Having the President fly to L.A. makes as much sense as having a guy who is not a fulltime pilot taking care of a live atomic bomb. If something’s that important, I would rather have someone who was an expert pilot handling the airplane.
I hope the government reimburses the owner of the plane for the loss.
“Mr. Payback” (a.k.a. Gregg Henry) is the mystery man who calls Jack in next week’s teaser. I just saw a glimpse of him, but it’s his eyes, his voice. I’m pretty sure it’s him.
I also knew that George would stow away in the plane and let Jack parachute out. Wonderful ending to him. He isn’t such a “moist turd” (a description another Doper came up with last season) after all. RIP George.
I also was impressed that Kim wasn’t quite as lame this week, by not getting into the sleazeball’s car. Can’t understand why she got out of Nice Lady’s car, though. Who knows. The woman who plays Nice Lady is recognizable to me (I think she gets steady work on TV, etc.) so maybe she’s going to have more of a part later on. Who knows.
Not that I was entirely on the mark, but from my speculation in the 5 PM - 6 PM thread:
(Okay, so I was off on a few points… 
)
i need a DEATAILED description of what went down.
We are onyl up to episdoe 5 or 6 in Australia… i have read all the way up until this week… it hasnt been posted yet!
Someone please…
all i know is jack takes the bomb somewhere in a plane and it blows up with that dude in it…
DETAILS PPL!
Watching the preview again, I am very sure that the Mysterious Guy on the Phone is the seventh commando.
Check out the episode summaries on The Official 24 Site - they’re extremely thorough. I don’t know if the new ep is up yet, but if not, it will be in the next day or two.
I’ll be another to chime in and confess that I got all weepy during the Jack-Kim conversation. It hit too close to home. I watch the show every week with my 18 year old daughter.
We simultaneously said “Mason is going to stowaway on the plane and Jack with parachute out” as soon as Mason appeared at the airport. It was a bit obvious, but I have to give them credit for building the suspense. They waited a long time to reveal that George really was on the plane.
I thought the writing for this episode was better than usual. The Jack-Kim conversation was well done. The George-Jack dialogue was well done. And I liked that they fully explored the desert vs ocean options.
And while I thought it was weird that Kim wanted out of the car driven by Nice Lady, at least it’s consistent. Someimes I think the writers deliberately have Kim do something stupid each week just to get a reaction from the audience. We all want o throw something at the television, but look how we talk about it the next day around this cyber water cooler.
Could someone confirm that they are skipping two weeks? I’m going to be in California on a business trip next Tuesday and it’s unlikely that I’ll be able to catch the show. If it’s not going to be on then I don’t have to bother taping it. Thanks.
Three weeks…
Three weeks?
THREE WEEKS!?
All for American Idol?
I’m not buying the whole Kim storyline. At least she had some reason to be involved in the story last season. This season they seem to be keeping her simply to keep up viewership with the all important young male demographic. Exhibit A: The running. The prosecution rests.
Also, my vote for the three countries was Canada, Switzerland, and Australia. Then he mentioned the Middle East, so I guess they’re out. Still, don’t trust the Canadians…
That’s funny, but seriously until they mentioned they were “three Middle Eastern” countries, I was positive that the U.S. was in the list. However, the list may be false and, as mentioned before, it may only exist to start a large war for whatever reason. [sarcasm]Personally, I find it ridiculous that anyone in the U.S. gov’t. would be hellbent on starting a war.[/sarcasm] 
I’ll stop now before we are forced to continue “24” discussions in GD.
Another reporting copious tears during the Jack-Kim goodbye conversation. It really showed the effectiveness of the split screens in giving the audience a more complete perspective (the shots of Jack parachuting into the desert, however, did not.). Or maybe I’m just feeling a little hormonal.
I guffawed when the El Camino Rapist Dude (thanks, Larry Mudd) screamed “Bitch!” at Kim as he drove away. That whole sequence reeked of cliche, with the scary dark road, the bikers, and ECRD, but Kim shooting out the window sort of redeemed it for me.
