24: Episode 10

Would you like some cheese with your 24? I hope so because we got a lot of it this week. If you’re a long time fan you know the show can be cheesy sometimes. However, there were enough great scenes to balance it out to make yet another great episode. It felt very much like a mini finale which was a bit strange, but it means we’ll be moving on to a somewhat new story, or at least a new bad guy. The FBI mole was revealed to the other characters, there was a car chase, tension in the server room, and Tony finally showed up. That spells another good week of 24.

Recap: Last week Jack and Renee were stopped in their pursuit of Dubaku by the local police. That was quickly resolved as they were released very quickly in the episode. Chloe spots Dubaku’s vehicle on surveillance, which puts Jack and Renee back in the game. Jack ends up racing through a city park to catch up with Dubaku, but gets caught up in traffic. Dubaku’s truck gets in a major accident and flips several times. When Jack and Renee approach the burning vehicle, Jack immediately finds Dubaku, while Renee tries to rescue Marika. Once Dubaku is out, he tells Renee. She pulls a gun on Jack to get him to help free Marika. They finally get her out and as they run the truck explodes.

At the hospital, President Taylor is being briefed on the situation in Sangala. Bill comes in to tell her that she needs to go back to the White House for security reasons. She reluctantly agrees, and Bill says he will reroute the President’s daughter to the White House instead of the hospital.

Back at the crash scene, Dubaku is being worked on by EMT’s. Jack tries to get some information out of him about the list of names after the EMT’s revive him, but doesn’t get much. They discover what seems to be a metal plate in his chest when trying to jump start his heart, so Jack demands they cut him open. Inside Dubaku’s rib cage is the small drive which contains the list of all the people in the government who are involved in the conspiracy.

Sean and Erika, at the FBI, start to panic as they realize they are about to be caught. Sean has a plan to format the FBI’s servers which will erase all evidence on the drive found inside Dubaku. He convinces Erika to help him. As Chloe tries to recover the data on the drive, Erika and Sean bring down the system, wiping out the data. Sean then kills Erika and shoots himself in the arm. When Larry and Chloe arrive, he immediately blames Erika for everything.

Chloe reveals that the data on the drive is not lost because she backed everything up to an external server. As Sean tries to escape the FBI, he is apprehended by Moss and put in holding. The entire conspiracy seems to be coming down as all the names are released and arrests are being made.

As Jack sits on the steps of the Capitol building, thinking his job is done, Tony arrives. He tells Jack it’s not over, that Juma is planning a high profile attack on D.C. He says there is no time to get the FBI involved and that they must continue to work alone. He reveals that Burnett, Senator Mayer’s chief of staff, is involved. Just as Senator Mayer is leaving for the White House to discuss the situation around Jack with the President, Burnett gets a message on his phone that the operation is on schedule.

Review: The car chase at the beginning was great. I think 24 would do well to have a few more of those throughout the season. Did anyone else think when Jack left Dubaku to go help Marika that he would turn around and Dubaku would have escaped? I’m so glad we’re not going down that road of the constantly escaping bad guy. Renee pulling a gun on Jack was one of the best scenes so far. The whole thing with the data drive in Dubaku’s rib cage has been done before. Jack cut someone open to get a chip in season 2. It was still cool, but hard to forget that it wasn’t anything new.

I loved the tension in the server room as Erika erased the servers. I have a couple problems with this whole scene though. Wouldn’t it take more than a few seconds to reformat all the FBI servers? It takes longer than that to reformat my laptop drive. Also, I would assume the server room is one of the most important areas in the FBI. So it’s the only room without a surveillance camera? And the drive with the list of names would auto erase once the data was copied over…OF COURSE!! How convenient! At least Chloe was smart enough to back it up. Regardless of the cheese, Sean got caught, which was awesome.

The whole scene between Jack and Tony was a bit strange. I’m not sure what they can possibly do to stop a major attack on the city without the help of the FBI, but I guess we’ll find out soon enough. I’m glad to see Tony remains a good guy, it was really bothering me that he had just disappeared. The target is obviously the White House. If the fact that the President and her daughter have been taken there wasn’t enough, the look on Burnett’s face when he gets the text message should have sealed the deal. He’s on his way to the White House and knows it’s about to get messy.

