said he had a hunch and was right that Jimmy was here just before he brought Jake? So confusing. Inside Hawkins's secret office, Jimmy spreads his arm wide to Jake, who takes in the pin-speckled map of the United States, the desk, and the cup of pencils on the desk and admits, "All right, this is kinda weird, but he's FBI -- isn't this what his basement would look like?" You tell us, Jake. You tell us! Jimmy says that he thought the same thing until he found the drawer full of IDs and passports, along with a roll of cash. Warily, Jake asks if Gray knows about this. No: Jimmy wanted to get a second opinion before he told anyone. Yeah, more like he wanted to get a Jake opinion before he told anyone. Man, between this episode and last -- not to mention all the other times Jake has saved Jericho's ass -- Jake is more mayor than even Mayor Dad is more mayor than Gray! Jimmy asks what he wants to do. Jake looks at the paper clip in his hand and says nothing.
Hawkins returns home and checks the door-jammed paper clip. It's back where it should be. Inside, there's nothing to make Hawkins suspicious until he trundles down to the basement and sees that his office door is ajar with a busted lock. He quickly looks around the shadowy basement before staring at the door. He doesn't approach it, but reaches to his holster for his gun. Before he can pull it out, another gun is loudly cocked. Hawkins whips his head around to see Jake training a gun on him. "Don't," Jake warns. Hawkins and Jake stare each other down before Jake's question, "Who are you?" takes us to commercials and credits.
Tonight's Morse code message is, "Jack Bauer wants his catchphrase back."
Jake orders Hawkins to hand over his gun, "Nice and slow." They ALWAYS say that. I wonder if Clint Eastwood would be the kind of guy to say, "Actually, I want it mean and fast." And he wouldn't always be talking about guns. Hawkins makes a big production of drawing his gun out and flipping it over his forefinger so the butt of the gun is presented to Jake. "Slide it over," Jake orders. Yeah, just like they do in the movies! Hawkins smiles, because he just watched The Office last night, too, and then he bends down and slides the gun across the concrete floor to Jake's feet. Jake sticks a foot out and traps the gun. Bet he was a Premier League player in one his secret lives. "What the hell are you doin' here?" Hawkins finally demands. Instead of answering, Jake wants to know, "Did you wipe out twenty-three American cities?" Hawkins hisses at Jake to get out of his house. "Answer the question!" Jake orders. Hawkins wonders why the hell Jake would even think that. "You've got a working generator and a food supply -- it's like you knew the attacks were coming!" Jake explains shakily. Plus, he had a map of the U.S. and pushpins! It's like he knew he would need them! Hawkins takes a few steps forward and threatens Jake that he has ten seconds to get out of Hawkins's house. "BACK UP!" Jake bellows, raising the gun again. Jake says that Jimmy knows he's here, so Hawkins had better not try anything funny. "I'm an FBI agent, Jake," Hawkins says carefully. Jake lets him in on the radio report and then asks about the secret room. Jake needs to know how Hawkins is involved in all of this.
Looking at another map of the United States, Emily attempts to hold class. "Five months ago, this was a map of our country," Emily says and pauses for drama, "Now it's an antique." Wow. Depressing Reminders 101. I wish I had thought to take that class! The exam is suicide. Emily flips the map over and shows a topological map of the U.S. where there are no state borders. She points at a pin in the map and says all they are sure of is that dot. (It's Jericho.) Emily says they have to rebuild, and to do that, they need to look to their history. What is history going to teach them? Back in the day -- when there wasn't a nuclear disaster to contend with -- people had ways of communicating, which is more than Jericho seems to have. I mean, they had the Pony Express -- whoa, they should restart the Pony Express! And the Wells Fargo Wagon! And cotton gins! (I'm not really sure what a cotton gin is, but I do know that Eli Whitney invented it.) Emily is so happily earnest in her prattling that I do a little dance when the kid raises his hand and asks, "Are you going to take attendance?" He packs up to leave when Emily says she isn't. "Where are you going?" Emily asks, all chagrined. "My mom's at home right now trying to grow beets out of our bathtub so we can eat month. This stuff isn't important," the kid says. Well, if that's what your family is using the tub for, I doubt anyone would want to sit to you anyway. The rest of the class, except for Allison, leaves. Emily looks at her and shrugs that she doesn't have to stay. Allison says she'd rather not go home: "So I guess I'm stuck here." It's like that episode of Deep Space Nine when all the Bajoran parents yanked their kids out of Keiko's class, leaving only Jake and Nog as students.
