24 Season Finale: Final Thoughts

First off, thanks to everyone who came by during the finale last night. It was my first attempt at live blogging, and as hard as it was to write and watch at the same time, it was fun. I just want to do one last wrap up before we put 24 away for the summer now that we’ve had a chance to digest what happened last night.

Overall I think season 7 was a success. It may not have been the best of 24, but it was far better than the failure that was season 6. We got introduced to some great new characters like Renee, and President Taylor, who may go on to become favorites. We also had to say goodbye to some great characters. Bill had been around since season 4 and had become a fan favorite. Larry Moss was the new George Mason, the guy everyone loves to hate. But he turned out to be a great character that I wish could have been around a bit longer. The move to Washington D.C. worked really well. About mid way through the season, I found that the location became irrelevant, which I guess means the story was good enough that it didn’t matter where everyone was. With all the changes that were in store for this season, it turned out really well.

When I think back over the season, I wonder if it had too many mini-plots. I’m not sure we needed Dubaku, or even Jonas Hodges for that matter. It might have been fun to follow this Alan Wilson character through the whole thing, and then find out who he really is at the end. We all knew Dubaku, and General Juma, weren’t the main bad guys for the season so that felt a bit like filler, even though there were some great episodes in the first half. And even though I thought Hodges was the main bad guy, he was still an unsatisfying villain.

I went into the finale with low expectations. The episode leading up to it made me think we were in for a Kim centered ending which I thought would be a disaster. Thankfully I was wrong. For what might be the first time in 24 history, Kim’s plot line didn’t bring the show down. They brought the airport situation to a quick end and moved things along nicely.

The White House seemed to be a low spot in the overall story of season 7. More often than not it was really hard to care about what was going on there. But the finale did a great job of bringing it all together in a way that was suspenseful, emotional, and fun to watch. Seeing Olivia being brought down by Aaron and Ethan was one of the most satisfying moments of the season, not just the finale. I couldn’t believe it when Mr. Taylor suggested a cover up, but thankfully President Taylor did the right thing.

Speaking of the right thing, that’s exactly what Renee was looking for advice on. Jack’s speech to her about why he does the things he does was a great moment for the show. In seven years we’ve never really seen inside Jack’s reasoning for his actions. We’ve seen Renee struggle with what is right and wrong all season as she has watched Jack do what is necessary to get the job done. Now she is faced with making her own decisions while she is no longer working with Jack. While I found the scene where Jack meets with the Imam from Jibraan’s mosque a little odd, it was good to see him trying to make peace for the things he has had to do.

Now for the centre point for the whole season, the thing that was hyped to bring us all back, and the thing that was equal parts exciting and confusing… Tony. When Tony died in season 5 I was one of the people who said that although his death was clumsy at best, it was time to move on because he was dead and wasn’t coming back. Well I was wrong. I thought they handled his return alright, though the explanation for why he wasn’t dead was a little weak. The biggest problem, which makes sense looking back, was how Tony didn’t seem to make any sense. One minute he was bad, the next he was good, and then he was bad again. And we were never given very much information on his true motives. I honestly thought that they brought him back and then realized they didn’t know what to do with him. That might have been true, but they covered it up well with this ending. It explains every action Tony has taken throughout the season. He wasn’t bad, but he wasn’t good. He was playing both sides. Everything he was doing was simply to track down the man who killed his wife. Looking back I think the situation with Tony got more closure than I initially thought as he was taken into custody. But Alan Wilson needs to be revisited. That’s a story line I really hope they pursue. Finding out that Alan Wilson was the one ultimately responsible for so much that has happened in the show was huge. I can only hope that next season they pursue this guy further to get more answers from him. The way they revealed who he was and then just left it hanging really left the door open for more of the character. I’ll be really disappointed if they don’t mention him again.

For the second year in a row, the final moments of the season were very low key. That isn’t always a bad thing, but I felt that the situation with Jack’s health got wrapped up far too easily. They were playing it like Kim wouldn’t do the treatment to save Jack for a long time, and I liked that. But in the end, while it was good to see that Jack isn’t invincible, they took the easy way out.

So in the end I thought the finale mirrored the season really well. It had some amazing moments, but it also had some flaws. I’m glad that although the show doesn’t have the same freshness that it did in the first three seasons, it is still going strong and trying new things.

Thanks to everyone for reading my recaps and reviews every week. It’s been a lot of fun. Hopefully you’ll come back through out the summer to see everything else we have on Real Life Sitcom. See you back here in January for the next season of 24!

24: Episodes 23 & 24 (Season Finale)

Welcome to the 24-Season 7-finale-live-blogging-extravaganza! I’ll be posting my thoughts on each commercial break during the two hour event and then tomorrow I’ll post a big overview of my thoughts on the finale and the season in general. After each commercial break just hit refresh while you’re on this page and you’ll see any new updates. Here we go!

8:26 pm – TV is on, snacks are prepared, people are arriving. It all starts in about a half hour.

Commercial Break 1:

• The credits are over, Olivia is in the hot seat, and Tony is in transit.
• Here we go with Kim. Hopefully this doesn’t get too ridiculous.
• Jack’s taking over the van with two guns!
• Chloe’s biggest surveillance nightmare, a tunnel.
• At the first commercial we’re off to a good start. It looks like this one is going to be action packed right from the start. The bad guys don’t have a canister, but they have Jack, this should be interesting.

Commercial Break 2:

• Aaron and Ethan make a great old guy team. I’m loving watching them bring down Olivia. Ethan’s on board, no surprises there.
• Does Olivia really think that giving the investigators attitude is going to help her cause? She’s is just begging to be found out.
• She found the recording device!! I love Aaron’s reaction.
• Speaking of great teams, it;s good to see Chloe and Janis working together again this week.
• We all know the situation with Kim is going to go bad, right? The guy with the long hair is too creepy.
• …and it’s gone bad. The woman is down, the creepy guy is injured and on the run, and surprise, surprise, Kim’s gone after him. IDIOT!!

