S09.E04: Day 9: 2:00 PM-3:00 PM

[Tara Ariano]

Terror threat concerns are escalating as the CIA closes in on Jack while he makes his way to the U.S. Embassy; President Heller delivers an impassioned speech to Parliament; Margot asserts her authority; and Kate takes matters into her own hands.

[WhoAmIWorkingFor]

Considering how things were going badly for President Heller when his speech started, I wonder how he calmed down the audience during the twenty minutes of it that we didn't see—old behind-the-scenes stories of Knots Landing?

 

Naveed: Now you just went and jumped straight into the Death Pool.  But the real magic trick will be managing to climb back out.  (I can also think of similarities to the Araz family situation in Season 4, except that Naveed is rather more critical to Margot's purposes than Behrooz was to Navi (speaking of which, it seemed a little odd to name him similarly to Nestor Serrano's character from S4, unless they just plain forgot)).  

I can see him trying to scuttle the plot by having one of the drones blow up the house that he's in... though that doesn't immediately help his chances of outswimming the Death Pool, since his job description has You Have Outlived Your Usefulness written all over it.

 

Colin Salmon's American accent still has some rough edges; John Boyega was pretty consistent this time around.

 

Having Kate Morgan be just like Jack is going faster than I expected, which makes me wonder about the point at which her rivalry with Erik will inevitably resurface.  Later seasons Jack typically only has Chloe and one or two other people as sidekicks for the entire season, Kate fills one of those slots, and I don't figure that Mysterious Serbian Guy will be a huge factor (though at least he got in a line of dialogue this ep).  So Erik is probably expendable, and he would fit the role of (Doomed) Handsome Black Agent, Rival Who Can't Overcome Jealousy, Rival Who Ends Up Listening To The Bad Guy Because Of Jealousy, etc.

 

Audrey: Aw, you still seem to care.

 

(Edited for junior-high English and a train of thought that was delayed at the station.)

Edited May 20, 2014 by WhoAmIWorkingFor

[Steph01924]

Life would go so much easier for everyone if they just listened to Jack.

I'm glad we're going to finally get to the parts where they believe him and he's not constantly trying to out run them, but rather just looking for the baddies.

Speaking of, I hope the daughter starts to reevaluate her life after her mom lets her pinkie get chopped off! Also, will someone PLEASE get her an eyebrow pencil?? Every time they show her big expanse of forehead to eyeballs with no brow definition I get distracted. It's not a good look!

Loved Kate shoving the Marines back when they tried to get too close to Jack. MY prisoner!

Uh oh, Chief of Staff douche, your wife is already totally willing to discount you and your opinions now that Jack is in the picture. Boo hoo. I'm still waiting to see if he's more sinister in motive than just a jealous husband or if his pettiness is what will bring about a massive f-up because he keeps blocking Jack's path.

This episode felt like it went at a better, faster pace than the last, even with Jack sitting at a computer screen for most of it.

[Endeavour]

I think it will turn out that Kate's husband was set up. I don't remember the character's name who patched Kate into the call with Heller, but he had an odd look when Navarro accused him of letting his feelings cloud his judgment and mentioned Kate being fallible by missing what her husband did. Something in that look made me suspicious.

[WhoAmIWorkingFor]

Jordan Reed is the CIA mid-level guy on the phone call.  The part that makes me chuckle is that he basically is in the revolving-door position of (goateed) dark-haired mid-level nerdish guys that includes Adam, Milo, very early Tony, Gael, Arlo, and on the bulkier side, Edgar and Morris.

[catrox14]

Finally! A spouse is threatened as part of the coersion and an appendage is chopped off to prove they are serious!

 

Gods I have missed 24!

[Haleth]

just listen to Jack

 

That needs to be on a tee shirt.

 

Loved how Michelle Fairley has gone from playing a fierce but very protective mother to one that will chop off her daughter's finger to suit her agenda.  Poor Naveed is so much toast.  Erik probably is too since he is coming around to Jack's side via his growing admiration for Kate.  How nice to see Yvonne Strahovski back in bad ass action.  

 

Yeah, this is all headed toward a heart to heart between Jack and Audrey.  

 

Embrace the insanity!

[SassySenior]

DAMN !!!!  OWWWWWW!!!!

[Namarie]

That needs to be on a tee shirt.

 

Hee. Yes.

 

This was a fantastic episode. Very well-paced, great character & plot development (yes! to the love for Jack finally getting a chance to tell people including Heller what he's really doing - and that scene was excellent continuity-wise for all of them), lots of great action, and yeah, I kind of have to care about Kate now. Because she was pretty badass. I loved that final scene with her claiming Jack as her prisoner.

