Jericho is a 2006 post-apocalypse TV series that follows events in the small town of Jericho in Northwestern Kansas in the months after 23 nuclear bombs go off in cities across the country. As a post-apocalypse fan, I’m not sure how I missed this one 10 years ago, although I did have a newborn at the time so I’ll just let that be my excuse. 🙂
At any rate, binge watching is the only way to watch TV these days so I watched all of Jericho — 22 episodes in the first season and 7 in the second — in about two weeks. And overall, I enjoyed it! The story was well thought-out, the characters well drawn and acted, and this is big for a fan of the apocalypse — I found it believable. Food was scarce. People were starving. People change (some for the better, some for the worse).
And for those viewers concerned about getting into a show that was canceled 7 episodes into season 2 I will say this — it comes to a conclusion. AN abrupt conclusion, but a conclusion nonetheless. I can definitely see why people have been wondering about someone else picking up the show or maybe just making a movie, but you’re really not left hanging.
My biggest reservation regarding this show was that one of the main characters, a shady man who spent much of his time sending and receiving obscure messages, was not clearly explained for far too long. The “is he good or bad?” question can only work for so long, and as the first season dragged on I was expected to care a great deal about what happened to him without an answer. This, more than anything else, gave the show a feel of dragging.
On a positive note, though, I really did enjoy the characters and the way different people responded to the situation. Plus, characters died — not quite in a George R. R. Martin sense but in a way that really drove home how fragile life would be in such a situation.
I recommend this to fans of the apocalypse.