After the revelation of John(ny) Blackwell’s familiar connections, the news began to ripple through the town of Jericho.
For her part, Annie Quaintain opted to create some distance between them in the hope of luring her son back across the way from his new employer, Ralph Coates.
At Blackwood House, the eldest son’s return has also created friction with newly hitched power couple Charles and Isabella at odds. In her impatience with the prideful Charles, who is prepared to commit fraud, she stepped into town to locate Johnny and convince him to sign over the house.
Meanwhile her opportunistic husband courted a visiting Methodist businessman as an investor, but his money came with impossible strings attached; a dry navvy town and the prostitutes moved on? Charles (Daniel Rigby) has never looked like more of a buffoon and inferior to his brother.
While the Quaintain family fortunes remain at the core of Jericho, this instalment spun more on the actions of Johnny (Hans Matheson). Though revealed as the true landowner, his motivations remain enigmatic and we still need to unpick exactly what made him leave.
Isabella clearly also bears some responsibility, and she was able to guilt trip him into aiding his brother, but Charles’ insistence that Johnny also left town was more than he could bear. Let’s hope the truth of this secret is something more than simply an illicit assignation behind Charles’ back, as the hints and teases offer some great potential!
Although laid on a bit thick, it was great to see Jessica Raine allowed to warm up, with Annie accepting her position in the town , beginning to make friends and defiant in defence of the battered Mabel. We enjoyed how the Blackwood’s story and Mabel’s rough treatment dovetailed into a tense final act.
The canteen endeavour, ostensibly an exercise to raise her standing and attempt to coax young George home, looks set to cause ruptions thought and created a challenge to the Ralph Coates’ authority when she blatantly circumvented his tax, balking at the swiftly rising prices. Despite his generous actions later, when spurred to action by Lace Polly, we foresee Annie and the Railway Agent on a crash course.
In the final reckoning this week, there might be a thaw in relations between Annie and Johnny after he stepped up, but a harsh financial winter is coming unless the project’s precarious financial situation is resolved.
Aired at 9pm on Thursday 28 January 2016 on ITV.
> Order Jericho on DVD on Amazon.
What did you think of this week’s episode? Let us know below…