24 Addict

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

2008-05-15T07:29:00.002-06:00

In the next couple of days I'm going to switch 24addict.com to Wordpress instead of blogger. This may cause some sections to go missing or appear wonky for a while. Thanks for your patience.

It's nothing Blogger did. Blogger is a fine blogging system that I've been with for years and will continue to use for other projects. But I'm finding I'm limited on stuff I want to do. Development on the tool is very slow. I love and appreciate Blogger and I hope we can still be friends :)

But anyway, the layout and stuff is going to be different here. Just a heads up. I've also got some posts about the special edition Season One DVDs coming out soon I'll be making, so please keep checking back!

Kiefer Sutherland busted. And it's kind of hawt.

2008-05-12T16:53:00.002-06:00

The site JustJared posted a few piccies of Kiefer filming some scenes for "24" which I suppose could be considered spoilery, but at this point I'm so desperate for anything Bauer-related, I'll break my No Spoilers rule :)

Here's a teaser pic, but to be a good blogger, I'll send traffic their way to see the rest of them.

[Clicky for the other pix]

Now, someone wish me a happy birthday. It's been a crappy one so far.

Mr. Bauer goes to Africa

2008-05-02T10:56:00.002-06:00

The upcoming "bridge" movie for "24" will feature Jack in Africa. Coooool. Here's some more info:

For the upcoming 24 movie, Jack finds himself in the motherland, looking for peace among lions, elephants and giraffes. He should know better. Instead of getting some much-needed R&R, our favorite CTU super agent lands smack dab in the middle of a military coup.

The events in Africa lead up to season seven in which Jack is subpoenaed and must high-tail-it back to Washington to answer questions from a bunch of ungrateful politicians who seem to always forget how many times Jack has saved this country's hide.

The movie was designed as a bridge between the end of season six and the start of season seven. The two-hour film, scheduled to air in the fall, is also a way for Fox to remind viewers that Jack Bauer still exists.

Check out President Logan

2008-04-23T17:08:00.004-06:00

Wil Wheaton just posted this very funny video on his blog that stars a buddy of his as well as Gregory Itzin, AKA President WussyMan. (I say that with love and affection for the Gregory. Great actor. So great he made me HATE Logan.)

Watch the vid. Payoff at the end is hilarious for 24 addicts :)

24 Season 7 Cast Picture

2008-04-22T10:52:00.002-06:00

Shiny! A new promo pic for next season which, I suppose could be considered spoilery but hell, even *I* know Tony's coming back.

There is apparently a higher-res version of it according to Fark, but I can't get the damn thing to load up. If you can, sweet! if not, there's this version at least thanks to a commenter there. Enjoy!

Liveblogging test

2008-03-27T13:49:00.001-06:00

24addict on NPR, Redux

2008-03-17T06:32:00.003-06:00

Hey there NPR listeners :) Welcome to the site and thanks for checking it out. For you noobs, we've got forums, fanfiction, some transcripts, and show recaps, as well as that pic there of Jack Bauer AKA Kiefer Sutherland with the steely look in his eye :)

For anyone else who's been by before, the Jack Bauer NPR story is available by clicking here. Pam put together a pretty sweet package where she talks to Bob Cochran, one of the show's creators, and Homeland Security Secretary, Michael Chertoff, a TV/Culture professor at Syracuse Uni, and um, me.

It was a lot of fun, and thank you Pam for letting me babble :)

Oh and one last thing - they've put up a blog about it as well an you can comment on how freaky it is that DHS honcho Michael Chertoff is a fan of the show :) Or maybe it's just me that thinks that's freaky. I had no idea. Seriously.

And no laughing at my pic. I have no idea wtf I'm doing in it. Looks like my keyboard just shocked me or something.

24addict on NPR

2008-03-10T11:27:00.003-06:00

I haven't mentioned this yet (here, anyway :) ) but next Monday, I'm going to be part of an NPR feature piece on Jack Bauer. It's part of their "In Character" series in which "Indelible American characters are explored in-depth."

I was interviewed by the lovely Pam Fessler who is in Washington, D.C. so we did it by phone. But it was pretty cool how it was done. She had a local NPR stringer named Brett Erickson (who is also a professor at a local college here) come down to my paper. He recorded my end of the convo on his spiffy audio gizmo while I talked to Pam on the phone. Anyway, the mechanics of how interviews are done was fascinating.

She had me go through this site a little and talk about how 24addict.com came to be, and why I love the show so much. We talked about the character of Jack and why he appeals to me and why I think he appeals to the fans in general. I hope I don't sound too much like a tool or wacky fangirl in this thing :) If I do, forgive me, I was nervous.

Anyway, I've been told the show will most likely air on March 17th nationally, so if you want to check it out, please do. Pam talked to folks who work on the show as well so it should be a wonderful piece :) If you miss it on the air, it will also be available on the NPR website.

UPDATE: Got another email from Pam on the times it will air:
"The Bauer In Character piece is scheduled to air Monday morning at 6:50, 8:50 and 10:50 Eastern time. That should probably be at 5:50, 7:50 and 9:50 CST (other time zones, you're on your own. I don't do math on Fridays.) If for some reason you miss it, it can be found on our website a few hours later at www.npr.org. Just click on Programs at the top and go to Morning Edition."

She says I'm in a little bit at the end and that it's a six minute piece.

Great news! 24 "Prequel" planned for Fall

2008-03-06T06:38:00.003-06:00

Oh I could hug my Google alerts. The media is picking up a story that the producers of the show are planning a two-hour prequel for Season 7 that will bridge the gap between seasons 6 and 7. Kiefer Sutherland will be back as Jack sooner than we thought. Woot!!!!

Here's the link to the story.

"According to the Hollywood Reporter, Fox wants to air a two-hour prequel movie to bridge the gap between the sixth and seventh seasons.

Season six of 24 was originally broadcast in the US at the beginning of 2007, but the TV movie is also intended to outline what has changed at CTU HQ during the two-year hiatus."

Huzzah!

New clarity on old fave

2008-02-26T09:41:00.003-06:00

So I've just finished watching the third season of the show. I decided a while back to kill time until next year *sniffle* by rewatching it all from the beginning, thereby reigniting my love for the show. And maybe for Kiefer Sutherland as well :)

It worked, of course. God this show is awesome. If you don't watch it for a while you forget how awesomely awesome it truly is. And, I'm noticing that as I watch it again, knowing what I know about the outcomes and all that, it's almost a totally different experience. I pay more attention to the split screens and notice way more detail than I did before.

For instance, in season 2 at then end, Palmer is reinstated as President and lets everyone who voted against him stay in their Cabinet positions. He then turns to Novick and fires him. I never noticed in that scene that Mike Novick is crying. Finding that out made me less disgusted with the fact that he returns as an advisor to a different president later in the series. I could finally see that he was truly regretful of his decision to betray Palmer.

Of course, this new clarity may also be because I'm watching the DVDs on my laptop with headphones on and the screen about a foot and a half away from my face as opposed to on my crappy 19" telly halfway across the room.

Like I said, I just finished up the third season last night. I'd forgotten the poignant scene at the end of Jack sitting in his SUV, finally letting go of all the pain he held onto over the last 24 hours - overcoming withdrawals, watching an innocent guard die in a game of Russian Roulette in the middle of a prison riot, breaking out Salazar, hearing Chase be tortured, figuring out how to save Cloudy-ah, running into Nina, having to work with her - kiss her *shudder* even, killing her when she was about to kill Kim, executing Chappelle, chopping off Chase's hand... Guh. And yet after his cry, he dutifully gets back to work.

I'm moving on to season 4 soon. I highly recommend rewatching from the beginning yourselves in the time we have to wait until next year. It's worth it, it's interesting watching it all back to back and if you're like me and coming back to it after quite a little hiatus, you'll notice more. You'll recognize more actors from others shows you've watched in the interim (For me it was, "Hey he was in Buffy! She was on Angel! Hey she played the psycho slayer!") You'll find you remember your favourite lines. You'll still cheer when Jack uses his Thighs of Doom to kill a baddie. You'll still want to give Jack a hug when it's all over and you might dislike Novick a little less ;)

No 24 until 2009 - and Surnow is leaving

2008-02-14T16:09:00.002-06:00

It's official. "24" will not return to the tube until next year:

NEW YORK — Fans of the Fox drama "24" will have to wait until next January to see Jack Bauer again, this television season's most prominent casualty of the Hollywood writers strike. The network has committed to air a full season on consecutive weeks, and had been planning to start last month.

But if it had started airing new episodes soon, the season finale would not have taken place until the summer, when TV networks rarely show their high-profile programs.

Even though eight episodes for this season had already been filmed before the beginning of the writers strike, producers would have had to ramp up production soon to complete the season.

A January 2009 start seemed the best way to comply with viewers' wishes that a season's episodes run without interruption to conclusion, Fox said on Thursday.

[LINK]

And tacked onto the end of that story is the news that series creator Joel Surnow is leaving the show as one of the Exec producers. Hmmm... Didn't see that one coming. Wonder if he'll stay attached to it in some way though...

I'm not fussed about the longer delay until Jack is back. I would rather watch the show in its entirety - and concurrently - rather than watch a bit here and a bit there. It sucks, but hey, maybe this will give Kiefer Sutherland a bit of a break and he can get re-energized about playing Jack. I was just thinking the other day that playing that role has to take a toll (rhyme unintentional), especially after playing it for so long with very little downtime between seasons. Might also give the writers (bless their little old hearts for staying strong throughout the strike) time to make season 7 the best one yet :)

When will season 7 start?

2008-01-23T13:40:00.000-06:00

I'm noticing in my stats that this query is quite popular. Obviously, 24 fans are missing their show that they've had to wait 8 months to see, and with the writer's strike, they have to wait even longer.

Season 7 has been delayed "indefinitely." The showrunners want to ensure that the show can run in its entirety as it was meant to be seen. Understandable. But with no end to the strike in sight, it's possible we won't be seeing Jack Bauer back on our screens for some time. :(

*sniffle*

24addict interviews Tara Dilullo Bennett, Author

2008-01-08T13:49:00.000-06:00

Whahey check it, my first ever real and proper interview :) Seriously, I've never done one of these before and it probably shows but hey! I'm just this chick, ya know? It's pretty damn cool if you ask me.

Speaking of pretty damn cool, Tara Dilullo Bennett is also in my Damn Cool Club. Not only is she the author of the Official Companion books for each season of '24,' she's also a huge Buffy fan. I know, that has nothing to do with this site and it should be all 24 all the time around here but there is just something nifty about running into other Buffy fans on the intertubes. And hey, Buffy is the reason she's writing these fantastic 24 Companion books:

"Yes, I am a HUGE Buffy fan too. She actually started my writing career as I got my first print feature in the Buffy Mag a few years ago! It was with Camden Toy who was one of the Gentlemen and the Ubervamp. My office has the musical poster and two Angel puppets surrounding me so it's ALWAYS nice to connect with a Buffy fan :)"

Now I don't feel so silly for having the vampire Angel puppet myself. :)

Ok enough yapping from me. On with the interview. Enjoy!

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24addict: Were you a fan of 24 before you began writing these books?

Tara: Yes, I was a fan from the first season, but I wasn't religious about watching every season after, missing a few episodes here and there. So going back to watch every season from start to finish has just deepened my appreciation and love of the show.

24addict: How did you become involved in writing the Companion books for 24?

Tara: I've written for Titan Publishing, who create the licensed magazines for many shows, like Buffy/Angel, Charmed, Lost, Smallville, etc.., for the past few years. One of my editors let me know that he would be launching the '24 Magazine' and he brought me on-board to write for him. Through that connection, I heard the book division was also going to launch '24 Companion Guides' so I pitched them on having me write the series. Luckily, they took me up on the proposal and now two years and four books later...the rest is history.

24addict: I see on Amazon that the 6th Companion book will be out soon. Now that you've done several of these, does it become easier to put them together?

Tara: Actually, the Season Six Companion Guide was by far, the hardest book to put together for a lot of reasons. I turned in the Season Five Companion in early June and immediately had to get to work on the next book for Season Six so that was a bit exhausting. On the '24' side, we all know that they had a tough year with Season Six critically and creatively. So for the first time, I knew I would have to really ask some tough questions and dredge up some difficult topics with the writers and producers, which is exciting and fascinating but also very challenging. Last but not least, the creative team had a terrible time re-booting Season Seven which meant they delayed the start of production three times during the summer of 2007. My book for Season Six was due at the end of August 2007, but the crisis and delays with the seventh season meant I had to scramble to get my follow-up interviews.

The entire '24' team was so wonderful and made time for me when they weren't crunched but it was really tough wrangling all the writers when they weren't working on the new season, finding the cast while they were still on holiday and then coordinating all the materials and photographs from all the various crew that contributed. Usually, I would just make set visits so everything I need is under one roof, but that wasn't the case. Plus, my publisher really wanted to get the Season Six book out for the debut of Season Seven in January 2008, so it was an exhausting race to the finish. All in all, I didn't get the book turned in until October, but we still made our publishing deadline! The unfortunate addendum to the story is that the writers strike has indefinitely delayed the start of Season Seven anyway so....c'est la vie!

24addict: How did you decide on the format for the book? Specifically, each hour's breakdown is great - how did you decide what to include for each recap?

Tara: We talked about the format from the beginning, with the '24 Companion Guide: Season 1 & 2.' We knew we needed an episode run down, but we knew it had to be a lighter version as a literal minute-by-minute guide, with all the story details could literally BE the entire book. We decided a brisk overview would give the reader a nice refresher of the episode and what happened in that hour. The Behind the Scenes section is the place we really felt the books would shine. For every episode, someone from '24' talks about a key element piece of the creative puzzle. From writers to cast to crew, all aspects of the production are covered in the words of the people that make the show and gives real insight into the challenges of that particular hour. Otherwise, the Research Intel is a spin-off from the Fox website, with all new material researched by me. Lastly, the Additional Intel is all trivia from the '24' team that provides some fun details about the show.

For the Season Five and Six Companion Guides, we broke format because each book only covers one season unlike the first two installments. I had a lot of input on the extended sections. With all of the incredible access I've been given to the show, I had hours and hours of interview material that I knew would be able to give fans an even more exhaustive look at the series. We were able to add feature interviews with key actors, like Greg Itzin and Jean Smart. All of the Emmy winners got a chance to shine in their own words and we honored the fallen in the Memoriam section.

24addict: Do you watch the show when it airs and take notes or do you get any of your material ahead of time?

Tara: I watch the show when it airs to see the final cut. Because the production crew is anywhere from five months to six weeks ahead of what we see on TV (depending on the time of year), I travel to LA several times a season to do set visits for interviews for both the books and the magazine. When I am there I always get spoiled! I know far in advance of the public what is coming, seeing the filming and reading the shooting scripts while I am there. On the positive, it helps me ask questions that I know the audience will want answered but it does take away some of my fun watching. On the other hand, I do really enjoy seeing what shots they ultimately selected and how it all turns out though!

24addict: Who's been the most fun to interview? Do you have any stories to tell about the interviews you've gotten to do?

Tara: Honestly, I have had a lot of fun talking to everyone. No jerks in the bunch, which is rare. I think Carlo Rota is the most fun and silly with his answers, as he rolled me around the CTU set on a gaffer cart - lol. But I love chatting hardcore with Howard Gordon about writing and crafting the show. I also love chatting with the crew, who welcome me with big hugs and always have great stories. I am really blessed to have had the opportunity to talk film with James Cromwell and listen to Greg Itzin explain his craft. Xander Berkeley and his wife Sarah Clarke were awesome. There are so many and I am glad to have spoken to them all!

24addict: Do you have a favourite character?

Tara: I love Jack, of course. He's such a tragic character and it's the small moments with him that really break my heart, like when he cradles the lifeless Teri or reacts to shooting Curtis. But I also love the side characters like The Logans and Agent Pierce.

--Editor's note - WOOHOO another Aaron fan :)

24addict: What about a favourite storyline from any season?

Tara: As far as Jack, I really loved the first year and how it all led to such a tragic ending. It was pure Greek tragedy and it was amazing. As for other characters, I think The Logan domestic storyline in season five was amazing. The way Greg and Jean just tore up the screen as this embittered and disappointed couple was breathtaking to watch.

24addict: What do you think of the various controversies the show stirs up (ie. all the torture, or the Muslims = Terrorists thing)

Tara: I think it's interesting how the media likes to latch into the show and make controversy. First and foremost, it's a TV thriller made to entertain. But its subject-matter is deadly serious so the blurring of the lines is quite fascinating at times. I love the way the writers take stereotypes, like Muslim extremism, and then show it in a different light like with the Araz family or the exploration of Assad in season six.

They often turn expectations on their head, which makes people think and talk about how it applies to real life and that's when entertainment is elevated. Is the show perfect? No. Sometimes they intend to go deeper but the nature of the show precludes them from really doing service to a controversial storyline, but that's the nature of the beast and I think as a fan of '24' you have to know that going into it.
-------

That's all the questions I had for the lovely Tara Dilullo Bennett. I'd like to thank her and Titan Books for their time and for letting me do this. It was fun!

24: The Official Companion - Season 5

2008-01-06T17:10:00.000-06:00

Aaaand this is my next review. I really savoured this book. Almost like I wanted to draw it out so I could have my 24 fix while I wait out the strike and the delay of the Season 7 premiere.

So I'd like to thank the publishers of both the CTU Op Manual and the Official Companion for letting me get my mitts on these books. They're both really delightful.

The official companion for each season of 24 is put out by Titan Books and each one was written by Tara DiLullo. Now, the one I have, which is for the 5th season, is the first one of these I've ever had the pleasure to read. I'm a bad fan. I didn't even know these were out there. I do now though and I have to say they're renewing my love for the show.

Admittedly - especially during the downtime - I get distracted by other things like, you know, Life and stuff and I don't live and breathe 24 like I used to when I first saw it. But reading the Official Companion, which includes detailed interviews with the cast and creators (Oh yes, a loverly long interview with Kiefer Sutherland himself was the highlight of the book for me), helped bring back the magic of the show that made me love it. And IMO, season 5 has been the best season so far so having the Companion for it just rocks.

So what makes it so cool? Well it's a fanfic writer's dream for one thing. Each hour in this day is broken down with a timeframe, the key events in that hour, a mini-recap - even some trivia. It also provides info on who guest-starred, who wrote and who directed that episode. I find that very handy.

There's also a beautiful 'In Memoriam' section with tributes to fallen characters. A lot of key folks bought it in the fifth season - President Palmer, Michelle Dessler, Tony (yeah yeah I know, but the book came out before THAT particular spoiler came to light) Almeida, and the fabulous Edgar Stiles. I almost got sniffly reading this section.

Tara DiLullo also goes on to talk about the Emmys the show won for this season and highlights each of them. It was awesome to read more about Sean Callery and the brilliant music he creates for 24 - and might I add, he's quite a hottie ;) How do I know this? Because the book is filled with TONS of drool-worthy pictures. Posed shots of the actors as well as stills from the show.

So there you have it. Do I think it's worth owning this book? Oh yes. Any fan of 24 would be happy to have these companions to enhance their enjoyment of the show. It did for me. So if you're interested in checking it out, you can click the piccie above and it will take you to Titan Book's site.

I'm also working up a few questions for the author since they said I could do that and I'll post those sometime soon :) Enjoy!

So you want be a CTU agent

2007-12-23T12:07:00.001-06:00

Well have I got the book for you :) It's chock full of Kiefer Sutherland, AKA Jack Bauer goodness, and will tell you everything you wanted to know about being a CTU agent.

(This is my first book review so be gentle with me. I mentioned a while back that a couple of publishing houses asked me if I'd like to review their "24" books they had coming out. Well I said, "Would I!")

This review is for Quirk Book's, "The Official CTU Operations Manual"and it's just that - an actual op manual full of background info for incoming agents and How-to's like covert surveillance, how to "go dark" and even how to fake your death :)

This book is Awesome with a capital "A." It's packaged beautifully inside a protective box and is full of beautiful graphics and shots from the show. It includes several glossaries and they even have a section describing field agent hand signals which I've always wondered about when Jack's directing the red shirts- errr I mean other agents when they're being all covert-like in the field.

It reads like a proper manual. It starts out with a general background of the agency, including case studies of the 6 most important days in CTU history and moves on to the type of gear a field agent requires. From there, you'll learn combat techniques (how to treat a severed limb, surviving an explosion), interrogation techniques - including how to withstand interrogation yourself should you be captured.

I had a lot of fun reading this book and reliving totally awesome moments from the show, and I think this book is essential for all budding CTU agents :) I know I'm a little late getting the knowledge out there for this book as a Christmas gift, but I'd still say that if You've got "24" fans in your house, you should get them this book. I love it!

UPDATE: So, I got a cute little video camera for xmas, so here's me being twerpy and shooting a bit of vid of this book :) No laughing at my supreme dorkiness.

A little help from my friends

2007-11-18T12:00:00.000-06:00

I'm going to be doing an email interview (my first!) with Tara DiLullo Bennett, the author of '24: The Official Companion – Season 5.' She's also the author of the first 4 editions. Here's the bio her publisher gave me:

Tara Dilullo Bennett's Bio:
The most cunning terrorists in the world haven't been able to get the best of Jack Bauer …but Tara DiLullo Bennett has. As the author of the recently released '24 – The Official Companion Guide: Season 5' as well as the Season 1 & 2 and Season 3 & 4 editions, Tara has interviewed (or interrogated) virtually every major '24' cast and crew member.

Tara’s other writing credits run the gamut of today's popular culture including books such as '300 - The Art of the Movie' and 'The Making of the Fantastic Four', as well as countless articles for Titan Publishing's line of officially licensed magazines for programs like '24', 'Lost', 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' (YAY BUFFY!), 'Star Trek', and 'Grey’s Anatomy'.

So, I have some questions I want to ask, but I thought I'd see if you guys have anything you'd like to ask yourselves. If you do, post them in my comments or email me.

Thanks!

(And btw, the news looks good on the strike front - writers and the AMPTP have agreed to go back to the table for talks after Thanksgiving! Yay! But you can still help spread the word or participate in the many fan campaigns going on at fans4writers.com. Go join there forums because I gotta say, the 24 fans are getting trounced by the mass of Battlestar Galactica fans over there :) This is the 24 thread there - it's very lonely so join up and join me over there would ya?)

Fans4Writers.com

2007-11-14T14:25:00.000-06:00

So you might have noticed the big white banner at the top of the page there. I encourage all 24 fans who pop by here to give it a click and check it out. It's not an ad, I promise. It's a website put together by fans to support the WGA strike. A lot of the organizers are the same fans who put together that pizza delivery for the writers in the first days of the strike. These fans are amazing and the job they're doing getting our voice heard is nothing short of fabulous.

Here's a little of what Joss Whedon had to say about the fan's support in his latest blog post today:

The point of the meeting was that the WGA is aware of - and a little blown away by – the passion, tenacity, and organizational savvy of the online community. The "Jericho" nuts are the stuff of legend. Whedonesque and the creation of Fans4Writers were spoken of in awed whispers. I’m not kidding: one of the WGA workers asked me, "So, your fans. WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?" I swear, having you guys in my corner is like being friends with Zorro. People in the community are amazed.

Excuse me... I've just got a little something in my eye. *sniffle*

If you want to support the writers during this strike, please do something. Get a banner, spread the word, visit fans4writers.com or unitedhollywood.com and learn what it's all about. Fans4writers accepts donations that go towards doing a weekly food drop for people on the picket lines. Join some of the campaigns they've got going to show the networks how much we love and appreciate the writers who bring us our favourite shows.

Want to get fans4writers updates on your cell? Get on Twitter and start following them.

Thanks and spread the word!

If '24' was around in 1994...

2007-11-09T14:10:00.000-06:00

If Kiefer Sutherland had done '24' back in 1994 instead of making really bad movies, this could have been what the show was like :)

...it seemed wrong not post this :)

24 Season 7 becomes another casualty of WGA Strike

2007-11-07T19:31:00.000-06:00

Ahhh well you knew it would happen. According to EW, Fox has decided to postpone the 7th season of Kiefer Sutherland's Thighs of Doom (TM Melia). As rumours spread that the WGA Strike could indeed last until into 2008, the network decided not to take a chance that the show would have to go on a break midseason. They will finish shooting episode 8 and then shut down production later this month. Seems it's important to Fox that the show is able to have every episode from start to finish shown consecutively.

That pleases me.

I am not disappointed though. Fans of several shows are showing their support of the strike by displaying icons on their sites and hell, even delivering pizza to their favourite show writers. I find that awesome (I also believe Whedon-verse fans are some of the best I've ever met, present company accepted. You 24 peeps rawk :) I can deal with a longer wait if it means the writers on my favourite shows can be fairly compensated for their work.

So, I'm putting an icon a Whedonite created for other fandoms up here - feel free to take it and use it on your own blogs and sites (Just please don't hotlink, kthxbye :) ) It'll be at the top of the page.

Will the Strike affect 24?

2007-11-05T16:07:00.000-06:00

The Writers Guild went on strike today. If you're wondering what it means to them and why they're doing it, take a look at what showrunner Shawn Ryan has to say about it.

Powerful stuff and I hope both sides can come to a satisfactory conclusion.

But what's it going to mean for 24 and other shows? From the Chicago Tribune:

David Fury, an executive producer of "24," said that if the writers work past their contract date, as some think might happen if progress is made in negotiations, Jack Bauer may indeed return in January. "As of right now, I think Fox will premiere '24' as scheduled," Fury said, but he noted that "it really depends on if and when the writers are called to walk out. If the strike does hit on Nov. 1, it certainly makes sense for Fox to delay the start, even if the lack of new programming hurts their bottom line."

The last strike happened in 1998 and dragged on for 5 months. I read that it cost the industry over $500 million. A friend of mine in the industry said this is a scary time right now and if the strike does drag on then 2008 could be pretty bleak.

It's an interesting story to follow, to say the least. I think it's still too early to tell how it will affect 24 and other shows because they could strike a deal tomorrow and the point will be moot. But if it drags on, I know I'll be curious to see how it pans out next year.

24 Fanfiction Launched

2007-10-27T16:01:00.000-06:00

Now that the excitement from the 24 trailer release has died down a little, I thought I'd take a moment and let you know about a new feature here at 24addict: 24 (and more) Fanfiction.

Perhaps for some of you who stop by here fanfic isn't really your thang and that's cool. But 24 fic is pretty popular around the 'net and my forums have a very active and very talented community of ficcers and I felt it was time to give them a better home for their stories.

I've been a, well, fan of fanfiction for years. I think it's a wonderful outlet for those of us who want to hang out in a 'verse even when our shows are off the air. I also believe it's a great way to hone your writing skills. Oh I know all of the arguments for and against fanfic but you won't find me getting tangled up in all of that. I'd rather spend my time reading the fabulous stories normal everyday people can make up.

So if you write fanfic, come help me fill up the database with your stories and reviews. The software I'm using for it allows you to write a series, create and participate in challenges or round robins, or it lets you just review the stuff that's already there. It's pretty cool actually.

There isn't very much there yet, I should warn you, because it's fairly new (only been active a little over a week) and it will take time for my forum ficcers to drift over and start adding more of their stuff. But over time I'm sure it will grow and become a great archive for 24 fic.

I know this is a long post but bear with me a little longer if you're still there.

I allow pretty much any kind of fic - this means everything from fluff, PWP to slash and NC-17 stuff. I don't like to restrict imaginations. If the harder stuff squicks you, then please don't read it :)

I also allow other fandoms. I know this is a 24 site, but I don't see the harm in having other fandom fics. So if *cough* anyone has any good Buffy/Angel fics out there... ;)

And finally, I'd love to house original works too, so there's a category for that.

So come visit 24 (and more) Fanfiction and add your stuff, read what we've got and don't be afraid to leave reviews. Our writers love feedback! You might even find a couple of my fics in there somewhere :)

Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Season 7 Trailer

2007-10-24T18:03:00.001-06:00

Beyond the Call of Duty

2007-10-16T13:02:00.000-06:00

In the next couple of months I'll be talking about a few books about 24 that are coming out. I think I mentioned a couple of them in a previous post. The authors and/or publishers of these books asked me if I'd like a sneaky-peek at them and who am I to turn down swag? :)

The first one that seems quite intriguing is called, "24 and Philosophy: The World According to Jack" and will drop within the next month. It's a collection of essays from professional philosophers that delve into the philosophical themes of 24.

Click here to read an excerpt from the book (PDF).

Themes such as 'The Duty to Die' and 'Must Chappelle Die?' I read one of the essays and found it quite fascinating. I mean, regular readers here know that one of the over-arching themes of the show is 'Needs of the many outweigh needs of the few' and it looks like this book will dig deep into that philosophy as well as others and give us fans an even greater respect for the show.

Nifty!

For the record, I am not being paid for any of these reviews. Unless you count swag. In which case, I guess I am being paid. Sort of. But I'm not being paid to like the books. Just talk about them :) Frankly, I could use the dosh, but having a new book to read is cool too :)

Kiefer Kiefer Kiefer :(

2007-09-25T08:07:00.000-06:00

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Kiefer Sutherland, star of the television thriller series "24," was arrested early on Tuesday in Hollywood for drunken driving after being pulled over for making an illegal U-turn, police said.

Link

I don't want to report this news :( 1. Never flip a U-y in the middle of the night. 2. Don't drink and drive ya eejit. Reign it in Kiefer. I know you like to have a good time but dude... Don't go all Lohan.

The other not-so-amusing thing about this is everyone I know IRL and online is taking a little TOO much pleasure in informing me of Kiefer's misdeed. Any of you lot read this - I already know about it, thanks ;)

Return of the Cubs mug

2007-09-19T15:09:00.000-06:00

Now, I thought he was dead. I hope I won't have to fanwank too much for this plotline for next season's 24 but I definitely thought Tony Almeida was dead.

Not according to a FOX press release (posted via AICN):

"Bauer's day gets off to a shocking start when former colleague Tony Almeida (played by Carlos Bernard), last seen in Day 5, returns after being left for dead by a terrorist conspirator in CTU's infirmary."

Of course... Yay for Tony not being dead, but I'm still going, 'Huh? I thought he was dead.' I know there was no silent clock for him but still... Oh hmm, I hadn't checked the Fox agent files thingie to see if it said DECEASED over his mug - did anyone else?

Oh well, I've been reading about some season 7 changes (no CTU, location will be DC etc.) but that's about it because as you all know, I'm spoilerphobic and I don't want to know too much. But these changes seem pretty shiny actually.

Season 5 and other stuff

2007-09-01T21:06:00.001-06:00

I needed a Kiefer Sutherland fix so I got it in my head to relive what is arguably the best season of 24: Season 5. Hey, I said 'arguably' so don't give me any flack :)

I as feeling a mite guilty for getting away from the show for so long so I decided to spend Labour Day weekend watching the 5th season. I'm glad I did. It's totally renewing my 24 addiction. I may spend the next few months leading up to the new season watching 1-4 as well.

Notice I said nothing about the 6th season. Yes I will be buying it because I'm anal about having complete collections. But after stewing about it I've come to the conclusion that, in my opinion, the 6th season was pretty weak. Not that there weren't moments of good, I mean let's face it folks, this is me talking here. I'll never have anything truly awful to say about the show. Love it too much, so if you're looking for TWoP-like snark, you won't get it from me.

Anyway, that's my plan, the revisiting of my favourite seasons. It should be fun.

Oh and this is my cool news: I've also been asked by a couple different publishers to review their 24 books they have coming out. On is an officially licensed book called '24 The Official CTU Operations Manual' and the other is called '24: The Ultimate Guide.' I don't have a link for that yet but it's due out in October. I may also have about 5 copies of it to give away here so keep your eyes peeled here and I'll let you guys know.

My first contest :) How exciting!!

Jon Cassar's blog

2007-08-26T20:22:00.000-06:00

24 Director, Jon Cassar has wandered onto the Internets. Forgive me if this is old news but I only just heard about it :)

Seems to be a bit of a blog and a bit of a normal website. Should be cool! I hope he actually updates it frequently. There's a 'Flashback Photo' section where he'll be showing pix from the set of the show from his personal collection.

Rawk.

Garofalo joins the cast

2007-08-21T05:21:00.000-06:00

Janeane Garofalo is said to be joining the cast for the upcoming season. Sweet! I like her.

'Sup?

2007-07-26T14:35:00.000-06:00

What the hell happened to me? I had such high ambitions of posting my thoughts on last season etc. And then... I didn't.

Well I went to Montana for my dad's wedding and much relaxation at his cabin in the mountains. It was very niiice.

And then, well, I got caught up with work stuff. And I've become addicted to Dr. Who. And well, there's not much 24 goodness to talk about other than Cherry Jones on board to become the prez next season. That should rock. I first heard about her when I was in a Gabriel Byrne frame of mind because they did a play together a long time ago. Then she popped up as the sheriff in Shyamalan's "Signs" and I dug her in that.

So she should make a great prez :)

Anyway, I've been messing about with Twitter and decided to add it to this blog over on the left there, so feel free to snicker at my stupid little 140 character ramblings.

24: Day Zero

2007-06-06T05:42:00.000-06:00

I suppose I'm one of the last to mention this, but oh well, it's still pretty damn cool. Ever wanted to see more action from Jack *before* Terry died and Nina was still on the CTU payroll? Me too.

Well, 20th Century Fox and Degree teamed up to release some Flash animated episodes of the show set during that time frame. It's called Day Zero and it's pretty cool. The animation is on the low-tech side but once you get used to it, it's pretty nifty. But best of all, Jack is actually voiced by Kiefer Sutherland himself. So those of you needing a bit of a Jack fix to get you through these long, lonely months without him can have these little episodes to get you by :)

There's more to the site as well with episodes of those live action webisodes called 24: The Rookie and some behind the scenes stuff. There are a couple of interactive sections to explore as well.

Enjoy!

"Get the kid Jack." 5am-6am

2007-05-21T19:43:00.000-06:00

Here we are, the last hour in a very. long. day.

Josh arrives at the oil rig and his crazy grandfather is there to meet him. Josh is visibly shaken and unwilling to be the obedient grandson. He tells Phillip he doesn't want to go anywhere with him but Phillip isn't standing for any lip and tells him he will do as he's told whether he likes it or not (and get off his lawn while you're at it!)

