Thunder Mountain is expanding the Alliance, inviting small towns to join them in the fight against Daniel. But Daniel is somehow finding out which towns are signing up, and has plans of his own for those who side against him.

The Alliance has set up trade routes between a dozen states. Kurdy says food is coming from the south and equipment from the north, while the Alliance is connecting the towns via communication, power and water. Also the Alliance is expanding, adding more towns every day. Kurdy and Smith persuade one such town, Ridgway, to join up. Ridgway has remained impartial until now as it is situated on the border of Daniel's group.

Daniel's forces attack Ridgway, burn it down and take its inhabitants as prisoners for their work camps. One of the town's leaders, Barbera, hides from them.

Daniel's forces also attack Innsmouth, a town on the other side of Milhaven, run by a woman called Shiela. Although Jeremiah and Kurdy intercept the truckload of prisoners, Shiela decides to withdraw from the Alliance, not wanting her town to be caught in the middle of a war between Daniel and Thunder Mountain.

The leader of Daniel's attack force is known as Sims.

Smith is so distressed by the knowledge of what will happen to Libby that he tells God he no longer wants to be his emissary.

Libby's loyalties were really with Daniel: she was assigned to keep close to Jeremiah and let Sims, her lover, know Thunder Mountain's plans. Smith overhears them and confronts Libby. When she turns to shoot him, he fires in self defence and kills her. Smith tells Jeremiah she was killed in the battle.

"The last time I said something on God's behalf when he didn't really say it, my tongue turned black for a week."

Libby: "Why are you winding a watch that doesn't work?" Smith: "Because someday the world's gonna change and it'll start ticking again. I'd like to have it ready for when that day comes."

Smith's speech to God is worth noting in full: "I can't do this anymore. You hear me? I can't do it anymore! I didn't ask to be the chosen. I don't want to be the chosen, I'm tired of being the chosen. So choose somebody else for a change! You got nothing to say? I know you can hear me. Pick now to go quiet? Well damn you. Damn you for doing this to me. And damn me for not blowing my brains out. That'd really mess your plans up, wouldn't it? I don't want to know what I know! I shouldn't have to know the things I know, not if I can't do anything about it!"

Sims, on arriving in Innsmouth: "This town has been contaminated by the Western Alliance, deemed to be unclean in the eyes of Daniel. Surrender or die."

Jeremiah to Kurdy, after burying Libby: "I will find him if it takes me the rest of my life. And when I find him, I'll kill him, I'll kill everybody standing with him. I'll kill them all. And when that day comes, nobody can stop me, not Markus, not nobody. Not even you."

God, from Smith's closing voiceover: "An avalanche can be born in snow or rain or fire. This one must be born in fire, the fire of rage, the fire of the human soul at war with itself and everything around it. Because only fire can fight the coming flood."

The title is yet another Old Testament reference. The river Jordan is of significance at numerous places in the bible, but the most likely source for the reference is that the Israelites crossed it at the end of their journey to the promised land. The river is said to have parted to allow them to cross, as the Red Sea did. See Joshua Chapter 3 for the full story.

Interesting that Jeremiah blames Libby's death directly on Sims, despite Smith saying she was killed "in the battle". If he's not careful his vendetta against Sims could take him over as his need to find Valhalla Sector did. More broadly, Jeremiah is often driven by frustration at his powerlessness, for example obsessing on his brother's death. If as seems likely he develops such an obsession for Sims, this could provoke another rift between him and Thunder Mountain, and between him and Kurdy.

Kurdy's suggestion that a lot of the food is being produced by the southern states ties in with Jeremiah's assertion in "The Long Road" that farming practices are being re-established there.

There are rumours that Thunder Mountain plans to run Milhaven in a more Daniel-like fashion. When Frank prints these some of the townsfolk appear to believe them.

Kurdy and Jeremiah's previous trip to Innsmouth is not something we have seen during the series.

This episode take place around New Year.

It seems Smith is forewarned about Libby's death, but not told where or how it will happen, or that she is really working for Daniel.

Sims is an unusual name, perhaps a surname. This might suggest that Sims is Smith's opposite number; perhaps even that they are the two strange attractors.

Sims say that the assassination attempt on Jeremiah was not authorised by Daniel, but from a rogue element within his group.

Smith's anger at God echoes Jeremiah's in Man of Iron, Woman Under Glass.

A perfect example of Straczynski playing to his strengths, this gripping story unfolds via a series of genuinely shocking yet logical developments, and is helped no end by the instant charisma of John Pyper-Ferguson.