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Threaded throughout this episode is a narrative flashback of Eric and April's wedding, which is mainly about how Jake was a bad-boy, do-nothing loser who had to be pressed into Best Man service by Mom. Also, we get to meet the Late Grandpa Green, who turns out to be the life of the party, a larger-than-life, scotch-drinking, back-slapping, Emily-ogling, war-story-telling delight who doesn't get along too well with Ma Green. Why are so many of the awesome Greens dead or dying? Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. With Dad firmly in charge, Jericho is strategizing about how to handle the impending New Bern attack. Meanwhile, Hawkins provides an awesome (AWESOME!) military satellite that he can use to track New Bernies' movements, and spends the first half of the episode back in his bunker, CB-ing his intel to Jake in the field. This isn't without its own drama, though, as someone *cough*Valenti*cough* tries to trace Hawkins's location through the satellite. The first battle is waged, where there seems to be a lot of shooting at the ground (pesky ground!) taking place, until The Tank makes an appearance and scares the thirty-some New Bernies into retreat. Sadly, the retreat doesn't matter as Dad gets shot and dies on the Richmond kitchen table after telling his boys how proud he is of them. Jake doesn't cry initially, but as soon as Emily shows her French-twisted hair (because it's good for war!), he wails and sobs and kisses all over her. But it's war kissing, so it doesn't matter. Also, Heather: alive! See, because at what we are led to believe is roughly the same time as the events in Jericho, an unconscious Heather is found and later wakes up at a Nebraska-based real military (as opposed to faux) camp. After initially impotently imploring the camp colonel to keep those Jericho walls from tumbling, Heather cheers when Camp Liberty, on orders from Valenti (VALENTI!), mobilizes to squelch the Kansas skirmish. See, Valenti wants to eliminate a "terror suspect" in the area, which is a huge and freakishly awesome DUN! The troops take off, leaving Heather staring up at a bizarre 21-star flag. Back in Jericho, Jake briefly (but AWESOMELY) tells the rest of his men that Dad wanted them to keep fighting, so that's what they're gonna do. Hawkins shows up to report that there's a New Bern train with hundreds of reinforcements headed their way. To deal with this new situation, Hawkins calmly asks to borrow the tank. No worries that there's no ammo (apparently), and don't bother to show him how to use it, because as Hawkins says, "It's not my first time." AWESOME! AWESOME! AWESOME! Connie offers Jake one last chance to surrender, but Jake tells him where to stick his mortar, and readies his troops. At the same time, Hawkins parks his ammo-free tank atop a hill and waits for the New Bernie train. Suddenly, a fleet of helicopters fly over Hawkins, whose face sinks in realization; Jake calls out "NOW!," and the screen goes black. Let the cliffhanging begin! Want more? The full recap starts right below!
With a hazy sunlight yellow sheen that signals memories or flashbacks, we get an eyeful of an ornate wedding cake. A probably sticky moppet in a pink flower-girl dress clutches a beribboned bouquet and jabs her finger in the frosting. What a little brat! If this was longer than six years ago, I'd think it was Emily. She's always sticking her finger in places it doesn't belong. The bratty moppet sucks the frosting off her finger and runs past people having their photo taken on a staircase. It's Mom, Dad, April, and a clean-shaven Eric. Oddly, Mom and Dad are posed in front, totally blocking the bridal couple and April's dress. "6 Years Ago" flashes on the screen as Pachelbel's Canon pipes. Because if the cake, the photos, the flowers, and the greedy brat of a flower girl didn't tip us off that this was a wedding, Pachelbel will. More futzing with the photographer, and Mom finally gets impatient and says if he doesn't hurry it up, he's going to be taking photos of her with her shoes off. Since no one wants hammertoes in a wedding photo, April advises Mom to make herself comfortable and notes that they can't really take the photos without the best man. Who is the best man? Jake. And where is the best man? No one knows, but given what we have been led to believe about Jake's past, he's probably off getting drunk, having sex, stealing cars, and gambling. The poor photographer keeps readjusting his camera every time a member of the wedding party moves, which they are doing constantly. Eric dourly notes, "Grandpa seems to be missing, too." Dad barks a laugh, asking them all to "take a wild guess where they are!" Mom rolls her eyes and stalks off just as the photographer's flash goes off. That's a keeper.
Mom walks outside, and suddenly we're back in the gray tones of present day. Oh, it's going to be one of those episodes, is it? A bunch of "meaningful" flashbacks juxtaposed against present day to illustrate how far they've all come, which will get so sappy we might as well pull up a stack of pancakes? Mom leaves Town Hall and sweeps her eyes over the rubble that was town square. She nabs a local and carries him off to do something at the Med Center just as T-tol, t-lot! the Super Skeet comes riding, riding up to the Town Hall door! Inside Town Hall, Jake reports to the usual suspects that New Bern took Talbot's farm with about seventy men. Dad determines that they are outmanned and outgunned, and they need to take a hard stand at a single farm to punish the New Bern army with casualties as much as possible. Dad points out that Richmond's farm, being the highest point in the whole area, is where they need to make their stand.