Mimi sits outside the yellow Richmond farmhouse and has a heartfelt discussion with a chicken. Mimi explains that it's nothing personal, but she's sick of eating sprouts. Furthermore, she distinctly recalls telling all of them that they had to keep laying eggs to survive, and this one hen isn't keeping up her end of the bargain. So to speak. The little red hen just nestles on the ground and looks pathetic. Mimi grabs a hatchet out of a stump and goes on to explain that if the hen knew her at all, it would realize that slaughtering a chicken is "so not [her] thing." Not wanting to get into the "whole circle of life thing," Mimi admits that she's just really hungry and stands up to do the deed. She immediately sits down again and talks to the camera, which is supposed to be the hen's perspective. "Here's the thing," Mimi goes on, quite sincerely, "I've heard stories about how you're going to react to this, and if I see half of you running around, well, I just know that I'm going to freak out, so if you could do your best to minimize that part of it, well, I'd just really appreciate it." Hee. Mimi keeps nodding at the hen, who cocks a head at her. "Sprouts it is," Mimi agrees and returns the hatchet to the stump with a decisive thwack! The foodie in me is wondering if we're talking about Brussels, bean, alfalfa, lentil, or soybean.
Mayor Dad sits in a deer hut with his rifle and binoculars. Harry -- who is Harry, anyway? I remember him from last week, but not from before that -- comes up to bug Mayor Dad about coming in to City Hall. See, Gray's still recovering from his gunshot wound, and it would be real nice if there was someone in town who knew what was going on. Someone competent. Yeah, Jake's sorta busy. "Not my job anymore," Dad snaps, and he tells Harry to get lost. Harry persists until Dad tells him he's starting to look an awful lot like a deer. Harry leaves. Dad sulks.
Hawkins's Magical Basement. Hawkins says he's been in the FBI for fifteen years. "Where did you go to school?" Jake asks. Who cares? That would have been long before any involvement with the FBI or terrorists. "Georgetown," Hawkins responds. "You wanna see my ring?" Right, because Jostens requires hard proof that you went to any given college or university before they hand over a ring. Going on from here, Hawkins says that the FBI assigned him to Jericho to monitor phone calls being made to a suspected terrorist cell, but the trail went dead. "We about done here?" Hawkins asks, as Jake goes over to Hawkins's photo board. "Not even close," Jake says, crossing his arms so the gun is tucked under an armpit. Jake, is such a casual stance a good idea right now? Jake looks at Sarah's X-ed out photo and says, "Tell me about her -- Sarah Mason."
Hawkins stealthily slides open a file cabinet and pulls out a gun, "She's gone," is all he says before whipping the gun in front of him to aim it at Jake. Jake just looks casually over at Hawkins. He's SO not worried. Hawkins double-checks the gun, laughs softly, and ejects the empty magazine. "You're pretty thorough," Hawkins admits with ungrudging admiration. Jake nods, "I also took care of the one behind the cabinet and the one behind the water heater." Behind the water heater? Does Jake have a gun detector or something? What am I asking? Jake IS a gun detector. Jake raises his gun again and says, "There's only one loaded gun in this house, and it's mine. Sit down." Hawkins' smile becomes strained, but he sits down, his arms out and up in a submissive stance. Jake pulls out some handcuffs and secures Hawkins's hands behind his back. Jake asks about Sarah again, and about all the other people pictured on the photo boards. Hawkins says in a low, angry voice that Jake is making a serious mistake. He's a federal officer. "Really? REALLY!?" Jake questions. Jake then slides open the drawer o' aliases and asks if Hawkins is sure he's not Robert Wheeler of the State Department or Robert Snyder of the Columbus Police Department OR Commander Robert Richmond of Naval Intelligence. Jake's so mad, he whips the last passport on the ground. "None of those are real, and neither is that badge," Jake tells him, "Who the hell are you and who do you work for?"
After the commercials, Hawkins spits out that Jake does not want to know what he knows. Jake thinks he can handle it. "Really?" Hawkins questions. "Because I can barely handle it, and I was trained for this." Jake gives Hawkins a choice of telling Jake or telling the whole town. Hawkins decides to tell Jake but warns, "Once you hear this, you are a part of it, and there's no going back." "Who do you work for?" Jake asks for the third time. Hawkins pauses, and then he says, "CIA." Jake makes disbelieving faces. Hawkins explains that he and Sarah Mason were part of an off-books team to track the bombs used in the attack. The bombs in question were actually brought in by the U.S. government. After the Soviet Union fell, the military in the satellite republics started selling off nuclear stockpiles on the black market. When the U.S. learned about this, it moved into action to get the weapons by whatever means necessary. Unfortunately, a few years ago, a shipment went missing en route to the D.O.E. storage complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. How did Hawkins get involved? Well, he proudly admits that he's the best at what he does, which of course begs the question, "And what the hell IS THAT ALREADY?!" "Satellite installation," Hawkins gives us ambiguously.
