Heavy is the head that wears the crown.

Sarah discovered the truth of that statement as she and Greylock faced several challenges on The Republic of Sarah Season 1 Episode 2.

And that was only after two months of uncertainty, some of which she spent in federal prison for daring to seek a better life for Greylock's citizens.

It's impossible not to feel sympathy for Sarah. All she wanted to do was to keep her small New Hampshire town from literally being bulldozed by a greedy mining company aided by an avaricious state government.

And Sarah managed to find an incredibly creative loophole to accomplish that on The Republic of Sarah Season 1 Episode 1.

Only big corporations and government entities don't take kindly to the little people standing up against them. That's why, even after Greylock voted for independence, Sarah ended up jailed on sedition charges.

Two months later, thanks to a skilled defense attorney (her mother), Sarah was acquitted, and Greylock remained independent.

What wasn't addressed was why nothing happened to Greylock while their leader was imprisoned. Likely the powers that be must have decided that the courts would summarily put down its uprising.

At first blush, Sarah would appear a good choice to lead a fledgling nation, even if she never meant for things to go this far.

As the independence vote proved, the people of Greylock will stand behind Sarah. They proved that by voting her in by acclamation after that simpering William, firmly in Lydon's pocket, resigned in disgust.

That weasel actually had the gall to run a petition campaign against Sarah while she was jailed, only to lose badly and go back to sniping from the sidelines.

As a history teacher, Sarah was well prepared. She understood Santayana's cautionary dictum that "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

After all her bold proclamations to her students, Sarah had no choice but to get involved in the fight. So she did, winning the first round (the independence vote) and the second (her trial).

Governor Taggart paid lip service to the spunky little mayor. Then she did everything she could to undermine Sarah. There's coltan under Greylock, and she means to have that revenue for her state treasury.

This was where Sarah really could have used Ellen's assistance. But her mother was afraid it would drive her back to the bottle as it did during her career in politics.

First, Taggart turned out the lights in Greylock. Then she scared off every utility that could have helped out Sarah.

Finally, she lectured Sarah on the facts of political life. Who would have thought that Taggart and Spock were philosophically on the same page ("The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.")?

Sadly, Sarah had to learn this lesson far too soon.

Anyone dealing with Greylock was going to say, "Show me the money." That was the obstacle against which Sarah soon came up.

It was another stroke of genius to buy power from a wind farm run by an anti-government Quebecois. Only his cheapest rate was more than Sarah could afford to pay.

Any good leader has to assess her town's resources. Quaintness can only draw tourists to a New England town for a handful of months each year.

That reluctantly left Sarah attempting to deal with Danny and Lydon to mine coltan, which started this whole revolution.

Naturally, those negotiations couldn't go as smoothly as Sarah hoped. Instead of the two mines on the outskirts of town, Lydon wanted the parcel under Grover's house that he had built for his late wife.

So to save Greylock, Sarah has to come up hard against her best friend and potential future lover, who has been there for her through all her hardships. It's just not fair.

Grover nailed it when he said Sarah couldn't be both a good friend and a good leader. Unfortunately for their friendship, she has to be the latter for now.

Give credit to TPTB for not taking the easy way out, such as moving Grover's home to a new property about which he feels equally passionate.

Not to be harsh, but the ball is in Grover's court. Rather than blaming his friend for doing the best she could for the town, he has to move out of the past and accept his changing world.

Corinne also has had to adjust to an evolving landscape. Danny is back in town, and her secret is obviously that Josh is his son.

She almost appeared ready to blow up her happy family to rekindle things with Danny. Only he's engaged, so she had the good sense to back off. But this isn't going to be the end of things.