I'll go ahead and admit that I'm still in shock due to the aftermath of this episode. I feel like I've lost a brother. I've been through two boxes of tissues, a half gallon of Dryer's Thin Mint Ice Cream, and a bottle of eyedrops. Someone needs to stop me from going for the 80's power ballads. I hope you're happy about what you've done to me, 24.
Okay, pull yourself together, Julia. We've got a show to recap.
Last week on 24: in a two hour extravaboganza of gunfire, explosion, tears, and tasers, Jack's use of "coercive techniques" on Burnett wasn't enough to stop an amphibious assault on the White House. Juma procured the First Daughter and was able to force Madame President and Jack Bauer out from their lockdown. We were also graced by the presence of the venerable Jon Voight, who is clearly up to No Good, but I'm not entirely clear on how he fits into this picture just yet.
We join the Vice President as he watches CNN report on the hostage situation. The VP's aide reports that Moss' recon attempts have been useless because Juma has deployed some sort of jamming device. The VP continues to insist that he won't authorize any action until he knows the status of Madame President.
In the White House, Olivia and Madame President are having a heartfelt moment together in the corner. Olivia apologizes for "hurting" her mother. "You were right to fire me off the campaign. I felt so betrayed, I turned my back on you," Olivia confesses, and we'll get the details on this little incident later in the episode. Suffice it to say, Madame President soothes her troubled daughter and they make up. Madame President also warns her to "keep [her] eyes open and be ready." I smell a plan!
Jack whispers to Bill that in the lockdown room there were five canisters of CH4 (methane -- why was there methane in the lockdown room? For power?). Before Jack and Madame President surrendered themselves, Jack opened the canisters' valves. One spark and BOOM. Jack will set the explosion off by running for the lockdown room and drawing the fire of Juma's men while Bill secures the President. "It's a suicide plan," Bill mutters. Oh, god. Here come the tears again. Gimmie a minute.... okay, we're good. Madame President knows about the plan as well, so she'll be ready. "What are you planning?" Senator Mayer barks, "Are you going to do something? Damn it, if you're planning something, I want to know what it is?" "Senator, shut up," Jack hisses. Oh, hee. Best part of the episode, right there.
Juma's got Madame President in an adjacent hallway and he's giving her a script confessing her country's crimes against Sangala. Madame President agrees to read the statement in front of a camera, but only if Juma releases the hostages. Juma agrees, as a sign of good faith, to release one of the hostages. Juma picks a young man out of the crowd, makes like he's going to let him go, and then shoots him in the head with a silenced pistol. Pffft. The crowd of hostages starts screaming and Juma asks Madame President if she wants him to release any more hostages. "You son of a bitch," she spits. The video camera's ready to go and Madam President begins admitting to various war crimes, "America's desire to exert its power and influence," among other things. But that's been the foundation of our foreign policy for the last seventy five years! [/editorial comment]
The VP is watching Madame President's video as it streams onto the internet and orders that its distribution be stopped. His aid informs him that's not possible. Moss calls to ask the VP one more time if they can go in for the rescue. Moss thinks Juma's just there to stage a public humiliation and execution of the President. Juma has refused to offer any demands. The VP says his advisers think the wisest course of action is to initiate communication with Juma, but Moss says they already tried. Walker insists they have a two-pronged, tactical plan in place that will probably catch Juma off guard, but they have to act quickly. But the VP is adamant about not authorizing any action that could result in the President's death. I'm still not sure if he's involved in the conspiracy or not.
Bill whispers to Jack that Juma's not the only one coordinating the attack. Juma was getting real-time intel from someone (Jon Voight) on the satellite phone. Even if they take Juma down, the President may still be in danger. "You're the only one I know who can do this, Jack," Bill says and oh, god. I can't even watch this again. Jack's face goes, "Oh, crap! No!" as Bill says, "Find out who Juma's working with." The two share A Look and Bill bolts for the lockdown room as Jack grabs after him. GODDAMN IT, BILL! Don't be a hero! It's overrated! Bill tackles one of Juma's men, who just happens to be standing in the doorway. Bill grabs his gun, looks back towards the room full of hostages one last time, aims the gun to the sky, and pulls the trigger.
