12 posts tagged “24”
If you missed this episode you can view it at My Space
I continue to try really, really hard not to compare this season to the last. And, given how awesome last season was, I suppose it is not fair to expect that this season could live up to the peak previously established. But I'm growing weary of this slow season. I keep waiting for a turning point like last season when Logan revealed himself to be not a wuss but rather an evil mastermind thus cementing season 5 as the best season ever. Alright I'll quit whining but just wanted to acknowledge the general ennui many are feeling.
Spoiler alert! Read on if you want to learn what happened in this episode of 24.
1:00 - 2:00
Bill Buchanan has his hands full at CTU first having to tell Jack that Graem is dead and then pulling Chloe off the hunt for Morris because her concern is ruining her performance.
As Rita drives while being chased by CTU it's apparent that she is more than just a whiny sidekick to McCarthy as she has a natural talent for stunt driving.
McCarthy has Rita park the car under an overpass to hide from Jack's prying eyes and while he is stealing a truck, Morris attempts to convince Rita to release him by telling her that CTU only knows about McCarthy. Rita responds by killing McCarthy and delivering Morris to Fayed so she can keep the $7 million for herself which she will be able to spend because CTU doesn't know about her. Oh dear, sweet deluded Rita, it's not CTU knowing about you that's going to prevent you from spending the $7 million.
At the White House, 2.0 reveals that Thom convinced him to run and managed his campaign which is why 2.0 keeps him around even though they fundamentally disagree on how to handle terrorists (and given that in 24 world the country has been under constant terrorist attacks for a decade, you'd think they'd have figured out if they were on the same page before the election but then we wouldn't have the White House traitor de jour plot, would we?)
Assad arrives at the White House (about four 1/2 hours after leaving CTU so believable - good job writers)to have a private chat with 2.0. This pushes Thom over the edge and he directs his lackey, Reed, to draft a resignation letter for Thom to sign. So Thom can write up a devious plan but can't write a letter for himself.
Reed calls a shady dude (Carson) and says that their shady plan is a go and they discuss possibly letting Thom in on the shady plan so that he wont resign and they wont lose White House access.
Marilyn and the love-child arrive at CTU and Bill continues his fun day of getting to pull people off jobs and tell them that their loved ones are dead.
Meanwhile, clearly, despite his employment at CTU and love of Chloe, Morris is just a clueless as Rita when it comes to the way of terrorists. Instead of just attacking Rita and running away (since she's not going to shoot him because without him she gets no $7 million) he allows her to drag him into Fayed's lair. And, surprise!, Fayed doesn't just hand her $7 million. He tells Rita she'll have to wait until Morris does his business. Fayed then proceeds to torture and beat Morris (with Rita watching) until he relents and agrees to program a detonator for Fayed. I'm wondering how they can expect Morris to program with a concussion but the pistol whip him about the head and ears nonetheless.
Meanwhile CTU locates Fayed's building and they set up a perimeter. Despite meeting him an hour ago at the perimeter set up around Graem's house, Jack clearly cannot fathom that another agent could survive a CTU perimeter so he asks Agent Turner to introduce him again. Jack suits up and has Chloe trigger a fire alarm to empty the building.
Fayed quickly figures out what CTU is up to and drills into Morris' arm in order to speed him along towards programming the trigger. Given the choice between death by drill or programming the trigger, Morris chooses a few more minutes of life programming the trigger and finishes the task just as CTU storms the apartment and Fayed escapes down the hole into the sewers. Jack is disgusted by Morris's lame inability to withstand torture and that not only did he create a working trigger for Fayed, he armed one of the suitcase nukes which Fayed has left behind as a lovely parting gift for Jack. Jack calls CTU, informs Chloe that Morris is alive and Chloe is put back on the case. As Chloe talks Jack through disarming the bomb she gives him incorrect schematics and Jack mutters a soft, "damnit!" [Drink]. Jack asks Chloe if she's sure she's got it right the second time and Chloe snarkily replies "I'm about as sure as I'm going to be before the bomb goes off." Yay, scowly Chloe is back!
At the White House, Reed intimates (just musing as he calls it) that 2.0 might be taken out so that those who side with Thom might soon be in charge. At first Thom directs Reed again to write his resignation letter but when he then learns of Fayed's escape he reconsiders, decides to not to resign and tells Reed that he's interested in learning more about the plan to off 2.0.
2:00 - 3:00
After escaping, Fayed contacts Gredenko whom I'm guessing is "the man."
At CTU, Chloe rushes to Morris's side as they escort him to CTU's infirmary of doom.
Jack arrives at CTU and staffers all gawk and stare upon actually seeing him alive.
Jack and Chloe share a moment over her happiness that Fayed didn't manage to kill Jack earlier that morning.
Papa B. cleans up after Graem and erases contacts from his cell phone while Chloe tries to pep talk Morris as he beats himself up over giving Fayed a working trigger.
Papa B. continues to worry about losing the only thing that apparently matters to him, his company, and calls a henchman and orders the henchman to find and kill Gredenko.
Bill has a little chat with Jack and chides him for giving Graem too much pain serum. Jack pushes back and says that although he wanted Graem dead because of Palmer 1.0, he did not kill Graem. Bill offers to cover up what Jack did because he doesn't want to slow things down with an internal affairs investigation which of course they would do in the middle of hunting Fayed and hours after Jack is back from years of captivity and dismantling a nuclear bomb because CTU is stupid like that.
Assad presciently advises 2.0 to tread lightly after taking an unpopular position because "they will come after you."
