OPENING PANDORA’S BOX
HENDERSON: Damnit Jack! I’m not trying to protect myself, I’m trying to protect the country.
JACK: What do you mean?
HENDERSON: You don’t want to know what I know. You get me to talk and you’ll just be opening Pandora’s Box.
Like a finely woven tapestry, the plot threads on 24 are usually beautifully conceived and intricately sewn, a combination of subtle characterization and innocuous circumstance that has the writers trying to pull the wool over our eyes while at the same time placing nagging questions in the back of our minds that more often than not bear fruit later on in the show.
Sometimes, these questions go unanswered which can be enormously unsatisfying and forces us to curse the writers when they paint themselves into a corner and are forced to dead end the thread. But then there are times when the threads merge into a seamless whole and a large chunk of the plot is revealed.
Such was the case last night when Henderson warned Jack about opening Pandora’s Box by trying to elicit the truth of his involvement in the plot followed almost immediately by the introduction of Vice President Hal Gardener whose plan for preemptive martial law - unsanctioned by Congress and with no time limit - along with the past hints of Department of Defense perfidy could mean that the ultimate goal which had terrorists and American government officials working together may be an attempt to establish a military dictatorship in the United States.
This theme is nothing new in Hollywood. Ever since the excellent film Seven Days in May (based on the equally excellent novel by Fletcher Knebel & Charles W. Bailey II) was released in 1964, the takeover of the government by right wing militaristic fanatics has been a staple of Hollywood political pot boilers. Apparently, left wingers are much too warm and fuzzy (not to mention addle-brained and angst-ridden) to try anything like attempting to establish a dictatorship in our republic. Besides, a left-wing coup would be too boring to make into a film. First, it would take too long for them to explain why they’re doing it. Secondly, watching so many self-righteous, flatulent, bloviators would cause the audience to leave 15 minutes into the showing of the film.
Since a left-wing plot is out, that leaves the military and the shadowy “military-industrial complex.” While there actually is an MIC, it may surprise you to know there are just as many liberal Democrats in it as there are conservative Republicans. The people who make up the dozens of Committees and Boards that propose policy alternatives, recommend weapons systems, intelligence reforms, budget priorities, and a whole host of responsibilities at the Departments of State and Defense also sit on the Boards of Directors of major defense contractors as well as fill out the ranks of Presidential appointees - both Democrat and Republican - in the national security establishment.
They are a small group of mostly white men who are extremely influential in formulating our defense and foreign policy. But coup plotters? Please give me a break.
Of course, this doesn’t stop Hollywood from fantasizing and making their nightmares come to life. And in the case of 24, we also have current left wing fantasies about the Bush Administration and their attempt to destroy America. How the Bushies are going to do this requires your complete suspension of reality as well as a healthy dose of conspiracy nuttiness. But if a United States Congressman - Cynthia McKinney - can accuse the President of knowing in advance about the attacks on 9/11, anything is possible I suppose.
So if I were a conservative, I wouldn’t be too upset by all of this. After all, it’s just a TV show, isn’t it?
NOTE: This week, we start a new category in our updates. From here on out, every time Jack or CTU violates the Constitutional rights of someone, we will make a note of it. This was suggested to me by a an emailer who thought it might be educational to count up the number of times Jack threw the Constitution out the window to get the job done.
At least, it should start some debate in the comments section, no?
SUMMARY
Bill saunters down to the CTU clinic to see how Tony is doing. Being warned by the doctor not to reveal to Tony that his beloved Michelle is dead, Bill informs him that Palmer is dead and that Jack was set up to take the fall. Tony looks pretty good for having a car bomb go off 5 feet away from where he was cradling Michelle’s body - just a small facial bandage to hide some second degree burns on one side. I’m sure Tony was pleased when he realized he still had all his hair and that his Brooks Brothers button-down shirt was still intact despite the proximity of the explosion.
At the site of the assassination attempt, Nutzo Martha and the Suburovs are wandering around in the open, dazed but none the worse for wear. Maybe the Secret Service was using the three as bait to see if there were any more terrorists in the area who wanted to kill them. Martha mumbles to Aaron that Jellyfish knew about the attack and didn’t stop the motorcade. Since everyone thinks she’s crazy, Aaron looks at her like…well, like she’s crazy.
