24 - Season 3, Episode 1, 1:00PM - 2:00PM (SPOILERS)

Cafe Society
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Nice . . .

Palmer is up for re-election. That is a good reason for the 3 years. It also lets them get Kim to a point where she could be a computer wiz. I don’t have any trouble with Kim being retarded in the real world but being really good with computers (I know alot of people like that actually). What with all of the trauma she went through, I can see her kind of becoming a social hermit for a while. She probably used the computer studies as an escape. She threw herself into it 110% and buried herself in books and PCs as her emotional wounds healed. Within a year her pregnant mother was viciously murdered, she was kidnapped (many times), she killed a man, was in a terrorist explosion (CTU), and was responsible (in a way) for her ex losing a leg. Studying hard was how she dealt with the pain and explains why she is so good. I like her new attitude. She is a no-bullshit type of chic now, who would cut your balls off if she had to. We are hoping for a Spring wedding, her and I, but it might be next fall before the big day. You will all be invited.

The new partner: I really hope that they ice him like Reza. He’s alright, but not great. He’s perfect for killing, however. Plus he’s banging my fiance. Anyway, if they do kill him, I guess a good rule of thumb gets written in stone: DON’T DATE A BAUER!

Almeida and Wife: Cool. They go good together. I missed what the nature of the promotion was. Is he going to go to the CIA? I suspect one of them might die this season. One thing that really screws you in CTU is if you have a healthy romantic life. That and being a brunette make the wife’s odds of making it through the season look pretty low.

New CTU Lackeys (non-Kim): These guys (tech guy, Chloe) are like Archer at the beginning of Enterprise. All wide-eyed, proud, and eager. It will be fun to watch them become frantic, scared, jaded, battle-hardened, and possibly dead/injured.

The President: I have no problems with him “getting some” relatively openly. He IS single. Have we ever really had a single president? I mean, there is nothing wrong with him dating if he aint married. I liked the brother alot. He is going to be one hard-nosed son-of-a-bitch. I hope they explain in MUCH better detail the foiling of the Mystery German syndicate (which both Mandy and Nina belonged to at one time). This criminal organization is responsible for pretty much everything in Season 1 and Season 2. To just ignore such a big resolution would be criminal, but I have faith that they will do the right thing.

Jack the Junkie: The flawed hero gets ever-more flawed. I wish his addiction would have been Speed or Coke instead of Heroin. I’d like to see him give in over the next 24 hours (if they are going to go with an addiction at all). However, someone who just shot a bunch of heroin isn’t going to do much but sit. If he kept reaching into his pocket for a little get-up-and-go juice I think it would have been a very interesting plot point. As it is, I suspect he’ll just wince alot and never give in. Boo. If you’re gonna do it, do it.

Anyway, I think it is a great setup. There was no “hacksaw moment” other than the needle scene. Episode 1 was not nearly as intense as episode 1 last year. That is OK though. I hate when writers get too formulaic. M. Night Shamalayan seems to be trapped in having to have trick endings in his movies. It cheapens them when you expect them. If every season started with Jack doing something ultra-violent in the last 2 minutes, we’d expect it and it would lose part of it’s power. Plenty of ultra-violence is coming up, they are just letting it get there in good time instead of feeling obliged to hit you hard off the bat. I respect this, as it keeps me guessing. Overall a good start and a good setup. Can’t wait till next week!

DaLovin’ Dj

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I’d rank this first episode a 6 on a 1-10 scale. It got the ball rolling but wasn’t really up to the standards of what we’ve seen from the first two seasons. Hopefully they’re just getting warmed up.

Jack with a partner? Might be ok, as they can play ‘bad cop, worse cop’ with the first hood they interrogate. The best bits are always when Jack has a chance to really get medieval with someone.

Kim’s hairdo was so disappointing. I thought for a moment she was the reincarnation of one of those bad British bands from the 70’s and 80’s. I can only conjecture why they would give her that cut, but my hunch is that it kept me from noticing how criminally non-revealing her attire was for a couple of seconds. I can only pray that she’ll be sent on assignment to pick up an important RAM upload from a courier at a nearby beach. Or perhaps she’ll have to get some computer part from him, too.

