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Original air date: November 29, 2006

Morse Code Translation:
6 and ends with


Synopsis:
"Vox Populi" is Latin, and is literally translated "the voice of the people".

As the mayoral election nears, Gray Anderson seizes the opportunity to show his strength as a leader when one of Jericho's citizens turns up dead. Gray is convinced he knows who committed the crime and launches a manhunt to capture and kill Jonah and restore peace to Jericho. Meanwhile, as playful reminiscing continues to heat up between Jake and Emily, both are hit with a curve ball when an unlikely face returns to Jericho.

Episode recap:
While Hawkins is down in his basement on his EMP-resistant laptop, a message comes in saying, "Traitor Identified. Make contact ASAP." His son, Samuel, takes him away from the computer because he wants to learn how to play football.

Jake is fixing an old well in town. It reads "From This Place Springs Life." He's putting in a hand pump to save generator power. Jake and Emily talk about old times. Emily wants to talk about what happened the day Jake went to get the medicine for his dad. She says "Heather kissed you. She talked to me about it. I don't want her to get hurt." He says "I have no plans to do that." Emily seems hurt by the answer.

The scene switches to Gracie's Market, where she has been laying dead since last night. Dale comes in, puzzled that the store wasn't already open. "Mrs. Leigh?" Dale asks. "Mrs. Leigh?" He sees her on the floor, and a terrible fear grips him as he drops to his knees beside her. He begins to panic, and tries to sit the old storekeeper up, only to withdraw his hand and find it covered with blood. Dale holds Gracie and begins to sob pitifully. "No, Gracie! No, Gracie!"

Soon Mayor Green is standing in Gracie's Market, which is now a crime scene, looking deeply grieved. Gray Anderson joins him, upset that Jericho had had its first murder case in thirty years. Like the idiot he is, Gray suggests that Dale killed Gracie, but is quickly contradicted by the Mayor. To the surprise of all, Mitchell Cafferty appears and explains that Jonah killed Gracie and then took off. Everyone seems to believe him; no one saw the obvious look of a liar on his face.

Jake walked Emily home and then left. Emily opens the door and walks inside to find her father, Jonah, holding her at gunpoint. He has a desperate look on his usually cool face, and a bloody slice across his arm.

Meanwhile Jake comes into the Mayor's office. He has heard about Gracie's death, and says he was very sorry for Dale, who looks like he has been crying for hours. Mayor Green sends out some people to hunt down Jonah. Dale says he wants to come, but Gail Green orders him to stay and tells him a big piece of news.

Bonnie comes home to find her brother Stanley in bed with Mimi Clark. She runs out of the house, angry and disappointed. Stanley runs after her. "I'm sorry, I thought you were gone," he says. "HER? Seriously?" is her answer. Stanley doesn't understand what the problem is and tells her to grow up. Bonnie is upset, and says she grew up 13 years ago, she's worked the farm alone, and now he's sleeping with the IRS woman who's trying to take it away from her. Stanley says she's over the line, and she drives away.

While Hawkins is trying to teach his son how to play football and failing miserably at it (he can't play at all), his wife, Darcy, comes to the rescue. Jake comes over to ask for help in finding Jonah. Jake then goes to Emily's house, because, as Hawkins suggested, she is the only family he has.

Gail tells Dale the big news. Gracie changed her will after the bombs. She made Dale her heir. So now the market belongs to Dale.

At Emily's house, Jake and Hawkins run into Gray and a bunch of other people with guns. They're on a man hunt. Emily comes out of the house and asks what's going on. Gray wants to look for him inside the house, despite Emily's refusal to let him in. Jake stops him. Hawkins says he'll patrol with them for a while, to get them away. As they drive away, Jake turns around and asks "where is he?" Emily tries to keep him from going in, but he doesn't listen.

"I didn't kill Gracie Leigh!" is the first thing Jonah says.

"Then why are you holding us at gunpoint?" Jake asks.