Marilyn sets out with Jack and Milo to try and remember any Graem/Gredenko encounters and sends love-child off with Papa Bauer. Josh is just as an annoyingly whiny, demanding child as Kim so clearly he is Jack's love child.
Chloe fights with Morris while trying to convince Morris to get back to work and Marilyn start to re-live her past with Jack. Marilyn's trip down memory lane is interrupted when Papa B. calls her to inform her that he killed Graem and that he will kill Josh, too, if she doesn't steer Jack to a different house than the one where Graem met with Gredenko.
Morris, inspired by Chloe's guilt-inducing pep talk, heads back to work as if he didn't just program a nuclear bomb trigger for terrorists. Internal affairs investigation for Jack because they think he might have killed his shady brother and a cheery "welcome back" for Morris the traitor. CTU - top of Fortune's "Worst Place in America to Work" issue.
Jack arrives at the set-up house and informs the team that he needs Gredenko alive for questioning (perhaps this is why Papa B. wants to throw Jack off Gredenko's scent - he won't kill him, will question him and will find out about his relationship to Papa B.?). The set-up house is empty save for a bomb that explodes. In the chaos of the explosion, Milo pulls Marilyn into the van and drives off with Papa B. henchmen following - they shoot up the van but Milo and Marilyn escape as the van also explodes.
Meh. There are reveals but they aren't surprising. There's action but it isn't heart pounding. I mean, Reed and Thom and probably the VP want 2.0 out - duh! Jack dismantles the nuke at the last second - did anyone ever think for a moment that it was going to explode in Jack's face? I'm holding on but 24 - throw me a bone soon, OK?
24 isn't as exciting as last season. How I Met Your Mother is still good but hasn't managed to sustain the hilarity of slap bets and Swarley. And Studio 60 is now dead to me. I don't have an alternative (I'll probably fill in by watching my recordings of Everybody Hates Chris and Girlfriends) but last night confirmed to me that I find this show unwatchable as it makes me want to put my eyes out with hot pokers.
And it's sad. The cast is good, the writers have solid track records and the pilot had so much promise. But it has been steadily downhill since then, save a couple of hopeful moments. However the new "romantic comedy" direction has just been unbearable as it is completely unromantic and not at all funny. I liked the Matt and Danny relationship but we get none of it because Matt is busy moping after Harriet, the woman with whom he has no chemistry and Danny is busy stalking (not wooing, creepily stalking) Jordan. And then we have the distraction of several women wanting all of scrawny Tom Jeeter's junk, some sad cartoonish slapstick involving animals failing to eat each other and the hilarious race and power struggles between Simon and Darius. Alrighty then. Good times over for me.
If you missed this episode you can view it at My Space
Spoiler alert! Read on if you want to learn what happened in this episode of 24.
Well, this episode picked up a bit from last week's building block but it is still nowhere near the level of Season 5. Perhaps that's an unfair bar considering how truly great last season was but still, it's tough not sighing in remembrance.
But on with the show... we are shown a reporter who states that he is standing on the edge of the nuclear zone in Valencia with the mushroom cloud rising over his shoulder. Um, seriously? I know the news business is tough and competitive but, honestly, I'd quit my job before I'd trust that they could that quickly define and edge to the nuclear fallout zone where the radiation is going only up and not down or out. Evs.
Much like last hour, we are treated to another somewhat obscure and esoteric, but also very closely related to current real life arguments, debate over the finer points of the Constitution. Habeas corpus, anyone? This time it is 2.0 and back-stabbing Thomas. Thomas re-presents his master plan and 2.0 tells Thom to gather the cabinet.
Thom instructs his lackey, Reed, to gather the cabinet, Karen calls Bill to tell him she quit and leaves the bunker and Chloe can't call Jack.
Grae is dumping hard drives while Papa B. and Jack head to their death and Papa B. tries to make amends to Jack, telling him that his actions to protect the company were all for Jack.
The evil henchmen drive Jack and Papa B. to a quarry and order them to kneel so they can shoot them all cool and execution style. Pere et fil refuse and then it's on - Papa and Jack tag team the henchmen and take them out. As always, Jack's mysterious ways remain misunderstood and Papa B. kills his henchman, too. Jack yells, "Damnit! [drink] I needed to question him!" How ever will Jack find out what he needs to know without being able to torture it out of the henchman?
Jack then has Bill set up an oh-so-effective CTU perimeter around Graem's house.
Over at the seedy motel, Rita wants a candy bar but Darren McCarthy says "no" and then sends a picture and CV of the bomb-trigger-programmer to Fayed. Riveting. McCarthy tells Fayed that the engineer has the skills but will have to be coerced.
Nadia informs the CTU team that they've intercepted McCarthy and Fayed's chatter including the encrypted photo.
At Graem's house Al Turner informs Jack that he is the agent in charge of the perimeter. Jack hands him a red shirt to change into. Inside the house, Graem, Jack, Papa, Marilyn and love-child argue, fight, cry, plead and pull guns on each other until the agents can take the over emoting no more and smash in the windows and storm the house.
Marilyn and Jack fight and then Marilyn reveals that she is the rare person in Jack's orbit with a lick of 1sense as she politely declines Jack's kind offer to protect her son since, as she points out, she's seen how well that's worked out for everyone else in Jack's life. Nonetheless, she allows Jack to ship them off to the oh-so-safe CTU offices.
Jack instructs an agent to prep Graem for questioning which involves lights, camera and a briefcase and laptop with a fancy heat seeking lie detector test. As the tech sets up the equipment Jack and Grae squabble and open up their childhood wounds.
