# 24: Season 4: Episode 17 (11:00pm - 12:00am) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 11, 2005, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00am/298859 "2005-04-11T22:26:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00am/298859/61 "2005-04-12T18:38:41Z")
> [@emacknight](#): > > On second thought, something is seriously wrong with this entire season. Why yes, … there is something seriously wrong this season. I think you’ve put your finger on it. Are you ready for my theory? It’s all a BAD DREAM that Jack is having!! At the end of the last episode, Jack wakes up in the vehicle we last saw him sitting in at the end of last season’s final show. Exhausted, physically and mentally drained, he passed out in the front seat and had the outrageous fever dream that this current season has turned into. Thankyouverymuch. And yes, Fox Network, I am available to write for the next season of 24. ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00am/298859/62 "2005-04-12T18:52:31Z")
Jack’s direct line is 310-597-3781. But his mailbox is full at this writing. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00am/298859/63 "2005-04-12T19:29:21Z")
A plot “just” to steal and use a nuclear device would be more realistic. Could the writers draw it out for 24 episodes? ---
**Author:** ![Survey1215](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@Survey1215](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Survey1215)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00am/298859/64 "2005-04-12T20:41:50Z")
1. I’d like to thank **RikWriter** for not tempting me with his damnable spoiler boxes to this point in the thread. 2. So where is Richie Cunningham? I know the escort fighters shot down the F-117 but you’d think he’d have forseen that liklihood and been able to bail out and start on the road to freedom. 3. Remember, folks, we still don’t know how the baddies knew where Heller would be in the first episode when he was ‘ambushed’ at his son’s crib. It had to be a set-up, right? I think some US gov’t guys are in w Marwhan. That Cheney-like dude is bad, bad news - my hypothesis now is that Heller and that guy are in cahoots with a certain someone we’ll be seeing shortly to overthrow the gov’t. And Audrey’s in on it too - she’s been bad news from the get-go. Bitch. 4. Jack’s sure holding up well - so far today he’s been hit by a car, shot (admittedly, into a bullet-proof vest, but my understanding is that still hurts like hell) and stabbed. And he’s killed about 35-40 people, tortured two or three others and got a kid’s parents killed. Hey - its Miller Time. 5. Speaking of which - where is Behrooz? I figure he’s done w the show, prepping for a guest star role in ‘Sweet Valley High’ where he’s the brooding outsider noone understands. 6. When the husband was shot twice and the wife gave up the football, my wife looked at me and said ‘sorry sonny - I’d have left your ass.’ Comforting. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00am/298859/65 "2005-04-12T20:42:14Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > A plot “just” to steal and use a nuclear device would be more realistic. > Could the writers draw it out for 24 episodes? GOOD writers could. Hell, _I_ could draw it out that long. Here’s an example: they kidnap the SecDef as a distraction (the ONLY distraction), which gets Jack involved. The REAL plot is to kidnap the family of someone in the government who is responsible for the shipment of nuclear warheads and get the schedule for the shipments, then steal a warhead. Simultaneously, they smuggle in a missile (a SCUD perhaps) via ship and voila! You have 24 hours of nuclear blackmail for Jack to work with. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00am/298859/66 "2005-04-12T20:53:09Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > The REAL plot is to kidnap the family of someone in the government who is responsible for the shipment of nuclear warheads and get the schedule for the shipments, then steal a warhead. Simultaneously, they smuggle in a missile. Kidnap or kill several folks to get the list and prevent Our Heroes from finding out what they are after. You could fill up maybe six episodes with individual kidnappings or murders. Would they smuggle a SCUD into the US, or smuggle the warhead _out_ to where the missile is? ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00am/298859/67 "2005-04-12T21:03:21Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Would they smuggle a SCUD into the US, or smuggle the warhead _out_ to where the missile is? If they want to hit a target on the east coast of the US, they have very little in the way of choices as to where to smuggle it. If they want to hit LA, they could smuggle the missile into Mexico, I guess, but it would probably be easier to bring it in by sea right into Long Beach. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00am/298859/68 "2005-04-12T21:14:40Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > If they want to hit a target on the east coast of the US, they have very little in the way of choices as to where to smuggle it. Canada! Those gutless wusses hate us any… Sorry. 🙂 Can you fire a SCUD from the sea? Like the submarine they more or less sailed up the Arkansas River? [http://www.diodon349.com/US\_Subs/uss\_razorback\_ss394\_returns\_to\_america.htm](http://www.diodon349.com/US_Subs/uss_razorback_ss394_returns_to_america.htm) ---
