'24': The turncoat security escort, the fail-safe and Stephen Root
Things are heating up on "24," where Cole officially morphs into Jack and Stephen Root arrives to set the building on fire!Yep, Dana definitely dug her hole deeper, what with her incessant lying and general craptastic attitude. It may not come across as that, but when you think about it, there is absolutely no way this ends well for her. First, she tries to talk Cole into submission in the CTU elevator. When he rebuffs her every move, she takes her much-deserved verbal beatdown from Brian Hastings, who demotes her to under Chloe. Adding insult to injury, Dead Kevin's probation officer (Stephen Root!) calls her regarding multiple conversations she and Dead Kevin had when he was Alive Kevin. Naturally, she lies to Little Rock's Bill Prady (not that one), setting up quite the interesting meeting in the next hour or so. Even after Brian chastises her, she still can't get her act together.
Cole, on the other hand, has snapped back into common-sense mode, as he's sent off to retrieve Elaine Al-Zacar, the mother of young Marcos (who is still locked in the hyperbaric chamber.) She initially doesn't believe her son could be capable of such madness, but therein lies the strength of Cole Ortiz: the Jack Bauer-like ability to get the job done, no matter what. If this show continues in some form after Kiefer leaves, Dana must die (a la Teri) so that Cole can properly take the lead.
Poor Marcos. He feels betrayed by America for what they did to his father... among other things, he was jailed by the Wayne Palmer administration. He furiously works to reactivate the suicide vest, despite Jack's every attempt at talking him down from the ledge. Standard terrorist rhetoric coming from the kid bomber, which frustrates Jack to no end. Just before Marcos finishes his work, Elaine arrives to talk some sense into her kid. Samir catches wind of this (via a spying Ali from a nearby rooftop) and presses for the vest to be detonated.
Chloe notices Ali and the boys hacking into the hospital camera feed and promptly shuts it down, just as Marcos emerges from the chamber. It should be noted that Jack assures him that he won't personally take his mother to wherever the dirty bomb may detonate, just to watch her become contaminated and die if he cooperates with CTU. Of course, Ali freaks when he loses the feed and activates the vest's fail-safe. Jack isn't able to disarm the device in time, but before Marcos gets blown to smithereens, he reveals Tarin's involvement in the whole deal...
Tarin at this point is still quietly tucked away in a hotel room with Kayla. They're just a short time from requesting asylum, formally protecting them from the certain wrath that is Omar Hassan. Dalia is furiously calling Kayla, except she won't answer. For their daughter's sake, she and the president get the band back together and do everything they can to find her. Lucky for them, Jack calls with the information Marcos gave before becoming tomato paste. This time Kayla answers and is, at first, skeptical of what her mother is telling her. Somehow it sinks in that maybe her life is indeed in danger, and she finally reveals the location of her hotel. It seems making love to the hot, sexy Tarin has lost a bit of its luster, eh?
Tune in next week when we get quite the mighty twist at the :52 mark of the hour (nice twist on the promo for the next episode?)
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Man, I am really tired of this season already. The Dana subplot sucks. The logic of CTU allowing her to leave during a national crisis and then giving her a slap on the wrist without even investigating her? Especially with CTU's history of moles? And the rods? Who cares? It's the same old, same old. We don't even have a decent villain. We're almost at the halfway point and nothing of any real interest is on the horizon. I love "24", but man, this season is the worst written yet.
You'd think that Jack Bauer, the torturingest federal agent in history, would have realized that with little baby bomber locked in a hyperbaric chamber, he could have easily increased the pressure until BB's head popped (or alternatively, he could have dropped it until it caused BB to pass out, giving them plenty of time to drill the door).
I think last night was my last episode of 24. I stuck with it longer than I should've. They always start strong, then tread water for 16 episodes.
I think the Dana subplot is important. Why else would they put us through all of that? I don't believe that Stephen Root is actually a parole officer and used Kevin to get to Dana. This in turn will get him access to CTU. I believe he's with the terrorists. This may be a reach, but I'm trying to justify this whole Dana/Cole/Kevin nonsense.
I actually really liked this episode. I hope Cole leaves Dana to take the heat so he can focus, because he really is strong. I agree that Cole could take over if Kiefer said he was done. Then again, I felt that way with Tony & Curtis, and that didn't turn out well for either...
When Dana was put under Chloe I thought Ah, she'll be pissed at this and become a mole, so we went through all the nonsense for a reason. But then the parole officer turned up ... sigh. If they get another season it should be "16" or '18", and get rid of the filler
If they got rid of the filler, Rob, the show would be called 6 and a Half. :P
The idea of a probation office driving from Arkansas to New York, then calling someone to meet in the middle of the night is a little hard to accept. I doubt he is what he claims, but that whole subplot has been very lame to put it mildly. (CTU doesn't run background checks before granting high level clearance?) I'm still watching, but it feels like I'm doing it out of some sense of obligation.
I agree with you about this season, JFC. Watching 24 has gotten to be like being a parent who has to go to their kid's violin recitals out of obligation, even though the child's abilities make the music sound like a cat going through a riding lawn mower in slow motion.
I'm wondering why the writers of this show seem to have it in for blonde women, since they always seem to be absolutely useless. It makes me wonder why Katee Sackhoff took the part after playing such strong women in other series in which she's starred.
Thus far, this season has mostly been a bore. No interesting big bad, no unique or inventive threat, no hints of a mole within the government or CTU, etc.
I still think the producers blew a great opportunity to keep Jack and crazy Renee paired up and them run amok in NYC, with Jack being conservative one and Renee being the aggressive, slightly unhinged agent.
I'll watch one more episode next week and if it doesn't impress, I'm done for the season.