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24
7 PM to 8 PM
Written by Robert Cochran & Howard Gordan
Directed by Stephen Hopkins
All right, now this is what I like. This is 24 firing on all cylinders. Sure, there were a few small errors, but nothing taking away from the overall enjoyment from this fantastic episode. They managed to hit all the right notes here, and sidestep the crappy ones.
Jack and Mason are still in the wildlife preserve, and here we have the first logic goof. At the end of the last episode, the sun was clearly setting, but in the beginning of this episode the sun has already set. And since there was only supposed to be a second difference between the time frames of the two shows, that's one quick setting sun. We'll chalk this up to the difficulty of shooting an actual live action show though. So the Odd Couple are still in the field when Mason receives a call letting him know that Alexis has recovered from his surgery. He urges Jack to follow him so they can interrogate Alexis, but Jack has a gut feeling that something important is going to go down tonight. He urges Mason to leave without him and to send a backup car if necessary. Now if Jack was more of an investigator he might wonder how Mason's phone is suddenly working after he claimed it wasn't in the last episode, but he does have other things on his mind.
Tony loads a panicked Teri and wounded Phil (damn - they're both alive) into his car. Teri is, of course, a wreck since she believes that Kim is dead, but Tony assures her that Kim is very much alive and kicking. After placating the woman they drive off, heading to a clinic to get Phil treated and questioned. Tony alerts Nina to this, who will send extra backup.
Kim is now in the police station, along with Melanie, Frank, and Rick. She's a little worried about telling the truth, out of trust issues and the fear that it will end up hurting Rick. Rick morphs into noble guy mode though, and let's her know that she should tell the truth to keep herself safe, no matter what happens to him. Kim grudgingly accepts, and waits to speak with an officer.
Palmer has a heart-to-heart with his daughter, who feels better now that the secret is out in the open. He warns her that life will be hard for a bit, and to be prepared for the media storm that will follow. Sherry brusquely interrupts the father/daughter bonding though, and she's still really pissed. We see now that while she truly did care for her family, she also very much cared about being the first lady. And she's not in the mood to forgive Palmer about throwing away his chances. He's still optimistic about his chances though, believing that the American people will actually want an honest politician. It's a novel concept that just might be wacky enough to work.
Jack, still stumbling about in the fields, finds an old stone stairwell and follows it down to what appears to be a dead end. A scout watches him go down, and we see that he reports to Andre Drazen, who appears to be leading some sort of raid upon the compound. Jack figures he came to a dead end, when all of a sudden men with taser guns come from a hidden opening and shock Jack into unconsciousness.
When he comes too he's inside a holding cell, and he still has the shakes from being blasted with all that electricity. He begins to look about, when Mark DeSalvo walks into the cell. Lou Diamond Philips plays Mark, who now has lots of free time on his hands after Wolf Lake was cancelled. Mark has already done a background search on Jack in the three-minute commercial break, which just goes to show you that the government can be efficient when it wants to be. He of course is curious what Jack is doing here, so Jack of course does a quick recap of the entire show up to this point, just in case someone new is tuning in. He then questions Mark on what is exactly going on here. It's apparently an underground shadow prison for top-secret prisoners, and wouldn't you know it, they're scheduled to receive a prisoner at 7:20. Jack warns him that this place is going to be hit, and manages to convince Mark to gather his incredibly understaffed staff members and form a defensive line when the prisoner arrives.
Andre is readying his men, and appears to be quite anxious about this. The lead Merc is skeptical about the fact that Alexis hasn't called in yet to confirm that the power was shut down. Andre is still prepared to rush them as the helicopter touches down, but since both Alexis and the electrician are indisposed the lights are still on. Andre still wants to rush them, but the lead Merc vetoes that idea. It'd be suicide.
The prisoner is escorted inside, and Mark is now doubtful that there was ever a danger to begin with. Jack insists that there is, and he requests that he be allowed to speak to the prisoner. DeSalvo says that it's impossible; he's not even allowed to know who the prisoner is. Jack is stymied for a bit before realizing that he can get Palmer to pull some strings for him.
As it turns out though, Palmer has a reason to be celebrating right now. Since his televised confession, his poll numbers have actually increased. The American people really do like honesty, or at the very least a Jerry Springer like drama. He receives the call from Jack and agrees to do what he can.
