Still, that invites the question of how Henderson was able to figure out exactly who else knew that Jack was alive.
They did after the first season.
Of the whole day’s implausibilities, I think the biggest one is that Jack was apparently free to go right at the end there. The guy had just * kidnapped and tortured the President of the USA *. I’m sorry, but after the Secret Service had put the boot in a few times, he would have been wrapped in about fifty layers of chains and dropped in an oubliette somewhere until everything was straightened out. No AG with even half an eye on his career would even have thought about releasing him.
Further, let’s look at Jack’s (partial) rap sheet for the day…
a. Stole a helicopter.
b. Tortured a Presidential Aide.
c. Home Invasion (twice)
d. Bank Robbery (and felony murder, given that the bank president died)
e. Airplane Hijacking
f. Stole another helicopter.
g. Attacked several Federal agents, including a Federal marshal, an Air Marshal, a member of Homeland Defense, a CTU agent, two helicopter pilots, and a few Secret service agents.
h. Shot an innocent woman in the leg.
This is not a guy that law enforcement is going to be happy having him running around loose on the street.
Finagle, you forgot murder.
And shot Henderson, who surrendered to Federal custody. 
Is it a crime to blow up a fuel truck at the airport?
If we’re going to talk about Jack’s crimes…
then if you think about it, the Logan/Cummings plan to sell nerve gas to the terrorist cell in a risky attempt to double-cross the terrorists is not ALL that different than the Jack/Tony/Gael plan at the start of Season 3 to fake a virus threat on U.S. soil in order to break Ramon Salazar out of prison, just so that Jack can insert himself back undercover with the Salazars – at least in general principle.
Of course, there end up being some major differences in reality, such as…
- Jack’s plan essentially worked. Logan’s didn’t.
- Jack didn’t try to cover it up after the fact. Logan did.
- If Jack’s infiltration failed, the Salazars might end up with the virus – but then, it was already on it’s way, and somebody would have had it, and been able to use it on U.S. soil either way. If Logan’s plan failed (which it did), then terrorists definitely have a weapon they wouldn’t have had.
BUT, while Jack’s operation was a success (or a partial success) – infiltrating the Salazars, offing them, and eventually tracking down the virus, even though that wasn’t until after it was used in the U.S., there were still some things one would think he would be held accountable for.
Because, his prison break of Salazar (and/or the setup for it) resulted in:
- the death of the prison guard who was forced to play Russian Roulette with him.
- deaths of other prison inmates, and I think guards (in the prison riot).
- Salazar being able to kill that other detective who had been part of bringing him down initially.
- I don’t remember, but I think there may have been some people killed by the henchman that Gael was “helping” (the one who shot Tony in the mall).
But let’s face it… after all the stuff Jack has done, and after all the terrorist attacks he’s stopped, he pretty much has carte blanche at this point. 
We can go back to the beginning of season 2 to start a Jack tally. I’m sure everyone who has watched remembers, “Get me a hacksaw!”
Jack’s the original Teflon Man! If he played nice while keeping millions of people from dying would any of us be watching? I think not! I like my Jack lean and mean. (And that whispery voice just kills. . . .!)
One of the greatest Jack moments ever!
I also especially liked some of those Jack/Nina interactions in season 2. Like when Nina’s smug look disappeared when she realized Jack had knocked his fellow agent out with drugged water, so that he wouldn’t have a “chaperone” with him – and she realized she was all alone with him. We need more Jack moments like that.
My personal favorite is the “Shoot him again, Kim” moment when he’s giving fatherly advice on how to kill someone to his daughter.
Not unlike the step-by-step instructions he gave Rooney on how to effectively slit someone’s throat!
The whole “fake phone call” thing really bugged me! First of all, why wouldn’t Kim call Jack on his cell? How did the call get routed to an abandoned building–WITH A WORKING PHONE? I mean, this is Jack we’re talking about here–isn’t that just the type of thing Jack would be immediately suspicious of?
All in all, a good season. I don’t even mind the ending (though it would have been nice to have at least a halfway happy ending)–I just think they could have written a better way to get there.
That does it – I really need to go back and rewatch season 2 now. That’s still got quite a lot of my favorite Jack moments.
Yes! But he forget to say: Then drop his body quickly so you don’t get soaked with blood when the artery bursts.
I’m glad Rooney lived. I was pertty sure he’d meet the same fate as Bank Manager Guy. Of course, he’ll probably lead the reast of his life in an insane assylum, rocking back and forth while sucking his thumb!
OR, better yet, Rooney joins CTU and is the guy who rescues Jack next season, using that very moves that he learned on the sub!
I assume we’re supposed to think that Jack was so emotionally skewered after the day’s events and the fact that his estranged daughter would now want to talk to him that even he might exercise poor judgement.
However, this leads to a problem I have with the episode. Jack, of all people, knew that the conspiracy plot wasn’t over. He even mentioned to Logan that he knew other people were behind the day’s events. So why would he be experiencing any kind of letting down of his guard at that point? And isn’t this the second time this season that Jack basically proclaimed “It’s over” when it wasn’t?
Hopefully some quality time with his Chinese hosts will sharpen up his wits again. I’m thinking that Jack doesn’t escape China until the end of Season 6, when his skillful rescuers turn out to be German agents.
Tune in, January 2008, on Fox!!!
Yeah, well, the agent who took the phone call should have been listening more carefully.
“Hello? Yes, this Kim Baurer. I would like to speaking with my father. It is being verry important. Could you prease get him for me?”
“Speaking with capitalist running dog father, please.”
Nice…
Actually, I thought the agent that delivered the “message” was Chinese himself, and so I assumed he was a plant.
I hope that the prequel movie they’ve been talking about doing covers the loophole in the CTU application process that allows moles to roam freely in the 24verse.
There is obviously a mole in their HR department.
Well, the original application left out one very important question:
“Are you a mole?”
And you know how government beaurocracy is… nobody’s every gotten around to re-writing the application form.