The following takes place between 10:00 am. and 11:00 am.
24, Episode 5.04: 10:00-11:00
Written by: Joel Surnow and Michael Loceff
Directed by: Brad Turner
The CTU beginning-of-episode Exposition Meeting is underway. Ferret-face Buchanan is assuming that Jack is captured or killed. At the airport, Vin Diesel uses Derek as leverage to get Jack to spill the beans about the CTU rescue operation. Jack gives him what I'm assuming is a false set of objectives, but I'm too lazy to go back and check, so I'll operate on the assumption that Jack is a smart cookie.
Vin decides to spare Derek and sends a heavy off to cull a different hostage from the herd instead. Jack tries to hardball him by telling him the government won't negotiate. Showing that he watched last season, Vin says that President Weenie is weak, and will negotiate, once blood is spilled. The second hostage is killed on camera, and Vin hits President Weenie with the their-blood-is-on-your-hands stick. At the summit, President Weenie indeed starts preparing to cave in. Mike Novick looks concerned as only he can, and Walt the mole actually tries to talk the President into standing firm. Well, sure. He probably gets an extra five pieces of silver for every hostage killed.
Vin points a gun at Derek to get Jack to call CTU and suggest an alternate assault plan. At CTU, Samwise Gamgee walks in and tells Chloe his name is actually Lynn McGill. Spencer is all, “Oooh, it's Lynn McGill,” as if that means something, and Chloe is all, “Whatever.” Apparently, however, Lynn McGill is a hoo-hah at Division, as he comes in and boots Ferret-face out of his office and tells Ferret-face to call him “Mr. McGill” in front of the others. Ferret-face is in the process of looking like he wants to tell him to suck it when Jack calls. Nice timing, Jack.
Jack gives them the alternate routing that Vin fed him, but it sounds like Jack might have also thrown in a little verbal hand-jive by repeating, “I am in a flank-two position.” I have the VCR paused right now, so no telling yet whether that means something or not. I bet it does, though.
Back from commercials, more head-butting between Ferret-face and Samwise at CTU. No indication as yet as to what Jack might have been jiving, but at least Samwise is going to call Ferret-face “Bill” for now, it seems. I like Samwise so far. Anything that makes Ferret-face look like he's chewing a lemon is good in my book. At the airport, Derek is having an it's-all-my-fault pity party that Jack tries to cut short. President Weenie keeps whining to Mike that the hostages may get killed, but puts on a brave face for the Russian president, then finds out the Russian is as worried about image as he is. Go figure.
Walt the mole shows up to escort Mrs. Logan to the ceremony. In a private word with her aide (Evelyn), he begins his effort to save his bacon and get back the David Palmer transcript that Mrs. Logan took from the archives. Walt tells Evelyn that Mrs. Logan took a classified document and threatens her with exposure and prosecution for lying to Aaron the Secret Service agent. As Mrs. Logan walks out to go to the ceremony, Evelyn looks conflicted. Walt molishly glares at her. Mole.
The Presidents take the stage, not to sing “Lump” but to sign a treaty. President Weenie launches into a tirade against Vin and the other airport terrorists as Mike Novick fusses with Ferret-face over the timing of the rescue. Bluetooth calls Vin, looking for a little love, and Vin gives it to him, telling him that they will kill all the CTU agents as soon as they come through the door. I think I know where this is going, but I'm not sure yet. We'll see in a minute.
Samwise keeps poking his nose in and it's getting Ferret-face in a wad. Even Chloe is peeved. Again, go figure, right? Curtis is almost ready. The Russian president is prattling on as President Weenie looks nervous. Some of Vin's thugs find a keycard that Jack's baggage chief (remember him?)had hidden. Vin gets interested in it, and Jack gets interested in Vin's interest. He gets even more interested when Vin slips the card to one of the hostages, a man in a dark suit with a yellow tie.
Curtis calls Jack, and tells Jack he's ready to go. Jack again tells him he's in a flank-two position and off we go! Or off we don't go! I'll be damned. I waiting for them to come bursting in through a different door and enfilade the terrorists, but as it turns out, “flank two” was an old Jack-era (read: 18 months before) code that indicates that the agent is under duress and that the information being given is bad. Who do you think figured it out? That's right. Samwise. My man Sam comes through in the pinch. They abort the raid with 0:03 left on the explosive timer and I flash back to GalaxyQuest as Ferret-face orders Curtis to again to re-deploy.
I love the shots of the terrorists in the airport, all standing in the hall pointing their guns at this one door, that they think the CTU agents are gonna come through. Nice.
The President signs the treaty. Just as Bluetooth is telling Vin to kill everyone, the door they're all looking at blows up. As they are shooting into the hole, the wall behind them blows up too, and agents pour through and start shooting. Jack gets hold of a gun. Just as Vin is about to shoot himself, Jack shoots the gun out of his hand. Nice! Will Jack finally bring a suspect in alive? NO! Vin reaches for an explosive belt. Jack goes to shoot him again but he is OUT OF AMMO!!!! His gun clicks!!! Jack Bauer is out of ammunition and Vin blows himself to hell. Aw yeh!
No further hostages were killed, and President Weenie takes credit for authorizing the rescue operation when he announces the rescue at the summit. Putz. At the airport, Jack and Derek exchange an emotional hug and Derek goes off to find his mother. Jack realizes that the man in the yellow tie (I want to call him Curious George. Is that too esoteric?) is gone.
Derek and his mom are hustled off to CTU. Mrs. Logan tries to talk to her weenie husband about the Palmer transcript, but he blows her off. Walt the mole tries to ingratiate himself with her, but she ain't playing that, saying she can only talk to the weenie. Samwise orders Jack taken into custody, as he is still officially a suspect in the deaths of Jobu and Michelle Dessler. Jack goes quietly, after telling Curtis about Curious George. George, meanwhile, is in what appears to be a hangar at the airport where he encounters the young, skinny brother of Hacksaw Jim Duggan (hooooo!). George and Hacksaw climb down a ladder into a hole in the floor with two other men. They all put on gas masks as George uses the key card to open a container filled with canisters marked as hazardous (well, of course they are). He calls Bluetooth to let him know.
Finally, Mrs. Logan is watching news coverage of the summit when she is attacked from behind. Walt the mole chloroforms her, digs into her blouse, and pulls the Palmer transcript out of her bra. Where's Aaron the Secret Service agent when you need him?
10:59:59
What a nice ending! After a hard, dramatic hour of hostage rescues and treaty signings, there's nothing like a mole driven to desperation to really add the exclamation point to the proceedings. I'm waiting for Jack to show up and plug an extension cord into Walt's business, if you know what I mean. DEFIBRILATE HIM!!!!
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it is ready for some good, hardcore Jack Bauer defibrilation! We're four hours in. We're overdue.
