S01.E10: 9pm - 10pm

[paigow]

A phone call forces Rebecca to make an important decision; Nicole confronts Carter about his commitment to their relationship and his future with the CTU.

[ottoDbusdriver]

14 hours ago, paigow said:

Nicole confronts Carter about his commitment to their relationship and his future with the CTU.

Seriously ?  Shit is going down all around them, and Nicole wants to talk about their relationship.  SMH.

[paigow]

Carter has to sign up for  "Work-Life Balance" seminars with CTU HR before Nicole lets him accept the offer....

[marinw]

That was a nice bit of gender role-reversal with Rebecca rescueing  John. Here the woman does something stupid and off-book to save the man.

I can’t engage with Eric emotionally,  but Corey Hawkins  does the action stuff well (along with his stunt double).

Edited April 4, 2017 by marinw

[SimoneS]

The plan half-worked so that is an improvement. They rescued John, killed the son, and found out the father is still alive. We'll see if Rebecca makes it out a live. So the director is involved somehow. 

[TobinAlbers]

This was the first episode to have some nice twists that were surprising.

Rebecca walking onto that field was ballsy, a little stupid, but brave. She went beyond her personal stake with John and wanted to finish the job. She really put her life in Eric's hands and he partly delivered in taking out Jadalla. And she got the word to him that the dad was alive.

The chemistry between Eric and Rebecca is pretty damn good. Like, I could ship it, good.

But I still hate that once again after a scheme of Rebecca and Eric's goes sideways they call CTU in for backup and to help clean up the mess.

Where the hell was Locke?

Another nice twist- the DNI guy being shady and possibly a mole! He was seemingly officious enough initially to not suspect him and now we learn he's trying to cover something up. Nice surprise.

Nicole, I'm over her. If she thought that was a good time to confront Eric about his job offer, and put the emotional screws to him then she needs to move on. And then try to demand to know where he was and push her way into the CTU bullpen? Isaac take her home.

Edited April 4, 2017 by TobinAlbers

[paigow]

This Ranger team lied? Or they are just dumb? 

[Cepolly]

On 3/29/2017 at 10:15 AM, paigow said:

A phone call forces Rebecca to make an important decision; Nicole confronts Carter about his commitment to their relationship and his future with the CTU.

Someone help me please. How does Carter inject himself everywhere? He is interrogating witnesses, helping Rebecca, fending off his wife, going after naseri. Is ctu completely inept without Carter who just walked into the place an hour ago?

please writers help me understand how Carter takes the lead, without any official job title, in hunting down terrorists that represent a threat to the entire country? Did the rest of the government take these particular 24 hours off? Not to mention Carter looks like a Boy Scout. I want to make him cookies or read him a story. ?

[Cepolly]

Continuing on.  Eric don't ask if Rebecca can get you into the armory; ask he if can get you into the shower or a change of clothes. 

[Joimiaroxeu]

DItto comments upthread, why was Carter interrogating someone? Again, something he's not trained or qualified to do. You'd think CTU would have professional interrogators or psychologists staff, or the FBI would've beeen dealing with her.

So Nicole thinks her husband's job is so unimportant that she can just drop in at the office to berate him about their marriage? Time and place, Nicole. Time and place. Meanwhile, Isaac the drug-dealing gangster hanging around CTU like he's at the mall holding Nicole's purse or something was too much. The post office has better security than CTU.

Rebecca and Carter making off with a load of CTU's weaponry would seem like theft to me. And theft of firearms is kind of an extra big deal, isn't it? You'd think more than two sheriffs would've been sent after them. Was everybody busy looking for the Senator?

No wonder Rebecca and Carter are BFFs: they're both overconfident cowboys who rush into one disaster after another and always have to be rescued. Things might work better for them if they went with backup to begin with.

Quote

The plan half-worked so that is an improvement. They rescued John, killed the son, and found out the father is still alive.

It's a miracle.
 

[Cepolly]

What's up with Andy? Does he want a serious infection? Is he on pain killers? He's doing interrogations and analysis without even a wince. LOL change your pants at least. Clean the wound. 

[AV8n]

The phone call was encrypted - we're screwed. Oh wait, this is CTU. Give me five minutes!

Meanwhile, Becky with the red hair ignores the only good idea Carter has had all day - to haul ass now that the terries fell for the ruse and let her husband go. Showed up just in time for the BBQ. At least Jihadi Junior is done.