As we predicted, the boyfriend of Jenny, the Fat Hobbit’s sister, has called the terrorists and told them he has Lin’s CTU key card. We assume he found the number in the yellow pages under “Terrorists, Foreign and Domestic.” The Hobbit places a call to Jenny asking for the card back which she is more than willing to do until she learns that the boyfriend is going to get $20,000 for the little piece of plastic.
At the ranch, President Jellyfish has one of his frequent bouts of self recrimination that serves the purpose of making us hate him even more as well as causing us to come close to vomiting, so much the weasel that he is. Even Novik is getting sick of having to hold this guy’s hand. Maybe the terrorists can find a way to drop a little nerve gas in the President’s coffee or something.
After his lucky escape from certain death, Jack is on Buckaroo Banzai’s trail thanks to Chloe waving her magic geek wand and coming up with an address she hacked from Henderson’s office PC. As Jack heads over the turncoat’s house, Curtis finds some schematics on one of the dead would-be assassins that point to another attack within the hour. A computer search is initiated trying to match the plans to buildings in Los Angeles.
Tony, realizing that people are tip-toeing around the subject of Michelle’s condition, drinks from the grotto at Lourdes and, less than 8 hours after having a bomb go off on top of him and being on the critical list, makes a miraculous recovery and walks over to a computer to google up Michelle’s name on the CTU website. Finding out she is dead, Tony returns to bed but we’ve seen enough to know that he will be on his feet shortly and feeling well enough to help catch the terrorists. Maybe they’ll strap him to a board and stand him up in the conference room.
Logan lies through his teeth to the Russian President about what he knew about the nerve gas and when he knew it. President Suburov, only partially convinced that Jellyfish is innocent, agrees under the terms of the treaty to allow CTU access to Russian intel where the guys discover that Vlad Bierko is the name of the terrorist who is giving them so much trouble today. This thread bears watching as it would be very bad if Suburov discovered that Jellyfish is lying.
Back at CTU, Edgar gets a match on the schematics taken from the dead terrorist. It’s a hospital and while they begin an evacuation, Curtis races over with a TAC team. The hospital security chief assures Curtis he has everything covered except he forgets to mention that the terrorists have much better schematics of the hospital than he does - Bierko finds an “unguarded” secret entrance to the sub-basement. The terrorist is discovered but not before he places the cannister of nerve gas next to the ventilation system. Curtis corners him and takes him out while the hazmat crew races against time to defuse the cannister.
Meanwhile, Jack has reached Buckaroo’s house where his loyal wife, Mrs. Banzai is surprised to see Jack alive. Pulling a gun on the housewife, Jack tries to make the disbelieving Miriam believe that her husband is not only a rotten lover but a lying traitor as well. With Chloe’s help, he finds a “shadow hard drive” on Henderson’s computer that contains what appears to be telephone numbers used by the terrorists to communicate. Refusing to give him the password, Jack appears to be torn about the prospect of torturing the woman to get the information. Deciding against it for the moment, Miriam is placed in quite an awkward position when her husband comes home only to have Jack waylay him and start the interrogation.
Buckaroo won’t talk which gives Jack the opportunity to partake in a little target practice with Mrs. Banzai’s thigh. Perfect shot, dead center where he was aiming. Jack informs Buckaroo that the next round will put his former best friend’s wife in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. Of course, Jack won’t do that even when Henderson refuses to cooperate. Jack asks CTU to set up the holding room and rig it for “medical interrogation.”
At the hospital, the CTU klutzes finally think of searching the dead terrorist after about five minutes and find the timer for the cannister on him. Realizing that THERE”S NO TIME(!), Curtis races to the containment truck and just in time deposits the load of nerve gas in the bin while the cannister goes off harmlessly.
And then the moment that many of us have been waiting for: Kim shows up at CTU.
All grown up (sleeping with your therapist is a sure sign of maturity). Kimmy has had a rough journey these last two years what with playing a porn star in The Girl Next Door and other forgettable roles. Now she’s back where she belongs. The only thing missing is the cougar.
Audrey’s telling the young woman that her father is still alive taxes Ms. Cuthbert’s acting abilities to the limit, the news eliciting both facial expressions she is able to make. Unfortunately, she does not bare her midriff in this scene which is a pity since her navel is more interesting to watch than her acting.
No matter. We’ll get to see plenty of Kimmy later I’m sure - both her bare midriff and her lack of emotional depth as an actress.