 

Wonder if Simone will decide her loyalty to her mother is misplaced at all. Not going to bet on it.

 

I'm also looking forward to seeing the continued fallout from Chloe realizing Adrian's betrayal of Jack, and Audrey realizing what her husband has been up to re: Jack.

[Watcher0363]

You see kids now that you're going to have your first sleepover at grandma's. I want to tell you how I lost my pinky. It started with American drones and your father not wanting to do what grandma told him to do.

That is when she introduced him and me to our family's version of this little piggy. Our family version is called this little terrorist. And it ends with this little terrorist crying "the motherfu##er cut my pinky off with a chisel" all the way to a secret US detention facility.

So remember kids when grandma says jump. Don't even ask how high, just jump like your brother's or sister's little pinky depended on it.

Edited May 20, 2014 by Watcher0363

[Loriac]

Also, will someone PLEASE get her an eyebrow pencil?? Every time they show her big expanse of forehead to eyeballs with no brow definition I get distracted. It's not a good look!

 

 

Thank you!!  I spent all her scenes trying to figure out what was wrong with her forehead.

[WhoAmIWorkingFor]

A quick side thought: As is often the case, Chloe gave Jack a fake IP address to upload the data to.  It would amuse me if they'd actually given a real one for once, even if it just led back to the official 24 website or similar, in the same way that they used to give out real phone numbers that someone on the crew would pick up.  The completely-faked IPs somehow manage to sound stranger to my ear than hearing phone numbers that start with "555."

[Tara Ariano]

Here's Jeff's post on the episode!

[Kromm]

I'm curious (since I'm not watching this season).  How long did it take for the phrase "WHO ARE YOU WORKING FOR!!!!!!!!!!!!" to appear this time? (or HAS it?)

[SimoneS]

I almost gave up after last week's horrible episode, but I am glad that I watched last night. I still am not sure what the hell is going on and what little of the the plot that I do understand still does not make much sense, but it was entertaining. It helped that William Devane's character had  more to do than looking befuddled and getting lectured to by Tate Donavon's character. It was also good that Audrey was moving more directly into the action. I hope that she and Jack ride off into the sunset together at the end of this or future series. 

[gingerella]

I still am not sure what the hell is going on and what little of the the plot that I do understand still does not make much sense

What's to understand?  Jack jail-broke Chloe because Jack needs her help IDing the dude who has the program that can take over control of drones. Jack and Chloe lose said programmer and then find him already dead and without the computer stuff he was carryng around, but they do find wrongly accused US Pilot dude who did not crash his drone on purpose. Chloe helps Jack find US Pilot dude in detention and retrieve the flight key so that Jack can upload the key info to a secure location and prove that US Pilot dude's drones were taken over by an external program that evil dead dude on bathroom floor created and initiated. Jack is now in Kate's custody and about to go back to CTU or CIA or wherever Kate is from, and probably be both interrogated and help Kate and President Heller's team figure out who the evil baddies are aiming for when they take over the remaining drones for their impending strike. In the meantime, Audrey's husband is desperately trying to Jack-block her, while at the same time seems to be sabotaging or having an underlying agenda re: Heller. Meanwhile, Catelyn Stark is masterminding a drone strike on London, using her son in law, who apparently had a moment of reality and decided what they were doing was "bad", so he tried to get his wife to run away with him, but she told on him to her evil mommy dearest, and instead of him getting punished, evil mommy had her henchman chop her dear daughter's finger with a big ass chisel to show she means bidness.

 

I think that just about covers it.  I never try to "understand" this show because it's so over the top. I mean, when a dude with a hand held rocket launcher blows a hole into an underground maze and tosses an escape ladder down so Jack & Chloe can escape, you just gotta sit back and enjoy it for what it is, and not try to make actual sense out of it or you'll go crazy. ;)

Edited May 20, 2014 by gingerella

[WhoAmIWorkingFor]

I think that just about covers it.  I never try to "understand" this show because it's so over the top.

Looking at it another way, this still the early part of the season, which in previous years would be coming up on the tail end of the reasonably-coherent plot that the writers were able to come up with in advance before filming began.  The twisty, complicated, and pulled-out-of-ass part is what happens after this.

 

Which is why I am hoping very much that this shortened season means that for once everything will have been laid out in advance and the plots will all fit together logically, unlike Season 4's epic plot Wheel of Fortune, which fit together like a Rube Goldberg machine that was on fire.  I can smash together more metaphors but I should stop now...

