Heather Lisinski
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| Heather Lisinski | |
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| First appearance | "Pilot" |
| Information | |
| Gender | Female |
| Age | 26 |
| Occupation | Teacher |
| Portrayed by | Sprague Grayden |
| Created by | Stephen Chbosky |
Heather Lisinski is a character on the US post-apocalyptic television drama Jericho. She is portrayed by Sprague Grayden.
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[edit] Biography and background
Heather is a teacher at Jericho Elementary School in the small, rural town of Jericho, Kansas, the setting for the series. The official CBS online biography for the character describes Heather as a "tomboy with a great sense of humor," that her "main interest is science," and that she is a "great mechanic" who "knows how to make almost anything work." It also pinpoints her "burgeoning relationship" with Jake Green. [1]
For more on Heather's background, see Sprague Grayden's remarks on her character (quoted below). Grayden's comments suggest that Heather was raised in Jericho, but the producers of the show have since stated that her character did not grow up there. [2] It was later revealed in episode thirteen that Heather grew up in New Bern, described as "a nearby town," presumably also in Kansas. [3]
In an "Insiders' Commentary" on the "Jericho" pilot (available on the CBS.com web site), executive producer Jon Turteltaub states that "there was such a connection between Heather and Jake in the (pilot) show it really let us know we want(ed) Heather to be a part of it, and seeing the work that Sprague was doing and how charming she was, we really had to put her into the series. This character was an afterthought." [4]
[edit] Activities in the series
Heather has been depicted as possessing a wide range of scientific, mechanical, and engineering knowledge. Among other things, she has:
- attempted to repair the HVAC system at the town's medical clinic,
- assisted in pumping large quantities of fuel and warned others about improper methods of transferring fuel,
- shown considerable skill in wire stripping,
- utilized the property of varied boiling points to make ice,
- repaired a pickup truck after an electromagnetic pulse,
- offered strategic advice to counter the gasoline tank of the pickup truck from being ruptured by gunfire, and
- displayed detailed knowledge of wind turbines, and the voltage regulators required to couple their electrical output to the town's power grid.
[edit] "Pilot"
In the pilot episode, Heather is on a field trip with her class when their school bus crashes, an accident caused by a deer that goes berserk after the nuclear explosion over Denver, Colorado. Her leg is broken in the accident, and the bus driver is thrown unconscious, leaving them stranded. Heather and her students are rescued by Jake Green, who saves the life of a student, and drives the bus back to town. This is Heather and Jake's first meeting, and she is seen smiling at him through her pain after their successful rescue.
[edit] "Fallout"
In episode two, Heather helps Jake repair a rundown fallout shelter, displaying a talent with mechanical devices. (When Jake asks her if she can strip wires, Heather responds "ever since junior high!") She and other residents are forced to take shelter in a local salt mine, where Jake hears a radio distress call from his ex-girlfriend Emily Sullivan, leaving to rescue her. Heather is shown looking after Jake, clearly concerned. (Jake returns in episode three to assist in evacuating the mine, and is seen looking for Heather until he finds her, asking if she is okay.)
[edit] "Four Horsemen"
In episode three, despite her injury, Heather helps to maintain order in the mine, and rations bottled water to her schoolchildren. She is shocked when she discovers that a friend of hers was allowed to die in the mine because others feared he was about to create a panic. Later, at the town barbeque, Heather sits alone, shaken by events. Jake brings her a plate of food, and sits with her, and she is subsequently seen smiling and conversing with him.
[edit] "The Walls of Jericho"
In episode four, Jake and Heather discover a refugee from the nuclear explosion at Denver, and Heather goes to get help. When she returns, she encounters Jake coming out of the shower (wearing only a towel) and she tries to hold a conversation without looking at him. Heather helps Jake and Stanley to siphon gasoline from the local gas station to fill the generator at the medical clinic. Near the end of the episode she joins a search party which finds twenty more refugees in the woods at a small lake near Jericho, all dead from radiation poisoning.
[edit] "Federal Response"
In episode five, a downed power line at the library injures Emily, and Heather quickly tends to her, while making sure her schoolchildren are safe. When one child comes up missing, and the library has caught on fire, Heather rushes into the burning building and finds the child but is trapped in the fire along with her. Jake helps to restore the water pressure, the fire is doused, and Heather and the child safely escape from the building. Heather is not aware that Jake has again come to her rescue.
[edit] "Long Live the Mayor"
In episode seven, Heather is seen at Stanley Richmond's farm looking concerned after watching Jake and Emily conversing. Later, she confesses her feelings about Jake to Emily, who warns her to be careful: "There's a lot of things about Jake you don't know." Heather warns Jake to be careful as well before he goes off to negotiate with Jonah Prowse. When Jake has to leave Jericho (in a pickup truck which Heather repaired), to seek medicine for his ailing father in a nearby town; a worried Heather impulsively rushes into his arms and kisses him, telling him to "come back in one piece."
[edit] "Rogue River"
In episode eight, Heather carries food to the Green house. When Jake's father turns critically ill, Heather tries to make ice to cool his fever, and begins to panic when at first it doesn't work: "Everyone's counting on me, and it's not working!" Emily tells Heather that she was to be married the next day. Heather reassures her that her fiance will return and Emily encourages her by saying the same about Jake. When Jake returns, Emily credits Heather with saving his father's life.