Commercial Break 3:

• Ethan + strip search = no thank you
• This cant be over, Ethan and Aaron will find another way to get to Olivia. She needs to be taken down!
• Yes!! Etban had an extra memory card. Looks like it’s not so hard to out smart Olivia after all.
• It looks like Jack is being led to an execution…
• While Tony tries to get a job promotion, Jack’s getting a spinal tap.
• I wonder what kind of condition Jack will be in after this situation. The spinal tap and the drugs seem like they could take him out of commission. So far this first episode is going really well.

Commercial Break 4:

• Olivia’s house of cards is crumbling fast. It looks like almost everyone in the White House is suspicious.
• Kim would make a great ninja with her running in high heels, heavy loud breathing, and being in plain sight.
• Creepy long haired guy got shot, but now he, nevermind, he’s dead.
• What are they going to do with Kim now that she’s no longer in danger in the airport?

Commercial Break 5:

• I love how Ethan just happened to fast forward the recording to the exact spot where Olivia confessed to the assassination. I guess that’s TV magic for you.
• They need Jacks organs? Not good.
• Ok, this whole thing about Tony’s promotion is kind of silly considering the circumstances. Doesn’t everyone have better things to do?
• Looks like the big boss will either promote Tony or kill him. This could get messy. Will Tony die twice?
• JACK’S AWAKE!! THERE WILL BE BLOOD!!1!!one!!
• So now Jack is on the run, which usually leads to good things. There’s a lot of things up in the air, hopefully they can juggle it all and make this all come together. On to the second hour!

Commercial Break 6:

• That was a pretty epic fail on Jack’s behalf, just laying there as Tony takes control
• Olivia just got owned, and it was sweet.
• Sometimes I think Aaron is just as cool as Jack, maybe even cooler. Sometimes.
• Tony just dropped one of the biggest bombs in 24 history! Alan Wilson, the guy behind everything this season, was also behind President Logan, Palmer’s assassination, and Michelle’s death. Everything Tony has done has been to get a chance to take this guy down, not to get a promotion. Not only that but he’s using Jack to do it. I could not be happier with how this is going. So epic. I was really worried that this finale was going to be bad, but so far it has blown me away.

Commercial Break 7:

• If Tony is so upset about Michelle, why is he with another woman?
• Here comes a showdown. Cue the tumbleweed and the western music.
• Ok, the FBI helicopter entrance was kind of lame.
• Renee is owning the baddies, she found Jack and disarmed the bomb strapped to him. This is moving at break neck speed.
• Tony’s got the man who killed his wife in his hands.
• Another bomb dropped, Michelle was pregnant. This is nuts…so much is going on so quick. Carlos Bernard is doing a great job as Tony. He and Michelle were expecting a little boy and Alan Wilson took it all away.
• Jack closed one eye to shoot Tony just like he did with Curtis, except Tony only got shot in the arm. I’m actually glad he didn’t get killed again…yet.
• There’s still a half hour left, what could possibly happen next?

Commercial Break 8:

• Is this guy bluffing when he says he doesn’t know what conspiracy they are talking about? I can’t really tell
• That was a great moment between Jack and Renee. It was great to hear how he justifies the decisions he makes, and that he can’t tell Renee what do.
• This was a really short segment. We’ve had our slow, emotional time. Time to pick it back up again as things hopefully get wrapped up in these last few minutes.

Commercial Break 9:

• Olivia has finally confessed, and to her parents at that. I was hoping that Aaron and Ethan would corner her in front of everyone, but at least she has finally come clean.
• Mr. Taylor is nuts. This sucks. I really don’t want to see them try to cover up this whole assassination. Please let the President do what is right! After everything that has happened today, she can’t let her husband push her around.
• I really hope this is the calm before the storm because things are slowing down quick when they should be ramping up.
• Ok, is Jack a muslim now? That’s quite the interesting turn of events. Kind of an odd scene.
• It is time for what? For Jack to die? That just brought up a bunch more questions that I dont know will get answered before this is over.

Commercial Break 10:

• Here comes justice to Olivia…YES! The President did the right thing and put her daughter into custody! BOO YA! She is done for. That was easily the best move that President Taylor has made all day.
• Enough with the sappy moments, let’s get back into this.
• Alan Wilson is in for questioning, but Jack won’t be there to push him around. Time for Renee to take his place. Here she goes…
• Kim’s back, guaranteed she’s going to be the key to save him. Yup, she wants to go through with it. They really dragged this out until the end. I was hoping there would be some other conclusion to the whole story of Jack’s health. This seems like the easy way to keep him alive for next season.
• And that, its over. This finale really had some problems. Tony’s story wasn’t totally wrapped up, nothing happened with Alan Wilson, and Jack’s situation fell apart at the very end. Come back tomorrow for a recap of the season as well as a more detailed review of the finale. Thanks for reading this live blog. Hopefully you enjoyed it as much as I did.

24: Episode 22

Recap: As Jack tries to get Tony’s location out of the guard back at Jibraan’s house, Jibraan follows orders and gets on the subway headed to Washington Center Station. His one attempt to alert the authorities about his captors fails, so he reluctantly moves forward without completely knowing what he’ll be asked to do. A few minutes later, Cara gets on the same subway car and hides a bag containing the last canister of the bio weapon. She catches Jibraan’s attention and he becomes increasingly nervous.

