The second that I heard Resident White House Weasel Walt Cummings say to Resident Terrorist Weasel, “It’s okay, I have someone on the inside,” Buffybot and I instantly thought, “Naaaaaah, it can’t be Spenser For Hire.” (Curiously enough, he even spells his name the same way, thus making the nickname perfect.) That’s too easy, we thought. And the producers of “24” were clearly banking on that, because almost instantly, Spenser For Hire turned out to be the bad guy. Or so we thought.
Actually, I have to give the producers props; it was a clever way to make Spenser For Hire a bad guy without actually making him a bad guy, since he thought he was working for Internal Affairs and didn’t know he was actually aiding and abetting a terrorist cell. But now that we’re talking about that terrorist cell…
…does it seem like the endgame has absolutely nothing to do with hurting the US? There was that line about Mother Russia being sorry they ever did such and such. Are they really just using the US as a middleman to traffic in nerve gas? Oh, the irony. Pretty frightening thought, if you choose to think about it. But it’s only Hour Five, so there is still lots and lots of time for this story to twist and crawl, twist and crawl, twist and crawl-awl-awl-awl-awl-awl-awl-awl-awl-awl-awl Bang! (All six of the English Beat fans out there just laughed their asses off, and the rest of you just felt sorry for me, admit it.)
The most maddening part so far is that Mike Novick, who normally knows treachery when he sees it, clearly thinks Walt is on the up and up, because he continues to involve Walt in every confidential discussion he has with the President. Maybe he has to; I’m not that up on my Oval Office chain-of-command stuff. But if “The West Wing” has taught me anything, it’s that every White House staff member eventually has their time to talk to the president in private. The way that Walt seems to be at all places at all times is just a little too convenient. Novick would have to know about Walt’s blackmailing of Evelyn somehow, someway. And, as one rather astute new watcher of “24” had noticed, is Walt really taking calls from some terrorist organization on his cell phone? Wouldn’t those calls be monitored? I’m going to assume so, which is why I am going to give Walt the benefit of the doubt, and presume that he has a Good cell phone and an Evil cell phone, and they both look exactly the same. We’ll see if there soon comes a point where he has to answer both of them at the same time.
But never mind that: Jack Bauer is still alive. Won’t the Chinese be calling for his head any second now? After all, the President told them Bauer was dead. How long is it before President Buck Buck Brawwwwwwck puts his legacy ahead of national security, especially when his wife is “nuts,” and hands Bauer over on a platter with the Wisconsin meats and cheeses I mentioned a couple weeks ago? After all, that would feed into Walt’s plans perfectly, yes? I would venture to say that he’s banking on his Commander in Chief to do just that.
After questioning Spenser For Hire for about 30 seconds, Jack almost instantly caught on that Walt was the mole, which means that there are at least two or three twists along the way. And that, selfishly, lends credence to my far-fetched Wayne Palmer theory. I’m telling you, that boy is up to no good. I don’t care if he was a good guy on “Buffy”; he has ulterior motives now. IMDb has the cast listings for the entire season online now, but I won’t look at them out of sequence, and anyone who posts a spoiler will be deleted. Well, except for the spoilers that I’ve already posted, that is.
