Roush on Jericho
Question: I feel the need to defend
Jericho. Now that the show has (presumably) aired its last episode, a lot of fans are crying foul, berating the writers for "not offering closure." I don't understand what these people expected. The writers were given seven episodes and absolutely no idea if that would be it or not. This run was supposed to give the fans
more than what the first season finale gave us (now
that would have been an insufficient ending.) They brought it back, showed the resolution of the New Bern storyline, moved through the conspiracy and resolved exactly who was behind the bombs and why. They also took steps towards exposing the conspiracy (another continuing thread from Season 1), and we have an idea where all the characters are at. I don't understand what people wanted out of this finale. Did they want everything folded into a perfect little package like the
Third Watch finale? No thanks. They resolved the central mystery of the show, furthered relationships and left us with an idea of where it's going. I understand they set up a great story (Civil War II), but it's not like the season ended in the
middle of the battle like Season 1 did. Sorry for the rant, but all this complaining over what I see as the best possible thing we could have hoped for under the circumstances is leaving me with a bad taste in my mouth.
— Mike R.
Matt Roush: Complaining comes with the territory, hadn't you heard? As always with this show, it's damned if you do, damned if you don't. (And damned if you cancel it again, as another fan campaign gets underway.) I tend to agree that while Jericho was never a personal favorite, the producers ended the show as best they could given the circumstances. There was a sense of closure regarding the immediate bomb threat, at least one relatively exciting action scene (pilot Jake rescued by the Texas Air National Guard) and a clear direction that our heroes would continue fighting the good fight, without being left in some contrived immediate cliffhanger peril. If the show had continued with this larger civil war storyline, I'm not sure how the town of Jericho and its citizens would have stayed as integral to the narrative, so as far as I'm concerned, it ended just in time.