Back at the White House, Aaron Pierce starts to wonder where Olivia is. He calls her and tells her to come back as soon as possible if she wants him to continue to run her security. She of course is meeting with Martin Collier to get an explanation for why Jonas Hodges was killed. He says that he gave the go ahead because she seemed so sure that she wanted Hodges dead. He warned her not to go down that path unless she was sure. Now Olivia must transfer the funds to the assassin, as well as cover up any tracks that might implicate her in the assassination. The White House is beginning an investigation as only a handful of people knew about Hodges’ whereabouts.

Janis and Chloe are locking horns at FBI headquarters as they try to help Jack find Tony. Based on the phone call that the guard at Jibraan’s house made to Tony, they are able to track him down. Tony is in Jack’s sights, so he runs into his van, then a whole team of FBI agents swarm the van and apprehend Tony. After giving Tony a beating, Jack tries to get him to talk by saying he has nothing left to lose and will shoot him if he doesn’t say anything. Then Tony says he doesn’t have anything left to lose either, so Jack lowers his gun and walks away. Meanwhile, Janis is able to find information on the computer that Tony tried to break when they arrested him. They find Jibraan’s location and contact him about the bio weapon.

Once Olivia returns to the White House she goes to her office to begin deleting any evidence that might link her to Jonas Hodges’ assassination. After telling Aaron that she just needed to get away, he calls Ethan Kanin. He asks Ethan about the voice activated recording system that was installed into the office that Olivia now has. Since Aaron doesn’t want to say much over the phone about why he wants to know about the recording system, Ethan says he will meet Aaron in 30 minutes.

Jibraan finally gets contacted by Jack through his earpiece and is instructed that the bio weapon is on the subway. After some searching he finally finds it and realizes that time is running out so he must carry it up to the Hazmat team. Once people start becoming suspicious of him carrying the bag, he starts yelling that he has a bomb and gets to the surface amid the confusion. Jack grabs the weapon and takes it to where it can be contained just as it goes off. Renee tries to comfort Jack now that the threat is over, but his sickness is getting worse as the injections are no longer working.

Meanwhile Kim is at the airport waiting for a flight home. She thinks she is being followed by someone but it turns out it is an agent sent by Jack to keep an eye on her until she gets on the plane. She meets a married couple who are also traveling and tells them about the man she thinks is following her. The husband says he is going to get coffee for his wife, but instead kills the man keeping watch over Kim. An image of her, taken from the man’s laptop, is transmitted by Cara to Jack’s phone. She threatens him by saying if he doesn’t help Tony get away, they will kill Kim.

Review: In and of itself, this was a solid hour of 24. My issue is that I don’t think it set up for a compelling finale. I’m glad the last canister is destroyed, and Tony is captured, but what’s next? I just don’t think putting Kim in harm’s way is a great way to end a season. Do long time fans of the show really care about Kim? She ALWAYS gets herself in trouble. It’s the same thing every time with her. I’d rather see the season end by dealing with Jack’s health, or with a confrontation with Tony that actually gave us some answers as to why he has done what he has.

That’s not to say it was all bad. When Jack found Tony they had a pretty intense encounter. I wasn’t sure if Jack would kill him or not. Tony is driving me nuts with his little silent treatments though. Also, the story line with Aaron getting suspicious of Olivia is turning out to be great. I would love nothing more than to see him take her down. Bringing back Ethan was a great move too, especially with his past connection with Olivia. I’m really excited to see where that goes. And the face off between Chloe and Janis was wonderful. Naturally, Chloe drives Janis nuts, and it was great.

Though the ending of the situation with Jibraan was nothing new (remember Curtis running out of the hospital with a bomb set to go off in season 4?) it was a decent conclusion to his story. I’m glad him and his brother are safe.

If the show can make me care about Kim, it better move fast. This doesn’t feel like the setup for a finale at all. There must be something else going on that we just don’t know about yet, so I’ll be waiting for some big surprises next week. What did you think? Do you agree or disagree with me? Next week is our last recap/review of the season so come back next Tuesday morning to talk about  how it all wrapped up.

24: Episode 21

Here we are again with a new hour of 24 to talk about. Things continue to move along as the season comes to a close so let’s get right into it shall we?

Recap: Chloe is having trouble finding anything useful with the CTU servers so Jack advises her to widen the search to anything to do with Muslims in the area. Though Janis confronts Jack about it being racial profiling, Jack insists that it’s their only option. After forgetting what he’s talking about mid-sentence, Jack is forced to tell Chloe about his sickness, telling her that they need to get back to work and find Tony because he has accepted what has happened to him.

After breaking into the home of Jibraan Al-Zarian last week, Tony and Cara begin to lace his apartment with Jihadist propaganda. Tony tells Jibraan that if he follows orders, him and his brother will make it through this alive. He then tells Jibraan to read a statement to a camera that will be used as evidence of his guilt once the attacks are carried out. Jibraan reluctantly agrees after Tony threatens his brothers life.

Once Chloe gets back to work she comes across some suspicious information about Jibraan. Jack and Renee are sent to question a contact who may have more information on Jibraan’s whereabouts. After the contact comes up empty handed for intel and is taken into custody, Chloe informs Jack that it looks like Jibraan has been set up. They find his address and prepare to enter his home.

At the White House, Olivia meets with Martin Collier about Jonas Hodges. He tells her that she must be sure that getting rid of Jonas is something she really wants to do because she will have to live with it. After they agree to move forward he advises her that she will be contacted shortly with more instructions. At the same time, Jonas is being briefed on his new identity in the witness protection program. He is not happy about having to give up everything he has worked to build, including his name.

Back at Jibraan’s apartment, Tony tells him to speak to his brother and convince him that he is a terrorist and plans to carry out an attack. His brother is confused, but they decide that what they’ve said is enough so they take Jibraan and leave.