We zip into a flashback. A be-suited Hawkins arrives at a company called Higgins Satellite and tells the receptionist he's there to see Mr. Higgins. Hidden by one of those big complicated reception stations that double as both counters and desks, the receptionist aims a hidden gun in Hawkins's general direction. "I've been inside all day," she says half-pleasantly. "How's the weather out there?" The sun is burning down. "You know," Hawkins says, "it looks like rain." The receptionist replaces the gun in its gun cubby -- right to her Stickies, no doubt -- and punches at a hidden keypad. A door buzzes, and Hawkins continues on to a room full of people, one of whom has a laptop open displaying a map of the United States. The map throbs with red dots in various cities -- twenty-three perhaps? -- across the country. Sarah is there, skankily attired in a fuchsia satin blouse. Hawkins greets Victor -- who looks so healthy and unradiated in this scene! -- and looks around the room. Victor believes Hawkins knows everyone in the room, except for Sarah. They shake hands. Victor starts the meeting and reminds everyone that a shipment of nukes from Project Red Bell is missing. As Hawkins flips through his classified report, Victor goes on: "What you don't know is that we have quality intel that those warheads have been converted into twenty-five small high-yield devices." Oooh! Twenty-three cities were bombed, and Hawkins has one of the undetonated bombs, so who has the other one? The bombs have been disseminated to extremist cells within the U.S. "So, it is Al-Qaeda?" Sarah asks. Nope, not that simple. Victor draws on his overhead projector and says it's a cross-section of domestic militia, anarchists, and religious fanatics. Victor points out that those three groups would never collaborate ideologically or politically, but they bond over their desire to take out the U.S. government. The mission is to get into the cells and find the bombs. They have no idea who the leader is, but he's got deep resources and is probably an American. If they have no idea who the leader is, how do they even know it's a man and not a woman? Oh, right, I'll bet CIA profiling would cite that it's more likely to be a man who would want to drop bombs all over America.
Back in the present, Hawkins tells Jake that the group was broken up into teams of two. One member went undercover in the cell, and the other member acted as a handler. Heh, only because I watched Alias do I know what handlers are. Jake wants to know why Hawkins would be sent to Jericho for undercover work. Why is Jericho so special? "You know, I would show you," Hawkins says, "But..." he gestures lamely with his handcuffed hands. "Yeah, that's clever," Jake snarks. Hawkins tells Jake to get something out from behind the map. Jake pulls out a tube of paper and unrolls it. It's a map of the U.S. from the Defense Department, projecting fallout scenarios in the case of a strategic nuclear attack on twenty U.S. cities. Hawkins points out that Jericho is outside the fallout zones. Jericho also has salt mines, plenty of farmland, and access to an untainted water table. "So, you weren't here to monitor phone calls," Jake points out. Hawkins says Jericho was a rally point in case they failed in their mission. "Failed?" Jake repeats angrily, "Or succeeded?" Well, that is the question of the night, isn't it?
Graveyard. Mom talks to a dead person. At first I thought it was Jake's grandfather, because I completely forgot anyone else of import has died on this show. We catch a glimpse of the perfectly-chiseled-without-much-electricity name on the headstone: April Green. I'm surprised they didn't include Tracy Green on the headstone. Usually, they bury mother and baby together when someone dies from pregnancy-related complications. Mom tells Dead April that Mayor Dad is brooding and being difficult. She kisses her fingers to the headstone and tells her, "We miss you, sweetheart."
Inside the Richmond farmhouse, Mimi finds Sean chomping on a bowl of something in the kitchen. "There's no more sprouts," he grins nastily, indicating his bowl. "You finished them?" Mimi asks pathetically. "I was hungry," Sean sneers, shruggingly. Use the hatchet, Mimi, use the hatchet. Mimi starts to ask what he's even doing there at 9:30 in the morning, but Sean comes around the table to show off his boxes. This answers more of the "who are you doing here" part of the question. "You slept here?" Mimi gasps, giving Sean the perfect opening to leer that there wasn't much sleeping going on. "You know what I mean?" Sean asks, mimicking humping. Maybe Mimi's not even hungry any more. I know I'm not. "Get out of the house," Mimi orders him quietly. Sean obnoxiously puts his hands up, all "okay, lady," just as Bonnie gallops down the stairs. The teenagers kiss and Sean goes upstairs. "What are you doing?" Mimi demands, "You let him spend the night?" "Yes," Bonnie happily shrugs. Mimi points out that Stanley wouldn't approve. "Stanley's not here," Bonnie says, doing a little of her own pointing out.
