24

Now we have a new plot, or the Main Plot Part 2.



Syed Ali, the Man Behind the Bombs had direct support from 3 other contries.



This Cyprus recording storyline begins slow and can be boring for now, but nothing that you hasn´t feel before in 24.



So, This episode is all about details, and only in the middle and near the end, we had some substance.



CArrie continues to be a annoying character, so the writers will use her to create problems for Jack for sure.



The most interesting (and the only one) part is when Jack is acting against CTU orders, like happened in Season 1.



Kim is again in another problem, as usual.



USA is ready to go to WAr against these contries and of course, JAck is the only one that believe in Syed ALi. Now things are more difficult for Jack, since Palmer and Michelle support is not sufficient.



Tony acts strangly, and now he is against Jack.



Auda is introduced and the last Man of the Cobra Unit too.



In the End, things get interesting, so this is a setup episode, if you don´t like, you simple cannot undertand that the writers needed to create a solid base for the next episodes.

After last episode what was very epic and heroic, this one is really boring. The whole recording thing.. I do not know. The storyline is not amazing.



Kim again walks into trouble and again police is involved. She is a trouble magnet.



Michelle and Jack are working together against Tony. This is something new but also weird. I do not say it makes all the logic and then Jack using Kate.. that is maybe even more out of character as I think he tries to keep her safe. But I think at the moment it is more proving I am right than thinking of others.

As with S1, the first phase of the main crisis is taken care of at the midway point of S2. Well…at fifteen episodes. That's kinda midway. So there's still 3/8 of the season to go, which means that the characters must now start focusing on the second phase of the crisis. It all starts with Palmer's declaration of war on the Middle East. So soon? Whatever.

Everybody's quick to recover from the emotional climax of the last hour and tackle the Cyprus recording that may or may not be fake. Syed Ali makes a quick return before getting capped by a sniper. Here's something: you spend the first eight hours of S2 discussing a villain who's hidden in the shadows the entire time, have him show up in a belated manner, turn him into a sniveling ninny in his fourth appearance, and kill him off like a nobody after an absence of three straight hours (that's an eighth of the season right there). What kind of Bigbad is that?

Palmer decides to declare war since he's gotta have something interesting to do on Air Force One. And with some big "new CTU Director" pressure bestowed upon him, Tony kinda transforms back to his douchebaggy self of early S1. Just to create some inner-CTU conflict.

But it all leads into the seventh Coral Snake commando, who demands a meeting with Jack and Kate. And that little arrangement results in Jack going rogue once again. Yippee!

And Kim's story returns to crap. Let's not discuss it.



Hourly Highlight:

Jack breaking Tony's ankle.

The previous episode was breathtaking and I know it will always have a place in my heart, but this episode is pretty much the opposite and takes a few steps down.



I must say that the first few minutes of this episode was beautiful, very memorable. I just LOVED the silent moment when everyone watched the mushroom cloud. It was something that George Mason really deserved for his sacrifice (even though David Palmer and Kim still believe it was Jack)



But now the nuclear bomb storyline has come to an end, another storyline involving the Cyprus recording begins, which in my opinion was slightly weak. I liked Michelle a lot in this episode. Even though her interrogating Syed Ali was a bit weird, it was a great move for her in character development to be the one to figure out the Cyprus recording was a fake. Carrie is a ***** I don't like her at all. Tony was annoying too, and I'm a big fan of Tony.



I said that Tony being the CTU director was going to be great but now I have to take that back after watching this episode. Seeing him play by the rules is causing him to not be as likeable, where as George Mason could get away with it. I didn't like his attitude towards to the police officer and it was also strange how he was welcoming Jack with open arms when he returned to CTU but ended up shouting at him ten minutes later. I was glad when Jack broke his ankle at the end of the episode.



This episode is also the start of the worst sub-plot in 24 history. Kim Bauer and the shopkeeper!! My god what a disaster it was.



Quote of the hour! Prime Minister: "That you found the bomb in time is truly a miracle." David Palmer: "I'm not sure I believe in miracles, sir. My people are very good at what they do."

Jack and Michelle question Syed Ali, who claims that the audio recordings are false- These scenes were pretty intense, with Jack getting all up in Syeds face while Michelle took a more standard approach to trying to get the information out of him. Palmer prepares to wage war against the three countries who were involved in the nuclear strike.- These scenes were pretty filler for me. We will never get to see the nuclear war because of the every hour is an episode thing that 24 does, so for the most part the white house drama right now is just a fill in. Kim gets caught in a hostage situation.- speaking of fill in. Kim gets caught in just about every unbelievable storyline ever. Madman of a father, Cougar, now this- I wish she would get to the aunts and just be safe. Jack is contacted by a man who wants to exchange information for Kate Warner.- Interesting, hope it comes into more light next episode...

Jack and Michelle interrogates Syed Ali. David Palmer prepares to declare war on middle eastern countries that might be behind the nuclear bomb attach earlier. Kim goes into a grocery store which quickly turns into a hostage situation. Jack is contacted by a man who might lead him to whoever was behind the foiled nuclear attack, but this man is demanding that he surrenders kate warner to him. things get complicated when jack does what this man is asking. jack finds himself in a lot of trouble when he leaves CTU as other elements try to hunt him down. this is a good episode.

