The following takes place between 11:00 am. and 12:00 pm.
24, Episode 5.05: 11:00-12:00
Written by: Joel Surnow and Michael Loceff
Directed by: Jon Cassar
Curious George and Hacksaw Slim Duggan load canisters in the back of a panel truck with SWAT markings. As they drive away Curtis is examining external video of the terminal, trying to find Jack's missing hostage (better known to us as George). OK. This is gonna bug me, I know I've seen the actor playing Curious George before, but I don't remember where. When I get done watching this episode I'm going to go to IMDB and suss him out. It's bothering me, though. Argh!
Evelyn finds the unconscious Mrs. Logan. Funny how there's a Secret Service agent so near at hand when she calls for help, but where was he when Walt the mole was gassing the First Lady, huh? That's not service, secret or otherwise. No tip for you. At the airport, Curtis spots George on the security video and tracks him until he reaches the hangar where he met Hacksaw. Curtis and a field team head over to check it out. They storm the castle and find nothing but a hole in the floor, an empty container, and some dead rats. Curtis orders a forensics team to come down to check out the rats. Wouldn't it be cool if it was the guys from CSI? Talk about a ratings monster!
Exposition! We don't get a CTU Exposition Meeting, but there is a terrorist Exposition Meeting, when Curious George arrives at what appears to be either a dump, a warehouse, or my neighborhood, and some guy in a flannel shirt starts unloading the canisters. George tells him the Russians have been occupying their homeland and they will make Moscow a graveyard. File that away under “Objectives (terrorists).”
OK. I now officially despise President Weenie. In fact, he's no longer a weenie. He's a word I can't say because my fiancée's kids will probably read these articles. I'll have to censor myself. SO. President [BLEEP] comes in to check on his wife. She starts telling him about the stolen Palmer transcript, and he totally blows her off. She starts crying, saying “You don't even believe your own wife,” and he gets up and leaves to go take a call from the Secretary of State. He LEAVES!!! What a [BLEEP]. Out in the hall, he talks with Walt the mole, and it turns out Mrs. Logan was apparently in some sort of institution once before. Afraid that her “conspiracy theories” are about to get out of control (meaning, turn out to be true and implicate him), Walt the mole advises President [BLEEP] to readmit her to the facility. Reluctantly (or so it seems, but it still doesn't excuse him), the President agrees, and asks Walt to arrange it.
Walt then steps out and takes a call from Bluetooth who tells him that Curious George (whose real name is apparently Erwich) has succeeded in his mission. Apparently Jack is now the one remaining loose end. Walt says not to worry. He has (everybody sing along!) a mole at CTU who will take care of that. Why am I not surprised? You'd think CTU would sort of tighten up their hiring practices after all these moles, wouldn't you? I mean, come on! Nina Myers? Sherry Junior? That other one? Come on! Who will it be this time? The obvious guess is Samwise since he's new, large, and in charge, but you know that won't happen—this show is never that obvious. I'm voting for Spencer, who is also sort of an obvious guess. He's also new, but not nearly as important, plus he was sleeping with Chloe. Only a mole would sleep with someone that troglodytic. We'll see.
CSI does their work and determines there was weaponized nerve gas in the hangar. Edgar tells Samwise, which kicks over the anthill. Top priority is now to figure out who manufactured it.
President [BLEEP] is notified. Of course, his first question to Mike Novick is, does the press know about this? What a maroon. Walt the mole looks pensive. He then wanders off and calls his mole at CTU—Spencer! I nailed that one. Sigh. For once the show was maybe a little obvious. Anyway, Walt and Spencer begin plotting.
Derek and Diane arrive at CTU. At Samwise's request, Audrey Raines greets Diane and goes to interview her. It's quite awkward, and I expect that to only get worse once Jack arrives. Speaking of whom, here he is, back in CTU for the first time in 18 months. He stops to greet Chloe, who almost actually smiles. Spencer not-at-all-suspiciously types something in on his phone as Samwise greets Jack and gives him the scoop on the nerve gas. They seem to be of a mind concerning a connection between the Jobu assassination and the nerve gas.
