Termination for Cause (Jericho)

"Termination for Cause" is the fifth episode of season two of the CBS drama Jericho. It was broadcast on March 11, 2008. The name is a business phrase meaning that an employee has been fired due to bad behavior or other specific failures.

Summary

Jake and the rangers barricade themselves in the hospital to protect Mimi, whose life is in danger because of what she knows about Goetz. They square off in a battle for survival, while one of the Rangers takes a course of action that will alter his life forever.^[1]

Plot

The episode begins with a flashback from the previous episode of Jake and several other people coming to the Richmond farm to find Bonnie dead in Stanley's arms. Mimi is taken to the hospital, unconscious. Bill tells Jake that the tire tracks near the farm are from a Hummer, which is probably a Ravenwood vehicle. Jake orders the Rangers to the Medical Center in order to protect her from Goetz. He also tries to persuade Beck to help them, but Beck and his men are headed for New Bern, where a pipe bomb outside the J&R office there had just killed six soldiers. This leaves Jake and other people on their own with the J&R and Ravenwood staff. He also warns Jake not to take any drastic action independently against Goetz, warning that the consequences for Jericho would be severe. Stanley goes to the morgue to say his farewell to Bonnie, and is clearly very shaken by her death.

Meanwhile, Goetz has retrieved Mimi's ledger, rips out the incriminating sheet, and burns it. One of the other Ravenwood men then informs him that Mimi is alive and at the Medical Center, and they immediately go there. When they arrive, Jake and the Rangers have already barricaded themselves inside the Medical Center. Goetz demands that they let him inside to see Mimi as she is a suspect in the killing of three of his men. Jake refuses, drawing his pistol and warning that they will fight to protect Mimi. Goetz warns them that they do not want to do this, as shooting at his men will result in Jericho being declared an "insurgent enclave." Jake still refuses, while trying to think of non-violent ways to resolve the situation. Meanwhile, Goetz calls for back-up from Ravenwood, who will send 100 men in the morning.

Meanwhile, Heather is leaving the office, where she is confronted by Russell and Mike from New Bern. They tell her that, once New Bern was declared the aggressor in its battle with Jericho, the military and Ravenwood imposed severe restrictions on the town, which has led to a growing resistance movement led by Constantino. Many of the members of the resistance have died or been captured, they believe, because of intelligence information that Heather has been giving to Beck. As a result, Constantino has placed a bounty on Heather's head.

Elsewhere, Hawkins is talking to John Smith on his cell phone. He is told that President Tomarchio was previously a star in J&R, and that most of his cabinet and advisors were former J&R employees as well, which makes the two closely linked. Hawkins says that he imagines that Smith is not giving him this information simply out of a desire to help him or Jericho, which Smith agrees to. Hawkins asks him if he's doing this to ease his own conscience, and Smith responds, "Something like that."

Back at the Medical Center, Goetz has the power disconnected. Darcy agrees to assist Dr. Dhuwalia, who is operating on Mimi. He says that Mimi's wound is serious, but is not terminal. Outside, Goetz is growing impatient with the situation, and suggests "banging on some doors". Eric tries to convince Stanley that Bonnie's death was not his fault, but Stanley doesn't blame himself. Upstairs, the phone rings, and they learn that Gary’s wife has been brought to the scene by Ravenwood. Jake allows Gary to leave, and the Rangers now realize that Ravenwood is trying to take their families hostage in order to end the standoff.

At the same time, Hawkins returns home to find two Ravenwood men waiting for him. They tell Hawkins that Darcy might be a hostage in the hospital, and they ask Hawkins to come with them to talk her out. Hawkins at first agrees to go with them, but suddenly snaps one's neck, and then takes the other hostage. He takes the Ravenwood uniform from the dead man and goes to the Medical Center, holding the other man at gunpoint. He has the Rangers let him and the hostage in, telling Jake that they can use him as leverage if Ravenwood continues to threaten their families. Goetz hears that a Ravenwood contractor has been killed and that another is missing, and he calls Fred, one of the Rangers guarding the Medical Center. Emily observes his call but is unsure of the meaning.

