I’m trying to confirm the “Season” vs “Series” finale issue. We all know they printed “Season” on the screen. I’m just hoping (frankly, for CBS’ sake as much as my own) that it wasn’t a mistake, because CBS is gonna be in a whole heap of trouble with the fans if they come out with, “Ooops! Sorry! We meant to put the teaser that said ‘Series finale,’ but Oscar in the mailroom misplaced the memo.”

The radio silence is deafening, though. It would be cool if that’s how they decided to announce the decision, but then follow it up with an “official” announcement on the boards or the site or something.

That’s all I’m going to say on that issue, though, because we can all drive ourselves crazy over Jericho’s future, or we can discuss the present. Right here, right now, I choose the latter.

Seeing as I covered a lot of bases during last night’s live thoughts, I’m going to focus on something that might not be the most popular topic right now: Maj. Beck.

I still have faith in the major. That doesn’t mean that I’m not ticked off at him, but he is in a tough spot.

Let’s look at things from his perspective for a moment. Bear with me.

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In a video interview with TVGuide.com’s Matt Mitovich, our boy Skeet Ulrich talks about tomorrow’s episode, “Sedition” and Jericho’s uncertain future.

While he doesn’t get too specific, he does share this, about the fallout for Jake Green because of Goetz’s murder:

There are dire ramifications, and in this episode — I don’t want to give any of it away — you see what Beck has in store for him and his will, really, to stick to his own and to make sure his town doesn’t suffer any more.

Skeet also talks about the season vs series finale: One major scene was changed to differentiate between the two, but several other scenes also had minor tweaks to properly lead up to the big change.

But, really, it’s not as if you need an excuse to watch a video of Skeet (ahem, Erika).

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Anyone who knows Clarke Ingram knows that he’s a huge Heather Lisinski/Sprague Grayden fan. But, first and foremost, Clarke’s a Jericho fan. He had the good fortune to be on the set for the filming of episode 5, “Termination for Cause,” and he graciously agreed to recap that episode for us.

Enjoy:

Thanks to Amy for letting me blog here this week. This is as much of an opinion piece as a recap, as I had a unique perspective: Last September, I spent several days on the set watching this episode being filmed. To see the pieces assembled into a final product is fascinating (and an incredible amount of work). So here’s my view of “Jericho” episode 2.5, the first of the “final three” for this second season.

“Termination for Cause” opens in the aftermath of the tragic events at the Richmond ranch at the hands of Ravenwood leader John Goetz (D.B. Sweeney). Bonnie (Shoshannah Stern) is dead, Stanley’s fiancée Mimi (Alicia Coppola) is wounded, and Stanley (Brad Beyer) has seen his life changed forever. Despite concern from Dr. Kenchy (Aasif Mandvi), it’s clear in fairly short order that Mimi will survive.

Jericho commandant Major Beck (Esai Morales) is conveniently moved out of the way early in the show, dealing with a crisis in nearby New Bern, and giving strict instructions to Jake: “Goetz is off-limits. No threats, no retribution, no exceptions. Do you understand?”

Does anyone doubt that Jake would have trouble following those instructions?

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SPOILER ALERT: You know the drill. Don’t read if you didn’t watch, etc. 

How on earth have they managed to pack so much into every freakin’ episode of Jericho this season?

First off, good riddance to bad rubbish in Goetz’s death. One thing that puzzled me, though, was why the Ravenwood/J&R folks didn’t take Goetz’s pistol from him when they took the other weapons. I guess there wouldn’t have been a shootout otherwise. But still, it was weird, I thought.

I wanted to jump up and kiss Trish when she got out of that truck with the other Ravenwood folks. Didn’t you think at first that they were the reinforcements that Goetz had called in? Heck, maybe they were, but turned into the “get rid of Goetz” patrol once the J&R higher ups found out the truth.

Loved Jake’s commentary on that situation: Killing people is OK, but just don’t steal J&R’s money. Then you’re in trouble.

I don’t blame Trish at all for Bonnie’s death. She did what she was supposed to do, and I don’t think she for a minute imagined that it was Goetz who was embezzling. Until he reacted the way he did, that is.

She more than made up for it by rebuilding the info in the system and sending it to the J&R honcho. She wins my award for heroine of the night. She really did care about Bonnie. I think she’ll only become an even more important friend to Jericho in the last two episodes. I hope we have her around for Season 3. Read more of this entry »

SPOILER ALERT, blah, blah, blah. Don’t read if you didn’t watch. Got it?

Rule No. 1: Don’t mess with Hawkins.

Best line of the episode (OK, besides Trish telling Goetz that he’s fired): “They’ve got three less than they had before,” Hawkins’ way of telling Jake that he’d taken out some of the Ravenwood men.

What’s going on Goetz? I’ll tell you what’s going on — Rob Hawkins has arrived. Rule No. 2: Don’t mess with Hawkins.

Look, I know that Fred felt trapped. But c’mon. He’s a bastard. He should have fessed up to Jake; Jake could have helped him.

Aww, Bill, Jimmy’s not chubby; he’s just big-boned.

Goetz hanging there at the end? Look, I’m not a violent person, but that was awesome. Totally deserved.

New Bern wants Heather dead? Not good. Russell had one thing right: Next time it wouldn’t be Russell.

Look. Constantino was a bad man. But he was pushed into it by the devastation Ravenwood wrought on New Bern. If Ravenwood had never pillaged New Bern, Constantino and Johnston probably could have worked together easily. Now? Bad times.

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So, terocious threw down the gauntlet and I’m just the kind of girl who’s a gauntlet picker-upper, so to get us all in the mood for tonight’s episode of Jericho, “Termination for Cause,” (not that we need to be “gotten in the mood for Jericho, but whatever) I figured I’d throw this out for debate:

Who is John Smith?

Kystorms, in her guest recap last week, posited that Beck is John Smith.

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.

Delana, in the comments (third one), supposes Beck is too young to be Smith. This report was written in 1993, which means the research for it would have been done in the late ‘80s. And then there’s this:

Also, the report was made by J&R and if John Smith helped write it he must have been a J&R employee at the time. Beck was in the army, not with J&R unless something else is coming forward later.

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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. Read more of this entry »

Wow.

I’m still a little stunned by Bonnie’s death, not the least of which because she went out like a total badass shotgun-toting mama.

Goetz killing her gave a special poignancy, however, to the scene last episode where Stanley and Bonnie are talking on the porch about how she survived the crash that killed their parents all those years ago. She survived a horrific car crash. She survived nuclear armageddon and its aftermath. But she couldn’t survive Ravenwood. And she did it to protect Mimi, a woman who a mere few months earlier she couldn’t stand.

Rest in peace, Bonnie Richmond.

I’m going to organize the rest of this discussion according to character, starting with the most natural connection to our beloved, murdered heroine.

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