TV REVIEW: Jericho: "Red Flag"

It's a subdued Thanksgiving in Jericho, Kansas this week, as the survivors of the nuclear attack on America attempt to hold on to some remnants of their previous lives. "There are some things the apocalypse can't change," Jake's Mom stubbornly asserts, referring to an annual Greene family football game. Yet, the game doesn't happen...in part because the family is tearing itself apart over Eric's decision to leave the pregnant April and go live with his mistress, Mary Bailey.

But there are bigger fish to fry in Jericho this holiday season. In "Red Flag," Vietnam-era Russian planes drop supplies over the town using American military parachutes...food, medicine, even a generator. The foodstuffs are from China, which is disconcerting to say the least. The food comes with propaganda flyers that read "Do Not Fight. China is your friend." This development leads Jake and some of the others in town to suspect the "aid" may actually be the second wave of the attack; an attempt to poison and soften up the population before ground troops invade. The Mayor, fearing contaminated supplies, holds back the food from the town and thereby creates a new controversy since people are beginning to starve.

As if this isn't troubling enough, Jonah (Remar) and his band of goons steal the power generator from the town (actually, from Stanley's field...), spurring a confrontation between the Mayor and his new (untested...) militia and the warlord's well-armed gang. Emily (Ashley Scott) comes to the rescue and retrieves the generator, an act which has unexpected consequences: Jonah's leadership is questioned and it looks like he'll face an insurrection in his ranks.

The episode ends with a murder, and with the specter of an upcoming election in Jericho. The story's theme is that the people are "holding on to traditions" like "nothing happened." Jonah is still trying to make money; as is storekeeper Gracie. Gray and the Mayor are still playing politics; and Eric is ignoring his responsibilities as a future father. Interesting times...

TV REVIEW: Jericho: "Crossroads"

One week before the "fall finale" of CBS's promising new series Jericho, and things are heating up in Kansas. When last we left the stalwart Green brothers (Eric and Jake), they had returned from Rogue River with the medicine needed to save their Dad, Johnston (the mayor). But...they'd run afoul of professional mercenaries who pillaged Rogue River (just 90 miles from Jericho).

In "Crossroads," this week's installment, the chickens come home to roost as the Ravenwood mercenaries, led by villainous D.B. Sweeney, arrive on the outskirts of Jericho with humvees and guns. Lots of guns. The town sets up a roadblock on a bridge, but Jake has tangled with Ravenwood before (in the Iraq War...) and knows they won't be stopped short of a violent confrontation. Jake wants to blow up the bridge leading into Jericho, an act which will stop the professional soldiers once and for all but also geographically isolate the town (and force those who live on the other side of the bridge - like farmer Stanley - to abandon their homes).

The idea of mercenaries run amuck in heartland America isn't quite as farfetched as it may seem, as this episode clearly reflects the situation in Iraq where our Federal Government has "outsourced" security to professional, hired soldiers rather than the military. These private contractors are not bound by the military standard of conduct, and can therefore do...whatever the hell they want want. Imagine being an Iraqi citizen trying to figure out the difference between an American soldier and one of these guys? Not fun. Indeed, some of these "outsource" soldiers were responsible for the atrocities that occurred at Abu Ghraib. So Jericho - like all good science fiction - extrapolates the "future" or an alternate reality based on ours. We recognize the world it depicts, and here we're being told something about Iraq (and also about contemporary America).

Meanwhile, Emily wakes up to realize it is her wedding day...though her fiancee Roger is still missing. Throughout the episode, Emily (Ashley Scott) "fantasizes" an alternate day. One where "the end of the world" didn't come, and she and Roger married. We are treated to snippets of the wedding preparations, the reception, and so forth, as Emily contrasts what is with what might have been. This is an interesting touch that doesn't get too maudlin, and helps to reveal to audiences how much the world of Jericho has changed in a month. (In the fantasy world, Stanley is watching a sports game on the telly, for instance.)