The other shoe of the conspiracy drops as Vice President Strangelove (Hal Gardener) enters the picture. Strangelove wants to declare martial law for the greater LA area despite the fact that no one knows anything about the nerve gas threat. The scene was interesting first because it showed the latent dictatorial tendencies in President Jellyfish and second, who’d ever think that Mike Novik was a civil libertarian?
In the Field Ops room at CTU, Jack and Kim come face to face.
JACK: The most painful thing I’ve ever been through was having to walk away from you. Even more painful than losing your mother. But it was the only way to make sure you’d be safe.
KIM: I buried you…
JACK: I know…
KIM: You know, there’s something wrong with people like you. You can’t hold on to anything. Chase couldn’t either. He tried for a while then he was gone just like you. And now you’re back. And I’m supposed to…(sniff, sniff). I’m happy you’re alive. I am. But I can’t give you what you want right now.
Kimmy has a lot of experience saying that last line. She tells the director that every day.
Jenny’s boyfriend meanwhile, discovers what happens when you negotiate with terrorists as he and the Fat Hobbit’s sister are killed. After expertly altering the key card, the terrorist calmly walks into CTU where the dumbest guards in Christendom man the outer doors.
In a case of life imitating art, recent revelations about security holes at the Homeland Security building are nothing compared to the nincompoops who are stationed to guard to CTU building. First, they don’t search the magic briefcase (which soon will double in size to accommodate the nerve gas cannister). Second, they don’t recognize the boss? Absolutely no Christmas bonuses for these idiots.
In a move that will prove interesting later, Bill pays another visit to Tony and informs him that Henderson is their only lead at this point. Since Tony and Buckaroo are moved into the same room when the nerve gas attack occurs, look for some interesting fireworks before that situation resolves itself.
Dr. Feelgood primes Henderson for interrogation but he refuses to talk. Jack has Richard administer the truth serum which it is assumed will either kill him or make him talk. As the serum begins to course its way through his body, every siren, horn and klaxon in the place goes off at once as the Fat Hobbit finally tells Bill about the missing key card after learning of his sister’s execution style death. Edgar, checking to see where Kerri is, finds her body in the basement which will prove to be his undoing.
The terrorist tries to make his escape. He kills a guard and takes his radio. Realizing this, Jack and Bill trick the terrorist into thinking the search is moving away from him. Confronting the cornered terrorist, Jack finally gets to use his gun on a bad guy but being out of practice, it takes him two shots to bring him down. When Jack discovers the schematics to CTU’s ventilation system on the terrorist, the gang realizes they better get the heck out of there quick. Too late! The cannister starts spewing, people start dying, and Chloe (who as we all know does not work well under pressure) finally figures out that the safest place to be for all is the conference room.
With colleagues collapsing and dying all around them, the little group that includes Bill, Jack, Chloe, Kimmy and her therapist, and Audrey seal themselves into the conference room. As they all watch in horror, Edgar staggers up from the basement and, with Chloe looking on, dies in front of all of us.
“Farewell and adieu, you sweet Spanish ladies…”
BODY COUNT
Curtis gets the hospital terrorist. Jenny and Boyfriend are executed. Kerri is knifed in the back. One CTU guard is retired. Jack is back in the kill column. Plus, I counted 12 CTU personnel going down including Edgar. That number may change (probably upward) if we get something more definitive.
JACK: 13
SHOW: 79
CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS VIOLATED
1. Chloe hacks Henderson’s PC without a warrant.
2. Henderson was not read his rights.
3. He is being tortured (are you kidding?)
4. Jack broke in to the Henderson home illegally.
5. He searches the home without a warrant.
6. He shoots Miriam to get Henderson to talk.
If there are any more, I’d like to see them in the comments.
You don’t want to start an argument over whether the Miranda warnings are constitutional rights, do you?
Whether Jack can violate any constitutional rights at all would depend on whether his working for CTU “on a provisional basis” gave him the color of state authority. Did Miriam even know Jack was associated in any way with CTU when she let him in? She thought he was dead, like everybody else. A private citizen can’t violate anybody’s constitutional rights. (Chloe can!)
Tony probably has a Sec. 1983 lawsuit against Bill, the doctors and CTU for not telling him about Michelle.
Comment by Matt — 3/7/2006 @ 10:22 am
How about if I said he’s violating “legal rights.” Would that be accurate?