Cheng is nearby and tells Phillip that the submarine is on schedule to rendez-vous with them in 30 minutes. When you think about it, it's actually been quite the exciting night for young Joshua. If he wasn't a pawn in his whacked out grandpappy's little power trip he might actually sort of enjoy riding in a submarine.

Back on the beach, Jack looks on as the trauma team evacuates Doyle. At CTU, a doc tells Morris that Chloe's vitals are strong and she's in no immediate danger. Morris asks why she fainted and the doctor tells him it's probably due to dehydration and exhaustion. But you know, I bet she's preggers. We'll see...

Chloe wakes up and tells Morris she's fine but he won't leave her side. She tells him that if he wants to help her feel better, he'll go help find Phillip Bauer. Reluctantly, he agrees and heads back to the floor. Nadia pinpoints a decommissioned rig and Morris runs a thermal scan on it and they discover it's the right rig. Nadia hurries off to inform the White House where everyone has gathered to discuss tactical options against the Russians.

Lennox tells the room CTU has located Phillip Bauer on the oil rig and one of Daniels' men (not sure if he's a cabinet member or what, all I know is he was the asshole prison warden in Shawshank Redemption) recommends sending in 2 F-18s to just obliterate the rig and everyone on it. Lennox is actually aghast at this plan and reminds Daniels that Josh is on the rig - a young boy. He pushes for the surgical strike by an assault team rather than obliteration by the F-18s (speaking of F-18s, we just had a couple of those suckers in my town here over the weekend. Those are some sweet rides. Loud though.) Predictably, Daniels orders the F-18s in immediately, stating the whole 'needs of the many' routine.

Back to the beach again, Doyle's being loaded into an emergency vehicle and Jack tells him he's gonna be all right.

"Jack I'm sorry." Doyle says.

"You were following your orders."

"Get the kid. Get the kid Jack."

"I will."

That was amazing.

Nadia calls Jack to tell him they found the rig and about F-18 strike happening in under 30 minutes. She orders both Jack and Bill back to CTU for a debrief. Jack doesn't answer her right away and then says, "Fine." But I highly doubt Jack's about to just give up on Josh and go be debriefed. Jack eyes a nearby chopper and Bill half-heartedly tries to talk him out of it after learning of the air strike. Jack tells him he's going to take it because Josh is not an 'acceptable loss.'

Bill tells him, "I'll fly." Right on! It is so awesome to see Bill in the field! I think Jack's proud and happy to go into this with Bill by his side. They walk over to the nearest SUV and begin loading up on weapons. They get in the chopper and quickly take it over. With Bill at the controls, they head for the oil rig.

In Washington, Daniels begins his dance with Suvarov to try and get him to hold off on his imminent attack by explaining the latest development. Suvarov, during the call, receives word that a transmission was intercepted from a Chinese submarine that confirms what Daniels is trying to tell him. Daniels offers a realtime uplink to the mission and Suvarov tells Daniels that nothing less than the complete destruction of the oil platform will suffice as proof the circuit board has been destroyed.

At CTU Jack and Bill put pressure on Nadia to grant them access to a satellite feed of the platform so they can go in knowing what they're up against. Nadia agrees to help them despite the inevitable repercussions.

As Jack and Bill race the F-18s to the rig they make their desperate plans to go in low and try to surprise them. Aboard the rig, Cheng's men spot the chopper moving in. Cheng tells Phillip they need to get into a boat and head west. The boat has a beacon transmitting to the sub. He hands the circuit board back over to Phillip and goes off to his men to take care of the chopper.

Jack and Bill rise up as they approach the rig and Jack takes out the few men guarding the landing pad. Bill lands the chopper and Jack's off, guns a-blazing. Bill's close behind. Jack's hitting a bunch of stuff that blows up and takes out more of Cheng's men until he finally comes upon Cheng himself who's taken a hit. Jack demands to know where Josh is but all Cheng will yell is "You're too late!"

Jack orders Bill to get Cheng to the chopper while he goes off to see for himself if Josh is still on the platform.

He is indeed still on the rig but he and Phillip are making their way to whatever boat Cheng sent them to. But Josh can't take anymore of this and he begins resisting Phillip. He pulls away each time Phillip takes his arm. He tries to clock Phillip but the old fox is too quick. In a stone cold voice he tells Josh that he needs to learn to control his emotions, that he must never allow his emotions to control him. Trying to keep from sobbing, Josh nods and lets Phillip pull him along.

Jack continues to make his way down the rig, taking out flunkies as he goes. But time is running out. The F-18s are four minutes out. Meanwhile Josh and Phillip arrive at the mini-dock. And then that brave boy clocks Phillip something fierce, grabs a gun and now he's got a bit of an upper hand. Phillip doesn't believe Josh will shoot him and in a tone reminiscent of sending a toddler to a time-out, he tells him to hand over the gun.

But Josh refuses, telling him that as long as he's alive, Josh and his mother will never be safe. Phillip tries his twisted reasoning on the boy again but it only enrages him further When Phillip gets too close Josh shoots him near his right shoulder, knocking him back and rendering him incapable of trying to force the gun away. As Josh moves in, full of anger, to shoot again Jack arrives and tells him to lower the gun. But Josh is having a hard time getting past the point of no return. He's so pissed.

Jack talks him down from it though, telling him he wont want to live with the pain of taking another human being's life. The news about the F-18 attack though is what seems to spur Josh's decision to lower his gun. Jack tells him to run up to the top of the platform and get in the waiting chopper. He says he'll be right behind him. Josh hurries up the stairs.

With an icy stare, Jack looks at Phillip. "Get up. Get up it's over!" he cries.

"Then finish it." his father replies.

With such a look of anguish and pain on his face, Jack says, his voice breaking, "No. You are gonna be held accountable for what you have done today."

"I don't think so. You don't have time to carry me. Not if what you said about the airstrike is true. And you don't want to die. Not here. Not with me."

Jack lowers his weapon. His brow furrowed, tears forming, "You're gonna get off easy."

With a last look at his father, Jack races up the stairs leaving Phillip on the dock.

Bill is updated and told the strike team is 90 seconds away. Josh comes running up and tells Bill that Jack is with his father. Bill tells him to get in the chopper. The F-18s are given the order to go ahead. Bill is forced to take off but he tells Jack to meet him on the south side, level three. The missiles are launched. Jack stands on a rail looking towards the chopper. He leaps for the rope ladder dangling from the chopper and hangs on tight. As Bill pulls away the platform is hit by the missiles and destroyed. Man that was a bit of a nail-biter.

The White House and Suvarov watch and confirm that the rig has been destroyed. Suvarov tells Daniels he is satisfied that the circuit board has been destroyed and he will order the withdrawal of all troops and stand down. The two leaders commiserate a little on the events of the day (with Suvarov extending his best wishes on the recovery of President Palmer. Hehehe.) and the crisis is averted.

We move back to the chopper and Jack, still hanging on to that rope ladder, poor guy. As they near the shore, Jack lets go and drops into the water. He makes his way to the beach, man-purse still in tact, (and sorry - mmmmm wet Jack) Jack waves Bill off. Understanding, Bill and Josh head back to CTU.

"We have to go back for him!" cries Josh.

"Jack's not ready to go back yet." he tells him.

Meanwhile, Daniels accepts congrats from folk as he and Lennox make their way to the Oval. Despite being told that all he wants to do is sleep, Lennox insists on getting Daniels to deal with Karen and Bill. He wants Daniels to let them retire with their reputations in tact so that some semblance of trust can be maintained with the American people. Probably because he's victorious, Daniels agrees. Grateful, Lennox leaves to attend to Karen and in a final gesture, he leaves behind the digi recording he had of Daniels agreeing to perjury.

At CTU, Morris checks in on Chloe. And, hehe I was right. She's pregnant. This was a lovely little moment. Even Chloe thought so. "You know," she interrupts as Morris is about to say something, "this is a nice moment. Let's not ruin it by saying something stupid." Hee!

In Washington, Lennox drops by Karen's cell to tell her the good news. She and Bill are pardoned and are free to live their lives without fear of prosecution. Smiling with relief, she tells Lennox she knows he had a hand in it and she offers her hand in gratitude. He shakes it and tells her he actually think he'll miss her. "Really?" she asks. "I can answer that better when you're gone." he replies, chuckling. She laughs in response and walks out a free woman.

Bill and Josh arrive at CTU. Josh runs off into the waiting arms of his mother and Cheng, broken and bleeding, is led off to be interrogated and hopefully tortured a little. Cheng's parting shot though is to tell Bill that his people will not abandon him like we abandoned Jack Bauer. "Get him out of here." Bill says.

Going over to Nadia, Bill tells her that she did good work today. Th compliment means a lot to her, coming from him. But then, puzzled, she looks around for Jack. But Bill tells her he fell off the ladder and made it to shore. He doesn't want to be found. He tells Nadia to let him go.

Leaving CTU, we find ourselves looking at Heller. He's talking to someone on the phone about Audrey. As he hangs up, he hears a noise. Slowly he reaches for the phone but then Jack steps into the room and tels him to put it down. He's still wet and glistening from the water. Heller asks if Jack is there to kill him.

"That depends. Where's Audrey?"

"I told you you're not getting anywhere near -"

"YOU DO NOT TELL ME WHAT TO DO ANYMORE!" Jack screams, raising his gun and pointing at Heller's head. He tells Heller that he just watched his father die and he felt nothing. He says his own father was dead to him years ago. But he looked up to Heller. Heller was the kind of man Jack wanted to be. But Heller took advantage of that.

Thus begins Jack extremely cathartic rant which I reproduce in full here because it's so fecking amazing:

"Earlier today you said that I was cursed. That anyone I touched ended up dead or ruined. How dare you. How... dare you. The only thing I did, the only thing I have EVER done is what you and people like you have asked of me. Why didn't you try to get me out of China?"

"I did try - "

"NOT HARD ENOUGH! You had the political power. Was the timing not right? Was it a little to complicated? Or was I just an acceptable loss?"

"Jack I understand you're angr-"

"SHUT UP!" Jack raises the gun to Heller's head again. "You don't understand a thing about me. But I know you. I know why you're angry at me. And it wasn't because Audrey went to China to save me. It was because when you told her NOT to, she did it anyway. You'll never understand that kind of commitment. That kind of loyalty."

"You're right Jack. It wasn't fair of me to put all this on you, to blame you for what happened to Audrey. I know the sacrifices you made. I know this country owes you more than it'll ever repay."

"I'm not interested in what you think this country owes me. I want my life back. And I want it now. Audrey's all I've got and you can't stop me. In case you've forgotten, I'm very good at disappearing. And if you try sending someone after us I'll kill 'em. Pretty good at that too."

"Simply getting your life back Jack isn't gonna change who you are. And you can't walk away from it. You know that. You've tried it. Sooner or later you're gonna get back in the game and my daughter's gonna pay the price - like your wife did."

"You son of a bitch." Jack starts backing away, disgust all over his face at those hurtful words.

"Jack I beg you to stop for a moment and THINK. Think Jack. You won't be able to take care of her the way you want to."

Shaking his head, exhaustion beginning to creep up on him, Jack asks, "Where is she? Take me to her now."

Heller leads Jack to Audrey's room where she's asleep. He takes her hand. "It's me... I'm here..." But she doesn't wake up. Sadness and resignation in his voice, he quietly tells her, "I know that I promised to take care of you and protect you. But I'm at a crossroads. Right now the best way.... the only way to do that is to let you go. I hope one day you can understand that. I hope one day you can forgive me. ..." Jack looks at her one more time... "I love you with all my heart." He leans forward and places a gentle kiss on her forehead. "I always will."

Mustering the very last reserves of his strength, Jack Bauer gets up and walks away from her. Letting her go.

He leaves Heller's home out the back way and walks to the edge of the property, his gun still in his hand. He stares out at the ocean, looks down the cliff where the waves break against the rock... A last look on Jack's face, and the scene fades away to the silent clock.

Guh! Just... guh! Hands up if you thought he was contemplating suicide. I know I did. Then again I know Kiefer Sutherland is signed on for two more years which takes a bit of the impact of that powerful scene off I guess but if you can let that fun factoid go, man what a super ending. I enjoyed the wrapping up of everything. They took their time with it and we got a lot of good closure tonight.

So that's it kids. No more recapping until next season. My fingers are doing a happy dance but I'll miss it for sure. Maybe I can find some other show to recap in the meantime. Who knows :) But I'll be writing up a sort of season overview/review sometime this week or weekend (depends I'm busy at the paper this week - I'm learning how to produce newscasts so wheee!) so please come back and check it out if your are so inclined. And I'll do what I can to keep the site interesting during the long wait for Season 7 :)

Goodnight guys, and thanks for watching the show with me! It's been a great ride.

"He's been more right than we have today." 4am-5am

2007-05-21T17:58:00.000-06:00

Is everyone strapped in? Please keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times. Ready? I am relatively thunderstorm-free this evening so away we go boys and girls...

Nice shot of Doyle's chopper flying over some breaking waves as Josh tries to comprehend what just happened. He demands hat Doyle tell him what his grandfather's doing and Doyle tells him that Phillip has something that could stop a war. He tells him CTU will do everything in its power to recover Josh as soon as they have what they need from Phillip. Calmly, he assures Josh that Doyle will get Josh back no matter what. He recognizes Josh's fear and lets him know he would feel the same fear in his place. Then he injects a tracking device in Josh's wrist that will aid them in their Recover Josh efforts.

Back on the ground Jack continues to plead with the Special Agent in Charge to not go through with the exchange with Phillip. But the SAiC will not relent and tells Jack he's being placed in temporary custody (but not being charged with anything) so that he will not impede the exchange. Frustrated, Jack gets in an SUV and calls Chloe.

Chloe fills Jack in on why the exchange is happening and Jack has no faith in his father's deal to hand over the circuit board. He has Chloe put him through to Karen Hayes.

But Karen is in the middle of a conference call with Daniels and Suvarov. Daniels is doing some serious groveling too. I am enjoying that. Suvarov dismisses the groveling and makes Daniels get to the real point of the call which is when Daniels tells him about the development with Phillip Bauer.

Jack's call goes through to Karen and he quickly tells her that under no circumstances can his father be trusted to uphold the deal. Phillip would have no leverage with the Chinese if he hands over the circuit board and he believes that the Chinese will offer him more. Jack tells Karen that his father is smart enough to manipulate the exchange. Karen tells Jack that she agrees with him but her hands are tied. She says he will have to put a stop to it on her end - but Jack tells her he's in custody. He hangs up with an ultimatum - she needs to stop this and she needs to stop this now.

Lennox joins Karen after the Suvarov call and she tells him everything Jack just told her. Lennox asks if she thinks Jack's concerns are warranted.

"Absolutely. He's Phillip Bauer's son and he's been more right than we have today." she replies.

"Point taken."

Karen tells him that she has an idea that might be a solution to the problem but Lennox will not go along with it if it means having to keep Daniels in the dark - but he won't be looking Karen's way if she chooses to do so. With a tiny grin, Karen makes a phone call.

And who does she call? Buchanan. Woohoo!! I was so hoping there would be more Bill before the end. Unfortunately, Bill's having to endure a bunch of FBI agents combing through his home as a result of a subpoena. Karen tries his cell and finally the landline but Bill's being a bit obstinate in not answering her. Her pleading with him on the answering machine gets through to him and he picks up and listens to her outline the situation.

"What are you asking me to do Karen?"

"Whatever it takes to stop the exchange..."

Doyle and Josh arrive at the exchange and Phillip calls Doyle, telling him to have CTU shut off satellite. He tells Doyle that he's got an uplink into CTU and will know if he's bluffing. Morris confirms that Phillip has hacked in but has no idea how it's being done. After Doyle confirms that Phillip cannot see Josh's tracking device he has CTU shut off satellite. Phillip's next order is to get rid of the chopper. Doyle complies. He then makes Doyle put Josh on the phone. Josh is understandably feeling quite hostile towards his grandfather and Phillip tries the ploy of public embarrassment over his father's (Jack's brother) hand in today's events. He tells Josh that his mother can join them whenever she wants. He tells him that where they're going, he will have the means and the power to help Josh become the kind of man his father should have been. Eeesh. After he hangs up he sends his flunkies to go get Josh.

As they wait, Doyle tells Nadia that he's going to take any opportunity to keep Phillip from getting his grandson. Nadia strongly reminds him that he is not to go off book on this one and they can't begin a recovery effort until the board is back at CTU. As she tries to get Doyle to confirm he will obey orders, Karen Hayes calls Nadia for a status report on the exchange - and on Jack. We learn that Jack is being taken to a holding area at District. Karen requests access to the traffic grid tracking Jack's SUV and refuses to explain to Nadia why she needs that access.

After the call, Nadia is called away to handle Marilyn Bauer who's raising hell because she doesn't know what's going on with Josh. Nadia lies to her, saying he's being debriefed at District but Marilyn's having none of it. Nadia has Morris request extra security to escort her to holding. Morris complies but Chloe just glares at him from across the table. She thinks the whole situation just plain stinks and while Morris does agree, he now understands the need to follow orders.

Back to Jack now. As the SUV turns onto a side road, some crazy lunatic swerves into their lane forcing them off the road. As the drivers gets out to investigate - gun drawn, Bill Buchanan steps out of his vehicle and stalls him until Jack can subdue the other agent in the SUV and get away with Bill. Bill apprises Jack of the sitch with Josh and they take off. That was pretty slick. As they drive off, Jack thanks Bill for putting himself on the line for this. Bill tells him he doesn't need thanks. He just hopes Jack is right about his father. "Unfortunately, I am." Jack responds.

Back at CTU, a strange man arrives on the floor and Chloe gets up and goes to him, giving him a long, comforting hug (awwww.) It's Milo's brother. Chloe takes him off to sign paperwork for the release of Milo's body. *sniff*

At the White House, Karen's computer is hit with a shutdown notice. Looks like the jig is up. She calls Bill and tells him how sorry she is and how much she loves him... and then Secret Service walks in and puts an end to that call. She's about to be arrested.

At CTU, Nadia introduces herself to Milo's brother, Stuart (Stewart? I dunno) and he asks how Milo died. She hesitates and then tells him that he died saving her life. She says he was very brave. Stuart tells her he really wasn't. He was really just in love with her. I have to say, Milo's brother is quite the hottie.

Their moment is interrupted by Chloe calling to tell Nadia about Jack's escape. She can barely contain the glee as she tells her that Buchanan aided in the effort. I love Chloe.

As Doyle and Josh continue to wait for someone to come get him, Josh pleads with Doyle not to go through with it. He's obviously scared and upset. But Doyle tries to play the 'Do it for your country' card along with his word that he will get Josh back. You can tell Josh isn't buying it though. All he can see is he's about to be handed over to his crazy grandfather.

Nadia interrupts to tell Doyle that Jack escaped custody and is on the way there. CTU cannot bring in their tact teams to help Doyle because Phillip will spot them and back of. So Doyle will have to face Jack alone. "I'll be all right." Doyle tells her. But he sure looks nervous. Relief washes over Josh's face as he asks Doyle if his uncle is coming and Doyle tells him he is. I almost think Doyle is a little bit relieved as well. I can tell he doesn't want to hand Josh over either.

In Washington, Karen sits in a holding cell when Daniels walks in. He's pissed and he lets her know it. But she stands her ground and accepts the consequences with a quiet dignity. And when Daniels asks her if Lennox had a hand in it, she protects Lennox who only a few hours ago was one of her worst enemies. What a woman. You go Karen.

Phillip calls Doyle and orders them to walk towards the ocean (the exchange spot was some sort of lookout point on what might be Highway 1 which is California's pretty coastal highway. I probably should have mentioned that earlier.) It looks like Phillip sent a boat.

At CTU, Chloe monitors Josh's tracking device closely despite her noticeable fatigue. Two men in a small speedboat arrive on shore and approach Doyle who's gone down to met them. The flunky sets the container with the circuit board down and Doyle picks it up to verify its authenticity. As he opens the case a small explosion goes off that knocks Doyle down and incapacitates him. As he writhes in pain, unable to see, the flunkies move in and grab Josh.

Jack arrives on scene just as the men are running fr their boat but Jack doesn't have a clear shot without possibly hurting Josh. They get away as Jack looks on helplessly. Then he and Bill make their way to Doyle who, despite his pain, makes a report on the situation, telling them the board was a fake, that it blew up. Bill stays with Doyle as Jack calls in the report. On the boat, the men inform Phillip they have Josh and he tells them to scan him for trackers. They short the tracker.

Jack, as only Jack can do, calmly gives Nadia an update and requests a trauma team for Doyle. He reigns in his anger and saves his "I told you so's" because he's a man of action and he'll set aside his personal feelings when he has to to advance to the next stage.

Back at the White House again, while debating when to call Suvarov with details on the botched exchange, Daniels is eating some serious crow. "Karen was right. And I was wrong." He even admits out loud that he may have been wrong about Wayne Palmer. "Until you sit in this chair, you don't know anything."

Lennox advises Daniels not to prosecute Karen or Bill considering both of them were pretty much right and Daniels was a big giant dickhead (maybe he didn't use those exact words, but that's how I heard them in my head :) ) but Daniels, despite his meal of crow only says he'll take it under advisement for now. There are bigger problems to worry about atm.

Jack informs CTU that Doyle's injuries are not life-threatening but he will be blind in one or both eyes (so much for theories abounding that Doyle is being groomed to take over for Kiefer Sutherland eh?) He asks about the satellite but Nadia says the small boat will be very hard to track. Jack stares out to sea and an idea begin to form. Jack's father's company has shell corporations that own oil leases up and down the coast. Jack is starting to think that his father is on one of the rigs located about 10 miles out to sea. Good thinking Jack!

Aaaaand on a rig (he was right) Phillip awaits the arrival of his grandson. As he turns away from the dock, Cheng is standing there demanding to know when he will get the circuit board. "When I have my grandson." he replies. Cheng tells him he made the right decision to continue to work with China. Phillip replies that despite the mistakes Cheng made today, China is still his future. Whatev.

At CTU, Chloe is combing through files trying to find a matching oil rig to Phillip's holdings but as she searches, her vision blurs and she appears ill. As she walks over to Morris to tell him she's not having luck with the files, she passes out. Eh? Oh noes!

Ugh this 'cap took longer than I thought and I'm way behind on the second hour. Eep1 Good stuff so far though. The shocker for me was Doyle getting blown up and I' dying to know what's wrong with Chloe so I'm moving on to the Big Finish!

This is it kids!

2007-05-21T07:40:00.000-06:00

Tonight's the Big Finish. The Grand Finale. End of the Road. The light at the end of the tunnel...

A 2 hour season finale tonight that will keep my fingers flying and my Tifaux hopping. For anyone stopping by tonight to check up on my recapping progress, I hope to have the first hour done about 20 minutes or so into the second hour. My aim this season has been to be one of the first recaps up so that folks who *gasp* missed anything could get caught up quick. I hate waiting for stuff and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to tonight. I was kind of disappointed in the Simpson's thing last night though. While it was nice to see the show done 24 stylee, Chloe was barely in it and that makes me sad. Even Jack was hardly in it. Ah well.

Oh and I'm sure you're all well aware of the fact that Jack will be back (in what condition though, who knows) for two more Really Bad Days. Gosh I remember when we all waited with baited breath for the Upfronts from FOX to decide if it would get the axe or soldier on. Barring any more renewals, this little show that could will have made it on the air for 8 seasons. That's quite an accomplishment, especially for a show on the trigger-happy FOX network. (Why yes, yes I am still bitter about Drive getting cancelled. And while I'm at it, bring back Firefly damnit!)

Enough prattle. Stop back by the site tonight for recappy goodness. While you're waiting, feel free to drop in on the forums and talk about the show or read some good fanfic. Or pop in the 24addict fan gallery and peruse the large gallery of fan art and wallpapers that I've just conglomerated into one massive album. Or you know, just sit back and watch the show. It's gonna be a circus :)

Reminder

2007-05-20T13:15:00.000-06:00

If you haven't been inundated with ads already, don't miss the 400th episode of The Simpsons tonight as Jack and Chloe from the Counter Truancy Unit show up for some fun with Bart and the gang :)

"The man is a sociopath." 3am-4am

2007-05-14T18:35:00.000-06:00

Well boys and girls, we're nearing the end of this year's crazy ride we call 24. I'll get going on the recap in a mo but I just want to say thanks to all of you who stop by and read some chick in Nebraska's recap each week and an extra special smoochie to those of you who take a minute to leave a comment. I am a comment whore so don't be shy, tell me what you though of the show!

When it's all said and done I'll be posting my sort of final thoughts on the season at some point and then I'll have to figure out how to keep the site interesting and fresh for the next 8 months. Wish me luck on that.

And now down to business...

For the record, I'm in a damn thunderstorm watch and I have an annoyingly large map of Nebraska on my screen. Stupid weather. If they break in during the show I apologise for missing anything in the recap.

Oh for fuck sake. No sooner did I type that then they broke in. *sigh*

The last thing I saw was Morris covering Milo's face. Now we're back and the mercenaries are leading Josh away through the sewers while the rest of the ones left at CTU begin herding CTU employees away to prevent them from following the ones who have Josh.

As Jack's group (which includes Nadia, Chloe and Morris) is led away from the main floor, Jack whispers his longshot plan to take out the terrorists. A really cool hand-to-hand fight ensues as Jack strangles the head merc who killed Milo, Nadia holds her own for a while and Morris manages to take out his guy as well. But Nadia loses her grip on her guy and is struggling to keep him from aiming his machine gun at her face. Just as Jack snaps the neck of his guy (I don't think I'm getting my Thighs of Doom this year :( ) Doyle barges in and shoots the guy about to kill Nadia. How much shall we bet that those two crazy kids end up together?

Doyle's men secure all hostages and the shell-shocked CTU employees will now begin to get back to work. Nadia releases Jack from custody so he can help get Josh and the component back. Jack is under Doyle's command. As Doyle asks for a casualty report, she tells him about Milo. I saw some definite concern on his face when he asked if she was all right. Definitely some sparkage. Jack tells Nadia she did great and then he and Doyle get underway.

Jack, Doyle and a small contingent of agents head for the sewers, hot on the trail of the remaining mercs. But the mercs arrive at their safehouse first and hand Josh over to Cheng who puts him on the phone with Phillip Bauer. Phillip tells Josh that he's going to take him to China so he would be spared the embarrassment of his father's "mistakes" once they're made public. He tells him that in 10 years, China will have surpassed the United States in every possible way and that they will be a part of that. Josh is just dumbfounded at his grandfather's statements and doesn't want to be taken to Phillip.

Just as Josh hangs up with his grandfather - confused and afraid - Cheng takes the phone and marches him to a waiting car. As they start to speed away, Jack, Doyle and the team arrive on the scene and begin firing at the cars. The Chinese get out and return fire (which I don't get, unless Jack took out their tires or something. Why didn't they just keep going?)

Cheng uses the boy as a shield and runs away. Doyle gives Jack cover fire as he chases after them (demonstrating some slick moves as he slides past one hostile like he was sliding into home, shooting him as his momentum carries him by.) They head up to the roof but as Josh is forced ahead of Cheng on some stairs, he turns around and uses his position to kick Cheng in the face and try to make a run for it. Good boy!

Now Cheng is chasing Josh while Jack chases Cheng. It's very exciting. Cornered by Jack on a walkway, Cheng is torn between going after the boy (who has disappeared) and having to surrender to Jack. As Jack demands to know where Josh is, Josh (who was dangling from the walkway right beneath Cheng) loses his grip and is forced to cry out for help. The diversion is enough for Cheng to do a runner while Jack helps Josh.

As they wait for Doyle to arrive and ensure Josh's safety, Jack learns that Josh was made to speak to his grandfather. Momentarily stunned by this development, he begins to ask Josh to try and remember any details that might help them learn his grandfather's location. When Doyle arrives Jack tells him that they need to let CTU know that his father's still involved in this. Doyle asks, "Your father? Why?" Jack replies, "I don't know... I'll ask him when I find him." Grim.

After all that excitement, we move back to the White House and Daniels as he receives a report from Karen on the movements of the Russians in Central Asia. Daniels brings Karen up to date on Lisa Miller's betrayal. In an uncharacteristic moment of honesty, he also tells Karen about his involvement with Lisa. I wasn't expecting him to do that.

Out in the field, Lennox sits in the surveillance van with a team listening and watching Lisa have sex with the traitor. You can tell Lennox is bored waiting for them to um, finish. And when they do, he cracks me up by saying with a sigh, "Aaaand finally we're done." Bwah! That's how I felt last week with my neighbours (thanks for the tips on how to make 'em quit shagging during 24 guys.)

But Lisa's acting too strangely and her reticence is noticeable to Mark. When she gets up to go to the bathroom he makes his move to get the false info off of her PDA, but for some reason, thinks better of it and puts it back. He's on to her. When she joins him for a glass of wine, he calls her on her weird behaviour. At first she tries to pretend all is well but then she snaps, smashes her wine glass against his head and starts screaming about how she put herself on the line for him and instead he sells her out to the Russians.

They start fighting in earnest and as he overpowers Lisa and chokes her into unconsciousness, Lennox and a team burst in and subdue him. Left alone with Mark, Lennox offers him a choice: upload the false info and call his handler to back it up and they will push for leniency in his trial. Or refuse to comply and almost certainly receive the death penalty...

While he ponders that, we check in with Cheng as he informs Phillip that he lost Josh. Phillip then tells Cheng that the deal's off and they will not be getting the component. Now Cheng is pissed because he knows Phillip has the upper hand.

Back at CTU, Division Brassholes have arrived to "investigate" Nadia and the mistakes made that allowed the Chinese to breach security. Morris tries to bolster Nadia's confidence after basically being told how incompetent she is and how much they regret accepting Buchanan's recommendation that she take over as acting Director. Thus begins Nadia's guiltfest over everything that's happened but I thought it was pretty fitting to have Morris try to get her to stay strong.

Back in Washington, Mark made his decision and the info was sent to the Russians. Tom informed Daniels about Lisa's oxygen deprivation issues which upset him greatly. Karen leaves to set up a call to Suvarov so that Daniels can tell him the component was destroyed and back up Mark's data.

Skipping back to Jack - he's able to put Josh on the phone with Marilyn and they have a nice little reunion moment. Josh tells Marilyn what Phillip told him about taking him to China. It' all quite mushy and nice but we are soon headed back to DC for the call between Daniels and Suvarov.

As Daniels offers up whatever evidence Suvarov requires regarding the destruction of the component, Suvarov calls his bluff. He knows the United States has not recovered the component and he gives Daniels 2 hours to provide irrefutable proof it's been recovered or destroyed or else they will move forward with their plans to attack the US base in Central Asia. Unfortunately, this would be seen as an unprovoked attack by American allies and would basically be the start of a war over a piece of circuitry. Stakes are high boys and girls...

Lennox arrives back at the White House when he receives a surprise call from Phillip Bauer. Phillip needs to talk to Daniels...His offer is simple: his grandson for the return of the component. Despite Karen's pleas not to negotiate with Phillip Bauer - a sociopath (and for the record, Lennox agrees, Bauer Sr. is a sociopath :) ) Daniels feels he has no choice but to negotiate.

As Jack and Josh walk to an SUV to head back to CTU, an agent calls to Jack telling hi he has a call. As Jack walks towards the agent with the phone, Doyle comes up to Josh and leads him away to a chopper. Infuriated, Jack tries to beat his way past other agents trying to get to Josh but he can't get through and Josh is led, yelling for his Uncle Jack into the waiting chopper with Doyle while agents keep Jack subdued on the ground.

Tick boom.

Only two more episodes to go. I dug tonight's episode quite a lot. What about you?

"Now let me clean it up." 2am-3am

2007-05-07T18:56:00.000-06:00

A stunned Jack waits in holding when Nadia comes in to tell him Heller left with Audrey. She also reiterates Heller's "request" that Jack stay away from Audrey and that he will be filing a restraining order to hat effect. Stoically Jack takes this in. But rather than dwell, he changes the subject and asks if Audrey's clue panned out. Nadia tells him it did and that CTU is locking the area down.

Jack wants to go on the Op despite still being under arrest. He tells Nadia that he knows how Cheng thinks having spent 20 months with him being tortured (but never broken.) "I caused this mess now let me clean it up." he tells her. But Nadia refuses. Defeated, Jack sits down. But when Nadia leaves, he starts taking stock of his surroundings. I think he's planning a bit of a jailbreak.

As Nadia briefs the team about to infiltrate Cheng's safehouse, I totally picked up a... vibe between Nadia and Doyle. Maybe I'm a little slow on spotting it but I think she's got herself a thang for the blondie. And I think he digs on her too. Maybe it's some form of Stockholm Syndrome or something that started when he was interrogating her earlier in the day. Or maybe she's just trying to make Milo jealous in which case I hope her replacement gets there soon because she's got bigger problems than playing a field agent and nerdy techboy off each other.

Moving on to Cheng himself, we find him presumably at his safehouse where a bunch of hardcore looking mercs are planning some kind of mission. Cheng and his tech person argue a little about whether the mercs (and I don't know if they're really mercenaries, they just look like it to me) are right for the mission. Cheng assures his techie that they are and he orders them to attack the target in 15 minutes.

Back at CTU, Josh (gosh I forgot about him and Marilyn) is watching news reports about the bomb and is quite upset about his father and grandfather's role in it. Marilyn does her best to reassure him. As she quietens him and gets him to rest, Chloe appears to ask Marilyn to go over the transcript of her statement. Chloe also tells Marilyn at Audrey is still alive.

In Washington, Daniels' chippy calls her boyfriend to try to convince him that the government has the component back in its possession. She hopes he will pass this info off to his Russian contacts otherwise she's screwed. Lennox and Daniels listen in on the call. It's quite awkward which amuses me mightily.

I have to pause for a moment. My neighbours have decided to pick this moment to have very loud sex on the other side of the wall in my room that I'm leaning against. It's erm, rather hard to concentrate on this recap while she fakes her orgasms.

...

Well, ok at least they don't take long. Back to the recap after which I will be looking for a new apartment.

