# 24: Season 4: Episode 18 (12:00am - 1:00am) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 18, 2005, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-18-12-00am-1-00am/299948 "2005-04-18T21:27:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-18-12-00am-1-00am/299948/21 "2005-04-19T02:48:37Z")
Was it in Iowa, or just en route to Iowa? I heard something about Illinois in there – but I think that’s where the convoy left from. Any mountains between? Just wondering… ---
**Author:** ![annieclaus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5a626/32.png) [@annieclaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/annieclaus)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-18-12-00am-1-00am/299948/22 "2005-04-19T03:40:59Z")
> [@Monstre](#): > > Was it in Iowa, or just en route to Iowa? I heard something about Illinois in there – but I think that’s where the convoy left from. Any mountains between? Just wondering… Nope. No mountains in either Iowa or Illlinois. This is the Prairie, for Pete’s sake. By definition, it’s FLAT!!! And I think one of the things that made this episode so frustrating is that except for that teeny weeny bit at the beginning of the show, Jack Bauer didn’t show up until 40 minutes in. things just don’t work well when those other bozos are the focus of the show. And wasn’t Marwan lit beautifully in his last glamour shot against the night skyline? ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-18-12-00am-1-00am/299948/23 "2005-04-19T04:09:26Z")
Did you hear the music? Edgar is going to snap. ---
**Author:** ![jweb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71c47a/32.png) [@jweb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jweb)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-18-12-00am-1-00am/299948/24 "2005-04-19T04:46:00Z")
Well, for what it’s worth, the extreme eastern 20ish miles of Iowa (near the Mississippi river) is quite hilly and wooded. For example, my parents live 22 miles from the Mississippi, and their backyard is a 150 foot tall ridge. The part I thought was funny was Tony’s line about “see if there’s any open areas where a helicopter could land.” Ummmm… Iowa is mostly farmland, and a helicopter doesn’t need a whole heckuva lot of space to land, leaving… pretty much anywhere really. But seriously, if you were driving nukes around the country, you’d think you could at least afford 1) a couple of Highway Patrolmen with radios as escort and/or 2) a GPS tracking device on the nuke itself. And how can a few printed pages in a book show the location of a moving target in real time? Sorry, I just have to nitpick, as this week’s episode was pretty stupid all around. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-18-12-00am-1-00am/299948/25 "2005-04-19T04:54:02Z")
> [@annieclaus](#): > > Nope. No mountains in either Iowa or Illlinois. This is the Prairie, for Pete’s sake. By definition, it’s FLAT!!! Hey, cut me some slack – I’m in Florida here, where by definition ALL the rest of y’all are in mountainous territory. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-18-12-00am-1-00am/299948/26 "2005-04-19T05:24:53Z")
150 foot “mountains”? Sorry, not buying it. I cracked up when they talked about mountians in Iowa/Illinois. How hard is it to get stuff like this right? I suppose the terrorists are headed for Chicago. I thought Jack was going to start cutting Mafia-guy’s fingers off, not just break them. I think Jack has gotten soft. This was definitely one of the worst episodes, and I agree that “lack of Jack” early on had a lot to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-18-12-00am-1-00am/299948/27 "2005-04-19T05:36:23Z")
> [@archmichael](#): > > Iowa??? What are they going to do? Blow up some cornfields? Oh no! Oh God NO! Not the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? That’s in Cleveland, dude. Cleveland, Ohio. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-18-12-00am-1-00am/299948/28 "2005-04-19T05:49:40Z")
The CTU guys couldn’t have hidden this guy from a lawyer for 10 minutes? But it was pretty good on the suspending disbelief scale. Except for having nuclear warheads just being moved around on trucks in the Midwest just for the sake of it. ---
**Author:** ![Gozu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gozu/32/6615_2.png) [@Gozu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-18-12-00am-1-00am/299948/29 "2005-04-19T08:56:31Z")
> [@jweb](#): > > And how can a few printed pages in a book show the location of a moving target in real time? Don’t misconstrue this as an attempt to defend 24 (I think it became crap around the middle of the 2nd season) but the book had the “gps codes” and they plugged those in their laptop to get the real time location of the nukes. It’s still not realistic but at least it’s not utterly absurd. ---
**Author:** ![archmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@archmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/archmichael)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-18-12-00am-1-00am/299948/30 "2005-04-19T10:16:47Z")
> [@JThunder](#): > > Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? That’s in Cleveland, dude. Cleveland, Ohio. :smack: Iowa is not Ohio. Iowa is not Ohio So what the hell is in Iowa to nuke? Or in Illinois for that matter. And they are too far from Chicago to make it in 90 minutes right? ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-18-12-00am-1-00am/299948/31 "2005-04-19T11:04:22Z")
> [@archmichael](#): > > :smack: > Iowa is not Ohio. Iowa is not Ohio > > So what the hell is in Iowa to nuke? Or in Illinois for that matter. And they are too far from Chicago to make it in 90 minutes right? They might have been speaking of being 90 minutes from a landing strip, you know. I think the bomb is headed for LA. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-18-12-00am-1-00am/299948/32 "2005-04-19T12:43:29Z")
