Monday, April 30, 2007

24 Season 6: Episode 20 Recap
(Hour 1:00 a.m. - 2:00 a.m.)

WARNING: The following post may, and probably will, contain spoilers.

Let's see... where did we leave off. Oh yeah. Chang got away and Jack's been arrested. Audrey's mind is f'ed and the horny Evil Veep doesn't want anything to do with Brother Palmer's initiatives – if you can call them such a thing. Karen and Bill are having a lovers' quarrel and there are a few other things that no one cares about.

Running CTU 101
Nadia hits the ground running by being a mega bitch and giving orders to everyone. Morris comes in to talk about his request and Nadia denies the transfer (didn't see that coming) because they're in the middle of an international crisis – which isn't another government agency's job, if you were wondering.

Silver Spoon calls in and tells Nadia that Audrey is all sorts of screwed up. Nadia orders him to bring her back to CTU so one of their specialists can take a look at her. Silver Spoon tells Nadia what Jack's plan was and then tells the audience again that Jack is a hero because he was going to sacrifice himself to get Audrey released (thanks for beating it over our heads). Jack's plan would've worked, too, if it weren't for that pesky dog and those meddling kids if he wouldn't have messed it up. Nadia said that Jack went against a direct order from the White House – need I remind everyone that he really didn't since Brother Palmer okay'd the task at hand. The only directive that wasn't followed was Silver Spoon's, and that was to arrest and detain Jack.

Karen calls Nadia to tell her that the Russians know about the missing component. Audrey hasn't said anything yet, but that might be because The Shrink (Dr. Bradley) just showed up. Karen then emphasizes that it's super important that they catch Chang – you know, the thing that they were already trying to do. Karen says that if Nadia needs more resources, to ask. Nadia responds by saying they need Bill. Burn.

The Shrink meets with Nadia and acts all dick-like because he's on a "time-crunch," I guess because he has so many other patients to see at 1:20 am. The Shrink starts talking to Audrey and notices some weird spots on her arms. Meanwhile, Silver Spoon puts Jack in a holding cell as Jack begs him to take care of Audrey.

The Shrink continues his overview and Nadia interrupts him to introduce Silver Spoon. She explains that they're getting pressure from the White House to find Chang and that they need information from Audrey – which means that Jack will have to end up talking to her. The Shrink says that she's a type 3 catatonic that's capable of following simple commands and repeating words and basic phrases. Basically that means there's not much he can do unless there's an intervention, which is a fancy way of saying he wants to inject her with more drugs. The Shrink insists that this is the only way they're going to get information out of her... but wait, resident shrink Silver Spoon says that Jack can get through to her. The Shrink says that talking to Jack would likely upset her and when it's all said and done, it's not Nadia's call, district has put Audrey in his care. Silver Spoon gets pissed and tells Nadia to stop him and teaches her Running CTU Lesson #1:

Sometimes you gotta do whatever it takes... to break the rules.

Silver Spoon tells Jack that it doesn't look good and then releases Jack so he can go to Audrey. But first Jack has to make it look like Silver Spoon was attacked – never mind the cameras that are in every room. Jack uses the sleeper move on Silver Spoon and then knocks the rent-a-cop out. He grabs a gun and then makes his way into Audrey's room to choke The Shrink. Audrey leaves with Jack as The Shrink pulls the fire alarm.

Nadia rushes to Morris' computer and they pull up the video feed... sure enough, Audrey's gone. Nadia orders for everything to be looked down and Milo gives her Running CTU Lesson #2:

If only you had let Jack do what he wanted, none of this would've happened.

Morris confirms that Jack is still in the building. Nadia notices that Chloe is missing (but never follows up on it) and asks Silver Spoon, who is already back awake and on his feet, what the hell is going on. She practically nails it on the head as to what went down and Silver Spoon says he did what was necessary for the operation and for Audrey. Morris finds Jack in the lower levels and Nadia sends every one down there... except the Entry Team.

