CAPTAIN RENAULT: Major Strasser has been shot. Round up the usual suspects. (Casablanca, 1942)
I don’t read them much anymore, but there was a time I was huge fan of the mystery novel. G.K. Chesterson’s Father Brown novels were particular favorites but Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler were also on my summer reading list. And no, I am not the type that goes to the end of the novel first and peeks to see whodunnit although there were times that the temptation became almost overwhelming. This was especially true immediately after discovering that your own prime suspect either gets killed off or proves to be innocent. After having invested so much emotional capital in one suspect, to have him or her killed off 50 pages from the end of the book was maddening.
Nevertheless, I wanted to wait for that absolutely delicious moment when Father Brown or Marlowe revealed all, tying up the loose ends and fingering the killer. The thrill wasn’t necessarily in finding out who the killer was but in following the sheer, brute logic used by the detective to unmask him. There is something enormously satisfying in reading or listening to a good dialectic. And a good mystery writer will be able to get to the emotional core of a reader by taking him on a journey through the thought processes that leads to the exposure of the bad guy.
Television and film don’t lend themselves to such “Eureka!” moments because we can see too much of what’s going on. For instance, with one or two exceptions, Agatha Christie’s novels did not translate well to the silver screen. Christie and most other mystery novelists rely on intimacy with the reader to build suspense, something that is rarely possible in film (although I thought The Orient Express worked quite well because of the constricted space – the train – where the action took place).
The revelation in last night’s episode that President Jellyfish himself is the monster behind it all proved to be the shock of the year. Lots of good misdirection by the writers in previous episodes as well as some great acting by Gregory Itzin made the moment work as well as almost any similar moment I can recall. Perhaps the revelation that Kevin Spacey’s character in Usual Suspects was actually the legendary Kaiser Sozsa rivalled it in the theater. But one would be hard pressed to think of a more shocking moment on TV in recent memory.
So now, after 18 episodes, Jack and CTU (what’s left of them) realize who and what they are up against. The race is on to save American democracy. And I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have on the frontlines than Jack Bauer.
SUMMARY
Where’s Jack? The final explosion that ripped through the gas distribution center had Jack and Bierko perilously close to the flames and falling debris. Did Jack make it? Or, is Chloe going to have to strap on a pair of six shooters and battle the terrorists in Jack’s place?
That image alone is enough to get the terrorists to surrender.
Then, through the swirling smoke and back-lit gas works, a figure emerges carrying someone. It’s Jack and he has Bierko slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Dropping the terrorist on the ground at Curtis’s feet like a trophy buck from a deer hunt, Jack screams into Bierko’s face trying to wake him. The terrorist is either too injured or too terrified to answer so Jack orders him transferred to CTU medical so that he can be patched up for his little session to come with Richard and his little black bag of truth serum.
In the meantime, Jack is doing some thinking. He figures Henderson, the poor misguided patriot that he is, would never kill 200,000 of his fellow citizens. Hence, since his ex-friend was protecting someone big and important (so big he allowed his wife to get shot in the thigh by Jack in fear of revealing the name) Jack reasons that the plot extends into the highest reaches of the United States government. In his conversation with Bill about this turn of events, Jack lets on that he’s scared.
If Jack is scared, it’s time to pack up the wife and kids and move to Montana to join a survivalist cult.
Back at CTU, Grandma Hayes gets an earful from Vice President Strangelove who wonders what the hold-up is with the Homeland Security takeover of the Counter Terrorism Unit. Granny’s bureaucratic antennae is fully extended, realizing as she does it is going to be hard to justify the coup d’etat if Bill puts up a stink. Enter her slimy assistant Miles who comes up with the perfect CYA instrument – a letter, signed by Audrey, implicating Bill in all sorts of incompetence regarding the day’s events. The elegance of the ass covering plan reveals why some people are born to be bureacrats and most others are birthed as human beings.
