# 24: Season 8: Episode 8 (11:00pm - 12:00am) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 15, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-8-episode-8-11-00pm-12-00am/529127 "2010-02-15T22:08:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Baracus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@Baracus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baracus)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-8-episode-8-11-00pm-12-00am/529127/21 "2010-02-16T13:49:11Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > But wait – is this a sub-plot, or part of the main plot? What _is_ the main plot, anyway? That Taylor and Hassan need to sign the treaty by tomorrow afternoon for some reason? > > I guess what I mean is there doesn’t seem to be any real sense of urgency this season. “Jack must help the President achieve a lasting peace in the Middle East” is a slightly more abstruse concept than “Jack must keep the bad guys from making a big-ass explosion that will kill _this_ many people, as illustrated by these stick figures on a computer screen.” Yeah, I am not really getting the whole fuel rod thing. In the real world, didn’t a couple countries just offer to give the “Islamic Republic” enriched uranium fuel rods in echange for discontinuing its own enrichment program? They can’t be turned into bombs over night, so I don’t see where the “gotta have em now” attitude is coming from. They could be used for dirty bombs, but it seems pretty clear that they want to make nukes. Can you imagine how effficient CTU could be if people actually, like, did their jobs? It’s bad enough that Dana is off chatting on her phone every two minutes, but then you got that weasely dude apparently wasting HIS time checking up on her. ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-8-episode-8-11-00pm-12-00am/529127/22 "2010-02-16T16:27:54Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > But wait – is this a sub-plot, or part of the main plot? What _is_ the main plot, anyway? That Taylor and Hassan need to sign the treaty by tomorrow afternoon for some reason? > > I guess what I mean is there doesn’t seem to be any real sense of urgency this season. “Jack must help the President achieve a lasting peace in the Middle East” is a slightly more abstruse concept than “Jack must keep the bad guys from making a big-ass explosion that will kill _this_ many people, as illustrated by these stick figures on a computer screen.” > > There’s been some cool stuff this season, but I’m still waiting for that race-the-clock, nick-of-time excitement of seasons past. Remember, there are usually layers of evil. The current fuel rod plot, will probably turn out to be a very small part of a larger conspiracy, which will then be dwarfed by an even larger, time-sensitive conspiracy. Whoever is in charge of the largest conspiracy is the guy that Jack will end up chasing down and killing, in the nick of time, in the closing minutes of the last episode. ---
**Author:** ![Shark\_Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Shark\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shark_Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-8-episode-8-11-00pm-12-00am/529127/23 "2010-02-16T18:38:24Z")
1. Dana’s wrap-around hair REALLY bugs me. 2. Hasting’s swagger bugs me even more. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-8-episode-8-11-00pm-12-00am/529127/24 "2010-02-16T18:40:35Z")
> [@randwill](#): > > Whoever is in charge of the largest conspiracy is the guy that Jack will end up chasing down and killing, in the nick of time, in the closing minutes of the last episode. Actually, a fair percentage of the time the bad guy ends up not dead for one reason or another. Look at last season, for instance, where the last thing Jack was doing was stopping Tony from killing the baddie. This episode was an uptick in awesome for me, as the Jack bits (getting tortured, escaping, killing the restaurant) were vintage 24 goodness, and the other stuff was at worst meh. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-8-episode-8-11-00pm-12-00am/529127/25 "2010-02-16T19:01:20Z")
I was expecting Renee to pull a Jack Bauer Escape From CTU in order to find him but no CTU security guards were harmed in the making of this episode. ---
**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:** [February 16, 2010, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-8-episode-8-11-00pm-12-00am/529127/26 "2010-02-16T20:47:40Z")
But if they are, they go to Red Shirt Heaven. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-8-episode-8-11-00pm-12-00am/529127/27 "2010-02-17T04:34:54Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > As soon as I saw Jack hanging from the ceiling by his wrists, I knew somebody was gonna get his neck broken between Jack’s thighs. Yeah, I was sitting there thinking, “surely the torture guy has seen Lethal Weapon, right? I mean, obviously Jack would have seen it!” ---
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-8-episode-8-11-00pm-12-00am/529127/28 "2010-02-17T04:46:51Z")
> [@tr0psn4j](#): > > I was expecting Renee to pull a Jack Bauer Escape From CTU in order to find him but no CTU security guards were harmed in the making of this episode. What I want from Renee is to realize she truly can’t ever go back to normal, and to make the Jack-like decision to be the one doing the dirty work and let others stay clean. She will make this realization when Jack needs her help and the only way to do it is to shoot an innocent woman in the thigh. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-8-episode-8-11-00pm-12-00am/529127/29 "2010-02-17T04:48:31Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > I guess what I mean is there doesn’t seem to be any real sense of urgency this season. Yep, that’s what I posted about in last week’s thread – I don’t really feel that sense of urgency either, which makes these latest eps feel slow. (At least this episode had the urgency of Jack needing to get out of the torture room and escape his predicament). So what if the rods get in evil brother’s hands? They can just capture him later, and Hassan still controls his own country, so where’s bro gonna go? It’s not like he can just go home and set up a nuke factory without Omar knowing about it. He still needs a full coup to get his brother out of power before he can do a thing. > [@Baracus](#): > > Can you imagine how effficient CTU could be if people actually, like, did their jobs? It’s bad enough that Dana is off chatting on her phone every two minutes, but then you got that weasely dude apparently wasting HIS time checking up on her. Well, he needs something to do at nighttime, since the bikini-clad chicks aren’t sunbathing in full drone-view after the sun goes down. And of course, none of the main CTU staffers are allowed to go home at night. They always have 24 hour shifts. They’ve already been working 8 hours so far today… not counting whatever happened before the actual bad stuff started happening. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-8-episode-8-11-00pm-12-00am/529127/30 "2010-02-17T05:29:53Z")
> [@Windwalker](#): > > What I want from Renee is to realize she truly can’t ever go back to normal, and to make the Jack-like decision to be the one doing the dirty work and let others stay clean. She will make this realization when Jack needs her help and the only way to do it is to shoot an innocent woman in the thigh. Yeah, I know I’ve said it before in one of these threads but she’s the first character in 24 that I wouldn’t mind replacing Jack with. He is getting old, after all. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-8-episode-8-11-00pm-12-00am/529127/31 "2010-02-17T06:22:35Z")
Apparently, Chloe has developed some empathy and people skills. Oh, and she’s still desirable. Rowrr. ---
**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:** [February 17, 2010, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-8-episode-8-11-00pm-12-00am/529127/32 "2010-02-17T14:09:18Z")
> [@Monstre](#): > > Yep, that’s what I posted about in last week’s thread – I don’t really feel that sense of urgency either, which makes these latest eps feel slow. (At least this episode had the urgency of Jack needing to get out of the torture room and escape his predicament). While the same sense of urgency may not be there, they’ve also dropped the bad guys with a horribly complicated hour-by-hour plot and, thus far, endless henchmen. I, too, don’t feel the president’s urgency regarding the peace talks, but CTU has it right. The longer the rods are unaccounted for, the more difficult they will be to find. So there is some sense of urgency there. My favorite part of this week’s episode were the commercials leading up to it. They made fun of the fact that the worst thing the bad guys could do was to capture Jack. Whoever wrote that understands the audience. How is Josef/Adam transporting the rods? He left the protective cases behind? Is he trying to join his brother? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-8-episode-8-11-00pm-12-00am/529127/33 "2010-02-17T14:22:56Z")
> [@Monstre](#): > > And of course, none of the main CTU staffers are allowed to go home at night. They always have 24 hour shifts. They’ve already been working 8 hours so far today… not counting whatever happened before the actual bad stuff started happening. Heh, that’s true… If they started work at 8 or 9 am like most folks, they’re going on 15 hours or so now. Maybe Hastings could spring for some pizzas, at least? ---
**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:** [February 17, 2010, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-8-episode-8-11-00pm-12-00am/529127/34 "2010-02-17T14:54:44Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > Heh, that’s true… If they started work at 8 or 9 am like most folks, they’re going on 15 hours or so now. Maybe Hastings could spring for some pizzas, at least? You missed it. Pizzas were scarfed down while Jack was being tortured. Next time, move faster and you’ll get a slice. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-8-episode-8-11-00pm-12-00am/529127/35 "2010-02-17T17:11:05Z")
> [@JThunder](#): > > Apparently, Chloe has developed some empathy and people skills. > > Oh, and she’s still desirable. Rowrr. Especially in this episode! ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-8-episode-8-11-00pm-12-00am/529127/36 "2010-02-17T17:12:24Z")
> [@d\_odds](#): > > you missed it. Pizzas were scarfed down while jack was being tortured. Next time, move faster and you’ll get a slice. [jack] Dammit!!! [/jack] ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-8-episode-8-11-00pm-12-00am/529127/37 "2010-02-17T17:46:34Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > You missed it. Pizzas were scarfed down while Jack was being tortured. Next time, move faster and you’ll get a slice. [Chloe]We still have a lot of work to do. How can he concentrate [del]knowing his sister’s gonna die[/del] on an empty stomach? Did you ever think about that?[/Chloe] ---
**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:** [February 17, 2010, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-8-episode-8-11-00pm-12-00am/529127/38 "2010-02-17T18:19:45Z")
> [@tr0psn4j](#): > > Especially in this episode! Check the room for sharp objects first. ---
**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:** [February 18, 2010, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-8-episode-8-11-00pm-12-00am/529127/39 "2010-02-18T15:07:10Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Check the room for sharp objects first. Renee = sharp objects Chloe = taser or automatic rifles Update your cheat sheet. ---
**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:** [February 18, 2010, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-8-episode-8-11-00pm-12-00am/529127/40 "2010-02-18T15:19:17Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > Renee = sharp objects > Chloe = taser or automatic rifles > > Update your cheat sheet. I dunno, a guy can’t be too careful. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-8-episode-8-11-00pm-12-00am/529127.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/24-season-8-episode-8-11-00pm-12-00am/529127.md?page=3)