09 April 2007

24: It Takes a Village to Recap This Episode

So Houman - did you do what you said you were going to do and stop watching this show? It's hard to substantively recap this show, but I'll try for you....

We start out with a little of the good old-school 24. Jack punched Fayed around, but of course Fayed doesn't want to give up the goods. Ricky wants to kill him. Jack orders Fayed taken back to CTU because they're going to need to use a "pharmaceutical package." Burke's getting ready, baby! Jack ended that scene with a classic Jack line, "Now we're gonna have some fun." Hells yes!

Hey - here's my idea of fun - no more scenes in the f-ing White House bunker. President Wayne's launching of a nuke against Middleastia was just a bluff. He got the Ambassador to admit that they arrested some General Habib dude. There was a whole scene of, "Wow, you really are brilliant, Wayne". And "I'm no David, but I'm trying." And a quick line about Sandra going back to Walid's hospital. Smell ya later, Sandra!

On the way to CTU, the van with Jack, Ricky, and Fayed is ambushed and Fayed escapes. Just when I was saying "Jesus, hasn't this been done 1000 times before?", 24 flips the script -- it was all a (quickly well-orchestrated) ruse. The Arabs are CTU agents pretending they work for General Habib, and offering to take Fayed to the nukes. But Fayed wants to talk to Habib first. This brings us to the worst line of the night: Bill Buchanan: "We're going to have to involve the President." No! Not the President! Keep him out of the rest of the episode!

Oh, did I mention that Wayne's hand is shaking a lot? Wayne must have a teeny weanie because he was overcompensating all over this episode. First with the nuclear bluff, and then he told the Ambassador to threaten to kill Habib's family so that Habib would cooperate. It works; Habib lies and says that he sent the faux-terrorists to get Fayed, and tells Fayed to get the bombs and then he'll give him a new target. But Nadia re-listens to the Fayed/Habib conversation and detects a distress signal. So CTU's cover is blown. Big surprise - they lose surveillance of the van in a tunnel, and Fayed shoots all the CTU agents and escapes. Jack catches up to Fayed as he hijacks a garbage truck. Jack not only attaches himself to the undercarriage of the vehicle (Keanu-Reeves-in-Speed-style), he CALLS CTU WHILE HANGING ONTO THE BOTTOM OF THE TRUCK! Good thing his hand was just superficially damaged in China, and there was no muscle damage.

In the lame land of CTU, Milo gets jealous and flips out because Nadia was concerned about Ricky when Ricky was hurt in the faux-ambush. Hey douchebag, there's a freaking crisis going on, can we keep the petty jealousy til tomorrow? Ridiculous.

Wayne's storyline for this episode ends with him passing out, then asking for more adrenaline. The doctor won't do it; Wayne refuses to stop working. At least sit down while you're working, and have some water and a cookie!!!! That might help!

The episode almost-ends with a cool sequence where Jack takes out 8 bad guys by himself (of course!). And then he and Fayed do some big-time brutal hand-to-hand combat, ending with Jack hanging Fayed by a big chain. The bombs are secure. So of course I'm like, now what? There are still 6 or 7 or something episodes left. Ricky shows up with his team, and says Jack has a phone call. Take a goddamn message, Ricky! It's never good when Jack gets a phone call at the end of an episode.

The person on the other end: Audrey! DAGGER!!!!! The Chinese dude from the other seasons is holding her hostage and I didn't catch what he wants from Jack, but in the preview he wants some "component" or else Audrey dies. KILL HER ALREADY! Also in the preview, Wayne wants Vice President Crater Face's resignation, and Jack asks Wayne to authorize a rescue mission for Audrey saying, "You owe me." Actually, I think Jack owed Wayne for not telling the Secret Service that he broke into David's apartment last year. So they're technically even. Also, there's a Mexican standoff between Doyle and Jack.

Anyway, the show has totally shifted focus here in the home stretch. I'm no fan of Audrey melodrama; we'll see how this plays out.

Question: What year is this, 2012? Why does Wayne have a bigass Frankenstein scar on his face? They couldn't have used that liquid stitches stuff?

4 comments:

Karen said...

While your recap for Houman is thorough, we had trouble detecting your opinion about the episode and where the storyline is going (other than you of course loath Audrey). What did you think?

Karen said...

1. Wayne is a yawn-fest. I knew he'd back out of the nuc and he's trying way too hard to be bad-ass. And of course he doesn't want anyone else to do his job so he'll stay in there suffering and stuff. Karen takes the job, baby!
2. CTU is horrible! Milo is ridiculous and he needs to die. Finally Morris said something this episode! Now if only Chloe could do more.
3. Jack hanging on under the truck is classic. And the guy just got released from a Chinese prison and hasn't even had a protein shake! Good stuff there
4. Great stuff with Jack taking on 8 guys by himself, and then Ricky coming in and looking around like "This Jack guy is crazy- it's a killing field!" Excellent hanging of thin-lipped Fayed. He's finally gone!
5. Awesome twist at the end with Chinaman and Audrey. THIS storyline has great potential to not disappoint. That Chinaman is bad, baby!!!!

Anonymous said...

That was a great post, you deserve a comment. That was a really good recap, I feel like I was there watching with you and shaking my head in disappointment. but luckily I was watching "Grandma's Boy" instead and shaking my head in disappointment.

I thought 24 couldn't get any worse.....but once again Kiefer and the other producers surprise us with another horrible decision and bring back Audrey, one of the most annoying characters in the history of 24. This show loves to squeeze in dumb relationship storylines...CTU is worse than a singles bar, within 24 hours a couple meet, make out, have their first fight, have make-up sex and break up.

Juju said...

The show is still disappointing me because of the MASSIVE shift in focus, out of left field. And the fact that it involves Audrey. I figured Jack's search for Audrey/her "killers" would be the 24 movie or maybe next season. But they're going to tack this on at the end now?

Also - are we assuming that Audrey got kidnapped in China? But now the Chinese guy has her in Los Angeles? And how well-timed was that phone call to Jack - 5 seconds after he kills Fayed and wraps up that storyline, here's another one to pick up. We'll see how it goes....

Wayne is ridiculous. How can such a tall man have such a Napoleon complex? CTU sucks this year. Although Bill Buchanan is still THE MAN!

Some parts of Grandma's Boy are definitely funny - don't sleep on it!