WARNING: The following post may, and probably will, contain spoilers.
As the season winds down, we're inevitably "treated" to more suspense and twists – because that's what this season really needs, more twists. The sad part is that in this sixth season of 24, they have to explain everything to the viewers. It's not about us figuring it out on our own, they have to guide us along... because we're stupid. Do you all want a cookie? You deserve one for watching this episode.
CTU – The Most Under-Protected Government Agency EVAR!!!
Five minutes after Heller put the smackdown on Jack, he's still stunned. Nadia goes to visit Jack and informs him that Heller has left with Audrey (who apparently doesn't need to undergo any other medical treatment right now). Nadia also reiterates that Heller wants Jack to stay away from Audrey – alert, that means that something will happen to Audrey and/or Heller and Jack will HAVE to help either of them soon... thus getting him out of the doghouse.
The clue that Audrey gave Jack panned out. CTU has the place locked down and is awaiting Chang. Jack pleads with Nadia to let him go with the team because he's, everyone say it with him, "the best chance CTU has at stopping Chang." Nadia throws the fact that Jack disobeyed a Presidential order and that's why the component was stolen (again, not really... Evil Veep hadn't been sworn in at the time and Brother Palmer's order still stood). Jack curses at Nadia and says he want revenge on Chang, but she won't budge. She warns him to not try and escape or she'll have him put in restraints. Um, why isn't he in restraints anyway? Nadia was handcuffed when everyone thought her to be the mole, but not him. He needs to remain un-cuffed for some reason. Jack thinks maybe he can help from CTU... YOU'RE UNDER ARREST IDIOT, YOU'RE NOT GOING TO HELP ANYONE.
Suddenly, Chloe is seen back at her desk – guess it wasn't too necessary to point out that she was missing for a few minutes last week. Morris has spotted Chang's hummer with some weird x-ray type satellite and the new CTU-counselor Milo (who's hair is all disheveled now) asks Chloe if everything is okay. She says yeah, but he's not convinced. Morris butts in and explains the situation and tells Morris to stay out. Still, nobody cares.
Nadia briefs Silver Spoon's team about their mission and sums up how insanely dumb this entire season has been:
Russia will attack the US if CTU fails to recover the component. Think about that, if CTU fails to recover an out-dated Russian security component that can compromise their nation's security – the SAME component that the Russians stick into nuclear warheads that will ultimately detonate, thus destroying said component – Russia will attack the United States. This is the Counter Terrorism Unit, not some special ops group. If it's that important to recover, or destroy, the chip, why not send in every single military force you've got? Better yet, bomb the building that Chang is in. Case closed.
Silver Spoon tells Nadia that she's doing well and she exhibits a little Stockholm Syndrome by telling him to be careful. The ever-present not-doing-shit Milo sees her being nice to Silver Spoon and is discouraged.
Brother Graem's survivors are still at CTU. Josh is up watching the news and Marilyn is still looking fresh and hot for Jack. Josh goes all teen angst on the world and Marilyn does a great job of consoling him. Chloe walks up outside of their room with a transcript of her statement for review. Chloe tells Marilyn that Audrey is still alive and instead of asking who the hell Audrey is, Marilyn looks surprised... maybe because she really has no idea who Audrey is.
Chloe figures it would be okay to take Marilyn to see Jack – who's in holding since he's arrested. Jack explains to Marilyn the whole situation with Audrey and Heller. Marilyn then tells Jack that she and Josh are leaving in the morning (not now) and that she wants to bring Josh by. She also tells him that she'll be there for him after everything is over. Get off his nuts already.
Silver Spoon's men storm the building that Chang is in... but, oh no, it's the wrong one! Instead they find an aresenal of weapons. Silver Spoon calls in to Chloe and asks for Nadia. He tells her about all the weapons they found. Apparently, it's enough for a small army.
Meanwhile, in another building, The Attack Team (TAT) says goodbye to Chang and Computer Dude as they enter the sewer en route to their destination – CTU! Who saw THAT coming? A few minutes later, TAT shows up right underneath CTU – because sewers will lead anyone right underneath government agencies. They set charges and Computer Dude hacks in to CTU's security system to shut it down (this would be the second time that CTU's security was comprimised in 10 hours).
Milo updates Nadia about Bloomfield and then asks about Silver Spoon. Milo tells her that if there's something going on between her and Silver Spoon, it's okay. Wait, no it's not, because she'd be kinda slutty if there was. Nadia kissed you not six hours ago man, don't be a puss. Nadia doesn't know what she feels, it's been kinda a long day. Then Chloe tells Nadia that she found something on the satellite's back-logs – a nice angled computer animation that couldn't be from a satellite.
TAT's explosions detonate as CTU's security is compromised. Morris notices the system not responding correctly and suggests that it could be a hiccup in the server, but he can't figure out what's going on. Chloe figures out that Chang and his men went somewhere that was six blocks away from CTU. Then it hits Nadia, CTU is under attack and she orders a Code Red lockdown.
