Wednesday’s Jericho was one of those rare hours of television these days, it seems. So very many questions were answered and pretty much no new ones raised.

Sure, we wonder who Valente really is. But we still know more about the man at the top of the nuke plot than we did last week, when Hawkins had circled a bald guy in the photo. We know he — ostensibly — worked for Homeland Security/CIA. That makes everything ever so much more sinister.

OK, but let’s start at the beginning.

I so love Jimmy, the helpful and talkative deputy who’s far smarter than he appears at first blush. He’s a better cop, I think, than the other deputy who’s sort of in charge now that the Sheriff’s dead. What’s his name? Andy? Whatever. He’s the one who was trying to snipe Roger last week. Though that wouldn’t necessarily have been such a bad thing.

Speaking of Roger, didn’t it seem as if Emily had gotten over him REALLY quickly? Jake’s walking her to school, carrying her book bag? How cute. Hi, my name’s Emily, my fiance survived a plane crash, nuclear blast and a FEMA camp and now has been banished from the town where I live. So now my high school sweetheart can help keep my bed warm. I’m so fickle.

Whatever.

Anyhow, Jimmy’s smart enough to realize that Jake’s the one person in town who can probably get the skinny on Hawkins. Even if Gray were recovered from his injuries, I think Jimmy would have gone to Jake and not the mayor. He ain’t no dummy. His Spidey sense was tingling enough that he knew he had to break into that locked room in Hawkins basement, though that was kinda funny when Jake asked him about that.

We finally found out why Hawkins is so good at manipulating satellites and zeroing in on what he needs/wants to see — he installed them! Just last week I wondered aloud about that.

I really liked the interplay between Jake and Hawkins. Hawkins clearly sees that Jake is more than he appears to be and was pretty sure he could trust him. The fact that Jake was able to surprise him in his own basement — noticing the paper clip in the front door and having, I assume, Jimmy put it back — spoke volumes to him about who and what Jake is and is capable of.

Hawkins’ story was quite interesting and also explained the whole dynamic of his relationship with Darcy. She’d given him a last chance and he went back to the Agency anyhow. He basically disappeared for FOUR YEARS; I’m sure he was not able to have any contact with her whatsoever in that time. So she gave him one more last, last, final chance after the bombs hit and the stuff with Sarah just put her over the top. She’s done. Might that change? Perhaps, but not likely.

Speaking of, I liked Allison’s interchange with both Emily and her mom; it showed that no matter how stoic and strong she pretends to be (and she wants to be like her dad, as he alluded to last week), she is still just a teenager and killing Sarah weighs heavily on her mind. It will take her some time to recover from this. But by dealing with it now, rather than refusing to cope with it, is the best thing for her in the long run.

Anyhow, enough of my armchair psychiatry.

Hawkins truly saw how sharp Jake is when he asked Jake what he would have done if faced with the option of being able to stop all the bombs or go ahead with it now and get 1/3 to 1/2. Jake’s reply of, “I’d have asked myself how much I trusted my partner” was spot-on. In that moment, Hawkins sees Jake truly understands what’s at stake here and how you can’t be too careful in who you trust. I think that was when he realized he had to show Jake the bomb.

Skeet Ulrich did an outstanding acting job, too. The look on his face when he saw the bomb was perfect. Of course Jake is totally stunned to see it. It’s one thing to hear Hawkins’ story; it’s another entirely to see the bomb and realize everything Hawkins has been saying is true. He sees the implication that either higher-ups in the CIA were involved or the terrorist cells were so well established that they were able to infiltrate the CIA. Either alternative is frightening.

I think that somehow the Ravenswood folks were in league with Homeland Security (or, at the very least, officials in the DHS) and this was over defense contracts or getting the “right” people in charge, somehow.

I think there’s no doubt that Jake’s connection with Ravenswood and the job they wanted him to do before his buddy was killed in Hawaii had something to do with the nukes.

Did things go further than Ravenswood/Valente expect or want? Did they not go far enough? Why did Columbus need to be nuked? Oh, and I’m almost somewhat relieved NYC had been on the list of cities to nuke (but the terrorists had been captured before they were able to do their thing), because it just seemed plain old weird — and creepy, to be honest — that it wasn’t.

Next week promises more interesting plot points, with Eric not returning from New Bern, with the showdown we got a glimpse of — was that Eric pointing a gun at Jake? Has he joined the New Bernians? Is he pretending to be on their side so he can find out what they’re really up to? Is New Bern populated by Ravenswood folk?

Here’s hoping we get some more answers.