24

[Gregg Pathiakis]

Anyone else hooked on "24"? I think the show is the best to come out since The West Wing (seasons 1-3 only).

[Sonny]

Count me in. It is a pretty good show. Last week's episode was a little predictible, but very enjoyable.

[jessexy]

i love the show too. i missed last weeks show, but i knew what was gonna happen anyway. now im ready to see whats gonna happen with omar and his wife. are they gonna kill there own son, cuz he doesnt have any balls? im curious.

[Sonny]

now im ready to see whats gonna happen with omar and his wife. are they gonna kill there own son, cuz he doesnt have any balls? im curious.

You missed out what happened last week. They attempted to do so, but failed.

[Bluevelvet]

I also am addicted to 24 but there a couple of things that are just downright silly.
1) Each show is only an hour in real time yet every week they travel around LA in about 3 or 4 minutes (each trip would take over an hour).
2) One year, Jack Bauer's wife had amnesia for 3 episodes. That is the shortest (3 hour) case of amnesia on record.
3) The Secretary of defense was captured, transported, tried and about to be executed in 2 episodes (2 hours).
4) Last year Jack Bauer protected himself from an atomic explosion by hiding behind a rock.
5) Everytime a bad guy is interrogated he refuses to talk until Jack Bauer screams at him. Then, he spills his guts.

[Gregg Pathiakis]

I also am addicted to 24 but there a couple of things that are just downright silly.
1) Each show is only an hour in real time yet every week they travel around LA in about 3 or 4 minutes (each trip would take over an hour).
2) One year, Jack Bauer's wife had amnesia for 3 episodes. That is the shortest (3 hour) case of amnesia on record.
3) The Secretary of defense was captured, transported, tried and about to be executed in 2 episodes (2 hours).
4) Last year Jack Bauer protected himself from an atomic explosion by hiding behind a rock.
5) Everytime a bad guy is interrogated he refuses to talk until Jack Bauer screams at him. Then, he spills his guts.

LOL. Good points. I haven't seen the previous seasons, but that's funny.

As for killing the son, I can't believe the mother actually turned on the husband. She is obviously a caring mother, but I didn't think she'd go that far.

And will they please just forget about the daughter at CTU story? No needed.

[salami22]

I agree about the whole daughter story, it is pointless to the overall plot.

However, I think it might cause the current CTU director to quit in order to take care of her daughter and this will open the door for Tony to rejoin the unit.

[Sonny]

I agree about the whole daughter story, it is pointless to the overall plot.

I bet the daughter will play some role in saving the country. There is no reason to introduce her (if that wasn't the case).

[Tim Whitehead]

I think the whole daughter thing was just put in to humanize the mother. The first few episodes she seemed like a heartless b!tch that we were supposed to hate. They want us to like her now for some reason, which either means they're going to kill her off or have her resign. That being said, the whole crazy daughter thing does nothing for the plot.

[jessexy]

i bet she has some psychic connections to the terrorists and will sense the next move that will crack their location for Jack Bauer. and why did they ahve to make Aisha Tyler tha bad guy. i wish she would play a good girl one day. whats wrong with the Sec. of defense and his son? and why did they introduce the husband of jack's girlfriend? doesnt he realize that the world is about to blow up? he's still chasing after his wife, right in front of her boyfriend, while they are trying to save the world.

[Tim Whitehead]

Yeah the ex-husband story line is kinda weird too. Reminds me of that horrible movie Titanic, where the boat was sinking, and instead of trying to save his life, Billy Zane ismore concerned with chasing DiCaprio around and shooting at him. Priorities, my friend....

[Gregg Pathiakis]

i bet she has some psychic connections to the terrorists and will sense the next move that will crack their location for Jack Bauer. and why did they ahve to make Aisha Tyler tha bad guy. i wish she would play a good girl one day. whats wrong with the Sec. of defense and his son? and why did they introduce the husband of jack's girlfriend? doesnt he realize that the world is about to blow up? he's still chasing after his wife, right in front of her boyfriend, while they are trying to save the world.