Edited May 21, 2014 by WhoAmIWorkingFor

[wallybear]

President Heller to Jack: “I’m told you just shot two people out in front of the embassy.”
Jack to Heller: “I barely grazed them sir.”
Heller to Jack: “How do you know that?”
Jack: “Because I pulled the trigger.”

 

President Heller, you've just been JACKED.

[dr pepper]

A quick side thought: As is often the case, Chloe gave Jack a fake IP address to upload the data to.  It would amuse me if they'd actually given a real one for once, even if it just led back to the official 24 website or similar, in the same way that they used to give out real phone numbers that someone on the crew would pick up.  The completely-faked IPs somehow manage to sound stranger to my ear than hearing phone numbers that start with "555."

 

Yeah, i think even the most casual computer user knows that ip segments don't go above 255. Otoh, if it's a super secure connection, shouldn't she have given him an ipv6 number?

Also, for such a savvy operator, Simone should have known her mother would hurt her to compel her husband's performance. Heck, i saw that coming as soon as he started talking about wanting out.

Oh, almost forgot. How come the marines didn't think of going through the vent? Or at least sending a robot with a flashbang?

[millennium]

I enjoyed this episode.   Caught myself muttering "Thank God, it's about time" when Jack spelled out the plot for Heller, making it clear to everyone but Ty-D-Bowl Donovan that he was working for the forces of good.

 

Yvonne is quickly making me forget the last season of Dexter. 

[sugarbaker design]

I'm still waiting to see if he's more sinister in motive than just a jealous husband or if his pettiness is what will bring about a massive f-up because he keeps blocking Jack's path.

 

 

Boudrea has already forged the president's signature on a document, that's pretty sinister.

 

Every time they show her big expanse of forehead to eyeballs with no brow definition I get distracted. It's not a good look!

 

 

 

I know the last time I was posing as a Ukranian immigrant sleeping with a tech whiz, trying to get his singular technology to give to my terrorist mother, the only thing I could think of was eyebrow definition!

[WhoAmIWorkingFor]

 

Yeah, i think even the most casual computer user knows that ip segments don't go above 255. Otoh, if it's a super secure connection, shouldn't she have given him an ipv6 number?

IPv6 addresses are so loooooooong.

 

Oh, almost forgot. How come the marines didn't think of going through the vent? Or at least sending a robot with a flashbang?

If they kept their gear on, they would be louder than Jamie.  "The proper response to that sound is to just riddle your duct with bullets."

 

The robot idea is clever, but they would still have to time that precisely with getting the main door open, because of the chance that Jack would recover in time to shoot the hostages.

 

 

Also, for such a savvy operator, Simone should have known her mother would hurt her to compel her husband's performance. Heck, i saw that coming as soon as he started talking about wanting out.

She's probably thinking that Mother still wouldn't really want to hurt her own daughter, despite all of the DO WHAT I WANT OR I WILL CRUSH YOU LIKE A BUG signals that Margot gives off.  Though Margot doesn't seem like the type to have avoided all domestic violence during her terror-cell-building career, so Simone appears to be (genre-)blind there.

Edited May 21, 2014 by WhoAmIWorkingFor

[FineWashables]

I keep being distracted by the fact that Navid used to be on a short-lived sitcom called Outsourced, which was culturally insensitive regarding the people of India, and where he played a guy named Manmeet.  Mr Washables and I kept giggling and muttering things like "Watch out, Manmeet! Don't mess with Catelyn Stark!" 

 

Also distracted because I kept wondering if the actor who plays the evil Adrian Cross was the same guy who was in all those Folgers commercials where we were supposed to give a damn about him hooking up with his neighbor lady.

 

One of my favorite things about these recaps is that they sum up very clearly what went on that I had trouble following, no doubt because I keep getting distracted by stupid stuff.  

 

One question though:  how does Simone live with a guy for an extended period and keep it a secret that she's wearing a wig?

[millennium]

I don't know.  Wigs seem to work better on television, especially in spy shows.   On The Americans last week, Matthew Rhys's fake wife revealed to him that she was keen to his rug but loved him too much to say anything.   On the same show, Keri Russell frequently has torrid sex while en wig and nobody notices (but I will stipulate that if one is having torrid sex with Keri Russell, one can be forgiven for not noticing).  

[Mrs OldManBalls]

I bet Simone and her bro never forget their mom's birthday.....

