(S06E18) *Warning, spoilers from the latest episode ahead.*
Who among us did not see this turn of events coming?
I mean, come on, when has life ever been easy for a Palmer politician? And who didn't expect another Jack-Bauer's-gone-rogue story line to surface, particularly when the love of his life's safety hangs in the balance?
Not that seeing these predictable plot twists play out lessened my enjoyment of this 24 episode, but I found the White House and CTU politics a bit too abrupt for a single episode.
First, let's tackle the Jack story: Cheng Zhi -- the head of security from the Chinese consulate who kidnapped Jack 18 months ago and tortured him for nearly two years -- told Jack if he didn't remove a circuit board from one of the suitcase nukes he just secured, Audrey Raines, whom Cheng was holding hostage, would be a goner. (Cheng said the board would afford the Chinese access to Russian defense technology.) Of course our hero was going to agree to comply with whatever Cheng requested. Jack would do everything in his power to get that board to Cheng and save Audrey. He's Jack Bauer after all. That's what he does. Because he's Jack Bauer, you expect that things are not going to be easy, however all the White House/CTU politics Jack had to wade through during this episode seemed like too much.
First he turned to loyal CTU computer whiz Chloe O'Brian, who hacked into Morris "Drill-Bit" O'Brian's computer terminal in order to gain access to the schematics of the nuclear device for Jack. To my utter shock and dismay, Chloe then folded like a flimsy house of cards when Morris demanded to know why she needed access to the plans. She not only told Morris about Jack's plan, but then, under pressure from Morris, spilled the beans to CTU chief Bill Buchanan.
With the circuit board in hand, Jack was then surprised when Mike "The Brawler" Doyle, who reminded me of an obnoxious kid brother throughout this episode, took him into custody.
While wearing handcuffs, Jack detailed his plan to President Wayne Palmer, before Palmer collapsed from a cerebral hemorrhage during a press conference announcing that terrorist Abu Fayed was dead and that federal agents secured the two suitcase nukes. (A nuclear bomb recently went off in Valencia! Hello?! Has everyone forgotten that? Why and how would the press corps be so calm? This so bugs me, this amnesia about the impact of a nuclear detonation.) Jack promised Palmer that he'd temporarily give the circuit board to the Chinese in exchange for Audrey and then destroy it, even if he had to blow himself up in the process. Jack even pulled out the big emotional guns when, while mentioning that the president had authorized Jack to be handed over to terrorists for near certain murder some 18 hours earlier, Jack desperately grunted, "Mr. President, you owe me."
After securing a Palmer green light, Jack got the rug pulled out from under him again when power-mad Vice President Noah Daniels assumed the presidency and put the kibosh on the operation. (If this were an episode of Alias, they'd just have had Marshall whip up a fake circuit board. Unfortunately there's no Marshall in 24-land.)
Which brought us back to square one: With Jack and Doyle. Having been dissed by the powers that be yet again (when will these people learn that Jack is almost always right?) Jack drew his gun on Doyle, kicked the Bauer-wanna-be out of the CTU truck, and drove off into the night with the circuit board in order to save his lover.
Yes it was suspense-building, but the Jack-is-rogue, no-he's-not, yes-he-is roller coaster grew tiresome. I literally laughed (*warning promo-phobes, I'm going to mention a promo for next week*) when the promo for hour 19 showed Buchanan announcing, "Jack Bauer's gone rogue." If I had a dime for every time I've heard that line . . .
Transfer of power: The other major story involved White House politics. Feelin' a bit punchy from all the shots of adrenaline he got to keep him going after the attempt on his life, President Palmer demanded that Vice President Daniels submit his resignation because Palmer had evidence that Daniels had conspired to commit perjury. (Remember that Daniels tried to have Palmer booted from office by saying he was in no condition to serve after sustaining severe injuries. Turns out creepy Daniels was right.)
Despite his initial protestations, Daniels was prepared to submit his resignation -- after a little hand and cheek caressing comfort with the Invasion mom, er, his aide Lisa -- when Palmer collapsed at the press conference. Daniels could barely contain his sinister glee when he later walked into the Oval Office and made it his by ordering everyone to commence with the transfer of power. His first decision as acting president was to cancel the deal Palmer made with Jack. This sent Karen Hayes into a fury as she stormed down a west wing corridor bitterly complaining to chief of staff Tom Lennox, as Lennox wimpily said he was headed to the hospital with Palmer.
What was up with turncoat Chloe? Why was Buchanan such a by-the-books authoritarian? Why did Doyle seem like an emotionless simpleton? Anyone who yells, "You can't go against the White House," to Jack Bauer just has to be an idiot.