On the road to Jericho, Connie gets the report that the Talbot farm is theirs. "Let's go get the rest of them," Connie orders. The camera pulls back to show a very, very, very long line of trucks and vehicles on the road to Jericho.
Meanwhile, sixty miles away on State Route 37, a couple of fatigues investigate a flipped car. They check a few vitals and seem to find only one survivor; it's Heather! Heather! Heather!
Tonight's Morse code message is, "You New Bern bastards! You killed Mayor Dad!"
Past Jericho. Jake, Stanley, and Grampy Green are whooping it up in Bailey's pre-adultery bar. Hey -- Grampy Green was Grampy Arnold on The Wonder Years! Emily -- her hair shorter and flapper-like -- hangs all over Jake's shoulder. Grampy Green sloshes his way through various war stories and talks about how Mom Green doesn't scare him. "Yeah, says the guy who taught me to fly his crop duster when I was thirteen, then told Mom I was lying when I mentioned it," Jake comments. Emily daintily sips her beer, careful not to muss her perfect pout. Stanley clearly loves Grampy Green and all his stories, especially the one about the peanuts. Grampy Green is all, "The hell you talkin' about, boy?" Giggling, Jake clarifies on behalf of his drunk friend: "He means the nuts story, Grandpa." Emily insists that she be told the story.
It was the winter of 1944 during WWII, and the Nazis had penetrated the Allied lines and surrounded an American division in a tiny town called Bastogne. They were freezing, starving, and running dangerously low on ammo, but they knew they had to hold their ground and not let the anvil break through their lines. Right before Christmas -- that high holy day -- the Nazis sent over a note saying that they had two choices: surrender and save the men, or fight and probably die. "The American commander," Grampy Green continues, "Sent a one-word reply to the Wehrmacht commander and it said --" Jake nods at Stanley, smiling -- "'Nuts!'" Emily who used up the rest of her brain cells to comb her bangs that morning, wonders, "Wait, why did it say 'nuts'?" "It means 'go to hell'!" Grampy Green exclaims. "Why didn't he just say, 'Go to hell'?" Emily ponders, still not able to get the subtler points of ANYTHING. "Because he said 'nuts'!" Jake explains impatiently. No one really knows it, but this is actually why Jake left Emily. As a side note, for those of you out there who want to participate in a "Save Our Show" campaign for Jericho, people are sending various kinds of peanuts to CBS. And as a side-side note, the less powerful but more correct WWII Battle Bastogne Nuts line was, "Us surrender? Aw, nuts!" Yeah, not as interesting. And definitely not as interesting as what Mel Brooks would have said in Rome: NVTS.
Mom marches up and sourly demands to know whether it was Grampy's idea to get her son drunk. Mom, it's a wedding -- it's everybody's idea to get drunk. Grampy mouths, "No," and points at Emily, who giggles. Mom orders everyone back to the reception. Yeah, why are they paying for drinks at the bar when they can drink for free at the wedding? Unless maybe Eric wouldn't allow an open bar? I'd believe it. Mom pulls Jake aside to talk to him and advises Stanley to drink some coffee since Stanley just whined, "But I'm hammered." Mom hands over a piece of paper, explaining to her son that he's going to have to make a speech and so she wrote a few things down for him. They really don't have a high opinion of him, do they? Little do they know how many times he will save Jericho's collective asses. Oh, the Meaningful Flashbacks -- they are so sneaky! Meanwhile, I get the biggest kick out of the fact that one of the supervising producers is named "Frank Military." It's such a Joe Boxer name. I wonder if he gets grief around the writing table, "Well, not to be all Frank Military about it, but you can't have an M1 tank running firing mortar rounds of that size and make." Of course, if he really was all Frank Military about things, maybe they wouldn't make so many mistakes. Or something. I don't know. It's the last episode; I'm a bit fried.
Present Jericho. Jake and Hawkins pull Dad aside so Hawkins can tell him, "I have access to a Key Hole military satellite that I can use to track New Bern's movements in the field today." The catch is, the satellite has to remain secret. Dad mulls it over for the briefest of moments before deciding, "Sounds good," and walking away. Jake is astounded by Dad's non-reaction. "What do you want me to say? I get it -- the man has a satellite. Doesn't want anyone to know," Dad fires back, ready to move on. Jake keeps protesting -- probably because he boggled for quite a few days over the revelation. Jake, don't be so hard on your hot self, you were also having to deal with the whole "I've got a nuclear bomb in my backyard" issue. "I am about to go to war with New Bern, Kansas, the home of the nearest Costco. Today is already just about as weird as I can handle. I'm not asking any more questions," Dad announces and leaves. Why did that Costco line make me laugh so hard I pulled a throat muscle? Jake, still stunned, turns to look at Hawkins, who grins back and nods all, "There you go!" I really appreciate how Jericho Past goes to great lengths, hair-wise, to make all of them look so young, damp, and newly hatched, but give how mullety they all turn out, I definitely prefer the hairstyles of Jericho Present. Also, a clean-shaven Eric chin looks large enough to be its own IMAX Experience.