Daniels' chippy/ex-assistant/traitorous twit is ordered by Lennox to go back to her boyfriend and find a reason to leave the room so he can access false documents they've planted on her PDA. She's afraid to do it. She thinks she won't be able to go through with it. Daniels coldly tells her he knows she can, after all, she's ben lying to him. Burn!

Back at CTU, Marilyn goes to see Jack to apologise for telling him Audrey was dead. But how could she have known she wasn't? Jack doesn't blame her. But when Marilyn tries to press the issue, Jack loses it just a little and tells her he doesn't want to talk about it. She backs off. But she tells him that she wants to bring Josh to see him before they go in the morning and Jack agrees. And then she tells him she'll 'be there for him' when this is all over. Even Chloe rolled her eyes at that. Is she making a play for him in the middle of all this? Eh?

Doyle and his team arrive on site. They hack past locked gates and make their way into the safehouse. These scenes are intercut with scenes of Cheng giving final briefings to his mercs, telling them their objective is to retrieve the "package." Not sure what the package is yet though but I'm thinking we're being given a bit of misdirection here and that Cheng and his men are not, in fact, at the safehouse but somewhere else. And yep. I was right. Cheng's safehouse was empty but they did find a stockpile of empty crates that were used to store weaponry and explosives. Doyle tells Nadia that it looks like the Chinese have enough arms to plan a major assault. Meanwhile Cheng's mercs have disappeared into the sewers which happen to be 180 yards from their target.

And what is their target? Why CTU of course. Oh dear.

As they make their way through the sewers to CTU, Lennox sends Miss Thing off to her boyfriend even though she complains of being frightened. He basically tells her to suck it up and get on with it. She enters her home and is greeted by Mark. But she's tense and acting wonky which he notices. He keeps trying to be lovey-dovey but she can't bring her self to groiny with him knowing Lennox and everyone is watching via surveillance. She keeps trying to head for the shower to leave him alone with her PDA but he won't let her. So she gives in and has no choice but to put on a webcam show for the boys in the van, otherwise Mark might get suspicious.

Cheng's team arrives at CTU and prepares to infiltrate. While they wait for Cheng's tech guy to take over CTU's systems, Milo and Nadia have a chat and Milo tells her he knows her feelings for him have changed and he's ok with it. I really hope the writers are going somewhere with these two because frankly at this point, I just don't care about them. And if it's just a bit of pointless fluff thrown in to fill time or whatever I'm going to feel cheated.

Anyway, Nadia tries to contact Doyle but can't get through. Everyone quickly discovers that all systems have gone kerflooey and no one knows why. Cheng and his techie smirk in the split screen as they watch the CTU agents scramble to figure out what's wrong and the mercs make their way into the building. Nadia calls a Code Red emergency lockdown.

The mercs blast their way in, and Jack gets his guard to let him out. Just as he tells him he's going to need a weapon, his guard is shot. So while the merc is checking other holding rooms, Jack sneaks out and takes the dead man's pistol and shoots the merc. He then swiftly takes out 2 other guys and gets himself a bigger gun :)

Back in the main room of CTU, the head mercenary demands to know who is in charge. Just as Nadia begins to get up, Milo steps up and tells him he is in charge. The merc then shoots him in the head.

Well damn.

Now I feel bad for my little rant above about Milo and Nadia. *sigh*

Some of the mercs force their way into Marilyn and Josh's room. One of them radios to Cheng, "We found Bauer. The boy is with his mother." and they start dragging him off. But Jack arrives and kills the mercs. I'm thinking Josh is the package. Marilyn tells Jack they came for Josh and he quickly realizes they need to get out of there. Telling them to stay close, Jack and his big gun lead the way through the mazes of CTU.

They make their way into a room with a big vent and Jack has Josh crawl through the space. Marilyn starts to follow but two more mercenaries burst in and Jack is forced to surrender. He and Marilyn are on their knees but Josh managed to get through the vent and now he's wandering around the ducts like John McClane (but decidedly less cool.)

The head merc receives a communication from Doyle an because of this Nadia's position is revealed. He orders her to respond to Doyle's call with the threat hanging over her that if she tries to warn him, he will shoot everyone in the room, starting with her. She responds to Doyle, tells him they've had issues with comm, and that they're working as fast as they can to backtrace sat photos. (I'm getting pretty good at the technobabble eh?)

Jack and Marilyn arrive in the main room and the head merc gets on the PA. He speaks directly to Josh, telling him that he needs to show himself to one of his men or else his mother will be shot. He gets a 10 count to show himself. Of course he does it too. Good for him. Saved his mom's life.

The head merc informs Cheng they have the boy and he orders him to bring the boy. Marilyn is forced to sit among the agents and Jack is still fuming on his knees.

I the final split screen, Lisa is still shagging Mark on camera while Daniels paces in the White House and CTU agents look on, horrified at the turn of events and at Milo's bloodied body.

Cheng makes a call - to Phillip Bauer. He tells him they have his grandson, physically unharmed. Phillip is the one who got the mercs into CTU and Phillip is the one fixing the component so that it's workable. He will turn it over when he has his grandson.

Blimey.

New 24 Transcripts for Season 2!

2007-05-07T09:15:00.002-06:00

I've just uploaded a whole slew of new transcripts for Season 2. A lovely girl called Kat sent me her transcripts of episodes 6-20 so... Yay! Someday maybe I'll have them all but until then, go peruse what's there and drop Kat an email and tell her how cool she is for doing these :)

Enjoy!

"I love you with all my heart." 1am-2am

2007-04-30T19:15:00.000-06:00

Please pardon my recap this evening if I seem a little... giddy during it. The lovely, magnificent, wonderful set decorator who helped in my Angel painting quest just out of the blue sent me, a few minutes ago, some neat pix of the studio sound stages and backlots taken during filming of "Angel" and I'm just a little bit over the moon about how freaking cool she is. I can't stop grinning which is probably not a good thing because I gather we're dealing with a broken Audrey this evening and it's meant to be very serious and heartbreaking for Jack. I'll try to reign it in a little :)

So Jack's being debriefed at the scene as Doyle tries to speak to Audrey. But she's suffering some sort of "post-traumatic reaction" according to Doyle as he updates new CTU director, Nadia, on the situation. Nadia orders him to bring her back to CTU and then she asks him about Jack. Doyle informs her that Jack was going to sacrifice himself to save Audrey and prevent the chip from getting into Cheng's hands. But thanks to Doyle (and good on him to for owning up to his mistake. I don't like his methods, but he seems to be a decent guy) Jack's plans were foiled when Doyle rushed the scene. Nadia assures Doyle that this is all Jack's fault since he went against a direct order. Bitch.

Nadia speaks with Morris about his transfer request and basically tells him to get over it and denies the request. This pisses Morris off but for now, he acquiesces.

Doyle rounds up Audrey and Jack and has them taken back to CTU separately despite Jack's pleas to let him talk to Audrey. Jack is under arrest you see.

At the White House, Daniels *shudder* tells Karen she's valued and that he appreciates her sacrifice (meaning Bill.) *shudder again* Lennox interrupts telling them the Russian president wants to have a chat.

Daniels little tartlet arrives at her home to get sexy for Daniels *shudder* when she's taken by surprise by a man. Literally. They snog. They shag. She has a pretty bra on but still. Yick. We don't know who the guy is yet.

Back with Daniels, Suvarov tells Daniels he's well aware of the events that transpired that allowed Cheng to get the Russian proprietary component. He threatens Daniels with retaliatory action if the US doesn't stop Cheng from getting out f the country with that device.

After the call, Lennox and Karen promise to investigate how Suvarov could have found out about Cheng so quickly. Daniels orders Karen to give CTU anything they need to find Cheng. I bet that means Jack will go back into play.

Speaking of Cheng, he's now uploaded the schematics to a techie who's located an hour away from them. The tech takes a look, but tells Cheng that the chip is damaged and that he can't fix it without the security override. Of course, the chip thing is useless without that override and this pisses Cheng off.

I know one thing about Daniels' chippie's loverboy: He's a wham bam thank you ma'am type. It's not even been ten minutes and they're done shagging and she's off to shower. I know they were limited on time but damn. Anyway, while she's off showering, her guy makes a call to someone - someone Russian. Hmmmm...

At CTU, Chloe approaches Morris in a back hallway. Morris dumps Chloe. Morris makes Chloe cry. Morris makes Melia angry. You do not make Chloe cry. She was just being her usual blunt self Mr. Overly-sensitive. Grrrr.

The District psych guy, Dr. Bradley, arrives to evaluate Audrey. Holy c she's been put through the wringer. She's a "Type 3 Catatonic who suffered severe psychological abuse amplified by pharmacological agents as evidenced by over 100 injection sites on her arms, feel and groin." Damn. She will not be responsive soon enough to suit CTU's needs in finding Cheng without some kind of intervention. Meaning they're going to use more drugs to try and shock her out of her catatonia. Jack's not gonna like that.

Dr. Bradley is a dick. Doyle believes they should give Jack a chance to talk to Audrey before they proceed with the drug plan but Bradley asserts his jurisdiction over Audrey and refuses. Doyle and Nadia tussle a little over her ineffectualness and unwillingness to step on toes.

Meanwhile Jack is left on his own in Holding 3. He's fidgety, worried, probably in pain, worried about Audrey and it's painful to see him just left like that.

In DC, Lisa leaves her lover when Daniels calls her in. After she's gone, her loverboy calls to find out his next move. At the White House, Lennox informs Daniels he found the leak - a lobbyist named Mark Bishop who has a connection to Russian Intelligence. It's loverboy. And now Daniels knows Lisa is the leak. And that they're lovers.

Daniels tells Lennox that the problem is bigger than he thinks. Then he admits to sleeping with Lisa too. The look on Lennox's face during his Daniels' confession is pretty funny - that open-mouthed, deer-caught-in-headlights look. Priceless.

Daniels looks like a lost puppydog (albeit a vicious pitbull-y puppydog) as he wonders what he should do about this. Lennox leans in and says, "...handled correctly, we could turn this to our advantage..."

Back in Jack's holding cell, Doyle comes in, uncuffs Jack and tells him what's going on with Audrey. He tells Jack that he needs to do something to stop the shrink. He whispers to Jack, "Make it look good." and walks away. Jack jumps him, chokes him into unconsciousness and gently lays Doyle on the floor. He makes his way to Audrey and quickly incapacitates the stupid shrink and gets Audrey out of there.

The shrink sets of the alarm and Nadia gets an earful from Milo - "If you had just let Jack talk to Audrey one of this would have happened." You tell her Milo.

Jack makes his a to a lower level with Audrey and holes up in an empty room. He tries desperately to reach her, to make her understand that she's safe. He begs her for some kind of sign that she understands but retreats a little when he sees he's upsetting her. He apologises and pulls her to him. He whispers, "I love you with all of my heart." (*sniffle* .. shutup. I'm a girl.) Audrey reaches for Jack's hand.

As Nadia's entry team blowtorches the door and with sparks flying, Jack tries again to get Audrey to give them something. He puts her in a corner of the room and puts himself between her and CTU agents, gun drawn. He's showing her that he will protect her. As the standoff begins, Audrey utters a single word: Bloomfield.

It's enough to get Nadia to grow a pair and send the shrink away to let Jack keep trying with Audrey. Jack gets Nadia to promise the shrink will not go near Audrey and he relinquishes his gun. Doyle gently leads Audrey away and Jack is taken back to holding.

Phew!

Back at the White House, Lennox and Daniels learn that the Russians are moving troops toward a US base in Central Asia in preparation for a strike should we fail to get the component thingie back. Then the tart arrives and I prepare some popcorn as I watch Daniels confront her over her (inadvertent) betrayal.

Daniels orders her to go back to loverboy and tell them they have the chip back. This is Lennox's plan.

At CTU, hey Heller's back!!! Sweet! He's come for his daughter. But before he leaves he goes to visit Jack. Oh... It's not a pleasant reunion at all. Jack stands up and starts to tell Heller that he will be there for Audrey and help her get through this. Heller cuts him off and warns him to stay away from her. He doesn't want Jack near his daughter ever again. "She went looking for you, and this is how she came back." Jack tells Heller he accepts that responsibility. He begs Heller (Jack has to do entirely too much begging. I hate seeing him do that. In fact, I hate the way Jack is constantly treated.) to let him help Audrey. Heller refuses. And his parting shot as he walks out is to tell him, "You're cursed Jack. Everything you touch, one way or another, ends up dead."

Jeez :(

Angel Painting Update

2007-04-25T12:48:00.000-06:00

Going off topic again, but I thought I'd update those who took a minute to email me with ideas on my quest to find the artwork behind the scrummy David Boreanaz:

It seems my search is near an end and I want to thank the bloke who wrote me with the suggestion of trying to contact the set designers or propmasters for "Angel."

I won't bore everyone with the details of the search but it turns out that I was able to dig up contact info for the actual set designer who picked out that piece of artwork and she told me where she got it etc. She was just lovely and shared a little bit of insight into what it was like designing for "Angel" which gave me all kinds of warm fuzzies :)

To make a long story short (too late!) it turns out the artwork was rented from a local prop shop and is probably not available to buy :( but I was able to write to them about it and I'm waiting to see if they'll give me the artist's name and contact info.

So thanks for letting me take up valuable 24 space with this and thanks to everyone who wrote to give me tips and ideas. I heart the Intertubes!

"You've been a good friend." 12am-1am

2007-04-23T18:54:00.000-06:00

Before I get going tonight I just wanna say that "Drive" is a rockin' show. It's getting better and better every ep :) If you haven't seen it, go do so. If for no other reason than to laugh with me at the sight of Hastings, Nebraska, where Nathan Fillion's character is from, having very large hills (Hastings, Nebby is about 20 minutes from me and well, it's pretty damn flat here in this part of Nebraska :) ) I bet FOX has previous eps online somewhere.

Ok, enough about "Drive." Let's see what happens tonight on "24."

When we last left Jack, he was on the run from his own government. Again. Wayne Palmer collapsed and Scary Daniels is now in charge after all.

Doyle commandeers a civilian's car and is in pursuit of Jack. Jack's in Doyle's SUV and must disable the tracking device so he pulls under a boatload of power lines and does so. Doyle's still on Jack's tail and closing in but without the tracking device it's gotten harder for him.

At the White House, Daniels and Lennox clear the air between them. Lennox gives Daniels his support and says he won't be using the recording against him, even if they disagree on policy in the future. They decide to keep Karen Hayes on in the new administration because she "brings balance." She is the chosen one. Hehe.

Jack calls Cheng and changes up the game plan by stating he has to pick the spot for the drop because CTU's monitoring him. Cheng agrees to met him at a hotel here they will trade Audrey for the component.

Ok. I'm officially squicked. Please oh please don't make me watch Daniels snog his assistant ever again. *shudder* After speaking with Karen and Lennox, Daniels authorizes them to involve "ancillary agencies" to jump in and help with the search for Jack. They leave and I thn get completely grossed out by a mini love scene between "dirty old man" Daniels and his chippy. "I've got the fate of the Western World on my shoulders and all I can think about is you." I think I just threw up in my mouth a little. He asks her to spend what's left of the night with him and she goes home to get a change of clothes. I swear if they show a shag scene between those two I really will vomit.

Meanwhile, Doyle has come to the power lines Jack used to ditch the tracker but the trail's growing cold. Doyle works out that Jack's headed east on the 305 from tire tracks. Doyle remembers Jack using a terrorist's phone so he has CTU start looking for cell calls between Jack and Cheng.

As Chloe and Morris work on that, they have a spat. A fun spat. I enjoyed watching them argue until Chloe went about one step too far and mentioned his arming of nuclear devices for terrorists. Oops. Morris walks away.

At the White House again Karen gets a call from Peter Hawke from the DOJ asking for a meeting in her office. She goes in to speak to him (Hey! It's Dr. Goodman from Bones! I miss him this season) and finds that he's been interrogating Reed about his part in the assassination attempt. Apparently Reed's been singing like crazy to get out of being executed and is offering up information that Karen and Bill covered up the fact that Bill had Fayed in custody previously and let him go.

Karen tells Peter that the facts of Reed's statement are true but there's no cover-up. Two years ago as art of a joint effort between CTU and the FBI Fayed was taken into custody during a border sweep. There wasn't enough evidence to hold him, he was one of many, and he was *maybe* a mid-level player.

It all sounds very plausible, but Peter makes his point: even though Karen resigned earlier in the day to prevent this info from getting out, letting it out now still serves no purpose because once the country discovers that Fayed had been in custody two years ago, the country will demand to know who the hell let him go. They won't care about context or the fact that Fayed only became a high roller *after* his he was freed.

He tells Karen that one of them will go down because that's how this works. The country demands a scapegoat. Peter would rather it be Bill since he's lower on the food chain, but then he looks at her coldly and says, "But you'll do." Damn Dr. Goodman :( When did you get so mean?

And now we move back to Jack. He arrives at the location, grabs his Man Purse and heads for the drop. It's an abandoned, Bates-looking motel. Jack checks out the lay of the land as Doyle hears from CTU. They've found Jack's call to Cheng but it's decrypted. So Doyle is closing in on Jack's location.

While that's happening, Karen goes to have a chat with Lennox about Reed and the info he gave up to Peter. Lennox doesn't have good news for her though because he says that she can't be the scapegoat. It has to be Bill who takes the fall for Fayed's release. Karen is gobsmacked. She doesn't want to betray her own husband like that but Lennox says pretty much what Peter did - Bill is low on the totem pole and Karen is needed in the new administration.

What will Karen do... Hmmm.. Will she sacrifice Bill to save her skin and her career or will she "stand shoulder to shoulder" with her husband and accept blame?

Jack leaves Bill a voicemail. I sort of dug Bill's "Press 1 for immediate danger, press 2 for standard danger" greeting :) Anyway, Jack tells Bill that this call is his confirmation that the component was incinerated in his C-4 blast and hopefully by the time Bill hears the message Audrey will be safe and in Bill's care. He tells Bill where the drop is going down and ends the call with a plea for Bill to please take care of Audrey. "You've been a good friend." He tells him before hanging up. *sniffle*

At CTU, Morris pops into Bill's office and requests a transfer out of Comm and away from Chloe. Bill agrees to work something out. He then gives Karen a call and she lets him know what's the what on the Fayed thing. And she thoroughly disappoints me by tell Bill he has to take the fall. I see her point. She's too close to he President blah bah blah but man, Bill's her husband. This is just gong to shatter their relationship because Bill's pretty pissed off. Bill hangs up on her and walks away from his phone that has Jack's voicemail on it.

Doyle continues cruising the streets looking for Jack and spots something. Off he goes to investigate and Nadia who had been helping him is pulled aside by Bill. He informs her he was fired and that she is now acting director of CTU. Ummm, huh? Nadia?

Security comes to escort Bill off the premises. And I'm sad. Bill can't go out like that. He's a good guy. A White Hat. His deep, soothing voice and ability to remain calm in crisis has been a huge factor in keeping CTU running. And he's Jack's friend. *sniffle*

As Bill leaves, Morris approaches to tell him Doyle found Jack's truck but Bill says, "Good work." and keeps walking. Puzzled, Morris turns to Nadia who makes the Big Announcement. Se tells CTU that the objective remains the same: bring Jack in before he gives the component to Cheng.

And Doyle is indeed at Jack's location now. He raids Jack's truck and gets on Comm with CTU and informs them a limo just arrived. Balls. Doyle's going to ruin the drop. Jack's unaware of Doyle's presence as he watches Cheng get out of the limo and head towards him. Jack informs Cheng that he's not getting anything until he sees Audrey. Cheng orders her brought in. She's gagged and Jack and Audrey get their first glimpse of each other. It's a fleeting, sweet moment but then Jack growls at Cheng to take the gag out of her mouth.

Just as Cheng reaches for the gag, Jack tells him to stop. He'll remove the gag himself. Audrey walks to Jack and he looks at her... the way he looks at her is just heartbreaking. he tenderly removes the gag, gently touches her face and whispers, "I'm so sorry." to her.

Jack tells Cheng that Audrey is to walk out of there, alone, and once she's a safe distance away, he will hand over the component. He hugs Audrey and tells her a cab is waiting for her at a gas station nearby and it has instructions to take her to CTU. Silently, Audrey begins walking away.

Doyle gets anxious because his backup hasn't arrived and Audrey's walking away. Nadia tells him not to let Jack hand over the component. And so Doyle cocks the whole thing up by taking out one of Cheng's men just as Jack tosses the component to Cheng. A firefight ensues. Again. Jack is hit. Cheng does a runner in a hummer with the component and CTU backup arrives. Cheng's men take out CTU's chopper with a rocket launcher which mucks up pursuit of Cheng.

Jack's hit was in his bulletproof vest. As he gets up, he takes out three of Cheng's men. But as he tries to get away, CTU agents apprehend him. Doyle arrives on scene and tells Jack he's in charge. Jack angriy tells Doyle he was set to blow the building with Cheng, himself and the component in it until Doyle screwed it up. He hands over the detonator but Doyle informs him Cheng escaped.

Nadia orders Doyle to arrest Jack and there is much eye-rolling around the table from Chloe and Milo when she gives that order. Doyle cuffs Jack as agents bring in Audrey. But Audrey is out of it. She's panicky and doesn't recognize Jack. CTU agents take her aside and sit her down and she begins looking around crazily and repeating, "Help me Jack. Help me Jack." over and over. Jack looks on as he's being led away by Doyle and he's shocked to see her in this condition.

Tick and boom.

Good stuff tonight folks though I will definitely be haunted by the sight of Daniels and his assistant snogging. *shudder.*

Only 4 episodes left.

"Mr. President, you owe me." 11pm-12am

2007-04-16T18:53:00.000-06:00

Before I get on with the recap, I just want to take a minute and say how awful I feel for everyone who was murdered today at Virginia Tech. I know this blog probably isn't an appropriate place to mention it and I could just go on recapping a TV show as if nothing horrible happened today, but I really can't. Something horrible did happen today and I feel a little pointless and insignificant doing a recap in light of the events of today.

But I'm going to do it anyway, because maybe a little escapism is wanted or needed. But my thoughts are with anyone and everyone affected by the shootings at Virginia Tech. And now on with the show...
-------------
So tonight we'll be learning wtf is up with Audrey and the Chinese. What do they want? How will Jack save her? I can't wait to find out.

Jack really needs to get to a hospital but he refuses and medics give him a shot of something, painkiller I presume to let him carry on. As Doyle briefs Jack on the cleanup effort, he takes a moment to truly and sincerely thank Jack for everything he did today. I think Jack is taken aback by this. And why shouldn't he be? Hardly anyone actually thanks him for the shit he puts himself through to save this country.

Jack accepts the thanks and makes his way to an alley to make his call to the Chinese (he'd been given 10 minutes to call them back. Jack offers to trade himself for Audrey but Cheng Zhi tells him, "A man who will not break is of no use to us." Instead, they want the suitcase nukes. *sigh* I knew we weren't done with those suckers.

They actually want a component within the trigger mechanism of the nukes. A bunch to technospeak later, China will have access to a bunch of secret Russian technology. Sometimes I get lost in the technobabble. Sue me, I'm a girl.

Jack tells Cheng there's no way he can get to the bombs as they are now in the hands of the marines. But Cheng knows Jack can find a way and tells him so. Jack demands to speak to Audrey before he agrees to anything. Warily Audrey accepts the phone from Cheng but she's very jumpy. Jack tries to reassure her but Cheng grabs the phone back and gives Jack an hour to call him back with the location for the drop.

President Palmer sits wearily in his office when Lennox walks in and tries again to get Palmer to see the doctor again. But Palmer is afraid any sign of weakness will give Daniels ammo to try again. But Lennox tells him that won't happen. Palmer, no idiot, gets Tom to tell him exactly what it is he has on Daniels, and Lennox tells him about the recording. Karen Hayes rushes in and tells them both that CTU has recovered the nukes and ding dong Fayed is dead.

Palmer wants to inform the country - and he wants to do it from the press room upstairs - not from the bunker.

At CTU, Buchanan is praising the team for their hard work when Chloe's phone rings. It's Jack of course. What would he do without his Chloe :) Jack has to sort of coerce Chloe into helping him get the schematics for the bombs. Chloe can only access that directly from Morris' machine. She manages to get it done just in the nick as Morris heads back to his station.

Now we move back to the Oval Office (hurrah!) and awwwww, Wayne's looking at a very nice picture of David when Daniels arrives. They sit down and Palmer begins by thanking Daniels for everything he did - if Daniels hadn't tries to steal the Big Chair, Palmer probably never would have gone forward with his bluff. The Palmer's eyes get steely and menacing. He calmly asks for Daniels' resignation. But Daniels plays the Indignant card- until Palmer plays his "I have a recording of you screwing up bigtime" card and basically wins the game. He tells Daniels that the country needs a breather before the announcement is made but sometime in the next week will do for him to hand in his resignation. Hehe.

At CTU, Morris discovers his system's been hacked and Chloe is forced to tell him what she did. Now, I really sort of thought Morris, once he found out why she did it, would say, "Oh, ok then." and maybe he would have before he was kidnapped, tortured and forced to program the detonators. But now he's got a conscience and he can't abide the possibility that Chloe's actions may lead to a war and more deaths. So he gives Chloe an ultimatum - tell Buchanan what Jack is up to, or he will.

Chloe takes the long walk up to Bill's office...

Meanwhile, Jack is shimmying up and down pipes making his way to the nukes. He bluffs his way into the room by telling the guards he's under a presidential order to secure the circuit board he needs to give Cheng. Using the schematics Chloe sent him, he begins removing the circuit board. But Doyle bursts in and has a mini-standoff with Jack until a guard clocks him in the head with the butt of his rifle, knocking Jack out. Doyle tells the guard to secure him, he's under arrest. Oh Morris, you moron.

SO Jack is now subdued and Buchanan asks to speak with him. Bill tells Jack that he can't let him go through with his plan despite Jack's assurances that he would never let the Chinese actually get the circuit board. Jack then asks if Bill will let him call Wayne. As a testament to their friendship, Bill agrees and gets Palmer on the line.

Jack pleads his case with Wayne. While Wayne is sympathetic to Jack's problem, he simply cannot agree to a field op to give the Chinese the circuit board on Jack's word alone that he won't let them actually get it. He wants details. Well the minor detail is that - if he has to - once Audrey is free, he will detonate the circuit board with a concealed blast of C4. A blast like that will take out anything within 30 feet - including Jack. So, Jack will sacrifice himself to save Audrey and prevent the chip from getting into Chinese hands.

Palmer is aghast. "Jack you're asking me to sign off on a suicide mission!" This is where Jack reminds him that 16 hours ago Palmer was willing to hand Jack over to Fayed and let him die. "Mr. President, you owe me."

It isn't often Jack calls in favours, and this is big one.

Palmer agrees, reluctantly. He requires confirmation the board is destroyed. Jack will have CTU embed a tracking device. With a deep sigh, Palmer wishes Jack luck and asks to speak to Buchanan.

Doyle is given the new mission from Buchanan and he's unhappy about it. But he does as he's told. He releases Jack from his cuffs and Jack tels him he wants his help with the extraction of Audrey. Doyle asks Jack where he'll be. Jack replies that he'll be with Cheng Zhi, the man responsible for his capture and torture. When he has Doyle's confirmation that Audrey is free, he will destroy that board, and Cheng will not make it out of there alive. Muahahahahahaha.

Chloe and Morris are now on the outs a little bit. Chloe's pissed Morris didn't trust her and Morris is pissed that Chloe's going to hold this over his head for a while. Oh dear.

Jack and Doyle get underway. Doyle's still irked about the mission - he thinks Jack's taking a huge risk for a woman. Hmmm, misogynistic much? Jack basically rolls his eyes at Doyle and tells him that Audrey Raines served this country with honour. We owe her. Indeed Jack, indeed.

At the White House, Daniels is sadly looking at his letter of resignation. His aide, Lisa Miller arrives and he informs her about the resignation and his compliance with it. She's puzzled until he tells her about the recording. They do the 'oh it's not your fault' thing and get sort of gropey... which sort of squicks me. *shudder* Guess he's doing her. Blech.

Palmer gives his press conference, praising everyone involved in ending the crisis and he takes some questions. During a question about the Muslim detention facilities, Palmer begins to stutter and appear befuddled. Then he collapses as Daniels looks on, resignation letter in hand... As the pressroom is cleared and medics are called for, he smugly puts the letter away in his suit pocket.

In the Oval Office the physician informs everyone that Wayne Palmer has suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and it appears the damage is severe. It is now incontestable that Palmer will be unable to resume his duties and Feckin' Daniels gets his way after all. I'm betting money this means Jack's mission will become unauthorized when Daniels gets wind of it. FFS!!!

And yes I was right. He rescinds the order after posturing for a bit. I hate this man. Bloody swaggering git.

As Buchanan calls Doyle on the down-low to tell him about the change in plans, Doyle does his best to remain nonchalant with Jack. His orders are now to disarm Jack as quickly as possible. But Jack's not an idiot. Before Doyle can carry out his orders, Jack whips out his weapon (slashers get your minds out of the gutter ;) and orders Doyle to pull over. Jack tells him that he shot his partner who was trying to stop him from carrying out his mission and not to think for a second Jack won't do the same to Doyle.

Doyle pulls over and Jacks makes him get out and grab the fence (Again, slashers - mind. Gutter. Get out.) as he gets in the driver's seat and abandons Doyle without a phone and takes off to finish saving Audrey.

Now Jack's a rogue agent again.

A little pimping

2007-04-16T08:57:00.000-06:00

Two things I want to mention before tonight's recap that have absolutely SFA to do with 24.

One - Did you guys check out "Drive" last night? I totally dug it. Admittedly, the premise isn't really one I would have been interested in under normal circumstances, but the creators ("Angel" and "Firefly" alum, Tim Minear included) had the good sense to cast Nathon Fillion as one of the leads. It's good to see Captain Tightpants on the small screen again and I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of "Drive." So now my Mondays are gonna rock with "Drive" and "24" back-to-back :)

Two - I need some help on something and since I get pretty good traffic on this site I'm throwing this out there in the hopes that someone out there on the Intertubes can help. On my personal blog, I put up a screencap of a Hopper-esque painting/picture I saw on "Angel." I really love the picture and would dearly love to buy it - but I don't know what or who did it. It's not Hopper in fact - I have a book of Hopper's stuff and it's not in there but it looks like something in that style. Anyway take a look at the screencap - it's in the right column towards the top under 'Help me out here.' Any help tracking it down from you fabulous folks would be mucho appreciated.

Check back about 45 minutes after the show tonight for my recap :)

Kiefer Sutherland, Man of the Week

2007-04-12T09:04:00.000-06:00

This is kind of spiffy - Kiefer Sutherland has been chosen as "Man of the Week" by Askmen.com. Awwww :)

- Kiefer Sutherland, Man of the Week at Askmen.com:

"Why we like him?
Kiefer Sutherland is a humble enough guy to realize he's made a fair number of bad choices when it comes to his acting resume. His love of his craft kept him in the game despite many box office bombs, and his persistence paid off with the success he's found as the star of 24."

"Now we're gonna have some fun." 10pm-11pm

2007-04-09T19:01:00.000-06:00

I'm not feeling so hot tonight folks so this recap may not be up to par. I'm sorry :( All I can think about is crawling into my nice, toasty bed with the XM on (Fred on 44 if you please), a cuppa and a book. Not even the power of Jack can enthuse me. And if last week's episode is anything to go by, Jack won't even be in it much :(

Anyway, here goes...

The missile is launched on Fayed's country. Lennox and Karen argue valiantly to get Palmer to... what, recall the bomb? Can they do that? Abort it? How does that work? Oh. They pitch it in the Gulf.

Ok. I love Wayne again. The whole damn thing was a bluff to get the ambassador to give up new intel on a General Habib whom they believe is/was working with Fayed. The missile Palmer launched was an unarmed secondary missile. Palmer told Lennox that Daniels was right about needing to strike to get more info - the difference being that Palmer wasn't willing to risk innocent lives to do it. Good on him :)

Lennox and Karen are dumbfounded, and rightly so. The looks on their faces are pretty funny actually.

Moving on to Jack and the kitchen of torture, Jack is punching Fayed's lights out but they're at a stalemate. Fayed's prepared and able to withstand a good beating. He asks Jack, "Are you having fun?" or something along those lines. Doyle wants a go at him but Jack says no. Buchanan calls and tells Jack about Habib and tells him to bring Fayed back to CTU - though Jack does say they may have a play first. As Jack talks to Bill, Doyle tries to play on Fayed's vanity, telling him no one will remember him because his Number 2 man will take the remaining nukes and blow up something bigger and better.

Fayed's having none of it though. Jack gets off the phone, orders Doyle to stand down and tells him they are moving him back to CTU and will begin using a "pharmaceutical package" (Bet they get Johnson with his silver briefcase of pain in there :) ) Jack looks Fayed in the eyes and says, "Now we're gonna have some fun." Ha!

At the White House, Lennox brings Palmer Habib's dossier and also apologises to him for doubting his strength. Awww. And Palmer figures out that Lennox has something on Daniels which is why he withdrew is bid to steal the presidency. Palmer chuckles to himself as Lennox leaves the room, but as he leans over to grab a pen, his hand begins to shake. Adrenaline wearing off I suppose.

Now we're looking in on Jack, Fayed and Doyle in a SWAT-type truck (they always remind me of UPS trucks for some reason. Whenever I see one out delivering packages I imagine it full of bulletproof vests and weaponry. Perhaps I shouldn't do that....) As Jack tells Doyle to stop talking to Fayed (Doyle was taunting him) they are broadsided by an armoured truck and pinned down by Fayed's lackeys.

Jack and Doyle try to get away but both of them are hit by gunfire - don't fret kids, for this, too, was a big fat bluff - And Fayed's lackeys rescue their leader and take off. As soon as they're clear, Jack, Doyle and other agents rise from the "dead" and jump into vehicles that have just pulled up. This was Jack's play he mentioned to Bill earlier. He's such a clever monkey, our Jack. Now they're going to track Fayed and hopefully be taken straight to the nukes.

