Red FlagIt's interesting to notice the time gaps that take place between each episode on this show. Unlike other serialized dramas such as
Lost or
Heroes, where it seems vital to see every passing second (sometimes we even seen the same span of time many times from every possible persepctive).
A few weeks ago, we saw an episode that centered around the harvest and Halloween. This time up, it's Thanksgiving. There seems to have been a bit of a time-jump in the internal storyline, not that the show is consistent at acknowledging this. I got the feeling it'd only been a day or two since Eric his wife for the mistress, the way everyone is acting. But yet, the last three episodes before this one took place over a course of about three to five days, with one of the first being Halloween. So, I guess we've skipped about three weeks there, which is fine, if everyone acted like it all the time.
It's espeically disconcerting in that we see Skeet out training the army he talked about last week and you'd think after three weeks of training they'd be better than they are. Either that or Skeet is a lousy drill sargeant. Wait, now that I think about it, the second option makes a good bit more sense.
I'll have to give
Jericho credit--they're really keeping the central mystery of who attacked and why clouded in secrecy. This week, the waters get muddied further when Russian planes from the Cold War drop off supplies that have Chinese writing on them. Add to it that the parachutes have American Air Force transponders in them and, well, I honestly have no idea who attacked or why. It's intereting to see the conflict between parnoia and pragmatism that takes place here. The Skeet group is all about wondering if the supplies are possibly the second wave on an attack and poisoned while others in town are ready to start cooking and enjoy the feast. Add to it that the planes drop a generator and you've suddenly got an interesting dilemma--do we take the mana from heaven at face value?
And this is actually dealt with fairly well. You can see both sides of the arguement. I can see how after weeks of seeing a dwindling food supply, suddenly having luxuries like chocolate would make people go a bit crazy. But in the wake of the nuclear bombs going off and the satellite broadcast we saw early on, how you might not trust the giver or wonder what the catch might be. It's interesting to see that the show doesn't necessarily say that Skeet and company are all right and the other side is all wrong. There is a genuine, interesting conflict here and one that I don't really think has been resolved just yet. And one that will only continue to deepen as we head toward the election. Honestly, I'm not sure an election is what they need right now, but it could keep things interesting, esp. if Johnston loses to his handling of the food distribution.
It's also interesting how quickly alliances change. Last week, Jonah bailed out the town and this week he's back to villain status. When an alliance with Gracie is thwarted by Johnson, Jonah steals the generator. The town finds out and sends out a group to get it back, all equipped with guns and having most of us hope for a huge gun battle. Of course, we blew the budget on gun battles last week, so instead Emily breaks in, steals the generator back and gives it back to the town. I had no idea Emily could go stealth ninja like that. It makes me wonder just what is in her past.
It's interesting the parallels between Jonah and Johnston. Both are the leaders of their respective groups, but each is losing face by trying to do the right thing. Johnston with the food, resources and not blowing up the bridge and Jonah with not allowing his goons to shoot his daughter. I have a feeling if these two could ever form some kind of alliance, there could be some real power brokering going on in the town.
Meanwhile, Eric finds out that April is pregnant but chooses Mary over his pregnant wife anyway. He admits maybe he never loved April. Mom is treating him like the red-headed step-child of the family.
The Hawkins family drama continues with the "you were never here" hystronics reaching epic levels. Wait, didn't the daughter kind of cut him some slack a few weeks ago with the whole her learning to shoot the Vanilla Ice CDs? Teenagers.
And Stanley and Mimi finally kiss, in an ever escalating battle of cliched sexual tension moments. Oh, I have seen Stanley with his shirt off and he's blushing. At least this is out in the open and we're not dancing around it anymore like a bad episode of Who's The Boss.
And Gracie gets stabbed. I'm going to go out a limb and say it's Jonah's second in command, trying to frame Jonah and take over. And I guess that was the big death, though I'm not sure that being stabbed in the side is necessarily that instantly fatal. But with the lower grade medical care, I can see how it would be particularily nasty way to go.
posted by Michael Hickerson at 11/24/2006 02:13:00 PM |
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