(S06E21) *Warning, spoilers ahead from the new episode ahead.*
In order to enjoy the 21st hour of Jack Bauer's sixth bad day, I had to suspend reality and stop myself from wondering:
a) How in the world CTU could possibly be so vulnerable, b) Why a presidential chief of staff would be hanging out in a surveillance van, c) How a confused looking teen with a mop of blond hair could suddenly take on such importance, and, d) Why on God's green earth should I care about the romantic bickerings of a divorced couple with no chemistry?
But, once I decided to stop asking the why's and the how's I was able to enjoy this hour for what it was: An odd 60 minutes with surprising moments and real, actual dramatic tension.
The main story this hour centered on Cheng enlisting tough-looking mercenaries in sleeveless tank tops and tattoos to access the sewer lines beneath CTU, disable CTU's security and communications systems and invade the offices with machine guns blazing. They rounded up the CTU staff, shot Milo Pressman when he identified himself as the ranking CTU officer in order to protect Nadia Yassir (How gallant! How shocking!) and apprehended Jack and his sister-in-law Marilyn Bauer. (Jack, who'd gotten out of lock-up and rescued Marilyn and his "nephew," successfully got Josh into the air ducts but he and Marilyn were nabbed.)
The head mercenary got on the public address system and told Josh that he'd be taken to a "safe place" and his mother's life would be spared if he just surrendered. Of course Josh, who likes to whine and squint, gave himself up. The next scene showed Cheng calling Phillip Bauer to tell him that they'd secured Josh, while Phillip added that he was almost done repairing the Russian circuit board for Cheng. Clearly a quid pro quo had been struck: I fix your circuit board; you get my grandson.
However the return of Papa Bauer and the Bauer family players was a frustrating turn of events, particularly after the writers jettisoned the Audrey Raines story with cold efficiency and an empty threat of Heller obtaining a restraining order against Jack (yeah, like a lousy little judicial order would actually keep Jack away). I would much rather see Jack, Audrey and her angry father than Papa Bauer or Josh or anyone from the extended "sick family" again. But alas, it's back to the Bauer tales we go for the waning hours of this season.
In other developments: Presidential aide Lisa Miller -- the one who bedded both Acting President Noah Daniels and lobbyist Mark Bishop, who was passing along intel to the Russians -- was forced to go to Bishop's townhouse and do the nasty while Chief of Staff Tom Lennox watched via a hidden camera planted in her bag. (These scenes were creepy and, in my opinion, eclipsed the creepiness of Daniels and Miller necking in the Oval Office a couple hours ago.) The plan was for Miller to immediately excuse herself to go to the bathroom so Bishop would download fake memos from her PDA indicating that CTU had destroyed the Russian circuit board that the Chinese obtained from Jack. But Bishop, that horndog, wouldn't let Miller leave the room and insisted on helping her "relax" . . . unwittingly in front of an audience. If Daniels sees this video footage, I'm 100 percent certain his head will explode. (Then they'd have to look for yet another president. I nominate Bill Buchanan.)
Overall, I thought this episode contained more suspenseful moments than have many of the recent hours. I, in no way, saw the hostage-taking, Milo getting shot or Cheng's guys wanting to take Josh and bring him back to Papa Bauer coming. I'm giving this episode a 5 on the TV Squad's awesomely original 7-point scale.
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The Upfronts: CBS
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
5-08-2007 @ 12:48AM
imdennycrane said...
Milo getting shot actually got my attention. The last few shows have been so lifeless. Please let a big plot change be on the way!
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5-08-2007 @ 12:53AM
Drew said...
Ok, I'm pissed. How can they SHOOT Milo? While I'm glad they had the action pick up at the end of the show, the first part was so boring, I still spaced off for 3/4 of the show. Hopefully, the last few episodes will pick up, or I'm going to be regretting not watching Heroes instead.
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5-08-2007 @ 1:56AM
Chris said...
How is Jack going to get the circuit board if he has to deal with crazy Audrey and grumpy Heller? Still, they could've stayed at CTU for awhile and been part of the hostage situation.
Chole must quit CTU! She keeps on pushing her luck by staying; watching co-workers die all around her.
They'll bring back the "Audrey thing" next season, if Kim Raver is available.
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5-08-2007 @ 2:03AM
JB said...
Chivalry is dead......eh Milo??