Hawkins's Magical Basement. Hawkins tells Jake that it took him two years to infiltrate the terrorist cell, and that he spent eight months of that time in prison. It was a hard job, but he did it. How? Well, the terrorists were looking for "high-grade government IDs." I wonder: if they can't get enough high-grade specimens, do they cut them with a few from the National Park Service? "You gave them their badges?" Jake spits out, sickened. Hawkins had to prove he was a loyal and valuable member of the cell. Jake thinks he's heard enough and goes to leave. "No, NO!" Hawkins bellows, calling him back, "You've barely scratched the surface." Hawkins reminds Jake that he's the one who wanted to hear this. Behind his back, Hawkins is working at the handcuffs with his handy high-tech paper clip. Hawkins explains that the badges he got from his source were going to be tagged so that his CIA team could track them. Flashing back, Hawkins and another cell member -- a kid named Daryl -- are in the process of completing the badge buy. The badge seller drops off the badges, refuses to say where he got them, and takes off with his money. As Hawkins packs up their car to leave, Daryl engages him in personal small talk until a bunch of FBI agents pull up in cars and a helicopter. Hawkins stares Daryl down and rips the kid's shirt up to expose a wire taped to his underfed belly. "I'm sorry, man," Daryl says, and Hawkins gripes in disbelief, "Man, you gotta be kidding me!" Hawkins, anyone with a name spelled like a kid robot is most certainly suspect. The FBI agents bend Hawkins over the hood of the car and cuff him, as Hawkins's VO explains to Jake that Daryl was an FBI informant. Hawkins went to prison, but his handler got him out with Hawkins's cover still intact. Is this when he was in prison for eight months? It's not clear.
Wait, so if that was a real FBI operation, how did the purchased FBI badges subsequently make it into the terrorists' hands? And we know that they did because of Farmer Brown's report; wouldn't the FBI have confiscated the badges? The Evil Dr. Mathra has suggested that the FBI sting could have been a complete fake, staged by Sarah and/or Valente to make the situation seem increasingly desperate. This would give them more of a reason to push Hawkins deeper into the cell. But even if Mathra's right, those confiscated badges could not have made it to the terrorists, because the fake FBI would have to continue to pretend to be real FBI, which means not giving the confiscated badges to the terrorists.
Now, assuming that the FBI sting was real, the question still remains: how did the terrorists get the badges in the end? It's not like the FBI could have had a chat with the CIA and said, "Oh, we screwed up your operation? Dude, sorry! Here, take the badges back and send them on their merry way and we'll pretend this never happened." First of all, the FBI and CIA don't play well together, and also, the FBI would not be happy to learn that the CIA was operating on U.S. soil. Of course, it's entirely possible that Jericho, in the grand tradition of past television shows, is playing fast and loose with that aspect of the CIA.
Now, all of the above overthinking and overanalysis could go away if we ascribed significance to Hawkins's wording that the FBI badges "were gonna be tagged" with tracking devices. It's possible, then, that the terrorists just had to find another way to get more badges, and, since Hawkins was in prison, maybe that new crop of badges didn't have a chance to get tagged and THOSE were the ones the terrorists actually ended up using.
Or, I just uncovered an FBI-badge-sized plot hole and wanked Jericho's way out of it. You're welcome, Robbie Thompson.
Back to the flashback: Hawkins yells at one of his bosses about not being told that there was an FBI informant in his cell and adds, "You know, I am damn lucky that my cover wasn't blown." Sarah sits in the room quietly. "Your cover is intact, yes?" the Old Lady asks. "We believe so, yeah," Hawkins says, still mad. "Then let's move on," she suggests, and she asks whether Hawkins has made contact with the coordinators of the attack. He hasn't, but he suggests they take down the infiltrated cells now anyway, because it will disrupt the cells' plans and maybe even delay an attack. A Dick Armitage look-alike, played by Daniel Benzali from Murder One, turns to ask how many of the bombs Hawkins can get. Judging from the Evil Dr. Mathra's screams, this actor is a big reveal. Apparently, Mathra is a big Murder One fan. Sadly, I've never seen it, so I can't share in his really loud dance of joy around the living room. Hawkins frowns at the guy, whose name turns out to be Valente, and says that he can definitely get a third of the bombs, maybe even half. The camera shows Sarah looking down, very thoughtful. Hawkins insists that it's the safest move for them to make at this stage. Sarah interjects that it still leaves a dozen bombs in play. In an undertone, Hawkins asks what she's doing. Sarah whispers, "I just think there's a way to speed this up and get all the bombs at once." Hawkins hisses back that they agreed on something else. "Do you mind?" Valente demands.
