Spoilers.
24 Official Site
The Time: Mondays, 8:00 PM, Fox
The Show:
Jack
Bauer is a former government agent, most recently assigned to the
now-defunct Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU), which was tasked with
investigating and preventing threats to American national
security. Doing whatever it takes to get the job done, Jack
is a dedicated and deadly instrument of justice who has saved the
country on numerous occasions, though frequently paying a high price
for his service. Following Jack’s exploits over a full 24
hours of one day in real time, 24 is an award-winning political and action thriller that created a new format – and standard – in TV drama.
The Stars:
• Kiefer Sutherland – Jack Bauer
• Mary Lynn Rajskub as Chloe O’Brian
• Cherry Jones as President Allison Taylor
• James Morrison as Bill Buchanan
• Annie Wersching as FBI Special Agent Renee Walker
• Colm Feore as First Gentleman Henry Taylor
• Bob Gunton as White House Chief of Staff Ethan Kanin
• Jeffrey Nordling as FBI Special Agent in Charge Larry Moss
• Rhys Coiro as FBI Special Agent Sean Hillinger
• Janeane Garofalo as FBI Special Agent Janis Gold
• Carlos Bernard as Tony Almeida
• Peter Wingfield as Emerson
• Ever Carradine as Erika
• Tony Todd as General Juma
• Hakeem Kae-Kazim as Colonel Ike Dubaku
• Kurtwood Smith as Senator Blaine Mayer
• Glenn Morshower as Secret Service Agent Aaron Pierce
• Sprague Grayden as Olivia Taylor
• Cameron Daddo as Vice President Mitchell Hayworth
• Jon Voight as Jonas Hodges
• Carlo Rota as Morris O’Brian
• Elisha Cuthbert as Kim Bauer
The Episode: “1:00 AM – 2:00 AM”
Due to Starkwood and Jonas Hodges having three launch-ready rockets with the bio-weapon ready, President Taylor has had to call off the airstrike on the Starkwood compound at the last second. To add insult to injury, the President has to host Hodges in the Oval Office to discuss his terms. But Tony is still on site and discovers a way to possibly end the Starkwood threat by taking out the missiles. Meanwhile, Jack is still at FBI HQ suffering from the onset of the bio-weapon’s symptoms. He gets a surprise visit that he’s not happy about. And there’s yet another twist at the end that just turns everything on its ear…again.
The Lowdown:
Another pretty solid episode, although this is the longest stretch I can recall where Jack has been on the sidelines. I wouldn’t figure a little thing like dying would keep him from wasting a few dozen terrorists or getting a couple of good interrogations in. Luckily, Tony is there to pick up the slack, and he has a lot to do this episode. He’s the only thing that stands between Starkwood and Hodges getting their way. Even as President Taylor negotiates with Hodges and Seaton, he and Jack hatch a plan to blow up the bio-weapon rockets and take away the stranglehold that Hodges has on the President. This involves some good old fashioned commando shit on Tony’s part and he’s successful in blowing up the fuel tanks adjacent to the rockets and removing the threat. Moss and the FBI team then are able to move in and clean things up.
Meanwhile, Hodges and Seaton arrive at the Oval Office and commence to present their demands to President Taylor. What I liked about Hodges was that, even though he knows he’s committing treason and terrorism, he is unrepentant about it in the name of the greater good, and arrogant enough to stand right up to the President and the authorities and defy them to stop him. He did hide behind legalities while getting the missiles ready, but once his position was set, he was ballsy enough to demand a meeting with the President to discuss terms. I didn’t quite get then why he would try to distance himself from Juma and the day’s atrocities, when he knows they have evidence against them and the stance he’s taking with the rockets are just as bad if not worse than killing a few hundred people on those planes, as well as Taylor’s son. He’s threatening to wipe out thousands in the blink of an eye. So why play the games? Loved his reaction when he gets arrested.
Then there’s the return of Kim, which finally gets Jack to crack. Turns out she’s been in Washington all day, including at the Senate hearings, trying to get hold of him. They reconcile, but Jack can’t handle her being there. He doesn’t have any faith in the slim chance of the cure, and he tells Renee outright that he knows he’s dying, and he’s fine with that. But she has to go and bring the one thing that he can’t deal with and it shows when he breaks down after she leaves. Having checked IMDB, this wasn’t a one-off appearance for Cuthbert, as she’ll be on the last seven episodes. So they’ll probably continue to pursue the cure with her despite Jack’s wishes. I also wonder if the memory effects the bio-weapon is having on him are going to carry over into next season.
Considering how things played out with the bio-weapons being destroyed, and there still being six episodes left, I was wondering what other twist would emerge to shake things up one final time and that turned out to be a Starkwood guy absconding with one final canister. A character turns and kills another character in probably the biggest shock of the season. I honestly wasn’t expecting that and it looks like it’s going to turn into a final showdown between that character and Jack. Also sorry to see the other character go, considering how much I was on him the entire season. But it does leave a possible new romantic door open for Jack in Season 8. Looks like some good stuff is brewing for the final quarter of Day 7. Looking forward to seeing how it plays out.