[paigow]

8 minutes ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

You'd think more than two sheriffs would've been sent after them. Was everybody busy looking for the Senator?

Half the cops are looking for Uncle Luis, the other half looking for John. Of course, that giant building in downtown D.C. with FBI on it is in lockdown because aliens have occupied the X-Files office...

[dwmarch]

17 minutes ago, Cepolly said:

Someone help me please. How does Carter inject himself everywhere? He is interrogating witnesses, helping Rebecca, fending off his wife, going after naseri. Is ctu completely inept without Carter who just walked into the place an hour ago?

please writers help me understand how Carter takes the lead, without any official job title, in hunting down terrorists that represent a threat to the entire country?

This used to happen all the time with Jack Bauer as well. He was only with CTU until the end of season 3 and then he held various other roles. But by the end of days 4-9 he was always running the show (except in season 7 where he was sidelined by the bullshit virus but Tony filled in for him and Tony wasn't CTU at that point either). As I find myself too often saying with this show, it's not a bug, it's a feature.

9 minutes ago, Cepolly said:

Continuing on.  Eric don't ask if Rebecca can get you into the armory; ask he if can get you into the shower or a change of clothes. 

No kidding! Although Rebecca showed us last episode that she is perfectly capable of running and gunning in a skirt and heels, this episode she's found herself some pants and boots for the action parts. Although she might have been better off to choose boots that don't have quite such a heel on them! If the terrorists got her she's about to give new meaning to the term suffering for fashion.

There was a steady stream of traffic going by that overpass where the terrorists were sitting for half an hour. But somehow none of that traffic ever needs to make a right turn.

Another 24 cliche makes a return: the jilted lover! Not Nicole but rather Sen. Donovan's father. 24 always has a scene where someone is betrayed but if they can only keep their mouth shut for a few minutes the good guys will show up and arrest the bad guy. And their passions always overtake them and they always end up getting beaten up or murdered by the person who betrayed them.

It's good to see that after several hours of various people who do not belong at CTU wandering all over the place we now have a security squad who actually tries to stop people. That one guard from last week must have been a terrible boss.

The terrorists are all of a sudden terrible at their jobs however. I guess they've used up all their webcams, booby traps and lackeys. Why have the meet in a stadium? Because of choke points, so you can see if Rebecca brought backup. And really, one of the terrorists should have met her at the gate and escorted her in. What if she brought listening/tracking devices, a gun and/or an explosive vest of her own?

I noticed some time compression here too: we decrypted part of the phone call... the part with all the exposition as to what Rebecca was up to.

When Nicole and Isaac were in the conference room the security map was visible behind them and CTU still hasn't turned the cameras back on in those hallways.

[paigow]

5 minutes ago, dwmarch said:

CTU still hasn't turned the cameras back on in those hallways.

There are no more prisoners - why worry now????

[ottoDbusdriver]

7 hours ago, paigow said:

This Ranger team lied? Or they are just dumb? 

They just assumed they killed Bin Khalid -- do they not teach these guys in Ranger school how to confirm a kill ?  FFS !

Bin Khalid's facial makeup was pretty bad -- as in poorly done.

How many abandoned football fields are there in the DC area ?  And how long does it take to soak an entire football field in gasoline ?
It looks like Jadallah had been planning that setup with Rebecca for a while -- gasoline-soaked field, camera setup, preprinted confession --  as opposed to the 30 or so minutes they had since kidnapping John Donovan at CTU.  Shown in real-time my ass.

Where the hell is Rebecca ?  Carter says he has been kidnapped by Nasiri and Bin Khalid, but then hears her voice out on the football field.  Last we saw was Rebecca falling down being chased by the flames -- did she land in the only section of the football field NOT soaked in gasoline ?

But then again Jadallah is dead. And all the sleeper cells are being rounded up -- how terribly anti-climactic.
Even the George Washington bridge explosion has been long forgotten.

[paigow]

4 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

Granted, it would take an entire rewrite of the season, but they really should have built the season around Tony.

A season of Tony would mean exposition for his entire team...He has become Jim Phelps and all the action would be delegated to his Ethan Hunt and people we have never seen before.

[raama135]

I'm so mad they never explained how the hell Tony broke out.

[AV8n]

I'm sensing a potential love triangle with Rebecca, Tony, and Senator Bail Organa. Tony clearly isn't over her, and she just doesn't have any chemistry with the Senator. Of course, if Tony ends up doing the DNI's dirty work, that'll complicate things.

