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) How come Jack and Tony couldn’t wipe out all of the baddies at the shipyard? I mean, there were only 12 of them.
A: I know… they seem to be slipping. Perhaps it’s because Jack hasn’t stopped for lunch in the past 15 hours.
Previously on 24…
The First Daughter continues her Reign of Snottitude, pulling the old “how-dare-you-accuse-me-of-leaking-info-THIS-time” trick to guilt the President’s chief advisor to resign in shame… even though she did leak the info.
The First Dad has recovered from successful surgery. For now…
The First Hamster is glad that he’s safe in his cage, in an obscure area of the White House that has not been overrun yet with terrorists, reporters, or cats.
Jack and Tony plan a sneaky ambush at the shipyards, planning to destroy their enemies (with their own clearly superior numbers – Jack and Tony against a measly 12). While this is usually sufficient, they only managed to bump off about half of the baddies, Jack stole their truck-full-o-bio-weapons, Tony was captured, and Commander Tripp escaped… hopefully to go get reinforcements with phaser rifles.
Jack braved the bio-steam, fended off the bio-nasties, and shut off the bio-valve with his bare hands. But the baddies airlifted the nasty goop away with a chopper, and now Jack is starting to get the sniffles. Will FBI agents show up in time? Will they bring Jack some achy-sneezy-stuffy-head-oozing-goo-open-sores-coughing-blood-going-into-convulsions-twitchy-eye-fever-so-you-can-rest-medicine… in time?
Wow, an hour after the show, and no comments whatsoever… Anybody watch it? Okay, I’ll start.
A slow episode for Jack, most certainly. He did get to have Agent Rowrrr making sad eyes at him, but that’s about it.
I saw the FBI rushing in and the building empty thing coming when they were heading into that building with no resistance. However, they did make whats-his-face (Greg?)'s intentions a bit ambiguous. I’m still wondering whether he pulled that diversion of his own initiative, or if Jonas sent him to do it. Because he did shoot the guy who was about to shoot Tony – and clearly HE wasn’t in on it. Nor, I suspect, was the guy that Tony bonked on the head outside the gate.
Jack: “Oh – I’ve already had these scars for a while…” heh – good line. Quarantine gal was looking at him like “Damn that stuff takes effect fast!”
So, miraculous cure, or antidote will be available, just in time? Or will Jack go through season 8 with a twitch? (I’m pretty sure Keifer Sutherland has contracted for at least through season 8…) Or will he be in that 5% Michelle-Dessler-style immune to this particular virus-bio-nasty-thingy portion of the populace?
So now the First Snot is Acting Chief of Staff. “Only until we can hire Ethan’s replacement”. Yeah… like Olivia’s going to give that post up…
I am glad that President Taylor managed to say something useful like “assemble the Cabinet and Joint Chiefs” instead of her usual “Oh, this is outrageous!” comments.
Geez, Agent Rowrr, couldn’t you throw a pity fuck Jack’s way? Or at least a handey in the lonely debriefing room of sadness?
And… weaponized Mad Cow disease? Has the series gone through every other possible major threat already? Lessee, nuke (check), virus (check), shadow conspiracy infiltrating the highest levels of government (check and check), hackers (check)… okay so maybe they have.
I’m pretty sure they showed the guy who’d been “shot” up and walking around towards the end of the episode–i.e., the entire “informant” thing was a ruse from start to finish. (Which I totally saw coming–that whole “it’s in the manual” conversation between Hodges and the weaselly double-agent guy–they knew they’d never break Tony with torture, so they decided to put him in a position where he could act all heroic, but use him to screw with the Feds.)
And Agent Walker can de-brief me anytime she wants.
I actually thought this was going to happen as well now that Jack is dying she was going to finally give in. There’s a ton of tension between them and it’s been building for so long.
I guess Acting Chief of Staff is a post that does not call for a security clearance.
The Starkwood story has gone completely off the rails. What possible plan or endgame could Jon Voight’s character conceivably have in mind now? Suppose they do drive Moss’s team off – then what? They go back to business as usual on their government contracts? They seal off the base and declare themselves a hostile nation?
