The Greens of Jericho

Hooray! You're writing again, and I had enough internet access to find your new chapters & enjoy them.  As per your usual, love every bit of it.  Will try to review the next chapter from a computer (not a phone...) so I can leave a more detailed review.

Marzee, I'm glad to see the next chapter posted! I found this part was really full of emotional ups and downs. Here are some of the parts I especially liked:

Quote:

“He threw her a look that clearly questioned her sanity. “And what?” he growled, “Wait for him to tell the whole town when we’re half a mile out? It’d be Greenville all over again,” he predicted grimly.

A shudder ran through Maggie. “But we’re not killers,” she argued.

“I was a P.E. teacher who saw too many movies,” Hill snorted, “So now I’m a Marine. I’m adapting.””

This really got to me, and their dilemma seemed really real and I wished they could be okay too, at the same time as I want them to leave the Jericho residents unharmed. I don't always focus a lot on the fake Marines when I watch “Semper Fidelis,” because of course they're clearly a malevolent Trojan horse kind of threat and we just want our protagonists to figure it out in time, and I guess we don't really get to see things from their POV that much and when we do, we see the hardened, super pragmatic attitude Hill shows here. Maggie is really our only window into whatever vulnerability and tragedy they also carry with them, and I like how you showcase her here. You use the stuff that we saw on the show, but add the extra commentary (Hill looks at her like she's crazy, which is true in the narrative they've been living in all the time we haven't seen them, and Maggie just wanting a return to the life she led before where her instinct for right wasn't a luxury) that gives us a window, however brief, into what's going on for these outsiders, and when I think about it, even the contrasting views Hill and Maggie show each make sense for them in their particular life narrative at this moment. It's interesting, the way “Semper Fidelis” and “One Man's Terrorist,” two episodes so close together, present us these two different narratives of a group of outsiders who have been living an entirely different kind of struggle since the bombs, and in both cases we see them fitting in the roles of antagonists or threats, but then there are those moments where something happens to shift how we and the characters view them. These windows in, where everything you think is really transformed. I never really thought much about these two stories being so close together, so parallel in some ways and going in completely different directions in other ways. I look forward to seeing how you incorporate the second outsider story into your alternate universe.

Quote:

"Okay," the mayor muttered, momentarily distracted. "Okay, okay," he began again, his attention focused on Johnston. "So I agree to do this your way, you're all gonna do somethin' my way. Those refugees that Roger Hammond brought here, they hafta accept half rations until relief –"

"Half rations?" Jake repeated, incredulous. "That's – that's a death sentence for fifty, sixty people!"

"You wanna have somethin' to eat in a month?" Gray demanded, "Food for your wife, your mom? This is the price."

"Better to cut 'em off totally," Stanley argued. "At least if they had to leave, they'd have a chance."

"But we do that, we lose our X factor," Johnston sighed. "This – this is the only way."

Gray let out a humorless bark of laughter. "Well, you know, like I used to tell Stevens, you know the deal's done when everybody feels a little bit screwed."

Speaking of, I do like the foreshadowing here. What a conflict these guys are in for, and don't even know how much so. I liked the handling of this discussion, and though of course the Greens (and Brett) seem more right in this particular argument (and I'm glad they all recognized the need for some people beyond even their particular nearest and dearest knowing something so important for all their survival, instead of keeping that important info in the hands of one small group), they are all still struggling with a looming decision for which there are no satisfactory answers. Everybody's wrong and right, I think (even Gray).

Quote:

"Ew, Dad!" Michael protested, "Aren't you going to make this stop?"

"Yeah, that's – that's against house rules," John insisted.

Deborah threaded her way between her husband and father-in-law and entered the living room, depositing a bowl of potato chips and a tub of bacon ranch dip on the coffee table. She shook her head at the couple. "You two," she complained fondly.

Joe Lisinski knew that his sons believed that Heather was his favorite child, and while it wasn't true – not really – it was true that his relationship with his daughter was different from that with his sons. There were times when she was completely unfathomable to him, but more often he felt that he understood Heather the best of all his children. And this was one of those times. Her brothers' teasing over her relationship with Jake, the fact that they had treated her falling in love as if it were a joke, their idle threats to interrogate him – these things had all worn on Heather, and she certainly wasn't above getting a little payback. "I'm not seeing anything I haven't walked in on before in this house, Andy-Deb-Mandy-John-Kerry," Joe responded, "And," he continued, catching his daughter's eye, "I think your sister might be trying to torture you all, just a little bit."