Sarah explains to the group that she has a way to get Hawkins deeper inside. So, this idea of hers here might be the exact "idea" she and Hawkins were referring to in "The Day Before." Sarah suggests that Hawkins rat Daryl out to the cell leader. This will brown-nose Hawkins with the cell leader and push Hawkins to a higher position within the cell. "Then let us handle the FBI," the Old Lady says, "and do whatever is necessary to save the operation." Moments later, Sarah has a semi-whispered conversation with Valente -- during which Hawkins makes sure to eye Valente's cane because IT WILL BE IMPORTANT LATER -- where we catch her saying, "It's still going to take some time but..." "Okay," Valente rasps. "We're counting on you. You know the risks." Sarah smiles at him. They seem quite familiar with one another. Valente limps out, and Sarah rejoins Hawkins, who tells her she'd better be right about all of this. "This is the right way to go," Sarah promises, looking deep into Hawkins's eyes. Yep, they're already doing it. "Trust me," Sarah says seductively as she slips her hand over his. Is there ever a time when a handler isn't sleeping with his or her agent?
Back in the present, Jake is having a very bad day. Hawkins glares up at him and asks what he would have done: "Stayed in or pulled the plug?" "Seems like the wrong question to me," Jake mutters. Hawkins raises an eyebrow. "I'd ask myself how much I trusted my partner," Jake explains. Hawkins half-smiles with contempt for Jake's facile analysis.
Oh, God, back to Mayor McBroody. Mom stomps up to Dad's tree house and tries to get him to come home to dinner. Dad won't budge. Mom stomps off. Unless they're on Angel, broody television characters bore me. Look at all that green grass! I guess spring really has come to Jericho. Did they ever get much snow? If they want to make this realistically Midwestern, they should dump some April snow on everyone and ruin all their non-bathtubbed crops.
As she digs grime out from under her nails with the corner of the hatchet, Mimi tells Henny Penny that she never wanted to be a mother, "But, you know what, you're right -- I owe it to Stanley, so I'm just going to have to jump in with both feet whether she wants to hear from me or not." Mimi examines her nails, which now must be crusted under with old poultry blood, and sighs, "God, listen to me going on about my own problems. You must be ready to take this hatchet and do the damn job yourself." Galloping up to save Mimi (once again) from hen slaughter are the two horny teenagers. Sean gallantly slips down from his own horse and hurries around to help Bonnie down from hers. Mimi watches Sean sign something heartfelt and exuberant to Bonnie. Aw, that's sort of sweet. As Sean runs into the house to get a condom, Mimi gets up and walks over to Bonnie. "I didn't know that he knew how to sign," Mimi says wonderingly. Bonnie, her eyes wide, shakes her head all, "And your point is...?" "What'd he say to you?" Mimi demands. Bonnie just stares back at her. "Never mind," Mimi quickly amends, and then she gets her mom on by saying, "That boy is bad news. Now, I can't stop you from seeing him, but he is no longer welcome in this house. Do you understand me?" Wow, flashback to high school! Actually, we knew my mom didn't like one of our boyfriends when she referred to him as "that kid." "That boy" would have been way too nice and accepting. For what it's worth, she was always right. (Dammit!) I give Bonnie lots of credit for not laughing in Mimi's face as she sneers at her and walks into HER house.
Schoolhouse schlock. Since we last saw them, all that Emily and Allison have been doing is rearranging the chairs in the conference room and not talking, because only now does Emily ask Allison to explain what she meant about not being able to go home. Allison explains that her family is pretty weird. "My family was pretty weird, too," Emily says. Maybe they could bond over their killer fathers and how they have now both killed someone. Emily adds that when she was Allison's age, she didn't want to hang out with her own family, either. "And what about now?" Allison asks. "They're gone," Emily says simply. Notice how nearly everyone Emily comes into close contact with ends up finding extreme ways of getting far away from her? Her brother got himself killed; her father killed people and got himself nearly killed and then exiled; and her fiancé tried to move to Chicago, then tried to die in a plane crash, and when that didn't work, tried to die trekking across a post-apocalyptic countryside, started a cult, tried to kill his town's mayor, and got exiled. Even Jake left the town Emily lived in. Of course, Jake's made of sterner stuff than anyone else, and that's why he came back home to carry her books. Allison tells Emily that there was "this thing" that went down at her house and she "did something." "Okay, what did you do?" Emily asks gently, being all teacher-ish. "I did something," Allison repeats with quiet determination, "that can't be forgiven. Now my mom keeps looking at me. Like I've changed into some kind of monster or something." "You know you haven't, right?" Emily tells her. Of course not, because this isn't Lost and Allison's not a psycho cumulus cloud. Nonetheless, Allison looks puzzled.