• Best quote of the night: Jack tells Renee if she ever pulls a weapon on him again she better intend to use it. Her reply? “I did.” Well played, Renee, well played.
• I’m starting to wonder if Renee will quit or not. We get it, she isn’t sure if the ends justify the means. She needs to either deal with the feelings or get out like Jack said. Has she never seen an innocent person get caught in the crossfire in all her years in the FBI?
• I’m glad Larry had a moment to shine this week with the capture of Sean. He has seemed a bit less annoying over the past few weeks.

Next week starts a new chapter in the season. It should be interesting to see what turns the show takes over the course of the next few hours.

24: Episode 9

Season 7 just keeps chugging along, getting better and better as it goes. There were some really great plot shifts, a couple wonderful surprises, and the revelation of that pesky mole inside the FBI. Of course there were some minor issues as usual, but overall I thought this was one of the best hours so far this season.

Recap: After being shot in the chest, Henry Taylor is rushed to the hospital where we find out he will be in surgery for at least five hours (that’s five weeks for us) and that his chances for survival are low. When the president hears of the situation, she demands to be brought to the hospital to be by his side despite the impending military action in Sangala.

As Dubaku makes plans to leave the country, he convinces his girlfriend Marika to go with him. Though her sister Rosa objects, she decides she wants to go anyway. While the sisters argue over “Samuel”, Jack and Renee break in through the front door and demand any information they have about Dubaku. Jack realizes Marika doesn’t know who Dubaku really is, so he informs her of what he has done and forms a plan to capture him using Marika as bait.

The FBI bring in Chloe to help clean up the mess left after the situation with the CIP device. She ends up helping Jack track Marika as she is being driven to Dubaku. Meanwhile, Janis feels threatened by Chloe’s presence and tries to spy on what she and Larry are doing. Her spying results in a glitch in the tracking system Chloe is using. Chloe sees that someone is watching them, which stirs up fears about who the mole is. As Chloe’s system comes back up Jack and Renee are surrounded by local law enforcement who have a warrant for their arrest. The warrant has been issued by the FBI, though Larry knows nothing about it and tries to reverse it. The episode ends with Dubaku learning that Marika is being followed and knows who he really is.

Review: This episode was a real mixed bag, but it all came together and worked. The fact that the president has a daughter was a fun surprise, but even better was who brought her in. One of my all time favorite characters in 24, Aaron Pierce has returned as Bill needs people he can trust. Another nice surprise was the return of Chloe’s husband Morris. We also got to see her son who we found out she was pregnant for at the end of last season. I’m curious if Morris will be used as a main character or if he will just be seen the one time to give Chloe’s character some grounding in the real world.

I thought that President Taylor’s reaction to her husband being shot was interesting. She showed some real emotion which was great, but I was a bit taken back by how quickly she decided to abandon the Oval Office. Last week she was talking about being willing to make the same sacrifices she’s asked the American public to make, but this week she is putting her own family ahead of the needs of the country. It’s a tough spot to be in, I’m sure, but I have to think that the job of being president holds more weight than any other job, especially when the country is in a time of crisis. I don’t think she made the right move there.

We continue to see Renee struggle with what she’s done in the past few hours. She knows that it’s working, but I think she has regrets and is ignoring it until the job is finished. The little split screen of her and Jack while she was on the phone was great. We could see both characters reactions in a really unique way, and it creates tension trying to watch more than one thing at a time. That’s why the visual format works so well.

Finally we have the revelation of the mole in the FBI. I have to say, I didn’t think it would be Sean. He’s been played up as this underhanded guy right from the beginning so I thought that was too obvious. I was thinking it might be Larry, for no reason other than shock value. Even though I’m surprised, I think they made the right move by making him the mole. They tried to trick us by sending Janis to the dark server room, which in 24 land always means something bad is going to happen.

