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Reading clutz12001’s post on the CBS Jericho Board entitled Jericho Backstory brought me to consider the relationship of Eric Green and Mary Baily. Now, I know for some this is most probably still a sore spot so I intend to tread lightly but only so lightly because I think the writers broke marvelously from tradition with these two.
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I should set this up for those of you who do not know the Jericho Characters very well. Eric Green is the successful son of the Jericho Mayor. When we meet him he is kempt cocky and judgmental. So much so that his younger brother Jake quips at him “We were both born on third base, quit pretending you hit a triple.” But one gets the idea that it would be very hard for Eric to quit pretending, that pretending is indeed what Eric does best. It is his skill if you will and he uses it to hide a lot more than infidelity.
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Eric is married to April who is a doctor at the local medical center. They are a picture perfect couple but it seems this may be the only thing perfect about them. When we meet April she is a women confounded by her husbands distance and frazzled by the nagging unspoken truth that something has gone very wrong in her marriage.
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What April senses but cannot articulate is that Eric is being unfaithful. This is where Clutz’s wouldn’t you like to know back story enters the picture. Just how did Eric Green, Mister right, end up in an affair with the owner of the local tavern. Mary Baily is confidant in life and business but less so in her relationship with Eric. It is revealed to us that Eric has told Mary that he will be leaving April. Mary tells this to her new friend Mimi who retorts “Men like that don’t leave their wives for women like us.”
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So we are presented with a perfect lover’s triangle. Nothing good can come of it and yet the situation will over and over implore us to do something that might at first be against our better judgement. Another major theme in Jericho is redemption. The writers, through masterful story telling will suggest that instead of looking for proof that people are screwed up that we try looking for proof that they are not.
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There will be two more installments in this series.
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Eric, April and Mary (Part One)
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6 comments:
Great points on Eric, April, and Mary. It seems April had filed divorce papers on "the day before." What else had gone wrong besides Eric's infidelity? Did April already know about Eric and Mary? I suspect she was not as clueless as it seemed on the surface.
There's plenty of Eric Green backstory to be told. He's a great example of the "picture perfect" theme - putting up fronts when one is wrought with conflict.
What the writers did best in that storyline was to have characters that seemed real. All were flawed. I don't usually root for the relationship between the cheaters to work but after April's death I did. I would love to know more of their backstory. They had been married an awful long time not to start a family. It seemed both were defined by their careers. April had filed divorce papers yet was continuing to be in a relationship with Eric. I think Eric thought he could have both relationships and the thing that made him choose Mary was the fact that April had filed for divorce even though she eventually reconsidered.
Very astute observations, tero. But, as anything observed for each observation it changes things, or in this case lends itself to more questions. Mine is regarding Mimi, and this quote from your writing:
"It is revealed to us that Eric has told Mary that he will be leaving April. Mary tells this to her new friend Mimi who retorts “Men like that don’t leave their wives for women like us.”
So, Mimi is identifying herself with Mary Bailey, as the "other woman." Does Stanley know? Do we know? So, what's Mimi's back story? And when will Stanley find out about it? What a pandora's box this is!
Thanks for making me think again, tero. Interesting and facinating characters in this series, aren't they?
NightShade
They are and in the interest of full disclosure here I am going to have to say that this quote is one I pulled from memory. Here is how it actually goes:
Mimi: Guys like that don't leave wives for girls like us.
Mary: Girls like us?
Mimi: I've been around this particular block before.
Fascinating stuff and amazing how Mimi is set up to us as Jaded but ends up central to the shows strongest love story.
Yes... she is set up that way out of the gate! Mimi is shown as shallow, and self motivated, and very jaded. Her evolution began when those papers got blown in the wind. That's when she "came clean" with herself and became the Mimi we all love! (but that's another episode hehe)
NightShade
Yeah the papers are a huge moment for Mimi and for us. What an incredible scene. :-)
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