Comment by Rick Moran — 3/7/2006 @ 10:25 am
I believe on the preview Bill tells President “Weasel” that CTU has lost 40% of its staff, which should calculate out to more than just 14 people. How many employees had shown up for their shift at that point?
Comment by Mark — 3/7/2006 @ 10:30 am
Thanks for the Buckaroo Banzai reference. It’s one of my favorite dumbass guilty pleasures of all time.
Comment by Fyodor Garibaldi — 3/7/2006 @ 10:33 am
Not to get into a legal argument, but I’d certainly suggest that the President’s deputization of Jack gave him state authority. He’s ordering people around, commandeering equipment, etc. as if he had authority, so I’d say that anyone seeing him would assume that he was an agent of the government.
Plot questions - they’ve suggested that Jack was dead b/c of someone in the government, but wasn’t it really to hide him from the Chinese? What are the odds they’re going to show up?
How many twists are there to this nerve gas? Ignoring for a minute that the military doesn’t make it, and second that you can’t just put some together on a business campus in downtown LA, wasn’t the plot to give the gas to the terrorists and then explode it on them in Central Asia? Are we expected to believe that the conspirators knew that the terrorists would find out about their plot and take the gas (making Cummings and the other guy dupes) and use it in the US? Does that make sense?
When did Kim and Audrey meet? Last season wasn’t Audrey and Jack’s relationship a secret?
Is Lin dead? Do we care? What the heck is growing on C Thomas Howell’s face?
Three cheers for finally killing off Edgar.
Comment by Publius — 3/7/2006 @ 10:59 am
Great recap. Three quick points:
1) “As we predicted, the boyfriend of Jenny, the Fat Hobbit’s sister, has called the terrorists and told them he has Lin’s CTU key card. We assume he found the number in the yellow pages under ‘Terrorists, Foreign and Domestic.’”
Gee, Rick, maybe they just put it up on E-Bay…
2) “Audrey’s telling the young woman that her father is still alive taxes Ms. Cuthbert’s acting abilities to the limit, the news eliciting both facial expressions she is able to make.”
Personally, I think Elisha Cuthbert deserves an Emmy nomination simply for being able to play the role of Kim with a straight face; that fact alone demonstrates that the girl has talent. It’s too bad “24’s” scriptwriters strangled her budding Hollywood career with some of the most implausible plotlines in TV history…although half the fun of the show, particularly in the first couple of years, was waiting to find out what silly thing Kim would do each week to get herself in trouble again.
Of course, then in Season Three the scriptwriters got the bright idea to write Kim out of the show and reveal that it was actually Jack who was on drugs…and the show nearly jumped the shark as a result.
3) You would think that Jack would know by now that if he wants to keep Kim - or anybody else - “safe,” then the LAST thing he wants to do is bring them back to CTU’s LA headquarters. That’s the least safe place in Greater LA…especially given who they’ve got watching the front door and handling the background checks.
Comment by Wes S. — 3/7/2006 @ 11:02 am
I gathered that the boyfriend was hired to steal Lynn’s wallet and his key card. I guess I could be proven wrong shortly.
The Chinese wanted Jack but someone (Cummings, as I guess it turned out) sent a Secret Service guy to kill him. Presumably Cummings was the former President’s chief of staff, too, and wasn’t in a position to run around ordering Jack killed within hours of Logan’s taking over on day four. I think by now if the Chinese show up Logan or whoever is President at the end of the day owes Jack some protection.
As long as we’re clear that Chloe can violate someone’s constitutional rights. Is there anything she can’t do? I say no.
Comment by Matt — 3/7/2006 @ 11:31 am
Alas, poor Edgar is now with his mom. CTU has now lost 50% of its “find out anything about anybody within 5 minutes” team. Will Chloe pick up the slack when the “Centex nerve gas” dissipates?
Those CTU security staff red shirts should come with bullseyes on them.
Crack whore sister’s boy friend had to know who Hobbit was from the get-go. The dumpster mugging was “part of the master plan”.
Jack REALLY wants to beat the crap out of Kim’s “friend” just because … I bet he will very soon.
That had to be an “inflatable” canister that terrorist smuggled into CTU. “Excuse me Mr Terrorist but is that a Centex nerve gas canister in your pocket, or are you thinking about Kim?”
