Category: 24 (Page 17 of 25)

24, Hour 13: They never look up

March 13, 2007 / David Medsker

The title is a reference to the fact that the Russians were scouring their locked-down embassy for an at-large Jack (nice use of a belt on his part, but shame on both the guy assigned to kill him and the guy watching them both on VIDEO for not seeing Jack grab the belt in the first place), and when they finally checked out the room that he was in, they didn’t find him. Why? Because they never look up (Jack was hiding in the ceiling). Basically, Jack’s playing Quake while everyone else is playing Doom. And Jack’s in God mode. Is there a God mode in Quake? I just found a level called Cyberden in the Plutonia version of Doom, and it’s freaking sweet.

All right, show of hands: who’s having a hard time taking the Ricker (nickname courtesy of my “Silver Spoons”-watching wife) seriously? That whole brash, bow-to-me-or-be-reassigned thing was the most pompous performance in CTU history. Not even Chappelle (R.I.P.) was that much of a blowhard, and he blew hard. Even better, did you like his decision not to use body armor during the assault on the Russian embassy? Hell, even Jack wears a vest. What you tryin’ ta prove, son? Whatever it is, nobody cares, and once Jack is back at CTU, you can bet that he will give him the verbal equivalent of an open-hand slap in the mouth. Heck, when you’re actually rooting for Milo over anyone, there’s something wrong.

Senator Roark, meanwhile, has onions so large that he carries them around in a wheelbarrow. He strong-arms the Biscuit into backing his “Killing an Arab” policy, despite the fact that the senator himself knows that the Muslims were not responsible for the attack on the President. I thought for sure that the Biscuit would tell the truth when Roark asked him to lie, but this time, he caved. Perhaps he, like the rest of us, pondered what kind of beatdown Powers Boothe could give Peter MacNicol in real life, and thought twice about it. Does President Palmer even come back this year? After all, we only have 11 hours left. Would they ever allow a Commander-in-Chief to resume office that soon after an assassination attempt?

Lastly, we get to former President Buck Buck Brawwwwwk and the former First Lady of Crazy. Martha has a new boy toy, and it is no other than – bow chicka bow bow – Old Yeller. I had severe problems with this, since I figured their relationship, as First Lady and bodyguard, was a close one, but not intimate, we’ll-have-sex-as-soon-as-I-get-to-the-funny-farm intimate. Shows what I know about politics. If there is one thing I know about women – and man, do I know this – it’s that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, especially a batshit crazy one. With all of the camera shots of a knife here and a knife there, I was surprised that Martha didn’t telepathically send 20 knives flying into Chicken Little’s torso “Carrie”-style. Instead, she only needed one, and her response of “They should make me a hero” was blackly funny.

For those who don’t want to know about next week’s episode, stop reading here, but there was something that gave me hope that they had not completely underestimated our intelligence. As CTU is tracking the “drone” plane that houses one of the suitcase nukes, it is clear to them that someone within CTU is manipulating the action. Is this when they finally play the Nadia/Milo card? Does Nadia sell Milo down the river? Of course she does. Isn’t that what he’s been here for all this time?

24, External TV, TV, TV Action

24, Hour 12: I hope the Russians love their children, too

March 6, 2007 / David Medsker

The single greatest thing about tonight’s episode of “24” was the sneak preview of next week’s episode. They showed President Buck Buck Brawwwwwk dealing with the former First Lady of Crazy. And at her side: Old Yeller. Oh, thank goodness. I missed the old dog.

In a strange bit of subconscious Stockholm Syndrome at work, Jack has once again infiltrated a foreign embassy in an attempt to squeeze a reluctant diplomat that Knows Too Much. You would think that this is the last place on earth that he would care to go, and yet even after they leave, and President Buck Buck Brawwwwk tells him the consulate is lying, Jack comes up with the brilliant plan to have Chloe cause a power outage so he can ambush the dude by himself and hold him hostage for more info. It’s as if this is the only situation where Jack feels comfortable, when he’s being caught and, eventually, punished. Then again, maybe this whole detour takes place for the sole purpose of explaining just what happened to Jack while he was being held by the Chinese, and what caused the scarring on Jack’s right hand.

But that will have to wait. Right now, there is information to extract, and with information extraction comes…torture, despite the fact that even our own military is complaining about the negative effect this show has had on their cadets. Somewhere, though, Sam Raimi was surely having a laugh at Jack’s torture device of choice.

