Wednesday, February 25, 2004
3am - 4am
Okay, sorry for putting off the recap. I just felt that I needed to view this ep again because I misheard a few things and had some questions. My main thing is that I got a little bit lost when the new guy showed up to meet Amador and exchange money. I don't believe his name was ever given during the hour, but I could be wrong. People on the Fox boards seem to think his name is Saunders. So I'll call him Saunders as well, for now.
Anyway, this hour involved a lot of plot detail so it moved a little slower than other eps, which is just fine with me. I think a trap a lot of people fall into is one created by the show itself. People seem to expect hardcore action and plot twists virtually all the time on the show and I'm discovering as I watch it unfold week after week as opposed to just watching the DVDs that the slower episodes that involve setup seem to stand out more when you've got a week to digest it and don't know what's coming up. When you're watching the DVDs the show just seems like one really long film and so you expect to have slow periods while the story is being set up.
Having said all of that I still ended up literally biting my nails and covering my eyes at the end. This episode was not without its kickass 'Holy Shit' moments.
I'm going to begin with Wayne, Sherry and David this time because damn, I'm really feeling this story arc right now. As someone who vividly remembers getting caught in a lie when I was young and how your stomach just drops out and your face goes flush as blood rushes to your head, I can almost empathise with Sherry right now. I don't agree, but I know how she'd be feeling. You see, Wayne confronted Sherry about Milliken's death. Julia spilled the beans to him about what really happened and now Wayne's pissed and Julia's freaked out. The cops are investigating Alan's death and Julia apparently doesn't have Sherry's cajones because she caves under the questioning pretty quickly, despite Wayne telling her to wait for her attorney to arrive.
Now, Wayne is talking to Julia on the sly. So David has no idea. Wayne decides to confront Sherry who was catching a nap in a spare office. He tells her he knows she stopped Julia from giving Alan his pills to which she replies, "You would have done the same thing had you been there." "I wouldn't have been there in the first place!" rails Wayne. Then Sherry deflects and tells him that she was brought in to clean up his mess and that sometimes the most complex problems have a simple solution. "You are insane!" he hisses at her. I don't think Wayne can reconcile himself to the fact that Sherry just let Milliken die like that. He also knows she's right about the reason she was brought in so he lets Sherry convince him they need to keep all of this from David. As long as Julia keeps her trap shut, they can keep it covered.
But as I said, Julia caved fairly quickly and it wasn't long before Sherry was receiving a call from the detective who was questioning Julia. This is where I can relate to Sherry getting caught in a lie :) It seems that the housekeeper saw a light-coloured Mercedes driving away not long before Milliken's body was discovered. It also seems that the security cameras were switched off recently. Sherry convincingly denies having been there despite the fact that Julia gave the detective Sherry's number. She tells him she's been at District with the President for the last five hours - which, she says, Palmer can confirm. Yikes. The detective seems to accept that, for now, but you can tell he's going to check on that. And now that Sherry has blatantly lied to cover her ass, she now has to somehow get David to go along with that. Seems like her lies are snowballing. But we'll have to wait five flipping weeks to find out what she tells David.
Meanwhile at the Batcave - I mean CTU, Chappelle is livid. Jack killed a material witness and his head's going to be on the chopping block if he allows Jack back out into the field. Jack says with utter conviction that Nina was going for her gun and he was defending himself. However, upon review of the security cam playback, Jack is conveniently blocking the view of Nina's arm that would have been going for her gun. But I love love love the way Jack steps up right into Chappelle's face - centimeters away - and looks him right in the eye and tells him it was self-defense, and that Nina would have killed Kim if hadn't shown up when he did. Chappelle accuses Jack of deliberately blocking the view of the camera, but Jack is adamant that he acted in self-defense and never wavers. All of this takes place up in Jack's office as he's changing clothes and getting ready to go back out in the field as soon as they have a lead on Amador and Alvers.
Chase comforts Kim back in the control room as she stares at Nina's body. Kim tells Chase that ever since Nina killed her mom she's wanted Nina dead. But now that she is she realises that it's not going to bring her mother back and she's unsure of how she feels about it. She also seemed a little upset that Jack sent her out of the room before he shot her so she can't be a witness to Jack's self-defense claim.
