24: Mole Removal

As the final minutes of hour 10 ticked away, the sun set on Jack Bauer AND on the first portion of season 7.

And I have to say that so far it’s been a terrific success. I don’t know that I’m ready to put it up there with seasons 1 and 5 as “All-Time Great Seasons” of “24” (we might get there yet by the end of May), but I DO feel very confident in saying that season 7 is in the next tier. I’m even more confident in saying that I’d feel this way even if it didn’t follow the atrocious season 6, which was so misguided, that almost anything that followed would automatically look a little better by comparison.

By the end of the hour, Jack had captured his man, exposed the people involved in a government conspiracy, and someone under his care had been killed — it was like an entire season of “24” condensed into 10 episodes! Most of all, I’m loving that there are still 14 episodes to go (starting with a two-hour, unofficial second-half of the season premiere next week), the same way I loved that there were still three more seasons of “Lost” left to go AFTER they’d gotten off the Island.

Things weren’t looking great for our hero at the top of the hour.

Jack and Renee were still detained by the police, while Marika actually made it into Dubaku’s clutches. If you’ve read this recap, you know my biggest, non-Henry Taylor related complaint of this season has been the Dubaku/Samuel/Marika love triangle. Last week, I sort of bought into the Marika character, after she made the brave choice of helping Jack and Renee with their operation. But the fact that Dubaku didn’t immediately shoot her in that alley for her betrayal and take off in his car stretched the boundaries of credibility in a show already known for stretching the boundaries of credibility.

I mean, are we supposed to believe that Dubaku actually loved her? If so, are we actually meant to feel sympathy for the Butcher of Sangala because he has a heart? The whole thing is confusing until you realize the sole reason for Dubaku not killing Marika was because it would be a lot more dramatic for her to die in Renee’s arms.

Jack and Renee caught up with Dubaku’s car thanks to Chloe’s help and some traffic cams. After a Zippy Taxi (huh!) temporarily sidelined Jack and Renee, Marika attacked Dubaku’s driver, resulting in a movie-quality car-crash stunt. The driver was fine until he reached for his weapon and Jack shot him dead. Meanwhile Marika and Dubaku were unconscious. Renee struggled to pull Marika out of the car, and Jack went to pull Renee out of there, but Renee had had enough of Jack’s cold heart and drew her weapon on him. While I worried that Dubaku would wakeup and escape, Jack helped Renee get Marika out of the car just before a cheesy explosion on a green screen background. Overall, a pretty solid action sequence.

Of course, Jack wasn’t done. He insisted the paramedics revive Dubaku so he could find out the identities of the corrupt officials in the U.S. government. Dubaku mumbled something about a list before passing out and, while the paramedics noticed there was some kind of electronic interference when they were trying to revive him, Jack realized the metallic object causing the interference was the list. Success! Jack curiously entrusted the information to a random police officer who was to bring the intelligence to Moss and Chloe.

Then again, Renee wasn’t done with Jack. After a guilt trip from Marika’s sister, she railed at Jack and repeatedly asked him if he felt nothing. I’d write the exact quotes here, but it’s pretty much the exact same thing she’s been saying for the last four episodes. This week, she DID go “there” with Jack (bring up his dead wife Teri), which, we know from watching Jack almost choke Tony to death, is not a good idea. The scene was well-acted (if not a bit soapy), but it was really more of the same — it was me wishing there was some way for Renee come off as compassionate instead of weak in these scenes. I kinda hope the show is done with Renee for now unless she has something new to bring to the table. (Plus, I think it’d be good for her and/or Dubaku to take a few hours off and maybe make an impact toward the end of the season.)

However, I’m totally ok if the show wants to keep exploring her colleagues at the FBI. Everything that’d been set up with the characters in the FBI office came to a head in last night’s episode. Early on, it was revealed that Erika (pictured, right with Sean) was ALSO a mole along with Sean (yes! I wasn’t TOTALLY wrong). I like the “Scream”-like reveal of two bad Feds because it’s both almost impossible to predict and more sensible. I mean, wouldn’t you WANT two operatives working for you at the FBI instead of one person trying to do it all, if possible?

Fortunately for Sean, Erika was a more unstable mole, so he was able to manipulate her, use her to erase the Dubaku file Jack had recovered AND frame her as the only mole. Honestly, the only person who didn’t see the frame job coming was Erika. He shot and killed her, then shot himself in the arm before Moss and Chloe rushed in to see who was erasing Dubaku’s file.

The show also threw in a couple of nice twists along the way. When Chloe announced the files had been erased, I feared that we’d have another hour of protracted drama with the evil government forces trying to finish Dubaku off in the hospital before he could talk. However, it turns out that Chloe WAS able to recover the files (methinks she thought Sean was shady and just said they couldn’t be recovered for his sake). Finally, when Sean finally got away from Janis and began slipping away from the FBI office, I thought he was going to make it, until Moss grabbed him and threw him against the wall. Sean lawyered up and Moss backed off. Jack would’ve just yelled at him louder.

Instead, we saw Jack in a quiet moment on the steps of the Capitol. He actually seemed to be enjoying himself a bit until Tony (hello again!) showed up to tell him about a new threat courtesy of Dubaku’s boss, Gen. Juma. From the previews, we saw that target is the White House where Sen. Mayer and his aide Burnett are headed. You’ll recall Sen. Mayer was the man who was grilling Bauer during the hearing at the start of the season. However, the big reveal is that his aide Burnett is the smarmy, suited guy who was working with Dubaku. It was a nice twist in that I didn’t see it coming because I wasn’t thinking about it at all BUT it makes sense. Bringing Sen. Mayer back into the fold at the end of the first portion of the season is also a great way for things to come full circle.

So what’d you think of this episode? Did I spoil “Scream” for you in this recap? (If so, it’s kinda your fault — it’s been more than 10 years.) Are you as interested as I am in finding out why Olivia Taylor hates her mom so much? (What bad luck that the one place the Prez claimed was absolutely safe is Gen. Juma’s next target.) Why was President Taylor so hesitant when Bill asked her to help Jack with Sen. Mayer? (Hasn’t he done enough for her?) Finally, after all the sideways glances he’s been giving Jack and his general shadiness, do we really trust Tony?