Brooklynite Erika/kricka first recapped for us last summer on “One if By Land.” Then, she went on to create an awesome set of “motivators” to get folks pumped for Season 2. Here’s a link to my favorite 10 11 and I also used a bunch more to illustrate the Episode 2, “Condor” recap.

Despite a bout with the plague this week, she came through this this fantastic recap of Episode 3, “Jennings & Rall.” So, visit Jericho Monster this afternoon for the Blackjack Fairgrounds blog carnival, and read on for kricka’s thoughts on Tuesday’s ep:

Okay, about eight bajillion things happened in this episode, so this one was really hard! And really long!

It is the episode of old friends and enemies returning to do cool and terrible things, while our heroes fight the incoming Hudson River virus, Ravenwood, Jennings & Rall and the evil overlords of Cheyenne.

First off is Dale, the little boy who is looking more like a man this season, being stopped in Missouri (Missoura?) by what is obviously an Army roadblock. While trying to weasel his way past these guys with his station wagon and big truck of goods, we see a Humvee full of gas-masked soldiers heading down the road, creeping out us, Dale and the composer of this show, if the music is anything to go by. [Ed note: OK, Erika’s already cracked me up.]

Back in Kansas, we see our temporary Mayor Green (previously Stupid Ol’ Eric), Sheriff Green (previously SuperSkeet) and Major Beck walking down the street heading straight for our second returning character of the night, the Eeee-vil Goetz. Once Jake gets an eyeful of Goetz he instinctively reaches for his sidearm while attempting to lunge for Goetz, with only Major Beck between them, and Mayor Eric throwing Goetz the evil eye for good measure (you get ‘im Eric!). Beck does his best to calm down Jake, and then Goetz pulls Jake over for another one of the endless heart-to-hearts that Jake receives this season. Only Goetz gets (heh) all corporate smarmy on Jake, and quietly threatens Jake with his Iraq file, calling the kettle black by trying to guilt Jake about what he did in Saffa. Huh, Goetz, ’cause what Jake did is totally worse than what you did in Rogue River or New Bern, right? Creepiest guy in a golf shirt ever.

Jimmy is out of the hospital! And immediately spills the beans about Sarah Mason, sending Darcy in a panic off to the Green hunting cabin, and forcing Hawkins to throw himself on the grenade, even though Hawkins is so awesome that even a grenade can not kill him! So Hawkins drops the FBI badge on Beck’s desk and spends a good part of this episode playing Beck like the sexy, gorgeous violin that he is, one pretty note at a time, until … Well, let’s get back to that later.

Jake finally tells Eric what happened to him in Iraq, and why Jennings & Rall is the evil-est of all evils. The way these two brothers are finally working together this season would make Johnston proud, I tell ya.

Meanwhile, Dale gets back to town, and Emily, still with the stupid blond ringlets (please, let this woman get rid of the extensions!!), is told all about how the virus has jumped the blue line, and I wonder, why is she so suprised about this? Does Jake not confide in her with the pillow talk at night? Maybe Jake thinks she’s as useless as I do? Eh, probably just the writers having a hard time pinning her down now that all the angsty relationship stuff is over, but really, Jake should have told her what he found out from the reporter.

We get our first Hawkins/Jake scene in the Sheriff’s office, and they are all whispery and information heavy and they obviously love each other, I mean, look at the gorgeous lighting and the furtive glances … I love these two.

Once again, Dale gets screwed, only this time it’s by Goetz and his corporate minions who come into Gracie’s Market and take a good chunk of what Dale has brought back from his travels, including the black market Hudson Virus vaccine,
leading our heroes to convene in the back of the market, on the radio, trying to come to terms with the virus and the moves of J&R. They (Emily, Heather, Jake, Eric and Dale) are not happy. Eric decides to continue shedding his stupid reputation and heads over to J&R to try and find an ally, while Jake sends Emily over to the hospital to try and enlist the help of Kenchy. Wait! Did he say Kenchy? You mean he hasn’t high-tailed it out of Jericho back to Vegas yet? … Awesome.