Olivia receives a phone call from an assassin who is able to take out Jonas Hodges. All she has to do is transfer funds into an account and the deal will be done. After coming as close as possible to going through with it, Olivia decides to not go through with it. She then calls Martin to tell him she can’t do it. 

After Jonas is asked to give up all his personal belongings that might tie him to his old life, he is taken to an SUV for transport. As the agent in charge of the transport fills out some paperwork, the truck explodes. Once word reaches the White House, Olivia immediately calls Martin trying to explain that she didn’t go through with the assassination. They agree to meet in Pershing Park to talk about it.

As Jack and his team approach Jibraan’s apartment, they find out that there is one guard and Jibraan’s brother, Hamid, inside. They need the guard to be kept alive since he is their only link to Tony. As they enter the apartment, Hamid breaks a mirror and stabs the guard in the neck. Jack yells for a medic as he frantically tries to keep the man alive.

Finally, Tony escorts Jibraan into a truck where we find out the attack will be ready to unfold in ten to fifteen minutes. The target looks to be a subway station where many innocent civilians go about their business.

Review: It looks like the season is shaping up to end the same way it began, in a man hunt for Tony Almeida. Now that Jonas Hodges is dead, there is no chance that he will be involved in the final hours of the season. I found Hodges’ character unsatisfying overall as a villain. He had his good moments here and there, but I felt like I should have been happy to see him go. Instead I didn’t really care one way or another. He just seemed like a crazy old man who should have been left alone, even though I know he did a lot of bad things.

I really enjoyed the scenes with Olivia this week. She seemed really terrified when she found out about Hodges’ death. I don’t know whether to feel bad for her or not. 

Watching Jack break the news to Chloe about his sickness was tough. I can’t think of very many times where Chloe has gotten emotional, but she seemed really affected by the news. This will all add an extra layer of intensity to their partnership in these final hours. 

• It was nice to see Henry Taylor again. He seemed a little less crazy than he did in the beginning, probably because he knows everyone believes what he did about his son’s murder.
• Other than the brief exchange with the police at the door, I felt like the whole situation with Tony and JIbraan was just filler in this hour. Next week that plot line should pick up.
• Do you think Jonas was killed because of Olivia even though she didn’t go through with transferring the funds, or was there someone else behind the assassination?

24: Episode 20

We are finally rounding the corner to the home stretch of season 7. There are only four more hours left until it’s all over, which is what made this hour a little strange.

Recap: After going into spasms last week due to his illness, Jack comes around enough to tell Renee that they need to find Tony. Meanwhile Tony meets with Galvez to get the last remaining canister. Galvez doesn’t cooperate so Tony kills him and finds where he hid the canister. Cara, the woman posing as Jonas Hodges’ attorney in the last hour, shows up and they decide not to hand the canister over to the people they are working for. She then has a conference with the people in the group she is working for, but everyone’s voice is disguised. After some coercion, they vote to go ahead with Tony’s plan to use the weapon immediately rather than waiting several months.

While Tim Woods briefs the President on the most recent actions of Jonas Hogdes, Jack and Renee call to tell her about Tony. They decide that Jack will offer Jonas proof of death in exchange for information on who is behind the attacks. Of course Olivia has a problem with offering freedom to the man who killed her brother, but the President moves forward as she tries to do what’s best for the country.

So Jack questions Jonas but he swears he doesn’t know any names, even after Jack threatens to expose him. Jonas explains that the plan was to coordinate attacks on American soil so that the government would be forced to bring in this group to help bolster the military, while blaming the attacks on American enemies. 

The decision is made to re-commission old CTU servers that were shut down by Senator Mayer. The only person Jack trusts to do what needs to be done is Chloe, so he calls her and she agrees to leave her family behind and come in. After a briefing at the FBI which doesn’t include very much useful information, Chloe arrives. Jack gets her up to speed on the situation with Tony and the canister. She hesitantly agrees that she can do what needs to be done, though she has a hard time believing that Tony has done what he has. 

While she starts her work on the servers Janis continues to complain and disagree with what is going on. This causes Jack to snap. He screams at Janis saying that the servers were re-commissioned by President Palmer. After he calms down and walks away Chloe becomes very confused as she has not been told about Jack’s sickness.

Tony and Cara approach the apartment of Jibraan Al-Zarian, the young man that they intend to lay the blame on for the coming attack. Even though he has no connection with terrorists, they plan to fabricate evidence that will make the authorities believe he did it. After the power is cut in the apartment, Tony, Cara, and two others enter and take out Jibraan’s brother. Tony then takes Jibraan hostage as the hour comes to a close.

Review: By all counts this was a solid hour of 24. The problem is that it felt disjointed and misplaced. It seemed like the natural flow that typically is present in the show wasn’t there. Also, there are only four episodes left. I felt like this week was going to be a real turning point where everything gets ramped up in preparation for the finale. It wasn’t a bad episode, but it didn’t create that feeling of imminent danger that needs to be there at the end of a season. 

It’s nice to see everyone rally behind Jack to hunt down Tony. It would have been a real pain if they didn’t believe him until it was too late. Tony continues down a darker and darker path. His killing of Galvez was especially brutal and was evidence that he seems to have no good intentions in this situation. 

The biggest moment of the night, especially for long time viewers of 24, was when Jack blew up at Janis. Making him crack like that, thinking he is back in the Palmer administration really brought home the seriousness of his illness as well as the memories for us of Palmer and what a great character he was. 

