Heather Lisinski

Heather Lisinski
File:Jerico bios photo sprague grayden.jpg
First appearance	Pilot
Created by	Stephen Chbosky
Portrayed by	Sprague Grayden
In-universe information
Occupation	Teacher

Heather Lisinski is a character on the US post-apocalyptic television drama Jericho. She is portrayed by Sprague Grayden.

Biography

Heather is a teacher at Jericho Elementary School in the small, rural town of Jericho, Kansas, the setting for the show. For more about her background, see Sprague Grayden's remarks on her character below. Grayden's comments suggest that Heather was raised in Jericho and may have spent her entire life in the town.

Activities in the series

"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 at Denver. 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.

"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.)

"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.

"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.

"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.

"9:02"

In episode six, Heather is seen only in a brief shot at the end of the episode, helping Stanley to harvest his corn crop along with other townspeople. She has no dialogue.

"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 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."

"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.

Character traits and relationships

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 appears to be failing. She has a "thing" for Jake (in Emily's words) and is sometimes self-conscious because of her feelings for him.

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.

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 attraction to Jake. Heather has admitted to Jake that she was unpopular in her teenage years. Her parents and siblings, if any, have not yet been seen in the series.

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..." [1]. 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 [2]. 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." [3] 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 Heather, Jake, and Jake's former flame Emily, Grayden said, "I can say that definitely happens." [4]