Obviously, 24 always operates with a huge amount of dramatic license, but I just can’t see any way to connect the current plot with anything resembling reality.
I liked almost all of this episode. Jack being left on the sideline, while getting us less of Jack kicking ass, is actually something he’s hardly ever had to deal with before. (Although of course now he’s the only ass-kicker left in the otherwise undefended FBI office?). And I’m curious where they’re going with him being infected. Maybe Jonas has an antidote and will bargain for his life with it?
The one thing I really did NOT like was the bit with Olivia. So 4 hours ago she wasn’t speaking to her mother. 3 hours ago she was being hustled away and learned her father had been shot. 2 hours ago she had a knife an inch from her eyeball. 1 hour ago she was busy setting up Ethan. And now she’s started on as her mom’s adviser, calm as a cucumber?
Olivia’s not the only one who’s gone through some rapid relationship mending. 40 minutes ago, Jack was Public Enemy 1. Now he has Mad Jack disease and it’s sad looks all around and he’s on first name basis with every one (“Jack was infected, oh noes!”)
The CDC team has * amazing * response time. The FBI didn’t even know there were biologic weapons until five minutes before the end of the last episode, but this episode opens with Jack being decontaminated by people in bubble suits. (Another case where they’ve clearly fudged the real time conceit.) They also were able to identify an incredibly obscure pathogen in fifteen minutes.
Speaking of which, the bad guys clearly don’t care if they live or die. A damaged framework containing Incredibly Nasty Stuff is being dropped by helicopter onto your loading dock (a touchy operation at best) and everyone just stands around watching. In a well-run Evil Organization, they’d at least have gas masks or bubble suits.
Obviously Tony was being setup. In the 24 Universe, there ought to be a poster on the President’s wall that says “The moment you sign a pardon for a terrorist, they will screw you over.” Still, it was remarkably fortunate for Agent Moss’s team that they * were * being setup. They were attacking what is essentially an army base with three unarmored helicopters. Sitting ducks for Stinger missiles, and their infiltration technique is pretty questionable. Hit the ground from three helicopters and then * sneak up on the building using hand signals?* Guys – if there’s anyone in the building, they know you’re there.
I do wonder where the bad guys get so many henchmen who are will to spit in the face of the FBI. Generally speaking, once you aim a machine gun at federal agents, your chances of ever retiring peacefully drop substantially.
The whole immunity story bit - wait, wasn’t that done back in season 3? Doesn’t anyone remember Nina Meyers?
Me, I’d have written the Immunity agreement contingent upon full cooperation and no lies. Standard lawyerese that a person really wanting to comply shouldn’t have a problem with, but someone setting up the government is putting himself in deeper kimshi.
So stand down but arrest the jerk off for interfering with a government investigation, lying to Federal investigators, and anything else you can throw at him. Hey, the Immunity agreement was in relation to activities in producing a bioweapon and helping terrorists invade America, not lying about the location of the weapons or dicking the Feds around. I bet that would even stick.
Then while waiting for his lawyer, threaten to put him in with Jack. Make a big show of Jack being in isolation. Does that guy know the infection isn’t contagious from a host? Let him see the effects of the weapon first-hand.
Okay, I have a thought about how 24 will play out. We were questioning how Starkwood could expect to profit from this (mis)adventure once the government knew they were behind the whole thing. The Jon Voight character seems to be pretty calm about the recent turn of events and even appears to have anticipated some of them with the apparent setup of Tony. I think he has a cure for the bioweapon disease that he wants to sell to interested parties. Frighten people with the weapon, offer cure, profit! The side benefit is that Jack gets saved in the process also. Whaddya think?
All that I can think of would be a country, let’s say the Chinese, actually going to war with us and invading US soil. After a few victories by the Chinese, Jack somehow gets put into play.
PLease elaborate on that. You mean Jack would be really pissed because the Chinese held him prisoner for so long? They did it rather well. I expected him to escape from a high security Chinese prison and the Chinese government would be begging for admittance as a United States territory within weeks.
