More than just a show, a warning
Just finished watching Jericho on Netflix (all 29 episodes over two days). Others have written about the show's premise and storyline, so I won't repeat those here. As for my take on the show: First I have to say, anyone claiming that the acting is poor either stopped watching after a couple episodes or watched a different show entirely. Rarely have I seen such moving performances on television or anywhere else. I found myself relating to almost all the characters, and their hardships were believable and realistic. If anything, the acting was TOO moving; my wife and I were both teared up a few times, and given that several of the main characters die and there is no shortage of sad moments.The other thing Jericho has no shortage of is red herrings. Just when you think you've an angle figured out, there comes a twist. But the twists make sense and keep you interested.
**spoilers** Behind the story of the characters is the hostile takeover of the USA by subversive forces within the US government itself. What appeals to me here is that the writers address the biggest problem our real life US government faces - severe corruption and the supremacy of corporate influence over our political system. The terrorists in Jericho are not religious zealots or militant patriots. They are very high ranking government officials working along with corporate interests to use a false flag operation (the nuke attacks) to take over the USA and replace the current government with a new one. The new one, in this case, is a federal government that delegates its day to day power to two corporations - Jennings & Rall (aka Haliburton) and Ravenwood (aka Blackwater). Of any threat to our democracy, corporate and banking influence are the most dangerous because they are the most powerful. Jericho presents us with a nightmare vision of what life would be like under the boot of such powers. The Bill of Rights is just a memory. No right to due process or fair trial; if you don't do what you're told you are a "security risk" and you disappear. Your property is subject to seizure without notice, warrant, or compensation. All of you personal information is recorded and put in a database. You have no privacy. Jennings & Rall control all commerce and bleed the people dry with price gouging while using Ravenwood to violently suppress any free market or black market competition, even while people suffer from want.
This really would be life under such corporations, and this is what Jericho shows us. And that, in turn, is what makes it so scary. Because if you stop to think about who the real threat in America is, it's not a handful of Saudis with box cutters on planes, or some poor deluded schmuck that the FBI can string along and then arrest for show. The real threat comes from capitalism overtaking democracy instead of complimenting it. It's a threat that is all too real, and Jericho warns us against allowing such a future to come to pass. That message, along with simply being a very well written and entertaining show, is what makes Jericho one of the great TV series of my time. Sadly, the shows ratings didn't live up to its writing and it was canceled way too soon. Evidently people would rather watch the likes of Snookie drunkenly prancing around making an immature ass of herself over trivial problems than come to grips with a potential future we may someday face in one form or another. Whatever. If you have two braincells to rub together and any grasp of the dangerous state that modern America is in, give Jericho a try.
score 10/10
javacrucian420 22 January 2012
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2553149/14711
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