Wow. Just wow. An amazing episode, one of the finest two hours of TV that I have seen in a long time.
Spoilers follow, natch.
The silent clock (one of the coolest traditions/honors in TV) makes an appearance! I feel bad for Edgar, his look of realization and "Chloe" was heart-wrenching stuff.
Has there ever been so much graphic violence and death in a primetime television show before? No quick-cuts or shaky cams, we actually see Curtis shoot the terrorist three times, Jack shoot Mrs. Robocop in the leg, Rudy's sister and her boyfriend are shot in ruthless execution sytle in the head, Carrie (who I was kind of hoping would stick around) is stabbed through the throat in a particularly gruesome scene, and then the chilling shots of the gas killing everyone "crickets squishing themselves to escape nerve toxins in a clear box" fashion.
This episode, with continuing og the show's historical themes with Kim and Tony, really felt like a nod to the hardcores. The characterization of Troubled Kim Bauer is very good, and the best use of the character and apparently the actress.
Next week looks insane. A near-dead Robocop vs. a near-dead and nuclear-style pissed-off Tony Almeida. I am betting on another ticking clock next week.
Lastly, I want to punch C. Thomas Howell right in the motherfucking face.
Who would have thought that Lynn was doing Carrie a favor when he fired her?
I love the parallel between Logan and Henderson. Both men have their wives threatened, and neither man is willing to save them because of some higher purpose.
Next week I fully expect Tony to go to town on Henderson.
In the end, Lynn and his insecurity did end up screwing them in the ass. Had he just reported it, police could've apprehended the punk immediately and Edgar and all those other people would not have died.
Now CTU is crippled and 17 cannisters of nerve gas are easily accessible in the hands of terrorists.
Now that CTU is crippled at this point, the President is going to rely more on the vice president which is troubling. And now Mike Novik has become this season's Kreskge.
Even more chilling is the information Henderson is supposedly hiding. I can't even begin to guess what it is.
But weren't the people that knocked off Michelle and Palmer already taken care of? Aren't they all dead at this point?
Originally posted by The Vile1But weren't the people that knocked off Michelle and Palmer already taken care of? Aren't they all dead at this point?
Well, yeah the *actual* killers are. But it all seems to go up the tree to Henderson so far for the order being issued.
*ahem* The love that passed between their eyes was summed up in the one word he was able to utter. "Chloe..." he stammered. His feelings were reciprocated as she mouthed back, "Edgar...". As he stumbled and fell, he was at peace knowing that they had always respected, but even more so loved each other.
Goddamn, I hated to see Edgar go. That was a terrible, beautiful scene.
Okay, plot gripe time. What the hell is the deal with this keycard crap? If the terrorists had the foresight to have the boyfriend get the card, then they never had any intent of going back to Russia in the first place. Otherwise, what would have been the purpose of getting the card? I look forward to see if this angle is explained.
Did Lynn get to a safe place, or did he not make it out of holding?
Originally posted by Alpha DogLastly, I want to punch C. Thomas Howell right in the motherfucking face.
Originally posted by whateverIf the terrorists had the foresight to have the boyfriend get the card, then they never had any intent of going back to Russia in the first place. Otherwise, what would have been the purpose of getting the card?
I took it not so much that the terrorists had the boyfriend get the card, but the boyfriend got the card and he somehow managed to contact the terrorists to let them know he had it for sale. Clearly, the fact that he actually expected to get the $20,000 means that he was not experienced at these sorts of negotiations with these sorts of people. This just happened to be a lucky break for Bierko.
And well put on the finale of the Edgar-Chloe relationship.
Who was C. Thomas Howell? Was that Kim's shrink/boyfriend? I thought that guy looked like a total dirtbag until he showed some balls and stood up to Jack. "I don't care what you think" "I'm sure you don't!" Seemed more ballsy than whiney to me and I respect that.
I'm glad to see the hardcore Jack back. He seemed to be getting soft this season. I was sort of thinking that Mrs Robocop was going to shoot him if he let his gaurd down. The whole time he was trying to get Peter Weller to talk I was saying "shoot the wife!". I sure as hell didn't expect him to actually do it. I was still laughing over it until poor Edgar got the gas.
Do you think Edgar was really at peace? Or were his last thoughts something like "I can't believe f'n Spencer got that and I never did..."
CTU has some security. A couple hours ago a guy waltzes in and kills the doctor. Now this guys waltzes in and kills everyone else.
'But if one is struck by me only a little, that is far different, the stroke is a sharp thing and suddenly lays him lifeless, and that man's wife goes with cheeks torn in lamentation, and his children are fatherless, while he, staining the soil with his red blood, rots away, and there are more birds than women swarming about him.' Diomedes, The Iliad of Homer
Originally posted by EddieBurkettI took it not so much that the terrorists had the boyfriend get the card, but the boyfriend got the card and he somehow managed to contact the terrorists to let them know he had it for sale. Clearly, the fact that he actually expected to get the $20,000 means that he was not experienced at these sorts of negotiations with these sorts of people. This just happened to be a lucky break for Bierko.
No, I just can't buy the "dial-a-terrorist" theory. When the mugging occurred, the thug knew what he was after. If the guy was that inexperienced, how would he have known to get a hold of the terrorists in the first place? They contacted him, exploited his relationship with the druggie sister, and got what they needed.
Also forgot to mention the Pierce/Logan moment that Novick stumbled onto. That was some priceless stuff there. Likewise with Jack shooting RoboWife. Wow.
Originally posted by Bizzle IzzleDo you think Edgar was really at peace? Or were his last thoughts something like "I can't believe f'n Spencer got that and I never did..."