Trouble is also brewing for Eric. April is finally ready to tell him she's pregnant with his child, but before she can, he works up the courage to tell her he's leaving her for his mistress, Mary Bailey. This development is a little bit soap-operaish, if you ask me, but these days (the days of Lost, Battlestar Galactica...) sci-fi fans are frequently asked to accept soap opera plotting as a substitute for genuine genre thinking.. Contemporary producers have mistaken old General Hospital plots for "maturity" and for being "dark" or "angsty"...when in fact the stories of alcoholism, affairs, unwanted pregnancies, etc., are merely staples of the soap opera form. In some cases this development is acceptable (hey, Jericho IS about a small town and the lives of its citizens, so it gets a tentative pass on this front...), but Battlestar Galactica is supposed to be about the big issues (like the extermination of the human race and the search for a new home...) and Lost has bigger issues - like about a dozen or so mysteries - to contend with. I just wish those shows would get over themselves and actually tell science fiction stories; deal with science fiction concepts instead of As The World Turns-style intrigues, but then, I digress...

After stopping the mercenaries, Jake confronts his father (now recovered) and warns that the town needs a military, a "trained" and "sanctioned" security force. The Mayor agrees and gives his son the responsibility, handing him a U Ranger handbook. A wise decision or opening a Pandora's Box? Discuss amongst yourselves.

Truly, this brings up an interesting dilemma. The town of Jericho needs to be defended from marauding outsiders. But would you want a heavily armed (but inexperienced...) citizen police force marching your street? What's the balance? Hopefully, Jericho will tell us (and show us...) in the weeks ahead.

TV REVIEW: Jericho: "Rogue River"

This episode of the promising new CBS series Jericho picks up "one month after the bombs..." as siblings Eric and Jake race to Rogue River - a nearby town - to retrieve Cipro; the medicine they require to save their father's life. Dad (the mayor...) has gone septic and his organs are beginning to shut down...

The early scenes of "Rogue River" feature some really terrible process optical work for the road scenes - as we're in the car with Eric and Jake - and I was surprised to see such fakey special effects for something so simple as a driving scene. The bad fx distracted me from the deep Eric/Jake conversation, but I got the swing of things soon enough.

There was a striking and ominous scene not long after, which found the boys driving into Rogue River and interpreting the markings (left on evacuated houses...) spray-painted by FEMA. For instance, we learn that the town of Rogue River was evacuated on 10/25; and that FEMA noted how many people they rescued in each house...and how many they found dead. This segment brought up memories for me of Hurricane Katrina, the occasion many people first learned what those symbols meant, and I credit Jericho for being dark, realistic and accurate in this regard. I can't imagine that CBS is thrilled with a mainstream series dredging up memories of a real life disaster, but I think the metaphor is apt. This is definitely a post-Katrina show...there's no help coming; and the only representative we have of the Federal government, Hawkins, may be more a bad guy than a good one, though the jury is still out.

Soon after pulling into town, Eric and Jake encounter a soldier who has been fighting mercenaries, (a squad led by actor D.B. Sweeney), and attempt to retrieve the medicine they need from Fillmore County Hospital. After a gunfight and a daring escape, however, Eric realizes that he lost his wallet in the hospital. Oopsy. The episode ends on another scary, ominous note as Sweeney's character finds the wallet and reads Eric's address: "Jericho." Okay, this is a problem, and it's clear from the ending of the episode that the mercenaries are headed to town. It looks like there's gonna be a war next week on the show...

Lawlessness and heavily armed roving gangs (an argument for fewer guns or more guns, you think?) are just two problems Jericho raises this week. Here's another: back home, there's no way for April to make the ice which is necessary to reduce the mayor's fever. His wife complains bitterly about this, "This day and age...how can someone die of a fever?" Good question, I think. The answer in Jericho is that the school teacher remembers a science project from the previous year about how to make ice. Good thing. But I wonder, how many of us could accomplish the same task in a pinch? Without sounding mean or derisive or anything, we're all "moderners," aren't we? I mean, if we had to, could we make ice without help? How about electricity? We've become a country where everything is so easy that we don't question how we receive light, television signals, or frozen foods. I'm glad Jericho is looking at this angle of the post-apocalyptic scenario.