Tony's advising the staff about the recent events, and tells them they will need to widen their search for Amador. Michelle has new information that came from a Russian contact: several detonating devices were recently stolen from Russia and could be used to disperse the virus. He sends everyone off to do what they do best and it isn't long before Chloe gets a hit on one of Amador's bank accounts. It was active in the previous few minutes and soon Chloe, Adam, Kim et al are getting to work tracking the location.
Chase goes up to Jack's office and interrupts Chappelle's tirade to inform them they have a lead. Yet Chappelle is still reluctant to let Jack go back to work. So Chase steps up and defends Jack, saying that he's been working with him all day and that Jack's operating at a higher capacity than anyone else. He tells Chappelle they need Jack on this. Then Jack sends Chase out of the room and tells Chappelle it's his call. He's met with silence and Jack throws out a sarky little 'Thank you' that amused me as he walked out the door. Now he and Chase are on their way to intercept the virus - this time working together.
Something that just struck me... Earlier in the day Jack was adamant about keeping Chase out of danger now that he knows his daughter loves Chase. Was that just an excuse Jack was using so that Chase wouldn't cop on to the 'big picture'? Because now he seems fine with working with Chase again. He showed no reluctance whatsoever to taking off toward Amador with Chase in tow now. Hmmm...
Anyway, Chase and Jack have a small exchange in the car about Chase's daughter. Basically Chase tells Jack that it's between him and Kim and that the only thing they need to do right now is focus on the virus. Everything else can wait. I don't think Jack wanted to let it go though. But he did eventually drop it. You know there's so much extraneous stuff - repercussions for the day's incidents, both emotional and physical that I'm wondering if a lot of it will be tied up by the end of the 'day'. Sometimes I feel that the writers add these layers to Jack, Kim, Palmer et. al. and yet they don't go anywhere with them and we're left to imagine what will happen between Kim and Jack as he comes to terms with his addiction and the fact that Nina's dead now. I hope that the reunion they had last week where Jack states he's going to get help for the heroin thing isn't it and the subject is dropped from the show. Part of me really wants to know what happens to these guys after their epic days. Digressing again, sorry.
CTU closes in on Amador's position and Division is able to get an operative into the seedy nightclub where Amador is meeting a new bad guy, Saunders. Here is where I go cross-eyed because I don't quite understand it all. Saunders arrives and takes the vials of virus Alvers had been working on. At this time, Amador asks Saunders why he chose such a limited target, and not a leger one that would inflict more damage and casualties. Saunders tells him it's because he merely wishes to send a message. Eh? Okie. Saunders seems higher up on the food chain than Amador is because he began questioning Amador about his venture into Mexico earlier in the evening. I'm guessing Amador wasn't supposed to do that.
After Saunders shows Alvers how to work the stolen detonation device, he taunts Amador for believing that Jack Bauer had really flipped sides. He tells Amador that his greed nearly cost them this mission and now he's got the whole of CTU looking for him. Amador tells him that Bauer's story checked out to which Saunders replies, "Don't presume to tell me about Jack Bauer." Hmmmm... There is a transfer of funds from Saunders to Amador that Amador finds upsetting. He's only been given half of what was promised I guess. Saunders tells him it's because of his blunder in Mexico. Once the mission is complete he'll get the rest of the $200 million. We find out a little later that the 'limited target' is the Chandler Plaza Hotel. Alvers takes one vial of the virus, and a detonator and heads off to the hotel. As he enters, he gets a call from Amador and tells him the mission will take about 25 minutes.
The Division operative checking out the club reports via an earpiece/mic that an armed guard outside one of the back rooms as Jack and Chase arrive outside and prepare to storm the place. Just then the operative is grabbed by a thug and dragged into the room with Amador. As Jack loses the com signal he orders the SWAT team to storm the place. Mucho running through the building in classic Jack style and they end up catching Amador before he can escape. Very cool to watch Jack knock him down and basically sit on him until Chase can get in and help subdue him. He shouts 'Where is the virus?' at Amador. Amador tells him he's too late and that it's been passed off.
