Dale Turner

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Dale Turner
Image:Dtj.jpg
First appearance	Pilot
Information
Gender	male
Age	16
Occupation	Student/Owner of Gracie Leigh's Supermarket
Portrayed by	Erik Knudsen
Created by	Stephen Chbosky

Dale Turner is a character on the post-apocalyptic drama Jericho. He currently owns Gracie Leigh's Supermarket. He is played by Erik Knudsen.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Dale is a teenage boy who lives in a trailer park and works at Gracie's Market in Jericho, Kansas. In the pilot episode, it is revealed that Dale's mother and an unknown male companion were apparently killed by a nuclear explosion that apparently destroyed Atlanta, Georgia. Their final moments were caught on an answering machine message, which Dale hears when he gets home. He is seen, in a state of shock, playing the message over and over.

Dale was initially held in disdain as a "loser" and a "freak" by Skylar Stevens, a rich girl who lives in a mansion outside of town, and whose parents were in New York at the time of the Denver explosion. When Dale brings supplies to her house just in advance of an expected radioactive fallout-laden rainfall, Skylar relents, asking him to stay with her, and there is some rapprochement between them as they realize that their parents are probably dead due to the explosions in other cities. However, once Skylar's friends return she returns to her old habits, though later she begins to care more for Dale, showing concern at the loss of his home to a fire in fifth episode, and bailing him out of jail in the sixth. She also offers to let him sleep on her couch near the end of the seventh episode, in gratitude for him delivering the news that her parents might still be alive, as well as recovering her mother's jewelry box.

Dale also cares for Gracie and becomes worried about her store closing down due to the residents of the town clearing all her stock. Because of this, he discovers a trainload of undelivered supplies on the outskirts of town as the third episode closes, and restocks the store in the next episode. However, by the end of episode 7, Long Live the Mayor, he appears to be fed up with Gracie's seemingly self-centered attitude. He loudly berates her for it in front of a group of customers, then quits and leaves the store.

In episode 6, 9:02, Dale becomes involved with a group of survivalists lead by Mitch Cafferty, an estranged former friend of Jake. He enlists the help of Mitch's group to offload the rest of the supplies from the train, and stores them in a barn on the edge of town. After being confronted by Jake following the theft of the Green family's horses, Dale reconsiders his allegiance to Mitch's group, and informs Jake about the train and supplies. Dale leads Jake and Eric to the barn, only to discover the supplies are missing. Mitch appears, and after a brief struggle is arrested by Eric. Although Dale helps Jake to put Mitch in jail, they are unable to recover the badly needed supplies.

In the episode Vox Populi, after the murder of Gracie by Mitch Cafferty, Dale inherits the store and vows revenge on her murderer. Later in the episode he is intimidated by Cafferty into giving him half the store's profits, or he "would end up like Gracie". Dale tells Jake and Johnson Green, but they have little power to influence the new Mayor, Gray Anderson. Dale finally takes matters into his own hands and shoots Mitch, killing him.

In Black Jack, Johnston Green praises him on keeping the store open and says that Mitch will somehow get justice for murdering Gracie, apparently not knowing that Dale had already killed Mitch.

In Winter's End, Skylar joins Dale in claiming his share of the harvest from one of the farmer's in town. Later that evening, a conversation between the two leads to a passionate kiss.

Information on Dale's life before the bombs can be found on his MySpace page.