Back at CTU, Milo pulls Chloe aside and tells her that Morris' brother was in Valencia for the bomb blast and is now in the hospital with radiation poisoning. For some reason, Milo is shocked, shocked I tell you, that Chloe wants to tell Morris. Milo doesn't want Morris to leave because they're short handed. Chloe insists Morris can handle the truth. Surprisingly, as soon as Chloe delivers the news, Morris gets up to leave. Chloe talks him down and convinces him to stay. (Hmmm, I can't remember - did Chloe also convince Edgar to focus on his job and not dwell on his mom dying from radiation poisoning, as well?)
Meanwhile, Jack plans to torture Graem with several cc's of pain-inducing serum. Graem screams and sweats and Jack threatens more pain while hugging his brother and imploring him to breathe. Ah, the complexities of brotherly love.
Jack orders the tech to administer enough pain serum to possibly cause a heart attack. Graem confesses all his badness from last season - ordering the assassinations of Palmer 1.0, Tony, Michelle and Jack. Graem then spouts a bunch of hooey about how it was because he loves his country and he and Jack are the same.
Jack then goes crazy and tries to kill him but then Papa B. enters the room and Jack relents.
SPL comforts Walid in the hospital and Walid says that he is ashamed that he spied. 2.0, who didn't have time to spare for Karen an hour ago and who was supposed to have been in a cabinet meeting starting 15 minutes ago, did have time to find out about Walid and to call SPL. SPL gives him a civil rights pep talk which you just know is going to turn him around and lead him to reject Thom's proposal again. How do I know? Because as they talk, 2.0 is shown touching the cover of the proposal.
Jack prepares to ship Graem off to CTU for more questioning (and perhaps the infirmary of death?). Before Jack boards his waiting helicopter Papa B. tells him that he deserved better than Paba B. and Grae for family. Jack wants Papa B. to go to CTU but Papa B. wants a few minutes. You can see the wheels turning in Papa B.'s head and a few minutes alone cannot bode well.
Morris gets to within two minutes of unscrambling the picture McCarthy send to Fayed and revealing the poor soon-to-be-coerced engineer. Morris decides it's close enough to hand off and he leaves to check on his brother. As soon as he leaves the picture appears and it's - Morris!
Next is the kind of moment where 24 loses me. It's the little things not the big, glaring plot holes that get me. So, instead of just sending some officers after Morris, first Bill checks the security tapes, then Chloe calls him and then, instead of just telling him that it's a trap, they patch Jack in to explain it - because, you know, clearly Morris would trust Jack on this more than Chloe.
Thom chats with the VP who is on a plane and who is happy to learn that Thom believes 2.0 finally has the stones to approve Executive Order 1066. Why do Presidents on 24 always pick running mates who fundamentally disagree with them? I guess the Presidency is just no fun without a conduit for some murderous moles and traitorous aides in your administration.
At the cabinet meeting Thom is shocked, shocked I tell you, that 2.0 turns down his still bad plan, telling the cabinet that the American-Muslim community is our best friend in this fight. The VP asks to be heard but 2.0 puts his foot down.
Papa B. spends 5 minutes of quality time with Graem. We quickly learn that the whole killing Papa B. thing was merely a ruse and the plan was to trick Jack so that Papa B. can hang on to his company. Graem insists that he is as strong as Jack and can take the additional torture he's sure to get at CTU. Papa B. pats Graem on the head and says "that'll do pig." Well, not really, but he does inject Graem with a massive amount of the pain serum and kisses him good-bye. Nice to see how warmly the Bauer boys torture and kill each other.
With that we are off to await two hours next week of hopefully torture and action packed 24 goodness.
Papa, can you hear me?
If you missed this episode you can view it, in a bit of corporate synergy, at My Space
Spoiler alert! Read on if you want to learn what happened in this episode of 24.
Not a whole lot of action in this episode but lots of setting the stage for more of the madness that is a day in the life of Jack Bauer.
From the intro I learn that Jack's brother's name is spelled "Graem" so presumably his nickname is "Grae."
We open with 2.0 wrapping up his speech to the nation. Karen and Thom argue constitutional rights vs. homeland security, realists vs. neo-cons, long term vs. short term, in a way that echoes real life arguments going on around "the war on terror." Thom, angling for the title "Palmer's brain," tires of tangling with Karen and asks his lackey, Reed (played by Chad Lowe), to help him get rid of Karen so that he can persuade 2.0 to sign off on his detention camps, racial profiling and other charming proposals.
At CTU Nadia complains to Bill Buchanan that because she is of middle-eastern descent she has to jump through extra security hoops which are hampering her ability to do her job.
Back at Casa Bauer, Jack takes the bag off Graem's head and Grae tries to lie to Jack about Bauer, the elder. Jack looms with the bag again and Grae fesses up that Papa B. went to find Darren McCarthy who stole the rogue suitcase nukes from the family business, BJX, and sold them to Fayed and his boys. Graem says that Papa B. is cleaning up the mess because he and dad are more effective than "you guys" (meaning Jack and CTU). Seriously Graem? You really believe this after Jack has saved the world and foiled your evil plots?
Jack drags Graem out in handcuffs to go look for dear old dad and asks Chloe to send some backup agents. Milo finds out that Nadia's sudden poor performance is due to racial profiling and he points out to Bill Buchanan that not only has Nadia been in the U.S. since she was two and that she is a "registered Republican!"
Over at the detention camp FBI agent Samuels continues to bicker with SPL because SPL wants her sweetie out of there before the others catch on and Samuels continues to argue that perhaps Walid can get more information.
Reed gets Thom some dirt on Karen's husband that supposedly Bill had Fayed in his clutches 13 months earlier but let him go. Karen argues that the charge is bogus but Thom demands that Karen resign because he's got a boatload of people willing to testify against her for supposedly covering up Bill's screw-up.
