Coalition of the Willing (Jericho episode)

"Coalition of the Willing" is the twenty-first episode of season one of the fictional CBS drama Jericho. The title is also a name used to refer to the Multinational force in Iraq.

Synopsis
A young man, who disregards the warnings to stop and identify himself, shouted at him by Jericho's defenders, comes to deliver a walkie-talkie on which Jericho's mayor, Gray Anderson, receives a transmission from New Bern's acting city manager and sheriff, Phil Constantino. Constantino demands that Jericho turn over several farms and a significant share of its salt mine to New Bern or face an invasion. The young man turns out to be Constantino's son, Eric.

Anderson refuses and New Bern forces then fire two mortars on Jericho, and Constantino radios a threat to unleash more mortars on Jericho every hour until his demands are met. A dozen or so Jerichoans are injured, including Gail Green, when the mortars strike. In the aftermath, Robert and Darcy Hawkins make up and Robert wants to send them somewhere safe, but realizes that they can't run. Darcy asks to go 'home'. They go to the basement where Robert Hawkins allows them into his office stating that it is the safest place in the house. He then tells his wife there will be no more secrets.

Meanwhile, Anderson sends a group of men, including Stanley Richmond, to find and take down the New Bern forces. Johnston Green, Jake Green, and many others advise Anderson against ambushing the New Bern forces without an adequate military strategy, but he ignores their counsel and orders them to do so. All except Stanley Richmond are killed. Another mortar strikes the town after everyone in Jericho is safely sheltered.

Chaos generally ensues throughout Jericho in the face of the threat of violence by New Bern. Several members of the community wish to avoid violence and wish to turn their farms over to New Bern, but Johnston Green's supporters refuse to give in. The mayor finds himself holding the opposing opinion and briefly it appears there might be a coup.

Johnston and Jake, along with Robert Hawkins, Emily Sullivan, and others, decide to take action. As they are searching for where the mortars are coming from, they unexpectedly run into Jonah Prowse and his gang as they raid a truck. Emily Sullivan convinces Prowse and his men to help Jericho fight in exchange for half of all the food and ammunition captured from the New Bern forces. Emily and her father, Jonah, seem to briefly reconcile their long-standing differences when they both acknowledge Emily's survival skills.

Eventually, after it is known to Anderson that Jonah's men are now siding with Jericho's forces, he aligns himself with Johnston and military action is decided upon. Dale, the teen-age proprietor of the town's general store, raises a small independent militia composed of various refugees. The purpose of his force is to defend a farm that was promised to him if he is able to hold and secure it from New Bern's forces. After a speech to the refugees promising each a portion of the farm, many are converted to his side. Briefly, it appears his forces may act independently of Jericho's and pursue their own agenda, but he later decides to join the collective effort against New Bern.

The Jericho group comes upon the mortar base. Several members of Jericho's militia hide in the back of a truck in order to surprise New Bern's men. Johnston holds a gun at the side of one of New Bern's men, who is ordered to drive the truck, in order to gain access to the location of New Bern's militia forces that are launching the mortar attacks. Once they arrive at the camp, the New Bern troops start to line up to unload the supply truck only to find guns pointed back at them. While the Jericho troops lock up the hostages, the driver runs off and warns the remaining troops of the ambush, leading to a firefight. During the fight, Jonah Prowse's group of 30 men attack the New Bern troops from behind. Jericho's forces prevail and every member of New Bern's militia detachment is killed in a brutal massacre. This ends the mortar attacks on Jericho.

Prowse's dark side reveals itself again as he mercilessly executes the driver who warned of the ambush as he lay wounded on the ground. Johnston tries to stop him. His daughter, Emily, is shocked and horrified after watching him commit murder. Despite the brief harmony between Emily and her father, and the successful operation against New Bern's forces, Jonah reneges on the agreement to split the vehicles, weapons, and gasoline equally with Jericho. He decides to take everything. In return, Jericho's militia gets to leave unharmed by Jonah's gang. Again, friction erupts between Jonah and Emily as he tells her to stay away from him. The shock of watching him execute a wounded man, the reversal of the deal, and his shunning of her leaves their always fragile relationship in tatters.

Constantino radios Anderson to cut off negotiations and to say that New Bern forces are on their way to Jericho. Anderson turns off the radio and full hostilities get set to ensue. Hawkins reveals to Jake his secret arsenal of guns and ammunition stowed away in a large storage locker. They are retrieved, loaded on the back of a pick-up truck, and every able-bodied person 16 or older takes a gun to prepare for New Bern's arrival. By now Johnston's position as a military counterpart to Anderson's civilian authority is sealed with a handshake, as an acknowledgment of trust between the two rivals.

Johnston hoists himself onto the back of the pick-up truck and delivers a brief but inspirational speech telling Jericho that is no longer the land that they are fighting for, but for their very existence. Then Jake and Hawkins hand out weapons to every able-bodied person who needs one. They are handed out slowly and with much emotion, particularly when Jake hands weapons to Emily and his father and when Hawkins gives his daughter a weapon. Meanwhile, a reconnaissance team led by Stanley discovers a New Bern war camp preparing its attack on Jericho.