"Long Live the Mayor" is the seventh episode of season one of the CBS drama Jericho.
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| Translation | PRAY FOR NYC |
Plot synopsis[]
While the town prepares to celebrate Halloween, Gray Anderson returns after traveling outside of town and reports back on the horrific things he saw while he was away.
Upon his return, Gray confirms that Washington D.C. has been destroyed. He goes on to say that New York City has survived, and mentions that the New York Police Department found a nuclear bomb in a van minutes before it was set to explode. He also confirms that Topeka is still intact, although its citizens were dealing with the effects of fallout from an attack on nearby Lawrence. Gray also says that he encountered a vehicle from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that was carrying water to survivors in Topeka. He hitched a ride with the driver, but they were stopped outside of Topeka at a road block. Several people attacked them and pulled them out of the vehicle. Gray tells them that the driver was killed, but he managed to escape.
Having witnessed unspeakable terror, Gray is determined to protect the citizens of Jericho from danger. To this end, he wants to interrogate all the new families who came to town before or after the attacks–including Rob Hawkins. He mentions that 14 new families have moved into the city from days before the attack to current times. Eric defends Hawkins, mentioning that he's been a great help to them so far, and he has two children.
Meanwhile, Jonah Prowse, a man with whom Jake has some history, comes back to town driving Jake's car, and it is revealed that Jonah is Emily's father. He says that he would like to post bail for Mitchell, who had been arrested for stealing the horses from the Greens' stables. Jake tells him that he will release Mitchell into Jonah's custody, but in exchange, Jonah must return the food that his men stole from the barn, and that he promise that he will stay away from Jericho. However, the town breaks the deal when Gray and Eric refuse to give up custody of Mitchell. When meeting Jonah for the exchange, Jonah has upheld his part of the bargain, but Jake is empty-handed. Later that night, Jonah sends two men to Jericho, and they break Mitchell out of the jail. Gray chases after them, until Jake stops Gray from shooting at them. Heather later scrounges up the best vehicle available, a very old pick-up truck, and Jake drives to Jonah's compound to renegotiate. Jonah has one demand: he wants to see Emily. Jake thinks that this is impossible, because Emily would never want to see him again.
While working on Halloween preparations for the town, Emily tells Heather a bit more about her former relationship with Jake, and Heather admits to Emily that she is interested in him. Emily warns Heather to be careful: "There's a lot about Jake that you don't know."
At Gracie's market Skylar trades a family heirloom, an old jewelry box, for a case of diet soda. After discovering that New York City has survived the wave of attacks, she tries to get the box back after realizing that her parents may still be alive. Gracie tells her that she has already traded the box away, but Dale discovers it hidden away in the back room. This leads to a fight between Dale and Gracie and ends with Dale deciding to leave, upset that Gracie does not recognize everything he has done for her, but rather believes that she has done so much for him, by "taking him in." Skylar later finds him sitting on the church steps, and after receiving her jewelry box from him, offers him a couch to sleep on at her house.
After spending most of the last two episodes trying to convince everyone that he's fine, Mayor Green goes into shock and almost dies. April tells the family he was on three courses of antibiotics, but the infection was just too much for him, and now he has gone septic. It's estimated that he would live only another 12 hours without heavy antibiotics (Cipro) to wipe out the infection quickly. Jake and Eric decide to set off for Rogue River where the nearest major hospital is, despite that it is around 90 miles away. Heather is concerned about the old pick-up truck, thinking that at best it could be able to do is 30mph, maybe 40, but only downhill, and with a good running start. When it looks like Jake is about to leave, she impulsively kisses him, and tells him to "come back in one piece", only to back away, embarrassed and self-conscious, when he says he is still waiting for Eric.
Meanwhile, Emily had relented and gone to see Jonah to negotiate for the medicine to save Mayor Green. Jonah didn't have any Cipro, but after some conversation, which Emily approaches hostilely, he agrees to give Emily something to help. Just as Jake and Eric are about to leave, Emily returns to town with the food from the town, and Jake's old car, a gift from Jonah. Jake reminds her that Jonah does not give gifts.
Allusions to the real world[]
This episode is the first to mention the destruction of Lawrence, Kansas, prompting one of the characters to wonder aloud why anyone would nuke Lawrence. In-world, the best explanation is that Lawrence is a mid-point between several important cities: Topeka, Kansas, Manhattan, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri. The attack does, however, make sense as an allusion to both the filming of Jericho -- many exterior shots were filmed in Lawrence -- and as an homage to the iconic 1983 TV movie The Day After, which told the story of Lawrence after the town was ravaged by fallout from detonations of nearby Soviet nuclear bombs, including one which destroyed Kansas City, Missouri.
Darcy Hawkins refers to her home as the House of Secrets.