Help build the guide for Episode 10. Fill out the detailed episode recap, fill in gaps, add your theories. Got a question or comment? Add it here.

Original air date: November 22, 2006

Morse Code Translation:
It begins with


Synopsis: As bombers fly over Jericho dropping parachutes with palettes of supplies attached, citizens are both thrilled and cautious about their much-needed relief. As the citizens scramble to retrieve the food and supplies that are dropped from the sky, Mayor Green tries to convince them to wait until everything is tested to prove that it is safe. Meanwhile, Jonah attempts to commandeer two of the palettes for himself. including an electrical generator!

Mimi gets her first taste of chocolate in weeks.

Episode recap:
The episode opens and we see Jake, Stanley, and a couple guys from the town's new "Patrol" going turkey-hunting. They see a couple of the large birds but the shooting is a failure. Jake seems disappointed. The town was running low on food, and also these guys couldn't seem to hit the broad side of a barn. Meanwhile, Hawkins is trying to cope with his messed up domestic life, but Darcy quickly quells his optimism.

Back in town, Gail and Emily discuss the town's food supply. Emily donates some food and expresses concern for her now skinny students. Gail remarks that with the upcoming election, Mayor Green should not be careless. Gray is going to be hard to beat.

The scene switches back to Stanley and Jake, who are walking back towards Stanley's truck. They spot another turkey, and just as they are aiming their guns, a loud noise goes off overhead. Planes are flying through the sky, and they see parachutes. The town starts to panic as the jets fly; soon everybody knows about it. Stanley and Jake investigate a parachute which had fallen near them. Stanley is afraid it is a bomb, but Jake points out that a bomb wouldn't have a parachute attached to it. Jake takes out a pocket knife and gets ready to cut open the package.

"Whoa!" Stanley cautioned. "Whoa. Are you sure you should do that?"

"Well, do YOU wanna do it?" Jake asks, holding out his knife.

"Okay, I'll shut up," Stanley replies innocently. He watches as something falls out of the package. It appears to be food, but the label is in Chinese so neither he or Jake could read it.

Soon the whole town knows about the parachutes, which turn out to be filled with food and supplies. Inside of all them are Chinese fliers reading "China is your friend. Do not fight." Several of the twelve pallets are in front of the town hall. People wonder what is going on, and the only conclusion they can come to is that a country (possibly China, possibly America, or Russia, since the planes were Russian) is giving them aid. Jake thinks Hawkins could help them, since he understood the Mandarin TV broadcast, he might be able to read Chinese. Hawkins takes this as an insult and ignores Jake. Shortly afterward, Jake, Eric, Gail, and the Mayor gather together and discuss the food. Jake fears the food might be poisoned. "What if this is the second wave of the attacks? They wait until we're hungry and then poison our food supply?" Johnston approves of Jake's clever thinking. Gail is horrified at the idea of poison.

The discussion is broken up as people begin to fight over food. Stanley is not there to help break it up; he has gone back to check on Mimi and Bonnie, who he is very worried about by this time. Gray demands that the food be distributed, and wants to prove that it is not poison. He sinks his teeth into a cracker while the crowd watches worriedly.

Meanwhile, Stanley parks in front of one of his cornfields, and is surprised to see Mimi coming toward him. She looks strangely happy. Beckoning Stanley out of the truck, she begins to walk through the cornfield again.

"Are you okay?" he asks her.

"I am great!" Mimi replies enthusiastically.

"So you know we're not being attacked?" Stanley asked.

"Of course," Mimi scoffed, still smiling. "I do talk to the neighbors, you know."

By this time Stanley is baffled. "Why are you so happy?"

"Because... we have chocolate!" she exclaims joyfully.

Stanley is both surprised and uncertain as he sees one of the food drops on his property. Mimi falls onto her knees and stuffs her mouth with chocolate, exclaiming, "Isn't it great?!". Stanley now looks genuinely worried and says sharply, "Hey, you don't know if that's okay." Mimi says the chocolate is not the best but in a pinch it would do. Stanley explains that it may be poisoned. Mimi refused to be put down, and leads him to where a giant generator has been dropped. She is very happy that they might get power back.

Stanley tells her to go get Jake. She is surprised and doesn't want to share the food. "It's not our food; it's the town's food," he tells her earnestly.

"Oh, you mean the town that was gonna blow up that bridge and leave us for dead? ---THAT town?" Mimi demands.