Back at the White House, Assad dies while trying to save President Palmer’s life (lame), and for that he gets…the blame for planting the bomb, just like Mr. Swank and his bomb-making goon planned. Senator Roark assumes control of the Oval Office while Palmer recovers, but he needs the Biscuit’s silent complicity to enact the Biscuit’s plan to roll civil rights back 50 years, which is the second such deal he’s been asked to make in about half an hour. The first time he was asked, he instantly turned on Swank and had them arrested. Saying no to Senator Roark, however, will not be so easy.

I was thisclose to calling him Mr. Roark. But that’s a different show entirely, isn’t it?

If they don’t deal with Jack’s experiences with the Chinese next week, they damn well better deal with the repercussions of Milo giving clearance to Nadia. And was it just me, or did you also think that Karen Hayes was gone all these weeks because she was on a plane to Los Angeles? Now we see that she’s been waiting at the airport all this time? What White House cabinet members, even the ones whose resignations have wet ink on them, wait at the airport for anything?

Heck, I guess I should be happy that Heidi Petrelli and Jack Jack weren’t ambushed on their way to CTU. But I don’t recall seeing them arrive, either. I guess there’s still time for that, though it would mean one leisurely drive through Los Angeles, the city that just had a nuclear bomb go off. Uh, sure.

And now it’s time for the conspiracy theory of the week.
We’re supposed to be in an uproar over CTU pulling Nadia’s access because of her heritage. I’m willing to bet that we ultimately discover that she’s not working for the terrorists, but rather that she’s working as a sleeper agent for Farmer Hoggett. She’s in a perfect position to monitor CTU’s activity, and she’s been keeping Chloe, Jack’s CTU life line, on an ever-tightening leash. That they brought Jack back is Christmas in July for Hoggett, because now he can monitor Jack, too. Either way, Milo’s a dead duck for handing over his clearance to her, and Nadia doesn’t live to see the final ticking of the digital clock in May.

24, TV, TV Action

24, Hour 11: “Hi, my name’s Morris.” “Hi, Morris.” “And my ex-wife is a bloody nutcase.”

February 27, 2007 / David Medsker

Man, I wish I were blogging “Heroes” instead. That show rules. My wife and I always watch that first, and not just because I have to sit down and write the “24” blog after watching each night’s episode. We watch “Heroes” first because we’re emotionally involved in it…and God, how can you not be involved in an episode like the one they showed tonight? Poor Claire. Hasn’t she suffered enough?

Oh, right, CTU. Sigh.

Jack sends Heidi Petrelli and Jack Jack back to CTU, and the first thought I had was, “They’re going to get ambushed.” Man, I hope I’m wrong about that, but this show is all about the ambush (Teri and Kim, Audrey Raines and her father, etc.). Jack and Heidi share a tender moment away from Jack Jack, and Jack tells Heidi, “He reminds me of you.” Afterward, I swear I heard Jack mutter under his breath, “But mostly me.”

There’s a power struggle taking place at CTU, with Nadia becoming highly suspicious of Morris and his binge drinking. That’s an interesting choice for a girl whose rights were recently restricted because of her race, but hey, we’re not ones to judge. Is the fact that Milo gave her his clearance ever going to come back into play? You don’t write something like that into the story without following up on it.

One quick note on Chloe’s obsession with proving Morris’ guilt, however justified it may be: they have to stop with this whole bait-and-switch thing. They set up Morris as guilty from the first frame, only to turn it on Chloe in the end when she bursts into the men’s room to accuse him. That trick is all well and good, but don’t go to the well too often. And by too often, I mean every single opportunity. See my ambush comment above.

The subplot involving President Buck Buck Brawwwwwwk, so far, is a dud. He’s a reformed man, or so he says, and yet he’s fingering a strait-laced Russian as an ‘in’ (an ‘in’ that’s also a convenient, untraceable back door) to Miss Gredenko and the nukes. The fact that the line he quotes in the mirror is also highlighted in his Bible, however, is a sign that there is far greater significance to everything, a la Michael Scofield’s taped message to Sara in “Prison Break.” Is Logan tired of house arrest and his Hussein-style beard, and hopes that the Ruskies will bust him loose? That’s a gutsy move, but then again, they have already set it up so that the US has no sovereign power at the meeting place, which could facilitate Logan’s escape rather well. Wouldn’t he miss his beloved First Lady of Crazy? Or did he have her fed to rabid dogs before he struck his deal? You just never know with that man.