Morris still can't figure out how to get the system back online as TAT makes its way through CTU shooting people. Jack hears all the commotion and convinces the security guard to let him out. As Jack gets a gun and scores some kills, TAT demands to know who is in command. Milo steps up to protect Nadia. To bad for him, he gets shot dead – guess that means he can now go on to his new show next season. But more importantly, wow would they NOT know who was in command? If Computer Dude hacked into CTU's system, they'd know who was running the place.
Marilyn and Josh are found by the attack team, apparently they want Josh. Jack saves them and they start to leave CTU. They head down to the room where the syntox was released last season. Jack sends Josh up the ventilation shaft. TAT traps Jack and Marilyn and take them into custody.
Silver Spoon calls in and a member of TAT thinks they need to respond. The leader of TAT demands that Nadia stand up and confronts her about her actually being the ranking officer – then wonders why didn't he look at the roster earlier. He makes her talk with Silver Spoon, who berates her about taking too long and after they end their conversation. Then Silver Spoon suspects that something is up since Nadia is suddenly not all nice to him anymore.
Jack and Marilyn are brought down to the control room. TAT's leader talks to Josh over the loud speaker and says he'll shoot his mom if he doesn't show himself. Awww, he decides to save his mom and turns himself in.
BUT GET THIS... Daddy Bauer is behind all of the madness! He's fixing the circuit board in exchange for his grandson and plans to get into CTU. That double-crossing sonofa!
Oh, and then there's this stuff going on at the White House
Hornball is woken up by a phone call. Thirty minutes ago he was all excited and spry about getting laid and being a spy... now he's dead asleep? Invasion Chick calls to trick him into sending more intelligence to the Russians. She makes plan to go back home to have more sex and Fish explains how she's going to leave her pda around for Hornball to swipe. She says that she doesn't think she can do this and that she can't be with him again. Evil Veep chuckles.
For some reason, Fish goes with Invasion Chick to her apartment. Since they're making a big deal out of this, it's obviously going to go wrong. Invasion Chick heads inside and Fish calls in to Evil Veep to keep him briefed. She heads up to the door and Hornball surprises her by opening it for her... he's already suspicious, because she's tense. Hornball wants to "loosen her up," sicko. She says that she's going to freshen up first, but Hornball calls her bluff... he totally wants her. They do it.
Reader Comment
Got this comment from Jonk regarding this week's episode:
Just watching this week's hour....
Has anybody here played "24: The Game"? They are now stealing from the game. Literally plot point by plot point.
In case you haven't played it: CTU is attacked by some goons (including an Asian guy), a CTU computer geek is shot in the head in front of everybody, and Kim must stay away from the baddies by hiding in the air vents. Also, come to think of it.... like the video game, Jack picked up a better weapon every time he came across a dead body.
Wow. The writers are now stealing from the video game? Then how is it that this season was such a challenge to write? This it pitiful and ridiculous and HARDLY what an "Emmy award-winning" show does.
Thank God there is only three hours remaining, I don't think I can put up with many more "twists." However, I actually can't wait to see what the writers have in store that will make the entire series shift in a different direction. Oi vey.
18 comments:
Actually, Marilyn knows who Audrey is. Remember? She told Jack that Audrey died.
And one more thing about Marilyn.
When she and Josh realized something was wrong at CTU, and when the two TAT guys spotted them, she pulls a sofa to the door, so they can't get in. A sofe to a GLASS door, to keep two ARMED men out. Fancy thinking, Marilyn. And even if the glass was bulletproof, the two TATs could VERY EASILY push the sofa away, 'cause they are all sorts of stronger than Marilyn is. (Which is what they did.)
And why was Fish handling the surveilance op? Shouldn't someone a bit more experienced do that? After all, they were preventing an attack on the USx (as they mentioned about a dozen times in case we forgot). So I was thinking maybe a CIA agent, or the Secret Service might be doing that instead of Fish? i guess these two agencies are too busy NOT HELPING CTU to stop a war...
Great episode, really. Kinda like watching Die Hard, only without all the good stuff from the movie.
And the way how they totally ignored Chloe's vanishing act, that was very lame.
Thanks Ivan. I was well aware of Marilyn "knowing" who Audrey was. It's juuuuuuuuust a bit of a disconnect for me when earlier in the season Graem asked Jack how long it had been since they saw each other. The answer was Teri's funeral. Unless Graem was letting Marilyn know what Jack was doing he disappeared off the grid, I'm not entirely sure that she would know. And I doubt Graem was that forthcoming with information.
Nice job man and thanks for commenting on mine too. I've played the 24 game and didn't even pick up on the stolen plot points.
I have to say, I'm hoping the last three hours are better than the rest of this season. I also find it odd the the civil unrest factor hasn't played much into the plot. Shouldn't society be going out of their minds at this point?
No way! We citizens are dumb to what's going on in our country, much less other countries. Remember 9-11? I barely do because it didn't bother me one bit that there was a terrorist attack. I remember going into a convenience store that day and making some comment like, "crazy day, eh?" to people inside.