"(A) they didn't blow up the bridge, and (B) you were on the other side of it at the time," Stanley reasoned. "Get the truck," he ordered, "and go tell Jake."

Mimi stares at him and folds her arms. "We're NOT sharing the chocolate," she states.

Meanwhile, Mayor Green makes a deal with Gracie Leigh, so he can store the food on the market shelves. She agrees. The only thing is, she has to stop doing business with the town criminal, Jonah. Jonah seems angry that he doesn't have a food source now, but he leaves. Mitchell, on the other hand, gives Gracie a look of absolute contempt and leers in the mayor's face as he leaves.

Stanley decides he should go check on Bonnie and starts to leave the field. When Jonah's truck comes up, though, he knows he's in for it and runs back to the pallet. Stanley watches as a bunch of Jonah's gang steals the generator and the food, including Mimi's chocolate. He isn't sure what to do... protect the supplies or run for it. He turns to go get help, but one of Jonah's men comes up behind him and punches him square on the head. Stanley fights back, but two more adversaries appear and start beating him up. Three against one.

Mimi fetches Jake and and they return to the cornfield. After walking about for some time, Mimi stops in her tracks and gasps. "Stanley!" Jake exclaims. They both see him on the ground, bruised and beaten. Mimi and Jake drop to their knees beside Stanley. Mimi grabs his hand and holds it, brushing the corn stalks off his body with care. "Who did this?" Jake demands, trying to control the anger in his voice.

"Jonah," Stanley whispers.

A little while later, the news has gotten out that Jonah stole a generator and a bunch of food. Mayor Green and a bunch of others move out to the compound to try and get the supplies back. The Mayor tells Gray to sit this one out.

Meanwhile, Stanley and Mimi are sitting on the porch together. "Doctor said no concussions," Stanley reported.

"So that thick skull of yours finally came in handy," she smiles.

Stanley begins walking away. Mimi looks concerned. She asks him where he is going, and he replies, "After Jonah." Mimi looks up at his face, bruised and scarred, and resolute. Hers became even more resolute and she begged him not to go. "Stanley, if anything happened to you..." She grabs his hand. "...Think of Bonnie." Stanley, feeling both awkward and honored by her obvious concern, nods his head. He isn't going anywhere.

Emily tries to dissuade Jake from going. "If you push my father, Jake, he'll push back," she warns him. Jake pays no attention and moves out.

At the compound, Jonah refuses to give the generator back. But Emily has her own plan. She knocks the man guarding the truck with the generator unconscious. She then drove the truck through the fence, escaping with the generator and her life, though at close shave. Mitchell almost shot her, but Jonah recognised who was driving the truck and stopped him. Jake is furious and yet touched. Emily hadn't changed much, had she?

At the Green's residence, Eric and Johnston sit down for a father-son talk about marriage. Eric finds out that April is pregnant, and isn't very happy about hearing it from his father. Eric says he's tried to make the marriage work, Johnston tells Eric to try harder. "A bad marriage doesn't get better because you add a kid," says Eric. He says he's never loved April. He loves Mary.

Meanwhile, Stanley and Mimi are inside the farm, and Mimi is preparing to "tend to his wounds". She has no idea what she is doing, and even after Stanley instructs her she is not very careful at first and Stanley flinches in pain. He had cuts on his shoulders and face. Mimi asks him to take off his shirt so she can properly clean the wounds on his shoulders. He stares at her in surprise. "What, do I gotta close my eyes?" she asks. Stanley reluctantly agrees and takes off his shirt. Mimi smiles and laughs. Stanley demands what is so funny, and she replies that he is blushing.

"It's a reaction to the iodine, okay?" he snaps.

"I think it's a reaction to having your shirt off in front of me," she smiles.

"Don't flatter yourself."

"I would guess a lot of things about you, but being shy in front of women wasn't one of them," Mimi remarks.

Stanley begs that they talk about something else. They both talk about what they usually do on Thanksgiving. Mimi likes to go to Mexico and drink the world's finest mango margarita, while Stanley prefers to stay home and take a nap. Mimi finishes cleaning the wounds, slowly drops the cotton ball she had been using, and gently lays her hand on his chest. Stanley swallows nervously. Mimi backs away saying, "You're all set. Sorry you had to suffer through that."

Jonah isn't having such a happy holiday either, as Mitchell and the gang members are growing more and more mutinous. Jonah makes a point of saying that "saving Emily was no mistake". Mitchell comes close to challenging him.

