Monday, April 02, 2007
"Show me your head." 9pm-10pm
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.
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.
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12 Comments:
One of the problems I have been having about this season's plot lines is about what's supposed to be the main plot around Fayed. As it turned out, due to all those seemingly endless irrelevant subplots, it was reaching a point where it became almost impossible to remember who the heck Fayed was. In fast, it's never been explained what exactly his agenda was all about. There was some indication that he was maniplulated by Gredenko. But Gredenko is now apparently dead and doesn't look like the ultimate terrorist mastermind anymore. And now Feyed is captured and it's not even close to the closing hour. Which leads me to conclude Feyed wasn't the main plot at all. Since the first season, big part of the plot lines have been about those impossible nightmare scenarios which somehow found their ways to materializing through a series of hodgepodge events. Also: the show had a tendency to make things deeply personal to Jack's life. All things considered, maybe in the end it's all about Jack's dad and Audrey somehow. Will see.
I agree with your post and the comments:
1. There is no 24 without Jack. Period.
2. I was in agreement with you about Palmer's miraculous recovery, but alas we see he's not really recovered.
3. And what about Jack's dad? I sure hope they resolve that!
4. I need help understanding Gredenko's motives? He lets Fayed cut off his arm (how long can a guy last with a severed arm before he bleeds out???) to save them, then gave him up in the bar, then collapses and (supposedly) dies. What was he trying to accomplish? I just don't really follow that.
4. I agree - more Chloe.
5. As far as Fayed being the main plot, there is always a bigger plot than what you think. That's 24.
Wayne's recovery is completely unrealistic. He had been set on heavy drugs for the coma and you simply cannot recover from that within some minutes. I am sure Wayne's change of mind in favor of launching nuclear attacks is due to the adrenalin he had just been given.
I imagine Audrey, Logan and Jack's dad sitting in a bar now and having a good time.
A lot of good points made here about the show. Yes, it is getting confusing. I can't keep track any longer of everybody's agenda.I missed Jack last night too. I certainly don't get the Grendenko thing: he can't last long without medical attention.
I am speculating that Doyle is looking to set up Milo. That "good guy" act was just totally out of character for him.
Another thought...could VP Daniels now help save our country? Palmer's sudden change of heart is alarming (maybe a product of an OD of adrenaline?)Somehow I think Daniels is going to come out smelling like a rose-just a hunch.
I too would love to know the whereabouts of Jack's dad. He is the ultimate bad guy in this whole scenario.
How about Daniels somehow doping up the pres, say putting something in the adrenalin. Is there a drug that could get the Pres to change his outlook/thinking so quickly?
There were a couple of interesting moments this week, however those were once again overshadowed by ridiculous and unbelievable plot turns. I enjoyed Tom standing up to the veep and I enjoyed the conversation between Karen and Bill.
I'm tired by the show expecting us to believe that people in prominent positions knowing of there co-workers illegal behavior and not going public with it. In the case of Tom and the veep, I would have liked Tom to reveal the veeps illegal behavior to the cabinet.... and what about Tom being bound and gagged and beaten, just a few hours ago! Give me a break.
Next the decision for two terrorists to meet at SANTA MONICA PIER! Cmon, there's plenty of back alleys and dim gas stations in LA to meet at. But to meet on a pier/amusement park with one way in and one way out. At least the story line could have had a cigarette boat race up to the end of the pier and whisk Gradenko and Fayed off, now that would be cool and a reason to meet at a pier in the first place. Instead Gredenko chooses to lob off his arm, the group decides to exit the pier -through a crowded bar and well we all know the rest. That is all just completely stupid. They should have met at a Starbucks and then Fox could have collected some serious product placement dollars, at least.
As far as Wayne waking up from the deaths grasp, putting his coma behind him in an hour... sheesh, I have a harder time clearing my head after waking up in the morning after taking a couple Tylenol PM. Then to have Wayne completely turn on his beliefs and actually fire the nuke! I guess, if you want to blame it on the adrenalin shot....
Cmon 24, cmon Kiefer - I think I'm not the only one really struggling to hang on this season..
I love 24. I love 24. I love 24. Now that said, I also need to say: Worst...episode...ever. 25th Amendment AGAIN? Chopping off an appendage AGAIN? I used to marvel at Miami Vice for running as long as it did on plots only involving, well, vice: drugs 'n sex. Of course CTU has only one note to play, terrorism, so I am totally fine witn the fact that the plots and characters will be similar over the seasons. We're not going to see an IRA or a Basque blowin' up the world. We'll see stateless Islamists or the occasional nutty rogue with a super-virus. But do we HAVE to trot out the 25th Amendment again? I had to look it up in my handy-dandy pocket constitution the last time they tried to use it on a Palmer du Jour.
I'd like to unleash the cougar in the presidential bunker. Noah Daniels is a mustache-twirling cartoon bad guy. His breathless sidekick is cartoonish too (I LOVE her in Nero Wolfe, playing a myriad of wonderful parts).
Milo and Nadia...I'm yawning with you, Melia.
What did I like? Tom Lennox was terrific, and Karen too. I'm not floored by Wayne's decision....he never said he WOULDN'T do this when he thought the time was right. He's the intimidated baby brother, like he probably always has been.
I like Doyle very much, and I do suspect he is being groomed to be Jack 2. If that is the case, I will give him a chance, if he is set up properly.
Audrey is dead. She's just dead. No gimmicks, I'm thinking.
I missed Chloe's unintentional levity. Her remarks are always priceless.
Anyway, I'm still strapped in for the ride, but ugh, what a silly episode.
*** possible spoiler ***
Audrey is not dead. Kim Raver is on the cast list for this season of 24 for episodes 10:00 pm until 6:00 am. You will see her in next Monday's episode.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005339/filmoseries#tt0285331
IMDB has never been particularly trustworthy. Where do they get their information? It is often wrong.
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The person who said this season is overshadowed by ridiculous and unbelievable plot turns was spot on. I love 24 but it has lost something this season, its getting too ridiculous for 'suspension of disbelief.' What happened to Logan? Dead we presume although they just left it hanging in the balance in a messy way (no pun intended). Where is Jacks dad?
I thought this ep was good for the most part but was ruined by The Palmer-Nuke Firing debacle at the end. In fact the whole Palmer coma/Lennox not telling him about what REALLY happenned with the Bomb plot (although was too late when he had found out, perhaps they can avert/divert the nuke strike if Lennox comes clean next week about it all in time) is beyond a joke, .. have to say the plot and scriptwriting sucks ass bigtime this season. One armed Gredenko bites the dust after grassing up fayed..wheres the sense in that?
I agree that Doyle looks as though he may well take over from Jack at some point and he should be given the chance to do so if thats the case. Its all rather undewhelming and disappointing atm. Bring back Heller for Pres next season please.
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