Informed that Wayne and Aaron eluded the trap set by his men, Henderson decides it’s time for Plan B - kidnapping the 8 year old daughter of Evelyn, the First Lady’s assistant who, we are informed by Wayne, was President Palmer’s source for information coming out of the Executive Branch. Confronting Evelyn, Wayne tries to get her to reveal what she knows. Alas, Evelyn wants her daughter rescued before she’ll talk (cue Jack in the wings).
Jack understands perfectly, having made worse deals with terrorists, and agrees to go after the little girl. He tells Wayne to meet him at an old barn near the Presidential retreat.
The coup at CTU by DHS is carried out with ruthless efficiency. All that’s left to do in order to cover all the bases is to get the CYA document with Audrey’s signature on it. For this, Miles takes it upon himself to convince Audrey of the practicality of the matter. When Audrey balks and gets ready to leave, Miles congratulates on her loyalty and then, quite casually, raises what the slimeball thinks is his piece de resistance :
MILES: Oh…just to confirm; as on-site liaison for DoD, you participated in today’s decision making process?
AUDREY: What’s your point?
MILES: Serious mistakes were made here today that resulted in the loss of American lives. It would be a shame to see the taint of CTU’s mismanagement spread to your agency (pregnant pause)...or your career. By signing this, you isolate the fallout from today’s events to Bill Buchanan and CTU…where it belongs.
AUDREY: (Walks deliberately over to Miles and leans over) I’m proud of what we did here today. The people at CTU are heroes including Bill Buchanan. This takeover is completely unwarranted. And I won’t help you justify it.
The crestfallen reaction of Miles was priceless. It’s the second time he’s been forced to retreat like a beaten dog, the other incident involving Chloe and Sweet Sherry. Let’s hope he makes a habit of it.
No sooner had Needlenose stood up to the bureaucratic bully than Jack calls and tells her that he needs a satellite tasked to help in the rescue operation involving the kidnapped girl. Audrey realizes right away that she needs Chloe’s super-geek skills in the matter and also sees that the only way she can do that is by signing the CYA document and bargaining for Chloe’s services.
Swallowing her pride, she makes the deal with Granny regarding Chloe. The confrontation with Bill (and slimeball Miles being insufferably smug in giving Bill the news) is painful but necessary. She nearly has to kidnap Chloe who has her own strong feelings about loyalty in order to help. Chloe at times seems like a little lost girl, running up to Bill to ask him what’s going on and needing reassurance that everything is going to be alright. It would be a very attractive trait – if she wasn’t such a bitch the other 99% of the time.
When Henderson calls Evelyn to set up the exchange – information implicating the real villain for her daughter – Jack is listening in and gets Chloe to give him satellite coverage of the killing field. Jack is once again going to have to wade through a river of gore to achieve his immediate objective; save the little girl and capture his nemesis Henderson.
Wayne, perhaps not realizing what he’s letting himself in for, volunteers to help Jack in his mission. Bauer tries to dissuade him:
WAYNE: I was a Marine, Jack.
JACK: I know that Wayne. And you never saw combat. There’s a big difference between training to kill someone and actually having to do it. I can’t put you in harm’s way out of respect for your brother. Your family needs you now.
WAYNE: (Quietly) These are the people who killed my brother, Jack. They shot a bullet right through his neck and then he died in my arms. Put yourself in my position. Could you just walk away.
JACK: No.
WAYNE: Neither can I. I’m coming with you.
And so Wayne, not realizing that most of Jack’s partners end up wishing they hadn’t gone with him, teams up with Jack to get the little girl back and unearth the plot threatening the United States.
Downloading an infrared satellite image of the kill zone to Jack’s PDA shows 10 targets. After offing two bad guys, Jack sends Wayne on an end run to take out a guard so that he can make it to a tower and take out a sniper.
Wayne makes it to the kill point but perhaps because he can’t shoot the terrorist in the back, waits until he turns around before plugging him twice. Let’s hope Wayne loses that hesitancy if he and Jack are going to be teamed up again. Next time he won’t be so lucky.
