So Marwan is finally in the bag. But with missile going up, up, and away is it too late? Marwan certainly thinks so.
The fact is, the missile is a SRBM - Short Range Ballistic Missile – with a range of no more than 1000 miles. Flight time is measured in minutes. No time for Dr. Feel Good at CTU to use his little black bag of needles and potions to get Marwan to talk. No time to warm up any Patriot Missile batteries. No time for a “Star Wars” type solution. No time for Jack to beat the info out of the fanatical Marwan.
There’s just no time.
Looks like it will be up to the geeks to save the day. Somehow, Chloe or fat geek Edgar have to come up with a way to either detonate the missile in the atmosphere or steer it away from a population center. My money is on Edgar. He was able to shut down the chain reactions at the nuke plants. What’s a little missile compared to that?
SUMMARY
Jack is kicked out of the operating room where the Doctor, desperately trying to save Lee, finally tires of Jack’s incessant badgering. In the hallway, he confronts a grieving Audrey who tells him to “just leave, Jack.” He runs into Bill who assures him he did the right thing. Huh? Perhaps its an indication of how far our heroes have sunk into the morass of amoral expediency but Bill’s words, meant to be comforting I’m sure, ring a little hollow considering that Jack just killed his love’s husband.
After being informed by Palmer that his little excursion at the Chinese Consulate resulted in the death of the Consular Chief, Jack gets his crew together and informs them how much trouble they’re in. Agent Bern, who was unmasked and whose visage was caught on the security tape, realizes he may be in trouble.
Sure enough, the Chinese security chief Mr. Chiang ID’s the CTU agent and calls Michelle. He wants to stop by and discuss the matter and to hell with your national security crisis. Michelle fobs him off but the clock starts ticking on the Chinese time bomb.
Palmer and Novik come up with a plausibly deniable scenario involving Chinese terrorists. The self-satisfied look on their faces for being so clever will disappear soon enough. In the meantime, President Jellyfish makes an appearance. After ranting about the consulate raid, Novik makes the mistake of telling the Spineless One that the death of the Consular Chief was just “unlucky.”
JELLYFISH: Unlucky? HA HA. Yeah, I’d say we were unlucky. That’s the kind of thing that can start a war! (whining like a 10 year old girl) How am I supposed to fight terrorists if I’m provoking a nuclear superpower?
PALMER: I would advise you to calm down sir if we are going to get through this day. We didn’t bring this crisis on ourselves. But we’re going to be the ones to settle it. This is a dirty business and we’re going to have to get our hands dirty to clean it up. You brought me here to help you. Now let me do it!
What a tool.
After the Secretary of State orders Michelle to cooperate, Mr. Chiang drops by CTU for a visit. His interview with Jack is priceless. Bill Clinton has nothing on Jack when it comes to being able to look someone in the eye and lie through his teeth. Jack pooh-poohs the authenticity of the Bern photo and easily fends off Chiangs accusations. Everything is going swimmingly until Bern casually walks up to Chloe’s desk in full view of Chiang and starts to chit chat. With some quick thinking, Jack hustles Bern out of the building and into a waiting helicopter.
If the scenario were to play out logically, Palmer would order Bern’s death. That may happen yet. But after Audrey is interviewed by Chiang about Jack’s whereabouts during the time in question and isn’t very convincing and after a chance meeting in the hallway with fat geek Edgar who confirms his suspicions, Chiang orders his people to get everything they have on Jack. It looks like Jack is going to become a target for the Chinese security services.
Back in the recovery room, Mr. Lee regains consciousness and is grilled by Jack. As it turns out, Paul did not die in vain as Mr. Lee fingers Marwan’s hideout. Jack readies his team to go to the warehouse where Marwan is directing the attack. Audrey confronts him in the hallway about having to lie to the Chinese to cover Jack’s ass:
AUDREY: Jack, what are you doing? You’ve broken every major protocol set by DoD and CTU and for what? Is any of this working?
JACK: You’re still alive. (Good point! ed.) Your father is still alive. And we managed to stop all but one power plant from melting down. Yeah, it’s working. And we have to keep it working.
Chloe’s “personality disorder” makes another appearance when Jack stops by her work station for some DoD files that Audrey needs to authorize access to:
CHLOE: That’s got to be weird.
JACK: What?
