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) Is Agent Junior Redshirt still actually alive?
A: I know. It’s surprising. The writers may just keep teasing us all season with this kid’s obvious impending doom.
Previously on 24:
In an attempt to camouflage himself, Farhad paints concentric multi-colored circles on his chest, then stands up and waves his arms around. Surprisingly, he still gets shot…
Cole and Dana are still AWOL, out sinking bodies in the river. When Hastings asks where they were, they will claim an emergency meeting with their wedding planner. The original order of embossed napkins came out totally the wrong color, and they had to get it fixed right away, or the whole reception would be shot…
Jack and Agent Babyface lead the mission at the hospital, Operation Bait-The-Hook, and in a surprise move, the junior redshirt continues to live, against all odds. But his counterpart, Marco the Junior Terrorist failed to blow himself up because his detonator was tuned to 98.9 country FM. So now he has locked himself in the catscan machine and is trying to find some other way to self-expire. If Marco fails, this may be the last suicide mission that his superiors trust him with…
And Dana is truly an idiot to be continuing this conversation and even volunteering info about herself. “Yeah, I work for CTU, my bra size is 36C, and my bank account number is 534278754. Is there anything else you need? Should I abandon by job again to go meet you in some creepy dark place? Yes? I’ll be there in 10 minutes.”
Wow – throw Marco back into the chamber right at the last minute. Damn.
So was Marco lying about Tarin, trying to cover his buddies? Or is Tarin really the inside super-mole baddie…? In which case Omar’s paranoia was correct.
“Oh, wait, is that his name? ‘Kevin Walsh’? Yeah, I don’t know how he got my number, but he keeps calling me. Just what I need, a frakkin’ stalker! What a creep–so he’s a felon from Arkansas? Oh, that’s just lovely. OK, well, I hope you catch the creep, but I really have to go–National Security, major crisis, sorry I couldn’t be of more help, good luck, buh-bye!”
Given that Tarin is trying to drag the First Daughter of Kablooie-stan off to “file for asylum”…at 2:30 A.M…I’m pretty sure that he must really be a terrorist. Plus, I kept thinking that if one of those two isn’t a terrorist mole, the whole “We must find the President’s Daughter!” sub-plot is incredibly lame (although she is quite the hottie).
This episode I spontaneously started thinking “Who’s a little CTU agent? Who’s a little CTU agent? Yes you are! Yes you are!” whenever he was on screen.
When the terrorists across the street kept on tracking him through the binoculars, I kept expecting him to be sniped at any moment. I suspect he will get killed and/or play some significant role later on.
The whole chamber thing was frustrating and contrived. Every time he glanced over at the schematic I kept think, if only there were some way to prevent him from seeing what he was doing. Like, you know, turning off the frigging lights! Certainly there would be some way to cut the lights and lower the oxygen content from outside the chamber.
It was kind of ironic for Hastings to say how valuable Dana and her skills were and then have her get caught lying to the parole officer ten seconds later.
That was the Jack we all know and love. The only thing that could have been better is if he said, “You should see me with a hacksaw.” Or maybe, just tell Marco about his day. Since 4:00pm he has:
Played with granddaughter
Given up trip to LA to be with daughter and grand-daughter
Been tasered
Been knifed by a friend in the gut
Been tortured by a car battery to the balls
Been shot at with a shotgun at close range
Been tasered again
All this in 10 hours…and I may have missed something. And this is a relatively light day for Jack.
EXACTLY! The fact that this wasn’t her response proves just what an idiot Dana/Jenny actually is.
Of course, in this show, we’ve seen that CTU can trace and download the contents of any cell phone call within the hour – so chances are that Mr. Parole Officer would somehow go to her boss and find out what she actually said in those calls (“No, I’m not Jenny any more, leave me alone Kevin! Oh, and here are all the codes for breaking into the evidence warehouse…”). Come to think of it, that last call was a rather lengthy one…
Yeah, I was wondering why they didn’t smoke him out or knock him out by piping in some gas or something – something to just render him unconscious. I mean, that ploy worked last season when Jack and Tony were trying to get that foreign dignitary out of the panic room. And that was just a makeshift poison made from household supplies. They’re in a frickin hospital, for Bauer’s sake! Plenty of compounds and drugs that could be used to send somebody to happy-happy-sleep-land. Don’t tell me that the ventilation system for the oxygen chamber was more secure than the season 7 Panic Room…
I was also wondering about that attempt to “drill through”. I mean, they were drilling a tiny little hole. So what? How would that help them open the door?
Marco blowing up (after Jack shoved him back into the chamber) was kind of cool, though. Gotta admit.
Did they say why he killed himself? Marcos seemed to blame The Great Satan ™, but Mom reminded him that his father was “a complicated man.”
I believe it. He really could use an occasional bran muffin.
On Tuesday* Variety *ran a storysaying the decision to keep or cancel “24” will be made this week.
He was arrested during Wayne Palmer’s administration. IIRC, they said he was released without being charged after a few months, but lost his job. The “complicated man” was in response to Marcos saying his dad had “hated America”–well, yes; but he also moved to and lived in America, married an American woman, had an American son, and in any event (according to Marcos’ mom at least) would never have condoned political violence.