Milo logs Nadia in under his ID which I suspect is foreshadowing for something that will happen later in the day. Karen resigns and persuades 2.0 to reassign her to CTU after she tells him that he is his own best counsel and will know what to do.
At the detention camp the others figure out Walid's shenanigans and they jump him and find the phone he filched from one of them. The FBI and SPL charge in to his aid.
At Darren McCarthy's empty office Jack, with Graem in tow, hot wires a security keypad and then enters in that familiar crouching Jack, pointed gun way we know and love. In case you weren't sure, Jack is back. Jack then hot wires a computer.
Jack hears things that go bump in the late morning and goes to investigate. He knocks a guy out and then another dude comes up from behind and knocks Jack out. As the dude is about to shoot Jack, Papa B., aka Phillip Bauer, appears to spare his son's life.
Just an aside but allow me a moment to nit-pick. It's hard to tell how tall actors are onscreen unless they are next to some kind of reference point and the angle they are shot at isn't manipulated in some way. When I lived in LA it was often surprising to see actors in real life and that they looked much different than I thought from seeing them onscreen. Like, you'd think Arnold Schwarzenegger would be even bigger in real life, not just somewhat bigger than average. So although Jack and Graem aren't NBA material, it's only rarely disconcerting (like when Jack was back lit by an explosion) but casting James Cromwell as Phillip Bauer means that I'm going to be distracted all the time this season. Cromwell towers over his TV sons.
Back to the action, Papa B. claims that he's looking for McCarthy to clean up the nuke mess and that McCarthy said that the bombs couldn't be detonated because of their lack of triggers. Um, obviously McCarthy is not the stand up thief you thought he was, Papa B. Papa B.'s cronies bring Graem to the scene and Graem lectures Jack about the importance of protecting families, like Jack's dead wife (ooooh, he went there!) and asking Jack where he was when Papa B. needed him. And then Graem directs the cronies to handcuff Jack and Papa B. because the cronies are really Graem's evil henchmen there to keep an eye on Papa B. for Graem. Graem is the puppet master!
As Graem now drags pop and bro out we see that the evil henchmen have killed the CTU backup team. You'd think that CTU teams would have learned by now that backing Jack up is a sure sign of their poor prospect for long term employment. Jack and Papa B. are loaded into a van while Graem heads to a different car and ask them to call when "it's" over. Silly Graem - once again I point out to you that when Jack is involved, it is never over. And I know you don't know this Grae (can I call you Grae?) in case you weren't sure, the kind writers of 24 gave you a little shout out in the form of a helicopter crash, Romano.
Finally, McCarthy (the British guy) gets a lead on a dude who can be forced to program the nuke triggers for Fayed. The continuing promise of lots and lots of money keeps McCarthy's lady friend, Rita, with him in a seedy hotel and in Los Angeles post-nuclear fallout against her better judgment.
The snippets of the next hour give us a taste of how Jack will escape the clutches of the evil henchmen (seriously, do we need to be reassured that Jack will return next week?) and utters what would be the line of tonight if it were part of this episode: "You will experience pain I cannot even describe." Oh, goody! I can't wait!
If you missed this episode you can view it, in a bit of corporate synergy, at My Space
Spoiler alert! Read on if you want to learn what happened in this episode of 24.
Hints:
Los Angeles, the real city of brotherly love.
Grey's anatomy.
Best. Twist. Ever.
Seriously, this episode had a twist that I was very happy wasn't spoiled for me, and it is based on a link between season 5 and this season, so please proceed with caution if you plan on getting caught up later.
2.0 is informed by Tom and Karen that the nuclear blast resulted in 12,000 dead, air traffic has been shut down and that there are 4 more of the suitcase nukes loose. The secret service moves 2.0 to a bunker and he prepares to make a televised speech.
Over at CTU we learn that they've lost track of Fayed, all communications and satellites have been knocked out by the blast and all CTU teams in the area that could go check were too close to the blast and are now dead.
Chloe is distraught over the nuke and Curtis and asks plaintively, "Why do people I know keep dying?" Chloe, darling, you've been friends with Jack Bauer for how many years now and this thought is just coming to you?
Chloe and Morris then engage in some excellent CTU banter:
Chloe: "There's been massive packet loss. Wanna help me boot up routers?"
Morris: "Who wouldn't"
Who indeed?
Fayed is riding in a van with the additional suitcases. He calls the guy who sold him the nukes and offers to pay him twice as much for four more detonators.
Somewhere in the Valley a news helicopter has crashed into a roof and a guy runs around trying to find someone to help him rescue the pilot and passenger stuck inside. Of course, in the hysteria, nobody pays a whit of attention to him except Jack. Jack explains that the shockwaves from the nuclear blast knocked the helicopter out of the sky and then proceeds to scramble up onto the roof to rescue the other passenger just before the copter falls to the ground and explodes.
Jack calls Bill Buchanan and asks to be picked up. Bill reminds Jack: "You said you were out." "Not after this" Jack coolly informs him. Yay! Hopefully this means torturing without a second thought, no more crisis of faith Jack is back.
In the bunker a joint chief gently suggests picking a country in the middle east that supported the attacks and bombing it into the "stone age." Tom, trying to suck up to 2.0, gently suggests that the Admiral STFU.
Assad arrives at CTU to absolutely no fanfare. Although he assures Bill that he is no longer his enemy, Bill refuses Assad's hand when offered.
An aside, Morris is bringing the snarky banter this season and it's a bit of welcome comic relief.
