We are an hour away from the unofficial end of Act I, and while I’m shocked that they have suddenly discarded the most formidable weapon that any President in the show’s history has had to face – fare thee well, CIP device – I applaud and understand the decision to move the show to the next arena. The FBI weren’t going to remain in the dark forever, so it was only a matter of time before they were able to figure out the next target. Likewise, the Scoobies weren’t going to be able to do this on their own forever, so as risky as the move is to reveal their identities to the President, to have them continue to operate so efficiently, without tipping off the authorities to either their identities or location, would have been silly. So good for them for acknowledging that and moving on.
Of course, I reserve the right to change my mind about any of this if they take the show somewhere I don’t like. It’s my right as its blogger. So mleah.
So Colonel Ike Turner, aware that the FBI had figured out his next target but unaware that they didn’t know where he was or how to stop him (why not make a call to your well-placed source and find out the dilleo?), pulled the plug on his chemical plant attack with only minutes to go. Hmmm. Why not just let it play out, even if you think your location has been compromised? May as well hit them hard one last time, right? My inner paranoid – which is a flattering way of just saying ‘I’ – wonders if the Fox censors stepped in and said, “Uh, no, you’re not wiping out a small town in Ohio. They vote Republican, Murdoch won’t have it.” Just a thought.
“Hot damn, Tony, I finally get to shoot me some bad guys.” “I’m happy for you, Bill.”
Luckily for Turner, he now has the First Man as a hostage, so if he was able to freak out Madame President with the threat of massive casualties, he can now freak her out with the threat of one extremely important casualty. At the same time, Turner has lost an incredible amount of leverage in the process. I picture their next exchange to go something like this:
Dubaku: You will meet my demands.
Taylor: No, I won’t.
Dubaku: (*BANG*) Your husband is dead.
Taylor: Way to go, genius. I’m now going to bomb your army back to the Stone Age, steal your diamonds, and rename the country Taylorville.
Dubaku: *Shit.*
Yes, he can take away the love of her life, but as cynical as this may sound, that’s all he can do. Dubaku is no longer in a position to threaten the nation’s security, so how badly can he really hurt her? His only recourse after playing the First Husband card is to coerce his US government recruits to step up their complicity. But they’ll get caught, because they were all stupid enough to get into bed with General Candyman in the first place. Hopefully, they have something planned that we can’t predict at the moment. Hopefully.
God, how much does Jack love Jacqeline right now? She holds her own in a huge gunfight and takes out a bunch of Dubaku’s men. Next week’s scenes show a shot of Jack speaking with the President in the Oval Office, and I’m waiting to hear Jack say, “You can trust us, Madame President, but first thing’s first.” (drops to one knee, looks at Freckles) “You are going to marry me. The only question is how much you want it to hurt.” That’s truth. That’s love.
