24

Goodness. Not a good hour to be Jack Bauer. First he has to deal with the love of his life being on a slab then the President makes a special trip to tell him "Screw You" to his face. Let's dive in.

First, Jack has to answer a few questions about Renee's next of kin. Should be simple, right? After all they were soulmates with a love forged in the heat of battle, but no. Turns out Jack knows nothing about her family, if her parents are alive, who should be contacted about her death, nothing. Perhaps a simple background check would have been in order before jumping in to bed with her. I mean after all Jack should know by now that the possibility of someone he loves being killed approaches 100%. Heck I knew that 5 episodes ago.

So a determined Jack calls CTU and finds out what Renee and Chloe were talking about when she was killed and that leads him to Sergei Bazhaev, remember him? He was the Russian that was trying to buy the bomb from Hassan's traitorous brother earlier in the day. Jack goes to see him while he is being arraigned, gets a private audience with him and makes it clear either he gets the info he wants or he kills every member of Bazhaev's family. Bazhaev's not a stupid man and tells him everything he knows. Doesn't even ask for immunity which seems to be the knee-jerk reaction whenever anyone wants to tell Jack anything. Jack "Where's the bathroom?' Bad Guy: "It's in the building, any more and I'll need immunity from the President" And scene.

Turns out the woman with all the answers is already in custody. That's right, our favorite Starbuck Dana Walsh is the source of all needed info. So Jack heads back to CTU to do a little interrogating, Bauer-style. After a few slaps to the head and face and Dana is ready to spill the beans but first she needs...wait for it...immunity. (On a side note, did anyone else's stomach churn just a little to see Jack unload on a woman like that? It was a little unsettling. I couldn't remember another time when Jack was so physical with a female, can you? Leave me a comment if you are remembering something I'm not.) Fortunately, this won't be a problem. The President already has immunity forms filled out and waiting for Jack's call, all he has to do is pick up the phone and before you can say Anger Issues the deal is done. Except not. And for why we need to go to ...

President Logan is given the task of getting the Russians back to the negotiating table and is able to use the fact that he knows that the Russians were behind the Hassan assassination plot as leverage. And it works; the Russians are back, the IRK has accepted Hassan's widow as leader, all is good in the peace process except for one small fly in the ointment. Logan gets word that Bauer is interrogating Walsh and if she gives up the fact that the Russians were involved in Hassan's murder, Hassan's widow won't sit with them at the negotiating table and the deal's off. Logan takes this to Taylor and President Taylor is forced to make a choice. Either she can refuse Bauer's request for Walsh's immunity or grant it and risk the Peace agreement falling apart. After some debate with Logan pushing for no immunity and Brian Hastings arguing for it, (Imaging President Taylor with Logan in an devil costume on one shoulder and Hastings as an angel on the other shoulder.) Taylor decides to listen to Logan.

Instead of just calling Jack and telling him no, Taylor hops in a car and actually drives to CTU to tell Jack to his face. (That's right, the President went to see Jack, not the other way around.) Not only does she refuse to give Jack what he needs to avenge Renee's death, she decides to sequester Jack for a "debriefing" until the whole episode is over. You know what that means right?! Ahhh yeah, it's Jack vs. the whole US government. Jack gets taken to a helicopter which he promptly commandeers and takes flight. Chloe sees all this go down and begs Jack to land or she will call the Air Force in. Ahh yeah, it's Jack vs. Chloe. Jack will take on all comers!

The only thing I'm unsure of is what his plan is. Will he rescue Dana Walsh and force her to tell him what he needs to know. Will he tell Hassan's widow about the Russians' involvement with her husband's murder and blow up the peace agreement? Will he retire to nice island somewhere and live out his days in peace? What do you think? Leave a comment.

24

Back for another hour in Jack's world! But this time all bets are off! That's right, with the announcement that this is the final season ever of 24 literally anything can happen. I remember how amazed I was way back in the first season that they killed his wife, (hero's wives are not supposed to die!) now who knows what will happen. Maybe his daughter will finally get eaten by that mountain lion. Maybe Tony will come back and die again. Maybe Chloe will smile. It's all on the table.

First off, let me just say how glad I am that the whole Dana Walsh sub-plot is going somewhere. Last episode we saw her kill Bill Prady and stuff him in a wall then call the bad guys and give them intel. Sure this is the upteenth time that CTU has had a mole (who is in charge of screening these people?) but at least there is a reason for her to be on the show. (I was just fast-forwarding through her scenes to get to the commercials!) Throughout the episode she is funneling info to the terrorists, knocking out satellites and generally making Jack and Chloe's day miserable. But enough about her, lets move on the star of the show.

When last we left our hero he had been gunned down while trying to draw the fire of the bad guys so Cole can get word to CTU about where the bomb is. He takes three to the chest and is defenseless on the street when Renee Walker shows up and takes out the last bad guy. Renee runs to Jack who looks dead but is really OK. We are told Jack was saved by his bullet proof vest but we know the truth. Jack is bullet-proof. Vests are for wussies.

With the scene locked down and the authorities on-site Jack gets a phone call from the President. How exciting! She wants Jack to oversee President Hassan's transport from the UN to the White House. Sure Jack's on the trail of a Nuclear bomb that could take out half of Manhatten but lets pull him off that and put him on a menial job that any one of a thousand Secret Service or Military personnel could do. That seems smart. But it's the President so what are you gonna do. Jack agrees and tells Renee what's going on and they share a little moment. Seems Jack really likes her. Look for her to kidnapped, tortured, raped and beheaded before the end of the season. I'm saying Jack's love interests don't do very well.

In the meantime, the bad guys call the Prez and give her the 411. Either turn over Hassan or the bomb goes blooey. Of course President Taylor isn't having any of that but some on her cabinet don't think that's the wisest move. In fact two members on her staff take it upon themselves to go behind her back and stage a kidnapping. That way they can turn over Hassan, remove the bomb threat, and the President can say that she didn't know anything. Just one problem with that, remember who was put in charge of the transport? That's right, Mr. Bauer himself. When General Brocker learns that Jack is heading up the detail he utters what will go down in history as the dumbest thing any character in the 24 universe has ever said. "He's going up against and elite team with the power of surprise. Bauer and his team doesn't stand a chance." Go back and read that again. Where has this guy been for the past 8 seasons?

Brocker and Weiss are downloading the relevant details from Ethan Hunt's laptop when Ethan walks in. He figures out what's going on and calls Jack but before he can say anything Brocker takes the phone but the damage is done. (How cool is it to have Jack Bauer on speeddial?) This one phone call combined with Jack's inability to get back in touch with Ethan makes his spidey-sense tingle. He turns his convoy of people around just as that elite team starts firing. Long story short, Jack goes all Jack Bauer on them and pretty much single-handedly takes out that "elite team" with "the power of surprise". Stupid General. He manages to leave one alive to learn who is responsible for this attack against the person of Jack Bauer and Friends and now I wouldn't want to be in Brocker or Weiss' shoes for all the cattle in Texas.

Finally we cut to guy with the bomb who sets it to explode in 15 minutes. Even though it is across town I have no doubt that Jack will get there in time to disarm it. Either that or Chloe will handle the situation with her humorless deadpan leet hacking skillz.

What did you think of the episode? Let me know in the comments!