"Because maybe you won't believe me... and maybe you'll try to be some kind of hero." Jonah explains that Mitch was getting mutinous, and that he betrayed him and accused him of murdering Gracie. Mitch then sliced Jonah's arm open, but Jonah was able to knock out Mitchell with a crowbar. Jonah falls to the ground, hurt. Emily snaps at Jake for questioning Jonah's story, and demands he get a doctor.

Back in town, Dale is standing in front of Gracie's store when Skylar runs up and impulsively throws her arms around him. "Oh Dale, I am so sorry!" she exclaims sympathetically. "What happened?" Dale frankly and painfully explains that Gracie was murdered, stabbed. Just then Sean and a bunch of his bullies walk up. Sean sees that Gracie is dead, seems not to care, and suggests that they go into the store and "have a little fun." Dale replies that he now owns the store since Gracie changed her will before she was murdered.

"Well, it sure worked out for you, then, didn't it?" Sean hints.

Dale replies this time by punching Sean in the face. Sean starts to fight back, but Skylar and Bonnie, who is also there, interfere. Skylar holds back Dale, and Bonnie pushes Sean away. Sean calms down, and smiles at Bonnie, who still has her hands on him. "See ya round?" he asked. Bonnie does not reply.

At Hawkins' house, Darcy confronts Robert about him spending all his time either in the basement or outside. She asks him when they're gonna lose him, and says the kids are getting used to having him there. She is too.

Jake goes to Mary's bar and asks Kenchy (the doctor from Rogue River) to come with him. After Kenchy fixes up Jonah's wounded arm, Jake heads back to tell the Mayor what is going on. Jonah is afraid no one will believe him, and runs away from Emily.

Hawkins finally manages to get back to his computer. He gets a message which reads "Response is critical. Send your coordinates ASAP." After a moment of consideration, he types "My coordinates are," hesitates for another moment and erases it. His final response is "Compromised. Proceed without me."

In front of town hall, Gray Anderson gives a speech about the chaos he saw when he was out of the town, and how it's getting to their streets. He says they should find Jonah and make an example of him. He doesn't want Jonah to sit around in a cell for 15 years before he gets what's coming to him. "Vote Gray Anderson for a new Jericho"

Mimi Clark tells Stanley that sleeping together was a mistake. He says he's really good at making mistakes. She agrees. They talk a bit longer, then kiss.

Jake is explaining about Jonah to the Mayor and Eric when Emily barges in and tells them he's gone. They go after him, but not fast enough. Jonah is caught by Gray Anderson and a bunch of townsmen, and thrown in jail. People cheer while that's happening.

Well, it's Election day, and Vox Populi, the voice of the people, has decreed that Gray Anderson is to be the new mayor. This both shocks and disappoints Johnston, and he is angered when Gray orders that the food from the food drops be immediately distributed. Johnston and Jake are standing alone, both looking disappointed. Suddenly Dale runs up to them, and states simply, "Mitchell did it." They ask what he is talking about. "He killed Gracie. He said he'd do to me what he did to Gracie if I didn't go along with him." Johnston, Jake, and Dale immediately rush to the jail to bail out Jonah.

Gray Anderson is there talking to Jonah, getting ready to move the fugitive to a safer place, he says. Jake sees right through Gray's lie---sees that Gray just wants to kill Jonah as soon as no one is around. Jake heatedly demands that Gray do the dirty work here and not in some back room, but cautioned him that once he killed Jonah he would be a murderer. Gray decides to hold his peace, luckily for Jonah. Now Jonah is no danger of being killed, but he was still considered a criminal for past offences such as robbery. So it is agreed that Jonah is to be exiled out of town, a punishment which Jonah readily agrees to. He has turned over a new leaf and is ready to pay for what he did wrong. After saying goodbye to Emily, Jonah leaves Jericho.

Meanwhile, Bonnie is cruising around in one one of Stanley's trucks, when Sean walks up to her. He asks if Bonnie has a curfew or something, she says no, and he hops into the car with her. Surprisingly, Bonnie makes no objection.


