Meet the actor: Erik Knudsen


What we know:
Killed Mitchell Cafferty after he learned that Mitchell killed Gracie.

Inherited Gracie Leigh's store after her murder.

He lived in a trailer park with his mom and her current flavor of the month until it burned down, in the same episode that Eric and April's house burned down. Then he stayed on a cot in Gracie's store until their falling out. He then moved in with Skylar.

Dale has obviously been picked on by the other kids in town. Awkward, retiring and from the wrong side of the tracks, he's the classic case of an easy mark for bullies and other cliquish social groups in Jericho's teen landscape.

His character is, however, very complex. On the one hand he is loyal, caring and kind. But somewhere along the line, we see what can happen when he is pushed too far, as Mitchell found out the hard way. He is also very shrewd. Normally Dale has a strong sense of right and wrong; he cares about Jericho even though most of its citizens don't give a straw for him. He's kind of a Balto character. Dale killed Mitchell partially for revenge, but also for justice and to make it up to Gracie. As with all revenge, it seems sweet at first but soon comes back to haunt him. He seems to regret it, but is (at present) too afraid to tell anyone about the murder.

In the absence of the collapse of civilization, there's a real question of where Dale's life would have led...Cambridge or Columbine?

Depending on his internal, psychological reaction to killing Mitchell at close quarters, Dale could well prove to be an emerging power figure in ways the good people of Jericho never expected.

Dale has emerged as a major player in the town. He and a few hired guns tried to take control of the salt mine until a dispute with New Bern occurred and some men from New Bern died, giving New Bern another excuse to attack Jericho. Later when New Bern was about to attack, Dale managed to gain a private army by promising the the refugees a stake in the second largest farm in Jericho. After this point there are many references to "Dale's crew" and Johnston even goes to Dale and asks for his help in defending the town.

What we don't know:
Where is his dad? see below
Did he enjoy killing Mitchell?
What will happen when he is crossed the next time?
How far will he go?
How did he become friends with the popular Skylar? He brought her a bag of Diet Coke and tried to warn her about the rain in 1.02 Fallout
Who is his dad? in Dale's words from his myspace page "My father left her a long time ago, left us here. I don't remember him and I guess its better that way."

Quotes:
"It's the right thing to do, isn't it? I just wanna help."
"Well, he's a bad guy. He's not gonna get away with it."
"It's like Ebay."
"I think we may be rich."
"That farm is mine now, right"

His role in the town:
Whipping boy for cliquish, Jericho teens.
Grocery store assistant (Episodes 1 - 11)
Grocery store owner (Episode 11 - Present)
Killer of Mitchell
One of the town leaders with a monopoly on trade with his own private army

Family:
Mother who passed away in the Atlanta attack.

Character connections:
Skylar Stevens: she's become very caring and sympathetic towards Dale. Skylar was sympathetic to Dale before the bombing. Their connection grew stronger as her parents also did not return from their trip outside Jericho. They are now a couple and are both becoming major players in the town.

Bonnie Richmond seems to be protective of Dale in almost a big sister way.

Romantic connections: Skylar Stevens. She seemed to be his only friend his age, even though she would only talk to him when nobody else was around. In a later episode (I think Winter's End, when April dies), Dale and Skylar actually kiss rather passionately. They are now a couple.

Trivia:
Dale on MySpace