CTU questions Assad who points them to a former Soviet General whom Assad had sent Fayed to negotiate with for nukes back in the day when Assad was bad.
Milo, Morris and Chloe discover a shocker in the Russian General's contacts. One of the recent calls to the General was from BJX Technologies' Phillip Bauer - Jack's father.
Bill calls Jack with the news and Jack knows nothing as he hasn't spoken with his father in nine years. Jack then insists that he be allowed to question his father alone as he'll be more likely to talk.
At the D.C. detention facility, FBI Cyril is back to wire Walid so they can get more intel after the "five visitors" remark panned out. Over SPL's repeated protests ("I'm the president's sister!") Walid attempts to bust through the red rover ring of random Muslim men Walid's new BFF is whispering with. The men speak in Arabic and are clearly suspicious of Walid and shun him. Some FBI agents then call Walid out and rough him up. The BFF is certain then that Walid is one of them and comes over for a chat. As instructed to by the FBI, Walid drops the name of Fayed and that's the magic password as he is then invited into the inner circle.
Jack calls his father and speaks with, what someone who looks like he can only be described as a "manservant" who tells Jack that Papa Bauer has flown the coop sans cell phone and that he tried calling Jack's brother "Grey" to locate him without luck.
A dude named "Liddy" (I'm sure that's intentional) call's Grey and OMG!!! WTF!!! "Grey" is "Graham" from last season - the one who ordered President Logan to auf Jack. You might remember him as the bad dude who set the standard for a whole new terrorist stereotype, placing fear in hearts everywhere of bespectacled white dudes wearing suits with bluetooth headsets. Or perhaps you remember him as the late Dr. Romano from E.R. or Montgomery MacNeil from the movie, "Fame."
Best. Twist. Ever. Screw the nuke, this is the bomb!
Now I'm back to watching this season the way I watched season 5 from the beginning - crouching in the corner of my sofa, huddled under a couple of throws clutched to my chest and alternating between giggling with glee, clapping my hands and muttering "Jack is back!" and scrapping my jaw off the floor. I'm so happy.
But wait, there's still more show!
Jack calls Grey who feigns obviously fake surprise over Jack's aliveness and concern for him and claims Papa Bauer and he tried to call in favors to get him out of the clutches of the Chinese. Grey claims Papa Bauer is off in Las Vegas having a fling with one of his many girlfriends before Jack hangs up.
Grey arrives home to his wife and son (who looks like a mini-me Jack) and tells his wife that she will be happy to know that Jack, whom Grey intimates his wife is hot for, is back.
Back at the bunker, blah, blah, blah sensitive speech writing.
The British guy who sold Fayed the nukes picks up a blonde lady friend from a random street corner and tells her that they can't leave town to escape the nuclear fall out quite yet because there is a lot of money to be had.
Fayed instructs one of his minions to tell "the man" that the bombs will go off today as scheduled. Why all in LA? That seems odd that they wouldn't try to 1. spread out the terror and 2. not bother to attack LA which has been repeatedly saved from terror attempts over the last nine years. Silly terrorists.
Nadia finishes grilling Assad and then tells Bill that she believes Assad wants peace. Bill then tells Assad that they are sending him to D.C. and offers Assad his hand. Awwww, detente!
Jack then makes a suprise appearance at his brother's house and after Grey awkwardly tries to hug Jack, it is established that they haven't seen each other since Terri's funeral. Grey introduces Jack's "nephew" to him (I'm convinced this kid will turn out to be Jack's love child). Jack and Grey retire to his study wherein, after a bit of chit chat, Jack promptly punches Grey, locks the doors, grabs a lamp and yanks off its cord and uses said cord to tie Grey up and then begins to question Grey. But questioning begins after Jack points out that if Grey tries to raise his voice, Jack will rip his tongue out. If Grey lies to him Jack promise to hurt him. Grey claims that Jack is already hurting him. Jack asks Grey to trust that he is not. And Jack is not kidding.
As 2.0 begins to address the nation after a pep talk from the ever ingratiating and helpful Tom, Jack asks Grey a few questions to which Grey does not give satisfactory answers. So, after informing Grey that he brought this on himself, Jack throws a plastic bag over his head to suffocate him. I know it's wrong but I am positively giddy over these fabulously cartoon-y violent developments.
What did you think? Was the Grey's twist as excellent and shocking to you? What role do you think Papa Bauer will play in the conspiracy? Could he be "the man?" Is that kid Jack, Jr.?
Curtis continues to needle Assad and refuse to accept him as part of the operation. They learn that a PDA found at the storage unit has a message that a "visitor" has arrived and Assad fills them in that "visitor" is code for suitcase nuke.
Worried that Curtis is hiding something that causes him to worry more about putting the screws to Assad than finding Fayed and Numair, Jack calls Chloe and asks her check out any connection between Curtis and Assad. And then, oh snap! Chloe pushes back on Jack asking if this is important because she's busy and stuff. Last time they spoke Chloe was all "Oh Jack I though I'd never hear your voice again!" First Curtis and now Chloe?
Soccer dad calls Ahmed and Ahmed orders him to deliver the new package to Fayed. Ray insists that Ahmed release his family. Ahmed agrees to release one and dad requests the son. Ahmed says that now he knows who soccer dad values most and then releases soccer mom instead. Soccer mom flees and Ahmed tells soccer dad where to deliver the new package.
On Ahmed's order soccer mom calls soccer dad to prove that she has safely escaped his clutches. Soccer dad begs soccer mom not to call the police. Soccer mom hangs up and promptly calls 911. Soccer mom is patched through directly to Jack who then rushes the team to soccer mom's house. This isn't going to end badly at all. Right.