CHLOE: Talking to Audrey. I mean, you had to do what you did but her husband died. It’s probably destroyed your relationship with her.
JACK: Chloe, just please free up the server!
That’s our girl!
Palmer gives Novik the distasteful job of having to ask President Jellyfish to order Chiang out of the CTU office so that our people can do their jobs. The scene in Logan’s office is painful. After whining that everyone is against him, Novik slaps Jellyfish down by asking him if he should tell Palmer to leave. The cur acquiesces like the beaten dog he is.
With his tactical team in place, Jack and Curtis enter the warehouse. Having just set the countdown for the missile in motion, Marwan is on his way out. Will he escape the clutches of Jack again? Not this time, slimeball! They surround the terrorist mastermind and after a nice little subterfuge involving Curtis driving his prey toward Jack we get the enormously satisfying picture of Marwan coming out the door and looikng directly into the barrel of Jack’s gun. The look of triumph on Jack’s face says it all.
Just to make sure that the slippery Marwan won’t escape, Jack casually puts a bullet in the terrorist’s leg. After kneeling on the wound, it’s all Jack can do to keep from blowing Marwan’s brains out. Several agonizing seconds pass as Jack struggles to maintain control. He doesn’t say a word. He doesn’t ask Marwan anything. He simply holds the gun to Marwan’s head with a look of maniacal fury on his face. Marwan, for once truly frightened, blurts out that he won’t stop the missile.
That seems to bring Jack back to earth as its the first they’ve heard of the nuke being mounted on a missile. Curtis finds the laptop with the uplink to the missile site in Iowa. There’s less than a minute to go. The uplink is encrypted so CTU can’t access missile control. They can’t get a lock on the missile’s location. Jack, Curtis, CTU, and the rest of us stand by helplessly while the missile ignites and in a fiery burst rises majestically into the pre dawn sky headed for…where? We still don’t know. But the look of hate on Jack’s face as he glances over at Marwan’s smug, self satisfied visage tells the story.
The missile is on its way and it doesn’t look like anything can be done to stop it.
BODY COUNT
CTU sniper takes out a terrorist. Jack plugs two before capturing Marwan.
Jack: 42
Show: 226
Chloe: 1
SPECULATION
Anyone notice the look on Michelle’s face when the missile was about to launch? Did I detect – possibly – the beginning of a…smile? Just prior to the missile’s final countdown, Chloe experienced a denial of service attack on her satellite network. Since the mole is still unknown, is it possible that Michelle????
Just wondering.
The capture of Marwan doesn’t end it. Next week, the mole hunt begins in earnest. And before he or she is found, I expect two or three false positives in identifying the traitor and maybe even a false negative or two.
DON’T FORGET TO STOP BY THE HOUSE SUNDAY NIGHT FOR MY SPECULATION CONTEST “24 TILL 24”
10:06 am
i’d forgotten about the mole. if it’s michelle she makes nina look like an amateur. i hope it’s not her, but i can see now that it might be. and i thought they got the mole earlier in the story, the gal that seduced curtis. hum. . . i wonder what michelle’s motives would be. being angry with tony wouldn’t cut it and he was out of ctu until jack brought him in. ethnic connection? something happened in seattle? bill problems?
it would seem that the mole is white, except for curtis, and american. would the point be that terrorists can/will imbed themselves as sleepers in even the highest levels of government? or will it just be about someone who is motivated by revenge, circumstances that make a person want a lot of money, or someone with a major character flaw, who, despite being mostly a good person, can[‘t help themselves. i’ll be disappointed if the mole is an american. i was never convinced that paul was so innocent. so this will be a long week and next week will be even longer.
i was wondering how much authority the chinese would have. demanding hourlies on jack? and are they more involved in the whole thing? didn’t marwan have a phone call with someone who may have been above him a couple of shows ago?
i’m going to love the scene where jack gets to wipe that smug and evil look off of marwan’s face, as only jack bauer can do.
curtis has always bothered me. he’s not a strong character and he let richard go when he knew richard was lying. richard is a wimp and a reprobate and could’ve been broken. i’m surprised he stood up under the torture he did get. but if curtis is the mole that would be politically incorrect and bring out the race card.
maybe edgar will get to blow the missile as payback for his mom. he didn’t get to the prisoner before and was denied his revenge. chloe already got to blast somebody so maybe it’s edgar’s turn, but jack is the hero, so it may be him who saves the millions.
this has been so fun, and again, thanks for the blogging
!
