Elwood, I was thinking the exact same thing when they said that. Okay, I’ll grant them that some other Mid East countries probably have stronger military than Iraq does (did) now, especially since Iraq’s military has been weakened since the Gulf War.
But the 20,000 projection is still stretching it, I’d say. Unless they expect these countries to be using nukes on our troops (and on their own soil).
I think the “Jack using secret technique to fake his death” is not out of the question here, either. Jack will live…
Otherwise, who will be the badass next season? Not Tony…
Hey, maybe they’ll throw in a major twist and the new badass will be Michelle! Brother Danny will die, Michelle will stop being weepy, her heart will harden, she’ll kill her bitch rival ex-boss chick, and she’ll punch out Tony on her way out into the field to stop the next terrorist attack, in total badass style.
Or maybe it will be Kim, stumbling along adventure through adventure, haplessly foiling the baddies on the way…
Well, it’s 20,000 troops because it’s those, you know, 3 Middle Eastern Countries. We all know that the 3 Middle Eastern countries have some pretty significant armies. In fact, one of them at least has 500,000 Yusef clones ready to srping into action once the US troops land.
Wow, what a surprise the bitchy computer lady caught Tony and whats-her-name kissinig. I would’ve never guessed…
And, come on, if you were in the middle of a national emergency, and you’re whacked-out brother needed to see you (even though you were 3 feet away from his long lost love), you’d have him come into your top secret gov’t building, too. Wouldn’t you?
Kate’s gun handling abilities could’ve come in handy when the redneck white guys attacked the “towel head”.
And wouldn’t you run off to a secret meeting in a broom closet if you were the President’s aid? And of course you wouldn’t bring your cell phone.
The Kim episodes are starting to look like Masterpiece Theater…
The torture scenes were pretty brutal. Kiefer continues to give this whole thing credibility with his excellent acting. (I’m being serious now).
I’ll put my money on him being revived at some point. I’ve watched enough Star Trek episodes where Capt Kirk was “dead”-- hey I’m no dummy!
And just how many bombers does the U.S. have, that it can bomb three countries simultaneously, with enough force to destroy all three country’s militaries?
This whole plot is stretched really, really thin. And that bit with Yousef or whatever his name is being attacked by rednecks is just ricidulous. I mean, even if there were gangs of vigilantes roaming the streets looking for middle eastern men to beat up, this guy hardly fits the profile. He’s dressed in regular clothes, with a short haircut, in a nice car, with a blonde woman in the vehicle. They wouldn’t have given him a second look.
And when he pulled the gun on them and gave them the shakedown, they’re STILL going to try to attack him, just because he looks like someone from the Middle East? Give me a break.
And of course, the timing is ridiculous. And does the public even know the middle east is involved? I thought all they knew was that a nuke went off in the desert. For all they know, it was a military accident or a rogue military group or something. Sheesh.
And that whole bit with the brother running into CTU was jaw-droppingly stupid. Like, he’s going to get into a secure government facility in the middle of a nuclear crisis, just 'cause he wants to tell sis he loves her, or whatever? Uh huh. And again, the timing is nuts. She tells Tony all about her brother, and the guy is storming into the place three minutes later? Bizarre.
I think they left Kim out of this episode because adding her twisted plot lines would have sent us all into BS overload.
Still, I’m not giving up. 24 heading towards the ditch last season with the amnesia and bizarre car stops and the rest, and pulled it together in the last three or four episodes. Let’s hope they do it again.
While I hate doing “me too” posts, let me just say:
The Jack scenes were absolutely amazing. I understand why he took the transmitter: Leading the bad guys in the wrong direction makes more tactical sense that just having them hang around the Med. center. Really. It buys more time for Yusef and Kate to get away. Of course the, “Go 12 blocks and wait for me for 15 minutes” thing was stupid. He should have told them he’d meet them at CTU, ditch the transmitter and either steal a car or catch a cab, but you can’t have perfection.
Kiefer’s acting during the torture scenes warrant an Emmy, a Golden Globe and a hummer from Julienne Moore. My gods was that convincing.
As to the non-Jack scenes…
Hopefully next week will be better, although I very much enjoyed the Tony/Michelle makeout session.
And of course Jack will be revived (I hope I hope I hope).
Actually, from what I understand (and I may be incorrect), Iraq still had the largest military of any Arab state even after the Gulf War.