I do NOT want to see a nude sex scene between Martha and Aaron.
Veep is definitely a “bad guy” and likely on Henderson’s speed dial.
Kim will help Buckaroo escape from CTU.
Did Hobbit get out or is he in a sealed off area?
Bring back Sherri Palmer … I miss her!
Comment by Bob Swagger — 3/7/2006 @ 11:40 am
Hey,
Does anyone know who played Mariam (Henderson’s wife)? She sure looked like the Mom who played 1n Poltigeist. Facial expressions anyway. I have been looking on some websites but I can’t find anything.
Comment by Vicky — 3/7/2006 @ 11:40 am
Last Night On 24
All I can say is, wow.
Some have complained that the fifth season of 24 has been moving slower than past seasons. Personally, I didn’t see it. In the space of eight episodes, we had a former President assassinated, two of our favorite ex-CTU agen …..
Trackback by Below The Beltway — 3/7/2006 @ 12:10 pm
Great recap - love your nicknames. And the list of constitutional right violated. Keep up the good work.
Vicky - Miriam is JoBeth Williams. And yes, she was the mom in Poltergeist. Her name popped up on the guest star list at the beginning.
Comment by Enid — 3/7/2006 @ 12:10 pm
How about if I said he’s violating “legal rights.†Would that be accurate?
how much longer do you wanna make that list Mr. Moran? Stick with the constitutional, but I think would be satisfied if you just stuck to the rights that are clearly listed in the 200 odd year old essay.
Comment by wickedpinto — 3/7/2006 @ 12:20 pm
(yes she is the same as poltergeist, but i can’t ever remember her name.)
my luck: my neighbor came over 5 minutes into 2nd half and needed to talk!! THANKS,rick, for your summaries!!!!
my favorite scene: when jack was about to enter ctu and he stopped and looked over his shoulder at the 2 american flags waving in the sunlight across the way. it again established his committment to the usa and contrasted the right vs. the weak-kneed left’s positions concerning terrorism.
who’s the woman bierko was talking to on the phone? could it be miriam, or maybe martha’s aide, or have we met her yet??
any guesses who will bite the dust, re: preview for next week?? maybe buchanan and then chloe, or even jack, takes over ctu?? and what would happen if it was chloe??? that would stun us all.
martha seems to be getting stronger rather than wimping out with her nervous condition. what in the world made her go for that wimp of a president when she seems to be a woman of great character. ugh! the president was cast well; even his face is weasely looking. i’d love to see martha and aaron walk away together into the sunset. oh my. . .
i again am enjoying the development of the plot that seems a little more dimensional than previous ones. it’s more than jack just blasting every bad guy to keep the action going.
Comment by sue — 3/7/2006 @ 12:21 pm
one more thing, random thing really. why did the terrorists have a problem releasing the gas? it’s a gas, it’s kind of natural that it should be relatively easy to disperse into airvents. With all of the resources these guys have, why do they have to use ventilation systems if the gas is so potent, and I haven’t seen a verified spelling, but I think I keep hearing “Tox” as in toxin, rather than “tex” so I think the name of the gas is supposed to be “syntox” since that can be rationalized as a general gas that is a “synthetic toxin”
Comment by wickedpinto — 3/7/2006 @ 12:30 pm
My husband, who has a really hard time suspending his disbelief, had a fit when Mr Terrorist and his magic briefcase waltzed into CTU with only a key card. His very words: ”Are they kidding? We had to give our fingerprints to get into DISNEYWORLD…”
(we were there in January and they take them the first time you come in and then woe betide anyone who uses your card-ticket and their fingerprints (index and middle of right hand) don’t match.
Comment by Jennie C. — 3/7/2006 @ 1:36 pm
Well fellow 24 watchers and continuity police, maybe the show has a few loopholes and inconsistencies but I don’t know anyone who isn’t glued to his chair each Monday nite and anxiously awaiting the next thrilling chapter in the Perils of Jack Bauer. Still as our author has astutely pointed out the threads thicken. If it gets any more convoluted, it will go the way of X-Files where as we know the writers got backed into a corner with no way out. Ergo: series end: And if it’s action you want, as quickly as a thread opens another is solved. Curtis acted nobley at the hospital and defused a near catastrohpic situation only to have another canister planted in CTU. One for Curtis and now it’s Jack’s turn. How will he manage the next crisis. Who amongst us is not anxiously awaiting the resolution of the current enigmas? It’s fun and exciting to speculate on future issues and it’s fun to hash over the previous one. Maybe that’s why we have this thread and await RWNH recap on Tuesday following.
