Jericho

So, there's this miniseries about how factions within the US government, paired with a major corporation in the military industrial complex, create a massive terrorist attack on US soil.

Then, taking advantage of the chaos and fear-mongering, fascist* elements within the government move to take control while the corporation uses its special no-oversight, no-accountability position to administrate the devastated regions -- both for their own profit and so they can control the population without any of the standard protocols of either the occupying military or local law enforcement. It's a become better plotted espionage thriller than 24 ever was on its best day.

It's also sharp commentary on the privatization of warfare, the cozy symbiosis of politicians and massive corporations, out of control contractors in Iraq, and the relationship between the US military and populations they're "administering". It does all this while still casting the US military in an overwhelmingly positive light. The Army = Good Guys. This series casts the "insurgents" as American revolutionaries rising up against unfair administration by an outside force. There's even a Stamp Act reference.

And their version of Paul Bremer shoots a teenage girl to death.

And it's on CBS in prime time.

I'm almost terrified to write about this, in the fear that at some point the buzz will motivate someone at CBS will turn on the channel and realize they're broadcasting perhaps the most genuinely subversive piece of entertainment in the last 8 years.

The pacing this year is incredible, the twists well conceived, the characters well-drawn (even the women, for once). Annoying Mom is gone. Science Gal is back. Skeet Ulrich cannot withstand the galestorm of manliness created by Lenny James and Esai Morales.

Good goddamn job. Jericho last year started poky and finished razor sharp. This season hit the ground running and hasn't had a wasted scene in four episodes. This, my friends, is how you do 8 episodes. Congratulations to all involved.





*(And I mean actual fascists, not merely authoritarians. Some people don't know the difference)