Hawkins's Magical Basement. Jake needs a moment to regroup and mull things over. He asks: "So, even though you weren't sure about the plan, you outed the informant to the cell leader?" Hawkins nods wearily and says it was the only way for him to burrow deeper into the cell. He told the cell leader about Daryl, but he wanted to get Daryl safely out of the way before the cell leader acted on the information.
Flashback! Hawkins peers out of Daryl's divey apartment window as Daryl fusses and paces that the terrorists are going to hunt him down and kill him. "This is your lucky day, Daryl," Hawkins reassures him. "They're going to get you into witness protection, so don't worry." The first time I learned about witness protection was in a Sweet Valley High novel when one of the Wakefield twins' friends' father was some doctor that the mob wanted. I think he was pretending to be something that wasn't a doctor, but he outed himself when he publicly saved someone's life by performing -- you guessed it -- an emergency tracheotomy. Ironically, it was also the first time I learned about emergency tracheotomies. The ties between Jericho and two perfect size six twins with sparkling almond-shaped aquamarine eyes and spun sugar blonde hair tighten. If Emily starts wearing a lavaliere, I'm going to start looking for Francine Pascal in the credits. Because Hawkins and Daryl waste so much time pacing, fussing, and reassuring, there's a deadly knock at Daryl's door. Hawkins tells Daryl to stay put and tiptoes over to the door. Another knock, accompanied by someone calling warningly, "Daryl..." Hawkins peers out through the peephole. It's the cell leader from "The Day Before" with two other guys. "Dammit," Hawkins mutters. Dude! You're AT the door; don't you think he can hear you?
"Who is it?" Daryl calls, not at all quietly. "Daryl, we just want to talk," the cell leader says. "The cell leader!" Hawkins tells Daryl, again, RIGHT TO THE DOOR! Daryl, perhaps not having much faith in this guy who doesn't know the rules of hiding behind a peephole, jumps out of his window onto a fire escape. Hawkins follows. At the bottom of the fire escape, Daryl drops to the ground and there's an unnecessarily loud and extremely sickening crunch, as Daryl's ankle folds practically in half. Hawkins joins the cringing Daryl on the ground, who whines, "You gotta get me outta this thing." Hawkins simply says: "Run." Daryl won't, because he thinks he broke his ankle. Better a broken ankle than a broken neck, dude. "Please help me," Daryl whines. Hawkins stares at him. Now Daryl screams: "Or I'm gonna tell them who you really are!" Oh, rat boy, you just sealed your fate. Hawkins looks around and then back at Daryl. "I'm sorry," he says, and he raises his gun and shoots Daryl. Damn. Hawkins stands, staring down at Daryl's body, and winces a bit in regret. He pulls out his gun and places it in Daryl's dead hand, threading Daryl's forefinger through the trigger. Now, why are we doing this, Hawkins? Are you trying to make it look like Daryl killed himself? Because I'm not even sure you managed to get him in the head, and even if you did, it would have been between the eyes, not in the temple, which is, I think, be the usual place for suicide. I guess Hawkins might be trying to make it look like he shot Daryl in self defense, but then we'd have to see that Hawkins had another gun. And Hawkins can't say he shot Daryl as he tried to run away because the bullet would have to be in Daryl's back. The cell leader and his flunkies join Hawkins on the ground, and the camera pans to the gun in Daryl's hand. "So, I finally gained their trust," Hawkins tells Jake, "I was in." Back in the basement, Jake states, "You killed him." "It was either kill him or possibly let millions of people die," Hawkins argues. Ooh, wrong argument! "They died anyway," Jake reminds him before being distracted by a noise. Hawkins slips out of his cuffs, runs at Jake, and wrestles the gun away from him. He slams Jake onto his back and points the gun at his head.
Keckler: "Kip up, Jake! We know you're military issue!"
The Evil Dr. Mathra: "They don't teach kip-ups in the military."
Keckler: "Yes, they do."