But wait!! They are not Fayed's Flunkies! They are CTU agents using the Habib intel to persuade Fayed they're working for him. It almost works - except Fayed wants to have a chat with Habib before he tells the flunkies where to take him. Balls. Now CTU have to get the Prez involved.

Buchanan informs Palmer and Lennox of the ruse they are working. Buchanan tells Palmer that Jack said interrogation of Fayed was a dead issue and so they decided to go with trickery. After they hang up, Lennox asks the President to consider more conventional means of interrogation with Fayed. But Palmer says, "If Jack says it's a dead issue, then I believe him." FINALLY! Someone with brains to know that Jack knows best.

Palmer, Lennox and Karen confront the ambassador and demand that he force Habib to call Fayed using any means necessary - even if it means threatening Habib's family. The ambassador is aghast but Palmer's beyond caring and pretty much forces him to call Habib.

At CTU there was some stuff with Nadia and Milo. Milo's all jealous because Nadia showed concern when Doyle mentioned he was bleeding over the comms. Whatev.

The Ambassador came through and Habib calls Fayed. It looks like the ruse is working but this episode seems to be all about the bluff. We'll see. Fayed sends the undercover agents off to a safe house after completing the call from Habib.

Palmer is informed by Lennox that the call from Habib seems to have satisfied Fayed. Palmer quickly dismisses the Ambassador and Karen and gasps to Lennox to lock the door before he collapses. He says no one can know as he falls to the ground. Eesh.

Aaaand yes, the call from Habib was a buff. Sort of. Habib gave Fayed a signal during their convo that let Fayed know he was speaking under duress. He used a name of an operative who was really dead. Nadia figured it out. But before Jack could do anything about it, Fayed somehow killed the undercover agents while they were in a tunnel and he escaped.

Jack went in, discovered the dead undercover guys, and tracked Fayed as he was getting into a sanitation truck nearby - Fayed had killed the driver. Jack heard Fayed say, "I'm coming to you." and he stealthily crawled under the truck and secured himself to the undercarriage. Can I just say - eew.

Jack tried to relay his position to CTU but the signal died. Doyle finds the dead garbage guy, but no Jack.

Palmer is killing himself trying to get through this crisis. His BP dropped to 80/40. His doctor refused to give him any more adrenaline but Palmer refused to go to medical. He has to get back to work. Shakily, sweatily, he dons his suit jacket, sends his doctor away and asks Lennox to get him an update from CTU. If Jack doesn't get those nukes soon, we're going to lose another Palmer.

Fayed arrives at the warehouse where he left his real lackeys. Jack can unclench and let go of the undercarriage. Fayed tells his men that they can't stay but that they're going to finish their mission by taking out downtown L.A. They head inside the building and Jack pops up and snaps the neck of the guard they left behind. He didn't use his thighs though. Disappointing.

Jack sneaks into the warehouse, following a Fayed and his men. He gets a visual on the bombs, and opens fire. Bullets fly, Fayed's men go down until it's just two men left standing as they both run out of bullets. Jack takes a running leap at Fayed and a brilliant hand-to-hand battle ensues between two battle-weary men. I almost can't watch Jack as he goes down and desperately tries to crawl away from Fayed. I'm cringing....

But Jack, despite the brutal kicks to the back and ribs (which were already sore/broken from earlier) manages to knock Fayed down. Jack grabs a chain, Fayed grabs a metal bar and they fight some more. Jack fights dirty too :) I love it. He manages to bite Fayed's hand and then wrap the chain around Fayed's neck, whispers, "Say hello to your brother." in his ear and hits a button, raising the chain, strangling Fayed nice and slow. Wow. That was awesome.

What a fucking great scene too. Jack lays beaten on the ground, clutching his ribs. He's in so much pain. Then Doyle arrives, having tracked the sanitation truck by satellite. Jack tells him the bombs are on the table and Doyle gladly calls into CTU, "The bombs are secure." Everyone at CTU is crowded around the speakerphone, smiling big smiles. Doyle looks around the room, at the carnage - bodies, bodies everywhere, and Fayed hanging on a chain. He looks down and says, "Damn Jack."

Yeah. Jack is pretty impressive.

As Doyle helps Jack get to a medic his phone rings. It's for Jack....

It's Audrey.

(Yes all you commenters, you were right. She's not dead :) Happy now? :)

But she's being held captive by the same Chinese guy who took Jack 18 month before. Chang, I think was his name? He tells Jack that yes, Audrey is alive and that he should call him back in 10 minutes at.. wait for it... 310-597-3781. It's the Nextel phone for 24 with the always-full voicemail box! Anyway, Jack's not to tell anyone about the call. Then he hangs up and Jack is stunned.

Damn fine episode tonight boys and girls. And now we know how they're gong to fill the rest of the season now that the nukes are secure. Jack has to rescue the woman he loves. Awww. Mushy :)

And now, I'm gong to bed. G'night guys.

"Show me your head." 9pm-10pm

2007-04-02T18:57:00.000-06:00

It's go-time boys and girls. Hopefully my viewing pleasure will not be interrupted by pesky tornadoes and thunderstorms. Always a risk when you live in the Midwest and your shows are on in the springtime. ...Aaaand the first weathermap of the evening has appeared on my screen. Damnit.

But now it's time for the Bauer Hour. Let's see if I can make it through...

We begin with Daniels setting up the conference to remove Palmer from his office and Palmer asks the doctor for a shot of adrenaline to get him through this confrontation. I'm having a hard time fanwanking Palmer being up and in a suit after flatlining so recently. Yes, yes Jack was tortured, killed, resuscitated, and was back fighting the good fight very quickly, but somehow, I can buy that. I'm having trouble getting my head around Palmer doing something similar. Commenters, help me out here.

Getting back to the show, Jack briefs Buchanan on Gredenko's deal. But Jack states he doesn't trust him. He believes Gredenko rolled over too quickly. Buchanan informs Jack of the proceedings taking place in DC and lets him know that no matter what happens there, if Fayed detonates another bomb, no one will be able to stop Daniels from striking back on Fayed's country.

Jack tells Buchanan that if there's a challenge for the presidency, Gredenko's immunity deal will not be upheld. He also tells him that he has no intention of honouring the deal anyway.

The proceedings at the White House get underway with Palmer calmly stating his case - he's in complete control of his faculties and to remove him now is a betrayal of trust in the American people who voted him into office. Daniels makes his case - He says the president's first act upon regaining consciousness was to stop his attack on the Middle East, in essence, to continue to do nothing while America is attacked over and over again. Lennox calls for a recess and then the Cabinet's vote in 10 minutes.

Back at CTU, Milo hovers around Nadia, hoping to get he to talk about the smooch but she's not having it. (I read TV Gal's column today over on Zap2it, and I sort of agree with her - I don't really care if Milo and Nadia fall in lurve and all that stuff. The writers haven't made me care about them very much. Sure Milo saved Marilyn Bauer's bacon earlier in the day and got shot and Nadia endured an assault by Doyle but I feel like they just sort of threw the romance angle in at the last minute and I haven't had time to get to know them like I did with Tony and Michelle.) Doyle interrupts their convo and calls Nadia up to his office where he not-so-gently persuades her to go through Milo's system looking for evidence that he screwed up and allowed the terrorists access to CTU's systems. She doesn't want to but Doyle calls her on the budding romance and alludes to the fact that the entire office watched her get hauled away and does she really want that to happen to Milo too? Man, Doyle's a bit of a hardass.

Back at the White House, the vote gets underway. After a show of hands (what, no fancy vote counting thing like Mike Novick had?) we find that the cabinet is evenly divided n whether Palmer should stay President. The Vice-President needs a majority to remove him and since there is no majority, Palmer remains as President. W00t. Daniels might just shoot someone. I vote he shoots his bitch assistant. I don't like her either.

But he doesn't shoot someone. Instead, like a petulant wanker, he says that one vote is invalid - Karen Hayes' vote. She had resigned earlier in the day and now, Daniels is refusing to recognize her reinstatement. This makes the vote 7-6 in favour of removing Palmer. Lennox makes the point that this is a matter for the courts to decide and Karen concurs. The Attorney General offers to reconvene the Supreme Court to settle the matter. Palmer is pissed - and looking like he's in pain. He may be heading for a relapse. The showdown between Palmer and Daniels was pretty good. "I will not LET YOU steal this Presidency!" he shouts at Daniels.

After Palmer leaves the room, Daniels tells his assistant to "get the affidavit ready." Hmmm. Then he squints his eyes and sidles up to Lennox. "I don't believe you're on my side Tom."

"I'm on the side of the United States of America and if you ever thought otherwise, you're mistaken." replies Tom. See, Tom had been leading the meeting and was the one who brought up the legality issue that delays Daniels' desire to nuke Fayed's country.

Back at CTU, we, the viewers get a bit of a double-cross AGAIN when it comes to Doyle. They're giving us his story bit by bit and in quite an interesting manner. First they lead us to believe he's a git, then he does something to redeem himself. Then he does or says something that makes us want to bash his head on the floor then he turns out to have an ulterior - and good - motive. My head, it's gonna asplode soon.

Nadia sends Doyle off and downloads files from Milo's system onto a jump drive. She stalks over to Doyle and hands it over, glaring and... Doyle takes it and tells he he's going to alter the logs so that there will be no investigation into Milo. Dumbfounded, Nadia asks him why? Doyle tells her it's because all he wants to do is find the nukes and they have a better chance of dong that with Milo on the team. He quotes the Koran at her which also surprises her. He tells he he's read it, and the bible and pretty much any holy thing he can get his hands on He says that she is lucky to have found the answers she's looking for - he's still looking. Interesting..

Milo noticed the exchange between her and Doyle and now I think he's a tad jealous.

Karen calls Bill to tell him about the cabinet vote. I enjoyed this conversation between them. Karen broke down a little, fearful that if Daniels wins then everything that happens after will be her fault. Bill consoled her and eased her mind and it was nice to see a bit of that side of him instead of the usual exposition-boy that he is.

Cutting to Gredenko and Jack (oh yeah, Jack... almost forgot about him this hour...) Jack has Gredenko make the call to Fayed to set up the meet for the nuclear power plant protocols. They agree to meet at the Santa Monica pier in 10 minutes.

Lisa, Daniels' assistant tells him that she doesn't think they have a very good case. She offers to perjure herself in front of the court by swearing an affidavit stating that Daniels' told her he had no intention of reinstating Karen after she resigned but that Palmer regained consciousness before she could let Karen know of this. See? Daniels' evilness rubs off on those around him.

Fayed arrives at some warehouse and drops of the nukes. He tells his flunkies that he's going to meet Gredenko and will be back within the hour. There is dissent amongst his minions however, because they feel Gredenko is wasting their time. But Fayed is adamant and pushes on with the meeting.

Back again at the White House, Tom asks to speak with Daniel alone. And this once scene has made me sort of like Lennox a little more. Not a whole lot more, just a little - he is just doing a bit of CYA after all. To walks over to a dish nearby and points out that it is wired. Ha! Tom has the entire convo with Lisa on his little digi. He tells Daniels to head over to the phone and withdraw his and Lisa's affidavits and to throw his support behind Palmer.

As Palmer and Karen prepare they're next moves after the court decision, Sandra comes in to tell them that Daniels has withdrawn his suit. Relief is in the air, along with some cringing and shortness of breath. After Karen leaves the room, Palmer calls for his doc. After all that, I hope he doesn't go back into a coma.

At the deserted pier, Gredenko is set loose to meet Fayed. Don't worry, he's got an isotope tracker thingiemabob implanted. Gredenko receives a text message directing him to building J. Jack follows him. Fayed's men grab him and pull him into a room and Gredenko shows Fayed the wire he's wearing. Jack closes in on the signal from Gredenko's tracking device and bursts into the room - only to find Gredenko's severed arm, and no one else.

Jack picks up Gredenko's blood trail and follows. He catches up to the and a firefight ensues. Jack ends up pinned down but he starts to pick off th minions one at a time, mumbling, "Show me your head..." BAM one more baddie down. That was cool. Jack's now able to give chase as Fayed and Gredenko flee. They make their way into a bar where the patrons are watching coverage of the days events. Gredenko looks at the TV and then shouts, "It's him! The terrorist!" Slowly, the patrons catch on that it IS the terrorist they've seen on the news and start to be the holy hell out of him. But Jack bursts in and with two quick burst gunshots in the air, subdues the crowd, and even manages to apologize to one of the patrons whose friend was just shot by Fayed.

End result: Fayed is now in custody and Gredenko has escaped in the rush of patrons exiting the bar.

At the White House, Palmer orders his doctor to give him another shot of adrenaline. The doc is reluctant because there could most certainly be vascular damage from it. Palmer doesn't care. After the shot, Buchanan calls to inform him they Have Fayed in custody but do not have confirmation on the location of the nukes Jack will begin torturi- er interrogation immediately.

Underneath the pier, Gredenko is stumbling along, weak from blood loss. He stops, and collapses in the surf.

And as we close this hour back at the White House, Karen and Tom are declaring a truce when Tom is interrupted by a phone call. Turns out after all the back and forthing, the betrayals and blackmail, Palmer is going ahead with Daniel's strike on Fayed's country. Oh FFS. Tom desperately tries to reason with Palmer saying he risked his life to stop Daniels but Palmer says he risked his life to reassert his authority. Ummm, what? The final scene shows a successful launch and we follow a red dot as it leaves a carrier destined to start another World War. Maybe.

Eesh.

Good show tonight. The action and tautness was there. I may not need so much fanwanking where Palmer is concerned now that I know he's really not in the greatest of shape. He was just posturing. But I'm disappointed in him right now. I'm glad Gredenko is seemingly dead and that we finally have Fayed. I'm still not caring much about Milo and Nadia but we'll see how that progresses. I do want to see a big old hug for Karen and Bill at the end of the day. I'm still wary of Doyle but not as much as before. I hope he's not being groomed by the producers to take over for Kiefer. I'm still of the mind that Kiefer Sutherland IS 24 and running the show without him would just not work right. But that's just me.

"You did great. Thank you." 8pm-9pm

2007-03-26T18:58:00.000-06:00

Well kids, what's going to happen tonight? Does Jack think Audrey's really alive? Will Karen get Palmer to wake up and will he then flatline and die? Let's find out...

The show's about to start, I've got my raisinettes, it's dark, and I'm wearing sunglasses.

We start out with Jack learning about the fallout from the drone and the efforts to contain it. The pilot that was flying the drone before Jack took over didn't make it and Jack's pissed off because he was pretty much the only lead they have on locating Gredenko, Fayed and the other two bombs.

Speaking of the evil duo, Fayed is irritated with Gredenko when they learn the drone didn't detonate. They tussle a bit until Gredenko makes Fayed realize he's the only one who can deliver the targets Fayed needs for the last two bombs. Gredenko then makes a call to a guy named Mark and demands he get him some kind of security codes. When Mark hangs up with Gredenko, h brings the food to another guy, named Brady, sitting at the table. You can tell there's something... about him. He may be autistic. From his mannerisms and speech, he sounds pretty much like Rain Man. Mark asks Rain Brady to access some files from a mainframe and he immediately goes to a laptop and does what he's asked to do. Tres bizarre.

At CTU, Bill tells Milo that Nadia is being treated as an enemy combatant and will be transferred to a holding facility. Milo is having a hard time believing Nadia is the mole. Why hasn't anyone figured out Milo was letting her use his clearance? *shakes head* Anyway, Chloe interrupts and informs Bill about a communication intercept from Gredenko to this Mark guy who does security consulting with dozens of chemical plants and nuclear facilities. Oh dear.

A Tact team member approaches Doyle where they're still processing the pilot's data. He tells Doyle that he found a chip that was used to breach CTU and gather intel on satellite movements and that's how he was able to hide the drone. Nadia is innocent. Her system was used because the chip used a backdoor on one of the radical websites Nadia had been monitoring.

Now, this next exchange really pisses me off. The man holding the chip lets Doyle know that if he turns it in, Doyle will probably get into deep shit because he led the witch hunt on Nadia. Doyle points out that he was following protocol based on relevant intel at the time but the other guy says he'll probably be made an example of by DOJ when this is all over. He then says, "You took care of me in Denver." and hands Doyle the chip. "Now we're even."

Bastard's going to let Nadia fry. I wanted to like Doyle :(

Jack interrupted he exchange and told Doyle they have a lead on Gredenko (Mark and RainBrady) but Doyle tells Jack he needs to stay behind and help with processing. He does not hand over the chip. Jack grabs a tic toc team and heads out.

At the hospital, Karen gently approaches Sandra Palmer and makes her request for consent to wake Wayne. She's reluctant, of course. She's lost one brother. I'd really hate to be in her position right now. Thinking back on all of the trauma the Palmer family has been through... man...

At the Joint Chief's round table, the Veep and everyone are going over tactical plans. The Veep's assistant interrupts and pull him out to let him know they're going to wake Wayne. Daniels calls the doc to try and stop the procedure. Daniels (I got tired of calling him the Veep and finally learned his name. Plus I'm afraid of him so I figured I'd better stop with the Veeping) threatens the doctor very menacingly. It gave me chills. Powers Booth is a scary scary man. But Hooray for the doctor who stood his ground and told Daniels that he's required to follow the wishes of Sandra Palmer. Daniels growls, "If the President dies I will nail your ass to the wall." Eep.

At Mark's house, Jack and his men are in position and ready to take the house. After receiving positive ID on Mark from Chloe, they move in. Mark is shot in the leg and arm (I think) and Brady is having the wiggins. Oh man, I don't know if I like the fact the Jack's going to interrogate Brady. I hope he doesn't torture him. I'm anxious to see how he responds to this disabled man....

Ahh seems I worried for no reason. Jack was actually quite gentle and lovely with him. I love this man. He calmly spoke to Brady and got him to settle down. He spoke in his soothing, gravelly tone and told Brady it's ok to talk to him because he's not a stranger, he's a police officer. Brady seemed to understand and told Jack he was getting files off the computer. He used some pretty technical jargon as well.

Jack goes into the next room and is back to Tough Guy Talk with Mark. He explains that the Justice Department will prosecute Brady, not caring about extenuating circumstances. I love how Jack always knows where to hit with his threats. He sussed out that Brady was important to Mark (they're brothers) and that Mark is extremely worried about him. So he uses that fear to get Mark to tell him to give up Gredenko. Mark tells Jack that he was getting the files for an Edgemont Nuclear Facility. Jack looks up in surprise, and we...

Cut to CTU where Doyle has arrived. He introduces his buddy who gave him the chip and who was processing the pilot's intel. He then asks about Nadia when Milo interrupts with a call from Jack. --Ok. I do love Kiefer Sutherland and respect his talent. But I have to say it sets my teeth on edge every time he says 'Noo-cue-ler.' I know it's minor, but I can't help it :( That is all.--

Jack tells Bill they have Mark in custody and gives him the details on the plan to give Gredenko the files for the Noo-KLEE-er plant. Jack says they're going to use Mark's brother to make the drop with Gredenko. I hope Brady lives.

The drop will take place at a parking lot in 20 minutes. I'm really digging on Jack and Brady. It's nice to see a softer side of Jack even though he's using Brady to get to Gredenko.

At CTU, Doyle's "buddy," Johnson, pretty much double-crosses Doyle. He approaches Milo and tells him that he came across evidence of Nadia's innocence and that Doyle has it, but hasn't logged it into evidence. BURN. Ouch. Doyle must have severely pissed this guy off in Denver. BUT! Just as Milo whips off his sling and is about to kick some Doyle ass, Morris steps in and says that Doyle gave him the evidence 10 minutes earlier. He said the evidence came from an unreliable source and he wanted to verify if before submitting it. Niiiiiice bait and switching there writers of 24. You had me going :)

And yay, I might still get to like Doyle :) I like Milo too. He immediately feels like an ass for jumping on Doyle and does the manly apology thing. Doyle pats him and tells him it's not his fault. He then goes over to his "buddy" and tells him he's screwed with he wrong guy for the last time. Sounds like this has been an ongoing thing. Bill and Morris head off to review the evidence. If Bill concurs, Nadia will be released.

And he does concur, and he goes in personally to release her. He also asks her to stay and help. Obviously, she's upset about everything, but she does the honourable thing, and stays. As Milo sets up Nadia's workstation, Chloe comes to remind him that it's going to be awkward. Hee hee :) Milo has special feelings for Nadia and everyone knows it, according to Chloe. When Nadia does return, Milo tries to apologise for being suspicious, and then plants a big smoochy on her in the hall. It was hawt. I'm so loving this episode :)

Back at the hospital, Sandra and Karen wait to see if Wayne will wake up. The doctor comes in to tell them there's been a slight increase in swelling which could be life-threatening and recommends re-inducing the coma. But Sandra says if there's any chance he'll be all right and can stop Daniels, she knows Wayne would want to do it. But as she says this, Wayne begins to crash and a code team is called in.

Moving back to Jack, he seems impatient to get this drop over with. Either that or he's dealing with the pain from his injuries while he's forced to wait and let the adrenaline subside. He also seems upset at having to use Brady for this drop. He gently puts a radio in Brady's ear and tells him he will talk to him but that Brady can't let Gredenko know he can hear Jack. Jack sends him into position. Again, very calm and gentle.

Gredenko arrives and gets out of his SUV. Jack's sharpshooter can't get a bead on him because Brady is in the way. Brady hands the jump drive with the files to Gredenko who pops it into his laptop to download the intel. He tells Brady he looks nervous. In russian, Gredenko orders his men to shoot Brady as soon as he gets the files. Jack translates this (oooo shiver again at Jack knowing Russian) and asks Brady to duck when he tells him to. The files finish downloading. Gredenko orders his men to shoot Brady at the same time Jack tells Brady to get down. Brady hesitates, but finally goes and a tranquilizer dart lands in Gredenko's neck. Hurray!

Jack runs in and shoots the third hostile and heads straight for Brady who's cowering on the ground, the poor guy. Jack tels him he did great and that he can see his brother just like Jack promised. I'm having so many awww moments tonight! Jack tells his men to notify CTU they have Gredenko in custody and are prepping him for interrogation. Woot!

He leads Brady to a vehicle and hands Brady to another agent who will take him to see his brother. He tells this brave brave boy, "You did great. Thank you." Aww :) As Brady drives away, Jack shakes himself off and gets back into game face as he prepares to interrogate Gredenko.

Unfortunately, Gredenko knows Jack and what he's capable of apparently and he sings like a bird. A bird who has some terms. Amnesty and a guarantee he won't be returned to Russia. In exchange, he will help Jack get to Fayed. He also needs to make a call to Fayed fairly soon or Fayed will become suspicious So Jack's on the clock, er so to speak.

At the White House, Lennox informs Daniels that Jack has Gredenko in the vain hope this will delay Daniels' retaliation strike. But it doesn't. Lennox is flustered. Daniels orders the admiral to proceed with the launch. But as the admiral makes the call, he receives a stand down order. An order that came from a very much awake, Wayne Palmer. (Earlier in the show during a split screen we saw that Wayne had stabilized.)

Wayne calls Daniels and makes it clear he will be resuming his duties and that no actions will be taken without his direct authorization. I'm sure this will spark some discussion on whether this is even possible, but it's 24-land so I'm just gong to go with it. But when Daniels hangs up, he announces to the room that he doesn't think Palmer is fit to carry out his duties, and he calls for the Attorney General. He's going to do a Novick.

That's it boys and girls. What did you think?

"Please you have to let me finish this." 7pm-8pm

2007-03-19T19:32:00.000-06:00

This was a tight episode tonight. A multitude of wonderful moments pulled together in a taut, tense episode. I enjoyed every Chloe moment, every Jack tear, every mole-filled second tonight.

And with that, on we go )

At the consulate, body bags are lined up and Jack's getting checked over. Jack has floating rib fragments. Ewww. Doyle informs Jack he can't participate in the mission to recover the drones due to his injuries. Jack's not pleased.

Out in the desert, one drone is launched. CTU is tracking it and believes it's heading for downtown L.A. Gredenko's pilot auto-flying the drone jammed CTU's tracking ability and so now they can't find it. The military can't find it either. When Lennox informs the Veep about their inability to find the drone, the Veep demands a meeting with the Joint Chiefs to draw up our own target list for a nuclear strike. He believes he has to prove the United States isn't just "rattling it's sabers." *sigh* I see where the season's going. Wargames. We're at Defcon 5 and Matthew Broderick is trying to MacGuyver his way out of a closet.

One interesting thing that happened at CTU - Chloe approached Milo and Nadia and told them she knew Nadia has been using Milo's clearance code. It's a sign of growth (and her constant working "under the radar" with Jack) that she merely warns them to be careful when just a few years ago she'd be running off to Buchanan to turn them in. You go Chloe :)

Jack arrives back at CTU, wincing as Buchanan sort blows him off a little. It was kind of weird actually. As if Bill was angry at Jack which I guess he could be considering Jack went rogue, again, at the consulate. But seconds later when Jack asked what was happening Bill updated him and told him to get to the clinic. Maybe I misread it.

Anyway, Jack heads for the clinic but he sees Marilyn in a room and stops to talk with her. Marilyn tells Jack that she always wished things had worked out between them - and that she sort of thought Jack felt the same way. But when she leaned in for a kiss, Jack turns his head. Ouch. But not wanting to hurt her, Jack is honest with her and tells her there was someone he was with before he was taken to China.

And then the scene got *really* good. Marilyn looks puzzled and asks Jack if he's talking about Audrey Raines. Shocked, Jack says yes he is. And Marilyn has the unfortunate responsibility of telling Jack that....

Audrey is dead.

Ohhhh nooooooo... What followed was some damn fine Kiefer Sutherland acting and some visceral emotion from Jack as he stomps through CTU and hangs up on whomever Chloe is talking to and demands that she tell him why she didn't inform him about Audrey. Jack is livid and vaccilating between pure anger and gut-wrenching grief. It was an amazing scene. What's more is that Jack learns that Audrey died in a car accident in China... while she was trying to get him released from prison there. Chloe confirms there was a DNA match and that there's a file about it. Jack demands to see the file right away.

At the White House, The Vice-prez learns that Karen Hayes will be attending his meeting with the Joint Chiefs. This does not a happy Veep make. As the meeting gets underway, the Veep outlines his plan to retaliate on Fayed's country with a "warning shot" - a light nuclear strike (is there such a thing?) in an unpopulated areas. Karen makes it clear that she disagrees with his POV. But he doesn't care. He just wants to show the world who's got the biggest penis.

Returning to CTU, we get another quirky Chloe moment when Milo is suspicious of Morris who seems to be performing better than he was earlier. He fears that Morris took a drink to settle the nerves so he asks Chloe to check his breath. Chloe sweeps over to Morris, grabs him and plants a big old wet one on him in front of everyone. Morris is pleasantly surprised - until Chloe tells him she was just checking his breath.

Off we go back to the White House where Karen and Tom have a heated argument about the Veep's plans. Karen just can't bring herself to believe Tom would be on board with his plan, especially knowing that Palmer would never have gone along with it. Tom refuses to be drawn in, however, and states that he serves at the pleasure of his superiors. Oooer. But really Tom is pretty much stuck being the Veep's lapdog no matter what he truly believes. But he can't tell Karen that.

At CTU again, Doyle is unable to formulate a plan for taking out the drone because they can't track it. Then Chloe comes in and reveals that the pilot who is working the drone is able to anticipate CTU's satellite movements and that the pilot is being relayed coordinates by a workstation from within CTU. There is a leak in the building.

Doyle looks around the floor and singles in on Nadia. He asks that they start vetting her workstation which sends Milo into a tizzy. He's about to get busted for letting her use his clearance and if she does turn out to be the mole, man is Milo gonna get it. Chloe matches the signature on the data leak to Nadia's workstation and she's immediately arrested... I think it's actually Milo though.

Quick moment with Gredenko when we learn the drone will explode over San Fran. Noooooo that's MY city. Bastards. How dare they destroy the home of Ghirardelli chocolate!

Karen visits Palmer where he's been induced into a coma to fight intra cranial bleeding. Karen asks the doctor if there's any way to bring the president back to consciousness. The doctor says the risks of permanent brain damage are high if such a thing is done and only a family member could give permission. Sandra Palmer looks on as he brother fights for his life.

Doyle begins interrogating Nadia while Morris finds a location for the drone pilot who is three block away. Milo interrupts Doyle who's been threatening, choking, and hair pulling trying to get Nadia to talk. We also learn that Doyle did something in Denver. Something that made Nadia believe that Doyle "gets off" on inflicting pain. Hmmmm. Something to ponder.

In a med unit at CTU, Jack looks through Audrey's file. Photos of a badly damaged and burned vehicle, Audrey's burnt passport and gruesome scene photos conirm to Jack that Audrey was murdered. And he says as much to Bill when he asks Bill to let him go on the mission to get the drone pilot. He says, "Bill, Audrey gave her life trying to get me out of a Chinese prison... Because she thought I was worth it," *sniffle* "I'm not going to let her die for nothing now."

Bill lets Jack go and lets Jack run point. Doyle may not like that. There's not much time. The drone will detonate over SF in three minutes....

Jack and his team are in position. Noticing Jack's wince of pain, Doyle asks if Jack wants him on point. But no, Jack's fine. They quietly storm the building and take out the pilot. Jack takes over control of the drone and in a very tense 30 seconds, manages to steer it away fro its zero barrier and land it in a fiery crash. The device seems to be leaking radioactive material. The core was breached and first-responders were exposed to fatal doses of radioactivity. When the Veep is informed of the situation he looks disappointed the crisis was averted. In fact, he orders the warning strike on Fayed's country proceed as planned. Why yes sir, you do have the biggest penis. Are you happy now?

Jerk.

Bauer Mix

2007-03-17T13:27:00.000-06:00

So I got some shiny new music editing software the other day and I've been playing with it nonstop. I'm a fan of dialogue mixes and thought it would be fun to make my own so I began experimenting with some Buffy/Angel sound clips I had on this laptop. I played them for my sister who really seemed to like them (though I suppose she's biased) and she asked if I was going to make any "24" mixes. Well duh :) But all my hundreds of 24 WAV files are on my ancient computer that's gathering dust in a corner of my living room.

Soooo with the help of the fabulous Kiefer-rocks site, I snagged some audio and made one.

Clickity-click to grab the MP3 (Right-click and 'Save as' if you wouldn't mind. Otherwise my server gets all stressed out and starts begging for prozac.)

Let me know what you think of it. It's pretty short and I ended it rather abruptly because I was OUT OF TIME. Hehe. But be kind and remember I'm new at this. Thanks!

Oh and if you want to hear the BtVS/Angel mixes I did, they're linked here.

"I no longer have to tolerate your sarcasm." 6pm-7pm

2007-03-12T19:13:00.000-06:00

This as a heart-pumping, warm fuzzy, jaw-dropping episode tonight folks. This is why I love this show.

Read on.

Logan arrives at CTU. Wait.. what? Did I miss something? Why's he there? Oh debriefing. Chloe gets to do it and she's not happy about it. She's ambivalent actually. Heehee.

We have a new player at CTU, Mike Doyle who will be the new head of Field Ops. And it's yummy Ricky Schroder too. I lurve him. Little Newt. He's there to help put together an assault team against the Russian Consulate. Their primary objective is to apprehend Markov. Jack's rescue is only secondary. Nice.

And Milo doesn't like Doyle. I liked the little confrontation they had. It amused me. We learned that Milo worked with Doyle in Denver where, apparently, Doyle was a jerk. And just like Denver, he's still a jerk. But Milo grudgingly admits to Nadia that Doyle's good. Knows what he's doing.

At the Consulate, Jack is unceremoniously tossed down a fight of steps where he lands on a dead guard. It looks like he's out cold. But when Jack's guard radios Markov and confirms his duty, which is to kill Jack, Jack is sneakily unbuckling the dead guard's belt and pulling it out of the loops. When the (live) guard pulls his weapon (did my blog just get slash-y? Sorry about that :) ) Jack whips the belt and knocks the gun out o his hands. For a moment I thought I was going to get my annual Thighs of Doom death scene, but alas...

Jack dispatches the (live-soon-to-be-dead) guard with ease and moves on.Meanwhile, Markov, who has been watching the security cam, calls out an alert and sends other guards off to kill Jack. A they search for him, Jack hides on a shelf of some kind when the guards enter the room he's in after he made a fakeout hideyhole behind some storage containers. Must remember that trick. The guards don't find him. He jumps down from his shelf, obviously hurt, and attempts to phone CTU. He gets through to Morris but just as he's about to tell him how to find Gredenko, the Russians cut the phone lines. So Jack cuts the power to the building. Tit for tat.

Milo tells Buchanan about Jack's call and Bill tells him to let Doyle know that Jack is no longer dispensible (wait.. what?) because he has key intel.

Bill tells Logan what's happening at the Consulate. Logan says the assault will be a huge mistake because Markov will off himself. He tells Bill that Russian President Suvarov needs to be involved and that he can get Martha to help negotiate with Suvarov's wife. We learn that Martha's been institutionalized but apparently that's irrelevant according to Logan. He tells Logan that he should be the one to talk to Martha even though they aren't on speaking terms.

Back at CTU, I'm liking Doyle. No it's not my love for Rick that's tainting my view. I like his jerkiness. In what little I've seen of him, including the scene when he literally impresses upon Morris that he will not stand for any lip, he seems to be a standup guy, much like Jack. Loyal almost to a fault, and caring very much what happens to his soldiers. Jerk? yes. Is Jack a jerk? No of course not. But Doyle just seems like a younger version of Jack. Headstrong. Patriotic. Good at what he does. time will tell but I'm stating right here and now if they make a mole out of him I will be very pissed off.

Over at the White House Bunker, it's time for Lennox to make a decision. The Veep (who frightens me. Should he frighten me? I've never seen Deadwood or whatever he was in but man, this actor freaks me out.) wants Lennox to tell Assad's ambassador that he saw Assad plant the bomb. Lennox looks like a cowering mouse compared to th strongarm tactics of the Veep. Lennox caves. I think I would cave too. The Veep clears Tom of the charges and he will continue as Chief of Staff.

Out in the desert, Fayed finally arrives at the airstrip where Gredenko is impatiently waiting.

