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by Frederic Germay
This was, without a doubt, the best episode since the season premiere, and in some ways, it even surpassed the premiere! I am so glad that 24 finally brought a solid episode to the table, and lets hope that they continue in this trend, and perhaps even raise the bar for the few remaining episodes this season. I just have one small problem -- why couldn't this have happened sooner?
This episode starts out moments after Heller told Jack to stay away from his daughter, so thankfully we don't have to endure the painful plot twist of Audrey's insanity anymore. However, this seems to have reignited Jack's desire to be on the Bloomfield mission, but unfortunately, Nadia's newfound backbone will not allow it. Wow, she really seems into making bad decisions. The most shocking thing about this particular scene is that Jack actually obeys what she says, even though he's always right. I just kept expecting him to do something 'Bauer-ish,' and pull off some complicated chokehold on one of the guards and take off down some corridor. But he just slowly sat back down, wearing one of the most dejected expressions I have ever seen him don.
The episode continued in this vein for quite some time, except for the occasional CTU drama about Chloe/Morris, Nadia/Milo. I find it rather depressing to talk about the disappointing aspects of an otherwise wonderful and highly appreciated episode, so I'll just skip as much of the boring parts as possible.
Contradicting my previous statement, I have to discuss another boring aspect of the episode -- the White House side plot. Noah Daniels was understandably ticked off that his precious Lisa decided to shank Michaels Shanks, but shouldn't he have guessed that Lisa really wasn't all that interested in him. Hmmm… Anyways, under the threat of treason, he forces Lisa to relay directly (or indirectly, depending on which way you want to look at it) false info about the component being recovered to Michael Shanks in order to avoid a World War III. Although it may not be the most interesting plot, I am a wee bit interested to see how that turns out.
Marilyn Bauer makes another random appearance in this episode of 24 along with her son. However, her presence is forgivable, due to her and her son's direct responsibility for the absolutely riveting sequence that followed.
For the second time in 24 history (that I can think of off the top of my head), CTU is placed in danger by terrorists. However, this time the terrorist actually hold CTU hostage! Armed with a machine gun, the Jack that we all desperately missed picks off the terrorists one by one until he runs out of ammo and is taken captive by the Chinese terrorists. Sounds familiar…
In one of the most chilling and unforgettable scenes in 24 history, Milo takes a bullet for Nadia. I did not see that one coming, I thought that the guy was going to ask Milo for programming advice concerning the component! As I may have mentioned before, I was calling for an end to Milo's character…but what a way to go! While I certainly do not want divine intervention resulting in his resurrection, I am a little sad to see him go. RIP Milo….
As for the cliffhanger ending, I was a little disappointed. I was kind of hoping to see some more dramatic deaths, rather than one of Papa Bauer's evil schemes. I guess that I was somewhat expecting Bauer Jr. not to come out of the vents, and for the audience to witness the terrorists pick off each of the CTU personnel one by one. Now that would be something that people would be talking about near the water cooler for months and months to come!
Despite the better portion of this episode being filled with the CTU drama that some of us have grown to loathe, this eppie makes up for it by providing a stellar showdown seldom seen in this season. Welcome back 24, I give this episode an 8.5/10
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