**Author:** ![emacknight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ec8ea/32.png) [@emacknight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emacknight)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00am/298859/69 "2005-04-12T22:16:46Z")
Does any body remember the movie, “Air Force 1”? Didn’t one of the escort fighters fire a missle directly at AF1, knowing that it had chafe? And this GPS transmitter in the football–wouldn’t that show the EXACT location of the President at all times, and hence seem like a REALLY bad thing to continuously broadcast? In the movie “Behind Enemy Lines,” the guy got shot down and had a transmitter that turned on and off to make it just _slightly_ harder for badguys to drive up in a jeep… Frankly, there is an acceptable and expected level of disbelief within any work of fiction, but this has jumped the shark and moved into fantasy land…I’m now just waiting for Marwan to be some sort of demon from the future and dfore Buffy to show up… ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00am/298859/70 "2005-04-12T22:34:40Z")
> [@Monstre](#): > > He seems pretty unsure of himself. > > “Okay, Veep. Your show, now.” > “Er… do I **haaaaaave** to run the country?” > > Seems like the whole 25th amendment thing is a bit harsh here, too? I mean, the Prez is alive, but obviously not able to run things at the moment. Can’t the Veep just run things as Veep for the time being? without being sworn in as Prez officially? I thought the amendment business was in the event that the Prez was pretty much permanently incapacitated. > > I don’t recall the 25th amendment having to be invoked when Reagan was shot, for example – and clearly he wasn’t in any condition to carry out presidential duties that day, in the hospital. I would think that the Veep would just run things until he’s better… He didn’t actually become President, he became _Acting President_. I don’t think the VP really needs to take the oath of office to invoke the 25th; he just did it for the cameras. If the 25th is to be in effect longer than 48 hours (much longer than the rest of the season) Congress must approve. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00am/298859/71 "2005-04-12T23:46:41Z")
Air Force One crashes and the bad guys in jeeps get there before Army/Police/Secret Service/FBI/etc. can helicopter in??? Your in the spooky old power plant and Jack tells you to split up in order to seperate the playbook from the other-thingie. NO. How 'bout we just hide this little play book and run away together with the other? Or better yet, hide both of the things in seperate places and run like hell? Or still better, once you’ve uses your compass to search and destroy the homing beacon on the Football you simply hide the briefcase among the remains of the jet–bad dudes wouldn’t find it in in a year let alone an hour! Also---- A.F.O. crashes. Guess what? Every spy satelite and their satelite brothers in the area would be focused on the area. And yet the bad dudes just drive in, headlights blazing, no problemo? I’ve had it. I used to love this show. I can honestly say it is the only time I turn on my TV all week. When it’s not 24 season I don’t even have my TV plugged in! And now they’ve just gone way wayyyy too far. When I find myself only thinking about the utter impossible-ness unfolding on the screen I don’t have any attention left for the story. Forget it. (PS: of course I’m committed to this season now-- so I have to watch to the end. Oh well, it’ll give me some good chuckles.) ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00am/298859/72 "2005-04-13T00:03:23Z")