> [@jweb](#): > > Well, for what it’s worth, the extreme eastern 20ish miles of Iowa (near the Mississippi river) is quite hilly and wooded. For example, my parents live 22 miles from the Mississippi, and their backyard is a 150 foot tall ridge. > > The part I thought was funny was Tony’s line about “see if there’s any open areas where a helicopter could land.” Ummmm… Iowa is mostly farmland, and a helicopter doesn’t need a whole heckuva lot of space to land, leaving… pretty much anywhere really. The least they could have done is have the nuke on its way to the Rock Island Arsenal on the Mississippi River. Y’know … military arsenal … right on the path they were travelling … not located in Jefferson City … no mountains… ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-18-12-00am-1-00am/299948/33 "2005-04-19T13:33:12Z")
> [@PigBoy](#): > > The convoy with the nuke was attacked in “mountainous terrain”… in Iowa? Is this a different Iowa than the one I’m thinking of, or have I been terribly misled when it comes to Iowa’s terrain? Hey, if any given location in LA can be a five minute car ride from any other given location in LA, there can be mountains in Iowa. Personally, I believe that the stolen nuke is intended to disrupt shipping lanes in Omaha. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-18-12-00am-1-00am/299948/34 "2005-04-19T13:52:50Z")
I missed this episode, and so did my DVR due to operator ineptitude, but it seems as if I’m better off having done so. ---
**Author:** ![NothingMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b77776/32.png) [@NothingMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NothingMan)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-18-12-00am-1-00am/299948/35 "2005-04-19T14:10:25Z")
This is the first season I’ve watched from the beginning and I have to say I became so bored during last nights episode that I flipped around. I know its been said in another 24 thread, but what the hell kind of plan is this exactly?? Let me see if I can get this straight: Blow up train and steal info about nuclear reactors Threaten to melt down said reactors as a distraction to steal stealth fighter Use stealth fighter to shoot down Airforce One to steal weapons “football” Use football to discover location of nuclear weapons convoy Hijack convoy and use weapon to… I mean seriously what bad guy thinks this is a good solid plan of attack?? Theres only about 30 things that could potentially go wrong. I’m not impressed that CTU has stopped him so far, I’m impressed Marwan has gotten this far with this stupid plan. I’ll give it another week, but they may have lost me. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-18-12-00am-1-00am/299948/36 "2005-04-19T14:10:44Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > I missed this episode, and so did my DVR due to operator ineptitude, but it seems as if I’m better off having done so. It was a decent exploration of walking the fine line between national security and civil rights. If you consider civel rights to be a whiny bleeding heart method of coddling terrorists and interfering with God-fearing patriots like Jack Bauer. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-18-12-00am-1-00am/299948/37 "2005-04-19T14:13:17Z")
> [@NothingMan](#): > > Blow up train and steal info about nuclear reactors > > Threaten to melt down said reactors as a distraction to steal stealth fighter > > Use stealth fighter to shoot down Airforce One to steal weapons “football” > > Use football to discover location of nuclear weapons convoy > > Hijack convoy and use weapon to… Sounds simple enough. Wassa problem? But you forgot the part about sending terror slut to sleep with the pilot so that she could later open the door for terror pilot. ---
**Author:** ![RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/53a042/32.png) [@RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RancidYakButterTeaParty)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-18-12-00am-1-00am/299948/38 "2005-04-19T14:41:04Z")
Are Tony and Michelle serving any purpose at this point? I love that 10-year old scowl Tony always has on his face. I would love it if he just looked up at President Wuss during a video conference and yelled “You big doo-doo head, I’m not playing with you anymore!” We might not be far from that… Edgar as the tough guy? I would pay money to watch that scene. Can’t you just see LiberalLawyer and Edgar with their eyes closed–slapping at each others hands? This must be a 24 record for most CTU torture (almost torture) scenes in a season. Hmmm…think they are running out of ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-18-12-00am-1-00am/299948/39 "2005-04-19T14:42:12Z")
Grrrr, I _love_ TerrorSlut. ---
**Author:** ![Orbifold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orbifold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orbifold)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-18-12-00am-1-00am/299948/40 "2005-04-19T14:42:44Z")
Well, that was pathetic. The writers could have explored the anti-torture position and made their viewers really think. They could have made the lawyer a character with real moral issues to present, someone struggling to uphold what they thought was right during the most difficult of circumstances. But I suppose presenting the Evil Rich Liberal Lawyer from “Amnesty Global” was easier than challenging their viewers to think for a few seconds. Did you see the car the lawyer drove? Not bad for someone who presumably works for free. I’m surprised they didn’t surgically graft a latte to his hand, just to complete the stereotype. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-18-12-00am-1-00am/299948.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-4-episode-18-12-00am-1-00am/299948.md?page=3)