Jericho 2x05
Mar. 15th, 2008 09:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vaznettiI am rewatching the episode now, and this really is one of those "why the hell aren't you all watching this show?" episodes. Seriously. I just got to the bit where Hawkins plays the two Ravenwood goons who come fo him -- looking so innocent and confused and agreeable, and then -- wham! Or rather, ::snap:: and where's my wife?
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yahtzee63 put it, the first rule of Jericho is don't mess with Hawkins. Sadly, no one told Goetz. And he gets another great moment, later on, counting the bullets in the Beretta.
This is a really well put-together episode, from the smallest to the largest scale -- the gradual escalation of violence is perfectly captured. First Stanley, with Bonnie (I don't blame myself, he said) and then with Mimi. And then on a slightly larger scale, Jake and the rangers barricaded in the hospital: each side pushing the other toward greater violence, one threat after another -- or so it seems, until the whole situation is defused by a trick. And then, on the largest scale, the escalation in New Bern: bombings, assassination squads, and finally the exposure of bodies like trophies.
And then finally, Stanley: pulling the trigger while his hand shakes. (And Stanley and Mimi, here, both of them doing what they can do to get back at Goetz -- more similar than they realize, maybe.)
I would love to see the series ending with an alliance of Jericho and New Bern against Ravenwood.
I remember, sometime last year, comparing Jericho with BSG, as post-apocalyptic scenarios -- it was just a throwaway thing, but my idea at the time was that Jericho had put its energies into worldbuilding, and BSG into characterization. Now, not all of the Jericho worldbuilding actually worked (I am still not clear on the food shortage plotline from last season, frankly), but the slow build at the start of the last season means that they can do things with obvious contemporary resonance -- hanging a contractor's body above the road into town is not the only plot point stolen from the news from Iraq, here -- without making them seem inorganic to the world and characters. And without me feeling that the show is preaching at me, either. it's shockingly well-done, really.
OK, the speed of the escalation in New Bern seems a little unbelievable, but you buy it at the time, or at least I did. And after all, last season New Bern used violence as a not-exactly-last resort, and that may just be Constantino's MO.
A couple things that didn't work quite so well for me: coming to kill Heather and then just not bothering to do so, even after she said that she wouldn't cooperate. Not that I expected her friends to kill her, but I do think there needed to be a greater sense of threat there. I mean, what, she's just going back to work now? And then -- a larger issue -- Goetz being fired before he was killed. I am not sure what I think about that: in a sense, it lets J&R and Ravenwood appear to have cleaner hands than they actually do, here. And will that detail affect Beck's response to the body? It does complicate the situation somewhat.
I did like Goetz and his men at the end, caught between Jericho and New Bern -- a reversal of the situation at the opening of this season -- and the two groups fighting over him. And then the end. Oh, Stanley, squeezing his eyes cosed as he pulls the trigger. Unexpected, and perfectly in character.
And all this leading to what looks like it will be even greater escalation, next week: revolution and war.
And again, all I can say is, why aren't you watching this show?
As
yahtzee63 put it, the first rule of Jericho is don't mess with Hawkins. Sadly, no one told Goetz. And he gets another great moment, later on, counting the bullets in the Beretta.This is a really well put-together episode, from the smallest to the largest scale -- the gradual escalation of violence is perfectly captured. First Stanley, with Bonnie (I don't blame myself, he said) and then with Mimi. And then on a slightly larger scale, Jake and the rangers barricaded in the hospital: each side pushing the other toward greater violence, one threat after another -- or so it seems, until the whole situation is defused by a trick. And then, on the largest scale, the escalation in New Bern: bombings, assassination squads, and finally the exposure of bodies like trophies.
And then finally, Stanley: pulling the trigger while his hand shakes. (And Stanley and Mimi, here, both of them doing what they can do to get back at Goetz -- more similar than they realize, maybe.)
I would love to see the series ending with an alliance of Jericho and New Bern against Ravenwood.
I remember, sometime last year, comparing Jericho with BSG, as post-apocalyptic scenarios -- it was just a throwaway thing, but my idea at the time was that Jericho had put its energies into worldbuilding, and BSG into characterization. Now, not all of the Jericho worldbuilding actually worked (I am still not clear on the food shortage plotline from last season, frankly), but the slow build at the start of the last season means that they can do things with obvious contemporary resonance -- hanging a contractor's body above the road into town is not the only plot point stolen from the news from Iraq, here -- without making them seem inorganic to the world and characters. And without me feeling that the show is preaching at me, either. it's shockingly well-done, really.
OK, the speed of the escalation in New Bern seems a little unbelievable, but you buy it at the time, or at least I did. And after all, last season New Bern used violence as a not-exactly-last resort, and that may just be Constantino's MO.
A couple things that didn't work quite so well for me: coming to kill Heather and then just not bothering to do so, even after she said that she wouldn't cooperate. Not that I expected her friends to kill her, but I do think there needed to be a greater sense of threat there. I mean, what, she's just going back to work now? And then -- a larger issue -- Goetz being fired before he was killed. I am not sure what I think about that: in a sense, it lets J&R and Ravenwood appear to have cleaner hands than they actually do, here. And will that detail affect Beck's response to the body? It does complicate the situation somewhat.
I did like Goetz and his men at the end, caught between Jericho and New Bern -- a reversal of the situation at the opening of this season -- and the two groups fighting over him. And then the end. Oh, Stanley, squeezing his eyes cosed as he pulls the trigger. Unexpected, and perfectly in character.
And all this leading to what looks like it will be even greater escalation, next week: revolution and war.
And again, all I can say is, why aren't you watching this show?
no subject
Date: 2008-03-16 01:33 am (UTC)I think killing Heather, might get Beck on the side of the "insurgents."
Wouldn't it have the opposite effect? If she is killed, it will be the New Bern insurgents, right? And I don't see Beck drawing a distinction between them and any insurgents he might be dealing with in Jericho. A lot depends on how he sees Jake and the rangers, after this week's episode: they did kill Ravenwood personnel, after all.
I can't wait to see what happens next week!
no subject
Date: 2008-03-16 01:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-16 01:46 am (UTC)twothree guys Hawkins killed while breaking in, as well.I am not sure that Beck is not going to see this as "getting Goetz fired to he can be killed," either. And he would not take that well, I suspect.