But yeah, the 20,000 troops thing was a bit hard to swallow, unless one of the nations they were going to invade was Israel.
I agree with all prev posts - lots of credibility stretching, especially regarding Michelle’s brother and Jack/Kiefer not disposing of the transponder in a more effective way.
As for the 20,000 troops lost if we don’t attack earlier, I basically agree that that was stretching it too, but if I am wearing my “willing suspension of disbelief” hat for a moment longer, I would go with the idea that a delayed attack would be a slower, more ground-war driven attack against three countries, thereby driving up casualties. Other than that, I don’t recall them address this in a previous ep, which they should have (just like they explained why someone had to pilot the plane all the way down - you may not like the explanation, but the tied off that loose end).
Have we seen that bearded bad guy who was the boss of the torturer? I couldn’t remember…
I agree with Sam Stone - 24 dipped last season, but pulled it out to end well. Here’s hoping the same thing happens this season…
I’m with Fallen Angel on the whole Jack/transmitter thing. The baddies didn’t know he had gotten the chip yet, and even once they discovered that, they wouldn’t have guessed he’d have discovered the tracking device and removed it. It’s a lot better to have them running after him, a guy who’s got some good training ditching flunkies and special ops goons, then dropping it in a garbage can and hoping they don’t chase after a car that was located at the last location their troops engaged them. The only bit I found somewhat off what the fact that two cars pull out in front of him while he’s running away, and he only considers one of them to be a threat. They both seemed to be there to cut him off, I’m suprised he didn’t pop the guy in the first car as he slid over the hood, and then nailed the other guy as opposed to leaving his back vulnerable.
Unless, getting caught and having them waste even more time torturing him was also part of the plan. he knows they have only a couple of hours, and I’m sure Jack’s confident in his abilities to hold up to the torment, so the longer they spend torturing him, the less time they spend looking for the others, and the better off they are getting the info back to HQ.
That is, of course, assuming random roving gangs of red necks passing by at 3:00 a.m. wouldn’t recognize an incredibly hard to distinguish Middle Eastern man driving by with his window down and car door unlocked, even though they’re being hunted by some unknown special forces group (and ignoring the fact that most SUV’s nowadays have doors that automatically lock once the car starts driving…and it all could have been avoided if Yuseff had put his seat belt on).
I have a feeling Jack’s faking dead and is going to jab that needle up someone’s nose into their brain, then kick the crap out of everyone else while covering himself with both hands.
“That is, of course, assuming random roving gangs of red necks passing by at 3:00 a.m. wouldn’t recognize an incredibly hard to distinguish Middle Eastern man driving by with his window down and car door unlocked, even though they’re being hunted by some unknown special forces group (and ignoring the fact that most SUV’s nowadays have doors that automatically lock once the car starts driving…and it all could have been avoided if Yuseff had put his seat belt on).”
I dont know what you’re talking about. This exact same scenario happend to me just the other day…!
I guess we do need to remember that it’s just TV. I only watched about the last 6 episodes of last year’s show, so I got thrown right into the middle of the Dallas-esque amnesia thing. The writers did get it together for the last 2 shows, though, which I thought were excellent.
Regarding the tracking device on the chip:
I kept thinking of that old Steve Guttenberg movie with the robot that comes to life after being struck by lightning. The robot has a tracking device and he rips it off and throws it in the back of a passing car. I was reminded of that, and thought Jack should have done something like that… throw it in a car or truck going the other way, get those guys off him and headed the other direction. (I’m drawing a blank on the name of the movie, though)
Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking, too. Of course Jack will live.
The best ‘tracking device’ plotline was in the movie thief. The cops had bugged James Caan’s car, and thought they were following him. The camera starts from a cop car on the highway with two guys in it saying, “We’ve got this bastard now!”, then slowly tracks forward past about 20 cars ahead of them, to a bus. The camera slowly pans across the bus, around the front, and zooms in on the destination - “Des Moines”. It’s a great bit of camera work.
With how busy the Urgent Care center was, surely he could have just casually sauntered out of there, not drawing attention to himself, then booking it when he hit the street.
I had a very hard time watching the torture sequences. :eek:
The Prez’s chief of staff is bad bad bad. Why? Because bad. I thought the COS was the most trusted member of the Prez’s staff. Palmer is indecisive? He had no problems deciding to kick Sherry out, or torture whatshisface with the paddles.