I have to wonder if the evil DNI was inspired by the "Clapper is a closet Muslim" talk a while back. Not that the DNI on 24 will be a true believer like bin Khalid - more likely just a bureaucrat who screwed up and is trying to clean up his mess.

[Joimiaroxeu]

Quote

Corey Hawkins is clearly far too young for the role.

He's only about seven years younger than Kiefer Southerland was when he started on 24. However Corey looks much younger than he is and unfortunately doesn't have the body of a guy who's supposed to be a big-time Ranger. The playing Isaac actually looks more like the right physical type to me.

Edited April 4, 2017 by Joimiaroxeu

[Bill C.]

Up until this episode Action Bae Nicole was an okay, if occasionally whiny, addition to things.  But then she shows up at CTU to see her man after all the shit they'd been through that day...okay, fine...and then she chooses that moment to drag him about not telling her about the job offer at CTU.  That rang so utterly wrong and ham-fistedly "Girl, bye" that it almost tainted the entire back half of the episode.  OTOH, with Isaac right there and straight up taking his shot at getting her back...I guess I can appreciate the writers' efficiency.

By extension, however: the entire sleeper cell subplot was wrapped up in two lines of dialogue.  Since the show kindasorta drifted away from that I get it, but at the same time it'd be nice to see or have heard some sort of nod to one of the cells going down in a firefight or something.  Just so it wasn't so damn tidy.

The thing with the grumpy DNI being dirty in some way needs clarification, IMO.  If he's involved with anything that's gone on on this particular day, we really need to know why and we need to know ASAP.  (It could go back to Naseri's remark to John that he didn't really know Rebecca, I suppose.  Perhaps the DNI and Rebecca were in on some black op that went completely sideways and covered it up?)

Rebecca's Hail Mary play to save John, as said by others, half worked...which means her track record is about as good as Eric's.  But hey--Abercrombie and Fitch akbar, for Hipster Kid Terrorist is dead!...right after his melty-faced dad confessed to faking his death (maybe with a little less "fake," but still) and setting him up effectively for a loyalty test, and right before Melted Jihadi Pop swears vengeance blah blah blaaaarrrrrg.

And I won't even lie: I laughed my head off when Luis freaked out and clocked Pa Donovan with a pot before making a run for it.  Henry, you dumbass.

[marinw]

2 hours ago, raama135 said:

I'm so mad they never explained how the hell Tony broke out.

There is a DVD Extra (remember those?) for Live Another Day wherein Tony gets a magical pair of glasses from a lawyer/inside woman with the blueprints of the Prison. So I guess he escaped? Why there isn't an arrest warrent out for him I can't explain. Maybe he got immunity or something. 

[bad things are bad]

Quote

Bin Khalid's facial makeup was pretty bad -- as in poorly done.

Yeah, I'm thinking "why don't you consult with the Walking Dead makeup crew? Those guys know how to melt faces"

[TimWil]

Stansted (Airport) in England was misspelled as "Stanstead" when Tony's Italian speaking cohort was on the phone. A minor mistake in a show riddled with much bigger ones.

[piequinn35]

Why are they not showing the President?

[paigow]

4 hours ago, piequinn35 said:

Why are they not showing the President?

Historically, show POTUS is incompetent more often than not and VEEP even moreso....no big loss

[marinw]

40 minutes ago, paigow said:

Historically, show POTUS is incompetent more often than not

Exceptions: David Palmer  and Allison Taylor. Except for the back third of Day 8, which I have tried to wipe from my memory.

[Aaron Roderick]

I'm sure the question everyone is asking:
Who is the president?

Either they've chosen to leave that character out of the show purposefully, or there's a plot twist coming.

[sugarbaker design]

On 4/3/2017 at 11:29 PM, Cepolly said:

What's up with Andy? Does he want a serious infection? Is he on pain killers? He's doing interrogations and analysis without even a wince. LOL change your pants at least. Clean the wound. 

Seriously, who puts a bandage on over pants?  CTU Medical has gone downhill since Obamacare!

[watch2much]

On 4/4/2017 at 10:14 AM, Joimiaroxeu said:

He's only about seven years younger than Kiefer Southerland was when he started on 24. However Corey looks much younger than he is and unfortunately doesn't have the body of a guy who's supposed to be a big-time Ranger. The playing Isaac actually looks more like the right physical type to me.

I agree.  Many times I've thought the actor playing Isaac would do a much better job.  

[paigow]

8 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

Seriously, who puts a bandage on over pants?  CTU Medical has gone downhill since Obamacare!