I've been surfing on a 24 message board and this is a big question out there. First, it seems very wierd that he would show up at that exact time. Second, maybe this has been explained in past seasons, but what is his job? He doesn't seem to work for CTU, but somehow has access to it. Can't he put off his broken heart problems till after Jack saves the world again.

[Tim Whitehead]

Rats. I fell asleep and only saw literally the last 5 seconds of tonight's episode, where Tony and Jack were in some field or something and someone was dead (I'm assuming someone important?). Can someone fill me in on what happened? Thanks in advance...

[Gregg Pathiakis]

SPOILER ALERT!!!! IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THIS EPISODE YET AND DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED - DON'T READ FURTHER!

OK.. a lot happened. Sorry if I don't remember names of everyone, but it's the best I can do. I just saw the episode this morning.

When the Sec. of Def. sent out that false information to find the mole, the mole actually did send out the information, but used the other girl's computer to do so (the girl that caught her on the phone last episode). When the black guy (the second in charge at CTU) found this out, he had her arrested and the #1 woman at CTU interrogated her and used a taser gun on her multiple times.

Later, the nerdy guy on the computer figured it who the mole REALLY was an reported it to the black guy and then to the head of CTU and they had to chase the mole out to the parking lot and got to her just before she got in her car. As they were escorting her back in the building, a security person was about to search her car. As he put the key in the door, the car exploded and the mole hit her head on another car and was knocked unconscious it appears. That's where that story line ends for now.

When Jack got to Tony's house and reviewed the tapes with the Sec. of Defense's daughter, they figured out who the guy was that she recognized. They also found out that he got high-level clearance to fly in a helicopter despite the no-fly restriction. The daughter was then brought back to CTU by Secret Service (although I had a wierd suspiscion they weren't really Secret Service, but she did get back so I guess they were). Jack and Tony got to the helipad in time and was able to pull him out of the helicopter in time, but there was a sniper on a nearby roof who shot the guy in the head, killing him.

As for the terrorist family, they did go to a hospital, but the doctor called the police because he knew it was a gun shot wound. The mother and son appear to have escaped.

No new info on the daughter of the head of CTU or the son of the Sec. of Defense.

I think that's about everything. If you really want to see the episode, PM me and I can send you a copy of the tape.

[Gregg Pathiakis]

A more elaborate review, with the right names.

Season 4, Episode 8: “Day 4: 2PM – 3PM”

Written by Stephen Kronish, Peter Lenkov, and Matt
Michnovetz
Directed by Ken Girotti

In which Jack and a changed Tony must work together to
help Audrey identify someone working with the
terrorists, while CTU deals with a recurring mole
problem…


Status Report

This episode leaves little doubt that the fourth
season has finally found its voice. The earlier
pacing issues have been addressed to some degree, and
while it’s still evident how the writers are trying to
block out the storyline in easily digestible chunks,
it works to the show’s advantage when the writers
manage to make the scenes in-between as compelling as
the overall arc. It’s also impressive to see the
writing staff manage such a relatively tight episode,
considering that this is when the scheduling began to
fall apart, forcing the writers to work on the script
as the episode was filming.

The opening scene drops the audience right in the
middle of a modern nightmare: six nuclear power plants
on the verge of meltdown in proximity of major cities,
with death projections in the “low millions”, and
that’s not even counting the subsequent increase in
cancer and reproductive damage in the years to follow.
The lack of a timetable tells the story: the need for
a solution is immediate; usually, an event is given a
few hours to percolate.

Within seconds, Jack is secretly informing Heller that
there’s a mole at CTU. That puts the Secretary of
Defense in the perfect position to flush that mole
out, something that Jack obviously doesn’t trust
Driscoll to do competently. Jack is obviously trying
to find people he can trust, and the list is fairly
short. Tony is one such person, but it’s clear that
all is not well between the two men. Tony looks like
a wreck, and it doesn’t take long for him to remind
Jack that Michelle left him after Jack and David
Palmer got him out of prison early.

