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

Hoo boy. 24 does TV right!

This episode begins where last week's shocking episode ended when Jack actually failed epically at a task. I've come to expect a certain level of success from our hero, especially when he's asked to do something directly by the President, so I wasn't expecting Hassan to be killed. But killed he was and along with him all hope of a Middle East Peace Accord. Or is it?

Seems Madame President has a trick up her sleeve. She wants Hassan's widow to be the new leader of whatever made up country she's from, have her sign the Accord and everyone's happy, right? Wrong! Seems there was another party at the negotiating table which was a shock to me since they had not even been hinted at until last week. The Russian ambassador must also sign off on the treaty for it to have any real power but he doesn't want to. He says it's because he won't recognize Hassan's widow as the legitimate leader of Islamistan (whatever) but we know the real reason.

The real reason? He's Russian. If you are a Russian on 24 you are automatically a bad guy and sure enough we learn those evil Russians were behind the plot to kill Hassan. They planned everything and the plan worked to perfection with Hassan dead and all the assassins killed by Bauer's team except for one. Not a problem, just need to slip a Russian guy in to the building where the CTU team is and poison the last guy with a little poison to the neck and Voila! The perfect plot to destabilize the MidEast reaches fruition with the Americans none the wiser. Almost.

You know what they say about the best laid planes, right? This one is no exception as the Russian assassin tasked with killing the last Muslim assassin that survived the CTU assault is seen by probably the only person in Washington who could recognize him. Who is that person? Why none other than Renee Walker. She doesn't put it together at first, after all it looks like that last Muslim will survive and she's got other things on her mind, namely Jack's sweet lovin'.

Jack and Renee hightail it to his apartment for a little afternoon delight and we finally get the answer to the question, how long does Jack make love to his women. Answer? About two acts. Pretty respectable and not a Viagra (or condom) in sight. After they finish making the beast with two backs, Jack gets up for some water (gotta stay hydrated) and while he's away his phone rings. Renee yells at Jack that it's Chloe and Jack tells her not to answer it. I'm sure I don't need to remind any of you if you do not EXPLICITLY OBEY Jack EVERYTIME he tells you to do something, you die. That's the rule. But poor Renee, not knowing she is sealing her own fate, answers the phone.

Chloe tells Renee that she has been put in charge of CTU (Yeah Chloe! You go girl!) and the last terrorist has just died from poisoning. Renee puts two and two together, remembers the Russian she saw at the CTU attack site and tells Chloe to get her files assembled so she can ID the guy. The she runs into the other room to tell Jack and that's when it happens. If you'll recall a few episodes ago I predicted that because Jack was developing feelings for Renee, she would surely get kidnapped, tortured, raped, and beheaded. Well I was wrong. She gets taken out by a high powered sniper rifle from the next building. I am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet. Despite Jack's heroic effort to save her, Renee is lost to us forever and gets the highest honor any fallen 24 character can receive, the silent final countdown. RIP Renee Walker.

In other news, in order to get the Russians back to the bargaining table, Madame President has to take a desperate measure and we are introduced to a familiar face, President Logan! All of President Taylor's hopes for salvaging the Peace process is in the hands of a man so evil he assassinated an ex-President and was stabbed in the neck by his own wife. I'm betting this doesn't end well but we'll see.