Bean

Wow... talk about a tense beginning to the episode. When they pulled into the evacuated town I was distinctly reminded of Resident Evil: Apocalypse. Even when they found the first of the bodies in the hospital, I was half expecting some of them to get up and start trying to eat Jake and Eric while lumbering about.

The rest of the story was pretty much paint by numbers however. As soon as we met the doctor (I love that actor btw) you knew instantly that the Ravenwood guy was to die by the end of the episode and the doctor would be returning to Jericho. Even Ravenwoods finding of Erics wallet at the end was to be predicted. I mean from the beginning it seemed like Ravenwood was something that wasn't going to go away in one episode.

Grays interrogation of Hawkins was mediocre. Again, we knew that Hawkins would cover himself. It wasn't a question even for a moment wether he'd be caught (doing whatever it is he's doing). Now had the confrontation been between Hawkins and Jake, or Hawkins and the Mayor, it would have been much more effective. The Gray character is an idiot, we all know it, and so do the townspeople. So there was no question that Hawkins (and apparently his teenage daughter) would outwit him.

There were however some good points to the episode. The heart to heart between Eric's wife and mother/father was touching. And the scene between Eric and Jake sitting on the stairs at the end was well done and actually had me wishing the conversation would have lasted a few moments longer.

And of course, we have some more revelations:

Jake was in Iraq. FEMA and Homeland security are still running a month after the attacks, so that means there's some sort functioning government. And Hawkins having an FBI badge and ID... I mean, I don't really believe he's an FBI agent, but if he really is, it would fit in with my earlier theory that he knew of the attacks before they happened and decided to protect his loved ones instead of trying to stop an inevitable attack.

All in all, not the greatest episode so far, but worth watching if for nothing more than to keep up with the twists.

__________________
"I haven't faced death. I've cheated death. I've tricked my way out of death and patted myself on the back for my ingenuity. I know nothing."

--James T. Kirk