Cemetery. Stanley, Mimi, and Bonnie stand in front of Ma and Pa Richmond's graves. Stanley gives his dead parents an update on what's going on and introduces them to Mimi, "the witch from the IRS that wanted to take everything you've ever worked for." Stanley steps back. Mimi looks over at Bonnie, who gives an encouraging jerk of her head. Mimi tells Ma and Pa Richmond how much she loves Stanley and that she thinks Bonnie is "just wonderful." "And I've really enjoyed living with them and --" Mimi continues but stops when Stanley shakes his head and mutters, "Great." Mimi stares at him, disconcerted. "I didn't say we were living together," Stanley hisses. Mimi doesn't get it. "We're not MARRIED!" Stanley explains. Mimi gets it and immediately starts apologizing to the graves. I love how she looks back and forth, like she's really addressing both of them. You know, I didn't really like Mimi in the beginning because she was too stereotypically the Manolo-wearing, manicure-needing, East Coast bitch, and I thought she never going to be anything but a very flat character. However, over all the episodes, Coppola and the writers very gradually weaned that aspect of her character away. They didn't make it disappear the instant she slept with Stanley, but they also didn't harp on it overmuch. Mimi keeps stammering and stuttering her apologies until she catches Bonnie's grin. She looks over at Stanley and demands, "Is everything a joke to you?" Stanley, now serious, explains that he figures they're both going to be buried there one day, and he likes the idea that their own kids could come and joke around with them. Awwwww! The three of them put their arms around each other and gaze down at the graves.
At the Richmond farm, the Jericho troops attempt to gather. Jimmy reports that they are two hundred strong, including Frodale's "crew." Gray makes like he's going to be useful, but Mayor Dad puts a stop to this, explaining that as their leader, Gray has to be protected at all costs. Plus, Dad adds, unwrapping a single mortar which came from who knows where, he needs Gray to help arm their tank.
Hawkins opens his armored Samsonite laptop and boots up the satellite link. Darcy paces and moans that her daughter is carrying a rifle and she's stuck in the house. Hawkins calmly tells her that Sam needs her and that Allison is safe; she was assigned to Town Hall and the fighting is miles away from there. Hawkins's screen unpixillates to show the New Bern trucks on the road. He radios Jake to tell him New Bern is closing in with about seventy to eighty men and asks if they have the tank yet. Jake explains they are still trying to load it with the mortar round. Yeah, keep trying, because I don't really get how the two are compatible. "I think you're going to need it," Hawkins breathes.
At the Richmond farm, Jake readies his team as they all position themselves behind a single car.
Suddenly, Hawkins realizes that his satellite link is being tracked. On the computer, there's a WarGames-esque descrambler that's attempting to lock in on his code digit by digit. "Do you know who it is?" Darcy asks, frantically. Hawkins casts a brief look up at the board and guesses that it's Valente from Homeland Security: "I don't know who he's working for now, but he told Sarah to get the bomb any way she could and to eliminate all witnesses." Darcy stares back at him, terrified, realizing this is the first time she's heard about this. "All the witnesses," Hawkins repeats, nodding. "Shut it down!" she commands him. Hawkins can't and explains they just have to disconnect the feed before they complete the trace. As he says this, one digit of the trace clicks into place. Now, if he disconnected and reconnected, would the trace have to start all over again?
Dressed in blue scrubs and a very clean white T-shirt, Heather wakes up on a hospital gurney. In what seems like a continuous shot, she slowly walks through some thick plastic curtains and steps out into the bright sunlight of a military camp. And it actually looks like a real military camp, because they've got a flagpole and everything. Still with the continuous shot, the camera pans up to show how far the camp appears to extend. It's far. Fatigues are running around, jumping into jeeps and shouting orders. We're told she's at Camp Liberty in southwest Nebraska. A few CH-47 Chinooks buzz in from above. Heather looks around in complete bewilderment. I feel you, babe.
At the pass, where Jake has his team near the Richmond farm, the waiting begins. The car is sandbagged to block gaps. Even Emily is there with her gun, her hair expertly done up in a French twist. Jake peers through his binoculars and sees a few men come around the bend. The men stop. "I don't get it," Eric comments, "Why are they just standing there?" I don't get it -- why aren't you shooting at them? Those guys are what is known as "bullet fodder." As the dumb-ass Jerichoians sit around with their guns up their butts, a big ol' truck barrels into view. SHOOT THE TRUCK! TAKE OUT THE TIRES! Still Jake does nothing. More trucks show up. Jake grabs his gun and aims. But that's all he does. New Bern men clamber out of the trucks and scramble into position, aiming their own guns. Still Jake does nothing. What is this -- the Revolutionary War? Is he really waiting until he can see the whites of their eyes? More aiming from both sides. Eric mutters out of the corner of his mouth, "I think we're gonna need that tank." New Bern fires. At the ground. Several feet in front of the sandbagged car. Oh wait, some bullets actually make it to the car and shatter the windows. Jake and Eric take cover without firing a single shot.