Andy had his clearance pulled and status downgraded - his reinstatement has not reached Medical database yet - so this is max benefits for now.....

ETA: Did Isaac get treated at a hospital before going to CTU? If not, he will be lucky to get a couple of Tylenol / Advil from CTU Med

Edited April 5, 2017 by paigow

[BXD]

On April 3, 2017 at 11:29 PM, Joimiaroxeu said:

DItto comments upthread, why was Carter interrogating someone? Again, something he's not trained or qualified to do. You'd think CTU would have professional interrogators or psychologists staff, or the FBI would've beeen dealing with her.
 

I was more confused as to why Andy took over the interrogation for Carter. At least Carter was actually there while she was tied up and had somewhat of an emotional connection to her.

I am also unimpressed by the revelation that the father is alive. It was kind of an underwhelming reveal about someone I didn't really care about in the first place.

[ottoDbusdriver]

21 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

Seriously, who puts a bandage on over pants?  CTU Medical has gone downhill since Obamacare!

They did the same thing on Under the Dome -- Rachel LeFevre's character impaled her leg on a piece of metal, and all they did was slap a bandage on top of her jeans and she was fine.

13 hours ago, BXD said:

I am also unimpressed by the revelation that the father is alive. It was kind of an underwhelming reveal about someone I didn't really care about in the first place.

That kind of sucks all the air out of the revenge plot against the Ranger team -- if there is no one to seek revenge for.

[paigow]

6 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

That kind of sucks all the air out of the revenge plot against the Ranger team -- if there is no one to seek revenge for.

He does look like Phantom Of The Opera because of Carter...and Grimes probably capped the plastic surgeon to steal the "treasure chest"....

[jhlipton]

On 4/3/2017 at 7:59 PM, paigow said:

This Ranger team lied? Or they are just dumb? 

They had One Job!!!!

 

On 4/3/2017 at 8:29 PM, Joimiaroxeu said:

Isaac the drug-dealing gangster hanging around CTU like he's at the mall holding Nicole's purse or something was too much. The post office has better security than CTU.

Mullins knows that Isaac is the Carer they should be recruiting!

On 4/4/2017 at 4:09 AM, ottoDbusdriver said:

It looks like Jadallah had been planning that setup with Rebecca for a while -- gasoline-soaked field, camera setup, preprinted confession --  as opposed to the 30 or so minutes they had since kidnapping John Donovan at CTU.  Shown in real-time my ass.

He took lessons from Nasari, who:

• Found Jadalla at CTU
• Found a high-level guard at CU with a secret girlfriend
• Found the girlfriend and strapped an explosive vest on her
• Found someone who could pass for said girlfriend and installed her at the house
• Found a group of mooks, as well as as munitions, to break into CTU
• Was able to find strategic points in CTU despite never having been there

All within a few minutes of escaping the perimeter.

Jadalla was a piker in comparison

On 4/4/2017 at 6:35 AM, AV8n said:

I'm sensing a potential love triangle with Rebecca, Tony, and Senator Bail Organa.

Love quadrangle if you include "Sexy" Italian Lady Gangsta.

On 4/5/2017 at 9:17 AM, watch2much said:

I agree.  Many times I've thought the actor playing Isaac would do a much better job.  

I've not only thought it; I've said it!

[AV8n]

Quadrangle? Nah, that situation is totally platonic.

Ah, who am I kidding? We're talking 'bout Almeida. He doesn't do less than a love dodecahedron.

[gallimaufry]

Hardly any Tony -- he's been wasted for four episodes at this point.  Henry Donovan is mostly shunted aside - good but the plot was daft.  Don't really care about John.  Isaac and Nicole are okay but it feels artificial to include them at this point.

Until I read this thread, I forgot about the DNI guy and I only finished the episode a few minutes ago.  Doesn't bode well for a memorable plot but we'll see.

I did like "I'm going to need a few things" - a classic Eric Carter line that I don't think Jack would have said.  And although Rebecca's plot is hare-brained, I enjoyed it.

Two triumphs:

1. The Rebecca/Eric conversation in the car was great character stuff, well-performed.

2. Bin Khalid pulled a Victor Drazen.  Predictable, sure, but it's a classic "24" staple and actually made Jidallah much more interesting.  Almost a shame it looks like he's now dead but he wasn't THAT good a villain.

Still, I am quite disappointed at this stage.  I don't feel they've managed to get into a good groove with it.