Coolest line of the night? "Take him in the next room Chase. I dont' want the SWAT guys interrupting us." Muahahahahah. This is in reference to Amador by the way. They're about to do the torture thang. As Chase slams Amador down into a chair, Amador starts bleating about how Jack betrayed him. Jack replies, "You betrayed me too. I'm just better at it." Another fecking cool line :) Well done writers :) Anyway, now the chinks in Amador's icy armour are starting to appear because you can tell he's afraid of something. Jack asks him where the virus is, and he just replies with stuff like, "He knows who you are. Don't presume to tell me about Jack Bauer were his words..." Jack's puzzled but doesn't let him deflect. He keeps hounding him about the virus location. Jack, almost smilingly because he's said this so many times before, tells him 'We can protect you.' Amador asks if they can protect his family (Amador's got kidlets??). Jack says yes, but then Amador contemptuously tells Jack he couldn't even protect his own family. Oh dear...
Finally Jack tires of Amador refusing to answer his question so he gets him in a chokehold, calls for Chase, and Chase proceeds to slice open Amador's hand with a buck knife. Amador, being the weenie he is, passes right out. Ironic as Chase had been shot through the hand only hours before and was up and about while Amador passes out like a wuss at a little cut. "When he wakes up, do it again." says Jack. Ohhh yeah. Meanwhile his phone's ringing and it's CTU asking for an update.
Some techs discover Amador's laptop which happens to have the entire scematics for the Chandler Plaza Hotel. Jack quickly puts two and two together and relays the info to CTU. Very quickly they mobilize a field unit headed by Michelle to go over there and either attempt to stop the virus outbreak or contain it if they're too late. Gael will be going along as well (yay Gael is back! I'm going to pretend he was down in the clinic getting checked out after his ordeal with Johnson). Michelle apparently is the most qualified person at CTU to handle the mission but Tony is not happy about it. Just before she left with her team they had a moment together, but the events of the day, and their mutual anger with each other prevents them from saying anything mushy or sappy before she heads off. I have a feeling they'll regret that later. On the way to the hotel, Gael tells Michelle that the secret Tony kept from Michelle about the Salazar mission has been eating away at him. I don't know if that placated Michelle very much but it was nice of Gael to tell her that.
The security head at the hotel is contacted and told of the potential virus threat and is told to lock down the building. No one goes in or out. He's also given a description of Alvers to pass around. As Michelle and her team arrive she's told by Tony that the NHS team is still 20 miutes out with the hazmat suits and orders her to stand down until they arrive. However, Gael pulls an image off the hotel's cams that clearly shows Alvers in the building. The head of security inside had noticed a suspicious looking maintenance man he'd never seen before and asked his assistant to check it out. Michelle makes a snap decision not to wait for the Hazmat suits and she and her team enter the hotel to try and stop Alvers before he has a chance to release the virus.
Meanwhile Alvers is actually in the building and he's down in a ventilation chamber. He arms the detonator right in front of a huge fan that blows air into the building. Michelle is on the hunt in the area the suspicious maintenance man was last spotted and does she ever look awesome prowling about the place, gun pointed and determination written on her face. Suddenly Alvers appears and she orders him to halt. He tries to play it off that he really is just a janito, but Michelle's not buying it. Alvers tries to make a break for it but Michelle is better trained and too quick for him. In some kickass moves worthy of Jack, she brings him down and cuffs him to some pipes. With a gun to his head and her claws digging into his neck he reveals the location of the detonator. Michelle relays the info to Gael who takes off for it.
Gael finds the detonator but he's on the wrong side of the fan and there's no time to find his way around through the basement maze of rooms to the right hatchway that Alvers used. He sees there's just enough space underneath the whirling blades of the giant fan for him to stick his hand through and try to reach the detonator. This is where I was biting my nails and cringing because I remember watching the episode of ER when Romano got his arm chopped off by the helicopter and being taken completely by surprise by that and I could just see something similar happening to Gael - and I just didn't wanna see it you know? :) But it doesn't matter because just as Gael's fingers touch the tip of the device, it goes off, smashing the vial with the virus in and a powdery substance is blown all over the place, but mainly right into Gael's face. Tick boom.
And that is how we're left hanging for the next month. *sigh* I miss having the DVD set at my fingertips and not having to deal with these interminable breaks. But what a compliment for the show, to have so many people ARGH-ing about the break because they cannot wait to see what happens next. I think that's pretty cool.