[John Potts]

Well even if Chloe hasn't argued with Jack, at least the Hacker in Chef is prepared to do so (and couldn't Chloe say "He's saved my life X times and rescued me from CIA detention today" when asked why she's prepared to trust Jack?) It's like nobody has any memory of Jack's past - except to remember he's a wanted man. Couldn't people go "He was quite something a few years back, but he completely lost his mind and went rogue"? But it seems nobody remembers that he saved the world (or at least America - same difference!) a few times. At least President Heller was prepared to at least hear Jack's side before sending in the marines, even if he went along with the skeevy Chief of Staff (I still think he's not actually on Team Evil - I suspect the Black General is, though).

 

Navid's inevitable demise came closer this week and his mother in law adopted the Jack Bauer/Chris Henderson approach to torture (go for the wife!). I'm now wondering if TerorDaughter will betray her mother and if so, will TerrorMom punish her (beyond taking the tip of her finger off!)?

 

I'm liking Agent Yvonne Strahovski's CIA Agent (I guess Sarah Walker recovered her memory somehow!) as she seems as brave as Jack without the need to torture people. What's more, she's actually thinking about Jack's actions and asking why he's doing what he's doing. I presume Jack handed off the data thingy to her before the soldiers took them away since it's THE ONLY WAY to get the evidence out.

 

Following on from last week, I call total bullshit on the way the House of Commons was portrayed. No way would they be completely unprepared to listen to him last week before he'd even started to listening with admiration to his brilliant speech (and I didn't mind that we didn't see it, since it could never live up to the hype). The Dennis Skinner* types would either not shut up or simply not attend in the first place (though I guess he could have been barred from the Commons for some infraction or other, it wouldn't be the first time), they wouldn't be placated by a "moving" speech.

 

Andyourlittledog2 That eye liner is killing me.

 

I know! I normally never notice make up (and barely notice costumes) but I couldn’t get past Chloe’s OTT eyeliner – did the CIA guys do it while she was in captivity or did one of the Hacktivists insist on her fixing up her eye make up before they’d let her back in?

 

Dr.pepper  Yeah, i think even the most casual computer user knows that ip segments don't go above 255.

 

I think you overestimate the knowledge of the average computer

user, but I spotted that, too.

 

* A unrepentent hardline left wing Labour MP, known as "The Beast of Bolsover"

Edited May 21, 2014 by John Potts

[Watcher0363]

I bet Simone and her bro never forget their mom's birthday.....

We could start a new thread about the greetings inside of Simone and her brothers birthday and Mothers day cards.

[whyjen8]

Yvonne is quickly making me forget the last season of Dexter. 

 

Me too!  I have forgiven her completely.

 

QUOTE

Andyourlittledog2 That eye liner is killing me.

I know! I normally never notice make up (and barely notice costumes) but I couldn’t get past Chloe’s OTT eyeliner – did the CIA guys do it while she was in captivity or did one of the Hacktivists insist on her fixing up her eye make up before they’d let her back in?

 

I think it's Sharpie, nothing else makes any damn sense. 

Edited May 22, 2014 by whyjen8

[Endeavour]

 

Boudrea has already forged the president's signature on a document, that's pretty sinister.

 

Now that Heller knows about Jack, would Boudrea try to use that? I keep wondering if Heller's Alzheimer's is going to get worse throughout the season and somehow that will play into what happens with that document. I have no idea what though.

[Darkpool]

I keep wondering if Heller's Alzheimer's is going to get worse throughout the season

 

Probably won't get worse in the course of a day. But they've already established he forgets stuff, so I figure that will come into play before the day is over.

[dr pepper]

Perhaps the president has already entered the "sundown" stage. Although having that happen without someone invoking the 25th Amendment seems really far fetched. But then-- this is 24.

[Watcher0363]

Perhaps the president has already entered the "sundown" stage. Although having that happen without someone invoking the 25th Amendment seems really far fetched. But then-- this is 24.

Ronald Reagan last couple of years as president. He was clearly well into his Alzheimer's. Still upsets me to this day.

[Endeavour]

Probably won't get worse in the course of a day. But they've already established he forgets stuff, so I figure that will come into play before the day is over.

 

 

Although having that happen without someone invoking the 25th Amendment seems really far fetched. But then-- this is 24.

 

Oh, right. How I can I forget this all takes course over a day! They did say in the show that stress will aggravate the condition. I'm thinking they will claim Heller forgot he signed that paper. Maybe Boudrea will use that to lay the groundwork for saying Heller is incompetent. Although, I think he just wanted to keep Jack away from Audrey, I don't know.

Edited May 22, 2014 by Endeavour

[WhoAmIWorkingFor]

It would be a good come-back moment for Heller if Mark claims that Heller forgot signing the paper and Heller turns it around and says that while he (Heller) might not all be there, that he's not stupid.

