Walls of Jericho (Jericho episode)

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Jericho episode
“Walls of Jericho”

Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 4
Writer(s)	Ellie Herman
Director	Martha Mitchell
Production no.	104^[1]
Original airdate	October 11, 2006
Episode chronology
← Previous	Next →
"Four Horsemen"	"Federal Response"

Opening Morse code
`···· · -·- -· --- ·-- ··· ·-· --- -···`
Translation
“HE KNOWS ROB”

"Walls of Jericho" is the fourth episode of season one of the fictional CBS drama Jericho.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Plot synopsis

A caption states that the episode takes place "4 days after the bombs, 1 day after the fallout has cleared."

The patrons of the bar are watching the weak signal and distorted picture on the satellite television. It plays only a short loop of video showing fires burning and amateur footage of people trying to escape destruction, presumably that of the nuclear attacks. Eric and Jake discuss whether the footage is from the Midwest, as Hawkins watches on, grimly observing that whoever shot the video is probably dead. Deciding what city it may be, Mary draws a question mark over Cincinnati on a map of the United States, just as the the generator runs out of gas, shutting down the bar. Eric promises her that he will find more gas.

As Jake leaves the bar, he finds Heather in the street outside and offers to walk her home. They hear breaking glass and discover that someone has broken into the pharmacy. Jake sends Heather to get help and then finds a man, presumably the intruder, suffering from third-degree burns and weakened by radiation poisoning. At the medical center, the man identifies himself as Victor Miller and warns that something or someone is coming before he falls into unconsciousness.

At home, Hawkins and his family rehearse cover stories for new identities they have presumably adopted. They are interrupted by one of the two remaining sheriff's deputies, who needs Hawkins' help. Hawkins reluctantly follows him and helps break up a party at Skylar's house, where he is dismayed to find his daughter. Meanwhile, Eric argues with his wife about borrowing some gas for the bar, eventually promising to help her out and find some for the hospital instead. Eventually, Jake, Stanley, and Heather manage to siphon fuel from the gas station using a water pump and transport it to the medical center just as its generators fail. Eric also returns, but is too late for him to contribute. He gives what he has found to Mary instead.

Later, it becomes evident that Victor had reached town by taking Shep's car. (Shep had left town to look for help in the previous episode.) Discussing the moral implications of torturing a dying man in an attempt to learn the whereabouts of their friend, Jake and Hawkins revive the unconscious Victor with an injection of adrenaline.

Fully awake but in tremendous pain, Victor reveals that he had found Shep's car abandoned and had led a group of refugees from Denver to a lake outside of town. He appears surprised to see Hawkins, and Hawkins sends Jake away to get morphine. Alone, Hawkins and Victor have a rather cryptic exchange, with Hawkins chastising Victor for trying to return to Denver and bringing non-family members back with him. Victor tells Hawkins of an unidentified traitor that Hawkins apparently knows, then suddenly goes into shock and dies of a heart attack moments before Jake returns.

Jake immediately recruits Emily and a number of citizens to help find the refugees. When they arrive with the remaining sheriff's deputies and EMS workers, they find all the refugees from Denver dead from radiation poisoning. This leads to an evening church service, where Mayor Green talks about everyone that had died in the past few days and asks anybody who has lost or is missing friends or relatives to stand. Everyone ends up doing so.

The episode ends with Hawkins talking to his son after sending an email. The message reads, "WE HAVE A TRAITOR. THE RALLY POINT IS NO LONGER SECURE."

[edit] The Mackay website

The website Hawkins uses to send the "WE HAVE A TRAITOR" message is a text-based faux "website," more in line with the older ASCII-based BBS forums of the 1980s than a modern website. The text has been lifted from the actual Mackay Communications Terms of Service webpage^[2]. The segment from this page that is visible on Hawkins' monitor reads as follows:

Nothing contained in this site shall be construed as conferring by implication, estoppel, or otherwise, any license or right to any copyright, patent, trademark or other proprietary interest of Mackay or any third party. This site and the content provided in this site, including, but not limited to, graphic images, audio, video, html code, buttons, and text, may not be copied, reproduced, republished, uploaded, posted, transmitted, or distributed in any way, without the prior written consent of Mackay, except that you may download, display, and print one copy of the materials on any single computer solely for your personal, non-commercial use, provided that you do not modify the material in any way and you keep intact all copyright, trademark, and other proprietary notices.

The information provided on this site is free of charge and for informational purposes only and does not create a business or professional services relationship between you and Mackay. Links on this site may lead to services or sites not operated by Mackay. No judgment or warranty is made with respect to such other services or sites and Mackay takes no responsibility for such other sites or services. A link to another site or service is not an endorsement of that site or service. Any use you make of the information provided on this site, or any site or service linked to by this site, is at your own risk.

Mackay Communications is a firm specializing in marine communications equipment and services and was founded by John Mackay in 1884 as an installer and provider of Telegraph lines and services. This passage from the Mackay website is of note:

We have extended our expertise in marine satellite communications, to address the needs of land-based commercial and government agencies with remote mobile communications needs for data, voice and video transmission that is reliable, secure and consistent. With today's technology, we are able to offer small lightweight, portable equipment that allows the user to communicate from virtually anywhere in the world at affordable airtime rates. Mackay also staffs a technical team that addresses customer’s network applications requirements.

It is not known if the producers of the show have permission from Mackay for the use of their terms of service agreement nor if this use was a form of product placement.