Well the Russians have the bomb, the Arabs want it, CTU appears to have only three people working on the biggest threat the country’s faced in a year and Jack still has what it takes to complete his doctorate in Baddassetry. His thesis - Diplomacy Through the Art of Neck- Breaking: A Study in theField.
The Russians are holding Jack in their basement. I love how every criminal worth his salt has an extra electrical generator with dirty jumper cables attached just lying around in case a little impromptu torture shows up on the agenda. Jack, of course, does not love it as he gets his a few little shocks here and there. But in typical Jack Bauer fashion, he lures the torturer (for some reason working by himself) in close and takes him out. This time Jack used the “my eyes are closed so I must be sleeping” trick to get the guy within striking distance. Even babies don’t fall for that crap. I guess Russians do. This leads to a little mini killing spree replete with a neck snapping, a fatal stabbing, a few GSW’s, and a knockout by table.
The guy running CTU (Hastings) might be their most incompetent director yet, which is no small feat. He has a tech helping her douchebag boyfriend steal money from the cops. He let Crazy Renee Walker back into the field even though she had the Britney Spears – post K-Fed look in her eyes. Plus he stands with this weird hunched over posture that distracts me every time he’s on camera. I just want to scream, “Stand up straight man! Come on, stand up!”
Speaking of the terribly stupid Dana Walsh story arc, she wants to spill the bean to her fiancé about her past. Of course they are interrupted right before she drops the bomb on him. Since she can’t tell Cole the truth, she does the next smartest thing: goes to the seedy strip club to kill her ex. Hey why start making good decisions now? The big news on this storyline’s front is that Freddie Prinze suddenly developed some weird accent in this episode (maybe compensating for Jack’s lack of one). It was some weird mix of Boston and New York. Whatever it was, it sounded terrible.
I know I ripped it, but overall this was another fairly strong episode of 24 as they continue to build on the story rather than jump quickly from crisis to crisis. Now it’s Joseph (my main man Sark) who’s got the goods and he’s ready to hand them over to baby Hassan out of spite. I like his style.
Other notes and thoughts:
- Does anyone care at all about the President Hassan storyline at this point? I know I don’t. I was able to post this relatively quickly because I wrote every time this arc showed up on screen.
- The less President Taylor we see the better. She is completely unconvincing as a President. Like one of the worst possible choices for this role. I’ll take any other President. Palmer, Logan, Brother Palmer, Bad Guy from Sudden Death, anyone.