An ambassador from an unnamed middle eastern country arrives at the White House to confirm what Jack's been telling them about Assad's peace plan. 2.0 calls Jack and tells him to make Assad part of the team and that Assad will be granted a full pardon for his past crimes in exchange for his help in stopping Fayed. Assad will agree only after he has the pardon in writing. Clearly, unlike the Americans, Assad has learned the lessons of days gone by where the bad people only give it up once they have the presidential pardon in writing.
SPL tries to call her brother again to demand Walid's release and Tom manages to snag the call instead. SPL tells Tom that she can smell his stink all over the detention camp.
Walid stands up for another detainee whom a guard is messing with. The detainee sits with Walid and tells him "they will all pay." The detainee leaves and goes over to another group and the converse in Arabic. Walid eavesdrops.
Ray arrives at Fayed's warehouse, delivers the package and then nicely asks Fayed to go ahead and call Ahmed so that Ahmed will let his son go along his merry way. Oh sweet trusting soccer dad. Fayed keeps soccer dad alive just in case they can later use him as a bargaining chip and then calls Ahmed and orders him to kill geometry boy.
Jack, Curtis, Assad and the team descend upon the suburban house where Ahmed is holding geometry boy. Even though Jack clearly instructs them to take Ahmed alive, they promptly shoot him as he prepares to kill geometry boy. Jack calls for a medic, worried that they won't find out where Ahmed sent soccer dad. Geometry boy however remembers the address where Ahmed sent his dad and Jack heads out to tell Curtis. Curtis however is still not happy about having a terrorist all up in his perimeter.
SPL returns to visit Walid and Walid tells her of the Arabic phrase he overheard and SPL shares the phrase with FBI.
The written pardon arrives at the Suburban house for Assad to sign. This further displeases Curtis. Chloe calls Jack to tell him of the Curtis - Assad connection. It seems that one of Assad's terror attacks killed several of Curtis's men during Desert Storm. Curtis grabs Assad while Jack is distracted by the call and drags him outside and puts a gun to him. Jack orders Curtis to release Assad and Curtis refuses. And so Jack shoots Curtis in the neck and kills him. Wow! First Ryan Chappelle, now Curtis. Jack will do what he has to do to save the world but it's really taking a toll on him. After shooting Curtis he stumbles away, falls to his knees and vomits. Buchanan calls him as soon as he hears what has happened. As his crisis of faith deepens even further, Jack asks Bill to tell the president that he can't do this anymore.
Meanwhile at Fayed's warehouse Numair is installing the detonator that soccer dad delivered into the suitcase nuke. As he finishes, CTU forces descend on the warehouse. In the shoot out that ensues soccer dad has a chance to jump on Numair, whom he has watched assemble the bomb, but no, soccer dad's a wuss and he just tries to duck the gunfire. Numair detonates the device and we see Jack watch the mushroom cloud rise. At CTU Milo gets word of the phrase Walid overheard. Nadia translates - it means "five visitors." In other words there are four more suitcase nukes.
There has been much gnashing of teeth over the portrayal of terrorists detonating nuclear bombs and that it is right wing propaganda from Fox to try and generate support for the Bush administrations' use of torture in the war on terror. Keith Olberman accused the show of attempting "brainwashing." (Hat tip: TV Squad) But I'd point out that 24 previously had terrorists detonate a nuclear plant which killed many people with radiation poisoning (remember the agents with melty faces and Edgar's mom?) so this story line is not that new. The show presents counters to many of the plot devices that could be construed as conservative or liberal and Jack's crisis of faith so far this season certainly belies the notion that torture is only all good in the world of 24.
Fayed calls 2.0 to demand the release of "enemy combatants" being held in Palmdale. Even though 2.0 knows Fayed is not to be trusted and the crew argues for denying the request, Palmer agrees in order to buy some time while continuing to attempt to foil the ongoing attacks.
Jack suggests to Assad that they bring in CTU's mad satellite skillz to help them track the handler who they believe will lead them back to Fayed. Assad says he won't work with his enemies. Jack points out that he's working with one now.
At CTU Milo is pulling rank on Morris and Morris gets in a snit. Chloe breaks up the fight and meta-explains that Morris and Milo are just posturing because Chloe briefly dated Milo but is now back with Morris. I suspect this bit of information will figure into the story later on because otherwise it's a throwaway. It could be one of the kind of storylines that male bloggers are convinced are in there just to woo the ladies with some superfluous romance. But no, boys. We ladies like 24 for the action and found the pre-Jack attack Audrey and father-daughter Kim bonding storylines just as annoying as did you. Producers, please feel free to delete superfluous romance in favor of more Jack running around saving the world in his tight t-shirt. :D
Jack apparently did not forget how to drive while he was locked up not talking. Jack jacks a car and chases after the handler. He slams into the handler's car and jumps out to berate the handler for "causing" the accident. Assad pulls up and pretends to be a sympathetic witness as Jack jumps back in the car and speeds off. Jack calls CTU and tells them calmly that "the suspect was involved in a traffic incident." Assad offers to give the handler a lift to where he needs to go since his car is totaled. As they get into Assad's car, Assad dials Jack and drops the phone into the door cubby so that Jack can track Assad and the handler to their destination.
Back in suburbia, Ahmed is holding geometry-boy and his parents captive. Because of his badly injured leg, Ahmed can't deliver the package and tells soccer dad that he'll have to do the deed. Bill Buchanan sends Curtis to find and assist Jack but Curtis isn't too pleased about the involvement of Assad. Karen Hayes informs 2.0 that Jack is back on the case so perhaps they don't need to continue with the prisoner release. Not surprisingly for Wayne's world, 2.0 still doubts Jack and decides to take his chances with Fayed.
