Jericho – “Oversight”

First off, I want to apologize to everyone for a three-week absence – it was a period where a lot of things were due, and I ended up feeling as if the blog was just too much of a responsibility to keep up while completing everything else. I also apologize for leaving on a note of “I’m going in for surgery” and then disappearing without a word. In retrospect, perhaps not the smartest thing to do – recovery is going fine, and I’ve finally started to catch up on some of the TV I’ve been putting off.

Yes, indeed – not only was I not blogging over my three week break, I wasn’t watching much TV either. Much of this is to do with just being too busy, and also the fact that there were only four shows on that I’ve been watching with any regularity. I stayed up to date on Lost, but just wasn’t in a position to blog about it. Needless to say, however, “The Constant” was one of the best episodes the series has seen, and “The Other Woman” and “Eggtown” were more simple and containing small moments as opposed to large ones. Still, Lost? Awesome. However, I’ve been bored with “American Idol,” and am sadly a whole three episodes behind on Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles, but what I saw up to Episode 6 leaves me hoping for a second season regardless.

But, what I really want to talk about is Jericho, a show that I am really quite sad I wasn’t able to stay caught up on as time has gone on. As some may know, I’ve never been a huge fan of Jericho on a quality basis – it’s never been bad, but it just never seemed to pull together those moments that stayed with me on an emotional level. However, I can say for certain that this changed this evening, when I finally sat down and watched “Oversight.”

The episode as a whole was jam-packed with conflict, with content, and with some really interesting developments on all fronts. However, it was that scene in the Farmhouse that was most powerful, no doubt the strongest scene that the series has put together in its two seasons. Mind you, it was all a bit implausible – was a $10,000 oversight really going to mean killing Mimi as opposed to paying her off? But, accepting that it was not “realistic” in some logical perspectives, it was evocative and emotional.

It was a combination of some great direction, some great performance, and ultimately the emotional impact of the one happy family left in Jericho being torn asunder by the death of its most precious member. Bonnie’s death is perhaps not surprising – Shoshannah Stern was one of those bumped to “Special Guest Star,” and her path seemed too prosperous, too idealistic for it to not be torn out from under us. Still, seeing her lying in Stanley’s arms has me curious to see where they take this in only three short episodes.

With ratings at a low level, the chances of us seeing more Jericho are getting slimmer week by week. Nonetheless, though, there is no reason to start getting down about it – the show is reaching perhaps the peak of its quality, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Depending on how the rest of my week starts boiling down, I may be back tomorrow or Wednesday with thoughts on the fifth episode.