Don't forget you can join in the discussion about this episode on the 24addict forums :) :) :)
Anyway, this hour involved a lot of plot detail so it moved a little slower than other eps, which is just fine with me. I think a trap a lot of people fall into is one created by the show itself. People seem to expect hardcore action and plot twists virtually all the time on the show and I'm discovering as I watch it unfold week after week as opposed to just watching the DVDs that the slower episodes that involve setup seem to stand out more when you've got a week to digest it and don't know what's coming up. When you're watching the DVDs the show just seems like one really long film and so you expect to have slow periods while the story is being set up.
Having said all of that I still ended up literally biting my nails and covering my eyes at the end. This episode was not without its kickass 'Holy Shit' moments.
I'm going to begin with Wayne, Sherry and David this time because damn, I'm really feeling this story arc right now. As someone who vividly remembers getting caught in a lie when I was young and how your stomach just drops out and your face goes flush as blood rushes to your head, I can almost empathise with Sherry right now. I don't agree, but I know how she'd be feeling. You see, Wayne confronted Sherry about Milliken's death. Julia spilled the beans to him about what really happened and now Wayne's pissed and Julia's freaked out. The cops are investigating Alan's death and Julia apparently doesn't have Sherry's cajones because she caves under the questioning pretty quickly, despite Wayne telling her to wait for her attorney to arrive.
Now, Wayne is talking to Julia on the sly. So David has no idea. Wayne decides to confront Sherry who was catching a nap in a spare office. He tells her he knows she stopped Julia from giving Alan his pills to which she replies, "You would have done the same thing had you been there." "I wouldn't have been there in the first place!" rails Wayne. Then Sherry deflects and tells him that she was brought in to clean up his mess and that sometimes the most complex problems have a simple solution. "You are insane!" he hisses at her. I don't think Wayne can reconcile himself to the fact that Sherry just let Milliken die like that. He also knows she's right about the reason she was brought in so he lets Sherry convince him they need to keep all of this from David. As long as Julia keeps her trap shut, they can keep it covered.
But as I said, Julia caved fairly quickly and it wasn't long before Sherry was receiving a call from the detective who was questioning Julia. This is where I can relate to Sherry getting caught in a lie :) It seems that the housekeeper saw a light-coloured Mercedes driving away not long before Milliken's body was discovered. It also seems that the security cameras were switched off recently. Sherry convincingly denies having been there despite the fact that Julia gave the detective Sherry's number. She tells him she's been at District with the President for the last five hours - which, she says, Palmer can confirm. Yikes. The detective seems to accept that, for now, but you can tell he's going to check on that. And now that Sherry has blatantly lied to cover her ass, she now has to somehow get David to go along with that. Seems like her lies are snowballing. But we'll have to wait five flipping weeks to find out what she tells David.
Meanwhile at the Batcave - I mean CTU, Chappelle is livid. Jack killed a material witness and his head's going to be on the chopping block if he allows Jack back out into the field. Jack says with utter conviction that Nina was going for her gun and he was defending himself. However, upon review of the security cam playback, Jack is conveniently blocking the view of Nina's arm that would have been going for her gun. But I love love love the way Jack steps up right into Chappelle's face - centimeters away - and looks him right in the eye and tells him it was self-defense, and that Nina would have killed Kim if hadn't shown up when he did. Chappelle accuses Jack of deliberately blocking the view of the camera, but Jack is adamant that he acted in self-defense and never wavers. All of this takes place up in Jack's office as he's changing clothes and getting ready to go back out in the field as soon as they have a lead on Amador and Alvers.
Chase comforts Kim back in the control room as she stares at Nina's body. Kim tells Chase that ever since Nina killed her mom she's wanted Nina dead. But now that she is she realises that it's not going to bring her mother back and she's unsure of how she feels about it. She also seemed a little upset that Jack sent her out of the room before he shot her so she can't be a witness to Jack's self-defense claim.