At CTU Buchanan fills in the scary Veep on the plans for either Logan to get Martha to get the Russian president's wife or for Doyle's siege team to attack the Consulate. The Veep gives the OK to proceed with the attack only if Logan's idea doesn't work.

At another location I'm not sure of, there's Mad Martha. My favourite ex-First Lady and lo and behold, AARON IS WITH HER. AARON'S BACK!!! SQUEEEEE!!!!! Oh I am so loving this!!

Ok, they're in L.A. And Mad Martha is feeding Aaron raspberries. Oooer. That has to be the sweetest thing I've ever seen on this show. My fangirl heart is full of warm fuzzies.

Martha looks a little whacked out though. Messy hair, Aaron's treating her with kid gloves. She must have really broken with sanity after things went bad with Logan.

The phone rings and Aaron answers the phone, "Martha Logan's Bungalow." For some reason, that made me laugh out loud. It has a 'Fernando's Hideaway' ring to it :) Anyway, it's Logan calling but Martha doesn't want to speak to him. After a bit of a heated exchange between Aaron and Charles, she takes the phone. Logan starts trying to get her to help diffuse the situation. Charles eventually has to rely on Aaron to convince Martha to see Logan in person. Aaron, very reluctantly, agrees.

At the Consulate, Jack finds a communication room where a man and woman are getting a little flirty during lockdown. Seeing his chance, he quietly enters the room (I could almost see Jack roll his eyes when he caught the two getting touchy-feely) and orders the man to go find the one phone the Consulate uses during a lockdown to communicate with the outside world. After the man leaves, Jack eases himself painfully into a sitting position against a wall. He tells the woman not to be scared. But he's in real pain. I think he needs a hug.

At Martha Logan's Bungalow (of Love), Aaron nervously awaits the chopper carrying Logan. As Logan approaches with his hand held out, Aaron refuses to shake it. You go Aaron. I love you. He tells Logan that Martha is waiting. They enter the Bungalow. Man it has to be awkward for Logan to see Aaron with Martha. Not that I care.

Logan pleads his case with Martha. As he does you can tell he reverts to his old ways with her - telling her he can't explain everything and she should just do what he says - which she calls him on. But Martha defers to Aaron. Aaron tells her she should make the call to Mrs. Suvarov. Martha agrees to make the call, with tears in her eyes.

At the Bunker, The Veep and Assad's ambassador have a pissing match. But the Veep threatens to unleash holy hell on his country if he doesn't help us find those nukes. The ambassador just looks at him in stunned silence.

At the Bungalow, they are forced to wait to make the call because Mrs. Suvarov is in the middle of a speech in Omsk. While they wait, Martha starts baiting Logan about her relationship with Aaron. Martha starts venting her anger and attacks some poor defenseless kiwis which she then starts flinging at Charles. It was most amusing. Aaron calms her down a little. But then she picked up the knife, took a deep breath, and stabbed Logan. And then I rewound my Tivo and watched that scene a few more times. It was fantastically shocking. Amidst her shrieking and the general pandemonium that ensues, Charles Logan calmly removes the paring knife from near his neck and slowly begins to bleed out.

Logan is taken away and Martha is left cuffed and calm. CTU is about to put through Mrs. Suvarov's call and Aaron has to decide whether Martha is stable enough to handle such a delicate call moments after stabbing the ex-president. She doesn't understand why she's cuffed. She believes she should be given a medal for stabbing him. But she tells Aaron she knows what the stakes are. And she has her conversation with Mrs. Suvarov. Mrs. Suvarov then convinces her husband to call Markov and order him to give himself up. Markov refuses to do so. But because President Suvarov now knows Markov is a traitor, he authorizes CTU to take him by force. All thanks to Mad Martha.

In the basement of the Consulate, Jack's male hostage returns with a sat phone. Just as the hostage is entering the unlock code, guards enter firing, killing him. A firefight ensues with Jack until he runs out of bullets but at the same time, Buchanan gives the go ahead to Doyle to attack. There's firefights everywhere. Markov watches in disbelief as Americans storm he embassy and he places a call to Gredenko. He tells him he must launch now. Gredenko has one drone ready to go and begins arming it.

Doyle finds Jack and Jack tells him Gredenko's location. But he's obviously really hurt. Was he shot? Broken ribs? What's up with Jack? He doesn't usually cringe in pain this much... I'm very worried.

Buchanan gives his teams Gredenko's location. We cut to Logan's ambulance. He utters one word... "Martha..." and he crashes. "We're losing him" says the medic...

Tick boom.

Man what a show tonight guys.

"Please... You have to help." 5pm - 6pm

2007-03-05T20:00:00.000-06:00

This episode almost made me like Lennox. I'm reserving judgement until I find out how he handles himself with the Veep, but I will say I dug him a little this time. I was pleased with tonight's show. I hope you guys were too. I know my comments aren't as happening as they used to be this season, but I appreciate those of you who keep coming back to read some chick in Nebraska's recap of the show :)

I also want to say to whomever clicked the '24 gear' banner and bought over $4000 worth of stuff, I love you. Did you guys know they have a friggin' cool CTU Special Ops watch in there? Makes me wish I was rich.

Enough pimping, on with the show.

First up, Palmer is wheeled into a med room looking pretty bloody.

Jack and Logan head for the Russian Consulate. Jack is hostile towards Logan. Logan accepts Jack's ire. Logan attempts to make conversation by telling Jack he knows what it's like to be locked away from the world. He gets pretty philosophical. Jack just stares straight ahead until Buchanan calls him. He's calling to give Jack the news about the attempt on Palmer's life. He tells Jack it "looks" like Assad was responsible - and that Assad is dead.

At the White House, doctors work at trying to remove shrapnel from Palmer, Reed looks on. Reed is approached by someone and told he and Lennox are needed in a conference call with the Veep to discuss who's in charge. Reed says Lennox is unavailable and that Reed is covering for him. In the call, the Veep learns he's now in charge of things. The Veep says he will be landing soon (he's been in the air this whole time btw) and when he arrives, he will want a full briefing from Tom Lennox.

Under mounting pressure from, ohhh, everyone in the bunker looking for Lennox, Reed goes back to the pipe room where Lennox is trussed up and has an argument on whether to kill him or not with Carson the bomb guy. Reed is against killing Lennox. He believes Lennox is weasely enough to fall in line. Carson wants to off him and make it look like a suicide which, given their situation, is actually the smarter play. But we all know how dumb government dweebs are. Reed would rather take a chance on Lennox.

He has his little, um, heart to heart with Lennox and it sort of looks like Reed has made his case with Lennox and that he'll play along. Reed tells him that Carson used an identical bomb signature to that used by Assad's organization and no one will know who really did it. He says the Veeps is now in charge and Lennox's agenda will sail right through and be implemented.

Sensing that he has convinced Lennox to play along, he cuts him loose. They enter the hall and run into Secret Service who have been looking for Lennox. The SS tells Lennox everyone's been looking for him. Lennox straightens his tie, and with a glance at Reed, he steps over to them and rats 'em out. It was bloody brilliant :) and then his heart grew three sizes that day. OK Lennox won some brownie points with me. But I still think he's whiny. And how about that hilarious smirk he gave Reed as he was being cuffed? Priceless!

Meanwhile the Vice-President lands and has a chat with Bill about Logan's "furlough." The VP is not happy about Logan is out.

At the Consulate, Logan convinces Jack to let him speak to the ambassador alone. He Jack is unhappy about this but can see no way to be in the room with them and still get the guy to talk. So Logan meets up with Markov and aks him to give up Gredenko. He won't do it. Logan plays his blackmail card letting Markov know he will give him up to Moscow regarding the nerve gas from last season. But Markov won't budge. The only thing he will concede is that he will make some calls.

Logan and Jack leave, but Logan knows Markov is lying and he tells Jack so. As they drive away, Markov calls Gredenko to tell him about Logan's visit. This agitates Gredenko but Markov assures him that by the time the government figures anything out, it will be too late. As Jack leaves, he tells the limo driver to pull over when they're out of sight of the guards. He then calls Chloe and tells her to disrupt power to the Consulate - under the radar. Hearing all of this, Logan reminds Jack that he just spent two years in prison in China enduring torture for pretty much the same thing. Jack just ignores everything Logan's blathering about and looks around, setting up his moves.

Now we check in on Karen as she waits at Andrews for her flight to L.A. She's watching the news on her phone (I wish I had a cool phone like that) when Bill calls her to tell he about the attempt on Palmer's life. She realizes she has to go back to the Bunker and do what she can to help.

Arriving at the bunker is th VP. As he walks in he chats with his assistant about going over Lennox's plan. She's skeptical about pushing it through so soon since Palmer rejected it. But he believes it's needed now more than ever. He's then informed about Lennox's unfortunate incarceration.

Speaking of Reed, he's interrogated by Secret Service. They're not very willing to believe his side of the story. There's quite a lot of circumstantial against him. When the Vice-President comes in, even he doesn't believe Lennox. They're all too willing to believe Assad is guilty. They're, trigger-happy. They're dying to pin it on him and Lennox is flabbergasted. It's clever actually, because at this moment, Lennox is realizing the far-reaching implications of his own plan that does pretty much the same thing to the entire Muslim community that is happening to the innocent Assad. Kind of a karmic slap in the face for him.

The Veep gives Lennox an ultimatum: either stick to his 'Assad is innocent' line and go through a trial and everything for his role in the assassination attempt, or the VP will clear him of all charges and allow Lennox to work on getting his proposal through. All he has to do is ignore Assad's innocence. He did the right thing once... Will he do it again?

Back at the consulate, we learn that Jack speaks a bit of Russian. There is no end to his sexiness. Seriously. Ever see 'A Fish Called Wanda' when John Cleese starts speaking Russian and Jamie Lee Curtis gets all hot and bothered? That's what I'm talking about here.

But I digress. With Chloe's help, Jack makes his way to Markov but before he can get any answers, the power comes back and the game is up. He locks himself in with Markov and a standoff is in the making.

And we head back to the bunker to check in with Vice-President Daniels. He's being pummeled left and right with bad news. Buchanan informs him about Jack's situation. His assistant tells him Karen Hayes is withdrawing her resignation and top cap it of, Russian President Subarov is calling to tell Daniels to make Jack stand down.

Unfortunately for Markov, Jack's not going anywhere and he's feeling punchy. Literally. Under... duress, Markov slips up and tells Jack he hasn't spoken to Gredenko since he came to the states. Dumbass. Jack looks at him and says, "I never said he was in the United States." HA! So busted.

Except, he's not. Oh Jack gets his intel. After cutting off a finger and holding a gun to Markov's head, Markov tells Jack what he knows. Gredenko is in the Mojave Desert getting ready to launch drones loaded with the nukes. They'll be operational in two hours.

"Son of a bitch." POW! Jack punches Markov one more time for good measure and heads for the door - except Russian security decides to blow it just then and Jack is thrown back by the blast and rendered unconscious. He's captured.

As Daniels speaks to the nation, Morris cracks consulate code and discovers that the consulate is now holding Jack. Buchanan authorizes special ops to draw up a plan to take the consulate by force. He wants to have it ready for Daniels to give the ok and hopefully rescue Jack.

Over at the Consulate, Jack comes around and tries to appeal to his guard. He tells him what he knows. He tells him that he knows the guard is aware of Markov's connection to Gredenko. All he wants the guard to do is call CTU with the intel. The guard does it. He knows Jack isn't lying.

As the guard goes away to make the call, he's put through to Bill. But before he can talk to him, he's shot and killed by... not Markov. I actually don't know who shot him. Obviously, someone in the consulate security or another consul guy but I didn't recognize him. This person must be working with Markov as well. Either way, Jack's desperate attempt to get the intel to Buchanan fails. And we have to wait 'til next week to find out what happens next.

2 Guys Talking: 24 - Fun Podcast

2007-02-28T11:32:00.000-06:00

So I've been listening to a pretty cool podcast (there are a number of great 'casts out there mind you, but this one's a lot of fun) at 2GuysTalking.com. 24addict totally recommends it :) Here's some info about their latest review podcast:

-----------------------------------------
2GuysTalking: 24 Podcast Reviews Season 6
Episode 11 Hour 4-5pm
February 27th, 2007
Running Time: 1hr 8min.
Recorded at 2GuysTalking Studios

Mike & Brian review episode 11 of a spectacularly different season for the
hit Fox show, "24" arrives in this humorous, entertaining jaunt. Remember
to continue to send your feedback and hear it on our show!

You can also subscribe to their awesome podcast on iTunes by clicking here.
-----------------------------------------

If you wander through their archives you'll see they do a lot of interviews with 24 Production Designer Joseph Hodges as well as national TV critics and possibly in the future, they might aim lower and chat with me a little. Should be fun so check 'em out!

"Citadel is down." 4pm-5pm

2007-02-26T20:00:00.000-06:00

Killing two Palmers on this show would just be wrong. I'm pretty sure Wayne will live though. Good stuff tonight guys :) Nervous tension, paranoia, angry tension, a furry man talking to himself - we got it all tonight :)

So without further ado...

We jump right in with Gredenko and Fayed talk about setting up a payload delivery. Gredenko dislikes dealing with Fayed - obviously prejudiced. Seems Gredenko's interested in exacerbating the difficulties between the America and the Middle East.

At the White House, Palmer meets with an ambassador and Assad. There is definite tension between the ambassador and Assad. Palmer fills in the ambassador with the reasons behind Assad's presence in the bunker with Palmer. Apparently he didn't know about the other three nukes. Palmer wants the ambassador to get his Prime Minister to deliver a speech backing Assad's speech directly after he's done. Palmer has to resort to military threats to get the ambassador to do this.

At CTU, Bill is frustrated that the safe house was empty. Techs found some kind router and Morris was trying to pull data from it bu having no luck. Is it me or was he a little slurry? Chloe gave him a look though. Before Morris could rant a little more, Jack called in and gave Bill a quick rundown on what went down at his location. He told him his father was involved and that he might have another lead in Charles Logan. Bill is puzzled but Jack has no time to get into detail. Jack is also rightfully pissed off that Logan is tucked away in a cozy little safehouse of some kind because he brokered a deal that got him out of hot water for his involvement in David Palmer's assassination. He grrr-arrghs a bit while Bill tells him a chopper is on the way to take him to Logan's location.

Meanwhile Jack has met back with Marilyn and Josh. He tells them Phillip escaped and that he's sending them back to CTU where they'll be safe (amazing he still finds CTU safe after its been blown up and poisoned and they usually have moles coming out of the ductwork but ok.) He gently places his hand on Marilyn's cheek as she thanks him for saving Josh. He gives a little half-smile that makes me all warm and fuzzy before he packs them off to mole-central.

Back at the bunker, Reed escorts his "contact" in past security. As they walk away from security, Reed tells his guy, Carson, that Lennox was going to give the game away. Carson is ticked off as they go into the pipe room and find Lennox trying to get out of his duct tape. His guy wants to off Lennox and be done with it but Reed talks him out of it. He believes Lennox will fall in line and keep his trap shut once the Veep is in office. He then distracts the guy by telling him to start assembling his device thingie since it will take 25-30 minutes and the Prez and Assad are giving their speech in about that time frame. He says their best shot of pulling this off is if they frame Assad for the assassination and that he and Palmer need to be together for it to happen. I guess so it looks like a suicide bombing.

Reed goes off to try and pull a 9 to 5 by pretending Tom is in various places around the bunker dong his job.

Chloe and Morris have a little chat about him and his AA sponsor. Morris is tetchy about it and goes of to swap a server port. Nadia is irked that Morris isn't at his station and once again Chloe covers for him. But after they have a little exchange, Chloe goes off to call Morris' sponsor herself. But she has to leave a voicemail (and when she gave her number, guess what number she gave the sponsor? Yep, 310-597-3781.)

And now Jack has arrive to speak to Furry Logan about Gredenko. Logan tells Jack he's a changed man. He's had time to think about what he did. Jack thinks Logan wants a pardon but Logan says he'll give the info freely. But the info he has on a liaison in the Russian Consulate Gredenko uses named Markov (will check spelling later) can only be gotten via back channels - in other words, Jack will have to go through Logan to get the info he needs. Logan tells Jack Markov was involved in the Palmer assassination and that he can talk to Markov about Gredenko because Markov knows Logan didn't give him up. Sound convoluted to you? I'm a little lost and I'm blogging this as I watch (Hurray for Tivo!)

Jack calls Palmer and tells him what Logan has offered. He needs an executive order form the President granting him temporary furlough to go talk to Markov. Palmer is visibly upset about this plan, after all, Logan helped plan his brother's death. Wayne speaks to Logan through clenched teeth and then decides to grant the furlough. It seems like Logan wants redemption for his crimes. But he's still saccharine and sappy. I don't trust him.

Meanwhile, Gredenko arrives at an airport to take a look at a 'drone.' Presumably we'll learn more about this later.

At CTU, Bill briefs everyone on the plan for going into the consulate. Bill tries to hand off Morris' tasks to Chloe but Morris makes an impassioned plea to stay on the job and Bill decides to let him despite Nadia's objection.

Chloe continues to cover for Morris and man oh man this is just not going to end well. I think Chloe's going to end up in big trouble for not letting her inner anal-geek-girl out when it comes to Morris.

Over at Logan's dude ranch, Charles has a quiet moment with his reflection. "I'm smart, I'm furry, and gosh-darnit, people like me!" Jack gets a last minute briefing from Buchanan before they head to the consulate (and excuse the fangirl squee, but SQUEE doesn't that boy look good in a suit! Guess jeans and Docs don't cut it in an Embassy.)

Anyway, As Jack learns more about career-diplomat, Markov, he thumbs through Logan's bible where he has highlighted a bit of text - the same bit of text Logan was just saying to himself in the mirror. Something about mud and a rock. I don't know, I'm not bible-y. Is this suspicious? Is Logan planning something and Jack is starting to cop on to it? We'll see.

A phone rings. It's Morris' sponsor returning Chloe's call. Only she isn't his sponsor anymore and hasn't been for three years. Chloe turns to Morris' station only to find him gone. After checking various places, she deduces he's in the loo and storms on in, catching him in a stall and confronts him. But he tells Chloe he has a new sponsor now, and that she can check if she wants. Chloe is brought up short by the evidence that points to the fact that she's being to paranoid, and she leaves him alone with a breathless apology.

After she leaves, Morris pulls out his bottle of whiskey, contemplates it, and dumps it down the drain. The question is, was he about to drink again in the stall? Or did he have a swig before Chloe stormed in? I want to believe he didn't get a chance to and he's a good boy for dumping it out.

At Palmer's Bunker, Wayne signs Logan's furlough order and asks for Lennox. But Lennox is still trussed up (ok I'll be a little nicer towards Lennox, but I still think he has weasel parts) with Carson and Reed. Carson cleans a cut on Lennox's head and asks him if he was playing him from the beginning or if he had a change of heart. Lennox says, "I was against you from the start." This pisses off Reed who slaps the duct tape back on his mouth and goes to watch Carson finish preparing the bomb using highlighters and a digital recorder. As he finishes, Carson tells Reed that the device has a 10 foot kill radius and that Palmer needs to be inside of that for this to work. Reed will be doing the actual setting off of the bomb. Oh dear.

Reed is the only one who can get close to the speech podiu so he sets off on his mission. After a little paranoid walk down the hall where he feels everyone's eyes on him, he accomplishes his task of hiding the recorder under the podium. Palmer and Assad walk in. Palmer takes Reed aside and asks about Lennox and Reed assures the President Lennox will be present for the speech.

As Assad stands behind the podium prepping as Palmer looks on, Reed punches in the code (624 for you detail-oriented peeps) to trigger the bomb. But some goops begins leaking from it and Assad, being the expert bomber that he is notices the dripping ooze, sees the bomb and rushes straight towards the President yelling, "BOMB!" he crashes into Palmer and they both go down as the bomb explodes.

As Jack and Logan prepare to leave for the consulate and Fayed heads off to wherever he's going, Secret Service searches through the rubble for the President. They find Assad amongst the damaged and they find Palmer bloodied and unconscious. "Citadel is down. I repeat, Citadel is down. Send a medical team."

:(

We interrupt this blog...

2007-02-21T22:01:00.000-06:00

Hey guys. I just have a quick favour - the lovely lovely bloke who kindly hosts 24addict.com is looking for new members of his forum. He runs a website devoted to teh funnay and you can find it here. If some of you (or all of you even :) ) could take a mo and check out his forums, maybe register and post your fave joke or share your fave funny site that would just be really sweet of you :) He's my best friend's hubby and an all-around great dude and I'm sure he'd be ever so happy for some fresh meat-err new blood over there. Thanks very much!

"How could I have been so stupid?" 3pm-4pm

2007-02-19T20:34:00.000-06:00

So Jack is unburdened. A little. Except now he has to deal with Demented Daddy. See, apparently Phillip has "built up" a business, a legacy and no one's life is worth losing that. Erm, okay. I can't even remember what the business is.

Do I sound a little... off? Maybe just a little. I'm not feeling the drive, the desire - the importance of Phillip's wackiness. What the hell is the big deal about the business? Why would he murder his own son, sacrifice the other and threaten his grandson for this business? It's worth a lot of money? Big deal. Seems flimsy to me. Couple that with the "moldy old Soviet commie? (TM a frequent 24addict commenter :))" Yeah not feeling the direness.

But that doesn't mean I'm not still loving the show :)

We catch up with Jack as he tracks Milo and Marilyn as they flee from the flunkies. They hide behind some dumpsters but are quickly found out. Milo tried to give Marilyn cover fire so she could escape but she's such a girl. She couldn't run and Milo was shot in the arm.

Just before the flunkies moved in on M & M, they spoke to Phillip who told them to take Marilyn alive. So just as they're about to shoot Milo, Jack takes two of them out and forces the third guy to drop his weapon having correctly ascertained that Marilyn won't be shot.

Then Jack slams Marilyn up against a wall and rips all her clothes - oh sorry, I was thinking of a fanfic. He does slam her against a wall though and screams at her about how she is responsible for the loss of half Jack's team when she led them to the wrong house.

It's here that she tells Jack who was really on that phone and what he's threatened to do if she gave Jack the right info on Gradenko's location. Jack is visibly shaken. But he sucks it up and comes up with a plan.

Marilyn gives Jack the correct addy for Gradenko and he calls CTU to have them apprehend him. He tells Bill he won't be a part of the takedown crew. He has a personal mission.

Back at CTU, Morris is wigging. He's developing a major inferiority complex especially after he hears how brave Milo was. He leaves for a walk while Chloe covers for him before they Gredenko (Yes I know I've been spelling it wrong all this time, according to Jack's txt msg. I blame The Police.) Morris heads straight for the learest liquor store, buys a pint of whiskey and some altoids (they're curiously strong!) and heads for the alley where he gulps down most of the bottle. He then promptly throws it up. You know, I can deal with knives in kneecaps, drill bits in shoulders, but vomit just gives me the heebies. *shudder* Hate it when they show that.

As Jack, Marilyn and the flunkey setup a call to Phillip, Tom Lennox at the White House is meeting with Reed again. He gives him the President's itinerary but is still leery of the whole thing. He's afraid it will be traced to him. But Reed assures him that they're going to make it look like Assad did it. Lovely.

Back to Jack. He makes the flunkey call Phillip and tell him he has captured Marilyn and that Jack is dead. Phillip cringes but says it had to be done. The flunkey tells Phillip that Marilyn won't give up Gredenko's location until she sees her son. A little bit of back and forth between them and she doesn't cave. Finally, Phillip tells her what hotel he and Josh are staying in.

As Jack makes his way to the hotel with those two in tow, Morris returns to CTU after a frantic call from Chloe. She needs him back at his station because they're about to initiate the raid on Gredenko's safe house. But when he comes back he stops in to see Milo who's getting patched up. He tells Milo he doesn't have to downplay his heroics to make him feel better. Milo, confused, says, "Ok." Yeah, Morris is losing it. Chloe can smell the alcohol on him and she berates him for it. We learn that Morris is a recovering alcoholic. But he convinces Chloe not to inform Buchanan of his slip and that he spat out the drink. Stupidly and out of character for Chloe, she agrees.

Jack arrives at the hotel and helps Marilyn into a bulletproof vest. It's kind of a tender moment actually. Yeah, there was some heat there once upon a time. They head up to Phillip's room.

At the White House, Lennox and Reed meet one more time after Lennox helped Palmer with Assad's speech because Reed is waiting for Lennox to authorize their "man's" security clearance. Lennox tells Reed to go meet the guy. As soon as he leaves, Lennox calls security. As he leaves to meet security, he opens the door and Reed knocks Lennox in the head with a flashlight (yay!) because he realized Lennox was about to turn him in. He knocks him out again (yay!) and cancels the meet with security.

At CTU, they raid Gredenko's house and find... nothing. No sign of the man. At the hotel, Marilyn and Jack find... nothing. Phillip and Josh are nowhere to be found. But then the phone rings and it's Phillip. He directs them to look out the window across the way. They comply and see Phillip on the roof of a nearby building with a gun to Josh's head. Jack tells Phillip he's out of plays here. All he can do now is offer up all his info and demand immunity. Phillip's having none of that. So Jack offers himself in exchange for Josh. Phillip seems to go for that and Jack and Marilyn head over to that building.

Jack makes his way into a room where Phillip is waiting. Phillip makes Jack show that he's not wearing ankle holsters and in doing so, endears Jack to me even more when he slides his jeans up and reveals he's wearing sloppily tied Doc Martens :) I have a Doc Marten... thang.

I digress. Josh is released and Jack is alone with his father. As his father tries to make excuses for everything Jack cuts right through the bullshit. "Stop lying to me!" he yells. Phillip tells Jack none of this would have happened if Jack hadn't turned his back on the family all those years ago. He tells Jack he's so much smarter than Graham ever was. Then he makes Jack get on his knees and moves behind him. Bastard's going to execute his own son??

Before Phillip can fire, Jack unloads a little.

"I want you to know... I never wanted you to feel like I had turned my back on you - that I had turned my back on the family. I just had to go my own way... Do things for myself... I was never good enough for you... I'm sorry. Anyway... I'm ready."

But the shot never fires. Phillip's done a runner. He left behind a phone though that has instrauctions to call a phone number (yep, same one as before that gets you the Nextel phone for 24, which has a full mailbox.)

Jack calls the number... It's Logan. Bah. He's all furry too. *shudder* He tells Jack they need to meet. Alone.

Tick boom. Sooooo Logan's back, Lenoox is unconscious (yay!) and Jack can be guilt-free over Graham's death (and free from scrutiny by CTU.) A very good show tonight and hey, torture-free as well so please Real Reporters, stop filling up my inbox with news alerts about how 24 was asked to tone down the torture.

"I lost control." 2pm-3pm

2007-02-12T20:31:00.000-06:00

Intensity thy name is Kiefer Sutherland. There just is no other actor on television who can compare - in my limited opinion. I could be biased though so please don't send me hate mail expounding the virtues of Hugh Laurie or anything like that.

We start out with Fayed landing somewhere and talking to Gradenko (remember him? He got the nukes into the country via Phillip Bauer's company.) Gradenko is irritated with Fayed for leaving the nuke behind for Jack to disarm. Fayed says the remaining three nukes will suit their purposes just fine.

At CTU, Morris arrives back and though Chloe tries to go to him, the nurse ushers him off to medical.

Jack then arrives back and speak to Bill about Gradenko. When he walked in though, everyone in CTU sort of stopped to stare at him. Is it because they're seeing him back for the first time since China? My memory is fuzzy.

After Jack talks to Bill and learns that Gradenko may be in L.A., he goes to Chloe and has a nice moment with her. We almost got a smile out of Jack as they thank each other for their work so far. I really enjoyed that. Jack then goes on to medical to see his father and God, Jack's father actually freaking makes Jack feel bad for killing Graem. What a dick!! Argh! Phillip responds to Jack's questions about Gradenko by laying 'blame' on Graem - easy to do since Graem's dead. He tells Jack he'll call some execs and see what they know about Gradenko. This is after he lays more guilt on Jack when Jack asks where Marilyn is. I want to throttle Jack's dad myself.

Chloe visits Morris who's feeling some guilt himself about what he did. He refuses to let Chloe comfort him. Chloe tries her best to cheer him up with a pep talk but he's not having it. He makes her leave so he can brood.

In the halls, Phillip makes a call to someone letting them know Gradenko is L.A. and that they need to eliminate him. His contact assures him Gradenko will be killed. Phillip says he'll monitor CTU's activities and try to find out where he is.

As Jack reports back to Bill on his chat with his dad, Buchanan makes Jack sit down and go over Graem's toxicology report. He tells Jack that he's seen the field tape and read the reports. He says Jack's responsible for Graem's coronary. Jack loses it a little.

"I lost control. I tried to tell you I didn't think I could this. This job. I wanted to kill my brother. I wanted him dead. I was standing over him and I looked up and I saw my father in the doorway... and then everything just stopped."

Bill offers to alter the report but Jack refuses to let him. Bill says he can't have an IA investigation on top of the Fayed search because Jack is critical to that. But Jack says, "Whatever the consequences are, I accept them. Bill? Do this right."

"Ok. I'll submit the report as is." replies Bill.

*sigh*

Meanwhile, back at the House of Palmer, he and Assad are going over Assad's speech when the Veep calls. He's making a plea for Palmer to reconsider Lennox's agenda. Palmer refuses. The Veep tells him that he stands alone on this matter.

Lennox "sneaks" off to this secure location to meet Reed, looking pretty suspicious as he goes I might add. Reed lays out the plan: I have powerful friends. We all love this country. I think Palmer is weak. Let's kill him.

Lennox questions who Reed's "friends" are but Reed only tells him the Veep is not involved. He asks for Palmer's itinerary and Reed says he'll get it for him after Reed comforts him with words like "plausible deniability."

At CTU, Jack takes Marilyn aside to see how she's doing. She surprises him when she says he doesn't owe her an apology about Graem's death. She's not bothered by it. She's been trying to leave Graem for years but was held hostage in a way because Graem would threaten to take Josh from her.

As Jack turns to leave, she asks about the nukes. This leads to her finding out that CTU is looking for a Russian named Gradenko. She tells Jack that she followed Graem once when she thought he was having an affair. She was looking for ammo in a divorce. She followed him to a house in West L.A. She heard Graem talking to Russian men inside and then she took off. Jack asks if she could remember the house if they tried retracing the route. She thinks she can.

As Jack goes to ask Bill for permission to try this lead, Phillip sidles into the hall with Marilyn and discovers what they're going to go do. Marilyn asks Phillip to stay with Josh but Phillip tells her he thinks it would be better if he took Josh to his house so he'd be in familiar surroundings. Marilyn agrees and clears it with Bill. Eesh. This can't end well.

Phillip makes a call before he leaves with Josh to his shady contact and tells them to find and secure a house in West L.A.

Chloe tries to get Morris to come back on the floor. At first it was an attempt to get him over his self-absorbing brood but as he carries on feeing sorry for himself, Chloe gets pissed and thwacks him. Hehe. Have I mentioned I love Chloe? Finally she tells him to get over it and get back to work.

(Commercial break includes a trailer for the show "Drive" with Nathan Fillion. Woot! Captain Tightpants!)

Jack and Marilyn have a moment as they try to find this house. She asks Jack if the reason he left for the military was because of his father. She asks if he was pressuring Jack to join the company. He dodges the question after telling her she wasn't one of the reasons he left.

Marilyn gets a call from Phillip. Sitting next to Jack she takes in the news that Phillip is threatening to kill her son if she doesn't lead Jack to a different house in West L.A. Phillip drives the point home by telling her he killed Graem (yay! So eventually Jack will know he didn't kill Graem)) and he's willing to do the kid in if she doesn't comply.

Marilyn does as she's told and leads Jack to the fake house.

Gradenko, meanwhile, is working with a lackey to program in coordinates for the remaining nukes. He says that Russia lost the cold war because it was afraid to use these weapons against the Americans. Today they will correct that mistake and the Arabs will take all the blame. So yeah, look for various anti-Russian Stereotype groups to protest the stereotyping of cold war Russians after this episode.

Chloe helps track Jack and gets a little backlogged when Morris comes back out on the floor to help. He got over it :)

At a hotel somewhere, Phillip leads Josh to a room as Josh demands answers about his father's death. Phillip is just there to wait out the events at the house Marilyn is leading Jack to.

As Jack pulls up to the house, Marilyn tries to talk to Jack but keeps getting interrupted. Then Jack and the team move in to storm the house. There is, of course, a bomb. Jack leaps out a window just as it explodes and Milo shoves Marilyn into the SWAT van as he is pursued by Phillip's men.

And I got my wish from earlier today as Milo kicks some ass saving Marilyn from Phillip's men. They drive off, shots are fired at them, Milo loses control and crashes. Phillip's men keep shooting at the van but they have orders not to kill the woman. Milo ducks back into the van and pulls the pins on a hand grenade or two and grabs a gun as well. They run off as the van explodes giving them valuable time to escape.

It was cool :)

We close on Jack who's disoriented and calling out for his men to sound off. No one does.

Great stuff tonight folks. A little more backstory for me on Jack, Manly Milo saving Marilyn and some awesome Chloe moments. Colour me content :)

My recap from 1pm-2pm is below.

"Bring her back in." 1pm-2pm

2007-02-12T19:26:00.000-06:00

Welcome to 24, now with more angst!

I didn't realize it at the time, but as soon as Buchanan began to tell Jack that his brother is dead it hit me that Jack will believe he caused it. As if he needed more trauma.

He took it rather well though. Get the info. Process the info. Get back to work. Deal with it later.

Starting with Jack on route to the ambush site. Chloe, distraught, begins to mess up as she tries to access street cams and follow McCarthy. Milo notices and debates whether he should pull her off.

Meanwhile, Bill has to break the news about Graem to Jack. Like I said, I was more upset about Jack having to believe he did it than Jack seemed to be. He took in the info and moved on. Me, I'm still dwelling.

Milo decides to pull Chloe and immediately gets the right cam and tracks McCarthy who is speeding off and awaiting a call from Fayed. Soon, the beating thrum of helicopter blades beat overhead and he notices the chopper Jack's in above their car. After a bit of a chase, the car drives under an overpass and stops. McCarthy jacks a small truck while Jack has the chopper brought down on top of some semis.