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5-08-2007 @ 2:30AM
Mandee said...
Golly, what a train wreck.
"Sorry, Jack, but we can't let you leave the building right now: you are, after all, under arrest. And sorry, Jack, but we may be serving you with a restraining order to boot!" That Jack could even consider asking for another kick at Cheng was utterly moronic. Talk about off to a wobbly start.
Then we have the attack on CTU, served up with no initial suspense, no initial surprise: Doyle's raid was an obvious wild-goose chase from the start, and anyone with half a brain knew CTU was Cheng's mystery "target".
A few weeks ago, Merideth, one of your posters (I think it was Big Ted) described CTU as the Greyhound Bus Lines of intelligence agencies. Hey, even Greyhound has better security!
And when the actual attack on CTU finally took place -- what a letdown. None of our hardy crew managed to even get away from their work stations, let alone put up any kind of fight. I'll tell you right now, if Thrush had ever managed an assault on U.N.C.L.E headquarters, they would have met with REAL resistence. Even Maxwell Smart's gang would have done better.
Let's not even consider the insanity of Chinese agents launching an attack on a key American intelligence installation. Can anyone say Act of War?
On top of that, we now have the Bauer family soap opera to cope with all over again. Have the writers no shame, or mercy?
Oh well, at least we have Veep Daniels to keep us entertained. I never thought that this season's White House shenanigans would end up providing the show's dramatic high points, but I guess we should be thankful for some small favours.
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5-08-2007 @ 2:32AM
BigTed said...
Wouldn't the events of this episode, in which Chinese operatives take over a U.S government installation and murder several employees, mean the U.S. is literally at war with China? I guess when you start the season with a nuclear explosion, there's nowhere to go but up.
But seriously, someone manages to bypass CTU's feeble defenses yet again? At least in the old days of "24," we'd have gotten to see Jack play "Die Hard," hiding in the shadows and picking off the gunmen one by one. This time, he's captured in five minutes.
As for Jack's dad, the former supervillain is now trading bomb secrets in exchange for nothing but custody of his dull grandson? That's worse than Dr. Evil demanding ONE MILLION DOLLARS. Heck, we viewers would have given him the kid for free.
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5-08-2007 @ 2:44AM
Maurice said...
Chivalry, courage and charming good looks will come bounding to the rescue. Exiled Bill Buchanan will return, gallantly teaming up with Doyle and company in a frontal assault on those nasty mercenaries.
At long last, we will have a chance to see our Mr. B. -- the Cary Grant of CTU -- as a dashing action hero, decked out in tough-guy garb, shooting and kung-fooing the bad guys, and generally just saving the day.
It's going to be wonderful!
Unless, of course, he gets killed. Oh my, I wish I hadn't thought of that.
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5-08-2007 @ 2:46AM
BigTed said...
P.S. to Mandee: Good points all.
And the only reason Doyle's crew couldn't figure out that the Chinese-hired goons left for CTU through a hole in the floor was that they'd never seen "Prison Break."
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5-08-2007 @ 2:54AM
Connie said...
I waited up until early morning, just so I could post this, so listen up gang.
Is Heller connected to Cheng? Is that why he was in such a rush to get Audrey out of CTU -- because he knew an attack was coming? Is he keeping Audrey from Jack in order to protect some dark secret he fears she might help reveal?
I really hope not. But, something seems a bit strange about his recent behaviour....
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5-08-2007 @ 3:44AM
Jonathan B said...
Dammit. I knew I shouldn't have opened TVSquad.
I figured Milo would die when I saw his picture on the frontpage. In my defense I was trying to read the Heroes review.
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5-08-2007 @ 4:04AM
K said...
Mandee:
"Then we have the attack on CTU, served up with no initial suspense, no initial surprise: Doyle's raid was an obvious wild-goose chase from the start, and anyone with half a brain knew CTU was Cheng's mystery "target"."
Oh yeah? Then why didn't you tell us that this was going to happen - a few weeks ago?
You're full of it. You're one of those people who thinks he knows what's going to happen but can't ever say it BEFORE it happens and then say that he knew it all along after the fact. Puuuuuhhhhhleeeeeeez!
Give us all a break. If you hate the show that much, don't watch.
Otherwise, if you're so damned smart, tell us what's going to happen at the end of the season, why don't ya?
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5-08-2007 @ 6:47AM
Kyle Beabo said...
