FAQ Bauer (aka Thread Rules) 1) What can be discussed in plain text, unboxed?
A: Any events in episodes, once aired on the east coast – as well as any speculation based on these already-aired events.
2) What should I confine to spoiler boxes?
A: Any discussion of upcoming shows that contains information from sources outside the aired material, or any speculation based on such things. This includes the “Next week on 24” previews, which some people choose not to watch.
3) If the baddies capture you and want you dead, what’s your best survival option?
A: Have Jack be the one ordered to kill you. But you’re still not going to enjoy it.
Previously on 24…
A badly-designed panic room with an easy access ventilation system, and Jack smoked 'em out. So Emerson’s band now has Prime Minister MumbaWumbaMambo and his wife.
Agent Rowrrr ordered killed, and Jack was tasked to do the deed. Now that she’s lying in a ditch with a grazing neck wound (instead of a large hole in her brain), plastic wrap over her, and a layer of dirt over that, I’m wondering how she’s feeling about Jack at this very moment.
General Butthead’s deadline has passed (1 PM), and the troops are not withdrawn, so presumably he’s going to do Something Bad[sup]TM[/sup] this hour. Any predictions as to what? Plane crash? or something worse?
So what story are Jack and Tony planning to tell Nichols when he comes to pick up the Motobos? Specifically, about where Emerson is and why they are now running the show. Not that it really matters, since Dubaku and Nichols are going to be double-crossing Emerson’s team anyways
So what’s going to happen with Mr.First Husband? It looks like he’s killed (or at least incapacitated) the evil Secret Service agent, but will anyone believe him when he claims innocence? And what about the other evil agent who brought the chick to her apartment? Did he go back to wherever he was before, or is he still hanging around outside…
The dead agent has Saran Wrap all over his arms-I think the First Hubby may get a pass there. In any event his naivete` * is all blown to hell now-will be interesting to see how cool he plays it, esp. with Mole #2 waiting outside…
I am still a bit suspicious of Agent Ginger-there’s something about her that rubs me the wrong way. I guess I am playing the little game of “Spot the Mole” again, old habits die hard ya know…
(How do I activate the accent mark which goes the other way? Always bugged me…)
I must have missed something because I cannot figure out when/how Jack told Bill and Chloe where agent Rowrr was buried. Was Jack or Tony wearing a wire?
The premise of the season is really starting to bother me. Like in the beginning when one of the President’s aides said it would take something like 12 hours to get all the planes on the ground. Huh? In real life, they managed to do that in like 3 hours after 9/11. And a chemical plant having network access to its unit operations? Ugh.
Anyhow I guess I can ignore that somewhat since it only serves as a backdrop against which the main stories play out. I am interested to see what the First Laddy’s next move is. I didn’t think he had it in him to strangle somebody to death with his bare hands.
Did I miss something last week? When they were shoveling the dirt on the FBI agent, I don’t recall seeing any cellephane (or whatever) over her face? And how did her rescuers know where she was, that she was buried, and the medical care she would need?
I find this exceptionally annoying. If they just canceled all future takeoffs they would have all planes landed in less than 12 hours. I’m not an aviation expert, but I assume this is true because I know it doesn’t take 12 hours to fly across the US. Presumably in 12 hours none of the planes flying in the US right now will still be up there.
Jack is wired and they’ve shown Bill and Chloe listening in on him before. So all he’d have to do was speak directly to them while out of Emerson’s earshot.
But, much as I love 24, I find myself picking a lot more nits than usual this season. Like, how does a skinny older guy who’s just getting over they effects of a paralyzing drug manage to overpower a trained Secret Service agent? Sure, he had the element of surprise on his side, but it seems to me the agent would be able to just laugh and easily remove the guy’s hands from around his throat.
Also, it’s been established that the “device” can mess with air traffic control and interrupt communications. But that doesn’t explain how they can ram two planes into each other at will in a clear cloudless sky. The pilots are still controlling the planes, right? (“Flight 247, this is air traffic control. Please adjust course directly into the path of that Southwest Airlines 737 over there.” “Roger that, air traffic control.”)
Sorry, not trying to be a contrarian here. I do love this show. Just getting tired of all these WTF moments…
I guess any question about whether 2**4 generates as much interest this year as in past years is answered by the low number of postings on this thread 14 hours after the last episode ended.
Toss in the midair collision too. All the pilots still in the air know something seriously bad is up, thus they will be hyper-vigilant. The skies are perfectly clear when we get the shot out of the window of the collision, but neither cockpit crew ever saw the other plane until the moment of doom? At night when everything seems normal I could buy.
Not going to bail-yet. But while watching Burn Notice later last night I wished that 24 was as clever and witty as that show is. And would it hurt to have a little bit of comic relief here and there during a 24 hour span of time?
I’m really glad that Emerson had been somewhat suspicious of what Jack and Tony were up to, as I thought that was the biggest dumb point of the season so far.
Obviously the actual logistics of how the CIP device works, why they can’t just call up all the planes and say “ignore any advice you get that sounds suspicious”, etc., is all WAY out there on the ridiculous scale, but I’m willing to basically view it as a giant McGuffin.
I was also glad that the former-first-daughter-in-law died… random good guys dying, particularly hot female ones, always keeps the suspense up on whether other people (aside from Jack) will make it.
Not a great episode, overall, but I’m still enjoying the season.
Actually, I can still buy that… or at least suspend my disbelief sufficiently. I’d chalk it up to adrenalin-filled rage. Also, he didn’t really overpower the guy; rather, he managed to push the both of them over the railing, and it was the force of the fall that killed creepy SS agent guy.
Yeah, it was the fall that killed him, but first they struggled for a time on the balcony, and I had a hard time buying that Gedge couldn’t have just pushed Taylor aside with minimal effort.
I guess my bigger point is that although 24 has always stretched my ability to suspend disbelief, it’s never been as close to breaking as it is this year.