# 24: Season 5: Episode 17 (11:00pm - 12:00midnight) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 10, 2006, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00midnight/352144 "2006-04-10T21:50:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**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 11, 2006, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00midnight/352144/61 "2006-04-11T16:47:52Z")
> [@mack](#): > > triple post! You suppose Jack and Curtis and Tony ever shot the same guy at the same time? > [@mack](#): > > I thought he was just going to use the diversion to just make a run for it. I told Mrs. Plant, “They set off the bank alarm. While the bad guys kill the cops, they will escape.” She replied, “Good plan.” ---
**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 11, 2006, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00midnight/352144/62 "2006-04-11T16:50:40Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#): > > RoboCop talking on his cell phone while driving. That’s not safe! ---
**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 11, 2006, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00midnight/352144/63 "2006-04-11T16:57:43Z")
> [@Wile E](#): > > Actually, he was released before HS took over. He was permanently released by the nerve gas attack on CTU. > Poor Curtis. You’re thinking of Edgar. I’ve mixed those names up before, too. It might be less confusiong to use their stage names: Snack Bower and Black Bauer. Snack Bauer is dead. Black Bauer is alive, but I was also wondering why he wasn’t in on any action. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00midnight/352144/64 "2006-04-11T16:59:21Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > That’s not safe! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00midnight/352144/65 "2006-04-11T17:10:43Z")
> [@Monstre](#): > > I did. 🙂 > They should have given the bank’s address as something like 815 Maple Ave. or something like that… I didn’t really connect the 23 directly to _Lost_ – I was thinking of it as a straight up William S. Burroughs nod, since both [Kiefer](http://www.kiefer-rocks.com/photos/large_moviestills/beat/18.jpg) and [Weller](http://www.davidcronenberg.de/premierelunch.jpg) have played old Bill, and he’s the originator of the 23 fixation. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00midnight/352144/66 "2006-04-11T17:16:55Z")
> [@Wile E](#): > > Actually, he was released before HS took over. He was permanently released by the nerve gas attack on CTU. > Poor Curtis. Curtis was on his way back from something or other at the time CTU was attacked, and, as has been pointed out, met up with Jack at the gas distribution center. In fact, do we have any reason to think that Curtis had made it back to CTU by the time Homeland Security took over? Maybe Curtis has turned rogue and will wind up hooking up with Jack at just the right time… ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00midnight/352144/67 "2006-04-11T17:23:01Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#): > > Nope, there is no woosh here. There really was a thin yellowish card on his dashboard when they showed RoboCop talking on his cell phone while driving. Yeah, but that could have just been his parking permit for Terrorist Parking Lot #4. Hell, I’ve had irrelevant stuff on my dash for years. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00midnight/352144/68 "2006-04-11T17:23:55Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#): > > I did notice the card on RoboCop’s dashboard, but…… > > It was the VP’s idea to impose marshal law, not President Logan. If RoboCop is working for Logan, and Logan alone, how would they have known to get cards to let them through roadblocks nobody but the Veep knew would be forthcoming? Is there a standard “Pass through marshal law roadblocks” card that you can keep under your seat for just such emergencies? Remember, Robocop is driving Evelyn’s car, and she had one of those stickers by virture of working with the first lady. ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Bongo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a9adbd/32.png) [@Winston\_Bongo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Bongo)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00midnight/352144/69 "2006-04-11T17:33:16Z")
This episode was a fine example of how Jack, as much as we all love the guy, is sometimes dumb as a brick. Or at least he doesn’t think very far ahead. First, as pointed out by others, he rushes to get the evidence at the bank when A) there’s no reason to believe Henderson knows where it is, and B) it’s much smarter to lay low for a while and keep Evelyn and the kid safe while Audrey and Chloe work on getting help from Daddy Devane. Instead, he leaves a wounded woman and a terrified kid alone and defenseless at a motel. Couldn’t he at least have told the little girl, “If anything bad happens, call this chick named Audrey at 555-WEEP, because if you call anyone else, inlcuding 911, the Bad Man will come and get you again”? (He might have also added, “And it will only take him about two minutes to get here, somehow!”) Then, instead of Jack just knocking on the bank dude’s door, saying he’s a federal agent, and asking for help, he does a full-on home invasion and threatens to pop the guy’s wife, which turns out to be completely unnecessary, since Wayne was right and the guy would have helped them anyway. (You get the feeling Wayne was thinking, “Great, I’m teamed up with a psychopath.”) Finally, he figures the only way to escape the situation in the bank is to call the LAPD and initiate a blazing gun battle in which several innocent cops will surely bite it, all in hopes that maybe, possibly, by some slim chance this will buy them about three seconds to run out the front door? And then, when this actually works, he inexplicably starts shooting, draws fire, and gets the bank guy killed anyway. So, in just one hour, Jack’s valiant attempts to Save The Country have most likely cost the lives of Evelyn, her daughter, the bank dude, and several cops. And we can probably assume Mrs. Bank Dude will starve to death, since she’s still tied up at the house and Jack is about as likely to remember that as he is to remember Behrooz from last season. I tell ya, I love the show, but sometimes I don’t know