Which brings us to the White House, where all the killing is taking place. Mr. Swank is dumber than he would care to admit, and not because he tried to take out Assad without hurting the President: he’s dumb because forensics will examine the scene and conclude that the man who brought in the tape recorder is the one who made the bomb, and the record will show that that man was brought into the bunker by…Mr. Swank. The Biscuit, meanwhile, is trying to foil the plan by causing a pressure surge on some pipe or other in the seemingly off-the-grid pipe room, and all I could think was him thinking to himself, “Damn…these…stumpy…legs!” The hit man warns him, “You try that again, I’ll kill you.” Pansy. Any contract killer worth his salt would have killed the Biscuit right then and there, and dealt with the consequences later.

The President was badly injured in the blast (curiously, they mentioned nothing about Assad’s condition, even though he was in between the bomb and the President), which appears to be paving the way for Senator Roark to assume control and lock all the coloreds up once and for all. And this all might make for interesting television but…

…why is it that I want Jack Bauer to die?

Kiefer Sutherland himself said two or three seasons ago that no one should be untouchable on this show, not even Jack. I think it’s high time they play that card, since a cat only has nine lives after all. The only problem is that they haven’t set up anyone to take his place, and anyone they could have groomed for the role during the show’s run is now either dead (Curtis) or missing a forearm (Chase Edmunds). Damn, I knew they killed Nina Myers too early.

24, Actors, Actresses, External TV, TV, TV Action

Major shakeup in latest edition of Bullz-Eye’s TV Power Rankings

February 25, 2007 / Jason Zingale

Since the dawn of creation — well, the creation of this feature, anyway — Jack Bauer sat atop Bullz-Eye.com’s TV Power Rankings, owning the #1 slot for better than a year and a half. Some would say it was only a matter of time, but now that it’s finally happened, the sudden fall from grace of Fox’s hit show “24” is actually a lot more embarrassing than it is depressing. But the real-time thriller isn’t the only major shakeup in the winter 2007 edition of the rankings. HBO’s “The Wire” makes its grand (and, forgive us, long overdue) debut, while NBC experienced a big surge thanks to its fresh fall lineup. Of course, HBO still came out the big winner with five shows emerging in the Top 10 (four in the first six), proving once again that it pays to, well, pay for quality television.

Here are a few entries from our list:

11. Scrubs (NBC): It shouldn’t surprise anyone to see that “Scrubs” has dropped so low in the rankings. Coming off one of the best years since its debut, expectations for the show were certainly higher than usual – especially when it was called up to the big leagues and given a spot in NBC’s highly coveted Must See TV lineup – but no one could have guessed that the sixth season would start out on such a sour note. Whether it was the accelerated progression of J.D. into adulthood (he’s got a baby on the way, with guest star Elizabeth Banks, no less) or Carla’s all-too-brief post-partum depression (a subplot added to accommodate Judy Reyes’ real-life hip injury), the first five episodes of the new season were particularly somber. Things were looking so bleak, in fact, that fans of the show were preparing to concede that the medical comedy was finally showing signs of wear, but with the much-publicized musical episode creatively rejuvenating everyone involved with the show, things are finally getting back on track. And as long as things remain this kooky and fresh (read: Kelso getting his own episode, or the Janitor using a stuffed rabbit as a salt and pepper shaker), we don’t see any reason why “Scrubs” won’t being making a triumphant return to the Top 5 in the very near future. ~Jason Zingale

17. Deadwood (HBO): Well, despite all the rumors, “Deadwood” isn’t quite dead…yet. Last year, HBO decided not to extend the options of the terrific ensemble cast, making a fourth full season unlikely, but the network and series creator David Milch agreed to produce two two-hour telefilms to wrap up the show’s loose ends. Season Three contained a myriad of intertwining storylines, but focused on the growing influence of businessman/asshole George Hearst, which put former adversaries Al Swearengen and Sheriff Seth Bullock in an unlikely alliance. “Deadwood” features stronger language than any other HBO show, and with “The Sopranos” and “The Wire” on the network’s roster, that’s saying a lot. The truth is that everything about the show – the language, the acting, the story, the sets and the costumes – is colorful, and whether or not HBO wants to admit it, they’re going to miss “Deadwood” once it’s gone for good. ~John Paulsen

Check out the full list here.