This is an interesting director to take with Tony,
because it defies expectations. The audience had
every reason to expect Tony to still be in prison,
given the end of last season, and seeing him in the
civilian world again brought up some interesting
questions. Had Tony returned to the world unscathed,
it would have been unrealistic (even for this series).
Thankfully, Tony fell into darker territory, which is
hard to see but intriguing to watch.

The writers use short scenes with Keeler and Marwan to
increase the tension. Keeler doesn’t hesitate to
issue the evacuation orders, which would have been
more of a problem for Palmer. Keeler also leaves out
the fact that many will still be trapped in the
meltdown zone, something that the writers would have
milked to death with Palmer. So far, Keeler has been
used more as a grace note to the plot, rather than the
subject of yet another subplot, and that helps to keep
the story from treading into unnecessary tangents. As
far as Marwan goes, his scene with Navi sets the stage
for Jack to confront him personally at same time in
the future.

Meanwhile, Behrooz is forced to deal with his mother’s
gunshot wound, and he eventually convinces her to
visit an emergency room, despite the fact that there
are obvious drawbacks. This presents an interesting
twist for the audience, because it’s not hard to
sympathize with Dina and Behrooz under the
circumstances, even if they were (and could still be)
dedicated to the downfall of the United States.

Back at CTU, Marianne continues to be the world’s most
obvious mole, this time making phone calls in the
middle of the restroom to her contact, Powell. Powell
makes it very clear that Marianne needs to see after
her own longevity, and it doesn’t take much to
recognize that Marianne is not long for this world,
even if she gets away. Moles who get noticed are not
very useful, even if they get away. It’s also not
hard to figure out that Sarah is going to be her
decoy.

Heller gets his assistant Scott to come into CTU and
plant false information about Jack’s whereabouts with
Driscoll. Now, this is not a very hard trick to
figure out; it’s rather obvious from the context what
Heller has in mind, especially since the audience
knows where Jack is. Yet the writers feel the need to
beat the audience over the head, while Heller and
Scott nod and wink at each other like idiots. If this
is how the DOD conducts business in the real world,
one of the problems with the intelligence community
has just been revealed.

The trip to Tony’s house is one of the more
cringe-inducing moments in the series, but this time,
it’s a good thing. One can’t help but feel for Tony,
considering how far he’s fallen. His “friend” Jen,
while relatively cute, has one hell of an attitude,
and it’s hinted that Tony doesn’t treat her very well
at all. If that’s how Tony was treating Michelle,
then it’s not at all hard to imagine why she left him.
It’s also revealed that Michelle is a Deputy Director
at Division, which makes a future appearance more than
possible.

In short order, Heller and Scott believe that have
identified the mole, and they go to Driscoll with the
unfortunate news. Despite the fact that Heller did
what needed to be done, Driscoll has some legitimate
concerns. For all that the various agencies are
supposed to interact and have clear protocols, in
times of crisis, priorities begin to overlap. It’s
far too easy for one agency to take inappropriate
control of the resource of another. In the end,
however, it’s hard to deny a Cabinet member when he
makes up his mind, and in this case, Heller was well
within his rights, especially since CTU protocols
failed to detect the leak. Again.

Edgar, the resident computer hacking expert, quickly
realizes that Sarah cannot be the mole. Marianne is
not pleased by the fact that someone has noticed
something flawed in her little improvisation. It
doesn’t really matter, because in another
demonstration of flighty management, Driscoll decides
to make up for past lack of action by jumping right to
the torture with Sarah. The scene plays out just long
enough to make it very uncomfortable to watch, which
is obviously the point. The fact that Driscoll
quickly concludes that Sarah might be innocent is
disturbing at best, since it suggests that Driscoll
isn’t sure about her point of view (a matter of
minutes is too short a time to make an assessment,
even under the circumstances).

Having identified the man that Audrey recognized at
the terrorist compound as Powell (Marianne’s contact),
a computer consultant to the contractor that developed
the override technology currently being exploited, and
with the mole supposedly in custody, Jack feels more
comfortable about letting Audrey out of his sight. So
while he waits for Audrey’s ride to arrive, he sits
down with Tony. Tony is not pleased over the idea.

