24: A Time To Kill

Can you believe that we’re already a quarter of the way through this season?

I know that it seems like just last week (actually it was TWO weeks ago) that Jack was testifying before a Senate committee and threatening to jam a pen in a bad guy’s neck, but after last night’s episode we’ve already completed six of the seventh season’s “24” hours.

The reason I bring it up is that we can already feel the season start to enter into its next phase. We’ve already had a near-catastrophe and a legitimate catastrophe, as well as the deaths of several semi-major-to-minor characters. It also seems like Jack and Co. are about to catch up with Col. Dubaku (we haven’t even seen his boss, Gen. Juma, this season) and recover the CIP firewall device that’s wreaking so much havoc.

It just FEELS like the season is about to take a completely new direction (toward Juma and the shadowy big bad corporation led by Jon Voight perhaps), which is making the final few hours to wrap up the Dubaku/CIP firewall saga pretty exciting.

As I theorized in last week’s recap, Bill Buchanan and Chloe were nearby to dig up Agt. Renee Walker and bring her back to life (Great hacking cough by Annie Wersching — or the sound department). They brought Renee along in the blue van, and gave her a new “badass female FBI agent” outfit to change into. (They must carry one just in case). Bill also convinced Renee to keep pretending to be dead until they can figure out who’s been compromised at the FBI and other levels of government. (I’m still waiting to find out what happened to Bill that’s made him so much colder — it probably has something to do with his wife, whom he hasn’t mentioned yet.)

The action actually stayed mostly away from the FBI office, and I was ok with that. We only got a brief scene in the beginning with Agt. Moss exploding at Sean after Sean dared to use the past tense in referring to Renee. I have to say, I’m surprisingly finding Agt. Moss more likeable. Maybe not “likable”, but I’m definitely feeling sorry for him that he’s so underqualified and overwhelmed for his job. We’ll go with “sympathetic.”

Also coming early in the episode was the throwdown between Emerson, Jack and Tony. I’m kind of glad that it came that early because, if Emerson is as good as he’s supposed to be, he would’ve already figured out that Jack and Tony were working together (though Emerson thought Jack and Tony were just trying to rip off the diamonds). The show pushed the “Tony will be conflicted” angle a bit too much so when Tony was actually conflicted when the time came to (Jack Bauer scream) “TAKE THE SHOT!” it didn’t come as much of a surprise. In the end, Tony killed Emerson’s henchman and shot Emerson in the neck. Unfortunately, he’s not quite as good a (neck) marksman as Jack so Emerson eventually died.

The one thing I didn’t really get was why Tony was still so gloomy after Emerson died. (I might've felt a little more if Emerson had been interesting.) I mean, I totally get that Emerson grew to be like a brother and Tony felt bad about having to kill him, but the show seemed to be hinting that this could become a problem between Jack and Tony down the line. It just seemed like Tony was blaming Jack. Apparently, when Tony “died”, Emerson’s plan was to use him against Jack, so maybe there WILL be some sort of showdown between the two. Then again, the show could just be showing us Tony’s emotion and humanity, which is in contrast with the way Jack moved on relatively quickly after killing Curtis (No, I’m STILL not over it!) Also, I kinda wish the show would stop explaining how Tony’s alive. My disbelief has been suspended because I’m thrilled he’s back — so just cut it out already!

Jack convined the Matobos to play along with his plan and allow themselves to be taken to Col. Dubaku. Mrs. Matobo was especially eager to make up for opening the panic room door, though I can’t help but feel like her heroic choice is going to end up getting her killed. Stay-at-home mom/techie Chloe added “amateur dentist” to her many titles by adding a tracking device to his teeth. The sequence when Emerson’s boss Nichols showed up to double cross Tony was badass for the way a hidden Jack easily dispatched of Nichols’ henchmen and the way Nichols scurried away with the Matobos. I’m assuming everyone will now hop in the blue van and hope they can get a hold of Dubaku.

Last night’s episode also marked the first time the scenes at the White House were really interesting. President Taylor was still not backing down to Dubaku’s demands, so Dubaku raised the stakes a bit by having two planes crash into each other just southwest of the White House. Despite the mind-boggling precision of the crash, I thought the special effect itself (the silent fireball in the sky) was VERY effective. I also liked the simple, matter-of-fact way those people on the plane were alive one moment and dead the next. There were no scenes of drawn-out drama on the plane where we got to know a single mother and her cute kid or whatever. We didn’t know anybody on that plane, but I still cared that they were dead.

President Taylor quickly called a Cabinet meeting to reinforce that she wasn’t negotiating with Dubaku and that she was holding out hope that the CIP firewall could be recovered. This prompted Secretary of State Joe Stevens to resign (for real this time) and the president’s closest advisors to plot together and try to figure out a way to change her mind. I thought the White House scenes were strong and just as tense as the hour’s shootouts. However, I could’ve done without Taylor’s cheesy speech about why she’s refusing to give in to Dubaku’s demand. It was an ok speech, but it was blatantly a “big moment” for actress Cherry Jones.

At least Jones did more than sit around on a couch for most of the episode. That’s what poor Colm Feore had to do as Henry Taylor sat paralyzed for literally the first 30 minutes. I’m not the only one who thought he looked kinda funny —with his clenched jaw and intense expression — sitting idly on that couch.

Bad Secret Service Guy #2 brought Samantha back to her apartment, where she was startled by Henry sitting there, blabbed for a somewhat extended period of time without realizing something was wrong and got stabbed in the back. I realize that none of us really care about these characters, but that was absolutely brutal. Of course, Bad Secret Service Guy Brian took things up a notch by flipping her over and stabbing her some more.

Since he was too busy brutalizing a defenseless woman, Brian failed to realize that Henry was slowly regaining mobility. He eventually saved up all his strength to strangle Brian and fling the two of them off the second floor (impressive stunt!) before Brian could hang Henry. The actors are doing what they can with this storyline, but it’s still pretty dumb. Watching Henry Taylor slowly regain his motor skills reminded me of watching Wesley slowly regain the use of his limbs in “The Princess Bride” after being brought back to life by Miracle Max. “The Princess Bride” is a great movie that I love, but I doubt the producers of “24” are going for a “fairy tale/comedic” vibe with this storyline.

So what’d you think of this episode? Does Jack EVER miss a shot? (Of course not, he’s Jack!) Were you expecting Bill to stab Renee with the adrenaline shot ala Pulp Fiction instead of simply injecting her?(I wasn’t the only one, right?) How long until Henry can move again? Finally, do you think President Taylor is being too stubborn?