So, this week brings us the last of my uber-recaps. Just the first three episodes were on the initial screener from CBS, and I’m sorta relieved. First off, I look forward to being able to talk about the episodes with other fans right away, not weeks after I first see them. Secondly, these take a lot of time to write up!!!

OK, so let’s get started. Just a quick reminder: Erika/kricka’s doing this week’s recap, coming Friday, and Friday also will bring us the third Blackjack Fairgrounds Jericho blog carnival. To submit articles, click here, for info on what the carnival is, click here. Jane over at Jericho Monster has offered to host this week’s carnival, which will post sometime after 1 p.m. on Friday. Anyone else interested in hosting in a future week is welcome to do so, just send me an e-mail.

Without further ado, here’s the “Jennings & Rall” recap.

The “previously on” recap reminds us of our first encounters with Ravenwood, in Rogue River and then Crossroads and then reminds us that Ravenwood’s in charge in Jericho now. Remember, Ravenwood is really the reason New Bern and Jericho went to war; when Jericho managed to repulse Ravenwood, the mercenaries went on to ravage New Bern. The New Bernians believed Jericho pointed the mercs in that direction.

WE BEGIN:

We see a station wagon and a box truck driving down a dusty road, stopping at an Army checkpoint with soldiers and Humvees. This is Indian Springs, Missouri.

Dale makes his first appearance of the season as he steps out of the station wagon to find out what’s going on. Note: Soldiers’ uniforms still say “US Army.” What? The Allied States of America has had time to print new textbooks, but not issue new uniforms?

The road’s closed, the soldiers tell Dale. Doesn’t matter that the trading post he’s looking for is just over the ridge. He has to go back two miles, take a detour, maybe he’ll be able to get through.

Just then, another Humvee drives up, the soldier waves it through. The soldiers inside are wearing gas masks and other protective gear.

“What the hell’s going on up there?” Dale asks. The soldier tells him to get back in his car, he’s not getting through.

Cut to Beck, Eric and Jake walking in Main Street in Jericho. Beck’s explaining that a contractor has been sent to town and is going to take over most of his administrative duties. He wants to give them a heads up.

Jake sees why; it’s Goetz and he almost pulls his gun out. Beck stops him. Beck knows there’s bad blood between them. Jake rants about Rogue River and New Bern, all the people whose deaths Goetz is responsible for. Goetz asks for a word with Jake.

This is a brand-new building and this, this is my new office. In that office is a desk. And on that desk is a folder — the Jennings & Rall corporate dossier for Jake Green. Let me try to put it in perspective for you, Jake. You had a very interesting period of employment with Jennings & Rall. Especially Saffa, Iraq. Remember Saffa? You’ve heard stories about me, you think you know who I am. I wonder what the people of Saffa must think about you.

Jake backs off. Once upon a time in Season 1’s “Heart of Winter,” Jake told Johnston about how he killed a young girl once while he was in Iraq. We knew Jake worked for J&R and had a connection to Ravenwood. It seems we may finally learn the truth about all that.

JIMMY! He’s back at work at the sheriff’s office.

He jokes around a bit, thanking all for visiting him at the hospital, but “Let it be known that I was heavily sedated. Sorry for anything I might have said.”

Jimmy understands why Jake was made sheriff, but he does seem to feel a little weird about it. But then he sees the Sarah Mason terror suspect poster. Darcy sees Jimmy’s reaction and knows it’s only a matter of time.

She heads to the hunting cabin and tells Hawkins that Jimmy told Beck that Sarah was connected to him, but still thinks he’s FBI and so didn’t spill much.

Darcy is totally freaked for a moment. “We’ve gotta get the kids! We’ve got to go now.”

But Hawkins knows that if they run now, they won’t get far. He has to figure out how to work this.

Cut to Beck’s office. Hawkins strolls in.

I’m Robert Hawkins. I’m with the FBI. [Puts his badge on Beck’s desk.] I really don’t mean to start off on the wrong foot, but you’re killing my investigation.

OK, what does the Morse code say???