Jericho Past. Jake holds down the wedding bar while some woman in an obscenely short skirt walks by. Seriously? Who wears a napkin to a wedding? Eric sighs at Jake's back and asks dully if he's having good time. Jake is, and he jokes that he saw April making out with some Jerichoian. Eric unsmilingly tells Jake he needs to stop drinking. Jake's smile falters and completely drops when Eric hands over a speech he wrote out for Jake to give. He adds, "I figured you should have something ready so you don't embarrass yourself." Wow -- how full of yourself do you have to be to write a speech that extols how wonderful you are? Eh, because this is very possibly (sniff!) the last episode ever, I'll give Eric the benefit of the doubt and assume the speech is all about how wonderful April is. And we already know how long that sentiment will last. Jake examines the speech and yuks, "Wait, is that how you spell 'venereal disease'?" Eric is not amused and tells Jake his life is a big joke. But when Jake asks Eric to explain his beardless self, Eric decides, "I'm not getting into this right now." Then why'd you bring it up in the first place, buttmunch? Jake just stares at him, so finally Eric relents. You know he's just been itching to tell Jake exactly what he thinks of him. Eric says that people are whispering behind their hands about how Jake went off to flight school but now is just hanging around Jericho hauling "stuff" for Jonah. "If I'm such a joke, then why did you want me as your best man?" Jake demands. Eric looks back at Mom, who is glaring at them. Jake gets it. Eric didn't want him, but Mom forced it. Eric walks off. Jake turns back to the bar.
Jericho Present. Over the guns, Jake yells that they have to hold out until the tank gets there. They shoot a few shots back at New Bern and take cover again. Even Emily gets off a shot. Might be her only one. The camera jumps and cuts around. Jake insists they have to keep drawing New Bern's fire while he runs up the hill to get a better shot at New Bern's gunner. So, other than the fact that we've accepted how stupid Jerichoians are, is there a reason why they didn't position someone on that hill in the first place? Eric bellows at everyone to cover his little brother. Jake runs. Emily shoots another shot.
Hawkins monitors the battle from his laptop. Another digit in the tracker locks into place. Darcy wonders why Valente would have wanted the witnesses eliminated, "I mean, whoever's tracking you, they either want to use the bomb for themselves or they want to keep you from using it. But, either way, what difference do witnesses make? I mean the bombs have fingerprints, don't they? Something that makes them traceable -- I remember reading that somewhere." Hawkins gets this look on his face like he never thought of it like that. The thing is, though, I always thought eliminating witnesses was standard procedure in these things. You do something bad and you don't want anyone alive who knows about it. It has nothing to do with the bombs having fingerprints.
Jake hides behind a tree and gets off a few shots before he runs to the top of a hill and hides behind a fairly small rock.
Hawkins's House. Hawkins explains, "It's the uranium. It has a specific signature that places the origin of the device where it was made." Darcy realizes that there were dozens of these kinds of bombs used in the attack. Hawkins makes a face. "And now you have the last one," Darcy realizes. Hawkins agrees. "Robert, I don't think these people are looking at this as a weapon -- it's more than that. It's..." "Evidence," Hawkins supplies for her. Exactly. Evidence against whoever engineered the attack. However, we still can't conclusively say it was Valente who engineered the whole thing, because it could be argued that Valente knows what he knows because he was part of the undercover plan to thwart the attack. Darcy looks up at Hawkins and says, "It's the smoking gun of the greatest crime in the history of the world." Well, that's taking it a bit far -- that Trojan Horse thing was a pretty big deal. Darcy finally realizes that the bomb could expose the people who were involved in the attacks, and that's why they need it back. "Yeah," Hawkins breathes, and another digit on the WarGames tracker is locked in.
Jake fires from his rock and a hard place and finally takes out New Bern's gunner. More and more firing, which I like because I don't have to recap it. For an apocalyptic show, Jericho has certainly had more than its fair share of talk, talk, talking. Jake rolls over and sees the tank cresting the hill and lumbering its way down. New Bern continues to fire, and we can see Dad walking alongside the tank, firing back. Not sure why he's so exposed like that when he could be inside the tank, but I guess he needed to finish his debate with the Grim Reaper. Finally, New Bern collectively reacts to the tank and skedaddles. Yeah, you BETTER run! As bullets ricochet off the tank, the tank's barrel slooooooowly rotates and clanks into place. The New Bernies are scattering like the twelve tribes of Israel. The tank then decides to fire its SOLE MORTAR on an abandoned truck, killing no one but exploding valuable ammo and fuel. Why didn't they just use the tank for cover and then go and snag the truck for themselves? Also, why didn't they use the tank merely to force a retreat -- Jericho could have kept picking off the men as they ran pell-mell for cover from the tank -- and then save the mortar for a time when it could have taken out far more troops and supplies? Maybe Jericho doesn't deserve to win this war. Maybe they need New Bern to save them from themselves. A milk crate lands in the foreground of the exploding truck. The New Bernies run away. RUN AWAY! And as they run, the stupid-ass Jerichoians STILL don't use the opportunity to fire on them. Hey freakshows? This isn't some gentleman's war you're fighting here -- the rules are, there are no rules! However, Jericho is totally pumped by this defeat, and they all start cheering and celebrating. I'm sort of surprised that they're actually intelligent enough to resist firing a few celebratory rounds in the air.