• I’m glad to see some old returning characters like Aaron and Morris. It will be interesting to see what happens with them over the course of the season.
• 24 works so much better when we aren’t dealing with the threat of thousands of faceless people dying, but instead on a much smaller threat. Putting Marika’s fate in the hands of Dubaku adds so much suspense that wasn’t there with the CIP device.
• Best scene of the night: Jack and Renee being road blocked by the cops
• Still no Tony? What the heck?? At least show us a quick shot of him. His story or the lack thereof just gets curiouser and curiouser…

Let me know your thoughts in the comments, or feel free to email me.

(Photos above can he found here and here from TV Guide)

24: Episode 8

President Obama nearly made the biggest mistake of his presidency thus far. His press conference almost overlapped this week’s episode of 24! We were shouting at the TV for him to wrap it up, with visions of Jack breaking into the conference and demanding “There’s no time!!”. Thankfully Obama finished moments before the ticking clock and all remained right in the world.

24 is at its best when it successfully juggles several story lines at once. With the use of split screens it has the ability to remind us that other important things are happening while we watch a scene. That sense of urgency is what makes this show great, with or without the action scenes. My biggest gripe with this episode was that some very engaging characters were completely ignored which I think took away from the overall sense of urgency to the unfolding events.

While Agent Vossler brings Mr. Taylor to Dubaku, President Taylor is addressing the nation in regards to the events of the last few hours. Dubaku, of course, plans to use Mr. Taylor as a bargaining chip to get what he wants from the president. As Jack and company arrive at the White House Dubaku calls the president and threatens to kill the First Gentleman if she does anything other than comply with his demands to withdraw from Sangala. While I’m getting the sense that most people don’t like President Taylor’s character very much, I have to say that I generally love what she’s done. Watching her realize that she must make the same sacrifices she’s asked the American public to make was quite moving.

After Matobo tells President Taylor what the ex-CTU agents have been up to, Jack decides to offer to rescue the president’s husband. She doesn’t know Jack that well and is unsure of whether to trust him or not. His response? “With all due respect, Madam President, ask around.” And that, ladies and gentleman, is why I love this show.

Jack and Renee decide to let Larry Moss into their circle of trust in order to gain access to the phone records of Agent Gedge. Moss has to keep everything a secret, even the fact that he knows Renee is alive. I’m glad they brought him into the fold. His character borders on annoying, but if they didn’t bring him in, the entire FBI plot line would be dead in it’s tracks. At a meeting of Jack, Renee, and Larry, they find out that Gedge was in contact with Vossler. Jack hatches a plan to threaten Vossler’s family in order to force him to talk. This tactic has been used before on 24, but it was just as emotionally charged this time. Of course, Larry doesn’t trust Jack, but they decide to work together for the greater good despite their differences.

As Renee makes her way to Vossler’s family home, Larry helps Jack track down Vossler. This leads to a nice little car chase, where Jack finally catches up with him. As expected, he doesn’t want to talk, so Jack gets Renee on the phone where she threatens Vossler’s wife and child with a gun. This forces Vossler to give Jack the location of the president’s husband. For a minute it looks like Renee won’t be able to continue because of her regret for what she has just done. When Jack asks her if she can keep going, she says no, but that it can wait until tomorrow. Tomorrow is the end of the season so it should be interesting to see how that all plays out long term, assuming she makes it that far.

Meanwhile back at the White House, a plan is devised to send a look-alike of Matobo to meet Dubaku in order to buy more time for Jack to find Henry. Did anyone not know this was a terrible idea and was going to end badly? Dubaku orders the car be blown up when the look-alike refuses to get out and meet him. Then he calls his men and orders them to kill Mr. Taylor since the president is clearly not complying with his demands. Just as the call comes in, Jack and Renee find the hideout and are spotted trying to sneak in. The result is a nice little gun fight, which unfortunately ends in Mr. Taylor taking a bullet to the chest. The episode ends with Jack trying to keep him alive until an ambulance arrives.

Okay, so it was a good episode. There was plenty of undercover, secret mission, bad guy killing stuff going on. But wait, where was Tony? What were Janis and Chloe up to? I felt like we were in one spot with one set of people for the whole episode. For any other show that would be fine. But with the real time, split screen format of 24, I felt like they could have done a lot more to build the tension. At the very least, give us a split screen showing what Tony is up to, or what Chloe is doing to pass the time.