NOOOOOO! A tremendous fireball explodes and Juma's men are thrown back against the walls as the hostages scream. And so does your fearless recapper, as she tries to stop herself from launching the remote at her pretty plasma HDTV. The Secret Service informs Moss that a device has been detonated in the West Wing. A "device"? Is that what you're calling my poor, dearly departed Bill? Say it ain't so! Moss passes the information onto the VP. Moss says the tactical team is going in under his authority, despite protestations to the contrary by the VP. The teams head in, taking out Juma's men in the dark. Jack takes cover under a body and grabs an assault rifle to protect himself as one of Juma's men fires at him. "PIERCE! GET TO THE PRESIDENT!" he yells and Aaron's on it, bullet-ridden shoulder and all. What a trooper. Jack continues to take out Juma's men as Aaron ushers Madame President and Olivia out of the room. It looks like Juma's still alive, though. "Kill the hostages. The President is mine," he gurgles to his remaining cohort.
The cohort sneaks up on Jack, and Mayer pops up from the field of cowering hostages, waving his hands and shouting "No no no!" Sit DOWN, dude! That's a great way to get yourself killed. Jack whips around and shoots the cohort before Mayer can get blasted in the head. C'mon, Jack. That would have solved so many problems for you! Oh well. Jack backtracks from where the cohort came from to find Juma kneeling on the ground. Jack levels his pistol at him. Juma goes for his gun, and Jack empties the rest of his clip into Juma's torso. Juma collapses like the cardboard villain he was. Bye, Juma! The tactical team has found the hostages and Aaron announces that he has the President.
Jack takes a look around the room and his eyes fall on the flaming doorway of the lockdown room. Bill's lifeless body (Whyyy, cruel writers? WHYYY?) is lying on the ground, looking pretty good for someone who just got incinerated. Jack walks towards it, his face skewered with grief, as Moss and Walker escort Madame President and Olivia from the debris. Walker watches as Jack sinks down against the doorframe and runs his hands through his hair. Moss yells at Walker and she reluctantly tears herself away. All the better, I suppose, because Jack's having a painful moment. He rubs his face and blinks back the tears as he looks at Bill's face, still frozen in his final moments. Gah, I really didn't need to see that. Jack locks his hands behind his head and pulls it towards his knees as the silent clock reads 8:11:52 for the Silver Fox. We'll miss you, Bill. Sniffle.
As she finishes getting looked over by an EMT in her residence, Madame President is informed by the head of the tactical team that all of the hostages have been accounted for. The tactical team wants to move Madame President to Andrews Air Force Base, but Madame President insists she has to stay in the White House in order to reassure the American people that everything will be okay. Madame President would like to speak with the VP as soon as possible and needs a status update on her husband as well. The tactical team gives Madame President some breathing room as Olivia sits down with her mother. Aaron's gonna be okay (horray!). Before Madame President's dragged away to talk to the VP, she and Olivia share (another) tender moment of reconciliation.
Walker returns to find Jack still sitting against the doorway, looking at Bill's corpse. Walker tells Jack that Madame President is safe and secure. "I'm so sorry, Jack. I know he was your friend," Walker ventures. "It was supposed to be me," Jack says, "I was supposed to set off the explosion. So that he could secure the President." Walker looks at Jack for a minute before responding, "He died protecting his country." "Yeah," Jack agrees, finally standing up. "This isn't over yet." Of course not, Jack! It's only 8pm! We've got twelve more hours of this fun! Jack relays Bill's intel about Juma's conspirator to Moss. Right now, the only lead they've got is Burnett. Jack wants another crack at him. He doesn't even need to touch him, Burnett just needs to think he's there to finish the job. Moss promises to look into this, but he's got standing orders from the President to take Jack into custody. He orders Jack handcuffed and neither Jack, myself, nor Walker is happy about this development. "When are you gonna stop defending this guy?" Moss asks Walker. "I'm not defending him, I'm defending a good idea!" Walker responds. Moss orders her to finish her job and get the building locked down. Walker has other plans, though. She approaches the head of the tactical team and asks to speak with the President. He informs her that Madame President was taken to a secure location, so she needs to talk to the Chief of Staff, who's just returned from the Pentagon.