11:28 am
(i’ll try again. my comments didn’t post.)
i’d forgotten about the mole, though i thought they got her early on. if it’s michelle, she makes nina look like an amateur and i seriously wonder about her motives. tony was only brought back because of jack so revenge against tony? would something in seattle have turned her?
outside of curtis and tony, it would make the mole white and american. motives? money? (the great american reason.) ethnic connections and being deeply imbedded as a sleeper? a character flaw—someone who’s basically a good person but just can’t help themselves?
i’ve never been comfortable with curtis (although being PC means pulling the race card.) he could’ve broken richard because richard is a loser and we knew he was lying about something. curtis has been on the missions to get marwan and marwan has always managed to get away. with help???
what kind of authority and access would the chinese really have? demanding hourlies? and getting them? didn’t marwan have a phone call a couple of episodes ago where he seemed to be answering to someone above him? could it have been the chinese? or maybe, the mole is embedded very high up in the american government.
edgar could be the one who blows the missile out of the sky. he missed the chance at the prisoner in ctu. it would give him payback for the loss of his mother. jack is the hero so they might still give him ultimate job of saving the millions to him, but he will be exacting his revenge on marwan, as will be seen when he takes that smug look off of his evil face. jack will also be dealing with the mole while edgar does his thing.
chloe and edgar? chloe has a crush on jack.
tony should be coming significantly back into the fray with more heroics. maybe he’ll find the mole. i’ll be disappointed if it is michelle. we did single white female with nina, but it would be a curveball to do it again.
i have thoroughly enjoyed the clinton face-slapping. they’ve made that pretty clear and he deserves it. 2008? buyer beware.
they successfully sidetracked me on marwan’s access to the football codes. that brings me back to who marwan has been answering to on the phone. who would have access to the access codes??
we’re near the end (unhappily) and we have more questions and possibilities than ever. thanks for the blogging, this has been a great season, and the blogging helps make it fun!
11:33 am
My take on the situation is that President Jellyfish will offer Jack up as a sacrifice to the Chinese for the killing of the official. The Chinese already suspect Jack’s involvement and are furiously researching him. Edgar’s comment in the hallway will only confirm their suspicions. Once the missile is disposed of, the US will still have to handle the Chinese. Coming clean and throwing Jack to the wolves will solve the problem and provide the downbeat season ending we’ve come to know and love. But don’t despair, fans, because next year will see Jack in a Mao jacket working his magic for the Chinese intelligence services: Get ready for “24 in Beijing!” What? You thought the Chinese would waste an opportunity to exploit a primo intelligence operative like Jack? Side plot: Kim returns, goes shopping in Hong Kong.
10:48 pm
You missed the best line of the season:
Buchanan to Chloe when she’s being, well, Chloe: “We don’t have time for your personality disorder!”
If only someone would use it on President Jellyfish.
Marty
6:21 am
Marty, Great! That was my favorite quote of the show!
Superhawk, intriguing speculation re Michelle. Though, I wouldn’t give too much credit to reading anything in Michelle’s visage right now, given her being just torn up inside about Tony (so soon to die, as we predict). That she’s the mole seems a real stretch to me.
The previews of next week (fair enough to discuss a wee) show moonbat dopey son Richard Heller, we knew he’d be back. But a possible nefarious connection with Richard and Marwan is so obvious, how could that possibly be correct? Of course, he was just…dropped, without followup.
I still say it’s Heller Senior, the Sec. of Defense himself, somehow as a ruse for making the case for more DoD security funding. I believe you’ve already speculated on this previously. (I guess I should save this for next week’s “24 til 24” specfest….oh boy oh boy oh boy)
10:17 am
And now for something completely different: I am remembering back, Fox and Friends just before the closing of last season’s “24”. Actress doing Kim was a guest on the show and she wasn’t real friendly and seemed to want to get her point across. Now with Rush’s telling about his visit to the “24” set and how nice he was treated, also what info he was able to tell, like next season, (yes, I’m rambling) Kim had to know that she was not invited back for the next season. Anyway what she interjected at the very end of the interview, and completely out of the blue was her flowering description of Hildabeast clinton and how she would make a great president! I kid you not. It was shocking how she crammed in this opinion and the smug look on her face. This little lady is from canada.