You know, when I was a kid, I was a tremendous fan of the Mad Max/Road Warrior movies and the Planet of the Apes saga. In very different ways, these franchises gazed at post-apocalyptic scenarios. In a way, Jericho is the TV equivalent, and a show I've always wanted to see, ever since I was a thirteen-yea- old laying in my bed at night and fearing nuclear war (especially after President Reagan's joke about outlawing Russia and "the bombing" starting in "five minutes.") This is a series that really honors its dark premise; at least so far. The longer it lasts, the more desperate the characters and situations on Jericho should become, and I hope the producers and writers are up to the task and aren't going to start candy-coating the end of the world.

TV REVIEW: Jericho: "Long Live the Mayor"

It's Halloween-time in Jericho, Kansas, the first Halloween after the nuclear attack, and things are getting rough for the town. Power is still out town-wide (save for a few simple items like flashlights...), the old world economy has collapsed so that barter and trade have replaced cash as currency, the mayor is still deathly ill (three weeks on...) from the flu, and a local warlord, Jonah (played by Dexter's James Remar...) is making incursions into the town to steal food...and to break out his incarcerated goons like Mitch Cafferty.

Then squirrely Gary Anderson, the mayor's rival in an election that will probably never take place, returns from his scouting expedition outside Jericho with mixed news. New York City has survived the war intact (yes!), but Washington D.C. is nuked...gone. Worse, the roads between here and there are - for all intents and purposes - war zones. Raiders and roadblocks stop any cars, and will kill travelers for the merest scraps of food or water.

Finally, things really get bad when the mayor goes "septic," and needs the drug Cipro to survive. This need necessitates negotiations with Jonah, who also happens to be Emily's (Ashley Scott's) estranged father. I particularly liked the aspects of the episode involving Jake's attempts to rationally negotiate with Jonah. His brother Eric and Gary Anderson refuse to trade Cafferty for the food Jericho's people desperately need because they don't want to negotiate with a crimina (i.e. a terrorist)l. By their way of thinking, engagement and appeasement are apparently identical. Sound like any American president you know? Yes, Jericho is still about us, despite it's apocalyptic scenario...

Otherwise, this story involves many of Jericho's dramatis personae attempting to deal with the fact that one life has ended; another begun. The IRS auditor from D.C. must cope with the fact that everyone in her life has been "incinerated;" petty storekeeper Gracie learns that she's not such a good Samaritan after all, and that the old ways of accumulating wealth don't really fit in with the new economy of Jericho. Emily must put aside her personal battle with her estranged father, and Robert Hawkins learns that his wife was dating a man named Doug before the nuclear attacks. Yep, it's transition time in this small Kansas time, and it makes for some fine character moments in a series that I believe improves each and every installment. If not a great show, Jericho is - at least - a very good one, and on the road to greatness.

I also liked another small joke this week (last week it was a Vanilla Ice CD). this time, Jake is warned by his school teacher girlfriend, as he's about to head into the hot zone of Rouge River: "watch out for giant irradiated ants out there...," a reference, of course, to the great 1950s horror movie, Them.

TV Review: Jericho: "9:02."

The missiles are flying this week on CBS's Jericho. Yep, it's retaliation. That's the Federal response, apparently, to this ongoing crisis in the U.S. heartland. Where are the missiles headed? Syria? Iran? China? North Korea? Any nation that Jake terms "one of the usual suspects?"

Well, we still don't know. America's enemy in this war is still a mystery. And I like that facet of the series, since this isn't a drama about international negotiations, but rather about a small town having to start over in a "new world," as one of the characters aptly terms the situation.

Unfortunately, whether the old world or the new world, it seems the human race will always have to deal with bullies and opportunists; folks who exploit tragedy to try to get ahead. That's the theme this week on Jericho as tempers begin to flare in town. An EMP has gone off, you see, and for two weeks there has been no power. Nerves are frayed. Citizens start to break the law. The town is overrun by complaints, yet there's no legal mechanism to try any criminal who's been arrested. the nearest judge is at the county seat...and may be long dead.

