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24
6:00 AM to 7:00 AM
Written by Andrea Newman
Directed by Bryan Spicer
It's been a hard month or so since we've been stuck in rerun land. Even 24 took a two-week break, leaving the precious boob tube barren of any fresh entertainment. I almost had to resort reading to entertain myself, as scary as that sounds. But like a lighthouse in the darkness, Tuesday offered up fresh examples of television goodness. Well, sort of. Buffy, I'm afraid, was rather lackluster. 24, however, kept on proving why it's honestly the best new show of the season.
We open up to the shooter, who we haven't seen for the past four episodes. As many of you realize, he's now wearing the face of the photographer that Mandy killed onboard the airplane. We see a scene of him putting in contacts, which while unimportant to the plot, actually looks really freaky.
We then cut over to Gaines who, as you might remember is now in control of our hero Jack. He realizes that the keycard that Walsh gave Jack is too close to being broken, and evidently it would lead the team to finding the plastic surgeon that altered the shooters face. So he sends Jack into the unit to switch key cards. Which is easier said than done since Milo is hovering over the thing like a mother hen. We also find out that Gaines has control of the cameras in the agency as well, which is your first real clue as to who the CIA mole has to be.
Jack eventually does manage to make the switch, but not without alerting the suspicion of both Milo and Nina. When Nina confronts him about this, Jack has no choice but to take her hostage in order to save the lives of his wife and daughter. Putting a flak jacket on her, he escorts her out of the building by gunpoint, although Nick is now as suspicious as anyone of Jack.
Meanwhile, Teri has realized that the person she's driving around with is not the real Alan York. After feigning sickness, she runs and hides, and then leaps out of the bushes to crack this guy on the skull three times with a big rock. That cannot feel good. She attempts to call for help, but her cell phone can't get good service in the area. Where's the digital Voicestream guy when you need him? Worse, the fake Alan tells her that if the cops are told, her daughter will be killed. Finally, after finding a good reception area, Teri gets a hold of Jamie who promises to send people right over to help. Alas, the people are there to help the fake Alan, and Teri gets kidnapped. Jamie is officially the mole, and I would like to take this moment to praise myself for calling this all the way back in the second episode.
Kim and the kidnapper with a heart of gold Rick, are both beginning to realize the hopelessness of their situation, and decide that they must work as a team in order to escape. After bluffing with a rape sequence (which leads to a passionate kiss between the two) Rick and Kim manage to escape the shed. He's found an unguarded spot where they can escape from, and they manage to reach it. Unfortunately, that's the same exact moment that Teri arrives in the camp, and Kim can't leave now that she knows her mother is captive as well.
Finally, we have Senator Palmer. This was a light episode for him, as he struggles to deal with the fact that his family believes that he has placed them second before his career. Now that he knows his son did indeed kill that man, he believes that they have to step forward with that knowledge. Not just for political reasons, but because he believes it's the right thing to do. As you can imagine, Sean and the rest of the family aren't too keen on that idea. However with the big breakfast coming up next episode, it's a wonder as to what will actually transpire.
Back to Jack. He now has Nina hostage, and Gaines directs him to a little side road which leads to an isolated oil field. He then tells Jack to kill Nina, and a tailing car pulls up to make sure that Jack does kill her. After an emotional debate between the two, Jack fires six bullets into her chest and stomach, sending her tumbling limply down a hill. Satisfied, Gaines now directs Jack to go attend Palmer's breakfast.
When I first saw what happened, I assumed that Jack had loaded his gun with blanks. Instead, it was a flak jacket that he had given Nina to wear, which means that it can absorb bullet shots due to its inner armor plating. Woozy and shaken, Nina rises to her feet and scampers off. Let's just hope she doesn't go back to the agency though, as Jamie will immediately know that Jack double-crossed Gaines and that will mean the life of one of the Bauers.
Directorially, Spicer does nothing new. It's still the same impressive split screen style that they've always used. However, the way he paces out the show does manage to give it a sense of frantic urgency, giving a sense that the show really does live up to its tagline. Every second does count.
On the acting front, I don't believe I've really talked about Elisha Cuthbert's performance as Kimberly Palmer. Besides being unbelievably hot (I know an attractive Hollywood actress, go figure) Elisha has done a phenomenal job of bringing her character to life. Even lines which could be hokey, such as her wishing to go home, come off as authentic sounding and pathos stirring. Her relationship with Rick is suspect, but the performance of it all does give a sense of realism to it.
Next week should be a humdinger of an episode though. As the much ballyhooed breakfast finally happens. Will Palmer step forward with the truth about his son? Will the shooter make his attempt on Palmer then? What does Gaines want Jack to do at the breakfast? There's a lot of questions to be answered right now, but I'm not complaining. It just means I can look forward to another hour of quality television next week.
Episode Rating: 9 out of 10
-- TJarvis
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