Jericho – “Condor”

“Condor”

February 19th, 2008

I’ve got a busy week ahead, but I wanted to leave some thoughts regarding tonight’s second episode of Jericho’s second season. If I had to summarize the reasons I’ve heard from fans for enjoying the series, I would say that it was its characters, its heart, and its premise. Now, all three of these are largely in jeopardy at this point, although to varying degrees – we’re getting less characters due to budget cuts, we lost the Green family leadership, and then the entire content of the show has shifted from a society in peril to a society threatened by constitutional rejiggering.

I’m not saying these are all terrible transitions, mind you, and I think that the new premise has, well, promise. However, at the same time, I want to take a look at how the show is handling these three issues, as opposed to a direct review of the episode, to see where the show heads from here.

First and foremost, in terms of characters, the show obviously takes some getting used to – some of the favourites are missing, and many others have been marginalized in a major way. The show is focusing on Jake’s interactions with Maj. Beck and Emily on the one hand, Eric and Gray on another (Although Gray is rotating out to head to the conference), Hawkins and Co. on the random third hand, and then it’s Stanley and Mimi rounding out the group.

Yes, there are some people definitely missing in this environment, but I really feel like it’s a good transition in the end – the show was occasionally spread too thin, and I think there’s plenty of potential within these characters to investigate certain issues. While the variety of characters is shifting, the quality of their portrayal seems strong, and I’m connecting with these characters in ways different than before.

And yet, I think there is some concern over the question of heart. There is no question that it was in the pairing of Johnston and Gail that gave the show its heart – I never REALLY connected with Emily and Jake, or Jake and Heather, so their pairing gave the show a nice feeling of warmth. However, with one dead and the other absent, that level of heart was in peril.

To an extent, I think that’s why we’ve received so much Stanley and Mimi. The two actors are charming, they’re a new love, and kind of represent a microcosm of the entire “fresh start” mentality facing Jericho. To an extent, it’s a fitting transition: from the couple of the old Jericho breaking down, while the new couple rising with the start of a new Jericho as well. It’s returned to a sense of heart, anyways, and I kind of like it – my concern, of course, is that if they transition away from them I don’t think Jake and Emily can hold the title if you will.

In terms of premise, I think that this episode was to be honest a tiny bit bland. I like where they’re going with Hawkins, but other than his great control room asskicking I felt like we’ve seen him do this all before. Also, I think that the concerns over textbooks and constitutions are all a little bit low stakes in comparison to the broad government conspiracy overshadowing the series. When people should be concerned with what happened to America, for the plot to center on manipulative textbooks seems egregious.

I don’t mean to say that it is bad, but rather the same complaint I often throw at Harry Potter books (Stick with me here): in the end, I feel like other stories might be more interesting. Considering that Jericho’s storyline has now been broadened to include the entire country, I think that Jericho isn’t quite the microcosm it could be. The President’s visit still seemed a bit too local, and I feel like we’re missing the Cheyenne storyline that was apparently planned before the short season/budget cuts went down.

It just seems like what happens in Jericho isn’t unique anymore: it’s happening in every town, every community, every environment. And while these characters obviously hold value, and the heart is still there, as someone who perhaps doesn’t have the same connection to the characters I really hope that we get a bit of the bigger picture. In the meantime, I’m definitely hoping that thing get a bit more high stakes in Jericho.

I’m headed for surgery tomorrow morning, but if I’m up for it I might pop in with some thoughts on ratings and their role in Jericho’s second season.