Jericho - Series 1 (DVD)

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Liked it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Good
How does it compare to similar films?	Good

Advantages:	Lots of suspense and mystery
Disadvantages:	Gender stereotypes and lack of LGBT characters

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

-Plot-
The basic plot of Jericho is that nuclear bombs have exploded all over the USA, destroying cities and killing millions of people. Jericho is a small town in Kansas that's survived the bombing and now has to find a way to survive the aftermath. Jericho is cut off from everywhere else, electricity is running out, food is running short, winter is coming and there's unrest in the town.

In addition to the main plot there are a number of subplots involving the main characters. These plots include a bit of everything. There are romantic plots (I'm not going to give away between who, although you'll probably guess within the first episode). There's also a great deal of mystery. Jake is the prodigal son of the mayor and has returned after a long absence during which no one knew where he was. Robert Hawkins arrived in Jericho just before the bombs with his family and there seems to be more to his sudden appearance in Jericho.

-Opinion-

When I rented Jericho I had no expectations. The only reason I rented it was because Skeet Ulrich is hot. So, my only expectation was that Skeet Ulrich would be hot in this show and I was not disappointed. There was even a scene with him coming out of the shower. If I was rating the show purely on him and his performance it would get 5 stars but I'm not and unfortunately there were too many flaws with this show to give it such a high rating.

I did enjoy watching it. There were so many cliff hangers and unsolved mysteries that I really couldn't stop watching it. Pretty much every episode left me wanting the next one and it was one of those shows that I could have easily watched in a couple of days if I didn't have distractions like work and a social life.

I thought that the way the characters were done was really good. Two of the main characters, Jake Green and Robert Hawkins had a lot of mystery surrounding them and their past. Throughout the first series bits of their past are revealed, each episode giving you another piece of the puzzle and this is part of what made it such compelling viewing.

The other character that I was particularly impressed with was Bonnie. Bonnie is a deaf teenager who lives on a farm with her brother. Throughout the series Bonnie's storylines revolve around being a normal teenager, boyfriends, rebellion, the usual stuff. It was good to see a show where deaf people are portrayed as just being normal. Her plots didn't revolve around her being deaf and they didn't portray being deaf as a negative thing but did still show the difficulties that can arise from not being able to hear.

I thought that the characters were all very realistic and well developed. For the most part it seemed like even the minor characters had a history and personality, none of them appeared to be two dimensional. I also thought that the acting was good.

However, there were a lot of issues that I had with Jericho.
These weren't exactly things that were wrong with the show, just things that annoyed me.

The first thing is that gender roles are so stereotyped in this show. You see women in caring roles or teaching roles, occasionally women having a few good idea's but it's the men that go out doing all the heroics. This isn't exactly a criticism of the show, it could just be a realistic portrayal of gender roles. Maybe if towns were in danger of attack, the majority of women really would not bother to get involved in the protection of the town. However, there are a few women who do take an active role in protecting the town, though not to the extent that the men do.

Then there's the fact that everyone appears to be straight. This is a common issue that I have with most t.v shows, gay and bisexual people are so under represented.

I also found myself getting really annoyed at the way some of the characters reacted to the disaster. There were of course some people who were trying to help everyone and save the town but the majority of the people had a kind of every man for himself type attitude.
For example instead of thinking our country has been attacked and people are going to starve to death and freeze let's all pull together people think this is a great time to make extra money, I'll charge more for food (even though the chances of the dollar being worth much or anything now are slim).
The people in the show just seemed to lack common sense and community. However, I can't exactly hold that against the show because I'm not sure that if my town was in the same situation that we would act any differently. It was just frustrating to watch.

I did enjoy this series and although there were a lot of things that did annoy me they were quite minor. I felt that the positive stuff outweighed the negative.