"Ho Ho Ho. Now I have a gun." This episode totally reminded me of the first Die Hard, in a good way.
I was also floored by Milo being shot. He seemed floored by it as well. I think its a requirement to kill Eric Balfour on shows.
Good episode. Actually got the old 24 adrenaline pumping again.
http://kylebeabo.blogspot.com/
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5-08-2007 @ 9:50AM
Hugeliver said...
Note to Milo:
DUCK!
WAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!! THAT was awesome.
The rest of the show...BRUTAL. How many times has CTU been targeted now? How many times have they had moles? IF I was the president I would shut down the whole damn department and let Homeland Security take over.
Oh wait...last season they did this. HEY! Lookit me. I'm writing for 24 now. Recycling old stories...
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5-08-2007 @ 10:09AM
sgsaur said...
Personally, I hope that Heller does serve Jack with a restraining order. I can't stand the Audrey character, and was VERY unhappy to see her return from China. Oh well... I still enjoy watching 24, even though I have to agree that the quality has slipped - how could it not after last season? The point is, even with the melodrama, even with repeating storylines and even with "predictable" plot twists, it's still a great show. If you're not enjoying it, there are hundreds of other channels to watch. A TV show isn't a mandatory assignment. It's supposed to be enjoyable - if it isn't, find something that is and do/watch that instead. I promise that Jack won't come to your house and "make you watch". How can he, he's not allowed to leave CTU.
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5-08-2007 @ 10:15AM
Joe said...
The point is that Phillip Bauer got the codes when he was meandering around CTU earlier this season. Also, I thought it was good that Nadia denied Jack a spot on the team that went looking for Cheng. Normally when Jack gives his reasons, he gets to go for a play so it was good to see him have to take a backseat.
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5-08-2007 @ 10:25AM
Viv said...
@Josh, Nadia ain't that smart to give a distress signal using code language. We need Jack for that. But i think Doyle did figure out that there is something fishy going on at CTU by the look on his face.
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5-08-2007 @ 11:22AM
Adam said...
All I can say is... At least they brought back Phillip Bauer. Thank God I didn't have to be left scratching my head, wondering why they brought him in to begin with.
As for CTU being attacked--c'mon, seriously. Don't these people do research on government facilities at that security level? The disconnection of security cameras alone would have alerted Homeland Security and a dozen other agencies. Basically, Doyle would not be the only one calling in regularly. Uggggg....
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5-08-2007 @ 11:32AM
khamel said...
why would grandpa bauer go through all this trouble to get a boy he could have nabbed a few hours later easily? and *possible spoiler* hes taking the kid to China? WTF? This just made no sense. It makes even less sense then the fact that its so easy to break into CTU.
This season is a real slap in the face to all the hardcore fans who have watched from the beginning. IF you just started watching (like a few friends of mine) this is just a lackluster season but if watched all 5 other seasons you will notice that EVERY plot-line (except the nuke) is a rehash with a little flair.
I can't wait for 24 season 7 in a different city.
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5-08-2007 @ 11:52AM
C C said...
Pop culture references in last night's episode:
Jack and the machine gun? The gun stopping the fan's rotation so someone can squeeze through? Josh crawling around in the ventilation system? Three words-Die Hard parody.
The scene where Nadia was addressing the ops team before they left to raid "Bloomfield"? Didn't it remind anyone of Princess Leia rallying the rebels in the Star Wars movies? I know, Nadia's no Leia.
Was is/who is "Bloomfield"? Many JFK assasination conspiracy theorists believe that the mastermind behind it was a man named Louis Bloomfield.
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5-08-2007 @ 12:00PM
superbagman said...
K, you need to settle the hell down. Mandee is right, during LAST NIGHTS episode (Mandee never said a few weeks ago, jesus) when Cheng started talking about a target with absolutely no specifics it was obvious that it was CTU and that Doyle was going to an empty warehouse. It would have been more suprising if Doyle arrived at the warehouse and Cheng WAS there! You seem passionate about the show, I love it too, but there is no reason to be a super apologist for a weak story and then blow up on other commenters. It's like reading a Lost comment thread, where anyone who dislikes an episode is told by the ravenous fanboys to leave because if they don't like the show they shouldn't comment. You CAN dislike an episode (or in this case a season) of a show AND STILL BE A FAN!
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