24: Sticking it to the Man (A LOT!)

Did you REALLY think a little thing like getting stabbed in the midsection could keep Jack Bauer from killing two armed Russian bad guys?

After several episodes of riding in a car by himself and letting Freddie Prinze Jr. save his life, Jack sprung back into action in a big way during the most shocking scene (of the season?) in last night’s “24.”

Looking back now, I really shouldn’t have been shocked since Vlad and his boys had just about outlived their usefulness (to this season’s plot).

Jack, in his amazing Ernst Meier disguise, met face-to-face with Vlad following the latter’s unsuccessful attempt to double cross and kill Jack. He once again tried to pull Renee out of the mission, but she refused. Vlad started making calls in an effort to make the Meier deal happen, and his first call went to that distinguished Russian bad guy Sergei Bazhaev, who gruffly denied having any knowledge about anything having to do with nuclear rods.

Once Vlad finished making his calls, he seemed ready to give up on the Meier deal. Renee pushed him to keep trying, which resulted in Vlad slapping her first, then punching her HARD. Now, maybe it’s because I was raised primarily by my mom and I would never, EVER put my hands on a woman, but I found Renee’s reaction (one stab in the eye, followed by many to the rest of Vlad’s body) to be perfectly acceptable.

Stabbing Jack in the same fit of blind rage? MUCH less acceptable. Fortunately, Jack has taken so much punishment over the course of this show, that he’s basically a Terminator. He used the same knife Renee stabbed him with to kill Vlad’s #1 henchman before shooting and killing another anonymous henchman.

The good guys seemed to be in a bad place since Vlad had struck out in finding a nuclear rod provider. (We saw Sergei tell the driver carrying the rods to pull over and park somewhere.) Jack lied and told CTU head Hastings that Renee murdered Vlad in self-defense (I’m not exactly sure why that qualifies as a lie, since Vlad hit her). After a mushy scene I’d rather not revisit (“You’ve got me”), Jack and Renee were visited by Bazhaev’s men before CTU could arrive. Jack hid Renee in a small room and let himself get captured so he could get to the rods. Bazhaev’s men took a secret underground tunnel (of course), which meant CTU couldn’t follow Jack and his captors.

So now Jack appears to be in Bazhaev’s hands, which will hopefully make Sergei and his son Josef a little more interesting. Don’t get me wrong, I think Jurgen Prochnow and David Anders are doing fine work as the father-son Russian bad guys. It’s just hard to get invested in them since it just FEELS like there’s an even bigger bad guy looming somewhere out there. (By this point last season, I don’t even think we’d seen Jon Voight.)

Maybe that bad guy will be ex-President Logan. Or maybe it’ll be Kayla Hassan.

Yeah, yeah, I’m probably reaching here, but President Omar Hassan’s daughter has been little more than daddy’s little girl so far this season. Well that’s not exactly true, since last night we got confirmation that she’s in a relationship with Tarin, President Hassan’s most trusted bodyguard (up until last night).

Since things aren’t always what they seem in “24” world, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a more sinister side to Kayla’s personality. Maybe she’s been using Tarin (who President Hassan had arrested last night) to get information on what her father has been up to? Or maybe I’m a little bored by this subplot and I’m hoping for more forward movement beyond scenes showing how President Hassan is losing his marbles. Oh well, at least his hair still looks poofy, even in these stressful times.

Speaking of subplots I’m bored by, let’s talk about Dana Walsh!

I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but the scenes in the warehouse with Dana helping her ex Kevin and his country bumpkin during their heist were actually pretty enjoyable. I liked the little, realistic details (like the guys getting confused by all the numbers Dana was feeding them and going to the wrong cage). I also thought Katee Sackhoff’s acting during these scenes was pretty outstanding. (She sure knows how to look terrified.)

That also made me sad (and a bit mad) when I once again realized how such a good actress was being wasted on such a hopelessly pointless and moronic storyline. Part of the reason I enjoyed the warehouse scenes was that I actually thought we might be reaching the end of this plotline. However, with country bumpkin #2 knocking out that patrolman with a bat, I get the feeling we’re far from done with this nonsense.

(Insert sad trombone sound)

So what’d you think of this action-packed episode? Why was that knife just lying on the floor? Why is there a secret office in CTU? (Is it so troubled employees like Dana can run pointless covert operations?) Is Farhard Hassan still chilling with those Russian prostitutes? Finally, was anyone scared that Renee might kill herself in that small room after Jack stuck her in there alone with a gun?