In another display of Tony’s personal despair, he
outlines in short order how little he wants to care
about his old life or the world in general. He wants
Jack to consider this payback for helping with the
pardon, but it sounds a lot more like Tony wants to
convince himself more than Jack. In other words, Tony
protests just a bit too much when it comes to not
caring, and Jack has little time for the pity parade.

Dina’s conversation with Behrooz at the hospital is
rather telling. After convincing the audience to
sympathize with Dina and her son, they remind the
audience that Dina is concerned only for their safety,
which means getting out of the country. This is
significant because one would think that the police
would be able to protect Dina and Behrooz from Navi.
But Dina doesn’t want to reveal the truth to law
enforcement. In some measure, she’s still loyal to
the terrorist cause.

Sure enough, Jack is the only one in a position to
stop Powell from leaving the area, and backup is too
far away to arrive in time to help. This gives Tony
the chance to jump on board, perhaps against his best
instincts. The scene is constructed in a way that
makes it seem like Tony won’t last the hour, let alone
the day, so as long as Tony’s on screen, it’s going to
be tense for his fans. It really feels like they’re
setting up a heroic end for Tony.

Since the emergency room doctor isn’t a complete
idiot, the police are called in to question Dina about
her gunshot wound. This leads to a rather improbable
escape from the emergency room (which any number of
security measures could have prevented), which
basically proves that Dina has no interest in anything
other than saving her son. The trip to the hospital
will give Navi a lead, and it also gives them some
medical supplies, so it advances the plot somewhat.
(Another odd moment: the cameraman can be seen in the
car’s rearview mirror, just before Dina and Behrooz
jump in!)

Once again saving the day (despite a truly annoying
set of mannerisms), Edgar sets Curtis and then
Driscoll on the right path. Marianne’s not so stupid
as to think that she’s not exposed, so she decides to
make a run for it. It seems foolish at first,
especially when it looks like she’s going to attempt
driving away. But then, when one of the agents
attempts inserts the key, the car explodes. So either
Marianne was stupid enough to think she’d get into her
car and out of the parking lot, or she was aware of
the bomb and wanted to kill herself before they could
question her. The “stupid” option seems more likely,
since Powell seemed to be very clear that Marianne was
a disposable asset.

Speaking of Powell, Jack and Tony do a great job of
preventing his escape, but as the seconds tick down,
there’s too much time left for the audience to feel
confident. Sure enough, just as Jack gets ready to
celebrate, a shot rings out, and Powell goes down,
shot through the heart. Considering the fact that
Tony appeared to be the likely victim, there’s a
momentary sigh of relief, at least until it becomes
clear that the good guys just lost their one solid
lead. Preventing a nuclear disaster is looking less
and less likely.

Ever since Jack rescued Heller, the plot threads have
kicked into high gear, and they haven’t let up one
bit. This is essentially a transitional episode at
heart, but between the situation at CTU and Tony’s
personal issues, there’s never a chance for the
audience to feel like things have slowed down. With
the nuclear threat still waiting in the wings, it’s
not like the story is going to suddenly lose momentum.
If anything, the timing suggests that efforts to stop
the meltdown will fail, at least partially, and the
result will be the next phase of the season arc.

With the story about a third of the way done, the
season has managed to bounce back from an early slow
patch. There are still a number of CTU character
threads that could detract from the overall quality of
the story, but this episode is remarkably free of such
problems. This is mostly about capitalizing on the
best elements of the story thus far, and doing
something about elements that weren’t working. In
that regard, the writers continue to impress,
especially since it’s well known that they are working
without a net right now. There are a lot of series
with a much more forgiving schedule producing much
worse material this season.


Final Analysis

Overall, this episode continued the recent run of
strong episodes, overcoming the usual issues that come
with transitional episodes. The writers continue to
challenge the expectations of the audience, especially
when it comes to handling Dina/Behrooz and Tony’s new
lifestyle. This episode also ends the “mole” plot
thread, which should hopefully evolve into something
less annoying.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4

Final Rating: 8/10

Season Average (as of 4.: 7.7