24: Give Peace a Chance

Jack vs. Chloe — it’s the showdown no one wanted to see.

Well, it’s the showdown longtime fans like me — who’ve watched Jack and Chloe work together like best friends, brother/sister, master/obedient puppy over the years — never wanted to see.

To be perfectly honest, not a whole hell of a lot happened in the newest episode of “24” — Jack remains on the run, but has a +1 now; President Taylor is still losing her damn mind — but the inherent drama of watching Jack and Chloe go head-to-head was enough to keep this episode from being a complete dud for a “24” obsessive like me.

Of course, it would’ve been even more dramatic if Chloe had actually been allowed to out-smart her idol.

Remember that exciting helicopter chase we seemed to have on our hands after the end of the previous episode? Well, that got resolved pretty quickly when Jack spotted a helipad and managed to avoid a gaggle of Air Force personnel and other law enforcement. (So much for that whole thing.)

Jack called Chloe and asked her if she could help him get in a room with Dana Walsh so he could extract the information he needed about the Russian involvement in Hassan and Renee’s deaths. Chloe hesitated, but ultimately agreed to help. Jack found a more willing ally in the shadowy and semi-burned Jim Ricker, played by the incomparable Michael Madsen (“Reservoir Dogs”, “Kill Bill”). Ricker hooked Jack up with an impressive arsenal, but I’m more interested in learning a bit more about the relationship between these two men. (Ricker seemed to have, at least, some affection for Jack.)

Chloe displayed a few smooth moves of her own. When the smarmy leader — you can tell D.B. Sweeney of “The Cutting Edge” was smarmy because of his mustache — of the private security firm Logan recommended to President Taylor arrived to transport Dana, Chloe coolly got the guy to hand over his cell phone so she could figure out where they were taking her.

Sometime after that, Chloe had a change of heart, decided to obey the president’s orders and set a trap for Jack. Cole and a team of CTU flunkies were supposed to get the jump on Jack in a CTU safe house, but, unsurprisingly, Jack turned the tables. (Because, once again, in addition to being awesome, he’s also a genius.) Jack enlisted Cole to help him find Dana.

Jack claimed that he knew about the set-up all along because he knew Chloe and that she’d do the right thing. So basically, Jack was playing her the whole time. That kind of takes the wind out of the Chloe-is-a-worthy-adversary-for-Jack sails. The reason Chloe had a change of heart is because she believes Jack is wrong because he’s not thinking clearly. Once again, we in the audience know Jack is actually right about President Taylor shielding the truth about the Russians. I think it’d be more interesting if Jack weren’t quite as infallible these days and if there WERE a chance that he wasn’t thinking clearly and was simply out for blood.

If you think Jack’s angry now, can you imagine how pissed off he’d be if he saw how expertly Logan was playing President Taylor.

Near the top of the hour, Ethan had convinced her to cut her losses and reveal what she knew about the Russians’ involvement in Hassan’s death and effectively kill her beloved peace agreement. Logan – that little devil on her shoulder – got back in the President’s ear and convinced her that sacrifice and making devastating decisions was all part of the job. He also implored her to preserve the peace agreement for “the greater good.”

(President Taylor’s obsession with “the greater good” is as misguided here as it was for the citizens of Sanford in “Hot Fuzz.”)

Logan eventually convinced President Taylor to use a private security team to get Dana Walsh out of CTU (and out of Jack Bauer’s reach) and persuasively extract the information she has on the Russians.

Sigh. I’m just going to give President Taylor the benefit of the doubt and believe that she has literally lost her mind over the course of the last few hours. None of this makes sense. President Taylor seems capable of recognizing that these are all horrible ideas, and yet she goes along with them. (Gregory Itzin is a very good actor, but he’s not THAT good.) Logan brought up the point that many peace agreements have blood on them, but having President Taylor sign agreement with a group of people she KNOWS are responsible for a political assassination is still beyond ludicrous.

Thank goodness for Itzin and Bob Gunton, who was absolutely excellent as the crestfallen Ethan. Gunton was great, conveying a mixture of defiance, empathy and disappointment in President Taylor’s decisions. The scene where Ethan went head-to-head with Logan was also quietly thrilling. By the end of the episode, Ethan had submitted his resignation, but I really hope this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Gunton.

We ended the hour with Dalia Hassan about to announce that she’s (unknowingly) entering into a peace agreement with the people who helped kill her husband. We also had Dana Walsh about to be tortured.

Hey, maybe this episode wasn’t so bad after all.

So what’d you think of this episode? What was up with Dana begging Chloe not to let the guys from the private firm take her away? (Was Chloe – and were we – supposed to feel SORRY for her?) Finally, will Cole really just stand by and allow Jack to lay the smackdown on Dana? (I just have a feeling he’s going to step in and do something dumb.)