Back to the action. Hawkins is spinning a tale. He’s been undercover on the case for months, but with Sarah’s mug plastered all of the place, it could ruin his work. “It’s not like a lost cat we’re looking for here.”

Hawkins pre-emptively explains to Beck that he won’t find any record of him in the FBI database out of Cheyenne, and that’s because he hasn’t registered with Cheyenne and probably won’t. His bosses are in Columbus. Beck explains that on this side of the Mississippi, that’s tantamount to treason.

But Hawkins says he’s more interested in catching a terrorist than playing politics, offers his help. Beck considers; gives Hawkins back his badge (didn’t you expect him to drop it, to test the weight, like Hawkins showed Jimmy in Season 1?) and tells him Darcy can’t work in his office anymore. Hawkins understands and asks Beck to share info.

Cut to Eric and Jake. Eric doesn’t understand why Goetz seems like he’s “completely above the law.”

Jake explains that Ravenwood is basically J&R’s “own private army” and both J&R and Ravenwood work by their own set of rules. How does he know this? Jake explains how he worked for J&R hauling cargo overseas. One day in Iraq, his convoy was ambushed. They had no rules of engagement, but they did have guns. So they started shooting. Followed the gunmen into a village. At the end of the firefight, six gunmen were dead and four bystanders. One was a 12-year-old girl.

There were no repercussions. The Army had no authority over us. The company wanted it quiet. So it was. Do you understand? Do you understand who we’re dealing with? These guys, they don’t answer to anybody.

That, Jake fears, is exactly how it will be now.

Cut to Gracie Leigh’s store. Emily sees that Dale’s back in town. He’s been all over, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska. He got all sorts of supplies. Even vaccine for the Hudson River virus. Emily wonders why, he tells her about the quarrantined trading post. That was 100 miles west of the Mississippi, even though the powers that be have declared the virus had not yet jumped the Blue Line.

Dale’s grown up in the past few months. He’s more mature.

Cut to Beck’s office. Jake sees Hawkins come out of Beck’s office. They’re talking under their breath, kind of over their shoulders. I love my two boys, but tell me how no one would notice them talking to one another?

Hawkins explains to Jake that he told Beck he was FBI. He’s completely calm. Jake wonders if this is the best course of action. Hawkins replies, “I’m not sure I’ve got an alternative. I can’t run. The only way out of this thing is through it.” He tells Jake that he’s trying to sort out if Beck is willing to hear the truth or if he just blindly takes orders. If it’s the latter, “the nothing I have to say will matter.” And if Valente finds out Hawkins is alive …

Trish and Bonnie are talking in sign language. Trish invites Bonnie to come back to Cheyenne with her; it used to be a city of about 60,000, now close to 800,000 people live there and lots of them are young. “It’s a different world.” Bonnie looks interested.Cut to the grocery. Dale’s arguing that the Ravenwood folks can’t just take stuff that he paid for. Goetz comments that unregistered pharmaceuticals could be dangerous. If Jericho needs meds, J&R will issue a safe supply.

Emily tries to calm Dale, telling him they left most of his stuff, but Dale says it’s not how much Ravenwood took, it’s what. The Hudson River virus vaccine.

HEATHER! Yay. She’s on the radio (what, she’s the only person who can operate a radio in Jericho? Oh, wait, she probably is, other than Hawkins.), trying to get a handle on how widespread the HRV actually is and what the risk is of the black-market vaccine being dangerous. The answer to the latter is: almost nill.

A voice breaks through the static, from Fall River, Missouri. A woman says they’ve been hit hard and at the hospital they’ve been working around the clock for about a week. They’re already two nurses down. The virus is moving really fast, it first hit 10 days ago.

Static interrupts the connection briefly. How many people have died?

220, in just a week.

Eric is going to J&R, see if he can get Goetz transferred. Jake tells Emily to get Kenchy at the hospital and figure out how to inoculate as many people as possible.

“That … that’s not going to happen here,” Jake says, channeling Johnston.

Cut to Beck’s office.