LOL! Not allowed to play Twister and they think they can get away with this? I did like Joe's response. As a sister of brothers, I am sensitive to double standards and it's always weird to occupy the (real or supposed) “different” place in your family that being an “only” gives you. I like that Joe understands Heather the individual and recognizes the ways in which they are alike. Another layer of this neat relationship you have given her in the past scenes.

Quote:

“Tommy was carrying two beers, but he handed one off to Michael, then offered Jake his hand. "Nice to meetcha." Taking a drink, he studied Jake silently – appraisingly – then glanced at his older brother, joking, "You getting a lotta good barbeque advice from a real cowboy, huh?"

"C'mon, Tommy," Andrew admonished, turning a bratwurst. "Jake's cool." Out of the corner of his eye he saw his youngest brother take a swig from the bottle Tommy had given him, and he shook his head. "Mike –" Andrew began, his voice terse. He stopped himself, and settled for advising, "Just don't let Dad or Deb see, okay?"

"Oh, give 'im a break, Andy," Tommy argued gruffly. "It's just a beer, and it's not like we're leavin' the property."

"And Dad would've given you or me hell for the same thing," Andrew reminded. He looked at Jake. "Heather went so easy on Dad when she was a teenager, he completely let down his guard and Mike can basically get away with murder now. Though," he continued, frowning softly as he glanced between Michael and Jake, "You don't have to arrest him or something?"

"Sorry," Jake told him, shrugging. "I'm not on the clock, and alcohol's not really in my job description. I'm DEA, that's ATF," he explained, "And even the ATF's more worried about illegal trafficking and whether all the right taxes have been paid." Jake took a drink, and then added, "Besides, I try to avoid arresting anybody for something I've done myself. But," he finished, glancing at Michael, "Don't let Heather see either."

"Well, I'm not an idiot," Michael huffed softly.”

I enjoyed the scenes with Jake meeting the various Lisinski brothers in the past. They struck a nice balance between humour and the awkwardness of meeting new people and being immersed in a specific group of people's culture, trying to find ways you fit into it and figure out what the unspoken rules are while still being yourself, and that added cautiousness you get when the people are really close to someone you're really close to. I liked how their different personalities come across in little ways (Tommy the joker, Andrew the responsible leader, Mikey trying to fit in and assert himself among his elders).

Quote:

"You know, Mike," Zack threw out, "You should take a shift now and then with the border patrol. Like Jeff," he added, "Keep your skills up."

Michael nodded, not sure how else to respond. He really had never held an actual, shoots bullets, gun – had never wanted to – but it was starting to seem pretty foolish not to learn how to use one if only so he had one more way to feed and protect himself and others. It'd be a little embarrassing, but he decided then that he'd ask Jake to teach him. Certainly he'd suffered other – even worse – humiliations in front of his brother-in-law and survived. "Yeah, good idea," he muttered, "Keep my skills up."

Poor Mikey! Well, you already know how I feel about the youngest Lisinski brother, I am already likely to sympathize with him, but I really liked his moments in this scene. He's at a strange moment of transition in his life, in this time, and I like seeing the ways he tries to hold onto his humanity and the ways he chooses to be as a survivor while at the same time adapting to the rules of each new place he finds himself. I have a feeling I'm going to be saying “Poor Mikey” more in the future, but I also think he's likely to be go through everything and come out different but okay, if he's made it this far and is still holding onto so much of his former self (and rising to occasions in the present too).

Quote:

"It's not gonna work," she interrupted, frowning at him. They were far enough from town hall and the crowd that they didn't really need to maintain the charade, and Maggie adjusted her weapon – her empty, useless weapon – so that she wore it over her shoulder by its strap. "I almost wish I didn't like you so much, Mike," she told him, looking at him sideways and blinking hard. "If I didn't, I could just stay here, and let the chips fall where they may. One hundred percent After Maggie," she admitted. "But I do like you," she said attempting a smile and failing miserably. "It wouldn't work, not after the story we told. And not with story you're all plannin' to tell."

"But –"

"Please, Mike. Let me – just let me be Before Maggie again, okay?" she requested, her voice cracking with a suppressed sob. "Anyway, she's the one you like."

Aw, Maggie! I will try not to sound like a broken record, but I always feel for Maggie. Her story is so interesting and sad, and so little focused on in the main story of Jericho. I always wanted to know what happened to her (though I assumed she didn't make it), and thought her particular position in the post-bombs world was so tragic and so pertinent really to so many of us who don't live in a small town, surrounded by family and friends, without a practical training in survival. I really like the glimpses you give us into her mind and the somber sort of resignation she has here. It makes sense she cuts loose from the other fake marines after this, and her ability to survive as a single agent this far is so impressive, but I still fear a Russian tragedy outcome may be on the horizon for her.

Looking forward to see how you close out this chapter!