If there’s one thing about the show that’s been consistent since it began three years ago, it’s the capacity of the writers to surprise the viewer with the unexpected.
The powerplant meltdown last night is a good example of this.
While other shows have the hero saving the day in the nick of time, “24″ has gone beyond this cliched and hackneyed formula for the last three years. First, it was the actual explosion of a nuclear device on American soil. Then, it was the devastating scenes in the hotel last year as the lethal virus killed dozens. And now an actual full blown meltdown of a nuclear power plant with all the attendant confusion, panic, and apparently large number of casualties.
The writers have used these tragedies to draw the viewer in and make the subsequent dangers to the country and the characters even more real and terrifying. I believe this to be the key as to why the show is so popular and why its fans are so rabid (me included).
SUMMARY
The episode opens with Curtis and Erin doing a bureaucratic two step to avoid responsibility for the fiasco regarding Maryann’s penetration of CTU security. Will it work? Probably not. My prediction is either next week or the week after, a representative from division (who’s supposed to be there to look into the security breach at 5:00 pm) will show up, see through the CYA gambit employed by Erin and Curtis, fire the two slackers, and take over CTU operations herself. Who am I talking about?
Who else but Tony’s ex-wife, ungrateful wretch Michelle, who works as Assistant Supervisor at Division.
What do you think Michelle’s reaction is going to be when she finds out that Tony and Jack are partnered up on this thing? Stay tuned for those fireworks!
Meanwhile, bad dad Navi is still looking to kill his wife and son. Dina and Behruzz, after escaping the police at the hospital, hide out in a motel where Dina, in pain from being shot by Navi, sends Behruzz to another hospital nearby to get pain medication from her brother Haseem. The plan backfires when Haseem calls Navi who tells him that Behruzz is a druggie and that he’ll be right over to take him home.
Jack, thanks to some good work by fat geek Edgar, finds out where the Araz’s are hiding. He and Tony, along with a CTU swat team, crash the motel room and capture Dina. Not suprisingly, she refuses to cooperate. That is, until we find out that Homeland Security is listening in on your cell phone conversations whenever they want to and, in the process, pick up the converation Behruzz has with his mother about his father trying to kill him.
It’s nice that Jack now has this leverage to use against Dina, but does it bother anyone else that this kind of technical capacity exists? The National Security Agency (NSA), the most secretive agency in government, has been using this technology to spy in foreign countries for years. Basically, it works without any direct spying on your conversations…unlesss you happen to use a “keyword” that the computer is programmed to recognize in which case your conversation is recorded to be listened to later. Is this too high a price to pay for being safe? I report, you decide.
At any rate, this information lets Jack show what he does best in interrogations; he makes the witness sweat while casually walking into the room, going to the bathroom, washing his hands, then slowly and deliberately drying them. All the while, Dina’s pucker factor has gone up about 10 fold. It makes the conversational tone of his voice when he first starts talking to her that much more effective.
After extracting a promise from Jack to get immunity for Behruzz, Dina agrees to help them. When Jack talks to the President to get the clemency, we see for the first time what kind of guy this Chief Executive is; he ain’t no David Palmer. While Palmer would never double cross Jack in a matter such as this due to a personal debt owed to him for saving his life, we see no such compunction on the part of this President. After agreeing to Jack’s request and hanging up the phone, our President turns to an aide and says “Make sure that document is non-binding.”
Meanwhile back at CTU, in the most affecting scene so far, fat geek Edgar tries to get his mother out of the fall out zone, to no avail. In a heart wrenching phone conversation, she says goodbye making it clear she was going to kill herself rather than go through the horrors of radiation sickness. Edgar, beside himself with worry, starts to leave until confronted by Erin, who convinces him to stay and help prevent further plant meltdowns.
Back at the hospital, when Behruzz realizes that uncle Haseem has accidentally betrayed him, he starts to run only to be confronted by bad dad Navi who, after taking care of Haseem, (the only casualty of the hour) is about to off his own son when Behruzz spills the beans about mom’s betrayal to CTU. Enraged, Navi drags Behruzz to the car only to be confronted by Jack who, after getting hit by the vehicle, miraculously arises unhurt to shoot the tires out and stop Navi from escaping. Just in time, the car driven by Tony with Dina in it shows up to see Navi take Behruzz at gunpoint into the hospital basement. Dina then gets off the most chilling line of the show to date:
Dina: “I believe in my cause. And if you can’t save my son, I’ll be happy to see the reactors meltdown.
Jack (talking on the phone to CTU): “Did you get that?”
Yes, Jack we got it. And we’re all waiting to see how you get us out of this one.
BODY COUNT
At this rate, they’ll be able to take the “Due to some graphic violence…etc.” disclaimer off the beginning ot the show. Only one stiff for the entire hour, poor unsuspecting Haseem who couldn’t possibly believe that his relatives were terrorists. Here’’s the running total:
JACK: 18 dead, 1 gratuitous wounding, 1 viscous pistol whipping.
Show: 91 dead total
LOOSE END
Secretary Heller has shaved and changed into another suit. More continuity problems? Also, while we’ll eventually learn the fate of Erin’s daughter who, last we saw, was near death after getting misdosed by a CTU doctor. Does it bother anyone else that we haven’t heard a thing about her for two hours?
UPDATE:
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