I'm giving this episode a rating of 5 on the TV Squad's 7-point scale. (Go here for the background on the site's ratings.) What would you give this episode?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
4-17-2007 @ 12:46AM
Jim said...
Solid but predictable episode. The moment Palmer backed Vice Prez Powers Boothe into a resignation we all knew Palmer would bite it. So is this the second president to be in coma on 24? Did we ever find out what happened to President Keeler from Day 4? Maybe Palmer and Keeler are hanging out in a coma ward somewhere now. I am curious as to how long this Audrey storyline is going to dragged out. It looks like it maybe solved by the next episode. What's next then? VP Powers Boothe bombing China?
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4-17-2007 @ 1:21AM
AJ MacReady said...
A pretty good episode, but I agree that it was fairly predictable. However, I don't really care one bit. 24 is what it is, and I like it that way.
Example - Daniels the sneaky snake. Like anybody didn't know he was gonna shut the mission down. Again, doesn't matter, cause Powers Boothe is such a good actor it is a thrill to watch him virtually ooze evil from his pores. You'd have to get Dick Cheney to see it done better, and even then he'd probably be called out for overacting (it's all about subtlety, people).
It makes me want to cheer like a wildman every time Jack is one step ahead of whoever's trying to get the drop on him - you can't outmanuever the master.
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4-17-2007 @ 1:27AM
Mickey said...
Wow, Merideth, this episode contained more more twists than a pretzel factory!
Sure the Pres Palmer collapse was totally predictable, but at least he continued to show some newfound spunk right up to the bitter end. And now we have the wicked Veep in control -- I can't wait to see where that's going to lead!
Yeah, the Jack as Rogue routine is kinda repetitive (okay, totally repetitive), same goes for the Chloe "I'll lie to all my bosses for Jack" shtick. But what the hey, leopards can't change their spots, and those two are just being their same old spotty selves.
And the Jack and Doyle dynamic is getting real interesting. They have a lot in common -- despite what Jack may think -- making them either a great team, or a pair of very lethal potential adversaries. Will they both survive to hour 24? Who knows?
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4-17-2007 @ 1:31AM
Diego said...
I'd give it a 5 as well, it seemed a lil predictable. Jack and Palmer 2 conversation was heartfelt, kudos to jack. Sure he'll go rogue again, but that's who Jack is. He doesn't play by the rules. I think maybe audrey will get hurt and Jack will go after Cheng for the remaining of the day. I really wanna see him get a bullet or... stabbed with chopsticks? sorry but Jack's killed in a lot of ways, that'd b e agood one. Go Bauer!
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4-17-2007 @ 1:35AM
Mel said...
What a crappy episode.
They changed the paradigm of this season by making it into a rescue mission, which was great. It was a good sign.
Then they fell into the problem that plagued the entire season so far which was to have too many one-note characterizations and the same Jack storyline that was just used 5 episodes ago. They really have lost the plot. I don't care what anyone says, they have lost it.
They need a reboot of the series.
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4-17-2007 @ 1:44AM
agentmichaelscarn said...
You guys are all fools!!!
Don't you see that President Palmer is just faking his life-threatening coma in order to ruse Jack and the rest of the Bauer family out of hiding....
Wait.... this can't be right.... who am I kidding? I'm no C C.
Sorry folks, I can't create some fabricated beyond-the-realm-of-even-"24"-standards-fiction like C C. Trust me, when the final seconds of 24 beeps away I'm sure he'll owe everyone an apology. How's that "Bauer Family working with the terrorists plot" working out for you? Hmmmm?
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4-17-2007 @ 2:04AM
Dee said...
Yes, a little predictable, but yet with different twists. Still a great episode. I'm glad to see Jack back and not a guest star. If you think about it, life has a lot of deja vu moments. I guess it's no different when you are saving the world. What appears to be some repetition of past seasons that irk some don't disturbe me, I just enjoy the show. Still think it's a great show!
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4-17-2007 @ 2:16AM
Allan said...
Don't rule out President Palmer too soon. I predict that in two weeks, he'll awaken totally refreshed, and then beat that Daniel's creep to a pulp.
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4-17-2007 @ 2:37AM
Si Si, C.C. said...
To (6) with the reallysillylongname: you are just a naughty taunter pretending to be a TV fan. When did you come up with that "gem of wisdom", three days ago? Four?
Brave people stick out their necks. Petty people stick out their tongues.
C.C. is brave. You... phhh.
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4-17-2007 @ 2:56AM
BigTed said...
Personally, I hope C C is right, and there's still some amazing super-twist coming that will turn everything on its head. I don't that's going to happen, but the direction the show's going now is just boring. Not only is it repetitious, but frankly, I'm not very interested in whether Audrey is going to be rescued or not.