> [@I Love Me](#): > > Air Force One crashes and the bad guys in jeeps get there before Army/Police/Secret Service/FBI/etc. can helicopter in??? > > Your in the spooky old power plant and Jack tells you to split up in order to seperate the playbook from the other-thingie. > > NO. > > How 'bout we just hide this little play book and run away together with the other? Or better yet, hide both of the things in seperate places and run like hell? Or still better, once you’ve uses your compass to search and destroy the homing beacon on the Football you simply hide the briefcase among the remains of the jet–bad dudes wouldn’t find it in in a year let alone an hour! > > Also---- A.F.O. crashes. Guess what? Every spy satelite and their satelite brothers in the area would be focused on the area. And yet the bad dudes just drive in, headlights blazing, no problemo? > > I’ve had it. I used to love this show. I can honestly say it is the only time I turn on my TV all week. When it’s not 24 season I don’t even have my TV plugged in! And now they’ve just gone way wayyyy too far. When I find myself only thinking about the utter impossible-ness unfolding on the screen I don’t have any attention left for the story. > > Forget it. > > (PS: of course I’m committed to this season now-- so I have to watch to the end. Oh well, it’ll give me some good chuckles.) Christ, I couldn’t agree more. The sad thing is, I thought this first half of this season was some of the best 24 we’d seen in a long time. However, when Marwan in his fucking JEEPS arrived before Jack in his fucking HELICOPTER, well, that was it. Maybe Marwan had a flux capacitor in that jeep? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![c\_goat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@c\_goat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c_goat)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00am/298859/73 "2005-04-13T00:15:51Z")
I just watched the episode… here’s my favorite part: Jack: “It’s designed not to be found! But just use a simple compass and it’s easy as pie! They even put it on the outside so you don’t even need the code to disable it. Just scratch it and it’s disabled!” I’m with the other people who say this is their last season. I have to watch to the end just so I can enjoy the jokes here. I was cracking up reading this thread, so it’s worth the 1hr of torture. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00am/298859/74 "2005-04-13T05:14:37Z")
> [@Survey1215](#): > > 1. So where is Richie Cunningham? I know the escort fighters shot down the F-117 but you’d think he’d have forseen that liklihood and been able to bail out and start on the road to freedom. I thought we were supposed to think they destroyed the plane before he could bail out. But we’ll see. ---
**Author:** ![annieclaus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5a626/32.png) [@annieclaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/annieclaus)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00am/298859/75 "2005-04-13T13:53:08Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I thought we were supposed to think they destroyed the plane before he could bail out. But we’ll see. I don’t think the pilot bailed out. We don’t need him any more. Best to finish him off with a thrown away line about the stealth bomber being destroyed. (But wasn’t it going to be toast anyway because of the bad part that had something to do with the landing gear???) ---
**Author:** ![c\_goat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@c\_goat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c_goat)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00am/298859/76 "2005-04-13T15:35:01Z")
Was it said they shot down the F-117? I heard something like: “One of the escort fighters got a visual and \ shot down with stealth”. I don’t know how you shoot something down with stealth, but it was unclear to me whether the F-117 or the escort fighter that saw it got shot down. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00am/298859/77 "2005-04-13T15:36:26Z")
He said that they got a visual on the stealth fighter and shot it down. ---
**Author:** ![Lyllyan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@Lyllyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lyllyan)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00am/298859/78 "2005-04-13T17:44:53Z")
My 12 year old son, who loves this show, is beginning to have trouble suspending his disbelief. His idea for the season finale is Jack waking up in a mental hospital - as the nurse comes in to give him his meds. Yep - it was all a drug induced dream. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00am/298859/79 "2005-04-13T18:15:33Z")
> [@Lyllyan](#): > > Jack waking up in a mental hospital - as the nurse comes in to give him his meds. Oooh, yeah, then the story will change to his escape from the bad guys who have him prisoner in the mental hospital. “I’m a Federal Agent!” “Yes Mr. Bauer, please relax now…” ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00am/298859/80 "2005-04-13T18:27:53Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Oooh, yeah, then the story will change to his escape from the bad guys who have him prisoner in the mental hospital. They could call it _24 Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00am/298859.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00am/298859.md?page=5)