24, Battlestar Galactica, Deadwood, Entourage, External Entertainment, External TV, Heroes, Lost, My Name Is Earl, Prison Break, Rome, South Park, The Office, The Shield, The Sopranos, The Wire, TV

24, Hour 10: This week, on “Dynasty of Terror”

February 20, 2007 / David Medsker

The president of our company wasn’t kidding: “24” has turned into “Dynasty.” The latest obstacle to hamper CTU is…a drinking problem. That is not a typo. The part of Amy Winehouse is played by Morris O’Brien, who, when faced with what he perceives to be a painful reminder of his own cowardice at the hands of the man that he had previously deemed an intellectual subordinate, unravels to the point where he chugs nearly a pint of whiskey, only to purge it from his system in a fit of shame seconds later. “Call your sponsor,” Chloe admonishes when he comes back stinking of whiskey. I suppose that last nugget of information negates the Winehouse joke; if they tried to make Amy Winehouse go to rehab, she’d say no, no, no.

In fact, the majority of the episode contained more relationship melodrama than political intrigue. “Don’t kill my son!” “I killed your husband, and I’ll kill your son.” “He won’t kill him, he wants me.” “I had to go my own way.” “Don’t turn me in to Buchanan!” “Call your sponsor!” Ugh. The most interesting plot thread was given the least amount of attention, and that is the Biscuit’s betrayal of the President. Sure, it looked bad for the Biscuit as he’s handing over the President’s itinerary, but there is no way he would go from resigning to whacking the Commander in Chief in a matter of minutes, right? No, of course not, which is why it was such a relief to see him call the head of Secret Service the second in an attempt to thwart the plot…and why it didn’t surprise us in the slightest to see Mr. Swank pop the Biscuit the second he knew that he was being played. Let us guess: now the Biscuit is framed for the hit if it proves to be unsuccessful.

Don’t let her shrieking fool you: Heidi Petrelli is one strong woman. She has hardly cried a tear for the death of her husband, which happened only an hour or so ago. She didn’t even flinch when Jack gently brushed her delicate brunette locks out of her face. I’m not sure exactly what happened between those two in the past, but that moment, this soon after the death of her husband and his brother, is creepy. I don’t care if he just helped save Jack Jack’s life. Wouldn’t you at least let the body get cold before bustin’ a move?

During one of the blink-chunk, blink-chunk moments, they showed the Biscuit strapped down like he was suffering spinal trauma. From a flashlight, wielded by Mr. Swank? Not buying it, sorry. Dude may be evil, but he’s not supernatural.

And then there’s the Great Reveal in the last two minutes. Daddy Dearest/Farmer Hoggett manages to slip out after having his son, the freaking CTU agent, kneel down in preparation for an execution-style bullet in the skull. Call me crazy, but I’m pretty sure that there isn’t a man alive the same age as James Cromwell that can sneak out of a meeting of narcoleptics. Jack realizes Daddy Dearest isn’t there, and in his pursuit, finds a cell phone with a text message telling him to call…President Buck Buck Brawwwwwwk! I knew he was coming back, so seeing him wasn’t a shock, but that Saddam Hussein beard was. Hey, at least he doesn’t look like Nixon anymore.

There’s still one thing that troubles me: both Hoggett and Romano have admitted that they were complicit in the assassination of David Palmer, but neither has admitted or acknowledged that they had any reason to believe that Jack, who was set up for the hit, was actually alive when it took place (you’ll remember that he had been declared dead months before, in order for Jack to escape the clutches of the Chinese). The connection to President Logan may explain this, since he also tried to have Jack killed at the end of season four, only to discover that someone else had allegedly beaten him to the punch. Still, when last season started, Logan had no idea that Jack was still alive either, which means that either one of the still-living characters has information that they have yet to reveal or the show’s producers are secretly hoping that you have forgotten that that they have not properly explained this gaping plot hole.

The only explanation, given what information they have shared with us, is that Chloe is the mastermind behind Palmer’s assassination, since she is the only surviving person we’re aware of who knows who fabricated Jack’s death in the first place. Um, sure. No one orchestrates a plot to kill a former President of the United States in the hopes that they can pin it on a guy that may or may not already be dead. If Hoggett & Romano knew that Jack was still alive, then prove it. Now. We’re growing tired of sentences that begin with, “Don’t ask me how, but…,” like we heard tonight with the explanation about Gredenko extorting Farmer Hoggett. That’s code for “Hey, it’s your cousin Basil Exposition! Just go along with whatever he tells you.” Sorry, not gonna do it. Wouldn’t be prudent at this juncture.