Lisa Coltroup/kystorms of JerichoOnCBS last guest blogged for us way back in the day on the rerun of the penultimate episode of Season 1, Coalition of the Willing. As you’ll see in her recapping of “Oversight,” Lisa draws some strong parallels between where we are now and where we were then, emotionally and points out that they both make excellent arguments that Jericho is fighting for its very existence.

OK, enough of my yapping, here’s Lisa’s recap:

Review of Oversight, Episode 4

This week’s episode was the best so far for many reasons, all of which are subjective to the person who is speaking about it. My reasons also are varied, and in watching the episode online again a few times for
this review, I found myself seeing new things about us, the Americans.

First of all, Bonnie. She stepped up to the plate and protected her home, her family. She was raised on a farm, guns are no stranger to her. But it is more than the simple fact that she took a gun in hand to protect her family, it was and is about how each of us, no matter how limited we may seem to ourselves, have that same quality and when push comes to shove, wee will — all of us — stand and deliver.

Bonnie was amazing not only because she protected with out fear, but because her dying gift to the viewers was the message that we all can and will do the same when the time comes. We just needed to have that point made clear in a way we won’t ever forget.

I have no wish to turn this entire post into a eulogy for Bonnie Richmond, because the boards have certainly become the place where she will live on forever. I wish to instead congratulate Shoshannah Stern for an amazing character who would never have been as memorable has she been played by anyone else, and for giving us the best show, period.

Whew, where to start? The LA Times reporter whose title, “Bet you did not see that coming” was so very right. The spoiler photos we all saw had us all guessing as to who would be the one to die, so we were expecting someone to be leaving our Jericho Family, but Bonnie?

Goetz has replaced Phil Constantino as the man to hate the most, that is for sure. Phil was reacting to stresses, Goetz is the stress to react to.

Hawkins gets a new call from our famous unknown, John Smith (more on him at the bottom of this review) who tells Hawkins that he knows all about Project Red Bell, Hawkins’ involvement with the bomb. He tells Hawkins they have “goals in common.” John Smith knows who all the players are, knows about Valente. At this point, Hawkins hangs up. John Smith calls back , and when Hawkins answers he tells John Smith that he does this only on his terms. JS agrees to this, and then tells Hawkins he is one day away from being caught! (keep this point in mind for later)

Dale’s store was shut down until he registered with J&R for a complete investigation of his contents by Goetz and company, err I mean Jennings and Rall.

The meeting at Bailey’s was interesting due to how many townspeople showed up, pretty gutsy if you think you know J&R is bad news. Emily tells the folks that Boston Tea Party, the Revolution, was started with
meetings just like this one they are in now. They are discussing loudly that they need a land route to funnel in supplies, and how Dale has the connections. Stanley is not convinced his farm needs to be involved, because J&R is a week away from giving him his farm back. He tells everyone that it’s not Red Dawn, that they did not need to throw in with ‘criminals,’ which Skylar took exception to. She reminded Stanley that the “criminals” he is referring to were responsible for getting everyone the shot against the Hudson River Virus. Stanley tells them all he is out and leaves Bailey’s.

Jake goes to see Hawkins at the cabin, where Hawkins tells him about the data to prove where the bomb is, the radiation data, has to be gotten out of Beck’s office within 24 hours. When Hawkins leaves, Jake asks where he is going, and Hawkins says he has a house to burn down.

Mimi meanwhile, goes to see Trish to tell her about the discrepancy she found in her accounting ledger. Trish seems to not know about this, and wonders how this could happen. Mimi tells her that she needs to find out who could have had access to the money besides those who are legit. Trish tells her not to worry, that she would take care of it and Mimi leaves, seemingly at ease.

Jake gets to the Sheriff’s office to find out that Beck’s office is being retrofitted for thumbprint access, which only 8 people will have. And the only one Jake can possibly get access to is Heather.

Heather, meanwhile is in Beck’s office talking to him as the briefcase of Aerial Radiation Survey Data arrives. She is discussing the New Bern upswing in curfew violations, which Beck says means they are testing the fence.

Jake has to go back to the cabin to tell Hawkins about the retrofit of Beck’s office, and Hawkins tells Jake he has to adapt to the fast changes in the field. Jake tells him there is only one person they can have gain access, Heather. Hawkins does not like that Jake always wants to bring new people into this, telling Jake that this is not a secret club house, but in the end Hawkins knows he has to accept Heather’s being brought
in on this.

When Jake brings Heather to the Green house to meet Hawkins and hear the story, she is in shock. Hawkins tells her this is about the future of our country.

Back at J&R, Trish is talking to Bonnie when Goetz comes up to them. Trish introduces Bonnie to Goetz, and then she and Goetz go into his office to talk about the missing money.

Trish tells him about how Mimi has a separate set of books that shows the discrepancy and Trish tells Goetz that because they know J&R takes embezzling very seriously she expects him to take this seriously
as well.

Mary tries to get a way into the town without crossing into private lands, and what better way then under the Army’s nose, right through the checkpoints. She has a soldier she is friendly with, Timmy, who agrees
to let her shipment of booze through a checkpoint that night.

Back in Jake’s house, Heather is still trying to digest all she is being told by Hawkins. Jake then tells her about the binder in Beck’s office. She defends Beck as a good man and they say he is but is taking orders from bad people in the Cheyenne government. Heather is not happy when Jake asks her to get the page from the binder, but reluctantly agrees. Now Hawkins has to get Beck out of the office so Heather can get in.

In Beck’s office, Hawkins tells the major about a reported sighting of Sarah Mason in Nebraska by one of his supposed informants who is in a road gang. Beck agrees to take soldiers and head to the farmhouse in Nebraska where she was to have been sighted.