Kim is finally interrogated by the police officer who busted her, and she is of course nervous. When she blurts that her father is Jack Bauer, the cop gives her a priceless stare of indifference. She sits down to tell him her fantastic story, and of course he doesn't believe her. Her case isn't helped by the fact that Melanie told the police that Kim is pretty much a compulsive liar though. As she leaves Kim gives the police officer the number for the CTU, begging him to call and confirm her story.
Jack is waiting to see if Palmer was able to pull strings, but as he's wandering the facility he notices a video camera and its feed. He traces the feed back to the observation room, and finds it uninhabited. There is of course a camera in the prisoner's cell, and after a bit of suspense we see that the prisoner is Dennis Hopper. DeSalvo catches Jack in there, and is justifiably put out but notices how strange Jack is acting. When he sees that Jack knows who the prisoner is, he asks him how Jack knows the prisoner. Jack says that its Victor Drazen, the man that Jack thought he killed two years ago. Jack fills mark in on the whole Drazen back-story and why they want Jack dead so badly. He hopes to elicit sympathy by stating that his family is in danger, and DeSalvo is sympathetic.
Andre is making up a backup plan though. He dispatches one of the mercs to blow the power generator. He's still going in.
Mason returns to the CTU after checking on Alexis. The man will live, but he's not ready to be interrogated yet. Nina gets in his face about not telling Jack the truth about his family, and Mason becomes angry with Nina. He brings up the point that he doesn't have to answer to his subordinates about his actions.
There's a celebration at David Palmer's campaign headquarters, and Sherry goes to coax David to come out. She is of course chipper as they come, and has two champagne glasses. Palmer isn't buying it though, too much has gone down today for him to remind blind to Sherry's true self. He questions her motivations and her actions, and then says that he can't trust her anymore; which means that he can't lover her anymore. We see Sherry's mask slip here, and the true ambition of this woman comes to the surface. She gets up into his face and quietly and forcibly says that he will not leave her. It's not in his nature or interest to do that. And when he is standing in the oval office being sworn in, she will be right there by his side. This is actually a remarkably powerful scene, as both actors put real depth and emotion in their characters. In the hands of lesser actors this could have been stilted and lifeless, but in the hands of these two it becomes powerful and threatening.
Kim is placed in a holding cell with a bunch of hardened females. Her preppy appearance does tend to stand out there. And to everyone else in the cell, it seems that we have a piece of fresh meat.
DeSalvo is curious about why Jack would believe that Victor Drazen is dead, and Jack theorizes that the government wanted the rest of the world to believe that Victor is dead. That way he could report on Milosevich without people realizing that he was still around. Jack's mission was set up to fail from the beginning. Mark then receives the call from his superiors letting him know that Jack can interrogate the prisoner. Jack goes into the holding room and comes face to face with Victor. He apologizes that his wife and daughter were harmed in the Kosovo mission, but implores the man to call off the hit on his own wife and daughter. Dennis Hopper just seethes quietly throughout the entire process, looking at Jack with baleful eyes. Jack then says that Victor's son could die if he assaults the compound, to which Victor retorts "He will die a soldier." This is enough for DeSalvo to realize that there is a definite attack coming, and he orders the prisoner to be moved. They prepare to do just that, but as they move Victor down the hallway the lights fade out. We end with an ominous pronouncement of "They're here."
This really was a great ep of 24. Yes there were some logic errors, but that doesn't diminish the power and fun of this episode. It put the focus of its attention on Jack and the Drazen affair, and it's amazing how much better an episode is when they do that. Making Palmer the predominate subplot was also a smart idea, and the social interaction amidst the Palmer's is intriguing. If 24 is renewed I hope that we get more Palmer's in the future, it'd be a shame to waste them. Both Dennis Hopper and Lou Diamond Philips were excellent additions. They didn't hit homeruns but they turned in strong and nuanced performances which help enrich the whole show. And next week should be action packed as Jack fends off an assault and Palmer questions his future. Oh yeah, and a female prison catfight.
Episode Rating: 9.5 out of 10
-- Tim "tjarvis" Ritenour is still waiting for Emilio Estevez to guest star.
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