Hawkins, Beck and Jimmy are discussing the guy found outside the city limits, neck snapped clean. Hawkins points out that must be Sarah Mason; too professional a job. Jimmy goes to run the vic’s prints and Hawkins asks him to pull a set off a pistol (sorry, handgun? I have to admit I don’t really know the difference) magazine. Beck wants to know whose gun that was (but only asks after Jimmy’s already walked away), and Hawkins tells him it was Sarah Mason’s.

Hawkins is telling Jake that Beck is conflicted. “There’s still a part of him that’s not fully committed to Cheyenne.” He insists Jake cannot lose his badge. With Darcy out, Jake is Hawkins’ only eyes and ears in the PD and in order to get done what they need to get done, he needs Jake there.

Jimmy pulled the prints poorly; Hawkins gives him a perfect set. I absolutely love Jimmy, but he’s become a little goofier.

Cut to the hospital, Emily’s trying to talk Kenchy into helping. But just the thought of going against Goetz is far too disturbing to him. He finally agrees to tell Emily what she needs to know, but he won’t do it himself. Basically, they’ve got to get 75 percent to 80 percent of the high-risk population inoculated and they’ve achieved herd immunity. Basically, if you get enough people inoculated, it can’t become an epidemic and the chance of those who aren’t inoculated becoming ill drops.

Emily begs Kenchy one last time to help. They need his expertise. Kenchy, though, has seen Goetz at work. Will he help?

Cut to Eric, sitting at Trish’s desk at J&R. Eric wants Goetz transferred out. Trish says she doesn’t think she can do anything. Eric tells her about Rogue River.

Ah, Trish is not a corporate automoton. She’s a good person. We had a flash of this before. But listen to her answer:

Officially, my answer is that Ravenwood personnel can only do their jobs if they are insulated from these kind of complaints. [Eric is about to get up, ticked off. Emily looks around, lowers her voice.] But unofficially, my answer is the J&R policy that protects Ravenwood is inexcusable. It’s one thing about this company that I don’t understand and I wish I could change, but I can’t. And neither can you. You need to know that for every one of them, there’s one of me. And if it’s any consolation, since the end of the lawlessness, the reports of the Ravenwood violence have almost disappeared.

Eric is not pleased with the answer, but he is kind of surprised. He has one question, though: Has she been inoculated for the HRV? She doesn’t answer. I think we know what that means.

Cut to Beck’s office. Heather comes in, lays a piece of paper on his desk. On it are three words: Fall River, Missouri. She tells him it’s been hit bad by the HRV. He tells her there are isolated outbreaks and they’re all “being handled.”

This is why we love Heather. She doesn’t leave. She’s ticked off.

I don’t care what the official story is or what the news is reporting. People in that town are watching their families die. They need help and they’re not getting it.

Cut to Gracie Leigh’s. Jake and Dale lean against the refridgerated shelves where sodas and other drinks usually are stored in convenience stores. Mountain Dew! Soda of champions! Wonder how much Pepsi paid for that product placement. Anyway, Jake and Dale are talking about what Dale’s been doing out in the big, wide world. Then Jake has something important to tell Dale.

Dale, as sheriff, it’s my job to tell you that even though the vaccines are heading out today on a J&R transport to be destroyed in Cheyenne, it would be a big mistake to hijack that truck. I used to haul supplies for J&R and I know they are very meticulous about inventory. Every barcode is tracked to its destination or all hell breaks loose. The only way someone could do it would be to remove the contents from the boxes without being detected, leave the bar-coded containers in the truck. You know what I’m saying?

Dale is a bit shocked. But he nods.

Cut to J&R. Goetz asks Trish if the vaccine is on the road and wants to know the minute it’s destroyed. She says OK but wonders aloud what the big deal is and if there’s no danger from HRV, why did she and Goetz get vaccinated.
Goetz is ticked. “When there is a threat, I will let you know,” he says. He wants to know why the hospital has ordered so many syringes.

He goes to Kenchy in the hospital and demands that the good doctor tell him what’s up.

Urg. Something tells me Kenchy’s not gonna hold out for long.

Cut to the Richmond farm.

Bonnie, Stanley and Mimi are having dinner. Bonnie tells them about Trish’s suggestion that she go to Cheyenne. She says she’s not leaving, but it’s obvious she wants to go.