I assumed Jack was shooting herion or methadone. I’d wager he’s on the latter, as a legal aid to kick the habit he had to pick up while undercover. That scene with the needle almost touching his skin was pretty good, but I’d rather see him bust open a couple of baddie heads.

The partner and Kim are sorely lacking in judgment: no-one in his right mind would follow through in his/her plans to tell Jack about their romance on a day like today.

The Mexican baddie’s wife was very easy on the eyes. I predict that she will betray her husband, soon, after witnessing the mass burial and complaining about his involving her father in the drogas.

I wouldn’t complain about the Ford commercial: they gave us uninterrupted ‘24’.

Somebody tell Jack to quit scxrewing around with his computer and to go out there and kick some ass.

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The linked review I referred to. They likely saw at least 2 eps, another review I had read referred to seeing 2. And we already see the staff friction with the Prez.

DJ,
No single Prezzes for a while (Clinton only ACTED that way). IIRC Buchanan never married, think Wilson married while in office, but I think he was a widower. I think there may have been a couple of other widowers.

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Pablito, I have to disagree with you on the attractiveness of CLOWdia. Heinously ugly land troll is the kindest description I can come up with.

I predict she WILL get a big crisis of conscience over her man’s “illegal activities” and be a big help around hour 14, though.

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Due to prior commitments, I didn’t catch the show. Does agent Tom Black, the korean special agent, show up at all?

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I thought they kept Kim for the “hotness”. Why give her a hideous haircut then?

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I guess they’re trying to make her look more grown up, or something. Either that or Kim went back to visit Hermit Mountain Man Bomb-Shelter Guy and he went at her head with a weed whacker.

And certainly the 3 years would be enough time for her to get an Associates degree, but I hope they don’t try to paint her as too expert in computers after only a couple years.

Maybe her boyfriend’s going to get whacked, and she’s going to end up with Anal Systems Guy by the end of the day?

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IIRC, Tyler and Cleaveland married while in office and Jefferson was a widower.

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You people are mean.

I’m glad to see, though, that there’s debate on what Jack was trying to take at the end. I was feeling very naive (but in a good way). I couldn’t tell if it were heroin, or some mystery drug, possibly coming from the “three Middle Eastern nations” we were attacking last season.

And I still don’t understand the complaint about them “glossing over” the assassination attempt on the President last season – I thought it was painfully obvious this is the major plotline this season. He was attacked with a weaponized virus, there was a body discovered infected with a weaponized virus, and the first day he’s back in LA, an attack is announced. These aren’t two separate stories here. What am I missing?

Finally, it was weird seeing the actress playing Chloe in a show like “24.” I’ve only seen her in comedic parts, especially “Mr. Show with Bob and David.” She’s hilarious, even if she doesn’t have that much range – she’s always got the scrunched-up, “What the hell is your problem?” thing going. I don’t predict her having a long lifespan this season, though. And speaking of predictions, I’ll be interested to see what role Kate has this season – is she just going to be Jack love-interest/victim/pawn in villain’s cruel game, or is she going to commence with the ass-kicking? I bet there are pivotal scenes where she pulls Jack back from the brink of his addiction.

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What gets me about the entire premise of the show is that in 24 hours all sorts of outrageous shit is going to happen. People will be in and out of scrapes, encounters, adjustments, realizations, deceptions, traps, mishaps, you name it. How often does an entire 24-hour period have you this discombobulated?

And when it does happen (at least to the extent things can happen like this) how settled and relaxed and able to think clearly are you? How’s your blood pressure?

I love the show, don’t get me wrong. It’s just about as plausible as Star Trek or Seinfeld. In a way it reminds me of a cartoon/comic I saw long ago where this little old lady is reading nursery rhymes to a 2-year-old, and she’s just gotten to the part where it’s saying “…and the cow jumped over the moon” when the old gal says, “Preposterous.”

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About the debate on what Jack’s about to shoot up: the official Fox episode guide says “Jack prepares a syringe full of heroin.”