George flying the suicide mission was predictable, yet appropriate. As he said (and I paraphrase), “This is the thing that killed me.” What struck me about that scene was Jack admitting to George, “I never knew you had a son.”
Consider it confirmed. The next episode is Tuesday, March 25. No need to tape for two more weeks.
I was a little disappointed that they had Mason take care of the bomb, since I called it so many weeks ago (I think after the episode where he got the radiation). I hate to guess right with this show. Although it was a little different than expected, with him stowing away, so I guess I’m satisfied.
I think it’s pretty obvious that someone is trying to set up the “three middle eastern countries”, possibly to start a war. That plot is going to take up the remaining season. It’s definitely PC reasons to not name names. They did the same thing with that guy Palmer called when he first found out about the bomb.
I wonder how 7th soldier is involved… we haven’t heard anything about him. Maybe he’ll turn out to be a good guy. After all, the team he was on may have been planning to let the bomb go off and he decided to stop it.
I think the CTU visitor is just a dickhead, not a bad guy. They’re trying too hard to make him look evil, which means he’s not. Unless that’s what they want us to think, which would mean he really is evil. Room… spinning…
Since most of my thoughts have already been voiced by others (totally called the Mason/plane thing), I’ll just assume my traditional role as Staunch Defender of Kim. 
First, I loved it when she shot out creepy guy’s window. She definitely inherited some of the badass genes from daddy.
Second, I didn’t have a problem with her getting out of the lady’s car. As she mumbled, the only reason she was trying to get away from LA was to escape the bomb. Now that the bomb had gone off, she no longer had any reason to be fleeing the scene. Plus, as far as she knew, her dad just died. I wouldn’t expect a person in that situation to be at their most rational. (Which, for Kim, is not all that rational anyway.)
It wasn’t a smart move to get out of the car in the midle of nowhere, but not unbelievable either.
I just read over on zentertainment.com that Showtime is doing a 9/11 movie. Playing the part of National Security Advisor Condeleezza Rice? Penny Johnson!
Will these presidents NEVER learn to ignore this woman’s advice???
For those of you objecting to Jack’s survivial, remember that as soon as he landed, he hustled to get that big rock formation between him and the blast site. That would have protected him from the shock wave and any debris flying around. And probably some of the radiation.
And as other posters said, it was a small bomb.
Sorry, I forgot to add this part–couldn’t an underwater blast have caused a tsunami?
I saw at the beginning of the show that Susan Gibney was one of the guest stars. I promptly forgot about it as I was drawn in.
In bed last night, it hit me- Nice Lady in the SUV was Susan Gibney. She played Geordi laForge’s holodeck love interest/designer of the Galaxy class ships in Star Trek: TNG.
Another trek guest star on 24. The list grows…
I thought the guy may be Rayburn, yosemitebabe, but you stated my second choice. It makes sense that the seventh commando would have the information, but rayburn disappeared so soon, and acted so suspiciously…
Ok, how come nobody’s picked out the error where JACK HEARD THE BOMB GO OFF even though it was miles away??? Yeah, I know it’s common practice for movies & TV shows to ignore this little scientific detail, but…geez!!
I too called it when George saved the day…I knew for sure when they showed everyone watching Jack take off EXCEPT for George. They really tried to convince everyone that Jack was gonna die, huh?
And where the hell was Kim? That lonely two-lane road seemed like an odd place to find someone driving to San Jose.
I’m surprised they didn’t go into more detail about the environmental impact on the desert – there are lots of little critters out there too, you know. Perhaps none that are exploited for human needs (like fish in the ocean), but still, I mourn for all the gila monsters and kangaroo rats that died needlessly. 
I’m still waiting for someone to explain how detonating a nuke over or in water causes fallout. AFAIK, fallout is radioactive dust caused by a groundburst sucking up dust that then drifts with the wind. Does water do the same thing? I thought it would just vaporize.