Jack and Curtis rendezvous and continue their strained reunion. Curtis doesn't like the whole Assad peace plan nonsense and is apparently pissed that Jack has returned to replace him as CTU's resident ass-kicker and world-saver.
2.0 has arranged for his sister SPL to be released but Walid is taken to one of the detention centers Thomas Lennox secretly set up before he floated the idea. SPL angrily calls 2.0 to insist that Walid be released instead of being held without cause since she's the one who deleted the files. 2.0 demurs saying that if Walid is innocent he has nothing to worry about. SPL worries about her brother throwing the Constitution out the window and again detects the stink of Lennox.
Et tu, Curtis? OK, I get that you can't just flip the switch with Assad but, damn, even you don't trust Jack? I guess not because Curtis has his squad arrest Assad when they meet up to drop in on the handler. The handler is at a storage unit and is looking at a laptop. As Buchanan loses his mind and again doubts Jack, the handler spots the CTU team and escapes into the storage unit and then emerges with a grenade and blows up the unit.
Since the handler did not lead them to Fayed, 2.0 gives the final go ahead for the prisoner release.
Meanwhile, soccer dad delivers the package to a parts store. The parts store guy decides to demand more money. Ahmed orders soccer dad to make it work and exchange the package (lots of money) for the other package. Soccer dad tricks parts store guy into giving him a peek at what he's there to buy and then kills the parts store guy and absconds with the other package which appears to be something like a computer chip with some wires sticking out.
Chloe is able to extract some data from the charred laptop at the storage unit. Assad recognizes a drawing as a nuclear detonator. Curtis is pissed that Assad is enough of a terrorist to recognize the drawing. Nadia knows that there is a terrorist named Numair who is suspected of having "suitcase nukes" which the detonator is for. Numair is one of the prisoners being released. They quickly realize that this is the point of Fayed's demand to release the prisoners and they try to stop it and to recapture Numair. As agents storm the prisoner bus looking for Numair, in a classic 24 double cross, one of the tough talking guards in charge of the prisoner release is seen on an empty bus urging Numair who is hiding in the bathroom to run because Fayed waits.
Jack runs out into the light of day, locates a car, breaks in and finds a GPS enabled cell phone. Excellent! Jack immediately calls Bill and asks to be patched through to 2.0 who, along with his Oval Office crew, is skeptical that Fayed is being truthful and that Assad might not be quite evil incarnate. Now, new guy Tom I can buy being skeptical, but 2.0 and Karen owe their jobs to Jack being right in the past. I chant to myself "Suspend disbelief - there wouldn't be a show if they didn't act like idiots."
Jack realizing that he is on his own to save the world, once again, hotwires the car, punches in the coordinates for Assad's location which he overheard Fayed supplying to CTU and heads off to El Segundo (at least it looks like that's where the GPS is pointing him to) to look for Q-Tip's wallet and to save Assad from the missiles CTU is sending his way.
Once at Assad's hideout, Jack has no weapon but no worries. A stick and a recycling bin are all he needs to draw out, distract and disable one of Assad's minions and to strip him of his weapon and use him as a hostage to bust into the lair and tell Assad of Fayed's devious plan and the oncoming CTU missile equipped helicopters. Jack manages to get Assad and Fayed's mole out of the house before it and the remaining minions are destroyed by a very surgical strike neatly contained to just the one house in a dense urban neighborhood. Again, excellent!
We then visit the Islamic-American Alliance where two FBI agents (one played by Scott William Winters, brother of Dean, who played Cyril in Oz) demand the Alliance's personnel records from Walid Al-Rezani (formerly Chief of Staff to Commander in Chief, Gena Davis) and newly discovered Palmer sibling, Sandra (Regina King). Until Sandra reveals herself to be a fraction of the woman super-villan 1.0's wife Sherry Palmer was I shall refer to her as Sherry Palmer Lite or SPL for short. SPL calls brother 2.0 and demands that he call off the FBI attack dogs and that they stink of Thomas Lennox. 2.0 agrees but asks her to keep an open mind about Tom.
Bill Buchanan calls 2.0 and crew to tell them that Assad's body cannot be found in the wreckage. They then collectively wonder how could Assad escape their grasp and foil their plan certain to end the attacks. Um, folks, do you remember that little man (Jack is indeed a tiny, tiny man but that's good for scrambling and infiltrating and stuff) you brought back to the greater Los Angeles area?
We see Fayed back at his warehouse command center preparing yet another suicide bomber to attack.
Back at CTU Chloe uses her mad satellite skillz to figure out that it was Jack who helped Assad escape. I wonder, why is she telling Bill this after Bill went along with handing Jack over to be killed? Then I remember last season and think, because ultimately Bill is awesome.
Jack, Assad and the mole break into an abandoned house and Assad tells him more of his make-nice-with-Westerners peace plan. Jack then goes into another room in the house and possibly goes to the bathroom (gasp!) but definitely gets out of his bloody button up and switches into a nice tight grey t-shirt. Sweet! Jack's clothing is very important to his ability to save the world. For instance, wearing what TVgasm dubbed "the slightly faded but nevertheless useful extreme hoodie of infiltration" last season, Jack would flip up the hood whenever he needed to infiltrate and he never failed. Sorry George Michael, sometimes clothes do make the man.