I’m waiting for the thugs who were beating up Kate and Yousef to carjack the car, and go on a joyride, with the chip lying unnoticed under the seat…
Ugh. Bad episode. Other than Jack being a bad-ass to the very end, going out in true Jack style as the only man on earth without a breaking point. Although I bet they’ll revive him, I wouldn’t be disappointed if this was his end. Except for the fact that there’s nobody good for season 3.
I swear I thought the torturer was holding a phone when he started talking about Kim, and I thought they were going to cut to her being held hostage. It’s nice to have an episode without her.
The torturer’s boss wasn’t the VP was it? I don’t remember what he looked like when the President talked to him. Maybe he’s just a rich oil baron that started the war.
I don’t think Mike was against the president from the beginning, he’s just recently taken the VP’s side in that the war shouldn’t be stopped. But what’s the point of kidnapping Lynn? It’s not like telling the President about the VP’s meeting is going to stop it from happening.
And the redneck patrol was a bit far fetched. First off, he doesn’t even look middle-eastern. Yusef should have just shot the guys, diplomatic/CTU immunity and all. Although I was reminded of those riots where the truck driver was pulled out of his car and beaten with a brick. A warning to people everywhere to lock your car doors while driving. I always do right when I start the car.
Of course he’ll come back. Jack’s death is such a non-cliffhanger that it made me giggle. I was thinking it was a cool CSU trick too.
The episode was filled with unintentional giggles for me. They locked Ensign Ro in a closet-- heehee. I really did laugh when she started banging on the door and screaming to be let out. I giggled when Danny boy started choking whatshername. It reminded me of Homer and Bart— “Why you little. . .”
Aren’t the President and some other people expected at a meeting soon? That’s why Lynn’s locked up, right?
I’m thinking one of the people we’ll see at the meeting will be the guy who talked to Jack on the phone…the guy who was in the helicopter, with the goatee.
Obviously Jack doesn’t watch movies or else he would have remembered all the other tracking device scenes. After all, wouldn’t want to have a 5-10 minute head start on the bad guys while driving all the way to CTU through those completely empty streets.
Completely empty? Wait a minute. How can there be civil unrest on the East Coast over the bomb when Los Angeles has no cars moving in it at all. You mean the guy in the liquor store is the only one in the whole city who thought to get out of LA?
As for Jack, don’t worry about him. Remember that he got a large chunk of tree right through his leg a few episodes ago that is probably turning gangrenous by now and that doesn’t even slow down his running ability. Being tortured to death? No problemo. He’ll be trading kung fu moves with the bad guys next episode without even bothering to put iodine on his wounds.
Yusef: able to dodge snipers on rooftops and kick much ass, yet taken out with a brick to the grape from a “redneck” despite a cry of warning and his being about midcar, an easy 4-6 feet from the back of the truck and therefor having ample time to have seen the third guy.
I guess when they don’t have Kim in an ep, they have to spread the stupid around to everyone.
My thoughts exactly…considering the crap that has happened to him, supposedly in the course of one day, most of us would be comatose in ICU by now, if not long since dead.
But I am sure within the next hour Jack will be running at a sprint, hanging by his teeth on a rope, shooting a cannon with one hand and lifting Kate out of a vat of crocodiles with his other hand, all the while dialing Kim on his cell phone with his toe.
There will, of course, be the standard Hollywood band aid on his forehead to show he was recently injured.
And:
An episode without Kim is a wonderous gift that should not be taken lightly. Therefore, in honor of the old TV series, “Blossom”, I think this could be considered “The very special episode of 24”.
I was waiting for Yusef to switch chips or something. Just because he was attacked by rednecks doesn’t mean he’s a good guy.
Will he get capped in the next hour? I guess that would make it moot.
They already had us strung along thinking the other guy (Kate’s sister’s fiance, I’m bad with names) was bad when he wasn’t, so know thy have us thinking Yusef is a good guy. Well, that just <i>has</i> to mean he’s a bad guy, right?
Another thing: with this move by the VP, it seems that everyone, and I mean everyone in the cabinet and on the Presidents staff is in cahoots against him, except for Lyne, whois shown falling many, many flights of stairs to her death next ep.
Kinda seems a bit implausable… Well, moreso than everything else in the show, anyway.