Back in town, Jake finds a microchip in one of the parachutes. He isn't sure what it's for, so they ask Hawkins. He says they called RFIDs - Radio-frequency identifiers. Eric asks him how he knows that. "I read a lot, Eric" is the response. He also adds that they're used for tracking inventory, mostly by big global companies and by one military - the U.S. So the parachutes are from the American Air Force. In short, they're Vietnam-era Russian planes flying through Kansas airspace doing a Chinese drop, and using Air Force equipment.

It's Thanksgiving morning, and Mimi comes down the stairs looking very worried. "Stanley! Stanley!" she shouts. She is relieved and annoyed to find him in the kitchen. "You are not supposed to be up!" she tells him.

Stanley grins and says that although he doesn't have a turkey, he has the ingredients for making mango margaritas...except for the mangoes. Stanley confesses that he has never seen a mango in his life. But he brings out a container of Tang powder.

"Tang!" Mimi laughs. "Instant Tang?"

"Yeah, so...in honor of your first Thanksgiving here in Jericho," he grins, mixing the drink and the tang together, "I have made what some critics believe to be the world's finest tango margarita." He gives Mimi a glass of the stuff, and takes a big sip of his own.

"Man, that's awesome." Mimi puts her cup down. Stanley follows suit. There is an awkward silence, and then they kiss passionately.

Meanwhile, Gail wants to have a traditional family Thanksgiving. Jake wonders why Gail wants to keep up the family traditions despite what happened out there, and she says it's BECAUSE of what happened out there.

Eric comes through the front door, but he's not staying. He just wants to talk to April. He asks when she was planning on telling him about the baby. She answers "when I knew it wouldn't affect your decision." He says he can't live a lie anymore, but he'll do everything he can to take care of that baby. He tells her about Mary Bailey. He mentions, however, that the last thing he wanted to do was to bring her pain.

The Greens have a Thanksgiving dinner which turns out to be a pretty good one. Emily comes to the meal too. Everybody is more or less happy. Even the Hawkins, since Darcy and the kids are impressed by Hawkins' helping to get the generator running. The town square is lit with strings of small lights, much to Samuel Hawkins' delight (and others' too).

Unfortunately, this Thanksgiving is Gracie's last one. As she walks into the market, an unidentified person gets up behind her and kills her in cold blood, with a knife. The scene fades out.

Questions:
Q. Whose planes dropped the food?
A: 1970's Russian planes with Chinese supplies using US Air Force tracking tags. Meaning of the combination is unknown.

Quotes:
Darcy: It'd be nice to have a real turkey.
Hawkins: Well, you know if I shot it, you would have to clean it.
Darcy: Yeah, good point.
Hawkins: Hey, what about you guys? You gonna be crushed not to have a turkey this year?
Allison: I'm a vegetarian.
Hawkins: Right. Well, we'll have plenty for you.

Johnston: Grab a chair. Now son, we both know that marriage is hard.
Eric: It's a little late for this speech, dad.
Johnston: Well fine, we'll just fast forward to the next one. Fatherhood is harder.
Eric: What are you talking about?
Johnston: April's pregnant. I just found out myself.
Eric: And I gotta hear this from you?
Johnston: Well, I shouldn't be the one telling you, and I"ll probably be in the doghouse until next Thanksgiving, but I thought you ought to know.

(At Thanksgiving Dinner)
Gail: Hey Emily.
Emily: Hey.
Gail: Glad you could make it. You missed the football.
Emily: I didn't want to show Jake up.
Jake: (laughs) Really?
Gail: Hey, Jake. Honey, put Emily next to you. Thank you.
Johnston: (whispering to Gail) God, I hope April has a girl.

Trivia:

Cast:

• Guest Starring: Alicia Coppola (Mimi Clark), Beth Grant (Gracie Leigh), Clayne Crawford (Mitch Cafferty), Clare Carey (Mary Bailey), Richard Speight, Jr. (Bill), Darby Stanchfield (April Green), Bob Stephenson (Jimmy), James Remar (Jonah Prowse)
• Co-Starring: April D. Parker (Darcy Hawkins), Jazz Raycole (Allison Hawkins), Sterling Ardrey (Samuel Hawkins), Patrick Rowe (Kevin)
• Written By: Mike Ostrowski
• Directed By: Martha Mitchell

See also:

Music of Jericho
Morse Code
Plot Theories

<<Previous episode: 1:09 Crossroads

Next episode: 1.11 Vox Populi >>