And then, while the town folk grow fractious (and farmer Stanley and storekeeper Gracie fight over the last stock of crop pesticide...), in rides Mitch Cafferty, a real troublemaker who sees Jericho's misfortune as his big day. Jake used to run with Mitch back in the day, so he knows what this interloper is capable of and wants to stop him. He's given pause by Dad, the mayor. "If this family starts breaking the law, how can we enforce it?"

Good question, Pops. Of course, I hate to say it - and Robert Hawkins seems to understand this best - but unless Jericho's finest can maintain order and stop the Mitch Caffertys of the world, the town will descend into chaos and anarchy in no time. That's the danger looming.

Since this is a family show, that doesn't happen. After stealing the mayor's horses, there's a conflict and Mitch is brought down by Jake and Eric. Meanwhile, the town pulls together to harvest Stanley's endangered crops, and the story emerges as a parable about cooperation and team work in bad times. Mushy stuff? Perhaps, but you know...I kinda liked it. It's a good message, and isn't spoon fed with a helping of treacle.

One great joke this week on Jericho: Robert teaches his daughter how to use a gun and takes her out for some target shooting. What's the target: (now useless...) music cds! In particular, she blows away Vanilla Ice's "To the Extreme." Ouch.

TV REVIEW: Jericho: "Federal Response"

Last night's Jericho, "Federal Response," saw the small Kansas town (which survived a nuclear attack on America)struggling to survive its own local apocalypse. In this case, the sudden resumption of power caused electrical surges all over the city. Fires broke out in the town library (a real disaster, since this branch of the public library might be the basis for all future knowledge...), and also destroyed Eric's house.

As usual, our protagonist Jake (Skeet Ulrich) proved a little too adept at being at the right place at the right time, and figuring out a way to get a water valve open so at least some of the library could be saved in the nick of time (and so that Heather could be rescued...). I realize there's this notion here that Jake was away from Jericho for many years and learned all kinds of trades on this "mysterious" journey, but it's getting to be a little silly that he saves the day in each episode. It's not so much that he's skilled or can think on his feet (I can believe that); but he's particularly lucky at being at the right place at the right time: whether to end a prison convict shoot-out in one episode (after conveniently blowing up a mine entrance...) or finding a downed school-us full of children in need...he's always at precisely the right place and time to avert a tragedy. It makes you wonder how the town ever survived when he was away.

Also, I need someone to explain something to me. The cunning African-American character, Robert Hawkins, is obviously a sleeper agent for some covert force (either our government; or the government that attacked us...), and this week Jake spies him sitting in his backyard utilizing a fully-functioning laptop computer beside a large personal satellite dish. The two exchange brief, angry words over this discovery while trying to save Eric's house, but Jake doesn't follw up. So tell me why? Why doesn't he report the matter (or Hawkins' useful technology...) to anyone in the town? Why not tell his Dad, the mayor. Nor his brother, the mayor's assistant? In a situation like this, wouldn't you report this strange event to someone? At the very least, the equipment should be confiscated for municipal use. I think this is a central flaw in the episode.

Besides this omission, however, "Federal Response" ended on a high (and creepy...) note, as the Homeland Security signal airing on the television gave way to a view of the U.S. Presidential lectern and bald eagle iconography. We were led to expect a speech from El Presidente, but instead the episode ended with the real "Federal Response." To wit, the startling closing image of this Jericho episode involved nuclear missiles heading up from Kansas into the night sky, bound for their targets across the globe. It was a chilling shot, and further evidence that Jericho isn't playing sweet and light with its apocalyptic premise.

I'm still enjoying this program a great deal. It doesn't yet feel like it's deliberately holding information back from viewers as some kind of stalling technique (and that's how Lost feels to me now...sorry), but I would like to see Jake a little more fallible in terms of his heroism. The show has been renewed for a full season, and I think that's great. After the diffident and goofy (and flag waving...) pilot, the series has become one of the highlights of this very strong new season.

TV REVIEW: Jericho: "Fallout"

Readers here on the blog know that I was "iffy" about the new CBS drama Jericho after the premiere episode last Wednesday. I found the debut installment preachy, soap-opera-ish and truth be told, a little dull given the premise (a Kansas town survives a wide-ranging nuclear attack on America). It was too much melodrama and too little action/sci-fi for my taste.