At the beginning of one of these paragraphs through here, Walt the mole tells Evelyn to pack for Mrs. Logan to take a trip. He doesn't tell her where, but tells her to get the essentials ready. Audrey is interviewing Diane, with some subtle territory-marking going on by Diane concerning her feelings for Jack. Jack appears outside the window. He and Audrey lock eyes, and she excuses herself. Diane looks a little bereft as Audrey walks out of the room. She saw the look in Jack's and Audrey's eyes when they looked at each other. Audrey and Jack talk briefly, and she absolves him for her husband's death. It was a beautifully performed scene, by two very skilled actors. Not overwrought, but genuinely emotional. Nicely done.
I just found out Spencer is really spelled Spenser. Whatever. Mole. Anyway, he's in a server room tracking Jack on a security monitor when Chloe comes in. He not-at-all-suspiciously shuts his station down when she approaches him. She tries to talk to him, but he not-at-all-suspiciously brushes her off and stalks out. Drawn to his station by his not-at-all-suspicious actions, she brings up his last command and realizes he was using a command beyond the scope of his security clearance. OK, so it was suspicious after all. She calls Ferret-face.
A mysterious stranger called Hank shows up at security saying he is from Division, coming to get in and fix a mainframe. He is not on the entry manifest, but Spenser not-at-all-suspiciously shows up to provide a clearance and escort him in. Apparently Spenser thinks Hank is there to download information on Jack off the servers. Of course, as soon as Spenser leaves him alone in the server room Hank assembles a gun from the components in his bag. God, Spenser's not even a good mole. Sigh.
Evelyn is packing for Mrs. Logan. When asked why, she tells Mrs. Logan she doesn't know. Mrs. Logan figures out she's being committed again. She looks resigned and heads for the bathroom. Security redshirts come get Spenser and take him in front of Buchanan and Chloe. They tell him he's been outside his clearance level many times. After accusing Chloe of trying to get back at him, he clams up. Doesn't he realize Jack Bauer's in the building? Oh boy!!!!
President [BLEEP] and Walt the mole head into Mrs. Logan's room to tell her she's being sent away, and it looks like it's going to be tragic but turns out wicked cool. They get no response to knocks the bathroom door. They go in and see first an empty pill bottle, then, just when you expect to see a body sprawled in the shower, you see an open window instead. Nicely played, Jean Smart, you old designing woman, you. Both President [BLEEP] and Walt the mole look worried, but I bet you neither one is worried about the safety of the First Lady. Putzes. I hope she takes 'em all down.
Jack and Samwise are exchanging “someone in Logan's administration is a creep, but who?” theories when Medical calls. It seems Tony Almeida has awakened, and is asking for Jack. On his way to Medical, Jack meets Derek in the hall and they have a moment, followed by a handshake. Edgar discovers that Spenser had been tracking Jack through the halls of CTU on the security monitors. Spenser refuses to answer when asked who told him to do so. Ferret-face is pissed, and Spenser is being lit really eerily. If Ferret-face were Jack he would have turned over the table and shot Spenser in the leg by now. Ferret-face is a wuss.
Jack gets to Medical. Of course, the doctor is really Hank in disguise, having killed the real doctor, and Tony isn't really conscious. Jack sees Hank draw his gun in the reflection of a monitor screen, and fisticuffs ensue. Of course, Jack kills him by stabbing him in the neck with scissors. Nice, Jack. Once again, you kill the suspect without getting information. In the aftermath, though, as Curtis arrives at CTU, Ferret-face tells Jack about Spenser the mole, who is in Holding. Jack stalks off. Uh oh.
Jack storms Holding and starts yelling. Turns out, no defibrilation is needed. Spenser rats out Walt Cummings, but says that he thought he was helping conduct an Internal Affairs investigation. He had no idea Hank was an assassin. Jack tells Samwise, “We have to get Walt Cummings.” Samwise says, “Without evidence, CTU can't touch him” Jack says, “I'm not CTU. I'll go get him myself.”
11:59:59
AW YEH! HERE IT COMES!
Oh...I googled Curious George. He's played by the same fellow who played Badger on Firefly. So there you go. I knew he looked familiar.
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