The Jerichoians gather around the tank in time to see Bill pop out and exclaim, "Did you see what I just did?" Yeah, Bill, we did. We saw you waste your one mortar on a totally worthless target. Good job! "Holy crap," Stanley gasps, prairie-dogging it out of the driver's seat. Eric keeps screeching, "WHOOO!" But Jake brings everyone back to earth by saying all they got from that pointless skirmish was time, and it won't be nearly as easy time when New Bern brings more people. I'd like to add that Jericho has totally tipped their tank hand in the first battle. New Bern will now know how to prepare for it. "Easy?" Bill exclaims, "You thought that was easy?" Shut up, Bill. Suddenly, Eric pulls Jake's attention over to Mayor Dad lying on the ground. In plain sight. Took them long enough! Jake pulls Dad's vest back to see that he's been hit on the right side of his chest.
Emily brays about Kenchy -- which, like, nice try, but I'm not falling for that one again -- as everyone bustles to bring Dad into the Richmond house. Hey, so maybe I should stop asking these kinds of questions in order to let the magic flow unhindered but, um, why didn't they bring field medics to the battle? ["Flow-breaker!" -- Miss Alli] Eric yells for alcohol and antiseptic. I have a sinking feeling that Mimi and Stanley drank all the alcohol already. They lay Dad out on the kitchen table, which is so very Bonanza of them. As Hawkins radios Jake, Eric presses down on Dad's wound. Hawkins congratulates them on the battle and adds, "Tell your father they're coming back around." Jake tells Hawkins about Dad's situation. Hawkins pauses and says, "I'm sorry." He watches yet another digit get locked on the satellite tracking and gets back to business. "You know what to do, right?" Hawkins asks, "Keep pressure on the wound, and there should be some morphine syrettes in the supplies I gave you." Hawkins has supplies. Hawkins has morphine. Jake responds that they've got the supplies, but something in his tone prompts Hawkins to say, "Listen Jake, people are going to be looking to you now. You know what I mean?" Jake does. In his own covert way, Hawkins has been sort of like a father to Jake. He's been quietly teaching him all sorts of things. Hawkins explains that New Bern will have to go back to Talbot's farm to regroup, so that will give Jericho some time of its own. Hawkins will keep them updated. "Out," he concludes regretfully.
Camp Liberty. Heather finds her way to some fatigues and is directed to the man in charge. Directing her pleas at a guy -- a colonel -- who looks like Anthony Bourdain and Hugh Laurie's love child, Heather explains how the people of New Bern tried to kill her and are planning to attack Jericho. Man in Charge -- I'm gonna call him Charles -- says that his orders are to secure the roads in their immediate area. Before Heather can continue her protest, Col. Charles stops her with, "I don't get to make these decisions, I'm just a government employee." Heather takes a deep breath and asks, "Which government?" Col. Charles shares a laugh with the guy who was dabbing at a wound on his arm and responds, "United States." You know, the laugh was pretty rude. Do these people not get the fact that people all over the country are without power and therefore have no access to what the hell happened to the United States, lo those many months ago? Because if not, I don't think I want them in charge of my country. Heather doesn't say anything. Col. Charles asks if she's okay. "We heard there were six different people claiming the presidency." Col. Charles agrees and adds, "There were -- in fact, there's still a couple of holdouts: Texas, a bloc in the East. The new federal government's been restored in Cheyenne, Wyoming." Heather pleads some more, but Col. Charles can't help her and kindly asks another dude to escort her back to the medical tent.