As McCarthy is hotwiring the truck, Morris tries to appeal to Rita (McCarthy's chippie) and her better nature, saying CTU doesn't know of her existence and the lives of thousands of people rests on her because of Fayed's bombs. He pleas with her to uncuff him but she hesitates.

McCarthy comes back and they pile in the truck and take off. Rita accuses McCarthy of keeping the Big Deal from her, not telling her it's about the bomb. He tells her it's not about the bombs - it's about 7 million dollars. That was stupid.

Jack arrives on scene but too late. All he finds is the shattered glass from the truck McCarthy stole. Without knowing what kind of car they stole, CTU is stuck.

Fayed calls McCarthy and gives him an address. After he and Rita locate it via GPS, Rita shiftily looks at Morris, leading the audience to believe she's going to help him. She shoots McCarthy, dumps the body and Morris is euphoric. But the silly bint is a greedy bitch. She's going to turn over Morris and keep the 7 million. Apparently she plans a big shopping spree.

At the White House, we get to witness a hissy fit such as we haven't seen since the days of Logan. Palmer tries to placate Lennox after rejecting his plan but Lennox goes off to pout in his office after Palmer is told that Assad has arrived. Why do men always sweep stuff off a table when they're pissed off? I've tried it myself and it's less than satisfying.

Anyway, Lennox unloads his frustration on his lackey, Reed. He whinges about having no influence in this administration. Reed tries to build his ego back up but to no avail. Lennox refuses to go along with Palmer's decision and orders Reed to go draft his letter of resignation.

Defeated, Reed leaves and calls some guy named Carson and lets him know about Lennox's resignation decision. Apparently there is another big plan in the works we're not meant to know about but it seems to hinge on Lennox staying in office and Reed staying in position.

At CTU, Marilyn Bauer and her son Josh arrive and Bill breaks the news of Graem's death. She takes it pretty well really. She did assume Jack caused it though. I smell bitterness! Marilyn then breaks the news to Josh and Bill is called away by Jack who has found McCarthy's body.

Jack finds McCarthy's cell phone and uploads the data to CTU. They believe he received a call from Fayed on it.

Rita and Morris arrive at Fayed's House of Torture and Fayed regards Rita suspiciously. She tries to play it off as though McCarthy's waiting on her but Fayed tells her she won't get the money until Morris does what he's told. Morris heroically refuses. He's scared as hell though. His shaky voice gives that away even as he refuses to program the detonator thingies. He's beaten with a baseball bat, shoved head first in a full bath to the point of drowning, and then drilled. As in, with a drill. In the freakin' shoulder. Blood spatters everywhere and Morris collapses in a heap.

At CTU, Milo is having problems with the cell phone trace. Chloe steps up and gets the job done. Good on her. She gets the address of the apartment complex Fayed is holed up in. No apartment number but the building is close enough. Milo receives praise for his work on the trace but he is a good boy and makes sure Bill knows Chloe did it. "If you think she's ready, bring her back in." Bill says. Yay!

Showdown at the White House. Assad and Palmer face off. Assad isn't willing to begin his peace process on Palmer's terms, which include him going on TV and appealing to the Muslim community for info on Fayed. But Assad doesn't want to do it that way. Appearance is everything to him. But Palmer is having none of it. He doesn't care about Assad's agenda.

Jack and field teams have surrounded Fayed's building but there's too many apartments to go room to room so Jack initiates a fire alarm to clear the place. But this only alerts Fayed to the fact the CTU knows where they are and he steps up Morris' torture. Here's where he begins to drill. I had to look away.

Again at the White House, Lennox reads a memo stating that Assad will be appearing on TV. Reed comes in and says he does not have the letter of resignation. He begins to wonder aloud about the possibility of a climate change in which Lennox's agenda could move forward if the Veep was in office. Lennox says he has no grounds to push for Palmer's removal. Reed says something a little more immediate would be necessary... Draw your own conclusions from that. But he backs off that train of thought when he sees Lennox might not be conducive to it.

Back at the apartment building, CTU finally narrows down which apartment Fayed is in and Jack leads the assault on it. Unfortunately it's a little late as Morris has had time to activate the one suitcase nuke Fayed has with him. Just as Morris is about to be shot, Jack breaks in and shoots up the baddies. But Fayed is not amongst the dead. The good news for Chloe though is that Morris is alive. Unconscious and with a few more holes in him, but alive. I love how Jack made sure she knew that. Not about the holes though :)

As Jack searches for Fayed he discovers a bit of a problem in the bathroom. Fayed left the nuke behind, and it's armed.

Chloe begins to walk Jack through disarming the nuke. A field agent tells Jack that Fayed escaped through the sewer tunnels and took off in a nearby helicopter.

Can I just say I hate Disarm the Bomb sequences? They make my tummy hurt.

But Jack disarms it in time and after some reallyquitesexy panting (sorry, Kieferbreath does that to me) he lets the field agents know the bomb is disarmed and it's 'over.'

"No it's not." says Morris. He informs Jack that the device Fayed forced him to activate gives him the ability to detonate the 3 remaining nukes at any time. And if the device is not in the apartment, then Fayed still has it. Disgusted, Jack informs CTU. Come on Jack, not everyone's as tough as you. I think Morris, a data analyst of all things, withstood a goodly amount of torture there before he finally caved. Don't get tetchy with him.

At the White House, Lennox sees the flash memo about the info on Fayed and believes the situation is dire. He has Reed tear up his letter of resignation, and tells him he would be amenable to the earlier discussion about Palmer. Reed tells him he will find a secure location to discuss it.

Egads.

Just stuff

2007-02-12T09:41:00.000-06:00

I have a few things to pass along so read on :)

Columnist Maggie Van Ostrand has a new column up about Jack Bauer that's worth a read. You can see it at maggievanostrand.com.

There some 24 swag to give away if you listen to Water Coller TV's podcast interview with Milo (Eric Balfour). Catch it on iTunes here. I hope more is done with Milo then what we've seen so far. I was excited to hear he was back on the show because I loved him in Season 1. But so far he's seemed like a background guy. More Milo!

There's an interview with Missy Crider (who plays Rita, McCarthy's girlfriend) over at 24headquarters.com. Check it out :)

And don't forget, we get two solid hours of 24 tonight!

"We're the same!" 12pm-1pm

2007-02-05T21:29:00.000-06:00

Whew! Very intense stuff tonight boys and girls. This episode actually made me question whether I should be letting my daughter watch this with me. When I mentioned this to her, I got the eye roll and the, "Oh mom." She's 15. She's seen it all apparently.

Still, there's something sort of disturbing about watching a man torture his own brother for information - a brother Jack obviously cares about despite the long separation (and please oh please writers of 24, are you ever going to fill in this backstory for me? Why the Big Rift in the family? Did I miss a Very Special 24 when Jack flashes back on the Big Bad that caused his blood family to fall apart?)

Well, on with the recap. I'll speak more about the torturing of Graem (I guess I've been spelling his name wrong all this time. Oh well) later. And as a side note, I'm using my daughter's weird laptop t write this, and I'm typoing all over the place. So if any slip through, forgive me. I do know how to spell. Honest.

So we open with Wayne Palmer solemnly watching news reports of the bomb blast when the snivelly snit Tom comes in sputtering platitudes about Karen's resignation. Palmer's not having any of it. So Tom moves on to pushing his agenda again, asking Wayne to reconsider his decision on it. His argument is convincing really, using Fayed's attacks as proof his way of restricting freedoms is the best way. Palmer wavers and asks him to convene the cabinet to discuss it.

At CTU, Bill speaks to Karen and learns about her resignation and that she's on her way to CTU. She refuses to be specific on her resigning and Bill immediately realizes Tom had something to do with it. She won't discuss it though. As Bill tries to call Karen back. Chloe interrupts to tell him Jack's not answering.

Meanwhile, Graem is back at his house and Jack and his father are chained up in a van on their way to be "disposed of." Phillip tries to tell Jack why he's tried to "clean up" after Graem. He says that after Jack left, Graem was all he had left. The company they run was supposed to be "all for Jack." But Jack left. Or something. This is where the backstory gets hazy for me.

As the henchman lead Jack and Phillip to a big hole in the ground with a cement mixer nearby, Phillip distracts one while Jack takes out the other. Phillip grabs a gun and kills them both which pisses Jack off. He wanted to question them. Irritated, Jack gets a cell phone from one of the lackeys and calls in to CTU. He fills Bill in on the details of everything that happened. His next move is to get to Graem's house and recapture him. Bill makes the arrangements and they head off.

British Bloke (whom I've now discovered is actually the McCarthy Jack is looking for. I didn't catch that before) calls Fayed and says he found an engineer. He sends a file to Fayed and says that the engineer will need to be coerced. CTU manages to intercept the call and a corrupted image from the file McCarthy sent. Morris is assigned to recovering the photo using a salvage utility.

Back at Graem's, Jack busts in and has Graem prepped for questioning. Graem's wife, Marilyn has a cow about it all in the kitchen (man this actress has got some gorgeous eyes).) Jack tells her to stop looking at him like this whole thing has something to do with "us." I guess this means confirmation there was some kind of affair. Maybe that caused the Big Rift. Who knows :(

Jack spells out what's going on for her and she blows up at him. She says, "I've seen what happens when you try to protect people!" which causes Jack to flinch. A lingering stare later, and Marilyn and Josh are taken back to CTU.

And now, to the torture. As Jack begins to interrogate Graem, Graem says he just panicked and was trying to cover his ass. Jack presses him on the location of McCarthy but Graem won't budge. Jack torture buddy heads out to a van to get the "interrogation package" AKA the Silver Briefcase of Pain.

As they get set up, Milo takes Chloe aside and tells her that Morris' brother was taken to hospital with severe radiation poisoning. Chloe wants to tell Morris but Milo tries to talk her out of it. They need the data in that image and Morris is working on it. But Chloe prevails and tells Morris about his brother. He freaks a little and starts to leave for the hospital. But Chloe convinces him to stay and do his job.

At Graem's, Jack learns about the intercepted call to Fayed. And thus begins the scary torture. Jack orders his assistant to inject 2cc's of a neural pain-inducing drug I didn't catch the name of. Graem screams in pain and Jack is nearly about to lose it himself. Hearing his brother's screams is having a bad effect on him. Is he reliving his own torture in China? Does having to inflict pain on his own brother push Jack over the edge? Very nearly. As Jack orders another 2cc's he holds Graem, almost hugging him, trying to absorb some of the pain himself while screaming at him to tell him what he wants to know. Graem continues screaming and not talking. Jack orders another 4cc's which is the limit.

Graem caves and blurts out that what he's holding back has nothing to do with the nukes. He confesses that he was the one who ordered David Palmer's assassination. He ordered the deaths of Tony and Michelle. He lured Jack out of hiding to take the fall for Palmer's death. He orchestrated the whole. damn. thing.

Stunned, Jack back away, tears in his eyes.

"Why?" he asks softly.

"Because I love my country!" screams Graem. He says that in th real worl sometimes you have to do bad things, unspeakable things. And Jack ought to know this.

"We're the same!" he screams at him. This sets Jack off and he whips out his gun and screams, "WE ARE NOT THE SAME!" at Graem. He shouts at his assistant to shoot him up with more pain, but the assistant can't do it. He calls for backup and we have a standoff between Jack on the field agents as Jack struggles to regain control of himself.

Jack's father steps into the doorway and his presence has a calming effect on Jack and he holsters his weapon.

And after that intenseness, we're shown a hospital room where Walid is recovering. He is ashamed for spying on those men. Sandra receives a call from Wayne and she breaks down about how scared she is and how frightening it was in the detention center as these men's rights were stripped She tells Wayne that he is detaining the men whose help they need the most.

After this call, Wayne heads off to his briefing with the cabinet.

At CTU, Morris downloads works on the image which is nearly done and Jack fills Bill in on what happened with Graem. He is also dumbfounded at the revelations. He sends a chopper for Jack and as he waits, he goes to have a quiet moment with his father.

Phillip tells Jack he deserved a better family. All that time they lost... What he wouldn't give to have some of it back. "Me too." says Jack. (Why? Why did they lose all that time? Grrr Argh!)

Jack leaves the house to head back to CTU.

Meanwhile, Morris sets his program to finish working on the image and then gets the go ahead to leave to see his brother.

In Washington, the cabinet meets. The Vice-President listens in from Air Force-One. Interestingly, the Veep sides with Tom on his stupid agenda. Palmer begins to talk about how he rejected Tom's plan earlier in the day. He says after the bomb,he is forced to revisit it... and that he's still convinced it's the wrong way to go. Hindering law enforcement, restricting rights, radicalizing American Muslims because of the restrictions... Nope it's all bad. ANd he refuses any discussion on the matter.

Back at CTU, the image comes in... The engineer Fayed is getting... is Morris. The sick brother was a ruse. They get him on his cell, but too late. McCarthy bags him.

Speaking of ruses...

Phillip Bauer walks in o speak to Graem. Ostensibly to say how disappointed in him he is etc. As the field agent leaves, Graem ask, "How am I doing?"

Oh shit.

Graem was covering for Phillip. He confessed to the Palmer assassination as a ruse to hide Phillip's involvement in... whatever they're involved with. The Company lives on, he says... Graem tells his father he'd never betray him and that he'll hold his mud. Phillip believes him, but that what's coming will be too much. So he injects something into Graem's IV, and suffocates his own son. He then calls out to the agents that his son had a seizure. And then he plays grieving dad as they try to revive Graem.

Tick boom.

And so ends another great hour of telly. I'm still buzzing over the torture scene. Very intense.

Don't forget, next week we get two hours of 24, so w00t! :)

Calling all Canadian Fans

2007-02-01T10:33:00.000-06:00

EDIT - Ok I've been told the appearance by James Cromwell on "The Hour" will be happening TONIGHT (February 1st) at 11pm. Read on for a video link to the interview after it airs tonight.

Just got a heads up from a producer for the CBC show, "The Hour" and tonight George Stroumboulopoulos will be interviewing James Cromwell - who plays Jack's estranged father. The host of the show is a big 24 fan so I'm told that they'll be talking about the show :)

Click here to watch the interview after it airs tonight. Any of my Canadian readers can catch the interview tonight on The Hour on CBC Television at 11pm.

Spiffy!

If you're looking for my recap, keep scrolling down.

"Call me when it's done." 11am-12pm

2007-01-29T21:31:00.000-06:00

Tonight's episode was full of backstabby goodness. Lots of knives going in quite a few backs. It was cool.

First knife was thrown in the beginning with Tom Lennox and Karen at each other's throats about his agenda and her unwillingness to let him move forward with it. As she leaves, he turns to his toady (played by Chad Lowe) and says she's gone from annoyance to obstacle and something needs to be done. Toady has no problem with this and gets right on it.

At CTU we learn that a ripple effect is going on with Lennox's agenda when Bill learns he has to start with the racial profiling on any muslims working for him - this includes one of his best techies, Nadia. This means her hands are tied getting through security measures and she's unable to complete her work quickly which slows everyone down.

Moving on to Jack, he rips the bag off Gray's head and gets with the interrogating. Gray is crying like a man-bitch. After some more menacing Jack growls he reveals that Jack's father disappeared the day before to clean up Gray's mess with a guy named McCarthy. Apparently McCarthy was hired by his company to bring those nukes into the country for decommissioning and recycling into energy projects. But McCarthy turned out to be dodgy and brokered the deal that got the nukes to Fayed.

A quick glance into a sportscar shows us that the British bloke still can't find an engineer for Fayed.

Moving on to Walid, he's now wired and mingling with the other detainees. He's got their trust and they're talking. The FBI find out one of the detainees has a cell and they need to get it to listen in to any calls he makes. Walid then has to pickpocket it, make a call to CTU (Might be the same number as last time 24 used a real phone number :) I called it and got the full mailbox for "Nextel's 24" :) It's 310-597-3781 by the way :)

Back at the White House, Lennox chucks his own knife and confronts Karen and tells her he'll be expecting her resignation within the hour or he'll make things very uncomfortable for Buchanan. He's got a bit of a skeleton (manufactured it more like) and will use it to get rid of her. He really is a son of a bitch.

So Karen does the only thing she can do. Tender her resignation to Palmer. He refuses it though, like a good boy. But she's insistent. She tells him how proud she is to serve under him and tells him he is his own best counsel. I think it was a bid to get him to realize Tom's a dick. She asks to be reassigned to CTU L.A.

As she leaves Palmer's office she runs into Tom's toady and he works out she resigned. He calls Tom and tells him she's gone. Tom's a dick.

After Walid does his bit getting CTU access to the phone, Chloe discovers that the guys the FBI are tracking aren't terrorists so much as spectators watching the goings-on of the day via some special website. They've been using the phone to access the site. The whole thing is a bust but before they can pull Walid out, they discover he nicked the phone and riot-larity ensues. he gets a good beating but seems to be ok.

Going back to Jack, he leads Gray into McCarthy's office and checks his comp. He says 10 mins after the bomb went off McCarthy started deleting files. He and Gray hear a noise. Jack checks it out after cuffing Gray to something. He gets jumped but his dad interrupts and stops his guys from shooting Jack. Wow. Jack's daddy's tall. He gets his bodyguard to go get Gray and bring him into the room.

Jack's dad tries to convince Jack to let him clean up Gray's mess, but just when Gray tells Jack family's all that matters, "Just ask Terry." Jack goes a little nuts and is about to pummel Gray when Gray turns the tables (last knife of the evening.) The bodyguards hit Jack and Graham becomes Calm-cool-collected guy and turns it around on him. He orders the guards to cuff his father and Jack as they both look on stunned. Graham says he's glad they can all finally lay their cards on the table.

They lead Jack and Dad outside where they find the teams CTU sent to watch exits all dead. Graham says Jack forced his hand and has his flunkies put Jack and Dad in a van. He tells his guys to "Call me when it's done." and he drives off. Jack and Dad are cuffed and chained together and man, Graham is a dick too.

Great epi tonight. I noticed in some of the comments that there are worries of some sharks a-circling, ready for a death defying leap over them, but I'm withholding judgement until I get more backstory.

Bombshell - 10am - 11am

2007-01-22T21:00:00.000-06:00

This episode was all about the bombshells man.

I like that they can film a show that basically is just going to be about advancing the story and give us some exposition and yet still drop a shocker on us like they did tonight.

So let's get into it.

There's a lot of panic on the streets of L.A. in the aftermath of the bomb. The mushroom cloud can be seen all over the area and people are freaked. There's a lot of shock for everyone from people on the streets to Palmer in the White House. And then the gears start to shift and everyone in authority begins to step up and deal.

We run into Fayed who obviously escaped the warehouse before the explosion and he's rabbiting with the remaining 4 nukes and looking for a new engineer to build detonators for them. His last engineer was las seen leaving bits of himself all over Valencia.

He contacts the guy who found the first engineer and talks him into finding another one even though the guy's trying to get the hell out of Dodge. The guys starts calling favours.

As Fayed's van passes a downed helicopter on the roof of a building that was hit by a blast wave, we cut to Jack who's actually nearby looking at the mushroom cloud in pure shock. He's stunned but spurred back to reality by a bloodied man asking him to help with the passenger in the helicopter. Because Jack rocks, he helps the passenger out before the chopper falls and explodes. I think this was the final straw for him because he calls CTU and tells Buchanan he's back in it. Hurray!

Meanwhile CTU is looking for any possible connection to Fayed it can find. Assad arrives at CTU to give his information and is greeted coldly by Buchanan. Remember, Assad was known to us as a brutal terrorist for two decades. Trust is going to be an issue. However, he passes on some good intel in the form of a name of a Russian general named Gradenko (Are you safe, Miss Gradenko? - sorry, Police moment) that Fayed was to have contacted about the nukes.

Morris pulls up a lit of business people who have had contact with Gradenko and everyone is rather stunned to discover one of those names is Phillip Bauer - Jack's father.

Jack's pretty stunned himself. We learn that Jack has not had contact with his dad for around 9 years. He tells Buchanan that he should be the one to approach his father anyway about Gradenko and gets his number. He calls his dad's house and let me just say, Jack comes from money methinks. Sam the butler answers and Jack recognizes him. But Sam says Jack's father hasn't been seen for over a day or so. Jack asks if his brother might know where his dad is and gets a number for him.

Before Jack calls his brother, we cut to him as he tried to assure someone (was it the british guy looking for a new engineer he was talking to? Memory has failed me) of something and I apologise for my faulty memory. Someone fill in the blank here in the comments? Was he talking to Sam the butler? Anyway I think I was too shocked to find out Graham is Jack's freaking brother.

You remember Graham right? Last seen manipulating President Logan and generally being an obnoxious git?

Well Jack calls Graham and tried to find out where their dad is. Graham doesn't know and is just a little too glib towards Jack for my taste. I think Jack grasped that as well because he called CTU and had Chloe look up Graham's address. Gonna pay him a little visit.

As Graham arrive at his home and greets his hot wife and cutie son and reassures them they are safe, he tells his wife, Marilyn, that he talked to Jack. Here's where we get a vibe - Marilyn had a thing for Jack at some point. And Graham didn't like it.

In the periphery, we cut back to the school detention center area and find that the FBI wants to wire Walid to try and get more info out of the guys who are talking about the suitcase nukes (they used the code word 'visitors' last week which is what tipped CTU off about there being more nukes.) Walid goes along with it and begins to gain their trust. Sandra Palmer is upset that they are using Walid like this and is obviously worried for him should he be discovered.

At the White House, Palmer and staff are shifted to a bunker and Palmer prepares to give a speech to the nation. Palmer is scared but remaining strong. Tom Lennox is still acting the prick and trying to get his plan to create more detention centers up and running to move forward.

Jack arrives and his brother's house, surprising him. After a very awkward "reunion" with the wife and kid, Jack and Graham go in his study. Graham postures a little, trying to play it nonchalantly but Jack's not having it. He punches him, down he goes and Jack ties him up with a lamp chord and proceeds to ask him where their dad is. Graham continues to tell him he doesn't know.

Jack is not pleased with this answer. He goes behind Graham and we hear some rustling. Then jack moves behind Graham and says, "You brought this on yourself." in that steady, calm voice we all know and love - and then he puts a bag over Graham's head and proceeds to suffocate him. Our last shot is of Graham, in open-mouthed horror grasping for breath.

Solid hour tonight. Good bombshels and this is totally why I avoid spoilers. I just love those moments when a show makes you gasp out loud at something you didn't know was coming. I just don't get how anyone can get enough enjoyment out of it when they know what's coming. But - that's just me. I know everyone enjoys it in their own way :) Me, I like being surprised.

Til next time!

Jack and Jean

2007-01-22T09:14:00.000-06:00

I got to write a column for my newspaper this week on 24 (Unfortunately, registration is needed to view it. Sucks I know because I'm the one who has to deal with people complaining about having to register to read my paper. I love my job. I love my job.) I think I prefer blogging about it to be honest. I don't have to worry about column inches, I can use smilies (I am a smiley whore), and I can gush and act like a fangirl if I want. Lucky you eh?

Anyway, the article is there if anyone cares enough to put in humourous fake info. Wonder how many Jack Bauers I can get to register :D

...

And this is pretty cool. Wish I still lived near Visalia - er well I take that back. I lived in Fresno and it sucked. Oh well. I've been sent some info about an appearance Jean Smart and Richard Gilliland are making in Visalia, CA in February and thought it would be cool to get some 24 fans there to support her:

Info from playbill.com:
"Husband-and-wife actors Richard Gilliland and Jean Smart will play one of the theatre's best-known un-married twosomes — Andrew Makepeace Ladd III and Melissa Gardner — in February at the historic Visalia Fox Theater in California.

Smart and Gilliland will star in A.R. Gurney's acclaimed Love Letters Feb. 10 and 11 at the California venue. Ted Weiant will direct the evenings, which will benefit the Visalia Fox Theater restoration fund. Producers are The Visalia Fox Theater in association with Keion Marshall.

Details: $200.00 a couple for dinner, the performance, and a meet and greet after the show to meet Jean and her husband.

The Visalia Fox Theatre is located at 308 W. Main Street in Visalia, CA. Tickets are available by calling (559) 625-1369. For more information, visit www.foxvisalia.org."

Thanks for the info Keion!

"I can't do this anymore." 8am - 10am

2007-01-15T21:01:00.000-06:00

I'm gutted. In all the time I've been watching this show I've been enthralled by Jack's journey. That's what keeps me into this show. Sure the action is great. Lots of things blow up, good shootouts, but I'm a girl. I like the raw emotion on this show best of all.

But in all this time I don't think I've ever cried. I've been moved. I've been excited and scared, happy and shocked - but no tears. Until tonight. And I'm a softie. I'm the one at the movies sniffeling and searching for kleenex.

But when I watched the look on Curtis' face tonight, when I saw what it did to Jack, I lost it. Like a girl, I cried. Feel free to mock me, don't care :) but damn that was some fine television tonight.

So on with the recap!

In the 8am-9am hour we had a lot to get through. I think it was an exposition epi. So, Right off the bat, Fayed demands Palmer release 110 "freedom fighters" from Palmdale detention facility in exchange for a cease fire. But there's an ulterior motive we'll discover soon.

Jack and Assad continue to track Bomber handler. He's getting on Route 7 and they can't follow without being spotted. Chloe can't get satellite up in time so jack, thinking quickly, steals an suv, crashes into bomber handler's car and acts like crazy white racist guy so that Assad can step in and offer a lift to bomber handler to his destination.

Back in Suburbia, Ahmed brings Scott back to his home at gunpoint and forces the mother to bandage a wounded leg. He's bleeding too much so he holds Scott and mom at gunpoint and forces the father to deliver Fayed's package.

Cut back to Jack who is back in contact with CTU as he follows Assad. You know, the whole car crash thing was pretty damn slick.

In D.C., Palmer orders the prisoners to be loaded onto buses against Karen's recommendation. There's no time to dither over whether we should bow to terroristic demands. The buses will take the prisoners to a large transport plane where they will be flown out of the country. Fayed monitors the transfer.

Assad is still riding with the bomber handler.

Jack's awful perky for someone in such bad shape 2 hours ago. Must be adrenaline.

Curtis has "issues" with Assad. As he and Jack talk during the ride, Curtis is visibly angered that he has to work with Assad. Jack is suspicious.

Back in Suburbia again, Scott is told to get more painkillers for Ahmed. He slips a knife in his hand while Ahmed is cringing in pain but when he gives the painkillers to him, he's unable to bring himself to use it.

In the Oval Office, Palmer finds out his sis was arrested. He's irked but distracted by the larger issues at hand.

I get an alert that Shorty Greasy Spot-spot won the golden globe instead of Kiefer. Boo hiss.

Palmer's sister and her bf Walid Al-Rezani (head of the IIA) are taken to a detention facility that looks weirdly like an elementary school I went to in SoCal and I had an awful flashback of this horrid little boy who hit me in the mouth with a bicycle pump because I beat him to the drinking fountain, the slow little monkey. Palmer releases his sister but Walid must stay and he gets pulled aside to be interrogated. Sandra is pissed.

Oh I love Chloe so much. Smartassiness in full effect with Nadia as they work on tracking Assad after he lets the guy out at a storage facility. Curtis and Jack meet up with Assad. Curtis has Assad arrested. Jack promises to "take care of it." Assad goes peacefully.

Bomber enters one of the storage areas and takes out a laptop. CTU orders him to be taken in. Suspect spots CTU approaching and blows himself up.

Palmer orders prisoners loaded onto a plane.

Back we go to Scott's father, Ray delivers the package which turns out to be money. The guy who takes the package says it's not enough money which panics the dad. He calls Ahmed to tell him the sitch but Ahmed tells him to do what he has to do. So, you know, dad goes bonkers and beats up the guy by pounding his head into the cement floor until dead. He takes the package Ahmed was supposed to bring to Fayed, which is a device of some kind.

Chloe is able to pull off some stuff off bomber handler's blown up laptop which points to a nuclear weapon (Jack please stop saying 'noo-cue-ler'. It bugs me.) A weapon that can be activated by.. wait for it... one of the prisoners Palmer has just released. The bombings were all an elaborate scheme to get this bloke released.

They try to get to him before the plane full of prisoners takes off, but sneaky boy never left the transport bus. The guard was corrupt and working for Fayed.

Tick boom.

9am - 10pm

This hour's gonna be hard :(

Capturing Namir, the escaped prisoner becomes CTU's #1 priority. Once he gets to Fayed he'll be able to activate some old Soviet suitcase nukes. Thousands can die - hundreds of thousands depending on radiation according to the estimates.

Back at CTU, Morris and Milo can't play nice together for some reason. But it's kind of funny to watch their little pissing match. Adds a bit of levity which gets better in just a little bit.

Palmer makes Jack in charge of the search for Fayed despite Jack's protest that he doesn't think he's up for it. Wayne presses him and gets him to agree. Curtis is still rankling at having to work with Assad and Jack thinks there's a history there so he asks Chloe to look into it on the sly. Jack's hand looks gross. I wonder what was done to it.

Escaped prisoner Namir meets up with Fayed and awaits the device that Scott's father is bringing.

But Scott's father calls Ahmed and tells him he will not deliver the package until he lets his family go. Ahmed says he will release one and to choose. Scott's father chooses Scott so Ahmed releases his wife. Pretty slick actually. Despite Scott's father's protest, he tells him that he just showed Ahmed who he values the most. So he will keep a hold on him. The wife gets out and calls her husband. He tells her he will deliver the package and they will have to hope Ahmed won't kill Scott. He tells her not to call the cops. But she does. Of course.

Chloe's a ho. :) The pissing contest between Milo and Morris is because she dated Milo before she got back with Morris and Morris was jealous. Tee hee.

Scott's mom got connected to Jack. Lucky girl. CTU tells Jack to follow up the lead because the mother knew Fayed's name so it seems credible.

Palmer gives immunity to Assad. Curtis is not happy about it.

Palmer's sister calls to speak to Wayne but gets Weasly Tom. She threatens him about Walid's arrest. Checking in with Walid, he ends up in a courtyard with other detainees and overhears a convo in arabic between two others in the courtyard. He recognizes the phrase but isn't sure what it means. Later, he is able to meet with Sandra and he tells her to pass on the phrase.

Ray delivers the package to Fayed and Fayed keeps Ray as a hostage. He tells Ahmed to leave the Wallace house and kill the boy. Bummer. Namir begins attaching the device to the suitcase nuke.

Jack arrives in Suburbia and rescues Scott just before Ahmed is about to shoot him in the head. Ahmed is shot in the ensuing shootout but it's ok, Scott (Isn't he the kid who played Jack's son on Will & Grace?) remembered the address in Valencia Ahmed sent his father to and Jack calls it in.

Jack and Curtis talk about the deal Assad made with the President that gives him total immunity for all his past crimes. Curtis is stoic about it but you can tell he's pissed. It's then that Chloe calls Jack. Curtis and Assad do indeed have a connex. Curtis' squad in Desert Storm was ambushed by Assad's men. Assad left Curtis for dead and executed two members of his squad in a brutal way, after making them beg for their lives.

When Jack discovers this info he looks around and sees Curtis is nowhere to be found. He runs outside and finds Curtis has grabbed Assad and has him by the throat. He's threatening him. Jack pulls his weapon on Curtis and tries his best to defuse the situation. But Curtis is blinded by rage. He gets behind Assad and holds the gun to his head. he yells at Jack that he can't let Assad get away with it. Just when you think Curtis might see that he can't do this, he steels himself to pull the trigger anyway.

But Jack is faster.

Jack is forced to shoot Curtis in the neck.

God. It was awful. Awful. I don't have the words to convey the shock I felt at this moment. The look on Curtis face as he slowly sank to the ground and died is burned into my mind. And I cried. And I continued to cry as I watched Jack react to what he'd just done. He broke. He broke down. He threw up. He dropped to his knees and sobbed. It was excruciating. It was amazing.

Then Jack's phone rang. Buchanan calling to comfort Jack and try to make sure he continues his work. "I can't do this any more." Says a tired, emotionally drained Jack. Bill says he's sending a car. But Jack's done. He hangs up and loses it again.

Cutting to Fayed's location, CTU has a team infiltrating the area to try and stop them. As they break into the area, Namir hurriedly finishes assembling the device. The president and CTU follow the progress of the takedown live. They watch in abject horror as Namir manages, amid the gunplay, to flip the switch that detonates the nuke.

Blinding light interrupts Jack's misery and he stares in horror as a mushroom cloud forms in Valencia. CTU and the everyone in the Oval Office are dumbfounded as they watch the aftermath of the bomb. Palmer tells Karen to mobilize everyone who needs mobilizing but she's shocked.

And that's the end.

I'm still in a bit of shock myself. And drained. To bed I go. G'night all. See you next week!

...

2007-01-15T20:42:00.000-06:00

Recap up soon. Shocked. Shocked shocked shocked. Crying. Poor Jack. Poor Curtis. The look on his face... Ugh.

Sorry, upset.

"I don't know how to do this anymore." 6am-8am

2007-01-14T21:08:00.000-06:00

And THAT, my friends, is how you premiere a new season. God how I've missed the nail-biting and cringing. How I've missed that damn CTU ringtone. My daughter was making fun of me quite a bit so I'm glad I could amuse her with my shouts of abuse and exasperation as YET AGAIN no one trusts Jack. What does the man have to freaking do to get some trust around here? Sheesh!

Anyway, my heart's still pounding. I guess we all asked the question during this journey with Jack - Just how much can one man take. I think this year we're about to find out.

So here we go with the first hour:

There was a lot to take in relatively quickly of course so here's what we find out right away: For the past 11 weeks there have been terrorist attacks on US soil. Wayne Palmer is now the President (What? This isn't a monarchy! Says my sister when she found that out.) Milo is back and seems to be somewhat of an asshole which is a shame. Wonder what happaned to his earrings. Morris is now working at CTU (Chloe's ex-hubby, now they're back together and he seems to be quite randy which I think is nice.)

Wayne and Karen were actually in the Oval Office in DC. Multiple locations this year. Woot :)

Buchanan and Curtis are at an airport in L.A. because Wayne negotiated with the Chinese for Jack's return. The person they believe is responsible for these attacks is a man named Assad. The only way they can take out Assad is by working with another man named Fayed who contacted them and told them he would give them Assad's location in exchange for Jack.