The Evil Dr. Mathra: "No, they don't, and saying that Jake is 'military issue' makes it sound like you can just go in to a store and ask for one ten-thousand-dollar hammer and two Jakes."
Keckler: "Shut up."
Jimmy calls down to Jake. Hawkins growls at Jake to call him off. "You're not helping your cause any by keeping that gun in my face," Jake argues. "Do not make me kill him, Jake," Hawkins says. We hear Jimmy stomp downstairs. Jake quickly agrees. Hawkins hauls Jake to his feet and shoves him to the doorway with the gun still pointed at his head. Jake moves through the doorway, and Hawkins stands behind him with the gun hidden behind the wall. Jimmy asks what's going on. Jake says they just need more time. "You sure?" Jimmy asks, looking from one to the other. "Yeah, yeah, we're all right," Jake assures him. Hawkins nods a casual "hey" at Jimmy, which Jimmy ignores before going back out front. Hawkins motions Jake back into the room and tells him to turn around. He pulls a gun from Jake's waistband and tells Jake to turn back around. Hawkins holds the removed gun up in the air in a mollifying gesture and places it on the desk. He unloads the other gun and puts it on the desk, saying, "It is not about this any more -- we're past this. Starting now, we trust each other." If that's the case, Jake wants to be told everything. "Done telling," Hawkins shakes his head, "Now, I gotta show you."
Allison leaves City Hall and meets Darcy, who was waiting for her. "It's your first day at a new school," Darcy says. "You know, the last time you had one of those, Sam was in diapers." They walk together. Allison says that most kids left school early. "Guess you knew better," Darcy says proudly. Allison says that she figured that Darcy wouldn't want her around the house. Darcy stops walking and makes Allison look at her. "Why would you say that?" she asks. "You know, because of what I did," Allison says. Darcy hugs Allison and says that she loves her and nothing will change that. "You hear me, baby? Nothing will change that," Darcy repeats. Allison hugs her mom and cries, "Please don't be mad at me, Mom, I'm so, so sorry."
Jake's about to see something nasty in the woodshed. Hawkins grabbles up planks, and Jake says he still doesn't understand something. If Hawkins made it so deep into the cell with the grand plan of stopping all the bombs, what happened? Hawkins says that someone tipped off the terrorists, and before they could find out who it was (SARAH!), the terrorists moved up their plan. Flashback to Jake calling Victor and telling him they made a very big mistake. And we again get the scene from "The Day Before" that has Hawkins opening his envelope and learning that Columbus, Ohio is his bomb's destination. Back in his car and on the phone with, presumably, still Victor, Hawkins tells him the details about the trucks. They're white, and he lists all the license plates. Hawkins tells Jake that he tried to warn the agency, but it was too late. Hawkins continues to dig and explains that they managed to head off some of the bombs that were meant for New York. "Even after four years of work, I couldn't stop all of them," Hawkins tells Jake, "and I'm going to have to live with that for the rest of my life." Hawkins's mind wanders back to his date with Darcy. This time, when he sees the mysterious suit, the mysterious suit doesn't disappear, and Hawkins walks over to him. Someone should tell these guys that unless you're guarding the president, it's really suspicious to put your hand up to your ear.
The mysterious suit is Victor, who asks blandly, "I'm not interrupting, am I?" "You know you are," Hawkins growls back. Victor says that Hawkins wasn't returning their calls. "I told my wife I was done. I promised her, Victor," Hawkins reminds him. Victor says they need him back, because he's the best at what he does. "Which is what?" Hawkins demands. Victor cocks his head at him like, "Don't make me say it." Victor says Hawkins's family will still be there when he gets back, and all he's asking is that Hawkins come to a meeting the day. "If you want to walk away after that, walk away," Victor says. Victor hands him a card and says, "Two o'clock, tomorrow. Tell the desk jockey you have an appointment with Mr. Higgins. If they ask about the weather, tell them it's going to rain." Yep. It's a hard, it's a hard, it's hard, it's a HARD, it's a hard raiiiiiiiiin that's gonna fall. See, it's not just Battlestar Galactica that can bring out the Dylan. Darcy walks over to Hawkins and asks what that was all about. Hawkins kisses her and says he might have to go to a meeting tomorrow. Darcy shakes him off, saying she can't keep doing this, and she walks back across the street. "Hey, we'll be fine, D--" Hawkins tries to call. I know that it took four years of Hawkins to work his way into the cell, and so that probably killed their marriage right proper, but why did Darcy get a restraining order against him? Back in the woodshed, Hawkins has not been telling Jake all this -- he's just been remembering it himself. Hawkins's shovel hits something solid. Jake gets up and asks, "What is that?" "It's the end of the rabbit hole, Jake," Hawkins says. He gets Jake to help him with the lid, and we are inside the package as Jake and Hawkins peer down. Jake's face completely freezes. Hawkins notes this and smiles, "So you believe me now." The camera pans over to show the cone of a warhead inside the barrel. Well, bang goes my theory that the barrel was filled with fish or candles.