And Jack isn't just going "rogue" -- his actions have become traitorous. (Imagine him facing a congressional hearing: "You wanted to save your girlfriend and get revenge on the man who tortured you, so you risked U.S. national interests and a direct order from the president to do it. We sentence you to two years in jail, a million-dollar book deal and your own conservative talk-radio show.")
At this point, the only thing that could make the end of the season interesting is if Kim Bauer rode up on a cougar to save the day; or if that red-haired rancher lady from last year left her football-coach husband in Dillon, Texas, and fought three-way cage match against Chloe and Graem's wife for Jack's affections. Or at the very least, can Audrey have been brainwashed by the Chinese to kill Jack? That would be a surprise... if she succeeded, anyway.
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4-17-2007 @ 3:37AM
Whitecat said...
Best...Show...Ever...
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4-17-2007 @ 3:39AM
VitoTheTiVo said...
It's not a new paradigm. It's exactly what the first half of the first season of "24" was. Bauer doing things against his will to save his loved ones and get back at those doing it.
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4-17-2007 @ 5:12AM
tv junkie said...
Love Powers Boothe. Sure the plot is repeating every single twist from past seasons, but Boothe's performance made the show entertaining...and really, after South Park's spoof, everything on 24 seems so funny.
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4-17-2007 @ 9:58AM
Colby said...
As much as I liked Xander Berkley's George Mason and Paul Schulze's Ryan Chappelle, I love Morrison's Bill Buchanan. As by-the-book that he is, he doesn't stonewall Jack at every instance but doesn't hesitate to do his job as needed ... the writers give him a lotta gray area to play with.
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4-17-2007 @ 10:03AM
Steve said...
i think the thing that is missing from this season is the intense multiple story lines. in the past there have been a lot of twists and turns in each of the 3 perspectives(Jack, CTU, Bad Guys). this year not so much.
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4-17-2007 @ 10:29AM
Kyle Beasley said...
I agree with number 15. In the past seasons there has been a delicate balance of cutting between Jack doing something violent or awesome, CTU and Whitehouse politics and the bad guys preparing to do something crazy.
This year its been CTU and Whitehouse politics cut to Jack driving then back to CTU and the Whitehouse for anohter hour and then to the badguys for like 2 seconds then back to CTU and the Whitehouse for half a season.
That and all the plot basically being recycled from past seasons has led to the first episode of 24 I only half watched and was rather bored with. They best get their act together or I may just watch previous seasons of 24 instead.
http://kylebeabo.blogspot.com/
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4-17-2007 @ 12:13PM
Rodney said...
OK, umm, how could Cheng have "kidnapped Jack 18 months ago and tortured him for nearly two years"? Cheng began the torture before he kidnapped Jack? Or maybe he continued it after they let Jack go. Yeah, that's it.
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4-17-2007 @ 12:54PM
C C said...
I know people are skeptical of the "scam theory" I have posted here, which is understandable. But the writers last night threw such a softball of a clue about what's really happening I'm shocked no one has picked it up.
Wayne's stuttering speech at the White House press conference, followed by his "flop" due to a "cerebral hemorrage"? This scene was STRAIGHT out of the movie "Dave" with Kevin Kline.
If you haven't seen Dave, Kline plays Dave Kovic, someone with a strong resemblance to President Bill Mitchell. Initially, Dave gets hired by Mitchell's handlers to impersonate him at an event so Mitchell can go screw around with his mistress. But when Mitchell has a debilitating stroke in the arms of the aforementioned mistress, Dave is forced to "become" the commander-in-chief.
Mitchell's handlers are corrupt, of course. Chief of Staff Alexander has his eye on the presidency, and sets up innocent Veep Nance for a fall to clear his path. But Dave manages to uncover the conspiracy, and he sets up a ruse where he "pretends" to have a stroke in front of congress after exposing Alexander and vindicating Nance. Then Dave's "body" is switched with the incapacitated Mitchell's.
The 24 plotline is different, but the essence is the same: it's a con. Like Dave Kovic, Wayne was hoodwinking his audience. And I think there's an ever greater analogy. Wayne is an illegitimate president-he's trying to impersonate his brother.
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4-17-2007 @ 12:56PM
Rob said...
OK,.. so your explanation of the 7 point scale is basically "To piss everyone off". That's nice,.. real nice.
Anyways,.. I was half expecting Jack to say to Doyle after he pulled the gun on him, "Now how do you expect me to take a guy named 'Ricky' seriously?"
Suffice it to say that Doyle pisses me off. Curtis should still be around.
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4-17-2007 @ 2:59PM
ac said...
I hope next week is better. Last week was great, this week was boring. I give it a 4.
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