# 24: Season 5: Episodes 11-12 (5:00pm - 7:00pm) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 6, 2006, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episodes-11-12-5-00pm-7-00pm/347302 "2006-03-06T22:06:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episodes-11-12-5-00pm-7-00pm/347302/161 "2006-03-08T20:52:32Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > I think the most bad-ass non-Bauer characters in the history of 24 are all bad guys: Marwan I was going to nominate Marwan, but upon reflection I’ve determined he’s more clever and wily than truly badass. Henderson’s pretty bad, in a you can drill his tooth and he’ll just chuckle kind of way. “Pfft. Come on guys, can’t you think up a new one?” I don’t know how long he’ll last, though. Mandy will roll your back like it ain’t got no bone, share a ciggy, then drive a screwdriver through your eye socket. She’s _baaaad_. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episodes-11-12-5-00pm-7-00pm/347302/162 "2006-03-08T21:54:45Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > So, let’s just put this on the table. Choose your mercenary team: > > 1. Jack, Curtis and Tony, with Chloe and Edgar working remotely > 2. Nina, Mandy and…let’s say Sherry Palmer working the people angle, with Marwan coordinating and working the computer You’re kidding, right? Jack and Chloe alone could even the Darknight Detective himself… preparation time be damned. Assuming that Chloe had a laptop on hand, a wireless network and a stick of gum, of course. ---
**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:** [March 8, 2006, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episodes-11-12-5-00pm-7-00pm/347302/163 "2006-03-08T22:11:03Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > 1. Jack, Curtis and Tony, with Chloe and Edgar working remotely Remotely is the only way Edgar can now work. ---
**Author:** ![Pashnish\_Ewing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8797f3/32.png) [@Pashnish\_Ewing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pashnish_Ewing)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episodes-11-12-5-00pm-7-00pm/347302/164 "2006-03-08T22:22:54Z")
> [@JThunder](#): > > Assuming that Chloe had a laptop on hand, a wireless network and a stick of gum, of course. And an open socket. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episodes-11-12-5-00pm-7-00pm/347302/165 "2006-03-08T22:24:17Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > Remotely is the only way Edgar can now work. Unless they have Jennifer Love Hewitt guest-star… 😃 ---
**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:** [March 8, 2006, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episodes-11-12-5-00pm-7-00pm/347302/166 "2006-03-08T22:35:43Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > Remotely is the only way Edgar can now work. \ But OTHER people were picking Nina, and she’s dead too! I want Edgar!!! \ ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episodes-11-12-5-00pm-7-00pm/347302/167 "2006-03-08T22:46:40Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > Remotely is the only way Edgar can now work. They’re going to carry his bones around and put them on any computer they want hacked? Edger Stiles…Patron Saint of Hackers and Twinkies. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episodes-11-12-5-00pm-7-00pm/347302/168 "2006-03-08T22:48:57Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > 1. Jack, Curtis and Tony, with Chloe and Edgar working remotely > 2. Nina, Mandy and…let’s say Sherry Palmer working the people angle, with Marwan coordinating and working the computer That’s hardly fair, because the good guys have JACK. The point is to take him out of the equation. Nina, Mandy, Marwan and Sherry vs. Curtis, Tony, Edgar and Chloe? Team Evil wins easily. ---
**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:** [March 8, 2006, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episodes-11-12-5-00pm-7-00pm/347302/169 "2006-03-08T23:12:14Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > That’s hardly fair, because the good guys have JACK. The point is to take him out of the equation. > Nina, Mandy, Marwan and Sherry vs. Curtis, Tony, Edgar and Chloe? Team Evil wins easily. Based on what? I think Tony could take Nina out after a long fight. Sherry would fail to seduce Curtis, who would take her down and then help Tony chase Mandy, who would end up fleeing because the battle doesn’t offer her enough personal gain. Meanwhile, Edgar and Chloe would neutralize Marwan’s communications abilities and start sending him hax0r messages on his computer, driving him insane and causing him to commit suicide. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episodes-11-12-5-00pm-7-00pm/347302/170 "2006-03-08T23:18:05Z")
> [@mack](#): > > Henderson’s pretty bad, in a you can drill his tooth and he’ll just chuckle kind of way. “Pfft. Come on guys, can’t you think up a new one?” I don’t know how long he’ll last, though. Henderson is the Black Knight. Jack: “I just shot your leg off!” Henderson: “No you haven’t!” Jack: “What’s that, then?” Henderon: “I’ve had worse… Come on, you pansy!” ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episodes-11-12-5-00pm-7-00pm/347302/171 "2006-03-08T23:20:42Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > Anyway, some good action, and we got to hear Jack say “…or thousands of people will die”. But why is only thousands? 🙂 The baddies are killing for quality, not quantity, this year? I mean, if it kept escalating each season, we’d soon have to say, “…or EVERYBODY ON THE PLANET is going to die!” ---
**Author:** ![aleong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4af34b/32.png) [@aleong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aleong)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episodes-11-12-5-00pm-7-00pm/347302/172 "2006-03-08T23:26:39Z")
> [@Monstre](#): > > The baddies are killing for quality, not quantity, this year? > > I mean, if it kept escalating each season, we’d soon have to say, “…or EVERYBODY ON THE PLANET is going to die!” At the rate their going, pretty soon it’s going to be ‘Jack Bauer in space’ to stop an asteroid from crashing into the Earth. That would be so coool (not). Seriously, what is there left to do, now that political assassination, nuclear bomb, infectious disease, hostage taking on the Internet, melting down nuclear power plants, shooting down Air Force One, missile attack, and nerve gas have been done? ---
**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:** [March 8, 2006, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episodes-11-12-5-00pm-7-00pm/347302/173 "2006-03-08T23:33:11Z")
> [@aleong](#): > > Seriously, what is there left to do, now that political assassination, nuclear bomb, infectious disease, hostage taking on the Internet, melting down nuclear power plants, shooting down Air Force One, missile attack, and nerve gas have been done? I know you mentioned infectious disease already, but I can’t help but think that next season will involve some kind of Super Bird Flu being unleashed. And they’ve infected Jack. So Jack has 24 hours to stop the terrorists from spreading it worldwide, but also to find a cure before he dies. Again. ---
**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:** [March 8, 2006, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episodes-11-12-5-00pm-7-00pm/347302/174 "2006-03-08T23:35:29Z")
> [@aleong](#): > > Seriously, what is there left to do, now that political assassination, nuclear bomb, infectious disease, hostage taking on the Internet, melting down nuclear power plants, shooting down Air Force One, missile attack, and nerve gas have been done? Gay marriage? ---
**Author:** ![lachesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@lachesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lachesis)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episodes-11-12-5-00pm-7-00pm/347302/175 "2006-03-08T23:35:51Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > OK, I’ve been thinking about this whole “attack on CTU” thing. Clearly it was planned well in advance, as Lynn’s mugging was clearly designed to steal his key card. And the terrorists had done their homework in rewiring the keycard and getting schematics of the CTU headquarters. Which means that they knew well in advance that they’d be gassing CTU. But…their whole plan originally involved trucking the gas overseas. And the head terrorist guy is clearly peeved that he couldn’t do that. > > So do these guys just plan (meticulously) for failure? It’s an odd contingency plan that involves breaking into a high security (yet curiously porous) facility. > > Incidentally, the bad guys have gassed three locations. Each time, they’ve lost their highly trained assassin type. (The first time, they lost a total of three.) You have to think that they’re going to have trouble getting a volunteer for canister 4. > > I’m not sure of the total body count of bad guys this season, but it’s well into the teens already. Good thing they’re using the same hiring agency that last year’s terrorists were using to get their legions of bad guys. and my teeny little brain just kicked in a couple minutes ago while i was beading. (amazing what the subconscious churns up when it’s let loose.) a) Lynn’s keycard was needed to access CTU. b) Terrorists planned to get keycard. c) Druggie boyfriend was already in the pipe (heh!) to get said keycard via mugging. d) Which means that somebody knew AHEAD OF TIME that Lynn was going to be the designated Obstructionist Supervisor Du Jour at CTU. e) And said person ALSO knew that Lynn could be “gotten” via his druggie sister. . . . and i didn’t even need a “Hi, Opal” so either the writers have screwed themselves during a make-it-up-as-we-go moment, or something is SERIOUSLY out of whack with the plan as we’ve been told it. if the nerve gas was, indeed, supposed to get out of the country and take out the terrorists’ base, then access via HobbitCard would never have been necessary. conversely (i think… it’s getting a little convoluted at this point), if someone was actually COUNTING ON the nerve gas being turned against the U.S., who would be the higher-up that made the call to get Lynn _in situ_ so that CTU could get on the target list? and **WHY?