After Jack takes care of the sniper, Evelyn shows up and demands her daughter from Henderson. The unsuspecting traitor then finds out just how much trouble he’s in when, after the mother-daughter reunion, Jack opens fire taking down two while Wayne, in perfect flanking position, takes out two more. Seeing the jig is up, Henderson starts to take off in Evelyn’s car, slamming into one of his own men while making his escape. Jack and Wayne fire wildly at the fleeing SUV but once again, Henderson lives to see another day.
Jack races over to find Evelyn slightly wounded. He orders Evelyn to live up to her agreement and tell him about the Vice President’s involvement. Evelyn looks at Jack with horror; the Vice President had nothing to do with all this…
Then…who?
Speeding away from Jack, Henderson is on the phone apologizing to Mr. Big, the man in charge of the entire operation. The peremptory tones and authoritative voice telling Henderson to get the job done is unfamiliar and yet…
And yet the voice betrays the speaker as someone used to giving commands and having them obeyed. The conversation between the two traitors is ending. We see the back of Mr. Big. He is in shadow. As the camera slowly pans left, the face starts to come into view – the hooded eyes, high forehead, look familiar but…but it can’t be. For the briefest of moments, the mind recoils in denial not quite believing what they eyes are telling it.
But there’s no mistake. It is President Logan. And the look on his face and body language showing a commanding presence and determination reveal the man to be a consummate actor. He has had everyone fooled. And now the race is on to foil whatever ex-President Jellyfish’s plot turns out to be.
BODY COUNT
Jack takes down 5 traitors while Wayne accounts for 3. And you can add hit and run homicide to Henderson’s list of crimes.
JACK: 24
SHOW: 164
SPECULATION
Does Logan actually believe he can take over the government of the United States and establish a dictatorship? If so, he must have one more terrorist attack up his sleeve that will devastate the country and have people begging him to take on dictatorial powers. Will it be a nuke? More bio-terror? How about starting a war?
Have some fun in the comments…
UPDATE
As usual, for the best liveblogging, snarky commentary, photoshop magic, and general Jack Bauer mayhem, click on Blogs4Bauer and keep scrolling.
UPDATE II
It’s 10:00 AM and no one has speculated on the obvious reason for Logan’s transformation.
Don’t you people watch soap operas? Obviously, Logan is suffering from a split personality. His wimpy side doesn’t know what his Orwellian side is doing which would explain everything.
The only drawback to that theory is his wife. But given she’s nutzo herself, maybe she couldn’t see it in him.
9:06 am
Does anyone else see an eerie resemblance between President Logan and Senator Russ Feingold?
9:09 am
Henderson told Jack several episodes ago that he (Jack) didn’t want to “open Pandora’s box” and find out what was really going on. Jack said a few episodes later that Henderson is a patriot and must honestly believe that what he’s doing is for the good of the country.
What I can’t figure out what Logan’s motives might be. Power ? He’s already the President. Dictatorship ? Maybe, but given what we’ve seen of Logan in private since Season 4 it just seems unlikely. Could it be that there is someone higher-up still calling the shots ?
9:15 am
[...] As always (sans last week when I was on hiatus) a full recap can be found courtesy of the Right Wing Nut House. [...]
9:17 am
Wow! Rush had the “24” producer and writer on last week, and when a caller asked when Logan would get a spine, all they could say was to watch Monday’s show. I could tell they wanted to tell us it would get juicy, but couldn’t really say what they wanted…
It was worth the wait, and remaining episodes should be interesting…
9:21 am
When Logan was first revealed at the end, I noticed a resemblance to Supreme Chancellor Palpatine from “Star Wars.”
9:22 am
Another great write-up as usual.
But, I’m really not buying the conspiracy at all at this point. Just completely unbelievable. If the Pres had these type of stones why have all the misdirection in the first place? Manipulate Cummings through a cut-out, agonize about giving the motorcade route to the bad-guys? Doesn’t seem convincing.
I’m glad the VP wasn’t involved, because I thought that was too obvious. Though the reversal was also pretty obvious – I told my wife half-way through – he won’t be the guy. I also said that Evelyn would take a bullet, but that’s as obvious as predicting that the red-shirt guy on Star Trek is going to eat it. Anytime someone holds back info from Jack until a) a relative is released, b) he gets a Presidential pardon for them, c) he gives them the money, or d) he gets their brother out of prison – you can expect that they’re going to be shot and likely give him some cryptic message before dying.