I have to think he was at peace, 'cause I really loved the character. Plus, Spenser may have gotten the body, but Edgar had her heart. (edit - I can see it now - "You had me at, "Reconfigure the server array, dammit!"")
The out to the key card plot hole would seem to be through Henderson, with the idea being that he always intended to send one of the 19 cannisters to CTU as a measure of revenge for getting fired and possibly framed. But there were hints dropped last night that he's not in it strictly for revenge, and if there is something else to his motivation, then gassing CTU won't fit. Could be someone else higher up with motivations to take it out, though. Or, since the villains appear to be internal on a national level or at least very experienced with this kind of thing, they know that CTU LA always ends up saving the day, so just gas them already.
Henderson seems to be what they wanted to do with Saunders back in Season 3, until they realized that Saunders was just a wussy, Ian Buchanan-esque British guy. But now they've gotten a second chance at an Evil Jack, and I like it so far. How can he beat Henderson when Henderson taught him how to kill? Taught him how to torture? Taught him how to lie? Taught him, as we found out in the parking lot scene last night, how to say DAMMIT? I will be disappointed if we don't get an hour long episode where it's just Jack and Henderson staring at each other for the entire episode, mentally fighting a pitched battle where each man can predict the intricate attacks and counterattacks that the other will employ, deadlocked in their mental martial arts battle until Henderson finally blinks or sneezes and in that second, Jack is able to superkick him in the throat and pull out his heart.
The gassing scene was pretty badass in how they did it, and the idea of trapping the bulk of the cast in this show in one room, even if it just lasts an hour, is pretty ballsy. I do feel the need to point out, though, that CTU was actually blown up back in Season 2 and my main man George Mason had it up and running within the hour. No offense to Bill Buchanan, just sayin'.
Speaking of Bill Buchanan, I was hoping for a longer subplot with he and the doctor trying to fool Tony into thinking that Michelle was still alive. "Deceased? Bill, what is this?!" "Uh...you see, Tony, when you and Michelle left last year, we...uh, we ceased keeping a file on her. But now that she's back...we deceased it. Yep. She's still totally alive, though." "Oh, thank god. Wait, what are these pictures of her dead and covered in blood?!" "Oh, those! They were from the...Halloween party. The year you were fired for treason. Yeah, we had a haunted house and their were prizes for costumes. I was a hobo."
Edgar's death was a hell of a way to close the two hours. The whole chain of events with him sending Fake Chloe (who even got to do a Fake Chloe Face when Edgar blew her off) down to die, and then dying in front of Real Chloe, played out well. I do wish Edgar had tried to get into the room, though, and Chloe could have said something like "Sorry, Edgar, we can't let you in, but at least you can be with your mother now, who you may remember died just over a year ago."
She did drop some Chloe Science on Kim earlier when she did what Jack or Audrey should have and pointed out that everybody Jack DID tell was killed, had their car blown up or had one-fifth of their face mildly scarred just that morning.
"You're just like Chase, he couldn't hold on to anything either." Geez, Kim, his hand was cut off!
Oh yeah, and you know when they mentioned that some data connection was going through Henderson's computer, you said to the people with you or ran to the computer and IMed "Ha ha, yeah, he's downloading MP3s!" And then Chloe got to say it, too. You got us this time, 24!
At the time of writing this, I can't believe no one here has mentioned Vice President LELAND PALMER! Holy shit! I'm dying for him to walk in front of a mirror and have the Killer Bob reflection for the ultimate plot twist. Mike Novick needed to conk his and Logan's heads together and remind them that he was around for Season 2 and the previous Evil VP and Martial Law subplots and that didn't work out. But I think he's too busy growing a moustache made of sweat.
That said, I still highly enjoy the complex shading of Novick's character, and how this late in the game it's still impossible to read him. Is he good? Bad? No, he's Mike Novick, that is all. And I love that Aaron Pierce, five seasons in, is still around and cool. Though the Pierce/First Lady subplot may be the weirdest one on this show, and that includes Kevin Dillon's cabin and Miguel's missing leg. But I appreciate the continuity in Novick's hatred of hand-holding, since he killed Lynne Kresge with a handshake three seasons ago, and a killer handshake virus almost killed Palmer once.
But we close today with Curtis, who is awesome. I love that they sealed the deal with Curtis being a badass in his own right in the first hour by having him do a fully competent field job on his own without making it obvious that, at the end of the second hour, he was going to be the only person left in the field.
I highly anticipate an hour or two of Curtis Manning: One Man Army. He got cool last year when he killed those guys and punched holes in walls with his superstrength, and the best running bit of the last two years has been Curtis almost dying and surviving against all odds. The only thing that could have made his hospital raid better would have been to have him running with the cannister and, before making it to the safe zone in the CTU truck, trying to get rid of it in a few spots only to be stymied by a Salvation Army band, some ducks, a group of nuns and a baby carriage.
Some days you just can't get rid of one of 19 stolen cannisters of highly lethal Centox nerve gas that have been stolen by Russian dissidents and then usurped by a shadow government plot that may be a second attempt by this mysterious cabal to seize control of the office of the President of the United States by using an aggressive Vice President and select members of the national defense councils.
I'm pretty sure , had Edgar been able to finish his thought, would have continued with "...how could you have fucked Spencer?", and THEN keel over.
Tony is the baddest ass Bad-ass on the show. Most people would lay there and be happy with the morphine, yet he gets up, rips out the I.V. and heads to a computer. I really hope he doesn't die this season.
What is it with CTU? For an 'upper-governmental intelligence agency', they have almost zero security.
FYI, Ray Wise plays the vice president Hal Gardener. Wise was one of the villains in the original Robocop. He played Nash, one of Clarence Bodicker's underlings.
Now I'm waiting for Kurtwood Smith to show up this season as I dunno, Jack Bauer's daddy.
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