Jack gets into a room and then sabotages the door – luckily he doesn't have flashbacks as to this possibly being the room where his wife died. He sits Audrey down and tries to reason with her by reciting her life story. Nadia makes it down to the room but can't get in because it's jammed and learns Running CTU Lesson #3:

Always have the Entry Team ready.

Jack tells Audrey that he wants Chang to pay for what they've done to her and it looks like she starts to remember. He says all the right things, including a crash-course in getting over being tortured, and that's when Audrey grabs his nasty acid hand... we call that a breakthrough. Then the Entry Team busts in and Audrey finally says something. The Shrink is pessimistic, but Nadia takes note of all she learned that day and takes a chance to do things Jack's way. She sends Audrey back upstairs to the medical wing and Jack goes back into holding.

As the White House Turns
Karen briefs Evil Veep on the progress of finding Chang. Apparently, CTU is dedicating all of its resources to find them. Neither of them is hopeful that Chang will be found before he gets out of the country and it's near certain that Russia's defenses are doomed – ALL BECAUSE OF THIS OUT-DATED COMPONENT OF A NUCLEAR BOMB. Evil Veep then shows compasion about Karen's firing of Bill and tries to bury the hatchet by telling Karen that he values her work.

Invasion Chick goes home and is acting all suspicious-like. Then out of nowhere, she starts making out with Hornball (Bishop). Uh-oh! Again, out of nowhere, it appears that Invasion Chick is playing Evil Veep! She has her own hidden agenda

Evil Veep, Karen and Fish meet with Russian President Suvarov and he busts their balls about the component being stolen. Fish suggests that there MUST be a spy and is going to launch an immediate investigation into the staff. The situation is really serious and Evil Veep says to give CTU everything they need to find Chang... little does he know that they've already dedicated all of their resources to find him. For an government agency that complains about being shorthanded all the time, they sure do have a lot of resources at their disposal, I think.

Invasion Chick tells Hornball that she's going to shower to wash off their 5 minute sex romp. While she does that, Hornball swipes her PDA and downloads everything off of it in 2 seconds. He then calls Foreign Dude in Car (FDC) to tell him he's all done and that Invasion Chick has no clue. GASP! Another hidden agenda!?! Ten minutes later, Invasion Chick is all cleaned up and takes a call from Evil Veep – he's disgruntled (read: horny) and wants her to get back soon. Hornball wants to know what's going on and calls FDC to find out his next move.

Fish comes in and tells Evil Veep that he's identified the leak. Someone on the staff called Hornball a few times over the past two hours and this guy has possible ties to Russian Intelligence in the past... but the investigation was stopped due to a lack of resources. Fish says it's Invasion Chick. Evil Veep is dumbfounded and tells Fish that he's sleeping with her. Fish is speechless and then offers a potential back-stabbing ploy.

Invasion Chick shows back up, so Fish leaves and lets Evil Veep confront her about knowing Hornball. He then plays a taped message (from ten minutes earlier) from Hornball calling a known Russian intelligence agent (FDC). He's all pissed about her lying to him and he says that even if she didn't know she was helping, it's still treason... which the writers now want you to think, "oooo, that's ironic since you were trying to commit it earlier!" But don't fall for it. It's a cheap gimmick. Evil Veep tells her that she is to go back to Hornball and tell him that they've retreived the component.

Aw Hell-er!
You heard it here first, Heller is back and sitting with Audrey. He then tells Nadia that he wants to see Jack. Heller goes in and tells Jack to never go near Audrey again. It's all Jack's fault that she's a vegetable and Heller keeps telling Jack to stay away from her because he's cursed. Duh.

Miscellaneous Crap

  • Did anyone wonder about the two helicopters just sitting there at the beginning of the episode? Last week weren't they needing helicopters to chase Chang? If there were two right there, then why not continue the chase? Oh, because they want you to think that the ONLY lead is Audrey's swiss cheese brain.
  • Speaking of Chang, we only see him once this week hauling ass in a hummer. He starts to upload the contents of the nuke component to a computer, but there's a problem – the circuit board is damaged and can't be fixed without a security override. Now they have to find someone with expertise. Which basically means, don't worry about us this episode, we'll be back soon enough.
  • Morris and Chloe meet up in the hall and he tells her that he asked for a transfer. Chloe gets all upset and Morris tells her it's over and they're done. Good thing they're worrying about this and NOT catching Chang. Unfortunately, this won't be the end of that story line.