 

Unfortunately, the way this plot element appears to be set up, it seems likely that any such confrontation over it would take place after the fact of the Russians showing up all over Jack.

[Endeavour]

Unfortunately, the way this plot element appears to be set up, it seems likely that any such confrontation over it would take place after the fact of the Russians showing up all over Jack.

 

Right. Maybe at the end of this season - how it wraps up. I haven't followed any news on this show. Have they said they plan to do more seasons? I know a lot of posters mentioned Kate as a replacement but I don't know if that's something that's been announced or speculation.

[Boundary]

Finally, Audrey got to hear about Jack. But please, please 24 writers don't kill her off. Jack really deserves something after all this.

 

I think it will turn out that Kate's husband was set up. I don't remember the character's name who patched Kate into the call with Heller, but he had an odd look when Navarro accused him of letting his feelings cloud his judgment and mentioned Kate being fallible by missing what her husband did. Something in that look made me suspicious.

 

I am genuinely happy 24 is back and this is one of the reasons. Against all logic, or with absolutely no other information, we suspect. Forget about Nina's suspicious looks, I remember suspecting a White House security guy in the early years because, well, he was suspicious. A beard, a look, a camera angle, anything can make a suspect on this show. But to be fair to you, this is actually a decent shout. Or he might turn out to be Kate's Chloe equivalent.

[John Potts]

Boundary Forget about Nina's suspicious looks, I remember suspecting a White House security guy in the early years because, well, he was suspicious.

 

I always remember Alan Dale (who played David Palmer's VP) commenting on how he was used to playing those "suspicious off camera looks" from his experience in Daytime Soaps (mostly Neighbours), because they are a soap staple (as a time filler as much as anything).

[FineWashables]

I'm suspicious of the Tate Donovan character.  (But then, I'm always suspicious of Tate Donovan.  And not just because I can't forgive him for that godawful Deception.)  Whatever that CIA blonde's husband is supposed to have done, I bet Tate Donovan did it and set him up.  

[TimWil]

Horrible directing choice to have the MPs do that "Call your agent"/approving nod thing after Heller's speech. And Stephen Fry should have point-blank refused to have the PM nod approvingly at the "Special Relationship" line during the speech. Awful.

I'm sure Tate Donovan is a very nice man but incredibly lazy, obvious casting as Mark Boudreau. They could have found a much more interesting actor for the role, someone a lot more able to play ambiguity.

Terrible insert shot of the marines pointing to the map. And how bad was the young marine's Yank accent that he was so obviously looped? Colin Salmon pronounced "offer" OK, at least. He must have learned from his "officer"-pronounced-as- "ah-ficer" mistake in the premiere.

Oh, there goes Kim Raver doing her Cher impression with her tongue flicking up to her top lip again. Damn, she even still looks like her. I'd kill to see her in Cher drag-surely she was Cher for Halloween parties.

When will the show start skipping hours?

Edited May 25, 2014 by TimWil

[Milburn Stone]

Horrible directing choice to have the MPs do that "Call your agent"/approving nod thing after Heller's speech. And Stephen Fry should have point-blank refused to have the PM nod approvingly at the "Special Relationship" line during the speech. Awful.

 

I agree. It's the surest indicator that this show, this year, is just plain dumb, in the sense that it assumes its audience is just plain dumb and needs things pantomimed if it is to "get" them.

 

I don't recall 24 being this dumb, in this expository, "we're not sure you're going to know what we mean unless we put it in blazing neon lights" way. It might have been dumb in another way, which was asking the audience to buy stuff that couldn't happen in real life, but that's all part of the ride you sign on for when you watch 24. That's a less insulting form of dumb. But different people must be in charge this year. Because this year's version has a lowest-common-denominator feel that makes me feel slightly soiled.

 

Still watching, though, for the time being.

Edited May 25, 2014 by Milburn Stone

[TimWil]

I was interested in the bit in Heller's speech when he specifically mentioned Afghanistan and Iraq. So in the 24 universe 9/11 actually happened? At least they're not using fake names for countries anymore.

[PreBabylonia]

A

l was so distracted because I kept wondering if the actor who plays the evil Adrian Cross was the same guy who was in all those Folgers commercials where we were supposed to give a damn about him hooking up with his neighbor lady.

 

 

 

Did you mean the Taster's Choice commercial that starred Anthony Stewart Head (<3 Giles) pre-Buffy, back during 1987-1993? Michael Wincott plays the Julian Assuange type character in 24. ASH would have made a great choice, though. Especially for those of us entranced by his mentor character on Buffy. 

[dr pepper]

I just loved the Taster's Choosers saga!