• The argument between President Taylor and Olivia about Jonas Hodges’ freedom was really well done. The President has been struggling all day with choosing between her family and her country and she is doing a good job overall.
• Do you wish Olivia and her little secret phone calls would go away as much as I do? She is a lot like Sherry Palmer and I don’t like it. What do you think she is going to tell the man she is meeting in the next hour?
• Ok, it’s looking less and less likely that Jack will get any treatment for his illness. So what are your predictions? Will he die? Will it be this season or next? I have a bad feeling that he won’t make it to season 8.

24: Episode 19

Recap:

Last week was the big revelation that Tony isn’t all sunshine and butterflies, so I was on the edge of my seat to get some more information on what he’s up to. This week we find him at the scene of Larry’s death where he is trying to coordinate the safe escape of himself, Galvez, and the last canister of the deadly bioweapon. Tony tells Galvez to hide and keep the canister safe as it is worth a lot of money to whoever Tony is working for. He then shoots himself to make it look like he and Larry were ambushed. 

At the FBI Renee receives a phone call the the field notifying her of Larry’s death. She becomes very emotional but has to hide it quickly as she is now the ranking agent in charge and needs to make decisions on how to deal with the missing canister. As she assembles a team to move in on the suspect, Jack is being debriefed on the day’s events. He is clearly having trouble as the infection begins to take a stronger hold on his memory. He notices all the commotion outside the debriefing room and after finding out what has happened to Larry he tells Renee he is coming along.

Back at the White House, a woman who is posing as Hodges’ attorney arrives and is granted clearance. She meets with Hodges and they discuss how there is some kind of organization above Starkwood who think he has gone mad with his threat of attacking with the bioweapon. He may have exposed them and knows too much. In an effort to contain the damage to whoever is behind all of this, she gives Hodges a pill that will send him into cardiac arrest, making it look like he died a natural death, and keeping the legacy of his work at Starkwood intact. Once the White House guards come to move Hodges for interrogation, the woman makes a phone call, discussing if Tony can keep the canister safe. She assures the man on the other end that Tony will come through for them. During Hodges’ transportation to the FBI he takes the pill and goes into cardiac arrest.

With Galvez in hiding, Tony advises him of the FBI’s plans to sweep the area and tells him to set C – 4 charges in an empty building and find a way to lure them in. Just then, Renee and Jack arrive in a helicopter. After seeing Larry’s body, Jack immediately notices something doesn’t add up with Tony’s story and Larry’s wounds. Jack correctly figures out that Galvez is working with someone, but doesn’t yet know who it is.

After Galvez contacts the FBI, pretending he is an agent who has a visual on the suspect, a team heads into the abandoned building that is rigged with explosives. Jack stays behind to monitor the situation and notices that the position of the agent claiming to see Galvez is not in the building. He orders everyone to get out just as the building explodes. In the resulting confusion Tony helps Galvez get away in an ambulance. Once Jack finds Renee they realize that whoever did this knew their sweep pattern. Jack then calls the agent who was debriefing him earlier who says that the man Tony claimed gave intel about the White House attack isn’t dead like Tony said. 

Jack and Tony finally come face to face now that Jack suspects him. Jack threatens to shoot him if he is lying about what’s going on. Tony tries to cover his tracks but Jack remains suspicious. Suddenly Jack is overtaken by his sickness and falls to the ground. Tony has stolen his medication and just as he is about to shoot him, a medical team arrives to help Jack. 

Review:

In the middle of filming this season of 24, the production was halted after episode 18 so that the writers could rework the last few episodes. So I was looking forward to this week’s hour to see what direction things went in and if I could see a major shift in plot. I think if I hadn’t read about the break in filming, I wouldn’t have been able to tell anything ever happened. 

This was a pretty intense hour of 24. I really enjoyed the set up and execution of the plot with Galvez blowing up the building. Even though I was confident they wouldn’t kill Renee in the explosion, I was still on edge wondering how things would turn out. 

It’s been hard watching Jack go downhill so quickly. I really didn’t expect that situation to go this way. I thought for sure there would be some hope of a cure by now. I’m starting to think they might actually kill Jack this season. The revelation that he has a grand daughter (named Terri after his wife) made his sickness especially difficult to witness. 

My biggest disappointment was that I didn’t feel like we were given enough information on what Tony’s motivations are. Why is he bad? With that being said, his confrontation with Jack was really great. It’s been far too long since we’ve seen Jack go off like that. When Tony killed Larry I felt weird about it, but when Tony stood over Jack and prepared to shoot him I felt like we have lost all hope for him. I thought maybe he was doing bad things with good intentions, that he was just misled. Now I’m convinced he has no good intentions. How could he intend to kill Jack? For anyone who has followed the show from the beginning, that scene held a lot of weight considering the long history that those two have with each other. But what is it that is pushing Tony this far? We have yet to find out the complete answer. 

I think the writers of the show have done a great job as we inch closer to the finale. The final canister is still out there but it’s actually the last thing I care about. Instead I’m wrapped up in what will happen to these great characters we’ve gotten to know over the course of the season, both good and bad. That’s what makes this show really stands above most others.

So what did you think of Jack and Tony’s confrontation? Where could this all be headed? Let’s hear what you have to say.

24: Episode 18

Well, well, well, what an interesting hour that was. It was full of twist and turns so lets get right to it.

Recap: The night starts off with Tony still on his own at Starkwood. He happens to come across a truck full of fuel that he thinks is being used for surface to surface missiles. Jack talks to the President and calls her out on why she aborted the air strike and asks her permission to blow up the fuel tanks. Instead of giving him permission outright, she simply implies that she is okay with it so that if things go wrong she can honestly say she didn’t order the actions. Jack then tells Tony to go for it. 

At the White House Jonas Hodges arrives for his face to face meeting with President Taylor. We quickly find out that he is there to blackmail the President. He wants Starkwood to become an official part of the U.S. military and to have a seat at the President’s table. She catches on right away what he is up to and tries her best to stall for time as she knows what Tony is trying to do.

