Right Wing Nut House

Alright, so shoot me.

As much as I enjoy 24 and the kick I get out of doing the summaries, this is the first year of writing about the show where I have two paying jobs that take precedence over anything I do on this site. And given the historic nature of what has been happening in this country since President Obama took office, I felt compelled to write about the misadventures of the Obama administration in lieu of doing the 24 roundups. I have time for one post a day on this site and Jack just had to take a back seat for the time being.

So I apologize to those of you who missed my summaries but I hope you understand that my priorities are set; job, politics, and Jack comes in last.

That said, I hope to do a better job in the future of getting these summaries up on Tuesday morning.

Now to recap the two shows I missed. I will have another, separate post to discuss the most recent 2 hour episode.

4:00 pm - 6:00 pm

After escaping from the firefight at his headquarters, Dubaku wants out of the country. But he wants to take Marika, his American girlfriend who doesn’t know that he’s a genocidal killer. He calls Ryan Burnett - who we later learn is chief of staff to Senator Mayer, Jack’s nemesis - who arranges a flight out of the country. Meeting Burnett at a hotel, Dubaku lets him know that if anything happens to him, he has a list of American traitors he will turn over to the authorities.

Jack follows the money and it tracks straight to Marika who is packing to leave with Dubaku. After some typical gentle persuasion from Jack - including showing Marika pictures of Dubaku’s handiwork - Marika agrees to meet Dubaku with Jack and Renee following her to insure her safety. Well, that didn’t work out so good. That’s because we discover that Sean Hillinger is the mole at the FBI and he issued a warrant for Jack’s arrest so that the DC police cut Jack and Renee off as they were following Marika.

Of course, Sean calls Burnett with the news that Marika has turned on Dubaku and Burnett calls the genocidal killer to give him the bad news. But Dubaku is one whipped puppy and when Marika shows up, he forgives her and asks her to come with him back to Sangala. The woman seems to agree and off they go to the airport.

Meanwhile, Jack has gotten Larry to call off the DC police but it’s way too late to track Marika, isn’t it? It would be except one should never underestimate the geek powers of Chloe. She uses an ATM camera to pinpoint where Dubaku’s car left with Marika and then used traffic cameras to get his location and direction. As Jack and Renee speed through traffic to rescue Marika, the brave girl takes matters into her own hands and causes an accident by grabbing the driver. Marika is killed and Dubaku is badly hurt.

Arriving on the scene, Jack interrupts the paramedics trying to save Dubaku’s life and forces them to bring him back to consciousness. After threatening the terrorist with the horrible things he would do to his family, Dubaku lets on that he’s got a list of American traitors. Before he can say anything else, Dubaku’s heart stops and they have to defib. But something is blocking the shock. It’s a memory stick embedded in Dubaku’s chest. Jack orders the paramedics to remove it which they reluctantly do before shocking the terrorist back to life. Jack sends the memory stick to Chloe who, of course, knows exactly what it is and exactly how to extract the information.

This is bad news for Sean and, it turns out, Erica who has been playing some slap and tickle with Sean after hours and who is also involved in the conspiracy. Sean convinces Erica to crash the servers and prevent Chloe from getting the names off the memory stick and they make their way to the server room where Erica works her inferior geek skills to carry out their plan. After a bad moment or two, she figures it out and is successful - she thinks. And in gratitude for her yeoman work in protecting their treason from being discovered, Sean gently kisses Erica and then gently shoots her dead.

Shooting himself in the arm, he hopes to cast suspicion on Erica alone as the mole. It works - until Sean discovers the truly awesome geek powers of Chloe who, as we all know, mirrors all her important stuff on an off site server. She recovers the files listing dozens of American traitors which convinces Sean to take a powder and go on the lam. He never makes it out of the building and is arrested.

President Taylor is informed by Jack of her husband’s rescue and the fact he is seriously wounded. She goes to the hospital and asks Bill to round up her estranged daughter. To do this, Bill tasks an old friend - Aaron Pierce - who with his typical professionalism picks up Olivia Taylor and takes her back to the White House. Bill interrupts to ask the president to get Senator Mayor to halt his investigation and let Jack go. She agrees to look into it.

As the FBI prepares to move in and arrest the American traitors, the president thanks Jack for saving the day. Everyone thinks the nightmare is over. But sitting on the steps of the Capitol contemplating his future no doubt, Tony sidles up next to Jack and tells him it’s not over, that there is another terrorist attack being planned - “high profile and high casualty.” It’s set for 7:00 pm that evening. To Jack, there’s no time to involve the FBI - he must head off the terrorists himself.

Body Count:

Marika dies bravely. Erica dies wretchedly.

Jack: 12

Show: 313