Is it likely that Wayne Palmer would really be free to skulk around like this the day after his bro gets killed? Is that what RFK was up to? Can anyone see Roger Clinton doing this if Bill had been shot? I could see JEB doing this, but only b/c he’s a robot.
And what’s up with Homeland security going nuts about firing everyone from CTU, but then Chloe and Sheryl Crowe can spend the next hour moving satellites around?
9:28 am
Publius:
Oh ye of little faith…all will be revealed in due course – maybe. Then again, suspending belief is part of the show as well as throwing logic to the four winds and immersing oneself in fantasy.
My advice is to relax and have fun with it – though I do appreciate you pointing out the silliness and inconsistencies.
9:45 am
Makes you wonder if all of season 4 was Logan’s first attempt to gain control. I can only imagine what his wife will do when she finds out about this.
9:45 am
I don’t believe it; I just can’t believe it. The writers could not have shocked me more unless Evelyn had fingered Terri Bauer. If this is true, what are we to make of every time this season Logan knuckled under, weaseled out, passed the buck, and crapped his pants? While I admit Logan has a certain serpentine charm, I simply cannot believe he could plan and execute something this devious; this the man who got down on his knees and prayed with Mike Novik before the missle attack on the Russian President. President Logan being overthrown, yes that I can believe; President Logan overthrowing the United States Government, that is absurd.
One good, hard smack from his wife and he’ll be put in his place, but sending Jack Bauer, isn’t that major overkill? I don’t even care if the entire United States Government is at his disposal, Jack might as well get some sleep and handle this thing in the morning. After all, Jack craps out turds bigger than Logan.
9:56 am
Very interesting, very interesting! But what about Tom Delay? And who’s next?
10:04 am
During their interview bit on El Rushbo the other day, 24 masterminds Surnow & Gordon noted Greg Itzen’s “genetic resemblance to Richard Nixon.” They said he created the character & they “wrote to it.” As for what Jekyl/Hyde Logan is up to, how about gratifying his power tripping ego? Where was Mike Novik last night? What’s he up to? While I felt satisfied having my suspicions about Evelyn verified, I gave a hat tip to the writers for their twist re her motives. Twisting is their specialty. So if we’re to expect the unexpected, maybe Logan’s wife is the real, the actual power behind the throne; she’s a UN agent whose job is to create a situation resulting in the US being subservient to the World Body…okay, I’m outa here.
10:04 am
My private (to myself) guess about who was working with Henderson was wrong. I was thinking the First Lady because why else would she be married to such a wimp.Love can be strange but I couldn’t see her falling in love with the guy with the dishrag spine. Now that he is revealed to have a spine his wife must have known all along that he wasn’t this weakling. Her displeasure may have been from watching him be so weak and wondering what had happened to the man she had married. I expect I’ll have to look at the 4th season again to see if any clues to Logan’s behavior are revealed there.
10:28 am
In your (Rick) last sentence before the summary, you said that Jack & CTU know who they’re up against. They don’t know. WE know.
10:31 am
Jennie:
Technically you are correct. However, since Evelyn was about ready to spill the beans anyway, I just assumed that she was going to name Logan.
Maybe you’re right. Maybe she’ll name MRS LOGAN! Good grief wouldn’t that be a twist, eh?
11:22 am
I’ve always thought “24” was basically “Days of our Lives” with spies and guns (that analogy was how I got my parents hooked on the show, my mom being a huge “Days” fan) but I still find the notion of President Logan doing some sort of Deidre Hall split-personality act tough to swallow. Even by the standards of “24,” that’s pretty unbelievable.
As is the whole idea of Logan being a master manipulator, on the other hand. Hmmm.