After Tony is informed that he can go ahead with the mission, he takes out one of the men fueling the truck and forces the other to lead him to the fuel tanks. There is one other guard who has gone on patrol but he doesn’t seem to be near the situation. Once Tony is able to set the charges he comes back above ground where he gets attacked by another guard. In the fight he loses the detonator and one of the guards sets off the alarm. The technicians who are in charge of the missiles have standing orders to fire them if any alarms go off. As they begin the launch sequence, Tony fights off the two guards and fumbles for the detonator which seems just outside his reach. Finally, as the doors to the missiles opens for launch, he gets ahold of the detonator and as he runs away he causes a huge explosion. Larry sees the explosion and orders his men to move in. 

As word reaches the White House that the mission was a success, President Taylor orders the arrest of Jonas Hodges and Greg Seaton. As they are being taken away Hodges says that it’s not over and that this whole thing is much bigger than him. When the President asks him to explain, he of course doesn’t give any real answers. Once Hodges is gone, President Taylor calls Jack to thank him for what he’s done. While Jack is asking her to consider Tony’s work throughout the day when he is tried for his crimes, he stops as he forgets what he is saying and looks very disoriented. They end the phone call and Jack goes to see the doctor who tells him that memory loss is a normal symptom of his sickness and that unfortunately she can’t do anything more to help.

As Jack leaves the doctor’s office, he tells Renee that he needs to be debriefed on the events of the day before the disease takes all his memories. That’s when she decides to tell him that his daughter has arrived. Jack flies into a rage until Renee tells him that Kim has been trying to track him down all day. After he calms down he decides to go meet her. They have an emotional exchange of apologies for past wrongs that they are both guilty of. Jack tells her that it isn’t worth the risk to her to go through with the experimental treatments since he’s likely to die anyway. After he starts to feel pain from being sick, they say their goodbyes and Kim leaves.

Back at Starkwood, the guard who went out on a patrol while Tony placed the C-4 charges shows up and kills two FBI agents, but not before Larry is informed that this guy has one remaining canister of the bioweapon. He flees in an FBI vehicle as Larry and Tony go on the chase in a helicopter. They finally track him down and land. Immediately the pilot is shot, so Tony and Larry jump out and run for cover as they come under gunfire. Larry, while out of cover, gets shot in the chest. As Tony leans over him to help, Larry tells him that the Starkwood guard is right behind him. The guard unexpectedly lowers his weapon as Tony covers Larry’s mouth and kills him

Review: Where do I even begin? The episode was good and bad all at the same time. It was obvious something was up with Tony through almost the whole episode. It seemed strange that there was a missing guard while he was placing the charges who didn’t notice anything that was going on. Then while Tony and Larry were in the helicopter Tony was making these weird faces that obviously meant something wasn’t right. Of course I didn’t think he would do what he did, so I’m still a little shocked. 

When Jack found out that Kim was at the FBI I thought he might do something awful to Renee. He looked like he was on the verge of killing her. The crazy thing about Jack right now is that, even more than before, he truly has nothing left to lose. As much as we all dislike Kim’s character, her meeting with her father was quite emotional. It was nice to see him connect with her in such a terrible situation. 

What do you think Jonas meant when he said there’s more to this than him? We’ve heard villains say that a thousand times on this show. I was actually kind of let down to hear him say that. I was happy to not have a “bad guy” for the rest of the season and just let Jack’s sickness play out. Do you think he was referring to Tony or is there something more? I don’t think it stops with Tony. 

• So Tony starts as a bad guy who turns out to be a good guy, but really in the end is a bad guy. I’m really not sure about this. I have to say I’m not at all surprised by this turn of events. It felt like they lost sight of why Tony was back in show long ago and this is just a cheap twist to justify his return.
• President Taylor is beginning to look really frazzled. I noticed it especially after watching the “Previously on 24…” thing at the beginning. I wonder if she’ll crack before this is all over.
• Did Kim leave for good when she left Jack? I doubt it. I think she will go through with the treatments without Jack knowing it. Otherwise he’s dead, right?

As usual let me know your thoughts. If you’ve read spoilers please don’t post them, but I’d love to hear your theories and predictions on where this is all headed. We’re on the home stretch now.

24: Episode 17

As we pass the midnight hour and head toward the end of season 7, things look like they are picking up. This was a better episode than the last few and I am now excited again to see where this could all go.

Recap: As always, the show picked up right where it left off last week. Larry and Tony are involved in a stand off with Starkwood soldiers and are trying to find a way out of the situation. After Jack finds a contact within Starkwood, Douglas Knowles, it is decided that Tony should stay behind to look for the bioweapons with his help. Larry creates a diversion while Tony slips away. Once Tony meets up with Douglas they head towards the building where the weapons are being held. As they try to gain access to the building, Starkwood security comes a little too close, so Knowles goes out to talk to them while Tony heads inside. The guards don’t buy Knowles’ story about why is in a restricted area so they detain him for questioning by Jonas Hodges. 

Olivia, the acting Chief of Staff, receives a phone call from a reporter who wants to break the story about weapons of mass destruction based on a source he has. She decides to meet with him at his hotel and takes Aaron with her. Once at the hotel Aaron is left in the hall as Olivia goes into the hotel room. The reporter convinces her to sleep with him in exchange for killing the story. Later he decides he will run it anyway, but Olivia recorded the whole affair on her phone and threatened to release it if he ever tried to blackmail her again. 

At the FBI, Jack, Renee, and Janis are all behind the scenes helping Tony navigate his way through Starkwood. Jack’s symptoms from his exposure to the bioweapons start to escalate and he goes into what looks like a seizure and falls down as Renee rushes over to help.