Tony's advising the staff about the recent events, and tells them they will need to widen their search for Amador. Michelle has new information that came from a Russian contact: several detonating devices were recently stolen from Russia and could be used to disperse the virus. He sends everyone off to do what they do best and it isn't long before Chloe gets a hit on one of Amador's bank accounts. It was active in the previous few minutes and soon Chloe, Adam, Kim et al are getting to work tracking the location.
Chase goes up to Jack's office and interrupts Chappelle's tirade to inform them they have a lead. Yet Chappelle is still reluctant to let Jack go back to work. So Chase steps up and defends Jack, saying that he's been working with him all day and that Jack's operating at a higher capacity than anyone else. He tells Chappelle they need Jack on this. Then Jack sends Chase out of the room and tells Chappelle it's his call. He's met with silence and Jack throws out a sarky little 'Thank you' that amused me as he walked out the door. Now he and Chase are on their way to intercept the virus - this time working together.
Something that just struck me... Earlier in the day Jack was adamant about keeping Chase out of danger now that he knows his daughter loves Chase. Was that just an excuse Jack was using so that Chase wouldn't cop on to the 'big picture'? Because now he seems fine with working with Chase again. He showed no reluctance whatsoever to taking off toward Amador with Chase in tow now. Hmmm...
Anyway, Chase and Jack have a small exchange in the car about Chase's daughter. Basically Chase tells Jack that it's between him and Kim and that the only thing they need to do right now is focus on the virus. Everything else can wait. I don't think Jack wanted to let it go though. But he did eventually drop it. You know there's so much extraneous stuff - repercussions for the day's incidents, both emotional and physical that I'm wondering if a lot of it will be tied up by the end of the 'day'. Sometimes I feel that the writers add these layers to Jack, Kim, Palmer et. al. and yet they don't go anywhere with them and we're left to imagine what will happen between Kim and Jack as he comes to terms with his addiction and the fact that Nina's dead now. I hope that the reunion they had last week where Jack states he's going to get help for the heroin thing isn't it and the subject is dropped from the show. Part of me really wants to know what happens to these guys after their epic days. Digressing again, sorry.
CTU closes in on Amador's position and Division is able to get an operative into the seedy nightclub where Amador is meeting a new bad guy, Saunders. Here is where I go cross-eyed because I don't quite understand it all. Saunders arrives and takes the vials of virus Alvers had been working on. At this time, Amador asks Saunders why he chose such a limited target, and not a leger one that would inflict more damage and casualties. Saunders tells him it's because he merely wishes to send a message. Eh? Okie. Saunders seems higher up on the food chain than Amador is because he began questioning Amador about his venture into Mexico earlier in the evening. I'm guessing Amador wasn't supposed to do that.
After Saunders shows Alvers how to work the stolen detonation device, he taunts Amador for believing that Jack Bauer had really flipped sides. He tells Amador that his greed nearly cost them this mission and now he's got the whole of CTU looking for him. Amador tells him that Bauer's story checked out to which Saunders replies, "Don't presume to tell me about Jack Bauer." Hmmmm... There is a transfer of funds from Saunders to Amador that Amador finds upsetting. He's only been given half of what was promised I guess. Saunders tells him it's because of his blunder in Mexico. Once the mission is complete he'll get the rest of the $200 million. We find out a little later that the 'limited target' is the Chandler Plaza Hotel. Alvers takes one vial of the virus, and a detonator and heads off to the hotel. As he enters, he gets a call from Amador and tells him the mission will take about 25 minutes.
The Division operative checking out the club reports via an earpiece/mic that an armed guard outside one of the back rooms as Jack and Chase arrive outside and prepare to storm the place. Just then the operative is grabbed by a thug and dragged into the room with Amador. As Jack loses the com signal he orders the SWAT team to storm the place. Mucho running through the building in classic Jack style and they end up catching Amador before he can escape. Very cool to watch Jack knock him down and basically sit on him until Chase can get in and help subdue him. He shouts 'Where is the virus?' at Amador. Amador tells him he's too late and that it's been passed off.
