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24
3:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Written by Robert Cochran & Howard Gordan
Directed by Stephen Hopkins
Well, no show can have a perfect run I suppose. Even shows that are acknowledged to have incredible years like the second season of Buffy or the fourth season of Babylon 5 occasionally put out a clunker. That's not to say that this is a bad episode, because all the tools and talent that have made this an incredible series are still there. It's just that they indulge in a couple of clichés and introduce a dumb plot point.
We start off with Jack calling out for Ellis on the phone. For those who didn't see last week's episode, Ellis is busy dying at the time. Keifer gives a great little mini-performance here, as you see his anxiety and frustration playing out on his face. I mean, how do you handle listening to someone die when they're hundreds of miles away and you can't do anything to prevent it? How do you react? After thinking for a few frantic moments, Jack gets a hold of the CTU branch in New Orleans to investigate, but it's already a forgone conclusion about what they'll find.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth Nash, or Slut as I like to call her, phones Alexis and arranges another session of sex. She's a horny little minx.
Jack also calls Teri at this time, who's showing increasing signs of having a mental breakdown due to stress. Of course, there's ample reason for this and it's to the writer's credit that they've taken the time to flesh out this plot point. I just wish it didn't fall down such a clichéd road. More on that later. Teri doesn't want to talk to Jack; she's busy dealing with the revelations that she's pregnant and that Jack was screwing Nina while he and Teri were on a break.
Milo, meanwhile, has managed to track down photos of all the shooters. He forwards these to Palmer's secret service for Palmer's protection, and then Slut gets to see the truth about her friend. Obviously she's distraught to learn that Alexis shoots in more than one way and when Palmer comes to comfort her she tells him the truth. He gives Jack a call to tell him about the lead, and Jack sends a helicopter to pick up Slut so he can grill her for information.
Teri and Nina are talking again as the debriefing continues, and Teri can't help but be catty towards Nina. Yes, she screwed your husband. But as Ross always says, they were on a break. Nina's also the only reason that Teri and Kim are alive right now, so while Teri's emotions are understandable, they tend to put her in a bitchy light. She does defend her daughter when Nina suggests that Kim might be developing feelings Rick and covering for him, even though any viewer with half a brain can see that's the obvious case. It gets so bad that Nina decides she has to leave so another agent can finish this job objectively. Of course, this conveniently gets Nina out of the way so she doesn't have to directly deal with the assassin that's lurking around.
George Mason arrives at the CTU and he's taken over for Super-Bitch as Jack's supervisor. Jack is glad to see Alberta gone, but as he tries to log into his system he finds he cannot. His permission level has been restricted. Milo manages to hack him back into the security system. As an aside, I'd like to say that Eric Balfour has been doing a bang-up job with Milo. He's a quiet side character, but one who provides a nice element and chemistry to the show. If 24 does get picked up for a second season, I hope Milo becomes a regular character.
Palmer and his son have a heart to heart, and Palmer promises to be there for Keith more in the future. Keith, however, needs to know what happened to Farragamo even though Palmer wants to drop it. They have a confrontation over this, which ends up with Keith calling Carl and demanding a meeting with him.
Slut arrives at the CTU and Jack wants to use her as bait, with her permission, of course. If she can get some information out of Alexis, they figure they have a better chance of busting this thing wide open as opposed to just arresting him while his brother Andre is still out and about. Slut is nervous at first, but agrees to do it at the end. She couldn't live with herself if something happened to Palmer and she could have done something to prevent it.
Outside the safe house that Nina just left, the man who was pretending to be an FBI agent at the clinic is watching. He's shooter #2 and his name is Jovan Myovic. He's managed to knock off the three extra agents that are outside, and then infiltrates the interior of the house and puts an arrow in neck of another CTU agent. Quick question - has there ever been a safe house in a show or film that actually worked as a safe house? Of course, if it did, it would probably make the show boring.
So there's one agent left debriefing Teri right now, but he begins to suspect something and rushes Teri and Kim into a locked room. He then goes hunting for the killer. Alone. Here's idiot point number one. Why doesn't the agent who knows that there's a killer loose call for backup? If not for his sake, then for the sake of Teri and Kim. I like to call this plot induced stupidity, or PIS for short. So taking that into consideration the agent, (Paulson, not that he'll be alive long enough to warrant a name) goes looking for the killer. He actually gets the drop on Jovan, but the third shooter is actually with Jovan and shoots Paulson.
Teri, not being a dumb person, has decided that she and Kim better escape on their own, and they make their way to the garage so they can get to a car. Jovan and the third shooter hear this, but there's not much they can do about it as the duo drive away. I'm tempted to throw in a Thelma and Louise joke right here, but the choices are just endless so I'll let the reader choose their own.
The two shooters chase after the car, but Paulson stumbles out long enough to kill the third shooter before being shot by Jovan again. Jovan gets in a car and starts following Teri and Kim around.
Meanwhile, Keith goes to have his meeting with Carl. Seeing nothing more than a dumb kid, Carl talks down to Keith and lays the whole situation on the table when Keith starts threatening Carl. He tells him about the evidence that was planted in Farragamo's office and how it will make Keith look like he was the killer. As Carl leaves a properly humbled Keith, we see the young man pull a tape recorder from his pocket. It turns out that Keith had taped Carl's whole conversation. Now this is one of the oldest plot devices known to man, but it can still be pretty slick when done right. 24 manages to do it right.
Teri and Kim are now on the run from the shooter, and for some reason they've decided to drive to a practically deserted open mountain highway as opposed to a police station. I'll just chalk that up to PIS as well. Teri manages to ditch Jovan by turning into an old side road. She parks the car and gets out to explore the side road, which doesn't really make much sense to me. Anyways, Kim is sitting in the car as we begin to see it slip in the dirt and then as Teri turns around it falls down the hill and erupts in a fiery explosion.
Here's where the crappy plot point raises its ugly head. Believing that she's just seen her daughter die and that she's responsible, and coupling that with all the other stuff that's been happening in her life, Teri faints. When she wakes up she's dealing with a bout of amnesia. Now I have no doubt that 24 will pull this plot off well enough, but that doesn't change it from being a lame duck idea to begin with. If they had nothing better to do with Teri they might as well have let Jovan put a bullet in her head. She ambles down the road in a daze before a young woman named Tanya stops and gives her a lift. They do a nice little bit of tension here though, as Jovan drives back. Teri takes so long getting into Tanya's car that you can't help but feel a little apprehensive for her.
Kim is not dead though, she managed to get out of the car before it exploded, but now she's all by herself. My money says that she heads over to Rick's, who by the way is actually shacking up with another chick. Maybe I should rename him Man Whore.
As I said it was a good episode, and had several nice bits of action. Keifer and the rest of the cast really do a great job with their roles and with the writing given. Unfortunately, there were just a few too many PIS moments and a lame duck storyline introduced that bars me from praising this episode. It's still better than 99% of the other shows that are on television, but 24 can do better.
Episode Rating: 7 out of 10
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