[edit] "Crossroads"
In episode nine, Heather brings Emily a bouquet, on what would have been her wedding day. Wanting to distract Emily, Heather invites her to Bailey's Tavern, where Heather gets (in Jake's words) "pretty wasted." Her dialogue indicates that Heather would have been Emily's maid of honor at her wedding, and she is seen in that role during Emily's daydream sequences.
[edit] "Black Jack"
In episode thirteen, Heather accompanies Jake, his father Johnston Green, and Dale Turner to the Black Jack Fairgrounds in search of parts for the local windmill. Things go awry, and Heather and the others are forced to flee. At the end of the episode, Heather leaves for New Bern with her friends from that town, to help repair their windmills and build new ones for use in Jericho.
[edit] Other episodes
Heather was seen only briefly in episode six (without dialogue), and was not seen at all in episodes ten, eleven, twelve, fourteen, fifteen, or sixteen, although she was mentioned in dialogue in episodes eleven and sixteen.
On the official CBS site, the producers of "Jericho" state: "Unfortunately, Heather’s story beyond 'Black Jack' is something we can’t go into detail about, lest we give away too much about where our (spring) season is headed. Just know Heather will play a crucial role in the story going forward." [5]
[edit] Character traits
Over the course of episode five, Heather shows remarkable selflessness in dealing with Emily, her schoolchildren and a missing child -- taking no apparent thought for her own safety, despite obviously dangerous circumstances. She displays considerable calm in crisis situations, including the stranded school bus and the salt mine, but she also shows a moment of panic in episode eight when her plan to help Jake's father seems to be failing, indicating some insecurity or fear of failure. She has a "thing" for Jake (in Emily's words) and is sometimes shown as being self-conscious, because of her feelings for him. In episode seven, she finally acts on her feelings for the first time.
[edit] Family and relationships
Heather appears to be single, as she wears no ring, and is clearly interested in Jake as a potential boyfriend. She and Jake exchanged smiles and glances after his rescue of the school bus, indicating the beginning of a romantic attraction between them. In episode four Jake offered to walk Heather home, an offer she gladly accepted, but the pair were sidetracked by events. In episode seven, as Jake was about to depart on a dangerous mission, Heather gave him an unexpected, passionate kiss -- their first romantic contact. No other love interests for her, either past or present, have been seen or discussed.
In episode eleven, Emily revealed to Jake that she was aware of "the kiss," and that Heather had spoken with her about Jake. Emily told him that she didn't want to see Heather get hurt. Jake replied, "I have no plans to do that." Later, in episode thirteen, Heather confronts Jake about the fact that they have not spoken since she kissed him, but says that she is not upset. At the end of the episode she concludes that "things didn't work out with us," but this does not appear to be the end of the relationship between Jake and Heather.
Heather and Emily are depicted as good friends, despite Emily's previous relationship with Jake, Jake's continued feelings for Emily, and Heather's obvious interest in Jake. In episode nine, it was revealed that Heather would have been Emily's maid of honor at her wedding, and she is shown setting up several activities to entertain her on what would have been her wedding day.
Heather has admitted to Jake that she was unpopular in her teenage years. Her parents and siblings, if any, have not yet been shown in the series. A line of dialogue in episode thirteen suggests that Heather has no close family in Jericho.
[edit] Sprague Grayden on her character
According to an online interview with Sprague Grayden, "Heather represents the innocence of the town itself, and I think we will see her grow up a bit...she's so quiet...so strong, and yet really sheltered. We're going through her first traumatic experience..." [6]. In another interview, Grayden states that Heather is the "minister's daughter," and that she is glad to be playing a character her own age [7]. This indicates that Heather is approximately 26 years old -- Grayden's age -- at the beginning of the series.
Of Heather's budding relationship with Jake Green, Grayden said, "She has a crush on Jake, she didn't have a lot of friends in the town growing up." [8] Along with her apparent religious upbringing, this has led some to believe that Heather may be a virgin, but there has not yet been any evidence in the series to support this theory. On the possibility of a love triangle between Jake, Heather, and Jake's former flame Emily, Grayden said, "I can say that definitely happens." [9]
Grayden also revealed that Jake and Heather share a "secret connection," even though the two had not met prior to the first episode of the series. The nature of the connection is as yet unknown, although it may be their mutual history with Emily, which was not apparent until mid-season. [10]
It is uncertain how many of Grayden's comments on Heather can still be taken as canon for the series, since the minister's-daughter and religious aspects of her character have not been shown onscreen nor are they mentioned in the official CBS character biography -- but neither have they been refuted by any evidence seen in the program.
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| Jake Green | Emily Sullivan | Heather Lisinski | Eric Green | April Green | Robert Hawkins Gray Anderson | Dale Turner | Gail Green | Johnston Green | Stanley Richmond | Bonnie Richmond Bill Erikson | Mary Bailey | Gracie Leigh | Mimi Clark | Jonah Prowse | Jimmy Taylor | Skylar Stevens |
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| Related content | |
| Characters list | Jericho, Kansas | Episode list | Beyond Jericho | |
