Brikar

"Jericho: The Complete Second Season"
Starring: Skeet Ulrich, Lennie James, Esai Morales

SERIES
Yowzas. Talk about improvement. While the first season of "Jericho" was solid entertainment, it was the buildup to season 2 that really made it shine. The back third of the first season pretty much ditched everything that was wrong with the first half of the season. But season two takes that to an even higher level. With only seven episodes, the second (and sadly final) season has absolutely no worthless fat in it. This includes losing characters, dropping entire storylines and relegating much of the main cast to "guest star" status.

While this means that season two is a lean, taught thriller story, there's also a sense of compression to it. The war against New Bern lasts only minutes and is quickly quashed by the new Cheyenne government in the teaser of the first episode. While the repercussions of this war last throughout the season, it would have been nice to see it stretched out over more than an episode.

Season 2, despite being so small and somewhat constrained, actually opens up the show to a broader base, as we begin to find out what is happening nationally and somewhat, internationally. We find out that soon after the attacks, Iran and North Korea were nuked out of existence and that UN Peacekeepers are stationed along the Mississippi River, now known as "The Blue Line". We also begin to discover the terrifying truth of the attacks: that Jennings and Rall, a corporation, is now in control of the entire country - the President and all of his cabinet have deep connections in this corporation.

The implications of this storyline are rather intriguing. The connections between what happens in Jericho and what's been going on in Iraq and Afghanistan are impossible to ignore. "Jericho" finds itself becoming a very topical show by ditching nearly all of its soap opera elements and reorganizing itself into almost a new beast entirely. Jennings and Rall's private army, Ravenwood, along with J and R itself and even the US Military become the creepiest villains to hit network TV in a while.

Ultimately the show becomes one about integrity - what will you give up and what will you hold onto when the chips are down and something awful is happening right in your back yard? At what point do you ignore the rule of the law for the good of the people?

And two new characters are introduced to help explore this theme: The first is Major Beck, played by Esai Morales and the second is Trish, a Jennings and Rall worker who becomes friendly with the Richmond family. Beck immediately comes across as both competent and confident, as a man who believes in his country - he just doesn't know that his country is evil. But even though he's presented as an antagonist for most of these episodes, as someone who comes between Jake and Hawkins' quest for the truth and for the good of the people of Jericho, you always get the sense that, for some reason, you can trust him and that he's a decent man and a worthy commander of his troops. This is mostly because Morales plays the shit out of the character, often acting circles around some of the other cast members like Skeet Ulrich. Ulrich is, let's face it, not the best of the bunch on this show. Lennie James' Robert Hawkins character continually beats him out, too.

Trish on the other hand, is a mild-mannered middle-management character who slowly begins to see through the "we're here for your own good" facade that Jennings and Rall puts up. She sees the despicable things that her company is capable of, and though she starts out firmly believing that the company is doing good, by the end, she's realized, like Beck, that The Allied States of America is not a place she wants to live.

So it's sad - in seven episodes, the second season of "Jericho" accomplished more than it's first season, and was far more entertaining. But it was too little, too late it seems, as the show was cancelled (again) with little hope of anything to pick up the story in the future. And with the ending of the series finale, it's a story that nearly demands to be told. A second American Civil War is such a fascinating and intriguing premise... It's a damn shame.

VIDEO
As part of it's budget decrease, "Jericho" Season 2 was shot on HD video with lower quality cameras than Season 1. As a result, season 2 has a soft, blurry look to it. Numerous times, the image will smear as the camera moves. But the colors are strong and the black levels, too, so it's not so bad. It's just 'noticeable'.

AUDIO
Just as with the first season, the audio on the DVD is reasonably well-presented for a TV show. There are some surround effects, and everything is clear and discernible. No complaints.

SPECIAL FEATURES
The two-disc set comes with audio commentaries on every episode, as well as deleted scenes for every episode and an alternate ending for the series finale. The deleted scenes are all fine and dandy scenes, but were obviously cut for pacing reasons. With only seven episodes in the season, there's no room for any of the stuff that happens here.

The alternate ending is only different from the aired ending in one respect: in the aired ending, Jake and Hawkins make it in the plane to Texas, setting off a second American Civil War. In the unaired ending, Hawkins is captured buying time for Jake to escape the airfield. He wakes up in a prison in Colorado and finally comes face to face with Valente. Back in Texas, Jake meets Chavez, Hawkins' contact, and the two decide to head back into the Allied States to rescue Hawkins. That's the only difference between the two. I think even if the show had been picked up for a third season, I would still prefer the aired ending. It had more gravitas to it.

There are also two featurettes on the second disc: "Rebuilding Jericho", which is about bringing the show back to air and the challenges involved in doing only seven episodes for less money and in less time than they had before. There are interview bits from many of the writers, producers, directors and cast, as well as one of the higher ups at CBS. It's short, but has reasonable depth to it. It also goes into some detail of the the four major action sequences in the season: the Jericho/New Bern conflict, Hawkins losing the bomb, Bonnie's shootout with Goetz and the Texas/Cheyenne dogfight. A few of the tricks are explained, and there's solid behind-the-scenes footage to back up all the interviews.

The second featurette is called "Nut Job", and details the fan campaign to bring the show back by mailing peanuts to CBS HQ in New York. Ultimately some 20 tons of nuts were mailed, and CBS called the producers of the show and asked them to 'help make it stop'. The cast and crew all thank the fans at the end, which is nice.

OVERALL
A fabulous, if infuriating, end to a show that could have been great but managed to just miss the mark.

SCORE
Season: A
Video: B
Audio: A-
Features: B
Overall: A-

__________________
"A million monkeys typing until the end of time will produce the complete works of William Shakespeare. Ten thousand monkeys typing for ten thousand years will write a Hemingway. Ten monkeys typing over Columbus Day weekend will give you a Dan Brown."