SPOILER warning in the thread title and note crossposts. Major
ending SPOILERS below...
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The episode aired last night on the A-Channel in Canada, and it'll
presumably be the same ending that airs tonight on CBS. It isn't
a cliffhanger, but at the same time sets it up very well for not just
a continuation of the series, but as a good reboot point that would
allow new arrivals to get on board.
There's good action and effects, with a much broader scope
that still preserves a Jericho-centric core. Jake and Hawkins
follow the bomb to Cheyenne and, with the help of the Texas
Embassy there, get it out in a "diplomatic" plane. Hawkins gets
shot along the way but survives, and the Texas Air National
Guard has to shoot down two Cheyenne jets just outside Texas
airspace to escort Jake and his plane in. Meanwhile, by the end
of the episode Major Beck and his company commanders have
ripped off the bogus Allied flags on their uniforms. So the scenario
is that Texas and Jericho are both set up as siding with Columbus
and the legitimate government there.
The episode ends with Hawkins having a line to Jake about them
making history, by exposing the Cheyenne deception and giving
the legitimate government a better chance to prevail. The line can
also be taken as a meta reference to the efforts to save the series.
It's as good an ending as Journeyman gave us, in the sense that it
leaves lots of creative room to continue but if it ends here we can
also fill in the blanks.
If Jericho does continue, though, it could easily be viewed as a
substantially new series from here. The first 29 episodes become
the preamble or prequel and the premise is viewed as something
like this:
"After a domestic conspiracy, including foreign terrorist elements,
launches a nuclear attack on 23 U.S. cities, the nation is split into
East and West. Because of the destruction of Washington, the
legitimate government is now in Columbus, Ohio. An illegitimate
government based in Cheyenne, Wyoming, with ties to both the
conspiracy and an unaccountable corporation called Jennings &
Rand, has used disinformation and fear to unite the Allied States
of the west under a new flag. Jericho, Kansas is caught in the
middle..."
The premise could then go on to describe why Jericho, Kansas is
key, because of its geographic location, some of its residents, and
now Major Beck and his troops and so on, while Texas has just
thrown its support to Columbus and the U.S. is on the brink of a
second Civil War.
It's a series that should get picked up, and with Battlestar Galactica
ending maybe Sci-Fi is the best bet. They've already been carrying
reruns (its Canadian equivalent the Space Channel also airs Jericho).
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