After the commercials, Jake asks, "Is that what I think it is?" Hawkins says it was meant for Columbus. "You brought a nuclear bomb. Here," Jake states slowly. "What would you have done with it?" Hawkins asks. Jake snaps back to reality and asks, "What are you going to do with it?" I think he should play some U2 and learn how to dismantle it. Hawkins shakes his head helplessly and says he's going to keep it safe and he's going to keep it secret. "It gives the town some power, Jake, but it also makes them a target," Hawkins explains. Jake is slowly backing away from the bomb. Hawkins jumps up from the hole and pleads, "Look, I know what you're thinking -- you're wishing you walked away when I gave you the chance, right?" "Why didn't you just show me this when I walked in the door today?" Jake demands, totally freaked out. "You didn't just walk in," Hawkins reminds him. Jimmy calls for Jake. Hawkins tells Jake he's been watching him, and he knows that he can handle himself. "And I've seen what a help you've been to this town," Hawkins goes on, trying vainly to get that bug-eyed look off Jake's face, "But I needed to know that I can trust you, that you can handle it if I told you everything." Jimmy calls again. Jake is frozen, his mind racing. Hawkins tells Jake that the bomb is now their shared burden, "Whatever happens , that is going to be up to you. Okay?" Why hasn't Hawkins told Jake that Sarah went rogue and that there are still people out there who want the bomb? Jake is still completely bombsmacked. Hawkins opens the shed door and walks out to meet Jimmy. Shell-shocked with eyes as wide as saucers, Jake also comes out and says to Jimmy, "He's FBI. Just like he said." "But--" Jimmy says, taking a step forward. Jake flicks up a hand to hold him off. "We're in good hands," says Jake. Jimmy admits, "That's good to hear." And then he apologizes to Hawkins for "all of this."
Mimi enters the house with the hatchet, a bloody shirt, and a headless chicken. Bonnie looks up from folding towels in the kitchen. Mimi walks past her and drops the chicken in the sink. Bonnie looks over at the bloody chicken and says, "We do that, um, outside." "Okay," Mimi says, looking harassed, "I didn't know that." Bonnie makes a move to leave, but Mimi stops her and says there's something she wants to say to Bonnie. "But I'm still learning, so please bear with me. [Mimi starts to hesitantly sign.] Stanley is important to me. You are important to me. I want you to be safe, so please be patient with me. I'm trying." Mimi's all choked up, and so is Bonnie as she signs back, "I'll try to." "So," Mimi gestures, "Hug?" Bonnie tips her head to one side and looks at Mimi's bloody shirt. Mimi laughs, "Right." Aw. I think Alicia Coppola is the bomb (if you'll pardon the expression) in nearly every scene she acts the hell out of, but I'm beginning to love the scenes between Mimi and Bonnie more than any other. If Mimi and Jake got together, I'd be the happiest apocalyptic recapper on the planet.
Mayor McBroody arrives at his tree house to find Mom there ahead of him with a lunchbox and a thermos. She brought him some dinner. He thanks her and leans warily against the tree house. Mom smiles lightly and leaves. Snap out of it, Dad!
Hawkins collapses on his bed and, once again, his mind wanders back to all the stuff he told Jake. Suddenly, he remembers something and goes down to his office. He pulls the photo of the bald man taken in Nebraska last week off the board. Flipping up his computer, he goes into some files on the Department of Homeland Security site and opens the Valente folder. It's the same bald man from the flashbacks. Okay, I think we get that much. He's in the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office. Fine, fine. Glaring, Hawkins calls up the satellite images from Nebraska and zooms in. Yes, it's the same as the photo in his hand. He flashes back to Valente's cane in the part I told you would be important later. Cane, Valente, Valente, cane. Hawkins rubs his head, replaces the photo on the board, and writes "Valente D.H.S." on a three-by-five index card to the satellite photo.
week: Jake and Hawkins join forces (YAY!) to find out what the hell is going on in New Bern. It looks like they've been making weapons. Yeah, just wait until they find out what kind of weapon Jericho has. Awesomeness. Plus, they still have that tank they can't power.