TNMC

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1:00 AM - 2:00 AM
Written by Stephen Norington
Directed by Stephen Norington

To begin with, two quick things need to be cleared up in this column. First, I made the mistake of saying that Jack Bauer worked for the CIA last review, when he is in fact an agent of the NSA. Secondly, I've heard some people express some cynicism toward the real time concept that the show employs. Specifically citing the relative quickness that people seem to get places. This can be a bit jarring, but it's important to note one thing -- real time is not being affected by this. While the characters may be moving at an improbable quickness, time itself is still flowing naturally. As for why they do this, it's a necessary evil if one wants to do a show in this format. Seeing people drive around isn't the most exciting show in the world.

On to the review. Wheels within wheels is how I would describe this episode, as everybody seems to be playing multiple angles. We start out with Mandy parachuting down from the plane she blew up, while Jack is trying to deal with the fact that an airplane just blew up. The assassination plot is most definitely under way.

We cut back to Mandy, who is now sitting in her skivvies by a roaring fire (No, I don't know why either) and seems to be in a zen meditation-like mood. The sound of a roaring truck in the distance wakes her and she hurries to get dressed and bury the photographers key card that she swiped in dirt. Hmmmm. She then gets into the truck that pulls up, and as the truck pulls away, a leather clad figure on a motorcycle pulls up with a tracker and retrieves the ID card. Is Mandy playing for more than one team here?

We then cut back to Jack who is getting lip from one his subordinates named Nick. Seems Nick is none too fond of Jack, due mainly to the fact that Jack used to sleep with his current flame Nina, who is also continually siding with Jack. A little bit of jealousy there. So is Nick the mole then? He does seem a little aggressive, which is usually a red herring. Then again, he is drinking coffee out of a Chicago Cubs cup, and as a White Sox fan I can assure you that Cub fans are evil. So he might be the mole.

Jack's wife Teri is still driving around looking for her daughter Kim, who is now in the hands of two sketchy college guys. We begin to see a good cop, bad cop rapport between the two abductors, as one guys seems to be a sensitive caring kidnapper and the other one is just mean and violent. Right. I really don't know why Kim is terribly shocked by all this. College guys who make a habit of dating high school girls should usually be put in the sketchy column to begin with.

Jack's boss and mentor Walsh is trying to convince his source of information to stay and help him uncover the assassins, but said informant is understandably worried about his and his families well-being. This guy does not have long enough. Sure enough, just after he finally agrees to stay and help Walsh, he dies and Walsh gets wounded, calling Jack for help. I'm wondering if Walsh will die and then realize that if he does, it will leave Jack all alone without anybody to trust. After that it doesn't exactly take Madame Cleo to see that Walsh is not long for this world.

Now we view the Presidential hopeful Senator Palmer, who we now know hides a deep secret, though the nature of the secret has yet to be revealed. He has a cute scene with his wife, which leads me to believe that his indiscretion involves an affair. Then again, who ever heard of a presidential candidate caught in a sex scandal. Nothing like that ever happens.

Moving on, we snap back to Mandy who is now in the compound of assassins, and we get an odd scene where she appears to be a little weirded out by the leader of this militia group. She claims that she's going to retire after this job. Does this mean she has a noble streak in her? Well she did just get done blowing up an entire airplane full of innocent people, so maybe noble is a bit strong. For now, we'll just put her in the conflicted column. We get a scene later on of her topless, which I've noticed is something that Mia Kirshner does a lot (not that I'm complaining), as a figure walks in on her. Apparently he'll be the actual shooter, as he's had plastic surgery to make himself look like someone familiar to Palmer. Further on, the biker shows up, and reveals herself to be a woman who has her own plans of what she wants from the militia group, who don't look kindly on such actions. Mandy gazes worriedly onward.

Palmer meanwhile contacts someone on the phone who will help him with this potential scandal, and sneaks off to meet him. This isn't a good thing when you're the target of an assassination plot.

Jack's daughter is still being threatened by the college kidnappers, and we begin to see hints that they are in fact working for someone. Whether or not this is connected to Jack's case is still unknown.

Jack meanwhile rushes to the rescue of Walsh, and the two make an effort to escape the building that the shooters are in. At one point Jack tells Walsh that he can't lose him, and that Walsh saved his life once. That seals it. Walsh is officially deader than a nympho in a slasher flick. Sure enough, they manage to kill the two shooters (and there's an awesome scene where Jack cuts off one of their fingers for fingerprint analysis) and make it to the outside before a third shooter shows up and plugs Walsh. With his last breath, Walsh gives Jack a magnetic keycard which is supposed to reveal the identity of the mole. When Jack feeds the information to the computer hacker Judy, it turns up the mole is none other than Nina, his trusted assistant! (Cue dramatic music)

So the question is, is Nina really the mole? It seems a little early in the series to solve this particular conundrum, and I can't shake the feeling that she's being framed. Possibly by Judy or Nick since they're both computer experts. I'm still leaning towards Nick because he's a Cubs fan.

I also can't shake the feeling that maybe the father that Teri is riding around with is involved as well, but most likely he'll end up turning into some kind of romantic tension instead of a conspiracy member. This show does tend to breed conspiracy though, and while some events are painfully obvious there are enough twists and turns to keep the imagination humming.

Four of the five plot threads are quite engaging, but the one dealing with Teri is sort of flat right now. It needs some serious sparkage. Still this is one of the most engaging and clever shows I've seen on television in a long time, and this episode goes a long way in proving that the show can keep the pace and excitement of everything going. Of course we'll see how we'll they're doing around ep. 11, but I now have faith in this program.

I'd give this ep a 9 out 10. It's not perfect, but it's damn good and one of the best things you can find on the tube right now.

-- tjarvis

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