Everyone else is partying at Mary Bailey's bar. Jake and Emily are sitting at the bar when all of the sudden, the song that Jake picked on the juke box starts playing. Emily looks at Jake with a confused but understanding look. It's their song ("Nothing Compares to You" by Sinead O'Connor)! Jake asks Emily to dance and she accepts. A romantic atmosphere forms around them. "What about Heather?", Emily asks Jake. "What about Roger?", Jake asks her. They are just about to kiss when Eric alerts Jake to come look outside. There they find a group of people who have been traveling for days. Then Emily spots Roger

Dale, meanwhile, is not having such a hot time. He has been tracking down Mitch all day, and now corners him in a back alley. After Dale blinded Mitch with a flashlight, he unhesitatingly raised a pistol and killed Mitch in one shot. He stands there for a moment, his face a strange mix of pain and satisfaction. The scene blacks out.

Hawkins isn't partying at Mary's either. He's down in his basement. Hawkins receives a message.The message reads, "We need to discuss why you are lying to us." The computer screen then shows a satellite view of the earth, and quickly zooms downward, to America, to Kansas, to Jericho... and right to Hawkins' backyard. On the computer was a photo of Hawkins and Sam playing football in the yard. Hawkins stares at the screen in shock. He was being watched! The screen goes black, and letters come up saying: "SEE YOU SOON."

Gracie's murder:
Gracie Leigh is found murdered. We come to learn she was murdered by one of Jonah's henchmen, Mitchell Cafferty. We find out that after the blasts in which Dale's mother was killed, Gracie changed her will and left Dale her store. Mitchell threatens Dale that the same will happen to Dale as happened to Gracie if Dale doesn't cooperate. Dale tells the newly elected mayor, Gray, what happened and ultimately saves Jonah's life. Dale then shoots Mitchell for what he did to Gracie.


Jake and Emily:
At the beginning of this episode, Jake and Emily are seen talking to each other. Emily adds in that they had "a song". They also talk about what happened between Heather and Jake. Emily says: "Lets talk about what happened right there. Heather kissed you, I know she talked to me about it. Yeah, I just don't want her to get hurt." Jake nods his head in agreement and says, "I had no plans of doing that." Soon after this conversation, Jake walks Emily home. Jake still cannot remember the name of "their song". He complements Emily on her house. She states that it was the first one they saw and they stuck with it. Jake says, "If you know what you want, why keep looking." This creates a flirtatious yet awkward environment between both of them so Emily walks into her house, finding her father pointing a gun at her face. Towards the end of this episode Jake and Emily are sitting at the bar when the song that Jake picked on the juke box starts playing. Emily looks at Jake with a confused but understanding look....it's their song ("Nothing Compares to You" by Sinead O'Connor)! Jake asks Emily to dance and she accepts. A romantic atmosphere forms around them. "What about Heather?", Emily asks Jake. "What about Roger?", Jake asks her. They are just about to kiss when Eric alerts Jake to come look outside. There they find a group of people who have been traveling for days. Then Emily spots Roger.

Death Threat:
Mitchell walked into Gracie's store and smiled complacently with that little leer that I hate. Skylar is helping Dale with inventory.

"Can we have a moment, please? A little man-to-man time, you know." Mitchell asked Skylar. She looked a little disturbed. She glanced at Dale, who reluctantly nods his consent. Skylar leaves.

"Thanks, Sweetie," Mitchell smiled. (Grr...I hate him.) Mitch walked over to Dale and they both went toward the back room, or at least somewhere out of sight. Mitch had his hand on the back of Dale's neck in a friendly manner. Dale almost shudders.

"So, you and I are gonna be business partners, right?" Mitch remarks.

"Says who?" Dale replies stiffly.

In one swift movement Mitch pushed Dale against a shelf, drew a knife, and held it at Dale's throat. He smiled. "Don't make the same mistake Gracie did," he warned. "Here's how it goes, you give me a cut of the store....or those nice people out there will be putting flowers and candles over YOUR grave."