Here’s an idea for proving your hypothesis, Rick: let’s find out if “Logan” can cry on cue like Deidre Hall can. That ought to help establish whether or not we actually have “Marlena Brady” in “24’s” Oval Office…
11:22 am
For those blog readers and those Monday night 24holics who are under 70 years old, or those movie nuts otherwise familiar with the “Perils of Paulineish”, “Flash Gordon” or “Zorro” cliffhangers. Tonight’s episode of Jack Bauer “All American Boy” tops them all,right down to Jack walking out of the flames with Bierko draped over his shoulder. I had all I could do to restrain myself from leaping up (as I did as a kid) and screaming “Way to Go Jack”. But as the evening went on, my question became,”Can they (the writers) drag this on yet another season? Apparently not, as the surprise of surprises is sprung, President Logan is the ultimate villain. Or is he? Here’s where Oliver Stone would come in handy. Is the UN the higher authority? Does President Logan have higher aspirations that just president of the US? Is the Secretary of the UN the pot of gold? Is it President Logan of the World? Will Jack be able to save us yet again? Well maybe or not, we will watch anyway. It did satisfy the romantic in me to have Audrey remain loyal to Jack and her team at CTU. Obviously they will ride off into the sunset together.
The conclusion or rather the
resolution of this rather convoluted drama is heightened by the daily episodal adventures of Jack. Last week were shocked by the mistaken idea that Audrey Raines was an accomplice to the conspiracy, tonight we are made aware of President Logan’s involvement next week I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to find out that President Logan has an evil twin that walks in and out of the WH with impunity. Regardless, the writers keep us rivited with the “Adventures of Jack Bauer” just as the writers of the Saturday Afternoon serials kept us going back week after week to the Bijou.
11:37 am
[...] Following last night’s episode of 24 I didn’t have much to say. Rick Moran, however, has his usual fine recap of the hour at Right Wing Nut House. So now, after 18 episodes, Jack and CTU (what’s left of them) realize who and what they are up against. The race is on to save American democracy. And I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have on the frontlines than Jack Bauer. [...]
11:37 am
Tony:
Love your Saturday serial analogy. Although too young, I caught Flash Gordon on Saturday morning TV when growing up and with the same breathless anticipation I awaited the next week’s installment.
That scene of Jack emerging from the smoke was extremely well done – well crafted and the production values were outstanding, as good as anything you’ll see on TV.
It takes a lot of time to set up a shot like that and TV usually doesn’t have the time to devote to one shot that takes up a few seconds of film (my guess would be 1 1/2 hours for the set up and with several takes).
11:42 am
This Logan starts to ressemble more and more like Lyndon Johnson, whom created a war to stay in the ovale office…those writers know their history…Or would that be a Bush shutting down towers to re-inforce his position?! Anyway, those three Pres all have a thing in common : they were very weak in their first days in office…
11:50 am
what did martha logan know, and when did she know it?
12:00 pm
i wasn’t suprised at logan’s involvement. (take eddie haskell and times him by 5.) where his wife stands is a point of interest, though i think evelyn would tend to know if she was in on it somehow. they haven’t had a chance to question evelyn yet. maybe mrs. president’s ‘illness’ has been a cover for her plotting. remember we still have an unknown woman on a phone call. she also looked suspicious when she asked evelyn if she had her id papers and said good night to her. she would also know that evelyn has a daughter and have enough information about their daily goings on to set up how and where to kidnap amy.
i’m curious as to logan’s motives. and as far as his portraying wimpiness vs the sterness we saw last night??? i don’t question that at all. look how long we’ve lived with bill clinton, who can turn it on and off at a whim to suit his purposes. (i feel your pain. . . blah, blah, blah. . .) manipulative, ambitious, deceitful such as clinton and logan do what they have to to get what they want.
i hope chloe or audrey or jack get to buchanan and clarify things for him so he isn’t left hanging from the perceived betrayal. my thinking is that maybe now that he’s out of ctu he will be available to help jack. i hope so, he’s one of my favorite characters, mr. all american boy.
THANKS RICK FOR BLOGGING A SUMMARY
! right when it was getting juicy the tv screen went totally white—-AAAAAAAAARGH! i was freaking out, but in my raging disappointment, was soon remembering that you would fill me in if the tv didn’t come back on. whew! it did come back on but it cut out a chunk that i was able to read about this morning.
