February 21, 2007: 36 Hours Before the Bombs
Going back in time was not only helpful, but refreshing, even though we knew what was about to happen. It taught us a little more about Jake, showed us the calm (well, sort of) before the storm and introduced new characters that were an important part of the past - even if we never see them again.
Jake's old friend Freddy (
Mark Adair-Rios), who he felt closer to than his own brother, was a key piece of Jake's past and a more detailed look into the workings of Ravenwood. The cargo runs were exactly what I suspected, and I'm glad Jake had some hesitation about carting missiles around - missiles that will fly right back around and hurt their own men. But I want to know what happened in Iraq that caused Jake to owe his life to Freddy. I'm assuming this incident was the same one brought up in Jake's flight interview, in which we learned that the state department has him flagged as a "person of interest." But Ravenwood got to Freddy before they could help the Feds, and at least that helped us see the beginning of Jake's journey back to Jericho, with nowhere else to turn and in need of his grandfather's money.
I had been watching clips on CBS.com, so I knew Hawkins' family kidnapping was coming, but I'm curious about that 500-foot restraining order Darcy has against him. I'm not sure we'll find out about that anytime soon, though. (See my
interview with
Lennie James for what he had to say about that and other upcoming
Jericho details.) But at least we know about that bomb he's been holding onto - the bomb Columbus, Ohio, never saw. The bomb he never delivered. This introduced us to another new person: Sarah (
Siena Goines). A fellow recruit, it looked like her and Robert didn't expect to fall into a relationship, but now he thinks she's in danger and that bomb is the only thing that's going to save her.
Other tidbits we learned:
Johnston asked Eric to run for office so he could take care of himself and still have some influence on the town's issues. But now that Gray is the new mayor, I wonder if that will separate Eric from his family even more, since holding office is no longer an option. He didn't exactly seem thrilled with the idea of it anyway, and his new life with Mary Bailey has already built a hefty wall.
Stanley and Mimi were like oil and water when they met. She was really stuck-up... even her hair looked stiff. But Stanley was his good old lighthearted self: "Who doesn't like corn? Cornsicles?" I have a soft spot for him, and part of me feels like he has the possibility of coming through in a clutch.
Emily and Roger were supposed to go to Chicago together, but his sneaky idea wanted to pull her away from "everything she knows and loves" for a business opportunity. And even though he came back around, they parted on bad terms and the next time they saw each other was eight weeks after the bombs, with Roger clearly in shock and Emily inches from kissing Jake just moments before the refugees walked into Jericho. I had a feeling Roger wasn't dead since we heard a while ago that his plane had landed safely, so they couldn't have Jake and Emily get back together just yet. I'm not ruling that out, though. But my question is, where is Heather? It's like she disappeared. I guess I shouldn't expect her to be in this episode, because she's not a story line that we needed to see tonight, but she's really been missing since before the show's fall finale.
And surprisingly among those refugees was Sarah, clearly ready to find Hawkins. It looked like she was holding onto a lot of anger and I know that won't go over smoothly with Darcy, who's been keeping her mouth shut for the sake of the kids and holding onto any patience she has left.
Hawkins is one of the "faces of the men that will change the world." But I think Jake might be up for that task, in a different way. Hopefully the two will butt heads later on and face off when they learn more about each other. There are a lot of pieces to this story, and the bombs being set off during the president's speech made a strong statement and only confirms that the government is being "reorganized" (as James put it in our interview) by a mission that seems to have gone awry in some places. Remember Victor and his trek from Denver? And now Sarah's in town and I'm ready to learn what she knows. What
anybody knows, really.