Richmond kitchen table. Jake is about to inject Mayor Dad with morphine when Dad pats him weakly on the forearm, muttering, "Get 'em out." Eric looks up at Jake and whispers, "Why?" Jake, his face full of misery, looks back at Eric, perfectly understanding the request. "Get 'em out!" Dad says, stronger this time. Jake tells Gray, who is standing in the living room with a crowd of Jerichoians, to clear everyone out. Jake walks back to Dad and takes his hand. "You listen," Dad says, "This place is where you survive. You make a stand here, you hear?" It's from this you get your strength, the corn earth of Richmond. Jake nods, "We will." Dad turns his eyes to Eric and says he's sorry he has to see this, adding, "You've been through enough." Eric tells him to stop. "You're stronger than you think you are, though, always have been," Dad continues. He tells Eric he loves him. Eric looks away, sniffing. Jake's eyes and face are swollen with unshed tears. "I guess I zigged when I should have zagged," Dad decides. Yeah, that's all great and folksy, Dad, but why not tell Jake that you love him as well? Dad sighs that he wishes Mom was there. "She's coming," Jake says, completely stuffed up, "She'll be here." "Tell your mother I love her," Dad says in a high, breathless voice. "I was hard on you," he continues to Jake, "I pushed you...away. I'm...glad you came...home." Jake grips his Dad's hand harder. "I'm proud of you," Dad gasps and lets Jake's hand go slack. Mayor Dad is dead, long live the Mayor. Sobbing, Eric kneels to his father's body and presses his bloodied hand to his mouth. Still keeping hold of his father's grip with one hand, Jake uses his other to slide Dad's eyes closed. Eric continues to sob, so Jake quickly rounds the table and grabs his brother into a hug. The Green brothers clutch each other, crying, until Jake forces Eric to look into his eyes. Eric looks at Jake and finally nods his assent to Jake's unanswered question. He can get it together. They will keep fighting.
Jake walks out onto the Richmond porch and looks at the gathered team. Gray, Stanley, Skylar, and Frodale are there in front. Eric stands slightly behind Jake, knowing he's the one to take command now. Jake pauses and stares. Someone clinks repeatedly on a glass and suddenly...
...we're back in Jericho Past. Nearly taking an empty champagne cooler with him, Jake stands up to make his wedding speech. Jake stands at the mike and asks, "Before I start, is there anyone who hasn't written me a speech?" This gets a chuckle from the crowd, and it would have been good if he had left it at that, but instead, he goes into a booze-fueled self-pity trip: "I mean, it really makes me wonder how screwed-up you think I am that I can't be trusted to say a few things about my brother." Everyone shifts uncomfortably, but April -- always the down-to-earth one... or in-the-earth one -- smiles serenely at Eric. Jake goes on that all the speeches he was given were pretty lame. "Not one of them mentions my brother's musical theater phase when we all thought he was gay," Jake continues, and then with perfect bad timing, he awkwardly adds, "Seriously. You have not heard disturbing until you've heard him singing 'One Hand, One Heart' in the shower every morning." Eric doesn't look amused. Jake glances at Mom, who looks concerned and shifts her eyes irritably. Jake looks at Dad's stern face and seems to recall himself. What a humorless family. You know, I thought part of the reason why they were showing Eric's wedding was to slide menacingly past Connie. Remember Dad's comment of how Connie was a guest at his son's wedding? I think the writers missed an opportunity here by not showing him. Connie wouldn't even have had to speak; just showing him there -- even in the background -- would have been dark and threatening enough.
Jericho Present. Jake is still standing on the porch. Seriously, how long is he going to hold that pose? Because he looks like he has to pee and is afraid to move because of it.
Jericho Past. Jake continues that he teases his brother a lot but the truth is, he's really proud of him. He's proud of how kind Eric is, how giving he is. Finally, both Dad and Mom are smiling. Jake adds that Eric's a very lucky man. April stares at Jake.
Jericho Present. Eric rubs his face with his blood-stained hand. Finally, Jake speaks: "My father's dead." Looooong pause. "We'll get through," Jake finishes and walks back into the house. That...was sort of anticlimactic. Eric nods at Gray and Stanley to come on in. Frodale has the good grace to look as though some sort of emotion has gotten through his psychotic heart. Stanley, Gray, Jimmy, and Bill follow Eric into the house and shut the door behind them. In full view of Dad's body, they hold a war council. Jake wants Gray back in town. Gray starts to protest, but Jake interrupts him: "Come tomorrow, what's left of us will need a leader. I think we've lost enough in that department." Gray continues to protest that they need every available set of hands they can get, and he's not going anywhere. "You're too important now, Gray. It's not negotiable. Get him an escort," Jake orders. I like the subtle stress on how Dad's dying makes Gray more important than he was before. Even though he was the newly elected mayor, beating out Dad, he still really wasn't as important as Dad. Jake wants everyone back in position, because they don't know when New Bern will come back. The farmhouse door creaks open, and Jake jumps up as Emily walks in, followed by Mom. Oh good job, Emily -- you only got it half-right. Where's Kenchy? I know Dad's dead, but it's not like she knew that. What if Dad was still alive and all she brought back was Mom and no doctor? Mom walks slowly in and stares at her husband's body on the kitchen table. Jake and Eric pat her on the shoulder, and everyone files out. Mom trances into the kitchen and stands in the pool of her husband's blood on the floor. Putting her hand on Dad's forehead, she bends over the body and cries.