Seeing the previews next week, I am hopeful that the season will continue to be a winner overall. I think we are safely past the fears of another complete crash and burn like season 6. I’m interested to see how long Dubaku remains the main bad guy. I’m surprised he’s lasted this long to be honest. Let me know your thoughts on this episode and the season in general in the comments.

24: Episode 7

How are we at episode 7 already? It seems like the season premiere was only last week. I guess that’s a good sign that the season is going well. I mentioned last week about the flow of 24, and how it goes from an exciting episode to a slower plot pushing episode. I have to admit that I am a little gun shy about this season. When a less than stellar episode like last week comes along, I worry that it is the beginning of the end.

Thankfully this week picked things right back up. With the Matobo’s being held hostage inside Dubaku’s secret headquarters, Jack and company try to find a way to infiltrate the building. Once they get inside things turn very Mission Impossible, and I thought it worked really well. Chloe was used really well this week. Instead of a crutch to keep Jack from using his instincts, she acted more like a member of the team.

Meanwhile, what I consider one of the best plot points so far this season is taking shape. Dubaku’s next target is a chemical plant in Ohio. His plan is to break into their computer system using the CIP device in order to cause one of their tanks to explode which would spew chemicals into the air and kill thousands of civilians. Janis, the FBI version of Chloe, starts to piece all the clues together and contacts the plant manager to inform him he may be under attack. He decides the only way to prevent such a massive tragedy is to release the pressure on the chemical tanks himself.

What made this plot point so compelling was that it revolved around one man. Sure it would be bad news if the estimated 30,000 people died, but that doesn’t feel personal. This guy wasn’t just a number. I really got a sense of who his character was, even though he was only on screen for a short time. I was rooting for him to make it in a way I couldn’t root for 30,000 people to make it.

You’d think Chloe would have known about the security camera outside Dubaku’s building. Unfortunately for Jack, she didn’t. So as they come charging in, Dubaku disengages the CIP device. With guns blazing, Jack, Tony, and Bill clear out all of Dubaku’s men. Agent Walker rescues the Matobo’s, and we find out the CIP device has been destroyed. Two quick points about all this.

1. Did anyone else think it was a bad idea when Renee told Jack she was taking the Matobo’s out to the van? I thought for sure that was going to lead to trouble.

2. How cool was it to see Bill kicking butt and taking names? Loved it!

As they are clearing out the rooms, they come across Latham. You might remember him from the premiere. He’s the guy who made the CIP device active for Tony. Latham has been strapped with explosives, and as Jack enters the room, they go off. During all the confusion Dubaku escapes back to his home.

That brings us back to the plot line of Henry Taylor. He basically lays on the floor unconscious until the very end of the episode. Since no one at the White House can reach Agent Gedge, or Mr. Taylor, they put out a call that he is missing. The mystery agent who has been sitting outside the apartment building decides to go in and see what is going on. He comes close to killing Mr. Taylor when his phone rings. How convenient. Dubaku is on the other end telling the agent to bring Taylor to him. So now we have an abducted First Gentleman which, by the way, isn’t one of those terms that rolls right off the tongue. I’m glad they didn’t focus too much on that story line this week. It needs to move along because it feels like there is much more important things going on. Maybe once people realize that Mr. Taylor isn’t as crazy as he seems, it will improve.

As Jack, Tony, and Bill are escaping, they decide their cover has been blown as an undercover operation. With the help of Matobo, they contact the President and schedule a face to face meeting to try to explain everything that has happened. Tony informs Jack that he has to stay behind. Apparently he has a contact he needs to exploit, and since going to the President will likely result in him being arrested, he decides to stay back. He promises Jack that he will turn himself in once he gets all the information out of his contact, but something seems a little fishy about the whole thing. Like I mentioned before, they are really playing with the question of whether or not Tony is truly good, bad, or somewhere in between. I’m very curious how this will all turn out.

Overall this was a much better episode than last week. There was more action, more suspense, and more drama. I like when an episode doesn’t end in a cliff hanger, and that’s exactly what this one did. It just ended. It makes the 24 hour day feel more real when every hour on the hour there isn’t a huge shift in the events of the day. 24 is starting to regain my confidence in it’s quality. Hopefully this continues and we end up with a great season of a great show.