24: White House of Pain

I can’t explain exactly why tasering a phone (or is it “tasing” a phone?) is unbelievably awesome — I just know it is.

At least that’s the case when Jack Bauer does it out of frustration, impatience and anger on the rare occasion that he doesn’t get what he needs while interrogating a suspect with his tried-and-true “methods.”

So RIP, White House page phone. Your death was but one of many highlights in Monday night’s two-hour installment of “24” as the show unofficially kicked off the second half of its very, VERY good seventh season.

The first hour would’ve been even more exciting if Fox hadn’t decided to reveal that the target of Gen. Juma’s attack was the White House in its promos last week. (If Fox can spoil it in its commercials, I feel like I can spoil it near the top of my recap.) Despite knowing the answer to the episode’s central mystery, the episode still managed to be incredibly entertaining and thrilling thanks to some great performances (and the great tasering of a phone, of course).

How do we know the first portion of the season is clearly behind us? Because Col. Dubaku, the central bad guy so far, was killed by an operative working for Dubaku’s boss, Gen. Juma, before the opening credits had barely finished being displayed. In case you thought the Dubaku name might live on, his son was killed by Agt. Moss in the following episode as he tried to choke Renee to death.

Last week I wrote that maybe it was time for the Renee character to take an extended break after her umpteenth lecture to Jack about his apparent lack of a conscience. But last night, as she tracked Dubaku’s killer to a warehouse, and eventually uncovered Juma’s plan before being chased by Dubaku Jr. through a 5k run of death, I found myself surprisingly invested in her survival (despite the highly-questionable jump onto the back of Juma’s boat). The main reason I’d become annoyed by her was that she just came off as weak instead of sensible or compassionate in her pleas to Jack regarding his extreme methods.

“Weak” is the last word I would use to describe Sen. Mayer, who took up the cause of arguing against Bauer’s torturous ways. Mayer and his treasonous assistant Burnett had been summoned to the White House, where the president hoped to convince him to give up his crusade against Jack. Unfortunately, Mayer was having none of it. He wasn’t having any of Ethan trying to charm him or the implication that the president would pardon Jack. His tense debate with the president regarding Bauer’s ways was better than the 45 different scenes with Renee crying about having to hurt someone. Obviously Mayer is going to be a pain-in-the-ass for our hero, but I love that Kurtwood Smith is just as cranky as Sen. Mayer as he was as Red in “That 70’s Show.”

Unfortunately, Jack would soon prove Mayer’s point when he burst into the White House, put Bill to sleep (his “don’t fight it” was less rape-y than when he put Renee to sleep a few episodes ago), and brutally tortured Burnett. This interrogation scene was fantastic. I loved Jack’s speech about being able to tell when someone, especially someone under duress, is holding out on him. The president tried to convince him to stop via soon-to-be-tasered page phone, and finally had a few of her people blow the door right before Burnett was about to break. The scene ended with an exclamation point as Mayer called Bauer reprehensible, and Bauer shooting back with “you, sir, are weak!”

Jack was only able to torture Burnett because Chloe deleted his name off the “Evil Government Official” list before Burnett could be arrested and lawyer up (the way Sean did last week). The only problem was that a still-insecure Janis spotted what Chloe had done, thought it was curious that someone who was supposed to be such an expert had missed the deletion, and eventually had her detained. Their brief interactions were priceless last night, especially the one where Chloe busted out her best forced smile followed by her best Chloe face (the one that looks like she just smelled a particularly nasty fart). Can’t wait to see if these two end up laying hands on each other before it’s all said and done.

By the time everyone realized the target was the White House, it was too late. Juma and his crew had already (with surprising ease) infiltrated the White House and dispatched a bunch of (shockingly ill-prepared) Secret Service Agents. Before Juma could kidnap the president, Bill took one for the team and allowed himself to get captured. Fortunately for him (and for me, since I think Bill is great), he decided to sacrifice himself at the very moment Juma decided to stop killing people and start taking hostages.

Jack got the president into a secure room, and Juma (I like Tony Todd’s understated command) tricked Agt. Hovis, the most gullible Secret Service agent EVER, into thinking he had the president and set about trying to get to her. Jack foiled his underling’s attempt to use a code, so Juma called Jonas Hodges, the all-powerful figure played by Jon Voight who was introduced in the TV movie “Redemption.”

Last night, Voight’s performance was a little too over-the-top “EEvil”, but he seems to be enjoying himself and it should be interesting to see how he’s connected to the main plot. He’s expecting some sort of shipment from Juma. I’m assuming Juma’s giving him diamonds in exchange for financing the war in Sangala.

Speaking of Taylor, she was finally coaxed out of the room after Hodges told Juma her daughter (who helpfully has the exact same haircut as her mom) was in the building. Agt. Aaron Pierce (who really should be head of the Secret Service or something over that idiot Hovis) put up a brave fight, but Olivia Taylor was captured before she could signal the people outside to go ahead with the rescue mission.

Juma threatened to cut Olivia’s eyeballs and head off (pictured, left). Taylor asked Jack if he would let his daughter die, Jack responded with (and I’m paraphrasing) “so totally not it — you’re the prez.” Now Taylor (after a hard-slap from Juma) is in the general’s clutches and will, apparently, be forced to issue the last statement she’ll ever make.

It was a fun, action-packed two hours, though I’m curious to see how long they can drag out the White House hostage situation and keep things interesting. I’m also curious to see how they can possibly have Juma get out of this alive (assuming he’s going to be a force toward the end of the season).

So what’d you think of this episode? Why does Sen. Mayer hate Jack so much? (I’m not even sure there needs to be a reason.) Is there any way we can trust the shifty-looking VP who didn’t want to authorize a rescue mission? Isn’t it curious or coincidence that Ethan just happened to leave the White House right before the attack? (And what's the source of the obvious tension between he and Olivia?) Will any of the hostages die? Finally, why does Tony insist on acting all shifty and untrustworthy?