Hodges arrives at his office where Knowles is being kept. Of course he wants to know what is going on, why he is being detained by his own company. Hodges confesses everything to him. He says that Starkwood have aided the government countless times and no one has ever questioned his methods, but now that they are questioning them, he is angry. After Knowles tries to talk some sense into him, Hodges beats him and throws him over the balcony to the floor below. As he attempts to clean the blood off his shirt (with ice water…) he finds out the government has sent fighter jets to their location so he decides to set up a call with the President.

The medical department at the FBI tells Jack he needs to take an injection every two hours to keep the symptoms at bay since things seem to be progressing quickly. He is told about a potential treatment using stem cells, but the only donor who could help him would be his daughter Kim. Jack decides not to contact her.

Back at Starkwood Tony heads deep underground where he finally sees the WMD’s. Jack confirms that they are the canisters he was exposed to and advised Tony to get out as quickly as possible before the air strike occurs. 

At the White House, President Taylor is discussing the air strike with Admiral Smith when she is told she has a private phone call from Jonas Hodges. Hodges informs her that he has missiles ready to be launched on US soil if she does not turn away the air strike. She runs back to Admiral Smith demanding he abort the mission. Of course he and everyone else in the room don’t know what is going on but they do what the President asks. Hodges wants a private meeting with the President at the White House within the hour.

Review: Wow, what an episode! In some ways it was great and in other ways it was really frustrating. I was surprised at how quickly the standoff between Starkwood and the FBI came to an end. I thought Larry might pull a Bill and sacrifice himself to give Tony the chance to get away. Apparently that wasn’t necessary.

It was a lot of fun watching Tony make his way through Starkwood. He finally got some decent screen time doing something cool. I found it strange at first, having Tony in the field and Jack back at the office, but it seemed to work in this case. 

I’m glad we were given a bit more on Jonas Hodges. For me at least, he is beginning to take shape as a decent villain. Hopefully it’s not too little too late. I loved his conversation with the President about the missiles. It takes a lot of guts to give orders to the President. I was a little surprised how willing she was to comply.

I think this is the first week ever where I wasn’t completely bored with Olivia’s plot line. And no, it wasn’t because she slept with someone, I just loved how she outsmarted that reporter and can now leave that whole situation behind.

 

• Do you think Jonas will actually launch the missiles or will something else take over as the threat?
• Did Chloe go home with Morris? I don’t remember her leaving but she must have. It’s too bad if she is gone, I would have enjoyed seeing her team up with Janis. 
• Congratulations to Trae for successfully guessing how Jack would find a cure for his sickness in the comments last week. I don’t know how you knew that would happen, but you were right. Apparently Kim is coming back again. 
• Seriously Jonas, trying to remove a blood stain with water? Come on.

 

So what were your thoughts on this hour? What do you all think will happen next? Let’s hear your theories no matter how crazy.

24: Episode 16

We’ve reached midnight in Washington D.C. and I’m beginning to wonder if the plot went down with the sun. For two weeks in a row I’ve been pretty disappointed in 24 so let’s hope things start to turn around now that morning is coming.

Recap: While Jack waits for his results regarding possible infection, the bioweapon that caused it makes it’s way to Starkwood. They also have Tony as they captured him in the chaos of the last hour. Hodges’ men beat him up, trying to get him to talk about what the FBI knows about the situation, but Tony refuses to say anything. Just as he is about to be shot for not talking, Greg Seaton comes in and saves Tony. He tells Tony that he thinks Jonas Hodges has gone too far and wants to help Tony find the weapon.

At the White House President Taylor has made her daughter Olivia the temporary Chief of Staff. Just then the phone rings and it’s Larry Moss. He tells her about Jack and tries to get the OK to attack Starkwood. The President decides to call a meeting of the Joint Chiefs to decide the best course of action. At the meeting the President is told that the best option for taking down Starkwood isn’t good enough. She demands they come up with a solution, and fast.

While Renee is being released from holding at the FBI, Jack arrives with the CDC unit. They meet as he walks through the door and he tells Renee the news that he has been infected by the bioweapon, but is not contagious. Soon after, a meeting is arranged to get President Taylor to sign a pardon for Seaton in exchange for information on where the bioweapon is. She agrees to sign as it is their best chance of turning the situation around. Seaton and Tony head for the warehouse as Larry assembles a team to recover the weapon. Jack is left behind due to his infection since no one knows when he will start showing symptoms. 

As Hodges hurries his men to finish work on the bioweapon, the FBI approach in helicopters. Larry orders the door of the warehouse to be blown open, but when they enter they find nothing but an empty room. Seaton tries to blame Tony saying he threatened to kill him so he just did what was necessary to stay alive, but Larry knows it isn’t true and puts him under arrest. 

While the FBI team leaves the warehouse they run into a bigger team of Starkwood soldiers. Starkwood demands that they leave or else they will be forced to defend themselves. That leaves the situation at a stand still as the clock ticks to midnight.

Review: Like I said earlier, I’m wondering if the writers let the plot go down with the sun. These last two weeks have been a bit of a downhill slide for me. I know what 24 is like when it’s just killing time, and that’s exactly what they’ve been doing. Granted there were a few good moments here and there, but overall the show needs to give us something to care about. 

The President seems to be in a bubble. She is always the last one to know what’s going on. Her continual bafflement every time she hears a piece of news is getting tires. Also, what is she thinking putting her daughter in the position of Chief of Staff? Just because they are related doesn’t mean she is qualified to advise the President. I feel like the less we see of the White House right now the better.

Tony finally gets some good screen time, something I’ve been saying we needed for a long time. But for some reason I didn’t feel invested in him being held hostage. He seems blank so I’m not sure if I should care one way or another about his well being. I hope he stays at the forefront though because I think the way I feel is just a symptom of his being gone for so long. 

