Remember, folks, always be careful with guns.
My mother figured that warning at the end probably was there because of the Russian Roulette scene. I figure she’s right. I know there were a large number of copycat Russian Roulettes after The Deer Hunter.
Yeah, but how long can an anorexic 100 lb woman hold up a 200 lb man? She would have just prolonged his death.
Kyle’s 165 (±5). She’s 120 (±5).
(Actually, yes, I did work in the “Age and Weight” booth at the amusement park–why do you ask? 
)
I thought this episode was better than the first couple of this season but not up to the level of last week’s.
Kyle’s hanging attempt was good; I was just sorry that he wasn’t able to complete it. But I couldn’t help wondering why it took his girlfriend so long to figure out what he was doing. It probably took him a couple of minutes at least to make the hangman’s noose. Clearly she’s no braintrust. It was kind of funny, too, that the size 2 girlfriend’s additional weight was enough to pull down the pipes. She weighs about 100 lbs, I’d guess, so it was probably the first time in her life that she had a chance to throw her weight around.
I was glad that Jack managed to break out of the prison situation. His character is all about kinetic energy and having him cooped up in prison would have gotten stale pretty quickly. I didn’t like the choreography of his getting into the helicopter, however. He went to so much trouble to use Salazar as a shield, but then when they got to the helicopter, Salazer gets in first, Jack closes the door, and we have to rely on the camaraman to cut away, realizing that all of the tension in the scene is gone. It would have looked better to me if Jack had climbed in first, keeping in contact with Salazar and making him climb in right after him, then Jack could do the old slide-over-to-the-driver’s-side of the vehicle.
Chloe was completely unprofessional in her relenting and allowing Kim to find out about Jack’s drug use. Of course, Kim was unprofessional to try to squeeze the information out of her, but I’ve come to expect that from Kim. Chloe’s acquiescence–and then her catty comment about being mad that she had been ‘forced’ to tell Kim–just didn’t strike me as realistic.
For someone with a batcave, the Mole certainly wasn’t very effective in this episode. He managed to delar the license plate reading by about 2 minutes or so. Big deal. I could see, however, that they are setting up the ultimate discovery of his mole-ness. Now Chloe has seen something funny about him (his possession and use of a cell phone in the previous episode); Kim has seen him strangely fiddling with the router; and Michelle has been pressed (briefly) by him for him to take charge and for her to go to the hospital. Kim’s computer partner will be the next team-member to note something suspicious, but I’ll bet that Kim finally will be the one to first realize that he’s the mole, which will then set up his taking her hostage and Daddy having to come save her.
I’m completely bored by the entire President Palmer plot line. The debate, the accusations of girlfriend’s ex-husband’s wrongdoing, the probably foul-motived brother, all of it. I also have problems with the notion that they’re even having the debate. Talk about poor judgment. The President finds out that there’s an imminent bio-terror threat that could kill hundreds of thousands of people, but he still does the debate? Hasn’t anyone in the show realized that national security concerns would take precedence over the president’s debate? (Read that sentence out loud, please.)
I was surprised that the virus threat was so suddenly resolved. That puts a lot of pressure on the helicopter duo in the next hour to really make things exciting. What do you guys anticipate? A crash? (almost definitely). Getting shot down by an overzealous CTU agent chasing after them? (possibly). A show-down with Salazar’s brother? (boring). A menage between Jack and Salazar and the girlfriend? (wishful thinking). Salazar struggling for the gun while Jack flies the 'copter? (maybe). Tune in next week to find out.
I too couldn’t help thinking about the parallels with ‘The Deer Hunter’ roulette scene. I figured that Jack would have to squeeze twice, but the writers made it easier for him with success on his first try. Too bad about that guard who killed himself: that’s more fodder for Jack’s conscience to wrestle with.
I was thinking that. As long as the chopper has enough fuel to get to Mexico*, Salazar doesn’t really need Jack any more, does he? Jack ripped out the com and the tracking, so unless someone managed to physically fly close enough, no one would know if Salazar took Jack out, right?
*-Is that even a possibility? LA to Mexico in one hop? It’s been so long since I’ve filled up my chopper…
Also, Jack really has been playing fast and loose with other people’s lives this season. Do we have a Jack Bauer Death Toll of Innocents running? We already have several prison guards.
But does Salazar know how to fly a chopper? If it was a small plane, I could see him watching for a bit, getting it, then shoving Jack out the cockpit. Also, does Salazar know where he’s supposed to meet the pickup group? Or would we just assume he’s flying into Mexico.
It was subtle, but Jack could see which chamber was loaded before he picked up the gun. They could have done a closeup and made it more obvious that he saw it.
However, it looked like the round was 4 chambers away from being fired. Maybe I missed something. Anyway, it’s fairly easy to figure out where the round is. All you need to do is look for the bullet when the gun is lying on the table and facing you. Or put the barrel right above your eye instead of your temple, so you can see it.
It only really works if you spin the revolver each time and put the gun to your temple without looking. at the gun first.
Or play with a semi-automatic. Just don’t go first 
I agree with the “where do we go from here?” problem. They’re going to have to spring something really good to avert the whole “ok, they found Kyle, now just shoot down the chopper and it’s over” solution.
Maybe the Mole has the virus himself, and is supposed to infect everyone at CTU?
So now that they HAVE the Dell Dude and his gal pal, what’re they going to do with him? Did they say they have a cure? Will they chop of his head? Is the girlfriend really infected too?
I ditto the Chloe sentiments:
“What’re you doing?”
“Going thru your dad’s stuff”
“Let me see”
“No, it’s against paragraph ii, section C, line 45.”
“No, really let me see”
“Ok, but you made me do it.”
She really has a problem with knowing where blame lies, no?
Uh, you guys do realize that Chloe is supposed to have a mental problem, right? She’s obviously annoying, but there is a reason why.
Anyone care to explain why Jack chose Chloe as his personal assistant? Granted that anyone who brought Kim in to work lacks judgment in the personnel dept, but…
Just had a thought. Maybe he hired Chloe becuase he thought she was too out of it to notice he was a junkie. Or maybe I’m stretching.
As for the mole and the router, Kim interrupted him in the middle of what ever Evil Deed he was up to and he couldn’t do anything else or she would know it was him.
I agree this season isn’t as good as 1 or 2, so far. But as for the person who complained that the show had taken a turn for the predictable…excuse me? Catching the virus guy in episode 5 is predictable? Based on its track record, the one thing we can predict at the beginning of any season is that by the end Jack will be dealing with a different problem then he started with.
“This is going to be one of those days.” - President Palmer.
Fifteen Iguana
I meant that by resolving one of the plot lines, the writers have narrowed the field of possibilities (and the narrower that field, the more predictable the show will be). Sorry if I was unclear.
This is the first season my wife and I have watched 24 (after I watched the final 2 episodes last year). Everyone seems to say this season isn’t up to par, but we are really enjoying it. Maybe we should get the DVD for the first 2 seasons though?
Choe definitely seems to have some sort of a persecution complex.
“It’s not fair that you put me in this position.”
I have a feeling she’s gonna get a whole new definition of “not fair.”
I can’t wait.
There is? I thought that she was just one of those people who has yet to figure out human interaction. You meet them every so often.
BTW, I didn’t watch last year. I saw the first year, and watched Palmer tell Sherry to get out. But in this episode it was clear that something much worse must have happened between them last year. Can anyone quickly tell me what Sherry did that was so awful?
Long story short…
She collaborated with terrorists to provoke him into starting a war on false premises and get him kicked out of office.
You can imagine he was a bit peeved about that.