** my private bet at this point: it was all an elaborate plot to take out **JACK!** for good and for real, this time. ---
**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:** [March 8, 2006, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episodes-11-12-5-00pm-7-00pm/347302/176 "2006-03-08T23:47:24Z")
> [@lachesis](#): > > so either the writers have screwed themselves during a make-it-up-as-we-go moment, or something is SERIOUSLY out of whack with the plan as we’ve been told it. if the nerve gas was, indeed, supposed to get out of the country and take out the terrorists’ base, then access via HobbitCard would never have been necessary. > > conversely (i think… it’s getting a little convoluted at this point), if someone was actually COUNTING ON the nerve gas being turned against the U.S., who would be the higher-up that made the call to get Lynn _in situ_ so that CTU could get on the target list? and **WHY?** Well, look at it this way. Henderson is steadfastly claiming to be working in the best interests of the country. Typically in _24_ when guys do that, they actually believe that. He also has said that Jack doesn’t want to know the information he knows, which implies that the corruption goes right to the top (as usual). The Veep just showed up out of the blue when he was supposedly going to be far away from LA, with this new contingency plan for martial law in place. It seems fairly obvious that the VP is connected to this somehow, and he’d certainly have the connections in order to put Lynn into place as a contingency plan. I’m guessing he’s been exploiting President Wishywashy from the day he was elected. He was the one who set the nerve gas thing up through Walt, he was the one who put Lynn in charge, and he was the one who contracted Henderson. The only question to me is how much of a pawn the Warlock is, and if the nerve gas was ever actually intended to go to Russia. ---
**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:** [March 8, 2006, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episodes-11-12-5-00pm-7-00pm/347302/177 "2006-03-08T23:52:45Z")
> [@lachesis](#): > > conversely (i think… it’s getting a little convoluted at this point), if someone was actually COUNTING ON the nerve gas being turned against the U.S., who would be the higher-up that made the call to get Lynn _in situ_ so that CTU could get on the target list? and **WHY?** I think we can count on that being the senario. Vice President (evil) Palmer is _awfully_ hot to throw out that pesky Constitution and set up a nice friendly little fascist state. ---
**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:** [March 8, 2006, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episodes-11-12-5-00pm-7-00pm/347302/178 "2006-03-08T23:53:19Z")
**lachesis** , I don’t know why you spoilered that, but one thing that hasn’t been addressed this season is the reason for Jack’s most recent death. Remember, he’s _persona non grata_ in every Chinese restaurant in L.A. Working with your post and **Fangle** ’s post before it, and knowing that _24_ writers still need to fill another 12 hours, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them drawn back into the loop. At least it explains how Chechen terrorists and dead druggie dude were connected in the first place. ---
**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:** [March 8, 2006, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episodes-11-12-5-00pm-7-00pm/347302/179 "2006-03-08T23:58:57Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > At least it explains how Chechen terrorists and dead druggie dude were connected in the first place. It does? _scratches head_ ---
**Author:** ![lachesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@lachesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lachesis)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episodes-11-12-5-00pm-7-00pm/347302/180 "2006-03-09T00:03:01Z")
sure – Evil Higher Up knows Lynn’s weakness. Evil Higher Up also plans for terrorists to get nerve gas. therefore, Evil Higher Up tells terrorists who to contact to do the dirty work in getting the keycard. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episodes-11-12-5-00pm-7-00pm/347302.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-5-episodes-11-12-5-00pm-7-00pm/347302.md?page=10)