/sarcasm
yeah, and I went to buy some smokes the other day and the shop owner tells me a nuke went off... I had no idea
The way the creators handled the whole 'nuke went off and thousand of people are dead' situation is extremely poor. The breaking point of ridiculousness was when Jack was on his way to the motel and they showed us the casual, light nocturnal traffic on the highway. Those were probably the people who found out about the nuke from the news
Well, I suppose that the writers didn't want to rehash yet ANOTHER storyline by copying the riots that ensued several seasons ago when that giant EMP went off. So people not knowing that a nuke exploded in their city isn't too much of a stretch. Especially when an Aqua Teen Hunger Force Lite-Brite is thought to be a bomb and makes national news in a matter of seconds -- what a farce.
The whole thing in yesterday's episode with Lisa Miller and the lobbyist/spy was creepy and boring. I couldn't wait for that scene to end.
The first 10 minutes and the last 20 minutes of the episode were great, but the middle half hour almost made me fall asleep.
And about Milo dying, I was never really attached to the character, so I don't care either way. That's the problem with 24 now. There's too many characters that I'm just not attached to. Even last year after Tony, Michelle, and Palmer I were killed off, they still had the Logans, Mike Novick,
Aaron Pierce, and Curtis Manning to follow. I looked forward to watching all of those characters every week. This year none of them are around, and Chloe, who was intriguing in the past, has a lame part this year.
I'm still going to buy the Season 6 DVD set, but only to watch the parts with Jack Bauer, Fayed, and Gredenko. And some of the stuff with Phillip and Graem were good too. I'm fast forwarding through everything else.
At the risk of sounding too obsessive about minute details, one of the parts of the last episode that really, really bothered me was Nadia's telephone chat at gunpoint with Doyle. Once this season, and once last season, 24 established that "distress codes" exist for when someone is communicating under duress. Jack used one in the beginning of season 5, and the Russian general (or whoever) used one when speaking to Fayad (I think) this season. My questions is this: why didn't Nadia use a duress code when speaking to Doyle? Does she not know about them?
It's a small needle in this season's haystack of inanity, but for some reason this kind of thing bothers me even more than the insultingly expositional dialogue (did everyone get the hint that Chang was undertaking an IMPORTANT operation?).
When the writers violate the rules they have already established, without any explanation, it just makes the show feel either creatively bankrupt or just hostile towards the audience.
Bryan, some might tell you that it's searching for a needle and that this is just a tv show and that you should just sit back and enjoy it.
But I'm with you. I can't enjoy a show that runs circles around itself and thinks that it can change the rules whenever it seems fit to help the story "progress."
Like every time they can narrow something down with the satellites and then the next minute the satellites aren't responding. Or the component deal where last year they rigged something to self-destruct but Jack had to use C4 this time around. Or maybe not monitoring Jack's holding cell OR putting him in handcuffs again after escaping the first time.
Establish rules, play by them and invent creative ways to tell the story without breaking them. Are the writers a bunch of 4 year olds?
Are the writers a bunch of 4 year olds?
Yes. Four year olds with an Emmy, if you can believe that.
The only thing I believe is that they were awarded that Emmy after their first few seasons and being overshadowed by The West Wing and other shows that were actually written well.
It is OK to kill americans but if you invade my embassy all hell will break loose. Chiness shot our helicopter and we are not even getting on the chiness nerves? They did when ctu attacke chiness.
Hey folks, what's the problem here? This episode was amazing. They had at least 20 minutes without Chloe and Let-Me-Fix-Your-Nuke-For-You-Morris doing unspeakable acts of technology abuse.
Plus they killed Milo. Now Chloe can feel attached to LMFYNFY freely and Silver Spoon can go all Lego on Nadja (to quote Scott Adams)(no, I don't get the reference either).
And Jack used a big gun this time. Not the tiny little in-your-pants variety he always carries.
The rest of the show was crap. I admit it.
In several other message board/forum systems the question is being asked already:
"Did "24" SUCK this season? What do you think?"
My one-word answer for the description of this season in general is "disjointed."
Never before have we had so many different pieces floating around, that never come together to form something solid, and it has not only hurt the "show" but it's hurt the most important piece of what is 24 fandom - the viewers. Only a few shows have the "honor" of being on the top 20 all of their run on television, and last week? You guessed it:
24 wasn't even on the Top 20 shows last week.
You have to write smarter, you have to write with respect to the viewers and my most vital survival comment this week on our 2GuysTalking: 24 Podcast:
24 MUST find a way to write for us, more intelligently, in a way that takes out the hallmark "SOAP OPERA-esque" crap out of it. There has to be smart writing that allows our characters to interact without thinking that they all want to go into a corner and hump or be jealous that someone else is doing the same thing every time we see them. it's sickening and MUST STOP for 24 to survive.
What do YOU think? Are you ready for some smart, intelligent, engaging writing? I know I am.
I was watching 24 on my MythTV when I heard this "r72 socket" thing. So, I alt-F2 over to fluxbox workspace 2 and google for it in Firefox.
I can't figure out what an r72 is supposed to be, but I did find this article (which I cannot finish reading until I finish this episode). If they would have said "RS232 socket/port" I would have gave them some geek cred. Too bad.
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