Jericho, Nuked Again?

Suffering from lagging ratings, CBS’s apocalyptic drama currently resides on “the bubble,” but the outlook is grim.

I’m a big fan of the show, having gotten into its first season during the summer rerun rundown. The idea is compelling–a small Kansas town forced to deal with the literal and metaphorical fallout of a large-scale nuclear attack on the U.S.–and the action was fast and compelling (once you got past the first half of the first season, which was more Smoky Mountain Christmas than 24).

Unfortunately, this follow-up season has been a mixed bag, blending a few great moments with enough cringe-worthy bits to likely prevent the citizens of Jericho from seeing the airwaves for a third go-round. The penultimate episode, aired this Tuesday (which I just got to on the DVR last night), sucked pretty hard. Spoilers to follow.

The story line for Season Two is built upon the idea that a corrupt new government, based in Cheyenne, Washington (figures) is actually a shadow organization for a corrupt corporation called Hallib–er, J&R. Of course it falls to Jericho’s finest to expose the truth and save the United States before it becomes overrun with businessmen and account executives.

The few and the proud Kansans are led by Jake “Scruffy” Greene (Skeet Ulrich) and secret agent Robert Hawkins (Lennie James), who are committed to stopping the dirtbags in Cheyenne from taking a leak on the U.S. Constitution. Standing in their way is a noble military commander named Beck (the awesome Esai Morales), who’s unaware of how deep the conspiracy goes.

This last episode displays the crest of the tension between Beck’s soldiers and the Jericho populace, and, frankly, the showrunners did themselves no favors with this hour-long car wreck. See, Beck is after Stanley the Good Farmer for executing a malicious J&R mercenary who recently ventilated Stanley’s deaf sister and Jake doesn’t want to turn his friend in so Beck throws him in the basement of a hog farm to sweat him out, and meanwhile the peasants are revolting and Beck labels all Jericho residents as an “insurgency” and some flaming bottles of malt liquor are thrown around and the backwoods halfwits that make up the town’s “Rangers” battalion manage to overcome a convoy of elite Army soldiers and spring Jake from prison and…ugh, it just got worse after that.

The only salve was the very end, when Jake and Hawkins–the two best, baddest characters–decide to go to Cheyenne to chew bubblegum and kick ass. Too little to late, methinks as the show likely burned off enough casual viewers with Tuesday’s installment to ensure that the final episode is indeed the final episode.

And no amount of nuts will save it this time.