Dale realized that Mitch was behind the whole thing. Jonah didn't kill Gracie, then. Dale was furious, but stayed quiet. . Mitchell chuckled and tapped the knife against Dale's nose. "Okay."

Mitch released Dale and walked away. "Oh, I'll see you tomorrow," he called back. "And the next day. And the next." He laughed.

Okay....
So it is a gigantic relief when Dale KILLS that bloodthirsty freak at the end of the episode. No more Mitch! Yeah! *sighs*



Questions:
Q: Who sent that message to Hawkins at the end?
A: The only thing that we know about who sent the message to Hawkins is that his/her or their code name is Tango. He was also communicating with someone with the codename Delta but Tango has revealed that Delta has been killed.


Q: Where did Roger come from, and how did he get to Jericho?
A: As far as we know Roger was on a plane that set down somewhere. For him getting there he traveled with that group on foot.

Q: Who is Hawkins communicating with, and how do they know where he is?
A: During the episode they didn't know where Hawkins was, and that's why they asked for his coordinates. They did find him by satellite, though. They probably did that by triangulating his position with the wireless network that he is linked to (No actual evidence of this...). With that info you can probably assume that it is a government agency. Which one we do not know yet.

Q: Where did Hawkins and his "family" really come from?
A: Hawkins and his family were separated before the attacks. That was divulged in a earlier episode. Also divulged in same episode is that his family was in Washington DC.

Q. Is there anything else about Heather? In the pilot, she was smiling in a sort of knowing way when she said, "Nice to meet you," and she paused before she said, "Jake." Hmm...I think we might find out something come February? Any ideas? (Whole Question here)
A: I definitely think something will happen between Jake and Heather, although there is still a somewhat romantic relationship between Jake and Emily.

Q: Who do you think Jake will end up with, Emily or Heather? (I'd like everyone's opinion)
A:

Quotes:
Jake: "Yeah, well I remember one of your finer moments. Right over there behind Bailey's".
Emily: "Yeah, let's not talk about that. I can get sick right here".
Jake: "Yeah, some people can't hold their apple wine coolers".
Emily: "Yeah, well..."
Jake: "You kept singing that depressing song by that uh... bald girl".
Emily: "Sinead O'Connor, and that was our song".
Jake: "Our song? I never got to vote."

Mimi: "Do you know how many second dates I've had in the last 5 years?"
Stanley: "I'm guessing not many."
Mimi: "And do you know why?"
Stanley: "Because you're obnoxious, and demanding, and totally self absorbed?"
Mimi: "Yeah. And you are a sweet simple boy. You can't handle someone like me. This will never work."
Stanley: "Eh, that's what they said about Brangelina."
Mimi: "Are you seriously quoting Us Magazine right now?"
Stanley: "Yeah, what do you think they'll call us? Stimily? Mimily... Stimi (Steamy)!"
Mimi: (laughs) "You are such an idiot."

Trivia: Vox Populi means the voice of the people

Cast:

• Guest stars: James Remar (Jonah Prowse), Richard Speight, Jr. (Bill), Bob Stephenson (Jimmy), Alicia Coppola (Mimi Clark), Clayne Crawford (Mitchell Cafferty), Aasif Mandvi (Kenchy Dhuwalia), Sterling D. Ardrey (Samuel Hawkins), Jazz Raycole (Allison Hawkins), April D. Parker (Darcy Hawkins), Candace Bailey (Skylar Stevens), Beth Grant (Gracie Leigh)
• Co-Starring: April D. Parker (Darcy Hawkins), Shiloh Fernandez (Sean Henthorn), Sterling Audrey (Samuel Hawkins)
• Written By: Carol Barbee
• Directed By: James Whitmore, Jr.

See also:

Vox Populi Transcript
Music of Jericho

Morse Code
Plot Theories

General comments:

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