Well, after "Fallout," the series' second episode, many of my complaints have not only been addressed, but rectified. In it's sophomore sortie, Jericho is commendably leaner and meaner. The program is shorn of the patriotic pabulum that was formerly at center stage, and this episode focuses instead on a batch of impending crises facing the burg. Accordingly, the hour is like a pressure cooker, and I found myself thoroughly involved in the play. Ah...I love it when a series comes together...

In "Fallout" a storm cloud of radioactive rain is bearing down on Jericho (population: 5,000) and the citizenry is forced to evacuate to two bomb shelters that were long ago forgotten (and not in very good shape.) Meanwhile, the Mayor has some kind of collapse (a heart attack?) And, making matters even more difficult, some of the population doesn't want to leave the local saloon, run by the sexy bartender Mary. Therefore, the deputy mayor, Eric (Kenneth Mitchell) paints the recalcitrant patrons a not-so-pretty picture of what they face if they don't evacuate: "You're going to get radiation poisoning. Your hair is going to fall out in chunks...your skin will blister...your organs will start to fail..."

After this description, the denizens re-consider their position and decide to take shelter...

Meanwhile, self-confessed "screw-up" Jake (Skeet Ulrich) is proving to be too much the hero too soon, at least for my taste. In this episode, he (almost...) fixes the shelter's ventilation system, safely gets much of the population into a nearby mine for safety, and then seals the group in the mine (and away from the rain...) by correctly and safely deploying dynamite charges. Who is this guy, MacGyver? And then, in the last few minutes, Jake braves the storm and rescues Emily Sullivan (Ashley Scott) - on a distant farm, no less - from two murderous prison escapees masquerading as cops. And this kid is the prodigal son? I don't think so...

The other sub-plot on Jericho this week involves Emily dealing with those ex-con wolves in sheep's clothing. There are a few Hollywood-style conceits here. For instance, everyone who needs to know it, conveniently understands sign language. And, of course, the final battle between spunky Emily and the prison escapees comes down to an old-fashioned (and cliched) gun-fight in which the heroes win without getting a scratch on them. That made me groan, but heck, this is still TV, right? I gotta give Jericho it's due for creating an involving and interesting hour.

One of the best and most chilling aspects of "Fallout" involved the coda. Robert Hawkins (Lennie James) - my favorite character on the series so far - has de-coded a Morse Code message from a ham radio transmission. Anyway, he's penned a list from his translation, and while sitting in front of a map of the United States, Hawkins begins marking (with stick pins), the location of nuclear strikes. Bombs have struck Chicago, Philadelphia, San Diego, and on and on. After a few seconds, the camera stops highlighting the names of the cities destroyed and instead focuses on Robert's hand returning again and again - over and over - to the bin of stick pins. The message is plain: this has been a devastating and huge attack. At this point, however, we don't know who the attackers are...

If next week's installment of Jericho is this good - this dark and this serious-minded, the series has at least one new fan: me!

TV REVIEW: Jericho: "Pilot"

Last night, CBS unfurled the debut installment of the post-nuclear saga, Jericho -- a production many critics have already dismissed as CBS's own version of Lost. In other words, a little sci-fi...a lot of soap opera. I am always reluctant to judge a series by its pilot, but so far the series fits that stereotype. Jericho centers on a "what if" post-apocalyptic premise, and then descends into full-blown family melodrama and character soap opera interactions.

Jericho begins with enigmatic young Jake (Skeet Ulrich) - a self-confessed "screw up" - driving home to Jericho, Kansas for the first time in five years. There, he fights old battles with his self-righteous, politician Dad (Gerald McRaney) over the inheritance left by his dead grandfather. Jake also meets up with an old girlfriend, played by Birds of Prey star Ashley Scott, and learns that she's engaged to a banker. During his brief visit, Jake tells each old friend he encounters a different story about where he's been during the last five years. In the army; in the Navy; at military school; playing minor league baseball. The truth is never given, and that's a nice touch...and gives the story writers somewhere to go with the character.

