24: Top Bill-ing

I think we got the definitive answer last night to the season-long question (asked by Renee, at least) of whether Jack Bauer still “feels” anything.

I would direct you to the scene where Jack simply slumps to the floor on the doorway to the president’s safe room and put his head in his hands with despair after a beloved, longtime character in the “24” universe nobly sacrificed himself. (GREAT job by Kiefer Sutherland in this scene. It’s good to see him play something other than phone-tasering badass-ness every once in a while.)

Of course, with Gen. Juma taking the president and others hostage, we knew there’d be some casualties. We figured we’d lose a nobody (like the hostage Juma “released”) but we also had to figure the show would kill someone off whose name appears in the opening credits. Maybe even someone we care about to make the death significant.

While I’ll miss the character of Bill Buchanan (pictured, right), killing him off was done in a very effective way that made storytelling sense. Ever since his first scruffy appearance this season, Bill (with his wife Karen Hayes curiously missing) has seemed like a shell of his former self. More recently, he seemed ashamed that he did not have the stomach to torture Burnett for information in the previous hour. Recognizing that Jack was the one person who could get the job done, he ran to the edge of the president’s safe room, where Jack had allowed some C4 to leak, and blew himself up to create a diversion and save the day.

The character’s noble death (followed by the trademark silent clock) ranks among the series best along with Teri Bauer’s shocking death at the end of season 1 and George Mason’s sacrifice in season 2. Great job by the writers in sending out the character in a fitting way, instead of having him die like a punk (ala Curtis Manning in season 6).

Bill’s sacrifice allowed Moss’s team to storm the White House (despite VP Mitchell Hayworth’s continued protestations). Juma ordered an underling to kill the hostages, while Juma himself was planning on going after the president. Unfortunately for the general, he ran into Jack Bauer who killed him to death with multiple gunshots (Jack gave you a chance, general). Jack also found time to save the life of Sen. Mayer, his chief antagonist so far, but I have a feeling the crusty Mayer isn’t ready to let bygones be bygones just yet.

With the White House safe, Jack rested for exactly two seconds before setting off on his next mission. Bill had told him that Juma had received intel from an outside source and that President Taylor was still in danger. Unfortunately, Special Agent in Charge of Being Two Steps Behind Larry Moss arrested Bauer and forbade him from re-interrogating Burnett, who was in a nearby hospital.

Renee disagreed with the decision and unleashed my favorite mini speech of the season when she pointed out that, while some of the things Bauer does are extreme, he’s been right every step of the way. Furthermore, if they’d let him handle things, maybe we all wouldn’t be in this mess. (High five, Agt. Walker!)

Walker wasn’t done with the awesomeness yet as she convinced Ethan, the president’s chief aide, to allow Bauer to interrogate Burnett. Ethan signed off on it quickly (much to Moss’ dismay) but insisted on keeping the president in the dark.

I’m having a really tough time getting a read on Ethan. I mentioned in my recap last week that him leaving the White House (as Burnett was attempting to) before the attack by Juma was pretty suspicious. Then again, I felt bad for the guy when Olivia took the olive branch he offered her and set it on fire. Turns out the reason Olivia was estranged from her mother stemmed from when she was a member of her mother’s campaign and released damaging information about the president’s opponent. Ethan and her mother hated the move then, and Ethan still thought bringing her into the administration was a mistake. Olivia accepted the invitation back, but lit into him for allowing the corruption that’s plagued her mother’s administration under his watch.

Like I said, I felt bad for the guy at first, but the more I think about it, maybe Olivia IS the person to come in and clean house. More importantly, maybe the reason Ethan seemed so put off is that he probably DOES have something to hide. Remember, Ethan, Renee and Moss were the only people who knew that Jack was going to interrogate Burnett, so how did Jonas Hodges’ people find out (I know they said it was some techie mumbo jumbo, but I’m not buying it.) Also, maybe the reason Ethan allowed the interrogation was to set up the eventual frame job on Jack (bonus genius points if it turns out he was thinking THAT far ahead.) Mostly though, I’m going back to not trusting him because I can never fully trust the warden from “The Shawshank Redemption.”

We got a little more insight into Jonas Hodges’ plans (he was receiving a weapons shipment from Juma and seems to be planning some sort of potentially high-casualty attack), but mostly we got more insight into his mind. The guy is a wonderful kook. I kinda slammed Jon Voight’s over-the-top performance last week, but in a “24” universe filled with buttoned-up tightasses like Larry Moss, the color Voight brings to this role is more than welcome. He’s CLEARLY enjoying himself, and my uneducated guess is that part of his plan involves getting President Taylor out of the way so he can put his puppet (VP Hayworth) in power.

Before that, Hodges had to stop Jack from getting Burnett to talk. Never fear, because Seaton, his second-in-command, sent Quinn to the hospital to “deal with” Burnett and Jack. Quinn killed a lonely patient to create a diversion (did the quirky killer want to minimize family heartache?) before paralyzing Jack with gas in the middle of his interrogation with Burnett, who was not only ready to talk, but was also ready for a new pair of underpants. Quinn brutally killed Burnett with a shard of glass (slit throat, stab in the chest) and put drooling Jack’s fingerprints on the weapon.

So now Jack is on the run, imploring Special Agt. in Charge of Being Two Steps Behind to not believe the frame job designed to distract him, and instead focus on finding who is still after the president. Given the way Moss quickly took his finger out of Jack’s chest after Jack stared him down before the Burnett investigation, maybe Moss will actually do what Jack says. Nah!

So what’d you think of this episode? Why were there C4 canisters in that safe room? (Doesn’t seem very “safe” to me.) Was I the only one who thought Hodges was going to poison Seaton when he offered him a drink? (I was happy he didn’t, because it made the gesture a lot more random and interesting.) How long before Renee breaks her indefinite suspension? Are you looking forward to a Jack/Quinn face off as much as I am? Finally, what do you think happened between Agt. Pierce (can I call him “Aaron”?) and Martha Logan, and do you think it’ll lead to the return of (the maybe/hopefully alive) Charles Logan?