Coolest line of the night? "Take him in the next room Chase. I dont' want the SWAT guys interrupting us." Muahahahahah. This is in reference to Amador by the way. They're about to do the torture thang. As Chase slams Amador down into a chair, Amador starts bleating about how Jack betrayed him. Jack replies, "You betrayed me too. I'm just better at it." Another fecking cool line :) Well done writers :) Anyway, now the chinks in Amador's icy armour are starting to appear because you can tell he's afraid of something. Jack asks him where the virus is, and he just replies with stuff like, "He knows who you are. Don't presume to tell me about Jack Bauer were his words..." Jack's puzzled but doesn't let him deflect. He keeps hounding him about the virus location. Jack, almost smilingly because he's said this so many times before, tells him 'We can protect you.' Amador asks if they can protect his family (Amador's got kidlets??). Jack says yes, but then Amador contemptuously tells Jack he couldn't even protect his own family. Oh dear...
Finally Jack tires of Amador refusing to answer his question so he gets him in a chokehold, calls for Chase, and Chase proceeds to slice open Amador's hand with a buck knife. Amador, being the weenie he is, passes right out. Ironic as Chase had been shot through the hand only hours before and was up and about while Amador passes out like a wuss at a little cut. "When he wakes up, do it again." says Jack. Ohhh yeah. Meanwhile his phone's ringing and it's CTU asking for an update.
Some techs discover Amador's laptop which happens to have the entire scematics for the Chandler Plaza Hotel. Jack quickly puts two and two together and relays the info to CTU. Very quickly they mobilize a field unit headed by Michelle to go over there and either attempt to stop the virus outbreak or contain it if they're too late. Gael will be going along as well (yay Gael is back! I'm going to pretend he was down in the clinic getting checked out after his ordeal with Johnson). Michelle apparently is the most qualified person at CTU to handle the mission but Tony is not happy about it. Just before she left with her team they had a moment together, but the events of the day, and their mutual anger with each other prevents them from saying anything mushy or sappy before she heads off. I have a feeling they'll regret that later. On the way to the hotel, Gael tells Michelle that the secret Tony kept from Michelle about the Salazar mission has been eating away at him. I don't know if that placated Michelle very much but it was nice of Gael to tell her that.
The security head at the hotel is contacted and told of the potential virus threat and is told to lock down the building. No one goes in or out. He's also given a description of Alvers to pass around. As Michelle and her team arrive she's told by Tony that the NHS team is still 20 miutes out with the hazmat suits and orders her to stand down until they arrive. However, Gael pulls an image off the hotel's cams that clearly shows Alvers in the building. The head of security inside had noticed a suspicious looking maintenance man he'd never seen before and asked his assistant to check it out. Michelle makes a snap decision not to wait for the Hazmat suits and she and her team enter the hotel to try and stop Alvers before he has a chance to release the virus.
Meanwhile Alvers is actually in the building and he's down in a ventilation chamber. He arms the detonator right in front of a huge fan that blows air into the building. Michelle is on the hunt in the area the suspicious maintenance man was last spotted and does she ever look awesome prowling about the place, gun pointed and determination written on her face. Suddenly Alvers appears and she orders him to halt. He tries to play it off that he really is just a janito, but Michelle's not buying it. Alvers tries to make a break for it but Michelle is better trained and too quick for him. In some kickass moves worthy of Jack, she brings him down and cuffs him to some pipes. With a gun to his head and her claws digging into his neck he reveals the location of the detonator. Michelle relays the info to Gael who takes off for it.
Gael finds the detonator but he's on the wrong side of the fan and there's no time to find his way around through the basement maze of rooms to the right hatchway that Alvers used. He sees there's just enough space underneath the whirling blades of the giant fan for him to stick his hand through and try to reach the detonator. This is where I was biting my nails and cringing because I remember watching the episode of ER when Romano got his arm chopped off by the helicopter and being taken completely by surprise by that and I could just see something similar happening to Gael - and I just didn't wanna see it you know? :) But it doesn't matter because just as Gael's fingers touch the tip of the device, it goes off, smashing the vial with the virus in and a powdery substance is blown all over the place, but mainly right into Gael's face. Tick boom.
And that is how we're left hanging for the next month. *sigh* I miss having the DVD set at my fingertips and not having to deal with these interminable breaks. But what a compliment for the show, to have so many people ARGH-ing about the break because they cannot wait to see what happens next. I think that's pretty cool.
Don't forget you can join in the discussion about this episode on the 24addict forums :) :) :)
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