Wow, that was the lousiest cliffhanger I've ever seen. How would you ever follow that up? How about uncovering yet another terrorist activity – this time by the Chinese. Oh, and we finally figure out where Graem's wife went... does anyone remember her? You do? Do you still care? You do? Then I can't help you.

11 comments:

bh said...

If I could humbly offer a correction to your second bullet point under "Miscellaneous Crap": What the Chinese need now is not someone with expertise, but with "the necessary expertise." When dialogue is that beautiful, that carefully crafted, you've got to quote directly.

Wow, that episode was terrible.

Jonk said...

I think CTU might be at a new (but similiarly designed) location since it was bombed in Day 2.

So, Jack's wife probably did not die in one of those current basement rooms. But yes, it is close enough that I got that flashback, so it's a good thing Jack apparently did not.


I think one redeeming quality of this episode is that once Jack and Doyle got to CTU from the hotel, they stayed there. We didn't see them visiting 4 locales within one hour, so that was good.

Anonymous said...

They mentioned where Graem's wife went? When? I don't remember hearing her name mentioned at all last night.

Anonymous said...

"If only you had let Jack do what he wanted, none of this would've happened."

I hate it that the writers keep drumming into us that Jack is always right, all his decisions are always correct and the best option.

He is just one man and doesn't know everything!!

Seth Gunderson said...

You're right, Bryan, that was some beautifully crafted dialogue. Thanks for the clarification point. But I'm thinking that if I'm Chang, and I have the component, why mess around for another hour in the States? Why not just get the hell out of there?

Jonk could be right. CTU did get bombed... but I still think it's the same building.

Anonymous, Graem's wife was in the previews for next week. She told Jack that "when this day is over, she'll be there for him." You see, we have to believe that Audrey is too far gone for even Jack to save her -- now we have another un-needed love triangle. Either that, or Graem's wife can't get enough Bauer to fulfill her.

Triple-B said...

Thanks for wrapping up the story. I kinda dozed off wondering why the hell Cheng uploaded the schematics to someone in the US (I guess, since he spoke english) instead of sending it directly to China. Maybe it's because of the import restrictions on MWD components in China.

What a boring peace of junk this episode was.

Anonymous said...

So Chloe goes missing right after having an argument with Morris where she ripped him for arming the nukes for the terrorists. And the terrorists happen to need someone with IT ability to fix their little circuit board. What are the chances that Chloe DOESN'T get kidnapped by the Chinese? 0.0001%?

The only question is, where will she be when it happens? The across-the-street-from-CTU Quik-E Mart? Driving home? At home in the shower (shudder, shudder)?

She'll wind up fixing the circuit board so that her and Morris will be "even," then Jack will have to save the day for the last episode.

(BTW, who gets upset when their EX-spouse tells them they're through???)

Seth Gunderson said...

Ooooo! I love the Chloe theory and will bet that that's how it will go down. Morris will also have to help her somehow, he'll probably even have to go into the field, too.

Anonymous said...

If it is the same building as in season 1 or not, it could also be that Jack and Audrey were somewhere near the room where Nina died...

Anyway, congrats on this awsome post. This episode really sucked big time, and you have captured the essence of it once again.

And BTW, the way Hornball gets info from Invasion Chick is yet another reused plot line. In season 1, the blond Drazen got info from Palmer's staff member in a very similar way.

Anonymous said...

its really funny how you managed to watch every show all the while loathing it and writing a stupid blog about it .... Next time I advise you not to watch the show since it causes you so much distress... by the way 24 is one of the best shows out there too bad your just too cynical to understand!

Anonymous said...

Fag