Jack decides to torture the mole to get dirt on Fayed's plans and whereabouts. He half heartedly sticks him in the shoulder region and gets nothing. Assad then shows him how it's done and sticks the mole in the knee, gets the dirt and then kills the mole. Jack having to be schooled like that makes him think he doesn't know how to do this anymore. Don't worry Jack, I'm sure it will all come back to you soon enough.
Over at the Islamic-American Alliance the FBI agents are back with a warrant and they start to seize a computer with the personnel files. SPL pulls a Chloe-like maneuver and digitally shreds all the files and so the FBI agents arrest her and Walid.
At Ahmed's house (Isn't Ahmed about the age teen-terrorist Behrooz would be about now?) Ahmed opens up a wall to extract "the package." Then the redneck is back and geometry-boy rushes over to help Ahmed and arrives just in time to see Ahmed shoot the crazed racist neighbor after a fight in which Ahmed is seriously injured. Ahmed turns the gun on geometry-boy and demands that they go back to his place.
Jack and Assad follow up on the mole's dirt and head to a train station where they locate the suicide bomber and his accomplice. Jack sends Assad off to follow the handler (who just hangs out with the bomber until the last minute to make sure he doesn't chicken out) while he follows the bomber onto the train. Jack identifies himself to the ticket taker and then proceeds to kick the bomber out a window just as he is detonating his bomb.
The ticket taker then alerts CTU to Jack's aliveness and around the same time Karen Hayes is notified that a call from Fayed to the bombers was intercepted and thus it dawns on CTU and the White House that, duh, Jack is alive and well and, as always, right. But, again, I remind myself that without a lack of faith in Jack, there would be no Jack awesomeness.
We begin the morning by meeting the new White House team as they deal with terrorist attacks happening across the country. Special Advisor Thomas Lennox (Peter MacNicol revealing where the spaceship he left Numb3rs on landed - Planet Bauer) suggest that President Wayne Palmer (Palmer 2.0) consider placing all Muslims in detention camps (because placing Japanese-Americans in internment camps ended WWII, right?). Karen Hayes, now National Security Advisor, opposes the idea and instead argues that killing notorious terrorist Hamri Al-Assad (Assad) will end the attacks. 2.0 goes with Karen Hayes' plan.
During some snarky repartee at CTU, we welcome back Chloe's ex-husband Morris, now division-trained and in charge Milo from Day 1 (played by Eric Balfour who rocks one look in every role he plays - "I'm a badass! No, seriously - see the goatee, the soul patch, the earring even sometimes?!? I'm badass, I tell you!!"), Bill Buchanan (who is married to Karen Hayes now) and we meet Nadia Yassir, Bill's new second-in-command.
Jack returns from China looking like a boxcar hobo and we learn that he's been gone for 20 months, he hasn't spoken and 2.0 paid a big price to the Chinese to negotiate his release. Although we don't know how 2.0 sweet talked the Chinese Consulate into giving up Jack (Is it just me or does the Chinese revenge seem awfully out of proportion to Jack's transgression against them?) we do learn that 2.0 paid $25 million and promised the opportunity to torture and kill Jack to Assad's assistant (Abu Fayed) who promises to give up Assad's location so that Assad can be assassinated and then the terrorist attacks will be done and all will be right with the world.
Jack is told of all this and he accepts his mission. Jack is then given the opportunity to clean up because when you're about to be handed over to a terrorist who wants to torture and kill you, it is important to look good.
Curtis and Bill drive Jack out to a drop spot. As Bill Buchanan is apologizing to locking Jack to a fence and for the sacrificing of his life, Jack explains that he stayed alive in the Chinese prison because he didn't want to die for nothing and now it will be a relief to die for something.
We then see a nice suburban couple, watching the news of the suicide bombing that just happened in LA to go along with the ten other attacks and mom insists that son go to school because he has a geometry test. You know, it's moments like this, more than Jack's apparent lack of a bladder, which really makes it difficult to suspend my disbelief. Dad notices an Arab neighbor being dragged out of his house and arrested by the FBI. The arrested man's son (Ahmed Amar - played by Kal Penn, i.e. Kumar) protests loudly and is apparently buds with the geometry-learning son so when soccer dad sees the neighborhood rednecks trying to rough up Ahmed he charges across the street to stop the fighting.
Meanwhile, back at CTU, Morris helps Chloe gain access to an illegal Uzbeki satellite so they can try and track Jack since, in addition to the money and Jack, 2.0 gave up access to all government satellites and whatnot so that Fayed could make sure they weren't trying to double cross him. Fayed's team still manages to find out about the Uzbeki satellite and threatens not to play ball.
But, Fayed is happy once he has his hands on Jack and begins to taunt and prepare to torture Jack just as Jack did to Fayed's brother years ago. While taunting, Fayed drops a little bombshell that Assad is not behind the day's attacks since Assad has decided to give peace a chance and that Fayed has orchestrated this little maneuver so that the U.S. government will kill Assad for betraying the true terrorist cause that Fayed is now masterminding. Fayed also asserts that since the attacks will not stop, Jack will die for nothing. Jack has told us he won't do that. Something's coming.
Fayed's torture session is interrupted when he gets a call from Ahmed telling of his father's arrest. Ahmed assures Fayed that he still has "the package" and will deliver said package. While Fayed is distracted, Jack is back! Jack takes a bite out of crime by literally biting his guard to death. It's a good thing that 2.0 is the son of a slayer because it will be handy if it turns out that what happened to Jack in the Chinese jail is that he was turned back into a lost boy. And as Jack escapes into a sewer I wonder if he's going to meet up with Jesse, um I mean Milo.
And to those buzzing on the internets that it's only 18-24 year old guys who suffer this problem - nope, it the middle-aged ladies, too.
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