Back in 1999, Jack captured and tortured this guy Fayed's brother. He was killed by Jack and now Fayed wants some payback.

And so Jack is led off the plane. He looks shaky, almost scared. Hand is scarred. Beardy Jack is just... wrong. We learn now that Jack never broke his silence in China. In fact, Jack hasn't spoken a single word in two years. His first word in the hangar: "Audrey?" then, "My daughter?" - Bill tells him they don't know he's out. Jack asks Bill to keep it that way. He is then filled in on the details. He is then told that he's being asked to sacrifice himself. Jack takes the news stoically. he's then led to an area to change his clothes and it's here that we see the extent of the damage done to Jack in the 20 months he's been imprisoned. There are scars all over his body. Whip marks. Knife scars (Did anyone else notice the absence of Kiefer's arm tats here?) and his poor hand... it looks like it's been stuck in a vat of acid. *shudder*

After Jack cleans himself up, he's taken to drop point immediately. As Bill cuffs him to a grate to wait for Fayed, they have a small amount of time for a sort of heart to heart. Bill obviously feels awful about what Jack is being asked to do. Jack tells Bill that the only thing that kept him alive in China is he didn't want to die for nothing. Jack says that by doing this - going along with the exchange, he can die for something, "My way."

Back in DC, the first snivelly dude of the season is Tom, Palmer's Security advisor maybe? Don't like him. He's too gung ho and tries to second guess the President on setting up detention facilities in several major cities. Palmer did not give the OK for that.

In another part of L.A., tensions are running high because of the attacks and a family watches as a muslim man is arrested by the FBI - the Muslim guy's son, Ahmed, was left behind and nearly beaten by ignorant neighbour. But another neighbour goes over after his son, Scott, sort of shames him into it. He stops the fight and invites Ahmed to his home for safety. Apparently this was a bad idea.

Ahmed is actually working with Fayed who is the Actual Mastermind behind attacks. But Fayed just wanted to get to Jack and torture the poor boy. While Fayed is ramming things into Jack, he tells him (like every stupid evil guy who ever existed) that he's the Big Bad (Sorry, Buffy fan here), not the Assad guy the government is after.

Assad was actually trying to stop Fayed. So when Fayed calls CTU to give them the location of Assad, Jack overhears and memorizes the location. Then the Ahmed kid calls Fayed to tell him that FBI took his daddy away. While he's taking the call out of the room, Jack vampires the lackey (Anyone else flashback to Lost Boys? Just me then?) guarding him and got away. Yay!!!

And so we end with Jack hiding in a drain-type area while Fayed discovers the escape and heads off int he wrong direction. This is after we learn that the Ahmed kid is supposed to deliver a package to him. Back at CTU, Chloe cries in Morris' arms because she thinks Jack is dead.

Tick boom baby. The hour went so quickly! I, for one, was just shocked at Jack's condition. Amazed but not surprised that he never cracked, but surely he can't be far off from the edge now. We start to see some cracks in the next hour...

7am-8am:

So Jack escaped, found the nearest pimpmobile and contacted CTU with the info about Fayed. They didn't believe him. of course they didn't believe him. Why should they trust the word of the man who sacrificed himself WITHOUT QUESTION after enduring 20 months of abuse and torture at the hands of the Chinese. He was put through to Wayne who also decided not to trust Jack's advice under pressure from Karen and weaselboy NSA guy, Tom. He refuses to stop the airstrike against Assad.

Jack, exasperated, puts in the memorized coordinates and gets to the safehouse first and convinces Assad, in that special way has of convincing people, to get the hell out of dodge. He and Assad escape with the mole who betrayed Assad just before the safehouse is blown up.

They break into a house to hide from the agents looking for Assad (after they realized he wasn't all blown up.) Jack and Assad believe that the mole has info on how to locate Assad so Jack tries to torture the lackey. He stabs him in the shoulder area and stares hard into the man's eyes. He demands to know where Fayed is. He thinks the lackey has told them everything and stops. "I can see it in his eyes."

But Assad grabs a knife, jams it into the guys' knee and gets more info. Jack is visibly shaken. He's gun shy. He's endured so much. Assad kills Lackey and tells Jack they need to get going. Jack says in an unsteady voice, "I don't know how to do this anymore." Assad says "You'll remember." Jack looks like he doesn't want to remember.

I think Jack's going to have a death wish this season. We may have crossed Jack's breaking point. Maybe. Jury's still out.

A new face appears - Sandra Palmer - Wayne's sis. Laywer for Islamic Alliance thingie. FBI keeps trying to gain access to their personnel records, but she fights it. They come back with a warrant and she deletes their files. FBI arrests her and her bf, the head of the alliance. I'm not sure where this plot is going but it will be interesting to watch I think. Maybe it was more to demonstrate the further loss of our rights because of fear and that's all the further it goes. We'll see.

Meanwhile, Ahmed returns to his home to retrieve Fayed's package. As he's getting it, ignorant neighbour comes over to beat him up. Ahmed shoots him. Neighbour's son, Scott comes to help him with the ignorant, now dead, neighbour and finds the body. Ahmed tells Scott not to call 911. We leave this storyline for tonight to catch up with Jack and Assad.

They are scoping out the location given to them by the lackey. Assad soon spots a suicide bomber and his handler making their way onto the subway. They follow. Assad is all for following the handler back to Fayed but of course Jack cannot allow the bomber to carry out his attack. So Assad and Jack split up - Jack follows the bomber, Assad follows the handler.

They board the train and Jack slowly makes his way toward the bomber. He tries to remain casual but is stopped by a ticket taker (They scan tickets on the subway? All I could think of was the, "No ticket" scene from Indiana Jones.) He tells the ticket guy what's going on and asks him to please act normal.

Of course, he doesn't and gives the game away by being all twitchy. Before the bomber can press the detonator button, Jack attacks. They fight, passengers scream, and just before the guy can press the button, Jack does a nifty jump-up-grab-a-bar-and-kicks the bomber out the back door. The bomb goes off but the train is left in tact and Jack... Jack saves lives again.

We leave tonight's premiere with the very lovely "I told you so" moment when a call is intercepted from the bomber's handler to Fayed and everyone from Palmer down to CTU discovers that Jack was frikkin right all along. I might have actually yelled, 'Ha!' at the TV.

And so I will go to bed in a little while. I need to wait for the adrenaline rush to die down a bit. Way to go guys, this season is off to a brilliant start. What'd you guys think?

Today's the day!

2007-01-14T08:51:00.000-06:00

I'm so excited I could just spit.

Check back here at some point after the show tonight (or, you know, tomorrow. Whatever suits you :) ) and I'll be back to recapping :) Leave me lots of comments and you'll make me a happy camper.

See you later!!

Mini Jack

2007-01-12T22:04:00.000-06:00

Jack's a doll.

This would be so fun to have on my desk at work :)

Diary of a madly addicted 24 fan

2007-01-11T08:27:00.000-06:00

I was poking around in my stats, because I am a stats whore, and found a referral link to 24fans.com. My link there says, "US Blog, no longer a place for spoilers. More of a diary of a madly addicted 24 fan." Not really sure how to take that.

I guess that's ok. Makes me sound kind of sad tho eh? What kind of person starts up a blog for a TV show if they aren't "madly addicted?" I'll tell you who - one who loves a show but can't find anyone else she knows IRL to discuss it with.

Admittedly, when I started this place up a few years ago, 'madly addicted' was totally accurate :) Could not get enough of it. Three years on some of that enthusiasm has waned a fraction of a bit. But not enough to make me give up the site or Tivo the show instead of enjoying that delicious sense of anticipation waiting for the premiere.

So I'm going to take 24fans.com's description of my site as a compliment. 24 is a show worthy of mad addiction. I do dispute the spoiler comment though. I never have done spoilers except for *after* a show aired in the states. Anyone who stops by here regularly knows that I'm the one who jams her fingers in her ears and goes, "La la la la la" until a spoilery ad on FOX is done. Hate spoilers. But the show is fair game once it airs.

But I've never been the place to go if you want to know what's going to happen next week. I don't have a network of moles infiltrating Jon Cassar's office or anything :)

Anyway, three days to go!!

Jimmy, Ricky, Kiefery...

2007-01-10T08:08:00.000-06:00

So who watched Larry King then? Did you suffer a bout of forgetfulness and miss it despite my perky reminder?

Fear not, if the clips don't end up on Youtube or Kiefer-Rocks.com, there is at least this transcript.

And Kiefer totally hits my nail on the head when he explains why he thinks "24" works so well - because it's the exact reason I became so enamoured of it:

SUTHERLAND: I also think at the heart of the show, the show really isn't about terrorism. The show is about the interaction of these people, from season one on down the line. I'll give you season one as an example. It wasn't as much about the threat as the relationship that was developed between Jack Bauer and the incumbent President Palmer. It was the relationship and the threat of the relationship between me and my wife and me and my daughter. It was the threat of those characters and what was the outcome going to be and the terrorism was the scenario that was created to create this heightened sense of reality. "24" was developed and written long before the terrible events of 9/11. So you have to understand from the writer's perspective, this was the one way that you could create this time format and create a situation that would be so dire, that it would require people to solve something like this over a 24-hour period of time.

There was a fantastic moment -- I believe it was season three or season four with Shohreh, who was a terrorist but she was also a mother. And I was more interested not in the fact that she was a terrorist, but she was caught in this terrible dilemma between what she felt responsible to her cause for and what she felt responsible to her son for. And so what I think the writers have done is they've used this as a phenomenal back drop to create this incredibly heightened tension between characters that are so well developed that an audience becomes attached to them.

So spot on. It's not merely an action-packed spy thriller show. Jack is a whole character, with flaws and all and we get to see his entire life, not just his 'save the world' side. It's why seeing Kim never bothered me as much as it does others. I liked seeing the tender sides of Jack as much as I love his Thighs of Death.

Anyway, enjoy the transcript :)

Please watch Kiefer and Cast on Larry King tonight

2007-01-09T09:15:00.000-06:00

Gosh I love the Internet. Somehow, my little blog here is getting a bit of notice. It's kind of perky :)

I got an email from an associate producer of the Larry King Live show asking if I'd like to promote the fact that Kiefer Sutherland and the cast of "24" will be appearing on his show tonight.

I gave it about 2 seconds of thought and then I think my answer was something like, "Yes-please-oh-please-let-me-be-your-Kiefer-pimping-bitch."

And so please, watch Kiefer Sutherland and the Cast of "24" on CNN's Larry King Live on Tuesday, January 9, 2007 at 9 p.m. EST. For more information, please visit www.cnn.com/larryking.

Sweet!!

The last week

2007-01-08T08:48:00.000-06:00

Well this is it: The final week before the Big Premiere. Are you excited? I see by my Google Alerts that the first four episodes have been leaked. That's no fun. I'm not going to seek them out myself. I rather enjoy the buildup and anticipation. I've waited 8 long months for my show to return, I think I can stick it out one more week.

So what's going to be going on here when the show starts up? Well it will be business as usual really. I'll recap as fast as I can every week. You'll forgive me if this Sunday and Monday it takes me a while. My little fingers will be bruised and battered from trying to cap 4 shows in 24 hours. I accept chocolate and marshmallows as compensation :)

So fellow 24 addicts, get ready. Gear up. Settle in. Jack will be back in one week :) Oooo and so will Chloe. I hope she's as quirky as ever.

When Fiction Meets Reality - Pt. 29

2007-01-06T16:28:00.000-06:00

With Chapelle now supporting him the way he was, Jack felt confident they would get to the end of this. He joined the team at Kendrick's room and found the place to have been cleared in a haste. Kendrick apparently hadn't made good time heading back there and for whatever reason, he had decided to make a quick sweep of the room, leaving clothes and bathroom items behind. Jack doubted they would find anything there, only DNA of Kendrick himself, even though the bathroom might contain more than just his. Jack had a feeling Melissa Phelps was closer to Kendrick than to Bonney whom she was married to. The bin by the table was of more interest to Jack though, as it contained several pieces of papers. He had a forensic team on the way so he didn't touch any of it, but from the looks of it, there were bills and notes. Hopefully they would contain something they could use to locate Kendrick.
When the forensic team got there, Jack had the assault team retreat and secure the perimeter.
He called the chopper in again to fly him back to CTU, instructing the pilot to set it down on the motel's yard. It got there twenty minutes later and Jack climbed in.
Chapelle was in the situation room with Nina and Jamey when he walked in and he joined them there.

"Anything new?" he asked as he pushed the door open.

"Yeah, we got some information from Heyes which enabled us to get into the computers at his apartment." Chapelle replied.
"Looks like they were going for a public kill."

"What do you mean?"

"At the Golden Globes."

"Do you think Kendrick will proceed as planned?"

"He might. He ditched his car ten minutes ago and we lost track of him."
It brought Jack up to speed on the most recent developments.
"I want this man found."

"Do you think we should put Mr. Sutherland in a safe house?" Jack asked.

"No, but I'll increase the security. With Tony down, you'll need someone else. I'll assign two teams to it, that way, there will be five of you with him at all times."

"Good. What else have we got?"

"Nothing from Phelps, she's keeping her lips sealed."

"Can I give it a try?"

"Sure, be my guest, she's still in 2."

"What about Bonney?"

"Didn't move him."

"His intel checked out, can I move him to holding?"

"Sure."

"Good."

Jack left the situation room and went back to the interrogation room, going in to see Bonney first. The man sat slumped in his chair, tired and a little out of things because of the pain medication he had been given and the sound of the door startled him. When he saw Jack, he panicked slightly, expecting something bad.
"Your information checked out William." Jack said quietly, "I'm going to have you moved to a cell so you can get some rest."

"How long do I have to stay here?"

"I don't know, that's up to the attorney to decide."

"And you did what you said you would if my information was correct?"

"Not yet, the attorney isn't available at night, but don't worry, everything will be in my report and I'll get in touch with him in the morning to make the changes."

"Thank you."

Jack left the room and instructed the guards to take Bonney to a holding cell, then he went into the next room.
Phelps still hadn't gotten any medical assistance and she was obviously in a lot of pain. She looked dead tired, her eyes bloodshot and teary. She looked up when the door opened and a shiver ran down her spine when she met Jack's eyes casting a cold and devastating look at her. He slowly closed the door and crossed the room where he stood squarely in front of her, his hands rested on the table, leaning across it.
"Your husband gave us Kendrick." Jack said calmly.
Her reaction was exactly what Jack had hoped for.
Disbelief.
How could her husband have given up the information?
"The Stardust Motel on Hilgard." Jack continued.
This time, her expression turned to shock.
"We've got teams on the way over, he'll be in custody before the night is over."
He left a blank, letting his words hang in the air for a moment.
"You can't do anything for him anymore, but you can help yourself."
"Your husband got a nice deal for himself, you can get something out of this too. If you cooperate with us, we can bring the charges against you down, I don't think you would like to go before a judge to explain yourself on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and attempted murder. Or would you?"

"No."

"Then tell me what I want to know."

"What do you want?"

"I want to know who's behind this. Is there anyone else involved beside Kendrick?"

"No, he came up with the idea."

"Do you have any idea why?"

"At first it started out as a joke, he just wanted to scare the guy, maybe get a public announcement out of it or something. But when nothing happened and Kiefer got a bodyguard and driver, John just lost it. He got obsessed with hurting him. In any way possible. He was thinking about poisoning the dog, but I talked him out of that. Then he said he'd go after his daughter to really scare him, but she was already under surveillance and he couldn't make his move."
She paused and met Jack's eyes.
"I never thought he'd actually hurt anybody, but then he sent Princeton after him."

"And Kiefer ended up in hospital with a concussion."

"I was really scared then."

"Why didn't you tell Kendrick you wanted out of it if he scared you?"

"I think he would've killed me."

"To keep you from talking?"

"Yes."

"What is your relation to Kendrick?"

"We're lovers." Phelps replied quietly.
She had been cheating on Bonney with Kendrick.

"Does your husband know?"

"I think he suspects it."

"Do you think Kendrick wanted to involve him so he had control over him? To keep him contained in case he found out about you two?"

"Maybe … I guess."

"Do you think Kendrick could've hurt your husband if he found out about it?"

Fresh tears welled up in her eyes.
"John said he'd kill him if he tried to stop me from seeing him."

"When was that?"

"Just a few days ago."

"Why do you try to protect the man who said he would kill your husband?"

"Because I love him." Phelps sobbed.

"Enough to put your future at stake?"

"No."

"Then I want you to help me put him away. If he's in jail, he can't touch you or your husband."

"I will."

"Good. I'll call a doctor to tend to your wound and give you a painkiller."

He left the room and went over to Chapelle who had been watching the interrogation.
"Looks like she's finally crumbling."

"Yeah, I told her we were about to nail Kendrick and she caved in."

"I saw that. That was a very clever approach."

"It usually works well and given the state she's in, I was hoping for it to have the desired effect."
"Will you handle the rest of it or should I send someone else in there?"

"No, I'll do it."
"Why don't you go home and get some rest."

"I still have reports to write."

"Not tonight you don't. Get some rest, your job isn't done yet."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes Jack, I've got this covered. If anything comes up, I'll let you know."
"Right now, you're dismissed."

"Yes sir."

Jack left Chapelle's office but instead of going home, he returned to Kiefer's place. He called ahead, letting the teams on site know he was on his way so nobody accidentally shot him if he let himself into the building. He was greeted by two agents at the top of the stairs, the rest of them were inside the apartment, scattered around the rooms. He dismissed all but two and checked on Kiefer before turning in for a short night. It was almost 4 already.

---------------------------

Thursday.

Jack woke to Molly's bark and he shot out of bed and out into the living room.
"Stand down."
His voice was raspy with sleep but the men responded to it nonetheless.

"What the hell is wrong with you people anyway?" Polly asked angrily.
"Every damn morning someone's pointing a gun at me over here. I'm gonna ask a fucking raise if you keep this up."

Jack was surprised by Polly's cursing, he hadn't thought of her as such a verbally expressive person.
"I'm sorry. I should've told these men about you."

"Yeah you should've," Polly replied, giving him a hard stare, "you prick."

"I'm not drinking any more of your coffee." Jack replied as he turned and went back to Sarah's room.
He met Kiefer in the hall and greeted him with a soft.
"Polly's a bit cranky this morning, beware of the coffee."

Kiefer nodded and went out into the living room, greeted the agents and went to the kitchen to talk to Polly.
She was a lot less wordy with him around and simply stated she was getting upset about the guns every morning.
"I'll make sure they know you are allowed to come in here." Kiefer promised.

A few minutes after Polly had left with Molly, Jack emerged from the back, freshly showered but still fighting sleep.
"So how did it go last night?" Kiefer asked.
He knew it didn't go all too well simply because the agents were still there.

"Kendrick got away." Jack said with a sigh.
"We got everybody else, but he got away. Bonney gave up his location, but by the time we got there, he was gone. We're doing everything we can to find him, but until we do, you'll have to put up with a lot more of us."

"How many more?"

"Two teams at all times, that's four agents plus me."

"What about Tony?"

"Tony got injured last night, he's in hospital."

"God, how bad is it?"

"He'll be okay, he got shot in the legs."

"You got hit too." Kiefer said, pointing at the bandages.

"Just a few cuts, nothing serious, I smashed through a window with my arm."

"It doesn't look like it's ‘just a few cuts'."

"I just showered and put the old bandages back on, that's why. I'll get it dressed properly later on."

"Why? I've got a first aid kit, I can do that."
Kiefer got up before Jack could say anything and he retrieved a first aid kit from a cupboard under the sink.
"Let me get that."
Jack refrained from any comments and let Kiefer cut away the dirty bandages he had wrapped around his arm again. Within minutes, the wounds had been cleaned and dressed again, including the ones on his neck.
"There, all patched up again." Kiefer said with a smile.

"Thanks." Jack chuckled.

"So? Now what?"

"We're looking for Kendrick, all we can do is hope for him to get spotted. We're not counting on him going dark, he might want to carry out his plans-"
He bit his tongue the moment he said that but it was too late, the words were out and Kiefer reacted at once.

"What are his plans?"
Jack met his eyes and he knew he wouldn't get away with it. He had to tell him the truth, Kiefer would see straight through him if he tried to lie to him.

"He wants to kill you at the Globes."

The silence that followed was loaded with nervous tension and he saw the emotions switching rapidly in Kiefer's eyes. He was scared and angry at the same time, nervous but determined not to let anyone dictate his life, afraid it might go wrong but confident Jack would be able to deal with Kendrick if he showed up at the Globes. And they still had 2 weeks to find Kendrick.
"I trust you to find him before then." Kiefer finally said after a long silence.

They didn't.

---------------

At the Golden Globes.

Kiefer was determined to attend and Jack had no other choice but to set up a security detail for the evening. Nina would accompany Kiefer, that way, they had someone close at all times, she would arrive with him and sit with him throughout the evening. Jack and 8 more agents would be roaming around the room, securing the perimeter, three would cover the backstage area and the access to the stage.

Jack and Nina rode with Kiefer in the limo. Nina wore a dark red gala dress and assorted purse along with medium high heels. She looked smashing in that dress and Jack couldn't keep his eyes off her on the way over to the gala. He knew she could kick a mean piece of ass, even on heels, he had seen her do it. Besides, she had a Sig Sauer Mosquito strapped to her thigh and she could draw it in a matter of seconds. She was lethal in more than one way.
And she appeared to have the same effect on Kiefer, who kept complimenting her along the way.
Kiefer wore a simple black tuxedo, a crispy white shirt and a dotted tie, Jack wore a similar outfit, only of cheaper quality and with a jacket wide enough to hide his shoulder holster.
None of them wore flak, Kiefer had refused because it would be impossible to hide under his tuxedo and he didn't want to look like an idiot on national television. Jack wasn't wearing one for some of the same reasons, although he couldn't care less about what he looked like on TV. Even though he knew both Teri and Kim were watching the awards. Kim had been thrilled when he had told her he would be at the Golden Globes and she was about to find out who the heck he had been protecting for so long.
Finally, the ear buds both he and Nina wore, remained totally invisible.

When they arrived at the site, Jack got out first, holding the door for Kiefer and Nina. She took his arm as he offered it and stayed right beside him with Jack two steps ahead. The area had been scanned thoroughly and Kendrick had not been spotted in the crowd. It didn't mean everything was safe, he could have hired someone else. For once, Kiefer stayed away from the fans and never stopped on the way to the main entrance. They reached it without any problems.
If Kendrick showed up, he would be inside.
They took their seats and Jack checked in with his team already on site. The area was clear. Kendrick hadn't been seen.
The evening went by without incidents, but when Kiefer came up as a nominee, the tension rose in the agents on site. This was the moment of weakness. If Kiefer won the award, he would get on stage to accept it, at what point he would be alone, unprotected. And all the cameras would be on him, so it would be the perfect time for Kendrick to strike.

Jack moved closer to the stage, scanning the faces around him. If Kendrick had hired someone, it could be anybody. They could get to him before he reached the stage or when he was on it, anything could happen and it put his senses on high alert.

"And the winner is …"
The woman left a blank, Jack looked up at her, he couldn't remember her name, but he wished she'd get on with it already. Every fibre in his body told him this was the moment of truth and he cursed her for her melodramatic pause.
"Kiefer Sutherland."

The crowd cheered and a spotlight came on, finding Kiefer at his table. Both he and Nina got up and Nina gave him a big congratulatory hug, whispering a quick ‘don't draw it out' into his ear, meaning for him to get on and off stage as quickly as possible. He returned the hug, giving her a genuine squeeze and he whispered his ‘I won't' back. He moved away from the table with the spotlight on him all the way to the stage. This was making it even easier to shoot him, they were literally highlighting the target. Jack saw Nina following as close behind him as she dared without drawing too much attention, she wasn't supposed to be there with him. People stopped him a few times to congratulate him and Kiefer couldn't ignore them. He shook hands and accepted pats on the back, giving a few hugs along the way as well, but only to people he knew well and knew wouldn't be a danger to him.

He reached the stage and climbed the stairs on the right side, nearest to where Jack stood.
But as Kiefer made his way to the centre, Jack's ear bud nearly exploded when one of the agents yelled a warning.
Kendrick was leaping up the stairs on the opposite end of the stage, weapon in hand.

"Gun!" Jack bellowed as he leapt onto the stage.

Screams filled the air and people scattered at the first sign of danger.
The two presenters froze on the spot and gawked at the armed man running towards Kiefer who had stopped dead in his tracks. He had his eyes locked on Kendrick, seemingly unafraid of the weapon in the man's hand, but his heart pounded furiously in his chest and his mouth was dry. Kendrick's arm levelled and Kiefer saw the man's finger curl around the trigger.
The burst of automatic fire sounded incredibly loud and Kiefer was flung backwards. He hit the ground hard knocking his head on the wooden boards. There was no pain though and he wondered why he didn't feel anything. Kendrick could not have missed and the weapon had spat out at least 4 bullets.
He couldn't move though but then he realized he was pinned under Jack's weight.
He had thrown himself between Kiefer and Kendrick, taking the bullets instead of Kiefer.

Jack had reached him the moment Kendrick pulled the trigger, his weapon was on semi-automatic and it spewed a short burst of bullets, meant to take the target down in a quick and swift way. All four bullets struck home and the impact threw him forward, slamming into Kiefer who went down hard. Jack knew he was badly hit but he also knew Kiefer was all right, he was moving.
Jack clenched his teeth and pushed up, he had to take Kendrick out before he reached them and put a bullet through Kiefer's skull. With a grunt, he pushed off Kiefer and rolled, bringing his gun around on Kendrick while raising himself on a knee.
"Drop it Kendrick!" Jack warned.
The panic in the audience was keeping the agents from reaching the stage or even taking Kendrick out and Jack realized he was on his own until his back-up managed to break through the crowd of hysterically screaming civilians.
Kendrick was staring back at him, glaring because his attempt had been foiled and he brought his weapon around on Jack. Jack's arm wavered for a moment but he steadied it by raising his left arm in support and he squeezed off three rounds. The recoil almost knocked him down and it sent a hot flash of pain through him. Kendrick went down as all three bullets struck him in the chest and Jack struggled to his feet, keeping his gun trained on the downed man. He moved towards him, positioning himself between Kiefer and Kendrick in case he found enough strength to bring his weapon up again.

His vision was clouding and blackness started to seep in from the edges. He clenched his teeth and clasped his hands tighter around his gun, he couldn't black out now. If Kendrick wasn't out of action, he could still get to Kiefer. He had to stay on his feet.
Seconds later, three agents clambered onto the stage and a fourth one sprinted across the stage, moving between Jack and Kendrick.

"We've got him Jack." the agent stated.

Jack couldn't tell who it was but he knew his job was over now.
He fell to one knee, his gun lowering away from Kendrick.

"Jack!"

Jack barely recognized Nina's voice as his vision narrowed further.
The pain was overwhelming now and he could feel his blood gush from his wounds. He lost his grip on his gun as he fell forward, crashing to the floor but not feeling that impact anymore; he had lost consciousness before hitting it.
He sensed hands on him without really feeling them and he heard people speak to him without understanding their words. He realized it on a subconscious level, the same way he realized he was being rolled over and lifted off the floor. He also realized he was losing blood rapidly, his life was literally flowing from his veins.
Everything went completely black and silent after a while.

He gasped suddenly and opened his eyes wide, only to squeeze them shut as quickly as he opened them. The light stung fiercely and he kept them shut for a long moment. He concentrated on feeling. There was a hint of pain in his chest, flaring up slightly with every breath he took. His heart was beating fast but regularly and it slowed gradually as he came to realize he was in hospital.
He slowly opened his eyes again and looked around. Nina was asleep in the lazy chair in the corner of the room and next to him, in a second bed, was Teri, also sleeping quietly. His hand found the alarm button and he pressed it to call a nurse. Two of them came running and Jack knew it could only mean one thing, they expected his condition to take a turn for the worse.
When they saw him awake, one of them hurried back out to the station to call the doctor. The other one came over to the bed.

"How are you feeling Mr. Bauer?"

"Like hell." Jack whispered back.

"I bet you do. Do you remember what happened?"

"I got shot."

"You most certainly did."

She checked his temperature and noted it on his chart.
The doctor ran in just then and the nurse stepped out of his way.
The commotion woke Nina and she jumped up from the chair at the sight of the nurse and a doctor standing by Jack's bed.
How could she have slept through the alarms?
But as she approached the bed, she knew there had been no alarms, Jack was awake.
Finally.
He had been unconscious for three days and his heart had stopped twice. She had revived him the first time; his heart had started pumping again after a few chest compressions and by the time the crash team ran in, he was all right. The second time however, they had needed almost three minutes to get his heart going again; they had almost given up on him, but his heart had reacted to the electric current rushing through it and it had resumed its job.

He wasn't out of the woods yet, but at least his odds were a lot better now.
Kiefer visited him twice despite his hectic schedule and he spent most of his time thanking Jack for saving his life.
One week later, he was released from hospital and he returned home to recover further with his family.
Kiefer visited him there as well, despite Jack's complaints. He didn't want Kiefer to be bugged by Kim and her friends, but Kiefer waved those complaints away, he didn't mind signing some autographs and posing for a few pictures. Kim almost fainted the first time Kiefer walked into their living room, but Kiefer put her at ease and she was slightly less impressed on his next visits.
But only slightly.

Jack recovered quickly and two weeks after he was released from hospital, Kiefer asked him if he could do him a favour.
"I would like for you to be my guest at the upcoming SAG awards."
Jack was stunned by the request, but he accepted.

As expected, Kiefer won the SAG award as well and when he gave his acceptance speech, it was short and to the point.

"I will be very brief as I really have only one person to thank at this time. I would like to dedicate this award to the man who gave up three weeks of his life to protect mine. Special agent Jack Bauer … this is yours."

A spotlight beamed down on Jack and two cameras focused on him, catching the sudden blush that crept across his face as the crowd around him cheered wildly. They all knew.

And so do we.

You can always count on Jack Bauer to get the job done!

When Fiction Meets Reality - Pt. 28

2007-01-05T16:25:00.000-06:00

Bonney shifted again, unwilling to just give up and roll over, but unwilling to take the fall for things on his own as well. He knew what Melissa knew and he also knew she had more reasons to cut a deal than he did. They could use stuff against her, but if she cut a deal, she would most probably let him take the fall.

"Talk to me Bonney." Jack said after a long silence.
"All I want from you right now is information on Kendrick. Where can I find him?"

"What can I get in return?" Bonney asked and Jack felt his heart leap in his chest.

"I can bring the charges against you down to simple stalking."
"You weren't physically involved in any attacks against Mr. Sutherland so I'm sure that could float."
"But I want to know where Kendrick is or how I can find him."

"Can I get that in writing?"

"No William, you can't." Jack replied coldly, "I want something from you first."
"Something that will prove you're not trying to shit me."
"If you give me Kendrick, I'll bring the charges against you down to stalking, you'll do some community service and pay a fine and after that you'll be off the hook."
…
"How does that sound to you William?"
"Does that sound like something you could live with?"

"Just a fine and community service?" Bonney asked hesitantly.

"Yes William. You didn't do anything did you? Aside from dropping off a few letters?"

"No, I never did anything."

"I don't even understand why you got involved in this." Jack said pensively, "I mean, what reasons did you have to get into this?"
"What has that guy ever done to you that would get you involved in a plot to kill him?"

"Melissa asked me to."

"Why does she hate him?"

"I don't know. You'll have to ask her."

"Okay, I guess I will."
"Now tell me where I can find Kendrick."

"He's staying in a motel near Westwood Park."

"Which one?"

"The Stardust Motel on Hilgard avenue."

"Do you know what room number?"

"He's in unit 3, room 6."

"If we don't find him there, where else could he be?"

"Anywhere."

"Is he the man behind this?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"He doesn't get his orders from someone else?"

"No."

"Do you know what his grudge is against this guy?"

"No."

"Does Melissa know?"

"Probably."

"Okay William, here's what we'll do. I'll get you some medical attention in a minute, dress your wounds properly and give you something against the pain. Then I'll send a team to check out that motel you just told me about. If we find Kendrick there, I'll call the attorney general and inform us of our deal. If we don't find Kendrick, we'll put some surveillance up, but until we get confirmation Kendrick is actually staying there, you get nothing. If, on the other hand, we find out Kendrick isn't staying there, or wasn't staying there, you and I will have another chat and I can guarantee you, you won't like it in the least."
He waited a moment, giving Bonney time to assimilate everything.
"Now, are you sure Kendrick is or was staying at the Stardust Motel on Hilgard avenue, unit 3, room 6?"

"Yes."

"Good. I'll send a doctor over to take care of those wounds."

Jack left the room and met Chapelle outside.
"Stardust Motel on Hilgard avenue." Jack stated, "Unit 3, room 6."

"Let's get a few teams out there."

"I want to run point."

"You'd better get in the air then."

Jack hurried to his station and requested a helicopter to pick him up. It would be there ten minutes later. The moment he hung up, his phone rang again. It was Chapelle.

"The teams will be there in 25 minutes."

"I've got a bird coming in 10, it shouldn't take me that long to get there. Who's the team leader?"

"Agent Harris."

"Thank you Ryan."

Jack geared up and headed for the helipad. The chopper set down and Jack climbed in at once, giving the pilot directions as he closed the door, feeling the aircraft lift off at once. The man knew better than to waste any time. Jack called Harris on the way and they arranged for a meeting point, Jack would make it there within minutes. The pilot dropped him off 12 minutes later, with three minutes to spare before the teams arrived and Jack waited impatiently. He was eager to get to that motel.
The team he had sent in pursuit had never picked up the trace of the vehicle since nobody knew what car Kendrick was driving and Nina hadn't gotten anything specific from the traffic cameras. Jack expected Kendrick to have either retreated to his motel and to have dug in, or to have gone back there to collect anything that may be of help to the authorities in finding him or proving he was involved in it. Either way, Jack hoped to find Kendrick at the motel. If he was there, this thing could be over tonight.
Two CTU vans rolled up and Jack hopped into the first one while it was still in motion. He was done wasting time waiting around for things. Minutes later, they reached the Stardust motel and Jack went up to the reception desk.