Jake sits on a corner of the porch that's away from the Jericho troop's eager eyes. Unable to stay away, Emily walks over to him and kneels in front of him. They embrace and Jake sobs. He sobs hard. Hawkins radios Jake. Heh -- he probably saw what was going down from his satellite view and decided he needed to break it up. You go, Hawkins! Jake stands up, clearing his throat, and tells Hawkins to go ahead. Hawkins reports that New Bern is coming back with a few hundred more men and more military trucks. Hey, where did New Bern get military trucks? Is this because they have a Costco? Jake ten-fours him and requests that he joins them as quickly as he can. Hawkins casually asks what Jake knows about some train tracks running alongside the river. "Why, what do you see?" Jake asks, as the final digit in the satellite tracking clicks into place. "I don't know -- I can't see!" Hawkins responds. Darcy yells at Hawkins to disconnect his computer, but Hawkins won't until he can get a look at the train tracks. "Jake," he radios, "You've got a very large train coming from New Bern and it's got three cargo cars." Jake asks what's in the cars. "I think it's men, and it's hundreds of them -- it's a whole set of reinforcements," Hawkins pants back to Jake, as Darcy slams the laptop shut. Hawkins tells Jake he's on his way. Jake looks over at Emily, who is sitting in a window waiting for him. He kisses her, but I've decided that it's a war kiss, an I-might-die-so-I-might-as-well kiss, so it doesn't really matter. He can take it back.
Hawkins tells Darcy that the few seconds lock on his satellite coordinates probably wasn't enough time to get an exact location. They're fine for a little while. "Where are you going?" Darcy demands. "I have to stop a train," Hawkins tells her. YEAH HE DOES! BECAUSE HE'S AWESOME!
Col. Charles reports to four heads on separate video screens how they've gained control of I-80 from Cheyenne to Grand Island. However, I-70 is more of a challenge, because there are organized road gangs operating in the area. He adds that a patient told him of an impending skirmish between two towns in northwest Kansas. When Col. Cheyenne says, "New Bern and Jericho," the camera pans over to the fourth television screen and shows DUN! Valente! Valente importantly takes off his glasses and asks the location of the two towns. After hearing where they are, Valente says, "We tracked a terrorist suspect to within two hundred miles of that area. Capture of this suspect is top priority for President Tomarchio and the administration. You understand?" Col. Charles nods and asks if he should reprioritize. "Immediately," Valente says, "Go to Jericho and crush the skirmish. Once the area's clear, we will begin our search for the terrorist." Okay, two points: one, Valente still should believe that he has been communicating with Sarah all this time, and while he's probably evil for ordering her to kill Hawkins and his family, it's still Sarah that Valente will be after. He has no reason to suspect that Hawkins is still alive; and two, Col. Charles just said that the skirmish was between Jericho and New Bern. He never said it was in Jericho, so it was pretty convenient for Valente to order them to Jericho. I don't think Valente has any inside information about the skirmish; I just think it was the writers making the line more powerful by saying, "Go to Jericho," because it has all of us at home cheering our throats out that those damned New Bernies aren't going to know what hit them.
Hawkins rides. He rides with some seriously grim determination. It's such a grim determination that I'm completely convinced he could stop the train from New Bern just by glaring at it. Stanley and Jake walk away from the farmhouse together, and Stanley announces that he's going to ask Mimi to marry him. "She can't cook, she's never seen nine innings of baseball in her life, and she hates my clothes, but I love her. And I'm happy," Stanley says and stops Jake by grabbing at his arm. Jake looks up at him through reddened eyes. "Jake, I don't want to die today," Stanley confesses. Jake looks at him for a moment, then grabs him into a hug and promises, "You're going to make it out of here. That I promise." Hawkins rides up and dismounts. He tells them that Connie and his men are closing in and the train is twenty minutes away. Jake takes a step closer to Hawkins and whispers urgently, "Tell me you have a plan. A really good one." Hawkins gives him a look that is almost Fonzie in its swagger and says to Stanley, "Hey, I need to borrow your tank." YEAH HE DOES!
At the tank, Hawkins hops up to examine it. Jake reminds him that the tank won't fire -- there's absolutely no ammo in it. "I'm not planning on shooting anything," Hawkins tells him. Stanley starts to explain how to operate the tank, but Hawkins stops him, "This is not my first time." Jake rolls his eyes, all "Of COURSE it isn't. God." Hawkins lowers himself into the tank and calls Jake back to wish him luck. "Yeah," Jake breathes, "You too."
The Jerichoians assemble behind that same sandbagged car. Jake pulls Emily aside and starts to say something but stops. Emily steps closer to him, and I notice for the first time that she's wearing a red-edged olive green tank top with a red star in the middle of her dinners. Do you think she walked into her closet that morning and said, "Hm, I'm going to be fighting today -- how do I coordinate that?" Realizing Jake is at a loss for words, Emily impresses upon Jake that his father is there watching.
