24 Review/Recap
Day Five, 7 - 8 p.m.
Ironically, this is an episode designed to help us catch our breath, as it were. I say ironically since the entire plot hinges on not being able to breath in the deadly gas and how that affects our heroes and their situations.
From a plot standpoint, things don't move forward that much. Instead, we get one of those classic various people locked in a room where every one has an issue with each other and let's see how they deal with the paranoia.
Jack's still trying to save the world and reconnect with Kim. Well, at least one of those two is going well. Kim states she loves Jack, is glad he's alive but she doesn't want anything to do with him. Every time he comes into her life, people die. Yeah, well, Kim, he's a spy. It's part of his job as uber-spy that sometimes people have to die. It's a harsh reality, but one that we've all got to deal with. I understand Kim's feelings, but she really does seem to play the victim card well here. I wonder how much of that is facilitated by her therapist/boyfriend, who you can tell Jack would love to verbally smackdown. Or maybe drop the medical bay for a few injections of sodium penathol to find out his real designs on Kim.
How much you wanna bet therapist man is somehow tied to all of this?
I'll say this--if we only get two hours of Kim on the show, I'll be stunned. I have a feeling they will somehow work out a way that she can't or doesn't leave Jack's sphere of influence. I'd almost bet the office of homeland security will lock down everyone who was at CTU and not allow Kim to leave, thus really annoying her and Barry.
Meanwhile, Jack is coming up with new ways to save the collective hides of everyone at CTU. Seems the terrorists anticipated every possible way our heroes could escape and added a corrosive agent to the seals. Now we've got to vent the gas, but the computer that can do it is running a de-frag or something and has to be overriden manually. Only problem--it's in an area that is full of gas. Jack could get to it were it not for some convienient new security bars that were installed, thus keeping him from busting through to save CTU as we know it. (Ironic since that cliffhanger was the exact thing that Prison Break left on....) So, in comes Lynn McGill who is given a last chance to go out a hero and he does. Farewell, Lynn, we hardly knew you.
You know, it's not been a good day for the McGill mother. I have to feel for her--she's lost a daughter and a son to this terrorist plot.
But it's not just all about the action on 24. We get some connection emotionally to the characters. Chloe isn't like Jack and can't go immediately back to work, putting aside that she's really upset about losing Edgar, whom she calls her best friend. And then we have random red-shirt who has to give up his life so that Lynn can run out and save the day. The scene where he took his breath after holding it for so long and went "Hey, it's OK...I can breath" right as the gas hit him...wow, that was powerful. And it all felt authentic. The euphoria that turns to horror. And the scene where he had to call his daughter to say goodbye. Lump in the thoat big time there.
And man, the body count of regulars is getting high this year. We had Edgar and now possibly Tony is dead. I will believe it when we see it. I have a feeling this will be a cliffhanger that's resolved with Tony miraculously pulling through. If not and I were Henderson, I'd bend over and kiss my keister goodbye. Jack is going to be really, really pissed when he catches up to you...
Another thought strikes my mind. So, they vented this gas to...where? I'm assuming outside, so is this a danger or is it only a danger because the gas is so concentrated in CTU headquarters? What's to say that venting it isn't a danger to the community where let's say I'm out jogging, run into some gas and then proceed to die from exposure. I'm just wondering how that would work...
Meanwhile, outside of CTU, while Jack is working to save he and the staff who are still alive, the powers that be are making move. The vice president has Logan ready to declare marshall law while the office of homeland security is taking over for CTU. Yeah, that is going to go over really well. And my question is--do they know Jack is alive? Boy, that should be some fun explaining going on there. And anyone else with me that this development is how we'll get the secretary of defense back into the plotlines?
And the terrorists have decided to not go for 17 targets but for one huge target of doom. Which makes it easier to film that and have Jack stop them all instead of tearing around L.A. like a mad man.
posted by Michael Hickerson @ 6:03 AM
5 Comments:
Sadly, I think Soul Patch is dead. I'm quite upset, because I think the show is stronger when he plays Robin to Jack's Batman. But even Robin died at the Joker's hand, so maybe this won't be so bad.
Interestingly, it was Tony's one bad choice - he fought the impulse to kill Henderson outright. Jack told him he knew from experience the need for vengeance and how he'd already gone through the same thing with Terri and Nina. But Tony makes his choice, and it costs him his life. If he hadn't conked the TortureGuy, or even had just shot Henderson from across the room everything would have probably been ok - but he opted for causing a painful death and the bad guy turned to tables. We live and die by the choices we make Tony...
Elsewhere, I find it hard to believe that little bit of time the door was open for Lynn to enter and exit the room would've been enough to let in enough gas to be fatal to either of them. Doesn't seem logical.
Speaking of the guard...
And the scene where he had to call his daughter to say goodbye. Lump in the thoat big time there.
You ain't kidding, there. She sounded like Tink. "Wake me up when you get home, daddy..." *SNIFF*
What target could take out 200,000 people in one fell swoop after 8pm in L.A. on the day when terrorist attacks have been going on all day? Maybe there's a Dodger game and Laker game going on at once... Is the Forum anywhere near Dodger Stadium?
Yep, TV Guide On-LIne has confirmed that Tony is gone. Blast it...I was hoping he's somehow survive. It does make you wonder if they will possibly kill Jack off to end the season and start over with a new star next year. This day has been high in the body count of the regulars.
As for the whole Dodger game--first of all, would 20,000 people come to a Dodger game? And second of all, would the gas work outside?
I assume you mean 200,000. Not that 20,000 would likely come to a Dodger game, but that's a different discussion... :)
No, someone wrote online there were a couple of neighborhoods in LA that they could open all 17 canisters and maybe kill 200,000 people - also maybe downtown Anaheim with Disneyland, California Adventure, the Angels and Might Ducks stadiums. But they're certainly not going to depict someone gassing Disneyland on American television, even if Disney would allow it.
So yes, I suppose it has to be able to spread outside. I also read that particular gas is so virulent a lethal particle is only 1/5 the mass of a fly. That's some tough gas.
Maybe instead of DisneyLand, the terrorists will attack SidneyLand....it's like DinseyLand only wihtout the potential of a huge honkin' law suit.
I was wondering why they couldn't direct Lynn to the gas masks that Buchanan said were there, if he was already holding his breath for a while...
I think in every season, they've started out with one problem and then we've had another one that's emerged.
There is a rumor on EOnline that they plan to move the show outside L.A. next year and might replace Jack, but I can't believe the fans would go for it. And besides, it's not like Jack can't travel, right? He was supposedly living in D.C. when season 4 started.
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