I would like to pause for a moment and give major props to Carol Barbee & Co. for their continuity brilliance. A show this complex is hard to keep a tether on, and I think they have done a great job, for the most part, holding it all together. They must have one of those conspiracy walls like Charlie Crews does over on that show Life (which is also quite awesome).

Anyway, Emily gets Kenchy in on the vaccinate-the-town scheme (Emily doesn’t know what herd immunity is? She frakkin’ grew up in a farm town … oh, Emily), while Eric finds out he might have an ally in Trish over at the creepiest new building in Jericho. While Jake and Hawkins prove once again that they are both sneaky buggers, sharing their plans right under Jimmy’s finger-printin’ nose, and if these two don’t hug soon, I don’t know what I will do with myself! [Ed note: Whoa, Erika. Pace yourself.]

Next may be my favorite scene in the episode. Jake and Dale, the two skinniest boys in town apparently, have a conversation about robbing J&R. Only Jake never tells Dale to do it. He just guides Dale through J&R protocols in a quiet and well lit moment, and leaves Dale with the dirty work. And really, you know Dale just loves this, ’cause he is just a little thief at heart, right?

Hawkins is once again talking to Beck, and we actually see Beck start to doubt Cheyenne. And once he gets the Giant Talking Head of Doom on his flat-screen to deny everything Hawkins has said about Sarah, we know he is in! And when Beck drops the tidbit that he knows Sarah has the bomb, I think he is not only seeing if Hawkins knows what he knows, but to see if that info is true. Of course, Hawkins is way too cool to let Beck think anything else. Besides, Hawkins is already thinking about one hundred steps ahead of everyone in the room, and the secret coded message he pinched from Beck’s fax machine is burning a hole in his pocket.

Back in the warehouse, Dale and his non-evil minions arrive with the pilfered vaccine. While Emily helps divide the doses up, Jake heads out to find Kenchy, who is late and, as we know, being strong-armed by Goetz. I love that we get both of these characters back in the same episode, since we were introduced to both of them in the same episode back in season one. Nice!

Unfortunately, Kenchy is still a huge mess, and he is no match for Goetz and his evil golf shirt, and he spills the beans right before Jake arrives to save him. But that doesn’t matter! Because SuperSkeet reemerges and makes it back to the warehouse before Goetz and his minions arrive, sends off Emily, Dale, et al with the vaccine, and pulls out that sidearm he so desperately wanted to use back in the first act of the show. Jake points and turns all over the warehouse looking for Goetz, until they end up gun to gun, each with the itchiest of trigger fingers.

But before either has a chance to shoot the other, one of the evil minions gets a call from the J&R Head Cheese telling them that the vaccines aren’t stolen after all! Hey, imagine that Goetz, your chance to shoot Jake has been thwarted once again! Hooray!

Kenchy insists on Jake being inoculated … awwww. Everybody loves Jake! And while the rest of the town lines up for their shots, we see Trish shred the evidence about the vaccines, letting us know that she is the non-evil part of the evil J&R.

And in the hunting cabin, Hawkins awesomely decodes the fax by pulling a phone number while telling us that’s the super-duper secret way him and his team communicate with each other. Right before he pushes the send button on his phone, we see him have about five thousand different thoughts (awesome), and we hear, “You found my message in a bottle,” he knows who Hawkins is, he knows what Hawkins is trying to do, and he wants to help … ooooooooh, and AWESOME.

Also in this episode, Heather sweetly and quietly saves a whole other frakkin’ town by being her lovely self with Beck, who lets us in on how sweet and lovely he is while acknowledging that he helped save that town. Bonnie decides to leave the sweetest family on TV ever and head on out to Cheyenne. To which I say, NOOOOoooooo, Bonnie! Don’t go!!!!! I am really worried about this, and I swear to God, if anything happens to that girl, this gal will be livid.

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Once again, Erika has proven she’s the funniest girl in the room.