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I don't think they are the same virus. I thought when he was attacked last year it wasn't even a virus, but a poison - onset was too fast. Heck, are any symptoms the same? Someone dying of, say, flu, doesn't look like someone with ebola. Actually, if they had this last year, it may have been a better weapon - they say asymptomatic for 10-14 hours, then he gets sick? Hard to trace where he got it. They probably scoured the site last year and found the toxin on that hand shield, making it easier to get an antidote. But do we even know the means of transmission of this year's? And how do they estimate a spread before they know?

At least they didn’t have some preposterous method, like stabbing someone with a poisoned umbrella on a city street… oh, wait, that was real, wasn’t it?

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I thusly propose: SmackJack. Two meanings for the price of one.

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Except that whatshername didn’t just toss the hand shield, she put it into a container and kept it.

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I think whoever wrote that episode guide was just working from the common “hypodermic syringe = heroin” perception that folks have. The only drug that was explicitly mentioned again and again in the episode itself was cocaine. I’ll leave it alone for now, since I seem to be a lone voice on that score, but I feel confident that it will be made clear in the episodes to come.

Not what I dropped back in to post, anyway–

A couple of gossip portals have said that Jack’s new tat is-- Kiefer’s new tat. Rather than deal with spending all that extra time in the makeup chair/sporting a fake-looking greasepaint tattoo, he supposedly just got a permanent one.

Anyone know if this is true? I mean, damn, that’s a crap tattoo. I can see how it would appeal if you were trying to pass in the underworld, and it sort of suits Jack’s ultra-hardass character, but it’s kind of silly-looking on a such a nice polite Canadian boy, isn’t it?

Could it be a “permanently” applied decal that he’ll sport for the duration of shooting? “Permanent” in the “permanent wave” sense?

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Did she? I was working from memory, and I guess I’m getting old…

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That’s from spoilersluts.com. As far as what was in the syringe, I don’t think liquified cocaine would look brown. I may be wrong, but that looked exactly like a heroin filled syringe.

I have heard of people shipping liquid cocaine by using double wrapped bags of tropical fish. The liquid is only noticeable as an oily substance, but a clear one. At times, dealers die the water/liquid cocaine blue to resemble medicated water which is sometimes used to ship/treat fish. If it isn’t died then liquid cocaine will be clear enough that a casual examination will not reveal that the liquid isn’t water. Here is a page that discusses briefly these ruses being used to thwart customs & DEA agents. Search for “medicated water”. Also, if Jack cooked it up himself it shouldn’t be brown. Heroin is brown before it is treated, and the liquid is brown when cooked. I’ve never seen liquid cocaine, but I assume there is nothing in the white powder that would turn brown when liquified. I’m not so sure about liquid speed. I would greatly prefer that Jack’s addiction be to a methamphetamine. An up buzz. Jack just pounding someone while ramped up on speed would be brutal. He’s bad ass as it is. Imagine him being jacked up and twice as strong. I wish it was, but I am almost positive that it is heroin. Maybe it will be the new “3 middle Eastern Countries”. We will only refer to it as a non-specific drug:

“I’m not going on record with this addiction.”
“When I had to shoot all of that illegal substance on the Salazar case . . .”
“Honey, Daddy has to tell you something: I’m addicted to a drug.”
“I really need a fix of the good stuff”

SmackJack is nice. That’s a keeper. If it turns out to be another drug we could go with: [b/]CrackerJack**, CrystalJack, or how about Speedball Bauer. Maybe he’ll end up using a filled syringe to take out a bad guy later in the day. He can say something witty like “You just got jacked up, bitch!” Get it? It’s his name AND a drug reference . . . Hey! Stop rolling your eyes. I’m gonna be here all season so you may as well get used to it . . .

DaLovin’ Dj

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I didn’t notice it was brown. (Hazards of watching it on a 15" screen.) That changes everything, of course.

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I admit that all my heroin knowledge derives from “Trainspotting”, but don’t you have to heat heroin to liquify it? Does it stay liquid after heating? Jack just pulled it out and it was ready to go. No need to cook it up.

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And I’ll admit I know little about illegal drugs, but cocaine, to my knowledge, is either snorted or smoked. Can you really inject it? And even if you can, I don’t think its stupid to assume injection = heroin I would bet that the most common INJECTED illegal drug is probably heroin.

    Doesn't really matter in the end.  He's hooked on something.  Who cares what.