Walker catches the Chief of Staff as he's heading down the hallway, and he agrees to speak with her. She relays the information from Jack and Bill. Speaking of which, Jon Voight is receiving news that the President is still alive and Juma's dead. "Well, you gotta admire the damn bitch. She doesn't give up easily," Jon Voight says. He suggests that his aide sit down and have a drink -- he looks tense. Jon Voight tells him to get "Chapman" on the phone so that they can "nail down some targets." Eeep! That doesn't bode well.
Outside the White House, Moss orders a handcuffed Jack Bauer to be escorted by chopper back to the FBI Command Center. Jack's justifiably pissed. The Chief of Staff calls Moss to tell him that he talked with Walker, and Bauer isn't going back to FBI. Instead, Jack's going to finish his interrogation of Burnett. Now it's Moss' turn to be pissed. The Chief of Staff assures that not only will the interrogation be controlled, but Moss will be acting under the his authority, not the President's. Way to take one for the team, Ethan! Moss will be escorting Bauer with great reluctance.
To show how unshaken and stalwart Madame President is after the terrorist attack, the writers show us a little segment of her comforting one of her staff. Aww. Or not. The Chief of Staff walks in and gives her a big hug. Awww (for real, this time). Madame President informs Ethan that she's going to bring Olivia on as a special adviser. The Chief of Staff reveals that during the campaign, Olivia was responsible for leaking damaging personal information about Madame President's opponent to the press, almost costing Madame President the election. Madame President fired Olivia from the campaign for the leak, and that caused the split between the two. Madame President insists her daughter has changed, and would like the Chief of Staff to offer the position to Olivia. Ethan goes, "WHAA? MEEE??" Madame President thinks it's a good way for the two of them to make peace. The Chief of Staff agrees and heads out, brushing Walker's request to speak with Madame President under the rug.
Federal Agents load Jack into the chopper while Moss looks on. Walker approaches Moss, who is intent on giving her the Epic Cold Shoulder. "Look, I didn't want to go behind your back, but you didn't leave me any choice," Walker explains. "I didn't leave you a-- how about you choose to follow orders?" Moss replies in disbelief. Walker apologizes, but Moss doesn't think she's sorry. God, what a douchebag. "I have seen Jack do some terrible things today -- things that I still can't justify, but he has been right every time. And you know what? I can't help but think that maybe if we had just stayed out of his way, none of this would have happened," Walker insists. Damn straight, woman! But we also would have had one hell of a boring season. Moss is gonna take Jack to see Burnett and Moss is going back to the FBI Field Office to clean out her desk. Indefinite suspension!! Douchebag squared. Jack watches from the chopper as Moss and Walker head off in different directions (literally and metaphorically). Moss piles into the chopper with Jack. Awwwwkward. Moss tells Jack to watch himself because one false step and he's outta there. Jack suggests that Moss leave Walker out of this little power struggle. "I've known this woman for nine years and I've never seen her do the kinds of things she's done in the last nine hours," Moss muses.
Oh, God, it sounds like when they killed Spy Daddy on Alias, and we had to endure The Scene, you know which one I mean.
Good lord, woman, don't remind me! So many hours of counseling… it wasn't quite that traumatic, thankfully.
Oh, God, it sounds like when they killed Spy Daddy on Alias, and we had to endure The Scene, you know which one I mean.
Good lord, woman, don’t remind me! So many hours of counseling… it wasn’t quite that traumatic, thankfully.
Sorry for your loss, Julia. Sounds like it's been a rough few weeks on 24. Isn't this week a 2 hour ep as well? (Guess I'll know in a few minutes when I open the threads).
Stay stong!
To all our new posters: please come join us in the 24 forum:
http://www.tvovermind.com/forums/posting.php?mode…
Sorry for your loss, Julia. Sounds like it's been a rough few weeks on 24. Isn't this week a 2 hour ep as well? (Guess I'll know in a few minutes when I open the threads).
Stay stong!
To all our new posters: please come join us in the 24 forum:
http://www.tvovermind.com/forums/posting.php?mode…