Bonnie and Stanley are outside on the veranda. They have a sign-language conversation. He’s telling her that if she really wants to go, she can. They’re not trying to get rid of her, but they don’t want to hold her back, either.

We find out how they came to be on the farm alone, together. He was heading to college when their parents and Bonnie were in a horrible car crash. She was just 4 years old. He gave up his football scholarship to stay with Bonnie.

They’re all weepy. He couldn’t understand how “such a little girl” could “survive such a terrible crash.” He tells her to go to Cheyenne if that’s what she needs to do. She shouldn’t feel guilty about him giving up football and college for her. “You can do anything you want to do,” Stanley says.”You haven’t had the chance to figure out whtat that is yet. Life’s short and I want you to be happy.”

Cut to a warehouse. Jake’s there. Emily’s there. Dale comes in with his guys, carrying the vaccine. They got 12,000 doses, unboxed. They have to get it divided up, loaded onto different trucks to pre-designated locations. Jake is worried. Kenchy is 30 minutes late; where is he? Jake leaves to find him.

Kenchy seems to be holding up under Goetz’s questioning. “You may be wearing civilian clothes,” he tells Goetz. “But you’re anything but civilized.” Goetz recognizes Kenchy from Rogue River. Then he threatens him.

Cut to Beck’s office. Mason’s fingerprints and those of the John Doe with the snapped neck have come back as classified. Beck is going to call someone, but Hawkins stops him. “Don’t you realize you just stepped on a land mine?” Hawkins points out that there are two subjects; both have classified identities. One is dead; it was a professional hit. “You’re not hunting a terrorist,” he tells Beck. “You’re hunting a spook.”

He suggests to Beck that if his bosses find out he’s even remotely suspicious about what’s going on, the best case is that Beck might be removed from the case. Or worse. Beck orders someone to get Valente for him on the teleconference. Hawkins tells him to ask Valente if Sarah Mason ever worked for the government. Beck orders Hawkins out of his office. Before he steps out, he has one more thing to say to Beck:

You just ask him. Because he will either say yes and explain her involvement in your investigation or he will say no. If he says, no, then understand you have just stumbled into a government conspiracy that will stop at nothing to protect itself.

Cut to the hospital, where Jake bursts in on Kenchy and Goetz. Goetz slips past Jake saying, “He’s tougher than he looks.”

Kenchy told Goetz about the vaccines and the warehouse.

Cut to the warehouse.

Dale and Emily are dividing up the vaccine. Emily’s got a gun. Woo-hoo! Jake managed to beat Goetz and his goons back to the warehouse. He gets everyone out of the warehouse, tells them not to wait on him. Don’t make a sound.

Back at the sheriff’s office, Beck has Valente on the telescreen. Valente wants to know what progress has been made. Beck says some, but he’s trying to “make sense of some difficult intel.” Valente basically tells him to cut to the chase, so Beck does. “I’m asking if it’s possible Sarah Mason’s ever been in the employ of the U.S. government.”

Valente doesn’t miss a beat.

No, she hasn’t. You know everything you need to know in order to apprehend this terrorist, major. I’m tired of your delays; I’m tired of your failures. The next time you contact me, I want to hear that Sarah Mason has been located and eliminated. Is that clear?

Hawkins is lurking, nervously, outside of Beck’s office. He happens to see a fax with a series of numbers on it. (Are they the numbers from Lost? Hahahahaha! Sorry. Long night.) He folds it up and puts it in his pocket; Beck comes out and calls him back into his office.

Back at the warehouse, Jake is playing cat and mouse with Goetz and his crew. DALE! Sheesh. He drops one of the soft cases of the vaccine. OK, he manages to get out, with the vaccine. But still.Back at Beck’s office: The major tells Hawkins, “She still has the bomb.” Hawkins says, “I know, I’ll be in touch, major.” They shake hands; Beck and Hawkins are now working together.

Back at the warehouse, they’re still playing cat and mouse.