"Good evening." the man behind the counter said with a smile.

"Evening." Jack replied, "I'm a federal agent sir, and I'm looking for this man."
He showed a picture of Kendrick.
"I was told he has a room here."

"He might be. What do you want from him?"

"He's involved in an assassination plan." Jack replied calmly, "If this man is here, I need to know now."

"Do you have any ID?"
Jack showed his badge to the man.
"Unit 3, room 6."

"Thank you sir."

"But he's not in." the man continued before Jack could turn.
"He left about 20 minutes ago."

"Did he check out?"

"Yes."

"Dammit." Jack cursed.
"Do you mind if we take a look in that room?"

"No, I don't. It won't be cleaned until morning."

"Do you have a key?"
The man handed it to him.
"Thank you sir."

"Just don't break anything."

"We won't have to sir, we have the key."
Jack hurried back outside and called over to Harris.
"He checked out 20 minutes ago but I still want you to check out the room."

"Yes sir. What about you?"

"I've got a few calls to make."
He thought of something and headed back to the reception area.
"Harris." he called as the team moved away.
"Proceed with extreme caution, this is a former Navy Seal."

"Yes sir."

Jack went back to the clerk.
"Do you know what car this man drives?"

"Yeah, he's got this old model Ford Mustang."

"What colour?"

"Dark blue, with a black eagle painted on the hood."

"License plate?"

"I'm sorry, I never pay attention to that. I know I should, but I don't."

"That's okay, thank you very much for your help sir."

Jack went back outside and called Nina. He needed her to get on the traffic cameras around the area to try and pick up a dark blue old model Ford Mustang with a black eagle painted on the hood.
"That's a pretty good description you got there Jack." Nina joked, "Any chance I'll get a license plate to go with that?"

"None, the guy didn't pay attention to it."

Jack asked her to put him through to Chapelle and he informed him of the result so far.
"So he's on the move." Chapelle concluded, "Means we got close enough to scare him."

"Problem is, he might try to round up others to assist in his plans."

"Or go underground and forget all about it."

"Are we willing to take that chance, sir?"

"No Jack, we're not." Chapelle replied, "I want you to stay on top of this."

When Fiction Meets Reality - Pt. 27

2007-01-04T16:24:00.000-06:00

Day Eight.

Polly's arrival at the apartment woke everybody up. Molly barked in excitement and both Jack and Tony greeted the woman by pointing their guns at her. The commotion woke Kiefer who stumbled out of his room and calmed the situation down before Polly freaked out. She prepared coffee and took Molly out for her morning walk while the men sat down at the kitchen table.

"What's happening now, Jack?" Kiefer asked after a short silence.

"I've got an assault team standing by near the apartment we have under surveillance. They have orders to move in as soon as Kendrick shows up."

"What about the others?"

"We'll probably catch a few in the process, but right now, I want to take Kendrick out of play before they get to you. These guys are getting more organized and they're getting bolder. I'm not going to sit around and wait for them to bust through the door and take all of us out."

"Do you think Kendrick is the one we want?"

"Right now, I think he represents the biggest danger to you."

"Who will lead that assault team?"

"It's an agent by the name of Banks. He's very capable. We've worked together on occasion and I know his team is one of the best we have."

"I'd be more comfortable knowing you were leading them." Kiefer replied softly.

"I wouldn't be here to protect you."

"If Kendrick is at that apartment, he can't be here at the same time."

"I'm not comfortable with that. I'd rather stay right here and make sure nothing happens-"

"What if he gets away?" Kiefer interrupted him.
"What if they can't contain him?"
"I know you wouldn't give him half a chance to get out of there."
They held each other's gaze for a long moment.
"I would like for you to lead the assault when Kendrick shows up at that apartment."
His voice was soft and his tone neutral, but the message was clear.
"You can always take me somewhere else if you don't think I'm safe here."

"You mean protective custody?" Tony asked.

"If needs be." Kiefer replied calmly, meeting Tony's questioning gaze.

"What about work?"

"What about it?" Kiefer replied in the same calm tone, "I'll be out of action for a few more days and Kendrick's been showing up at that apartment almost every day. Besides, the Golden Globes are coming closer. They'll want to finalize their plans. I don't think we'll have to wait too long for him to show up again."

"I agree, but I can get an extra team out here to cover for me."

"So you'll do it?"

"Yes."

"Thank you."

"No need for that, I wouldn't feel comfortable sitting here waiting to hear back from the team either."
"You want a piece of it too?" Jack added, turning to Tony.

"Sure."

"I'll call a team in and we'll go to CTU to get the gear we need."

"all right."

Jack made the call, requesting two extra teams at their location, one outside, one inside.
The teams got there less then an hour later and as soon as the agents were up to speed, Jack and Tony drove to CTU to get the gear they would need.
Jack made sure they had flak jackets and com units along with enough ammo and a back-up gun each.
They ran into Chapelle on their way out.

"You going camping Bauer?" Chapelle called from a distance.

"No sir, we're gearing up for an assault." Jack replied dryly.

"Since when do you participate in assaults Special Agent Bauer?" Chapelle asked smugly.

"Since Mr. Sutherland asked me to take point on that, sir."

"Oh. I suppose he wants you out of his hair for a while."

"Actually it's because he feels more confident in my ability to handle the situation." Jack replied matter-of-factly.
"I wanted to let agent Banks handle it, but since Mr. Sutherland insisted, I might as well take point myself. This is my investigation after all."

"I saw your report." Chapelle continued, trying to keep his composure and superior attitude.
"It's incomplete."

"No it's not." Jack replied, "It's a preliminary report. It's meant to keep you informed of the progress we're making on the investigation. You'll have my detailed report on your desk as soon as we round up."

"It had better be."

"Don't worry, it will be. Now if you don't mind, we have final preparations to make."

He ushered Tony towards the door, meeting Nina's eyes as he turned and giving her a discreet nod, then he followed Tony. He stowed the gear in the back of the vehicle, it would stay there, that way they were sure they wouldn't forget anything when they set out.
When they got back to Kiefer's place, Jack dismissed the second team, keeping only 2 teams on site, as long as they were there, there was no use for more resources than that. They had four agents on the street, half a block up and half a block down, and he and Tony inside with Kiefer. As soon as they got the call from the surveillance team, two of the agents would join Kiefer inside until Jack and Tony returned from the assault or until the ‘all-clear' was given in which case they would be dismissed.

The day went by peacefully and Jack and Tony took turns resting. Kiefer was still drifting in and out of sleep most of the time and all three of them could use the rest. The day slipped on to night and nothing happened. Kendrick would not be seen that day.

The assault.

Wednesday was a busy day at Heyes' place. People came and went all day long and it appeared they too were getting into their final preparations. Jack was glad he had gotten a step ahead of them on that. His team was already standing by, ready to move in at the first sign. Bonney was the most ‘active' guest that day. He kept running back and forth, sometimes alone, sometimes bringing others. The mysterious woman was there too. But she was no longer a mystery. A helpful FBI agent had helped Nina to identify her as Melissa Phelps, known associate to several people on the terrorist watch list. She was also Bonney's wife.
There was no sign of Kendrick all day, but then, shortly after 8pm, he showed up.
Jack got the call from the surveillance team and he kicked into action at once.

"Tony, we're rolling."

"Is he confirmed?"

"Yes, Kendrick is at the apartment. You call that team in here, I'm calling Banks."

He made the call, alerting the assault team who prepped at once. Tony and Jack would meet them outside their apartment and they would set out from there. The agents arrived minutes later and Jack went over to Kiefer's room to let him know they were going.

"Get that son of a bitch." Kiefer replied dryly.

"Will do." Jack promised.

By the time they got to the staging area, Banks had established coms with CTU and Jack was pleased to hear Nina on the other end of the com unit. Tony and Jack quickly geared up, securing their flak jackets in place and hooking their com units up. They checked their weapons and spare clips and went over the plan one last time before setting out. One group went with Jack, heading to the front of the building, the other with Tony, heading for the back, covering both exits and moving in stealthily.
They merged in the third floor hallway and posted a man at the head of the stairs on each end. There were two doors to the apartment and Jack signalled for the agents to proceed as planned. They placed small explosive charges on the hinges and around the handle on each door, ensuring the door would be blown out of their way completely once the charges detonated.
They backed away from the doors and Jack counted down, showing three fingers, then two, then one and when he made a fist, both agents hit the switch on their detonators, setting off the charges and blowing the doors out of their frames.
The silence was immediately torn up by screams and shouts, curses and moving bodies, agents clad in dark blue assault gear piling into the apartment and people inside scattering.
Guns were drawn.
More screams filled the air.
Jack shouted a warning.

"Federal agents, put your weapons down!"

Nobody obeyed the order.
Bullets spewed from barrels.
They hit a lot of different materials; human flesh, furniture, body armour, walls.
People squealed as bullets ripped through their flesh.
Blood gushed from the wounds as bodies dropped to the floor or toppled onto furniture.

Chaos reigned for a long moment and Jack tried to locate Kendrick in the midst of it.
He spotted him moving towards the door covered by Tony's team and he hit the com switch.

"Tony, Kendrick is coming your way."

"Copy that." Tony replied swiftly.

Jack knew Tony had quite some field experience and could handle himself in combat, but he tried to make it across the room to assist in the apprehension of the most dangerous hostile in the room.
The gunfire ceased as people around him engaged in hand to hand combat and he got entangled in a fighting group, which forced him to turn his attention away from Kendrick to deal with the thug coming at him. He treated the man to a quick double jab, hitting him with the butt of his gun across the face and bringing his left hand up, slamming his knuckles into the man's throat. He tried to gasp as the punch cut off his respiration and Jack kicked him hard, sending him to the floor. He finally made it past the fighting men just in time to see Kendrick flee from the apartment.

"Tony?" Jack called worriedly, but the very next instant he saw Tony dash for the door.
"Don't let him get away." Jack bellowed as another one of the hostiles blocked his path.

He took a hard punch to the face and staggered half a step back under the power of it. The man moved in on him at once, thinking he had an easy target, but Jack turned and swung his leg around, landing a rounded kick which threw the other to the side. His momentum carried him over the back of the couch and he toppled out of Jack's way.
He sprinted out of the apartment, leaving Banks' team to mop up the place. His primary target was getting away and he had to do what he could to stop him. He couldn't rely on Tony to get it done on his own.
The agent at the top of the stairs was down.
Dead or unconscious.
Jack didn't have time to check.

"Tony?" he called loudly.

"Down." Tony called back.

Jack went down the stairs three at a time, hoping to catch up with Tony and Kendrick. The sudden gunfire halted him with one floor left to go. He spotted Tony on the landing. He was pinned down and Jack brought his gun up. He squeezed off two shots and watched the man across the hall tumble to the floor.

"Clear!" Jack yelled, starting down again.

Tony jumped up and ran down the last flight of stairs.
Kendrick had gotten further ahead now and he sprinted after him.
As Jack reached the landing Tony had been pinned on, another shot rang out and he was flung back by the impact of the bullet. It hit the middle of his chest, flattening itself against his flak jacket, but throwing him back nonetheless. He hit the wall behind him with his right shoulderblade and his momentum carried him to the side, smashing into and through the window.
He grunted as breaking glass cut into his arm and rained down on his head. He barely managed to keep himself from plummeting out of the window and pushed off, shaking his head to clear the glass out of his hair. He took aim at the man he had shot only moments earlier and squeezed off two more rounds, both of them slammed high into the man's chest and Jack made it past him without further delay.
Kendrick was out of the building already and Tony was at the door.
Much to Jack's horror, he didn't stop and threw his weight against it, sending it crashing into the wall as it flew wide open, taking away every last bit of cover he might've had.

"Tony DON'T!"

Three shots rang out in quick succession even before the sound of his voice died down.
Tony went down hard as the first salvo hit him and three more shots were fired. Jack could only see them hit home, putting Tony out of action. He sprinted the last few yards to the door but as he reached it, he was greeted by a long burst of automatic fire and he had to dive for cover.

"Tony?"

"Yeah." came Tony's painfully faint response.

"I need a medic down here." Jack said into the com, "We've got an agent down near the back exit."

He tried another peek around the corner of the door and this time the dark alley remained silent. No more shots were fired and he carefully stepped out of the building, hurrying over to Tony. The sound of squealing tires at the far end of the alley told him Kendrick was getting away. He got on the phone to one of the surveillance teams and sent them in pursuit of Kendrick.

"Dammit!"

The word carried the purest of anger and he furiously kicked a garbage bin to get rid of his frustration.
Three agents piled out of the building and Jack snapped out of it, holstering his weapon again and moving over to where Tony lay.
He had taken four direct hits and needed to get to a hospital. One of the first bullets had caught him high in the left shoulder, which had thrown him in a spin and the last three bullets had hit him in the legs.
He had been taken out of action.
Efficiently.

With the agents tending to Tony, Jack headed up to Heyes' apartment to check on the status there. All hostiles except Kendrick were down or had been taken. They really had been making preparations, Jack counted 9; four had been killed, Bonney, Heyes, Phelps and two unknowns apprehended. Three of them needed medical attention, but Jack ordered them transferred to CTU without anything more than a bandage on their wounds. One of the medics quickly dressed his wounds as well; he had a big gash running clear across his arm and a few smaller cuts as well as a few on his neck, but nothing serious. The biggest wound would need proper care, but he didn't have time for that now, he had a situation to wrap up.
But he had a problem. He had three suspects to interrogate as quickly as possible.
He hoped to get a location on Kendrick or at least find out what their plans had been, if he knew what the plan had been, he would be able to evaluate the chances of Kendrick trying to pull it off on his own.
He had to get started on those interrogations, but first he called CTU and arranged for two more teams to be dispatched to Kiefer's apartment, both teams were to join the one already inside with Kiefer and they were only to be dismissed by Jack himself.
Next he called agent Burke, he needed him to interrogate Heyes. Burke was an interrogation specialist, he knew more techniques to convince someone to talk than Jack could imagine.
But he still needed someone to interrogate Phelps and with Tony down, he had to call someone else.
But who?
Who was he to call?
He wanted a man for certain, even if it was to interrogate Phelps.
A man would be more impressive. Not that Nina couldn't handle an interrogation and be aggressive when she had to, it just didn't seem a good idea. He had to get as much information on Kendrick as humanly possible and he had to get it fast.
He fished out his cellphone and punched in a number, taking a deep breath as he pressed the dial button.

"Ryan Chapelle." Ryan said in an annoyed tone of voice as he picked up.

"Sir, this is Jack Bauer."

"What do you want at this time of day Bauer?" Ryan snapped.

"Sir, we are transferring 3 prisoners to CTU and they need to be interrogated. I've already called agent Burke in to handle Heyes and I'll handle Bonney, but I need someone to interrogate Melissa Phelps."

"What about Almeida?"

"Agent Almeida was injured during the operation sir, he's on his way to hospital right now."

"So what do you want me to do Bauer?"

Jack clenched his jaw for a long moment. He hated to have to do this and Chapelle was forcing him to do it. The son of a bitch wouldn't spontaneously offer his help, he would wait for Jack to ask him.
"I was hoping you could take care of Phelps' interrogation sir." Jack said as calmly as he possibly could.

"Who is she and what do you have on her?"

"Melissa Phelps is the woman who hired Lettis to drop the letters. She is associated to several known terrorists on the FBI's watch list and she is also William Bonney's wife."

"Is that all?"

"No sir, Nina got the complete file from the Bureau. Those are the highlights."

"Okay, what's your ETA?"

"Just over twenty minutes."

"Give me forty."

"Thank you sir."

Chapelle hung up without responding and Jack stuffed his phone back into his pocket. The remaining surveillance team would stay behind at the scene to keep everybody out of the apartment until the forensic and IT teams arrived. Jack had requested an IT team for the computers and other equipment found in the apartment, they might find the information they needed on them.

He drove to CTU and checked with Nina. She prepared the file she had on Melissa Phelps and put it in the middle of her desk where Chapelle would have no trouble finding it. Milo and Jamey were busy processing the information on the two unknown prisoners, trying to find out who they were and what their role was in this thing. One of them had been injured and Nina had only allowed a medic in to dress the wound, the man hadn't been given any pain medication and had been taken to a cell. His unknown companion sat quietly in a cell down the hall and Heyes, Bonney and Phelps had been prepped for interrogation. Phelps had taken a stray bullet in the thigh and her wound had been dressed, again without administering any pain medication. Bonney was more severely injured but he had been treated in the same superficial way.

Burke joined them at Nina's station and Jack went over Heyes' file quickly, telling Burke what information he wanted from Heyes. The man headed towards holding room 3 without further delay, taking Heyes' file with him to go over it if he had to. Jack and Nina went to holding room 1 where Bonney had been put.
As they were about to enter, Jack heard someone calling his name and when he turned around, he saw Chapelle coming down the hall.

"I just got here, where is the file on Phelps and where is she?"

"Her file is on Nina's desk and we put her in interrogation 2."

"Have you started on him yet?"

"No, I was about to." Jack replied, "Burke started on Heyes a few minutes ago."

"Okay, what about the others?"

"Still unknown at this time. Milo and Jamey are working on that."

"Good. Let's go to work."

Jack was surprised by the change in Chapelle.
There hadn't been any kind of smugness or superior attitude like he always seemed to have about him.
He shrugged it off and went into the interrogation room.
Bonney was clearly in pain, Jack could tell from his body language and from the look in his eyes, but he was biting it back. The man had been a bull rider for years, he wasn't going to crumble and cry like a baby because he had gotten hurt. He probably had a pretty high pain level and Jack knew he would have to play his cards differently.

When the door suddenly opened after almost two hours into the interrogation, Jack turned angrily, ready to snap at whoever was interrupting him now that Bonney was finally starting to respond. He came face to face with Chapelle.

"Jack, I need a word with you." Chapelle said calmly.

Jack understood at once and followed Chapelle out of the room, closing the door behind him, but ‘accidentally' leaving it ajar. Their voices would easily carry into the room.

"I've got results with Phelps." Chapelle started, "She's willing to cut a deal with us to keep from being handed over to the FBI when we're done."

"That's good." Jack responded, "Has she given you anything on Kendrick yet?"

"Not yet, she wants to see the agreement first. I'm having it drawn up as we speak, it should be ready in about 15 minutes."

"Good, keep me posted."
Jack went back into the interrogation room, finding Bonney shifting nervously in his chair.
"Was there something you wanted to say William?" Jack asked, having made a point of using the man's first name from the start.

Congrats again!

2007-01-04T11:47:00.000-06:00

SAG noms were announced this morning. Kiefer Sutherland and the ensemble cast were nominated :)

Well done guys. I hope you've got shelves big enough for all these awards :)

When Fiction Meets Reality - Pt. 26

2007-01-03T16:22:00.000-06:00

Moments later, his PDA buzzed and Jack checked the list of files accessed by Heyes. There weren't too many and it really seemed as if he had randomly accessed files while looking for the ones he needed.
A few minutes later, his cell phone rang again.

"Bauer."

"It's Nina, all teams are still in place."

"Good. Thanks Nina."

"Do you need anything else?"

"Can you crosscheck the list of files Heyes accessed against Kendrick, see if his name comes up in any of them, it looks random and there may not be a pattern, but I'd like to know for sure."

"Sure thing Jack, I'll get right on it."

"Great."

He hung up and put the phone down again.
"Jack?"
It was Kiefer's voice.

"Yes?"

"Did you say ‘Kendrick'?"

"Yes, an ex-marine by the name of John Kendrick. Do you know him?"

"Sort of."

"What do you mean?"

"I played a character named Jonathan Kendrick a few years back in a film about the marines at Guantanamo Bay."

"Which film?" Tony asked.

"'A Few Good Men', it starred Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson in the lead roles."

"Did you have much contact with the marines for that?"

"I didn't, not for that part anyway, it was only a short bit at the beginning and another short sequence near the end."

"Could this guy have been involved?" Tony asked.

"If he was an advisor, he might have been, but it's like I said, I only had a small part in that, so I didn't have any contact with external advisors. It's not like on ‘24' where I need to know what I'm doing and make it look right. I'm in close contact with safety and other advisors because I play the lead part, but not on that film."

"Maybe he doesn't like you and he's pissed off at you for using his name." Tony chuckled.

He was trying to lighten up the mood, but his words struck home both with Jack and Kiefer.
It was a possibility.
"We have to find Kendrick." Jack stated matter-of-factly.
They all agreed.

A few hours later, doctor Regis came in to check on Kiefer. She made a few notes on his chart and made a call to get another scan, they had a gap two hours later, so she noted Kiefer down at that time.
"If the scan comes back clean, you can go home." Regis said to Kiefer, giving him a comforting squeeze in the arm.
"You'll still need to rest a lot and stay in the dark for a few days, give yourself some time to get back on your feet."

"Okay, thank you doctor." Kiefer replied quietly.

The most recent events had convinced him he couldn't always deal with everything alone and needed to follow the advice of professionals at times.
For the next two hours, Jack and Tony made sure to keep his mind busy on other things, talking about music, the studio, family and other topics. If he was to get any rest at all, he had to be calm and relaxed.
When the nurse came to get him, they tagged along and stayed with him throughout.
As soon as the results of the scan were in, doctor Regis came back to his room, release documents in hand.

"The swelling is completely gone." she said, sitting down on the edge of the bed.
"I can't stress enough how important it is for you to rest a few more days, I know you're busy filming and I know you've already lost a few days, but if you rush back to work to catch up on the lost time, chances of relapse increase dramatically."

"I promise I'll stay in bed a few more days." Kiefer replied with a faint smile.

He was happy enough to get out of hospital.
She handed him the documents and a pen so he could sign them, after what she wished him a good recovery and left again.
Jack helped him out of bed and into the sweatpants he had been wearing the other night while Tony went to find a wheelchair. He came back with one only minutes later and Kiefer got in without complaints. He was wearing Jack's jacket since he didn't have a shirt on when they brought him in and put his bare feet on the footrests. Instead of squinting against the light, he simply closed his eyes and let them take him out of there, trusting them to the fullest. They got him to the car without any problems and he climbed into the back seat with only minimal help to keep his balance.

Tony took the wheelchair back while Jack climbed in behind the wheel. He reached overhead and retrieved his sunglasses, handing them to Kiefer who thankfully put them on, shielding his eyes from the bright light outside. Tony climbed in, riding shotgun and Jack pulled out behind the other SUV, heading towards Kiefer's place. They helped him out of the car and up to his apartment, taking him straight to the back and helping him to bed.
Jack dismissed the second team and checked in with Nina at CTU, letting her know they were back at Kiefer's place.
"Any changes?"

"There has been a lot of movement today, Kendrick was there earlier, but he's gone now."

"Dammit!" Jack snapped.
"Nina, I want you to gather all the intel on that and prepare it for me."

"When do you want that?"

"I'm coming over right now."

"Okay."

She hung up and Jack turned to Tony.
"I'm heading over to CTU. Are you okay on your own here or do you want me to call that second team back?"

"That's all right Jack, I've got back-up if I need it."
"Why are you going back to CTU?"

"I want to have a plan of attack ready for when Kendrick shows up again. If he points his nose at that apartment again, I want to be ready to nail him."

"all right."

By the time Jack got to CTU, Nina had already prepared the information he needed on the building and on the movements over the weekend up until this very moment. With her help, Jack went over a few possible plans, then decided on what seemed the best one to both of them and he set it in motion, calling in the strike team he wanted on this. It took the team nearly an hour to assemble and Jack went over the plan with them, handing out clear assignments to each member of the team and stressing the importance of the assault.

"When are we moving in sir?"

"As soon as our primary target is at the location." Jack replied, "I want you to stay on full alert. I want to be able to move in on that building within twenty minutes. When I get the call, you will have twenty minutes to set up and move in. Make sure your team is on the ready."

"Twenty minutes notice? Do we have a location near the site where we could set up shop?"

"Agent Meyers is looking into that right now."
"We can't afford to let this man get away. He is our primary target, what happens to the rest of them, is less important."

Nina knocked on the door and Jack waved her in.
"Jack, I found an apartment for rent half a block away from our target location, I've made the call and it's ours. I can pick up the keys in half an hour."

"You heard the lady." the team leader said without waiting for Jack's orders, "Let's gear up."
"We'll meet you out front in ten minutes, agent Meyers."

"Thank you agent Banks."

The team left the briefing room and so did Nina, leaving Jack alone to go over the plans again. He spent the next half hour going over the details of his attack plan, then saved his files and logged off. He called the agent in charge of the surveillance team, leaving them with clear instructions to call him the moment Kendrick entered the building, informing the agent they had a strike team on stand-by half a block away from their position.
Then he typed up a quick report about the incident at the hospital that morning and sent it on to Chapelle, along with a copy of his assault plan.
He logged out and went back to Kiefer's place.

He was once again met halfway down the hall by an overexcited Molly and she jumped around him until they reached the stairs which she took three at a time, reaching the top in no time. She stopped and turned back, darting down towards Jack and then back up again. She climbed the stairs 5 times before Jack was at the top of them, a smile on his face at her playfulness.
Tony was in the living room, flipping through the channels and he looked up when Jack came in.

"Everything okay here?" Jack asked quietly.

"Yeah, I checked on him a while ago and he was asleep. How did it go?"

"Everything's set. If Kendrick shows himself, we'll nail him. I've got a team holding up in an apartment half a block down and four surveillance teams on site. We've got all angles covered."

"Do you think he's the brains?"

"I'm still not sure, there may be someone pulling his strings, but I think he's the one to tackle. If we can take him out and maybe catch Heyes along with him, we will have kicked their legs out from under them. Once we've got him, we'll mop up the rest of them. I think Kendrick is the most dangerous element and I want to take him out before something really bad happens."

"Yeah." Tony agreed.
"Do you have any idea why they want him dead?"

"Not anymore. I thought I had an idea when I first read those threats, but this is getting too wild, it doesn't make any sense."

"But you're confident we can nail these people right?"

"We will nail them Tony." Jack said confidently.
The net was in place, the security breach at CTU patched up and their investigation still firmly going. There was no way Kendrick would get away.

The evening went by peacefully and Jack took Molly out for a short walk just before turning in for the night.

Hi.

2007-01-03T09:10:00.000-06:00

I hope the fic is going over well. There's just a few more chapters left and after that.... OMG it will almost be time for the new season to kick off.

Is it me or did the wait time seem harder this year? 8 months is a long, painful way to go for a Jack fix. I've got my Season 5's and we devoured them (mmmm tasty DVD goodness!) so quickly only to be left with a gaping hole where Jack fit in.

So what have you, dear reader, been doing in the off time? Have you become addicted to another show? Did you perhaps take a vacation in an effort to kill time? Read any good books lately?

Leave me a comment and tell me how you've spent your time waiting for Jack's next bad day.

As for me, I'll admit it - I got hooked on another show. A few of them actually. This fall was pretty good for some decent shows. Heroes' Hiro is a house favourite. Anyone who can get so excited over waffles is destined to become beloved at my house. Checking out Skeet in Jericho has been fun - well as fun as a show about an apocalypse can be.

And... (I blame Netflix for this, I really do) I umm.. Sort of.. Kind of... startedwatchingBuffytheVampireSlayer. Three years too late I know, but hey I didn't love Firely until after it was cancelled either. I'm weird like that. You're lucky I copped on to 24 in time.

Before you look at me funny I only have one word: Spike. In the name of all that is unholy and damned, that is one cool vampire. Not since a beautifully-mulleted Kiefer Sutherland in Santa Cruz have I been so taken by a vamp. Yum-my.

So yes, I love Buffy. I'm about to begin watching "Angel" because I hear Spike makes some appearances :) I'd like to hug the creators of Netflix (and then slap them for feeding my addictions.)

But enough about me. What about you?

When Fiction Meets Reality - Pt. 24

2007-01-02T16:19:00.000-06:00

"Are you done?" Teri asked after a while.

"No, I have to get back."

"What happened? Did Chapelle give you the day off?"

"No, we had to take him to hospital last night-"

"Oh my god, what happened?" Teri interrupted.

"There was an incident on Friday and he took a hit to the head, it only hit him for real last night, he got sick and started bleeding from the nose, so I called an ambulance and took him to hospital. I spent the night there and sent Tony home. When he got there this morning, he sent me home."

"I thought you were the boss." Teri teased.

"Yeah well, I think I'll forgive him this insubordination." Jack chuckled.
"But I do have to get back, make sure everything's all right."

"Are you anywhere near solving this?"

"I hope so."

"Me too."

"Really? Why is that?"

"I've missed you."

"Really?" Jack asked teasingly, "I hadn't noticed."

"You rat." Teri chuckled, poking her elbow into his ribs.
"If you have to get back, you might want to get moving then. Do you want breakfast?"

"Hmm, I think I'd better eat something."

"I'll get on it."

"Thanks baby."

They both got up and Jack went into the bathroom to take another shower, a short one this time, after what he got dressed and headed downstairs. Kim came running out of her room and nearly knocked him off his feet when she threw herself at him. He managed to keep his footing and returned her hug, feeling a smile crawl across his face. It was such a relief to have her react this way, he preferred it to her typical teenage rebellion she displayed so often.
"Hey pumpkin." he whispered, rocking her slowly.

"Are you staying home?" Kim asked when she finally let go and took a step back.

"No sweetie, I have to get back. I let Tony take over today because I was too tired."
"Beside I wanted to see you."

"Really?"

"Yes, I missed you."

"And I missed you too dad."
"So?"

"So what?"

"Who are you protecting?"

"You know I can't tell you Kim."

"Oh please dad."

"I can't tell you sweetie."

"Is it someone famous?"

"Yes."

"Do I know him?"

"How do you know it's a man?"

"Is it?"

"Yes."

"So do I know him?"

"Yes."

"Oh dad!"
"Pretty please?"

"I can't tell you sweetie."

"Why not?"

"Because I can't. I'll tell you when I'm done."

"But then you won't see him again."

"Maybe not, but I'll still know him." Jack teased.

"Come on dad. Who is it?"

"I'm not telling you."

"Not fair." Kim said pouting.

"I know."
"Do you still love me?"

"No." Kim snapped, trying hard to fight back a smile.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll love me again the minute you find out who it is."

"Oh dad!"
"Tell me."

"Nope."

"Tease."

"Absolutely."

"When are you leaving again?"

"As soon as I've eaten. Your mom's preparing something for me right now."

"Do you have to?"

"Yes. You wouldn't want him to fire me, now would you?"

"You could tell me who it is."

"That I could. But if he fired me, it would mean he doesn't like me and I wouldn't be able to introduce you to him."

"Oh dad, you're not fair."

"You'll know soon enough."

They walked into the kitchen just as Teri was placing a steaming plate on the table.
"Perfect timing." Jack and Teri said at the same moment.
It made them both smile and he went over to her, thanking her with a quick kiss.
He ate with Kim buzzing around his ears, trying to convince him to give up the identity of who he was protecting, but he resisted her every attempt. When he was done, he collected his things and said goodbye to both of them, taking slightly more time with Teri than with Kim.

He was totally relaxed on the way over to the hospital and when he reached Kiefer's room, he nodded to the two agents standing guard. The room was dark and quiet but Tony got up the moment the door opened. He met Jack halfway and motioned for him to be quiet.

"How is he?"

"Drifting on and off, he fell asleep ten minutes ago." Tony whispered, moving past Jack and into the hall where they could talk without risk.
"How are you feeling?"

"Rested."

"So you're not busting my ass over sending you home?"

"Not at all." Jack chuckled.
"I needed the rest."

"That you did. How happy was Teri?"

"Very." Jack replied, dropping his gaze away from Tony's and fighting back his smile.

"And how happy were you?"

"No comment Almeida." Jack replied with a smile.
"How has he been anyway?"

"Like I said, drifting in and out of sleep. They ran a few more tests on him during the day and they've got him on medication, apparently there's some swelling they need to get down. That's why he's sleeping so much."

"Anything else?"

"Nope."

"Good."

"So what are the plans?"

"Are you up for a while longer?"

"Sure. Why?"

"I need to get back to the office and check on a few things."

"Don't worry, I've got this covered."

Jack headed out again and drove back to CTU.
Much to his pleasure, Chapelle had long gone and most of the personnel had too. Jamey and Milo were still busy though and he wondered for a moment if either of them had gotten any sleep. From the looks of them, they had and he didn't bother asking. They were gathering more information about the hacker involved in this and Milo informed him they may find out who it was, if he managed to tap into the right sources. He was working on a few angles outside of CTU, dealing with people who didn't like the government too much and who didn't think all the rules applied to them.
When Jack logged into his own station, he found three mails from Chapelle. The first one had apparently been sent before he checked his inbox, because it was a rant about the absence of reports. The second one was a short note stating he'd expect a full report on the investigation ASAP and the third was another rant about his use of resources on this case.
He replied only to the third, justifying the use of resources given the proportions the case had taken. He included a copy of the Kendrick file and attached the pictures that had been taken by that fan outside the studios, illustrating the potential danger.

When he was done, he pulled up all the information from the surveillance on Heyes' place. They needed to stay on top of that, once they had everybody together in that building, they would have to be ready to move in quickly, but there had hardly been any movement, the woman had come and gone a few times and Bonney stopped by for almost an hour, then left again and he hadn't returned. Heyes was still in there with a man they were still trying to match up through face recognition and an unknown individual.
Almost an hour later, he logged off and headed out again, returning to the hospital.

Kiefer was awake, but only barely and Jack kept the conversation down to a minimum, knowing full well rest was all Kiefer needed right now. He was still on medication for the swelling and they would run more tests in the morning, but he hadn't given them any trouble when they told him he had to stay another night. He knew Polly would tend to Molly and he had called Jude to let him know he wouldn't be in for a few days. He hadn't gone into details over the phone and Jude hadn't asked for any. They knew each other better than that.
Jack sent Tony home for the night but he made himself more comfortable, knowing there were two guards outside the door. He tried to rest up a little, having slept most of the day, he wasn't tired, but he knew he would have to be up and going all day tomorrow, so he rested as much as he could.
A light slumber claimed him shortly after three in the morning, right after Kiefer had been awake for a short while and had drifted back to sleep in the middle of their conversation.