24: Techie Support

I think I may have liked it a little more when I had NO IDEA what was going on.

Last night’s episode of "24" didn’t give us all the whos and the whys behind the day’s attacks on the United States (nor did I expect it to). However, the bits of information we got proved to be more puzzling than tantalizing, and more potentially-frustrating than revelatory.

I’ll get to that eventually, but first let’s talk about the rest of the hour which - as we gear up for the sure-to-be action-packed final hours of this great season - was once again heavy on exposition and light on explosions.

Well, it was light on literal explosions anyway. I love me a good Shouting Bauer as much as anyone, so I was delighted by the fact that Jack got to unleash his fury on not one, but two characters last night. One of those rants was even coherent!

Before he could do that, he’d have to regain the ability to talk. After the bioweapon paralyzed his body and allowed Tony to get away, Jack eventually regained the ability to speak thanks to Dr. Macer (who is apparently always close by) and instructed Renee to put out an APB for Tony Almeida. Renee asked if this meant that Tony had killed Moss, and Jack said yes. The show allowed for a brief, pained look on Renee’s face, which was just right because we saw plenty of her grief and sadness over Larry’s death last week.

After alerting President Taylor about Tony’s betrayal (that woman has needed notes to keep track of whether Jack and Tony are good or bad guys throughout the day), she informed Jack that Jonas Hodges had tried to kill himself. Jack correctly (as usual) surmised that the group Hodges alluded to had pressured him to kill himself. Jack told the president that he could make Hodges talk. (Taylor’s reaction = gulp.) However, Jack assured her he wouldn’t have to lay a finger on him. (Which is kinda the same thing he said when he interrogated Burnett, and we all know how THAT turned out.)

The long-awaited (by me) confrontation between Jack and Jonas started off great (Jonas ranting and begging a guard to lend him a gun so he could kill himself; "Relax Mr. Hodges: you’re already dead" was straight out of a James Bond movie) but ultimately ended up being a tad underwhelming.

I blame a combination of Jonas’ weakened physical state (making things too uneven in favor of Jack, who was obviously feeling weak himself), the weirdly blacked out room they were in, and the revelation that Hodges is apparently "Family Man of the Year" (not totally buying it) for this scene coming up short. I also blame a pretty stupid-sounding plan. Jonas doesn’t know any of the other big-wigs involved, but the plan was for them to launch a large-scale attack on the United States in about six months, blame a bunch of Ahmed and Mohammeds (everyone’s a little bit racist!) and show the government just how crucial companies like Starkwood are. I know Jonas is supposed to be a little stark raving mad, but isn’t this cut-off-your-major-cities-to-spite-your-face plan a little TOO crazy for the other members of the group? Thank goodness Jack called Jonas out when he tried to play the "we’re not so different" card.

Though the attack was initially supposed to occur early next year, Jack (again!) correctly guessed that the organization might move it up since the country was reeling. I liked that he and Tony (aka Bizarro Jack) were thinking the same way, since it was Tony who helped convince the group ("or gang or whatever the hell they call themselves") to move it up in the first place.

After suffocating the double-crossing Galvez with a shower curtain (I thought Galvez went out a little too easily for someone who’s supposed to be badass enough to kill a couple of armed FBI agents a few hours earlier), Tony eventually met up with the mysterious non-blonde (we’ll call her the "Moderator" because I think that’s a cool nickname) who tried to get Hodges to kill himself.

I’m sure we’ll find out more about the Moderator and her ties to Alan Wilson (who seems to have some sway over the shadowy group) and Tony. She convinced Wilson via IM ("Do it for me") to persuade the rest of the group to go through with Tony’s suggestion. As far as Tony is concerned, not only did they kiss, but Tony was comfortable enough to take a shower in front of her (and Galvez’s body) and come out half-naked. The hour for Tony and his crew ended with the kidnapping of Jibraan Al-Zarian (the innocent scapegoat in their plan) and his younger brother. The fact that these two weren’t killed immediately (since they’re just planning on using Al-Zarian’s dead body) is sort of encouraging for them, right?

Meanwhile, back at the FBI, Jack suggested looking through CTU’s servers to try to find private security companies with terrorist ties that might be part of Hodges’ group. Fortunately, this called for CTU’s ace computer analyst and Chloe made her return.

I LOVED everything about her scenes. I loved that she had made Morris sleep on the couch after he helped the FBI catch Jack. I liked her warm reaction to seeing Jack. ("You look like hell") I liked her telling Morris and Prescott to get out of town for their own safety. (Who’s the valiant male in that relationship?) and I loved her predictable friction with Janis. Mary Lynn Rajskub also did a good job of conveying the pain and incredulousness from Tony’s betrayal that Jack’s character can’t.

However, Chloe is also no dummy. She immediately realized something was very wrong with Jack after he blew up at Janis. Janis had expressed concerns about violating the Bill of Rights and Jack laid into her about her whiny attitude. Unfortunately, he also claimed that President David Palmer had allowed the use of the servers. I guess if you’re going to invoke dead presidents, bringing up David Palmer’s name is considerably better than busting out JFK or Lincoln. Hell it’s better than bringing up the name WAYNE Palmer.

So what’d you think of this episode? What exactly are First Daughter Olivia and her shady, randomly-gay associate Martin up to in regards to not letting Hodges skip away to Witness Protection? (And will Aaron get hurt trying to foil it?) What do you think about what we’ve learned regarding the evil plan so far? For me it doesn’t make sense for the group to go through with the plan at this point (or at any point) since the FBI and other agencies are privy to it and blaming someone like Al-Zarian will be pointless and the government will not turn to them for "protection".

Finally, why do you think Tony is involved? Is it money? (Meh) Hatred of government?(Probably) Or could he possibly still be working for the good guys and trying to bring the group down himself? (This would be a lot easier to believe if he weren’t gunning down FBI agents in cold blood.)