Jake leaves Jericho soon after his arrival, but while he's driving away, Denver gets nuked! There's a beautiful shot in of this frightening incident occurring. The camera swoops up over a house's roof while a little boy is playing hide-and-seek there. The camera looms over the structure and in the distance, a mushroom cloud burns and expands...a deadly flower blooming on the horizon. The rest of the episode involves the town's response to the nuclear attack, and the audience learns from young Dale Turner that Atlanta has also been hit. He knows because his answering machine recorded a message from his Mom the moment of the impact; while she's talking, the bomb strikes.

Why the attack? Jericho tells us precious little; wisely leaving the politics vague. Early on, there's a story on the radio about the rise of "global violence" and the President's controversial response to it. Later, the attack seems timed right as the President (off-screen) is about to deliver an address to both houses of Congress. After the bombs hit, of course, it's unlikely anyone will ever know the exact reasons for the deadly attack. Phones, radios and television are all scrambled.

The last half of Jericho's pilot sees Jake rescuing a busload full of school kids on the highway. In one pretty harrowing scene for television, he performs an emergency tracheotomy on a little girl whose windpipe has been crushed in the crash. Meanwhile, back in town, the denizens start to panic at a local gas station, until the Mayor, Jake's Dad, delivers an inspirational, emotional, uplifting - and impromptu - speech. "Are we going to use our imagination to solve problems or cause them?" He asks pertinently. Then, gilding the lily a bit, he emotionally implores the town folk: "Don't you break my heart again..."

Talk about cheesy. And that's the main problem with Jericho, at least at this early stage. It boasts an engaging and unique premise, but so far the writers don't seem to know what to do with it. The writing vacillates between absolutely no sentimentality (in moments like the impromptu throat-slitting; and the re-playing of the answering machine death of Dale's Mom) and total TV bullshit, as in the inspiring speech that quells a panic. Rod Serling wrote "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" for The Twilight Zone a long time ago, and yet it's still a more trenchant comment on panic in suburbia than Jericho proves to be...and it features more authentic emotion too. If it were up to me, I'd let the sentimental, inspirational speechifying lapse and concentrate more on the desperate plight of the characters.

For instance, there's one character in Jericho who seems to understand what's really happening, Robert Hawkins, and I really like him. He's apparently the town's only black man...and also only citizen with a lick of sense. He rightly understands how to stop the panic; rightly recommends the sheriff spray paint over the name "Jericho" on his car (lest angry survivors descend on the town...) and it looks like next week he's wise to the radiation and fall-out that may be headed towards town. Maybe this guy should be mayor. If there's a nuclear attack, I want a problem solver, not a speech-maker in charge.

I don't want to dismiss Jericho out of hand at such an early juncture. The premise is interesting enough to keep me watching for at least five weeks; and as ever, I'm grateful the cast isn't comprised entirely of WB adolescent clothes horses (Supernatural, anybody?). But the writing needs to be a whole lot smoother, smarter and more engaging if we're expected to visit the burg of Jericho every week.

Because, let's face it, Jericho is tapping into a weird brand of wish-fulfillment in its premise. All TV is wish-fulfillment to some degree, but here Jericho plays subtly on our Zeitgeisst; the desire of many Americans to opt-out of the contemporary life-style; of global politics; of a modern life of isolation and alienation rather than community; of the 60-hour-a-week rat-race; of a technology-driven culture where you can be contacted at any time by work via cell phones, e-mails etc. For there to be a renewal of small towns in America, Jericho seems to suggest, the rest of the country's got to go. To renew an America that "can do," the America that can't save its own cities (like New Orleans) has to burn. That concept underlies this series, and as Jericho continues, I expect the town will serve as a microcosm for what's right and what's wrong in our culture today. If the series goes into this line of thinking - dwelling on resources; security, and so on - it could prove one of the most powerful science fiction dramas to come down the pike in a long time. If instead, the series is content to wave the flag and evidence rah-rah patriotism during uplifting speeches, it's just going to be another missed opportunity. And, after a nuclear attack on America, I'm not going to be satisfied with a depiction of small-town family politics every week. If I want a soap opera, I'll watch Grey's Anatomy or Desperate Housewives...