Some miscellaneous thoughts before we get started:
Whereas past years always used Jack’s “we don’t have a lot of time” as the key phrase in the 24 drinking game, I think this year’s model should force people to drink whenever President Taylor begins one of her incredulous “how did event X happen?” statements. I really, truly hope our real president isn’t 2-3 steps behind all the time the way Alison Taylor is.
It’s official: Galvez (the black guy working with Tony) has been confirmed as Brendan Fraser’s cellmate in Bedazzled. That has to be the best obscure character recognition I’ve ever displayed, narrowly edging when I noticed the naïve dad at the beginning of season 6 was the same naïve dad from Flight of the Navigator. Yup, Flight of the Navigator.
Speaking of obscure character recognition, my friend Charles points out that both Ethan (the warden from Shawshank) and the late Senator Mayer were both characters in the immortal Broken Arrow from the early 90s. Hopefully this leads to a Christian Slater guest appearance. Either that or one from Howie Long where he teases Jack for using a truck with a “man step”…and finally, thankfully, Howie will have messed with the wrong guy.
Things I learned from Kim Bauer this week: If I’m ever in an emotional TV scene, it’s a good move to ask the directors to flash bright lights on my cab’s window so as to distract from my inability to cry.
As for the 2 – 3 AM hour…Solid, solid job overall. They’ve moved from boring and pointless set-up episodes to purposeful ones. We’ve learned that Hodges is clearly not the Top Dog, as some blonde Mandy-type woman suggests he commit suicide rather than allow his family to be harmed. In the White House, President Taylor considers interrogating him even though a) we all know he won’t break; and b) she’d certainly have a lot more success interrogating Seaton.
Hodges is in the middle of being transferred to a different location when he decides to take the suicide pill. For the first time in cinema history, an apparent prisoner cardiac arrest is legit; also for the first time, a two-person transfer of a major criminal does not end in a hijacking. Shortly before taking the pill, Hodges asks one of his FBI handlers what it was like working with Starkwood abroad. “How would you rate their professionalism?” he asks. Man, do I love Jonas Hodges. Most people would spend time on their deathbed praying for forgiveness. Hodges spends his last moments administering a customer satisfaction survey.
If there was any doubt about Tony’s allegiances, it goes out the window this week. We learn that Tony is legitimately bad and legitimately on bad guy payroll. I’m trying to wrap my head around exactly how complicated his individual plot is. Here goes: he was pretending to work for both Emerson at the beginning of the season but was double-crossing him by working for Bill Buchanan. He must have been double-crossing Bill as well, though, but not with Hodges or else the Starkwood folks would have treated Tony differently. So he’s working for this mysterious new set of bad guys, the same people who Hodges appears to be working for. Was Tony unaware that he and Hodges had the same ultimate boss? Why didn’t he bargain earlier in the season?
(For the record, I still think the Ultimate Bad Guy is former President Daniels. Or maybe Howie Long)
Speaking of Tony, I spent a good part of my week trying to figure out the best life comparison to him. Here’s a guy who started in CTU’s IT department, then became a field agent before taking over CTU altogether. How many agents are able to do that? Gifted in both IT and in the field? That’s a special talent, right? I mean, even Jack can’t stake that claim.
Then Tony had to go and betray the country. What a waste of a rare talent. Is this how people feel about John Belushi? How New York Mets fans feel about Doc Gooden? I picture CTU fans sitting on their front porches years from now, discussing Almeida in hushed tones, wondering what might have been. Sigh.
The weird thing about Tony as traitor? I found myself rooting for him. It’s almost the exact same emotion I had watching Heat, where a large part of me wanted De Niro to make it out of LA alive. I want Tony’s story to check out, I want him to safely escape the explosion site, I even want his credibility held high for those weird global warming PSAs someone blackmailed Fox into airing. Am I alone in this rooting interest?
Of course, on the other end, there’s Jack. We see it all from Jack in this episode: helpless bio attack victim, intrepid field agent, suddenly compassionate friend, only person capable of anticipating the enemy’s next move and, finally, incapacitated seizure victim.
That last shot of Jack – him writhing on the ground, mouth bubbling – was a weird one to watch. We’ve seen Jack survive plane crashes, heart attacks, gun shot wounds, heroin addictions, you name it. We’ve seen him tortured to within a inch of his life. Never before has his death seemed so…so…possible.
Now, we all know how this plays out: he’s resuscitated next week, someone convinces his daughter to try the transplant anyway and he “miraculously” survives. We know this. I actually think they should let him die. Allow the man his rest. I say, let’s give Kiefer some X-Sera Wrinkle Serum and run season 8 as a prequel. Let’s see the original tussle between Jack and the Drazens. Bring David Palmer back as the senator who ordered the operation. Show a young Terri Bauer teaching her daughter how to attract kidnappers, or a young Kim Bauer studying up on "how to score a job with CTU using only your GED."
This has been a fine season and I daresay it’s a good time for Jack to go out. Call me crazy.