Meanwhile, Stanley and Bonnie are walking across from the J&R offices, when they see Goetz drive up with Dale inside the Hummer because Goetz had been informed by a local, Fred, that Dale was the person who was bringing contraband into Jericho. Dale had been caught but is not being treated like a U.S. citizen, no judge, no trial.

Beck and Hawkins arrive at the still-smoldering farmhouse, where a male body is found badly burned, as well as a relatively unscathed hard drive, and gun shells.

Heather goes into Beck’s office, and finds the binder she was told to look for, finds the page and takes it out. As she is placing the binder back into the shelf, a sergeant comes into the office and asks her what she is doing in the office.

Jake, Eric and the others go to Goetz and demands Dale be released where Goetz tells them he has sent Dale on to Loomer Ridge. They have to act fast to get to Dale before it’s too late. Jake tells Eric to get a hold of Beck, tell him what has happened so he can gain control of Dale. Bill outlines what J&R has done illegally so far, asking what’s next.

Beck arrives back at his office to find that Heather is being held by the sergeant. Beck asks Heather if she was looking at anything other than the New Bern files, she answers, “No,” but the sergeant says he does not
believe this to be true. Beck dismisses him, and tells Heather he hoped that the sergeant’s actions did not color her faith in his office, that he would consider that to be a crime.

As Dale is being transported by the MPs to Loomer Ridge, Jake, Stanley and Bill block the road. Beck gets to the MP who is holding a gun on them just in time and Beck tells him he wants to talk to Jake.

Jake takes the radio phone, and Beck asks him why he should say Dale is a informant for a terror investigation. Jake tells him Dale is just a 16-year-old kid and if Beck does this, Goetz loses his authority over Dale, and that would keep Dale out of prison. Dale is freed into Jake’s custody.

Goetz meanwhile has gone to visit Mimi in her office at J&R about the ledger she has. He tells her he wants to see her ledger, she tells him that in order to be the independent oversight, she needs to be independent.

He then tells her he wants that ledger brought to him and she agrees. When she leaves, you know she knows he is bad news.

Beck gets the data from the hard drive found at the burned farmhouse. All Sarah’s communiques with the “buyer” and — more telling to him — the surveillance on her drive, the video showing Valente and an unknown man (who I believe is Goetz). [Amy note: Oooh, Lisa, interesting. I hadn’t thought about Goetz being directly involved with Valente before the bombs were dropped. Hmmm.]

Beck orders the lieutenant out of the office, and looks at the photo of Valente. He then shows all this intel to Hawkins, and for a few seconds Hawkins looks obvious, at least to me.

Beck tells him he does not believe Hawkins’ story of a informant, that all the info Hawkins has given to him up to now was just too easy.

Hawkins comes back great though, playing it back on Beck’s court and saying it appeared Beck was upset over what he found on the drive, something Beck does not want to believe. Beck then shows Hawkins the video of Valente, and tells Hawkins he knows Valente lied to him about Sarah not working for the government.

Mimi goes home and Bonnie is there, she asks Mimi if something is wrong. Mimi tells her about the money being stolen. Mimi knows Goetz is behind it and he knows she knows. As Mimi is explaining this to Bonnie,
Goetz shows up at the house.

Mimi tells Bonnie they need to hide but Bonnie says she will tell Goetz that Mimi is not around. Goetz recalls meeting Bonnie, and asks for Mimi. Bonnie says she is not home. He and his goons say they are going to look inside (so much for needing a warrant). Mimi runs into the pantry, telling Bonnie to come, but she looks around and Bonnie is not behind her.

Goetz shoots his way inside to find our Bonnie prepared and ready to defend the ranch. Shooting begins, and a shot hits Mimi in the chest. All she hears is gunfire, and then silence. Mimi crawls to the wall and tries to see through a hole, but then passes out never knowing Bonnie was killed. (I hope Bonnie shot Goetz right in his, well you know where.)

Back in the cabin, Hawkins gets another call from John Smith, and John asks Hawkins if the bomb is safe. Hawkins says yes, and asks him why he is helping him. Here is a very important clue, at 40:21 in the show we hear John Smith answer this question, saying “I want the truth to come out, same as you.”

Listen very carefully to his voice and you will tell that it is in fact Beck who is on the phone. Beck is John Smith. Now, this is my opinion, not based on written fact, rather based on the way Beck speaks: the way he exhales on certain words that is very distinguishable. [Amy note: Very interesting, Lisa. I know the voice is extremely recognizable, but I haven’t been able to decide if I recognize the actor’s voice or if I recognize him because he’s on the show. Someone else — I think it was Len Neighbors on the Athens Exchange — believes him to be Xander Berkeley, who played George Mason on 24, among other roles. Hmmm. That would be very interesting if you’re right!]

John smith tells Hawkins the company is behind the attacks, and mentions Project Red Bell (another hint to John Smith’s identity). He tells Hawkins that project is about Hawkins and his teammates in the bomb plots. He then sends Hawkins a report via scan, titled “Continuity of Government Report” dated 1993! Hawkins asks what this is, and John Smith tells him it is a disaster plan commissioned by the government and prepared by none other than Jennings and Rall!

The whole plan laid out on paper, all the details all made by Jennings and Rall. It got out and was implemented by someone, Hawkins asks John Smith how he knows about this, and JS says because he helped write it!

At the Richmond ranch, Jake and Bill show up, Eric is there with an ambulance. Jake walks into the house, sees Mimi on a stretcher and there is poor Stanley, holding Bonnie, dead, in his arms.

Now commences the fight of Jericho’s very existence, the same as referred to by Johnston in “Why We Fight.”

This is why we fight!

Photos courtesy of CBS. RIP, Bonnie Richmond and thank you, Shoshannah Stern.