Last week the IRK (International Random Killers) set off the most well-timed EMP in history when President Hassan’s daughter inadvertently drove right through CTU’s front door with the nasty electronic buster. Now CTU is totally black, meaning Jack and company are forced to go medieval all over those terrorists’ asses (literally).
Okay, I’ll get to the big news first and then backtrack. Dana Walsh is a traitor. Yawn. I wish I could get excited about this development, but her story arc is so convoluted and stupid that making her a turncoat just muddies the waters even more. Her fundamental shift in demeanor from nervous analyst to hardcore killer and terrorist just rings so freaking false that I can’t do it justice in written word. The whole thing is so far beyond believable (in a show that struggles with the concept to begin with) that it renders everything else she has done up until this point relatively moot. It’s fairly obvious that her boyfriend’s reemergence in her life was simply a ploy to keep her character in episodes so we didn’t just forget about her for half the season. I would understand it if, in her private moments, she showed some of the evil resolve she displayed when choking out the parole officer. But even that came out of nowhere. Just a senseless and a bit trite. I’m disappointed 24 writers. I’ve been a fairly big fan this year, but making Dana a terrorist sympathizer is d-u-m-b spells stupid.
Anyway, on to the rest of the episode: A great number of horrible things have happened at CTU in its tenure including getting gassed a couple of years back. The EMP blast isn’t the worst, but it’s certainly close. I’m sure all the electronics going down is some kind of commentary on how technology has taken over our lives (those 24 writers a bunch of commies) but doesn’t it seem like a bit much? How could CTU ever get this problem solved in less than a couple of days? Granted most of my EMP knowledge comes from The Matrix and Ocean’s Eleven, but I think that’s enough to make me an expert.
All the talk of who could repair the computers the fastest kept us away from a pretty intense firefight between the IRK and Jack’s band of merry men. (Like 10-15 minutes worth, what happened during all that time? Did they all just stop shooting for a bit to take a break?) While they were presumably shooting it out we got a firsthand look at how working at computers can just make someone totally crazy. Chloe pulling a gun in the NSA guys seems like one of the all-time stupidest career moves. Somehow she doesn’t get immediately fired and actually gets a second chance?!
All in all a fairly slow and uneventful episode of 24 and that includes the Walsh reveal. Most of it was spent with Chloe fighting to fix a computer and Jack pinned down under fire. Next week we see how the terrorists leverage Jack against the president. Other notes and thoughts:
- When you saw those two guys in helmets sitting in the back of Jack’s truck, did you think for one second that they would make it out of this alive? Me neither.
- I listened to an estimated one-fourth of the exchanges involving Hassan and his family. I hope nothing important was said. Somehow I doubt I missed anything.
-I like how the terrorists used the East River to cross with nukes. That is one of the few places the rods could fall in and not make the environmental situation much worse.