why . . . :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00midnight/352144/70 "2006-04-11T17:34:58Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > Roger Stanton, head of NSA, along with the breakaway army group (and the implication seemed to be that ) planned the thing under the assumption that the bomb wouldn’t go off. Ooops, you’re right – I’d forgotten about Stanton. There was indeed involvement by some govt officials then, too. > [@](#): > > Yeah, but it just feels like an awkward retcon rather than something planned on purpose. The explanation for Logan not telling Walt what he was doing seems tenuous to me. I agree it feels more tenuous, although it’s probably the only way to explain it now that they’ve gone the “Logan is behind it” route. I think this is one of those “Nina” things – they hadn’t decided who to make the BIG bad guy for Act 2 when things started. I’m guessing they were already thinking maybe making it the Veep, then decided to go all out and make it the Prez. (Just a guess…) ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00midnight/352144/71 "2006-04-11T17:39:53Z")
> [@Winston Bongo](#): > > Mr. Bank Dude Really, people, can’t we come up with a better nickname for this guy? I propose Mithter Moth Man. Like it matters anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00midnight/352144/72 "2006-04-11T17:41:16Z")
> [@mack](#): > > Too bad about the bank guy. What will they do with the body? Tie it to the grill of the car, and cover their car with red paint. That’s got people through worse roadblocks than they’re likely to see… ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00midnight/352144/73 "2006-04-11T17:42:28Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > Remember, Robocop is driving Evelyn’s car, and she had one of those stickers by virture of working with the first lady. Sure, but what about the henchpersons vehicles? Hey, and what about putting out an APB on Evelyn’s car then? Jack knew he took off in it…Just because you can’t find him on satellite dosen’t mean that he became invisible. Hell, they found Audrey in like 10 minutes with the satellite anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00midnight/352144/74 "2006-04-11T17:43:23Z")
Anyone think that this is damned late in the day for the President to start worrying about recordings? If the terrorists had had the brains to tape their phone conversation with him earlier in the day, they could have literally gotten \* carte blanche \* to do anything they wanted. As in, “Hi. Unless you open the doors to Fort Knox for us, we’re going to publish this tape of you agreeing to give us the route for the President of Russia’s limo.” Now \* that \* would be one embarassing tape to make public. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00midnight/352144/75 "2006-04-11T17:47:36Z")
> [@c\_goat](#): > > Jack should have just set a trap for RoboTerrorist by calling 911… then go to the bank after he’s taken care of. Now **THAT** ’s thinkin’, Bauer-style. Wonder why Jack didn’t think of it… > [@Excalibre](#): > > But then, had they succeeded, how would Jack ever have been implicated by the good guys? That’s the puzzling part. Kill all four people who know Jack is alive, and suddenly no one in the government will know he is anymore. How would they possibly connect the murders to Jack once the four people who knew he was alive were eliminated? Well, I think that would have been based on the planted video “evidence” from the first episode – of Jack presumably being caught by a security camera in the building across from where David Palmer was killed. The video “evidence” was the part that would supposedly prove he was alive. > [@Cluricaun](#): > > Is there a standard “Pass through marshal law roadblocks” card that you can keep under your seat for just such emergencies? I think those come in the new Monopoly: Terrorist Edition board games… ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00midnight/352144/76 "2006-04-11T18:40:01Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#): > > “Pass through marshal law roadblocks” [Speaking of which](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10.5#Alternations_and_misspellings_of_names_and_words) ( 😉 ), why the hell didn’t anyone tell me that _10.5: Apocalypse_, starring Carlos Bernard, was on last month?! ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00midnight/352144/77 "2006-04-11T19:04:02Z")
> [@Monstre](#): > > Well, I think that would have been based on the planted video “evidence” from the first episode – of Jack presumably being caught by a security camera in the building across from where David Palmer was killed. The video “evidence” was the part that would supposedly prove he was alive. :smack: Forgot about that. Still seems like a rather more complex plan than absolutely necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00midnight/352144/78 "2006-04-11T19:53:41Z")
> [@c\_goat](#): > > Jack should have just set a trap for RoboTerrorist by calling 911… then go to the bank after he’s taken care of. Also, I’m surprised RoboTerrorist didn’t suspect a trap, since the 911 call used Evelyn’s real name and he knew that Jack took her. Bigtime. I actually thought of using it as either a trap or diversion myself. Or, instead of leaving HotMommy there to bleed out while her daughter watches, perhaps Jack could have just called 911 with, you know, a fake name? Naaaah. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00midnight/352144/79 "2006-04-11T20:03:05Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > Still seems like a rather more complex plan than absolutely necessary. You did watch season four, correct? ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00midnight/352144/80 "2006-04-11T20:06:32Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > Or, instead of leaving HotMommy there to bleed out while her daughter watches, perhaps Jack could have just called 911 with, you know, a fake name? Well, since LA is locked down, Evelyn Martin or no Evelyn Martin, any gunshot wound not inflicted by the army (and therefore probably not reported to 911) is going to be very suspicious to Logan’s crew. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00midnight/352144.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episode-17-11-00pm-12-00midnight/352144.md?page=5)