Comment by Tony Lafauce — 3/7/2006 @ 1:51 pm
The first lady is Jean Smart (see link). I like her: of course, who wouldn’t when she hangs around with nothing but girly man losers (except Aaron, of course). The way she “hacked” into the tape archives was nothing if not inspired!
Comment by Mongo — 3/7/2006 @ 2:27 pm
Sorry, misplaced the link on the last post, here it is
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11353363/
Comment by Mongo — 3/7/2006 @ 2:28 pm
Anyone that tries to talk to me during 24 gets a growl and a glare. Phone is off and computer sound is off.
I don’t watch a lot of TV but when I do shut up and let me watch.
That neighbor of Sue’s would have had to wait on me.
Comment by kender — 3/7/2006 @ 5:37 pm
Great recap as usualy. Makes mine look like yuck.
What I want to know is how did Jenny’s coc-addled boyfriend know who to call too?
As for Kim (gag) — can we switch her for Edgar?
Comment by Jo — 3/7/2006 @ 6:33 pm
BOMS and Other Potentially Loud Items
Oh, MAN. And of course, I forgot, what with my biz trip, that 24 was a double episode last night. Only caught the second hour. Get the agonizing lowdown on last night’s double 24 episode…
…
Trackback by TMH's Bacon Bits — 3/7/2006 @ 7:06 pm
Aaron and Nutzo Martha is just plain wrong. He’s the only mouth breather that isn’t falling down dead or bouncing like a Spaulding, a rock he is. He’s our man because he’s the anti-Jack.
The only draw is Jack Bauer. The plots are sooo PC–what are Russian separatists? In the real world they are known as Chechans but they might take a Hollywood studio as savagely as they did a Beslan grade school so lets leave those sleeping dogs alone.
Forget Season #3 when the writers played the Crips and Bloods are in the House.
Comment by Badge 2211 — 3/7/2006 @ 8:06 pm
Publius: re Edgar - you bastard.
Rick: methinks your venom re Cuthbert belies some soft white underbelly somewhere. C’mon, you’ve got a crush? Just how many times have you watched “The Girl Next Door” anyway?
I never heard of the movie until you ripped her a new one over it. Wes does point out her horrid plot configurations over the seasons, ya know, so let’s be fair.
Matt re Palmer (former prez) I thought Novik was Palmer’s CoS… but still I’m unclear just how Palmer came to know about the terrorist threat originally. Is that a loose end, or am I asleep at the switch? And yes, the Chinese… Good call. I expect they’ll show up around hour 24 and lead into next season.
Comment by The MaryHunter — 3/7/2006 @ 10:54 pm
Come on you who pay my social security benefits, not even sad that Edgar got knocked off so ingloriously? I had to learn it from the Laura Ingraham show (teaches me right, just cuz one Tivo’s doesn’t mean you can wait 24 hours to watch!) Anyway, Edgar was harmless, why waste him? To what end? They must give great severance packages. Where will the poor boy get another job like that? I love reading all your smart comments, because lots of this goes over my head! Thanks.
Comment by Flora Hoffman — 3/8/2006 @ 3:39 am
The foreshadowing of Edgar’s demise was as loud as a bullhorn. Two typical flags of impending axing are poorly acted chracters that don’t participate in a primary thread (Kerrie) and a self conscious bumbler that makes unforgivable lapses of judgement on a primary thread that results in mass deaths (Edgar). When Kerrie tells Edgar about the building ventilation system being hacked, an area (Building schematics) that he is supposed to know even better than Chloe, he blows her off. Sin of all Sins, When he is told that HIS OWN Building has been infiltrated, it doesn’t click with him that they are dealing with terrorists that use ventilation systems for centox. He may as well have said, “I know I usually quickly analyze building schematics and building security servers to quickly discover the slightest imperfection, but I’m going to go to the basement and find Kerrie who recently told me that our own ventilation system and potentiel nerve gas delivery system has just been hacked!”. Why didn’t he stop off at the cafeteria to grab a cheese steak on the way. Orthodox Hollywood action movie dogma says, that if you make a mistake like that, you die as a direct result of your own negligence and your friends must mourn your passing for exactly 15 seconds.
