Roush on Jericho
Question: You said
recently that last week's episode of
Jericho would be "a pivotal one in the battle between the town and the sinister Jennings & Rall." After watching it, all I can say is, "Yawn." I am one of those casual fans who only started watching
Jericho in the summer repeats on the Space Channel here in Canada. I was surprised when Gerald McRaney's character was killed off, but this latest "kill-off" of Shoshannah Stern left me more disappointed. I know you have talked about this in the past, but if the "big surprise" of killing off characters is the best the writers could come up with, it shows that they don't really have enough imagination. It seems more and more producers get rid of characters as a shortcut to get a ratings spike, rather than inventing interesting plot developments. Some shows have done it well, like
24, when Nina Myers murdered Teri Bauer, and, to a lesser extent,
Lost's dwindling cast. But it has become just too common now, I think, and writers had better come up with something different to keep viewers hooked. Thanks for reading my rant.
— Chris
Matt Roush: Thanks for ranting. Imagine my surprise when this was the first response in my mailbox (and one of only a few) to Bonnie's death. I expected shock, sorrow, anything but ennui. I mean, Jericho just lost its most prominent and lovably spunky hearing-impaired citizen. But to address the bigger issue, of a show resorting to killing a sympathetic character, how can a thriller like Jericho not go this route every so often? The stakes are life and death, and if all of the heroes remain unscathed, isn't it even more of a yawn than playing the game of who's got a bull's eye on his or her back? Besides, this loss (along with Mimi coming under fire) was the catalyst needed to spur Stanley into action, and as I've said before, I feel that Stanley and those at his farm have become the emotional center of Jericho's universe this season. For them to come under siege this way was for me the most powerful twist so far this season.