Speaking symptoms (see what I did there?) I have to say I wasn’t expecting Jack to be infected. I thought they would just drag it out until we found out he was fine. To me this is one of the most engaging plot lines right now. I want to know what will happen to Jack more than what will happen with the bioweapon. When the threat is in the thousands or even millions, it gets hard to care about the faceless fictional civilians. I feel like I know Jack so I care more about his safety.

I’m hoping for the best for next week. The show needs to turn a corner and focus on a plot line that feels personal. I still don’t care about or feel like I know Jonas Hodges. The best villains in the history of 24 have been those that we got to know. I don’t think the show needs a huge threat with a super-villain in order to be good. It just needs something that builds the tension and makes us care.

• It was interesting to see Jack less than invincible in this hour. I hope they continue down this road. I felt really bad for him when he couldn’t go out on the field with the rest of the FBI team.
• Are we convinced that Olivia isn’t bad or could she still harm the presidency before this is all over?
• I’m glad Renee is back in the game. Her chemistry with Jack is great and it really helps make the show interesting.
• So is Jack going to die from his exposure to the bioweapon? Is this how he finally goes down? My theory is that, upon further testing, they will find out the initial results were wrong and he is fine. He can’t be taken down in anything less than a blaze of glory and gunfire.

24: Episode 15

Last night was brutal. Not so much because 24 was bad, but because I had to fight to stay awake all night. So if I’m especially harsh this week, you can blame it on that.

Recap: After speaking with her husband, who is recovering from surgery, President Taylor is hopeful that the day might begin to turn around. Unfortunately for her, Ethan Kanin is about to resign. After speaking with Larry Moss on the phone about the death of Senator Mayer and the search for Jack, he decides he has made too many mistakes and to continue on would only hurt the President. She reluctantly accepts his resignation after hearing his reasoning.

After Jack gets Tony up to speed on Starkwood they finally reunite at the port where Starkwood are believed to be picking up a bioweapon. Tony sees only one security guard, who we find out is Carl Gadsen. Carl just gets off the phone with his pregnant wife when Jack and Tony take him down and demand information on Starkwoods shipment. Thinking they were simply electronics smugglers, Carl had agreed to let them through the port and look the other way in order to pick up some extra money to cover the fertility treatments his wife had undergone. Since their phone communication isn’t working, they convince Carl to go open the gate and that they will rescue him once they can get outside communication. Carl agrees but ends up being taken by the Starkwood men while they pick up the WMD. 

Meanwhile Jonas Hodges is at Starkwood holding a board meeting. He tells the board to stop co-operating with the government because he believes the government will need them to bolster the country’s military force. While the American government wants to shut them down, Hodges thinks the killing of innocent civilians will prove that Starkwood is a necessary force.

At the White House, Olivia and Ethan decide to make nice while he packs his things. Just as Ethan leaves, Olivia gets on the phone to the news reporter who wants to run the story about Jack that was mentioned last week. She gives the OK for him to run the story and we see that Ethan was right in his accusations last week.

Jack and Tony catch up with the men who are holding Carl hostage. Jack decides to go against Tony and save Carl which leads to a big gun fight. Jack ends up gaining control of the truck holding the WMD while Tony is apprehended by the Starkwood men. While Jack is driving away he contacts Agent Moss and tells him to send a team to save Tony and to get the bioweapon from the truck. Since Moss found evidence that leads him to believe that Jack may not be responsible for the murder of Senator Mayer, he decides to listen to Jack. Just then Jack finds a problem – the bioweapon was damaged in the escape and is leaking. Since he was headed into a populated area, Jack decides to try to stop the leak himself, exposing him to the contaminants. Starkwood catches up to Jack, and with the help of a helicopter they regain the WMD. Jack calls back Agent Moss to inform him about what happened. They realize the weapon is headed for a close by military facility. Jack tells him to send a team from CDC for proof that the weapon exists so that he can send a team into the facility.

 

Review: This week’s episode was just okay for me, but you can blame that on my lack of sleep if you like. I thought the set up with Carl at the port was predictable, and the resulting gun fight didn’t do much for me. I had a good feeling that Olivia was the one who leaked the story to the press, so that was no big revelation for me. I feel bad that Ethan left, I kind of liked him. I’m really not looking forward to having Olivia around for the foreseeable future. It was good to see President Taylor’s husband recovering from surgery though, I’m glad they didn’t completely forget about him.

We got some more insight about Jonas Hodges’ motives. I don’t know what to think yet to be honest. I’m not seeing the connection between killing innocent people and convincing the government that they are a good thing. I like that they are this secondary military force that wants recognition, I just don’t buy their methods yet. Hopefully we’ll learn more as the weeks go by.

I’m glad to see Larry finally catching up to the truth. He isn’t turning a blind eye to the evidence showing that Jack might be innocent, and I like that. I hope he continues on this path because he could be a really valuable character once he gets over his need to be right about Jack all the time.

I didn’t even find Jack and Tony’s reunion fulfilling. It seemed like it was lacking something. Did anyone else find Tony’s little speech when Jack was about to save Carl a little odd? Why was he so bent on doing it his way? I wish they’d focus on Tony a bit more just so we could get some closure on what he is up to. Also, do you think Jack will get sick from his exposure to the WMD? Will he go all George Mason on us? It’s not exactly the death I pictured for him. 

Hopefully this was a decent recap and review for you. Next week I’ll make sure I’m wide awake so that I don’t miss anything. We still have a decent amount of episodes left. I’m curious to see how this is all going to go down because right now it feels like they have more time than plot to fill it. We’ll see next week if things get any better .

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