Jake and Goetz get the drop on one another. Jake tries to fake him out, saying he checked the warehouse and it’s clear. Four others get the drop on Jake, but he keeps his gun trained on Goetz. The Ravenwood man tells Jake to just tell him where the meds are.

A cell phone rings; one of Goetz’s goons picks it up. The vaccines have been located in Cheyenne, all delivered and destroyed. The books are saying the load has been accounted for. Jake has the merest hint of a glimmer of a smile on his face. Goetz is ticked, leaves.Back at the richmond farm.

Bonnie’s going to go to Cheyenne for a week or two, check things out.

Mimi asks her to give her some pointers on how to take care of Stanley. They are all goey and hug. They are family. Totally hokey, but I freakin’ love it.

Cut to somewhere. Kenchy’s giving folks vaccine. He gives it to Jake; he may not be high-risk, but “they’re gonna need you,” Kenchy tells him.

Jake tells Eric that someone on the inside must have changed the disposal facility logs. Eric smiles; he knows who.

Hey — Jake IS growing a mullet.

Cut to Trish at a fax machine. She looks at the report. Yep, she’s the one who “corrected” the amount of vaccine received and destroyed in Cheyenne from 960 doses to 3840 (adding 2880). She shreds the evidence, turns off the light, heads home for the night.

Beck’s office. Heather sticks her head in.

“I got a radio call from Christina in Fall River, Missouri,” she tells Beck. An Army Humvee arrived with vaccine and a medical officer to distribute it. “You put yourself at risk to help those people.” She’s surprised “You’re a military man. Military men follow orders,” she says.

“They also have families,” he points out.

He doesn’t know where, or even if they’re alive. His wife was in Santa Fe when the attacks happened. He hasn’t heard from her, but he hopes she’s alive somewhere.

I have to hope that she’s OK. Until then, I do my job. And I trust that wherever she is, some Army major is looking after her the way I try to look after the people on my charge.

Heather’s truly touched. So am I. Beck is, indeed, a good man. He really doesn’t know where his wife is and that bothers him deeply.

Darcy and Hawkins are in the hunting lodge. Darcy’s seen a fax like the one Hawkins found in Beck’s office before. They came in all the time, she just tossed them.

That’s exactly what was expected. They’re a shot in the dark; a way to get in touch as a last resort. If there was no other way to reach each other, this was the way. A phone number is embedded in the numbers. We see 8710416… we don’t get to see the final numbers.

It’s not Chavez; he’d just call. Could be Chung. Hawkins dials the number, but stops before he finishes. He’s nervous! I’ve never seen Hawkins really sweat before. It’s kinda cute. He hits the last number and send.

One ring. Two rings.

“You found my message in a bottle,” the voice on the other end says.

Hawkins doesn’t recognizes the man’s voice.

I can’t talk now, but I know who you are. I know what you’re trying to do and I want to help.

Hawkins hangs up.

Cut to credits.

Wow.

So who is this mysterious man? Is he really good or is he Valente or one of Valente’s minions trying to trick Hawkins into giving up the info on the nuke. Does the person at the other end actually know it’s Hawkins or is he trying to trick him? What? Why? How? When? Where? Who?

OK, besides that, we know that there are good folks working for J&R and if things get too bad, the good guys could get plenty of internal help. We know that Beck is a military man and basically follows orders, but he’s a good military man and he’s not going to allow the military to be used for evil purposes. Not on his watch, at least.

I’m impressed with Dale and his newfound maturity. Hopefully Skylar’s grown up, too. Barbee & Co. promised us that everyone who was around last season, except Johnston, would make at least an appearance this season, so we know we will see her. (Update: I just saw the official press release for episode 4, entitled “Oversight,” and we do indeed see Skylar. Check back in the AM for the full copy of the release.)

Meanwhile, the Big Brother episode immediately preceding our beloved post-apocalyptic drama was Jericho-themed, with the “houseguests” putting “their communication skills to the test for the chance to gain information from the outside world.” They also get some headlines on a tickertape-style machine; one of the headlines gives a clue to the J&R episode.

Photos courtesy of CBS; Jericho motivator by Erika/kricka