24: I'm Sorry For Your Moss

Things were going WAY too well, weren’t they?

At least they were for the first half hour of last night’s episode of “24.” The surface-to-surface missiles carrying the bio weapon had been neutralized by Tony, Jonas Hodges was under arrest and Larry “I now have no problem attacking Starkwood without an official presidential order” Moss (pictured, left) had become more likable than ever.

Then — as they tend to do on this show — things went to hell.

Before that, the good guys were kicking ass. Tony had noticed a truck with RP-7 — which we ALL know is the fuel used for surface-to-surface missiles, right? — and sniffed out Jonas Hodges’ plans for the bio weapon and passed them along to Jack and Renee who called the president. Fortunately, Tony had some C-4 in his backpack — totally standard for kickass ex-CTU agents — and after some sneaking around and a brief scuffle with Stokes (who got to sneer the classic bad guy line, “You’re too late!”), was able to blow up the missiles right before they were launched. (Um, guess he wasn’t too late, Stokes.)

Despite his heroics, Tony was taken into custody by the FBI — but not before Special Agt. in Charge of Working His Way Into Our Hearts Larry Moss gave him a brief speech about how he didn’t agree with what was happening.

The entire operation had been unofficially sponsored by the president right before her meeting with Hodges. Our man Hodges arrived in the White House beaming with his right-hand man (and my boy) Seaton looking slightly uncomfortable as usual. As Hodges once again complimented Seaton’s fake out of Tony and Moss, an uneasy expression crawled across Seaton’s face, leading me to think that Seaton didn’t ALWAYS intend to double-cross Tony and Moss for his boss’s benefit. (Then again, I may just WANT to believe this because it would help the Seaton double cross make more sense.)

Nevertheless, Hodges introduced him as a remarkable young man (despite the fact that he doesn’t “look remarkable”) and laid out his “demands” to President Taylor. (To call it “blackmail”, would be describing it in the worst possible light.) Basically, he wanted Starkwood to become the fifth branch of the U.S. military and a “seat at the president’s table.” President Taylor balked at giving into a man who’s killed so many people (including her son). Shortly thereafter, Homeland Security Tim interrupted the meeting with news of Tony’s successful mission.

That prompted the arrest of Hodges and Seaton, and another lunatic-y “I care about my country” rant from Jonah. Before being taken away, Hodges hinted that he was merely a small cog in the day’s events and that the president would soon see what he meant. Maybe it’s because of the Super Mario Bros.-style revelation that the boss we just defeated isn’t the last one, or maybe it’s Hodges rehashing the “I’m a patriot” rhetoric, but I was underwhelmed by the Taylor/Hodges showdown. I guess my expectations were too high.

Conversely, my expectations were pretty low for another faceoff we all knew was coming — Jack’s reunion with his estranged daughter, Kim. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m one of the many “24” fans that just isn’t a Kim Bauer fan. The character often solely existed to be a victim (usually in WAY contrived scenarios) for her father to rescue. On top of that, while Elisha Cuthbert is very pretty, she’s just not a very good actress.

That being said, I liked everything about Kim’s reunion with Jack last night. I liked Jack’s initial anger at budding-girlfriend Renee for calling her, which we ALL knew she would do. (Turns out Kim had been trying to contact him for a LONG time.) I liked Jack and Kim’s initial awkwardness. I liked the fact that the only thing that could break tough guy Jack is the torture of having his daughter watch him die. I liked the hug at the end.

Finally, I liked that Jack expressed that he was becoming sick so he could send Kim away — except that he wasn’t shaking because he was sick, he was shaking because he was about to sob uncontrollably. The writers were very smart to purposely bring Kim back as a potential hero (saving Jack’s life) instead of a victim. I’m curious to see how they handle this for the rest of the season (could she actually die from helping save Jack’s life?) especially with Jack’s conditioning worsening to the point that he loses his train of thought while talking to the president.

I’m also curious to see what the hell is up with Tony.

Turns out the bio weapon wasn’t entirely destroyed and a Starkwood operative escaped with a canister after killing two FBI agents. Moss (with a captured Tony in tow) pursued in a helicopter. After the pilot was taken out, the firefight was taken to the streets. Moss was eventually injured and Tony decided to check on him. As the Starkwood baddie approached, Moss tried to warn Tony — who waved the Starkwood guy off with a casual wave.

Oh. No.

As the same “Oh.No.” look came across Moss’s face, Tony suffocated him as the episode came to a close. R.I.P. Larry Moss. Jeffrey Nordling brought a surprising amount of understated quirkiness to the role of “Guy Who Foolishly Doubts Jack Bauer” before becoming full-blown likable towards the end of the character’s life.

As for Tony, we don’t yet have an explanation or hint as to why he’s gone to the dark side (not anything beyond repeated, ominous Carlos Bernard reaction shots throughout the hour). Since the writers have been so good this season (and since the twist came at the very end of the episode) I’m definitely giving the writers the benefit of the doubt on this one. I’ll trust that they’ll start to answer some of the questions on our mind (“Why would Tony destroy most of the bio weapon only to get away with one canister?) next week because, to be honest, right now it’s feeling like one twist too many.

So what’d you think of this episode? What did you think of Kim’s return to the show? Who is the Bigger Bad Hodges hinted at? (Perhaps, the briefly-seen, undeniably-slimy VP?) Finally, do you like the twist with Tony being a bad guy? (Unless, of course, they decide to make him a good guy again in four episodes.)