12:17 pm
I am now willing to bet that Evelyn is getting her information from the First Lady. would set up a classic wife/husband confrontation. Who else would have access to the President’s private thoughts and possible e-mails. She has gone against him many times already and is always trying to get him to do the right thing.
12:35 pm
YES…I predicted this last year and was promptly accused of ‘jumping the shark’.
AND….I re-iterated my suspicion of Jellyfish after the first night of this year and informed you all that I expected an apology at the end of this season
WELL..I will hold off for now my demands for an apology since we have 8 more hours to go (and you know how things change drastically in this show)
HOWEVER….for this week I AM ENTITLED TO GLOAT!
1:10 pm
Can you all not recognize the lion by the print of his paw—Karl Rove is the higher power in all of this.
2:08 pm
One of the things I wonder about is since Logan only became President because of the shoot down of Air Force One, does this conspiracy (between Logan and Henderson) go back to that time period. In the 5 years of Babylon 5 many things were foreshadowed in earlier seasons. When first viewed they would be seen in one way but later revelations would put an entirely different twist on them. I would love it if the writers of 24 are doing that too.
7:29 pm
Rick: I hope I didn’t leave the impression that I objected to the using of the cliffhanger device to heighten the drama was bad writing. On the contrary I respect the writers using every dramatic ploy they can to seduce the audience into watching their episodes week after week. It actually shows a profound respect for the listeners/watchers. Writers have a nasty habit of forgetting for whom they are supposedly entertaining. Not so in this case.
7:38 pm
Jack is one hell of a man BUT
!! I have never seen him eat
or take a leak, what gives…
9:26 pm
“I want a Jack Bauer PDA”,
not to mention a Chloe-level computer geek who can re-task satellite and feed the info to the Jack Bauer PDA. Read Dave Barry’s account of last night’s 24. What are the most dangerous things to be if you encounter Jack…
10:10 pm
Question for you guys. All 3 of us in my house commented, after last night’s episode, that we thought that the VP had been on the phone talking to the bad guys in the woods who were chasing Wayne Palmer. The point being that, if the tables are now turned and it is the Prez who is the villain, does that mean that the VP is actually a good guy? Our answer was “no” because the VP is also dirty. Yet I re-watched the last two hours, but could not find anything like that. The VP was talking to “Frau Blucher” at CTU to get her to take over CTU, and Henderson was talking to the guys in the woods, but I did not find the VP doing anything evil. Did we all just imagine this?
10:31 pm
Is it possible that last season’s rift with China and this season’s rift with Russia is part of a master plan to take over the planet? By forging domestic terrorist attacks, Logan can make a case that the US does not have enough global oversight and must take action overseas. It seems like a loose metaphor of our current situation with Bush and the Middle East.
Meanwhile, the VP is is attempting to run Logan through the muck in the court of popular opinion. Therefore, we do in fact have two evil forces at work here…one geared towards global politics and the other domestic.
10:43 pm
To Happy Fun Ball: Martha needs to Bitch Slap the Prez. Infact the whole cast needs to line up and join in the fun!
3:58 pm
Back to the Pandora’s Box reference by Henderson. The myth sayeth that she, Pandora, was wife of Epimetheus, that voices within the box were pleading for her to free them from their gloomy prison. Finally giving in to temptation & curiosity, she lifted the lid & out came all the ills & woes of humanity. Okay, so should we read this as a Logan/Mrs. Logan thing? How literal is head writer H. Gordon? And remember, Pandora dropped the lid, closing the box after her first mistake. Her hubby talked into a second look therein…and out came Hope. So do Logan & wife reconcile after whatever is in store happens?
7:53 pm
Monday April 3, 2006
I was so busy last hour that I lost track of the where abouts of Mike Novik. I had heard that no one knew of his location while all the events were on going. If you know the answer to my question, please post me here.
Quit calling her Needlenose, please.
Sorry my post is so late, I had finished typing but in my exhustion I failed to Submit.