Hawkins and Jake go to see Mimi. Hawkins asks Mimi if she knows why Goetz wanted her dead. Mimi tells them about the embezzled $10,000 that she discovered during her audit, and that the proof is in her ledger, at Stanley's farm. Hawkins asks her if she can recreate the data, and she says that she might be able to. Mimi calls her friend Trish from J&R and asks her to access the records for her, explaining to her what Goetz has been doing. Trish agrees to help. Hawkins then calls Smith again, and demands a favor, threatening to end their relationship if he does not do as asked. Mimi is having Trish reconstruct the data that proves that Goetz was embezzling money from the company, and e-mail it to an address which Trish recognizes as belonging to the Director of Operations for J&R.

Jimmy arrives and informs Jake that their Ravenwood hostage has escaped. Jake realizes that there's a traitor in their midst because the man couldn’t have escaped unaided. Emily tells them about the mysterious phone call that she saw Fred receive earlier, and they decide to use him to feed false information to Goetz.

Meanwhile, Russell is still talking to Heather and tells her that he has brought a team of men from New Bern to kill Goetz. Stanley talks to Mimi and convinces her that Bonnie's death was not her fault, since Bonnie did what she did willingly to protect her. At the same time, Hawkins and Jake are searching the building for their escaped hostage. They find him and a firefight ensues, and Hawkins manages to recapture him. He tells Jake and Hawkins that there's no way out for them, as all the exits are being covered by Ravenwood. Jake and Hawkins issue instructions to the other Rangers, but tell Fred that the hostage is still at large, and ask him to guard the back door. As Jake expects, Fred allows the Ravenwood contractors to enter the building, but they find the entire Medical Center empty, and find a hole that the Rangers had made in one of the walls that leads to the building next door. One of the Ravenwood men reports that the Rangers are regrouping at Stanley's farm. Goetz orders his men to gather at a nearby crossroads to await the reinforcements.

As Fred leaves the Ravenwood men, he discovers that Jake and the Rangers were all hiding in the Medical Center's basement. Jake confronts Fred about his treachery, but Fred says that Goetz had threatened to harm his family if he didn't spy for Ravenwood. Jake angrily orders Fred to go home. In an attempt to redeem himself, Fred tells him that Goetz and his men are heading for the crossroads.

The next morning, Jake and some of the Rangers wait near the crossroads. Several Ravenwood vehicles arrive, and Trish gets out of the lead vehicle with a senior Ravenwood official. Trish confronts Goetz about the embezzlement, and tells him that he is being immediately fired from the company. Jake notes that J&R didn't have a problem with Goetz being a murderer, but turned on him only for stealing money from the company. The new Ravenwood arrivals leave with Goetz's vehicles, leaving him and his men to walk back to town.

As soon as the vehicles are out of sight, Jake and the Rangers rush Goetz and his men, intending to capture them. Although they no longer have their rifles, Goetz and the others still have pistols, and begin firing back. The Rangers engage them, and then they discover that a second group, led by Russell, is also shooting at Goetz. All of Goetz's men are killed and he soon runs out of ammunition. Realizing that he has no other options left, Goetz surrenders. The two groups immediately begin arguing over who gets custody of Goetz. Russell wants to bring Goetz back to New Bern for execution. Jake wants to bring him back to Jericho as a prisoner. Suddenly, Stanley drives up, walks over to Goetz, and kills him with a pistol shot to the head. Afterwards, Stanley is clearly sickened by what he has just done. The two groups then argue over who is going to get Goetz's body, but Hawkins points out that since Goetz is dead, it doesn't matter where his body is eventually found. They realize that Beck will figure out what happened, and likely retaliate against them. They agree to let the New Bern group take the body.

The episode ends with Beck, still in New Bern, receiving news from one of his soldiers, saying that there's something on the edge of town that he needs to see for himself. He drives to the border of New Bern and finds Goetz hung from a tree.

Reception

Geoff Berkshire at the LA Times commented on the death of Goetz: "I'm not big on the whole vengeance-killings-in-entertainment concept, but last night's Jericho made it work, thanks to the sensitive performance of series regular Brad Beyer (as Stanley) and the loathsome turn from recurring guest D.B. Sweeney (as Goetz).... The entire sequence was the dramatic high point of the hour, but it wasn't overblown with excessive music or melodramatic tears or shouting."^[2]

References

External links

• "Termination for Cause" at CBS.com