Question: How did Hobbit McGill get back in the building without a key card. Is there some kind of fire exit that the smokers have rigged so they can slip out in the alley without violating California’s draconian anti tobacco laws.
Constitutional laws: The torture and arrest scenarios can be broken down into numerous momentum killing legal procedures, i.e. no miranda rights read, injections of Sodium penethol require court order for 4th amendment reasons. The hobbit can be relieved but under what grounds can he be detained ( I imagine they can argue that he has 72 hours to be charged before seeing a judge). The President can be charged with aiding and abetting murder as well as conspiracy by providing logistical information for murder one (premeditaed and lying in wait are “special circumstnaces” that would trigger the death penalty if he was the shooter, or in OJs case the stabber.)
Did anybody notice that the vent for the ventilation system appeared to be an exhaust vent to the outside world apparently to remove hot air from an overheated computer room. Maybe the hobbit could have kicked the 80 year old ventilation fan out and slip into the building through the vent.
Expect Tony and Henderson to have it out in the interrogation room and Jack to wriggle through the vents to come over to have a chat with them.
I have heard that Pony boy is expected to play a fairly well developed character, so don’t expect him to get a wiff of gas. He can’t die anytime soon. He will be Jack’s Freudian antagonizer for several episodes, brainwashing Jacks beloved daughter to turn her against Jack. There will be lines like, “You are so wrapped up in your own life, Mr. Bauer, that you can’t appreciate what a special person your own daughter is!!!” Then Jack will come unglued and try to cut out Pony boys eye sockets only to be restrained by Curtis and his daughter screaming to stop.
One plot twist we can expect to see unfold is, why does Henderson keep saying how he and Miriam visited Jacks Daughter so much. We can assume that Pony Boy and Henderson know each other now and may even be in cahoots. Henderson is not going to visit her on multiple occasions for no reason. Pony Boy was sent to build a psychological profile of Jack.
The aide to the first lady (Evelyn or whatever) spent a little too much time around Cummings (maybe to keep an eye on him), expect her to take it in the shorts soon. The post above that implies that Mike is a civil libertarian because he opposes martial law misses the point. Mike is calling on the first lady to yank the President by the short and curlies so he will “stand up” to the obviously unscrupulous VP. BTW, Didn’t the current President “Appoint” this VP and who pulled his strings to do that, Cummings?
Expect:
Mike: CTU is handling this, no martial law
VP: CTU is sealed up like a mayonaise jar. They can’t protect anybody. Have the 82nd Airborne parachute into East LA, and load up on body armor.
Comment by TJ King — 3/8/2006 @ 1:39 pm
Great recap! Can’t really agree to the ALL the violations of Constitutional Rights, though.
1) Chloe hacked Henderson’s PC AFTER he committed the felony of attempted 1st degree murder of a federal agent, and an agent that was investigating possible terrorist activities. I think that pretty much gives them enough probably cause to search anything of Henderson’s (including his body cavities) without a warrent.
2) Henderson was not officially arrested. He was simply taken into custody. OK, I know that is a stretch, but peace officers are not obligated to read a person their rights unless they officially arrest that person.
3) Agree.
4) Again, probable cause give Jack, and all of CTU, to search and sieze anything of Henderson’s.
5) Same as 1 and 4.
6) Agree. My 16 year old son has only started watching 24 in the last two weeks. Took a while to get him hooked, but he is now. He about wet his pants when Jack shot Miriam.
With respect to the boyfriend of the hobbit’s sister, I think Matt has got it right: he didn’t contact the terrorists, they contacted him. “Hey, crackhead. Mug your girlfriend’s brother, steal his keycard so we can use it to kill off the only people in the world who can stop us from killing all the people in LA, and we will give you $20,000.” “Uh, OK.”
Comment by RS Ring — 3/8/2006 @ 6:39 pm
Take a look at the young lady in this picture. Who does she resemble? I hope the picture remains unchanged on the website…
http://www.foxnews.com/hannityandcolmes/index.html
Comment by Golfer1 — 3/13/2006 @ 3:39 pm
[...] For a full summary and review, checkout The Right Wing Nuthouse… [...]
Pingback by Midwest Prognosticator » 24 Takes a Heinous Turn — 3/20/2006 @ 10:43 am