Jericho Past. Dad stands outside of the Town Hall, looking up into the night sky. Jake blunders out, and Dad asks, "They still doin' the Bunny Hop in there?" Jake thinks it's the Macarena. Dad has no idea what Jake's talking about. Deciding it will take to long to explain, Jake agrees, "Yeah, they're still doing the Bunny Hop." Dad compliments Jake on his speech and adds, "I had no idea you were such a sentimental fool." Jake laughs, "Mom wrote it." "You think?" Dad shoots back, chuckling. Dad gets serious and says he knows Eric and Jake aren't close, and maybe Jake didn't feel like standing up and pretending like they were. "But sometimes, doing what you feel like doing and doing what needs to be done are two different things." Jake stiffly tells Dad that Dad doesn't have to worry about him. He's fine. Dad scoffs at that, saying that his worrying days are far from over. "But they will be one day," Dad decides. Geddit? Because he's DEAD and doesn't have any worries anymore? "Someday, I know you're gonna become the man I know you can be. The man you were born to be. My god, that day's gonna be somethin' to see!" Dad concludes as Grampy Green walks up. "Come on, Johnston," he calls, holding up a bottle, "This scotch ain't gonna drink itself!" See, because they're both DEAD and together in HEAVEN drinking SCOTCH while sitting on CLOUDS and not worrying about their LIVERS. Dad explains that he and Grampy Green are going down to the lake to partake of some thirty-year-old single malt. He invites Jake to join them. Jake accepts and says he's just going to wait to say good night to Emily. "I'll meet you there," Jake promises. Yes, yes, he will -- someday Jake will be standing in front of those pearly anvils and Dad and Grampy will be on the other side, holding a bottle of scotch and three glasses. "Save you a place," Dad says. And the anvils just keep falling like the bombs from New Bern. Grampy asks Dad where Jake's going. As they walk off into the street LIGHT, Dad explains that Jake is waiting for his girl. "Well, that's the last we'll see of him tonight," Grampy guffaws. "Aw, Dad," Dad responds. "Hey, if I had a girl that looked like that, I wouldn't keep her waiting," Grampy decides and then whirls around, holding up the scotch, "You hear that, boy? I'm gonna take that girl away from you!" Jake waves. He waves GOOD-BYE. Grampy and Dad keep at each other the whole way down to the lake.
Jericho -- should they rename the town "Jakeicho"? -- Present. Jimmy hands over the radio to Jake, saying it's Connie. Connie tells Jake that his scouts just updated him: "I'm sorry about your dad." You can stuff your sorrys in a sack, mister! Jake doesn't respond. "Jake, you're outmanned and you're outgunned," Connie says, "There's too many of us, and we're too desperate to give up. You cannot win this. I'm giving you one last chance. Walk away. Put your guns down and return to town, and no one else will be harmed." Jake is still silent. "Jake, I need an answer -- what's it gonna be?" Connie demands. Jake looks up and raises the radio to his mouth and responds with one syllable, "NUTS!" Having been educamacated at the same school as Emily, Connie, somewhat disconcerted, says, "Sorry -- I didn't get that." "You can go straight to hell," Jake explains, "About my father? You're the one I'm coming for." Connie digests this thoughtfully and puts down his radio.
Camp Liberty. A doctor tells Heather that she'll be moved to Cheyenne and away from the "conflict zone." Heather runs up to Col. Charles and asks what's going on. He explains that Jericho has been moved up the priority list. Heather thanks him breathlessly. "This is all thanks to you -- don't worry, we're going to get things back to normal again," Col. Charles promises ominously. Camp Liberty pulls out, and Heather gazes up the flag with thirteen vertical stripes and twenty-one stars on the blue field. I'm really sad that we're probably never going to find out what that means. Heather suddenly looks worried.
Jericho. Jake turns back to his men and raises his voice, "My father expected us to make a stand here -- to defend our home. That's what we're going to do." His face is still smeared with Mayor Dad's blood. He's wearing his father's blood into war. It's very tribal of him.
On a bluff above the train tracks, Hawkins has stopped the tank. He crouches to the gun and watches the train chug closer. I wonder if his plan is to ram the tank into the train and create a massive explosion that will keep the train from getting any closer to Jericho. That's what I'd do if I needed to stop a train and a war with a used weaponless tank.
There are a few pops around the sandbagged car and someone yells, "Smoke bombs!" How juvenile. thing you know, they're going to be hurling stink bombs and blocking up the toilets. Jericho gets into position and takes up its arms. "Don't waste your rounds!" Jake yells, "Wait for a clean shot!" They wait. The smoke clears a bit. They wait some more.
On the bluff, Hawkins looks up as about eight helicopters fly right over him with a very big DUN!
"Wait," Jake cautions, his hand still up. Everyone waits. Even the music. "NOOOOOOOOOOOWWWW!" Jake yells and everyone starts firing.
And that, my friends, is that.
week: We find out if that really will be all we'll ever know about Jericho, Kansas. Keep your fingers crossed and send peanuts.