This episode was the start of the arc that nearly killed this show in my view. I'm just about the biggest 24 fanboy you can find and I even found myself cringing at times at the stupidity of some of these plots.



Pros

-*Wonderful* opening. Great score and great silent reactions by so many people. I thought it was perfect to go the first few minutes with not one single word spoken by anyone.

-Nice scene between Palmer and the deputy prime minister. I loved Palmer's last line: "You'll be hearing from us soon."

-Wallace had a menacing voice for his phone conversation with Jack.

-Great job at making Carrie extremely hateable.

-Awesome sound effect as Tony's ankle gave way at the end.



Cons

-It was absolutely ridiculous to have Michelle interrogate Ali.

-The whole premise of this arc was so ridiculous, it was amazing that the great people at 24 would do something so incredibly stupid. Michelle trusted the word of a terrorist with a clear motive to lie over what's believed to be a 100% authentic audio tape? And Tony and Jack just went right along with what Michelle said? And the United States has to go to war within 10 hours or...it's the end of the world or something? It made no sense and really hurt the rest of the season, no matter how cool of an episode they tried to come up with to mask how ridiculous the threat was.

-I didn't really know what to think of Ali's surprise sniping. It was weird and I didn't have much of a reaction to it.

-Logically, if you really thought about it, it made no sense for anybody to kill off Ali, not even Wallace.

-I *hated* Tony being a dick to the random police officer and Jack. Why mess with a character like that?

-This episode started the worst 24 subplot I can remember with Kim in the liquor store. William H. Macy, just let that girl fade away if you don't have anything for her. The liquor store scenes were just painful to watch.

-I hated the seeds that were planted in this episode between a future Jack/Kate relationship. So unbelievably forced. I will say that Sarah Wynter looked very good in this episode for whatever reason.

-Wallace's motivation for doing what he did in this episode and the next few episodes makes no sense and was never fully explained. Hated it. And again, just let Kate Warner go away please. Why drag her into this? Made no sense...again.

-Oh. My. God. Kim Bauer is the biggest idiot of all-time. How could she possibly let Garcia take her gun? How was she spawned from Jack Bauer?

-Even though I hated Tony being so stupid, I hated Jack owning him at the end.

The term "Red Herring" is thrown around a lot on 24. Red herring meaning a false clue, or false trail. 24 has been known to have their share of Red Herrings on the show.



The main question on everyone's mind is: where to go now? The bomb exploded, where would the plot go? Quite simply, it would follow one of the villains, for that episode, and would set in motion the plot for the rest of the season.



For a while now, we've been hearing about the Cyprus recording being fabricated and how it can be viewed as a secondary plot, to the bomb. Instead of throwing the viewers for a complete loop with another plot, The 24 Producers do the simple, and genius move of keeping with the audio recording.



The first 3 minutes of Episode 16 we see the reactions, quiet reactions from the key characters after the bomb went off.



During this episode, more emphasis is put on Syed Ali and the Cyprus Recording. When the audience is still reeling from the shock of the bomb, Syed Ali is assassinated by a man named Johnathan Wallace.



Flashback a few episodes, and Johnathan Wallace is the Commando who executed the Coral Snake Team.



Meanwhile, tensions run high between Michelle and her subordinate Carrie, from Division. We see this during an exchange between the two, over who is the better interrogator.



Johnathan Wallace has proof that the Cyprus recordings are fabricated, and makes his demand crystal-clear, he wants Marie Warner for exchange of the proof.



It is in this episode that we see an immediate thrust back into a plot. What looked to have been the end plot to the season, is far from it. Episode 16 states the plot that will drive the rest of the season.

This should be put out as DVD 1 of the "24" movie - its best watched back to back with the previous hour. For once, split screen action just aint necessary as each characters POV to the nuke says its own story.

This hour brings to the forefront- phoney or otherwise- the "Saudigate" tapes and the first hour where we play the game of truth or fake - war or peace. We also see the triangle and stress between Kerry & Tony on one side and Jack & President Palmer on the other. With poor old Michelle in the middle having to run around tasking for all, getting grief from everyone - the outgoing Syed Ali & Kerry being just two.

This hour just adds fuel to the fire of the idea of the President just being a figurehead. We've all seen it in plenty of movies - but its an interesting thought. Consider the greatest political decisions of recent years - how many do you think has been made by one man at the top and how many by a shadowy group of councillors in a secret room of No.10 Downing Street or the White House? You decide..

Of course, Dennis Haysberts performance as a tortured President is great here, battling to keep all the doors and options open without caving in to a declaration of war.Jack as usual is his ace, looking for clues. But it still adds to a very indecisive hour - the only one making the moves is the Coral Snake captain and thats only because his time is limited. Its his push that leads to the major Tony/Jack face-off at episodes end.

The assumption here is that Tony has to follow protocol because of his new promotion. But that dog just don't hunt.Tony should know more than anyone with tracking Jack all through the Drazen case and todays events that the CTU Director should be a little flexible- bend a bit to get things done.Because of his rigid attitude, you could say Tony deserves all he gets. Gets him ready for being shot in the head in Day 3..



Overall, a rough hour and probably the most grating difference between hours because of the shift in plots - but theres some diamonds within..

This episode is the perfect example of why Kim Bauer should be locked up for her own protection. I think she could run to the super market and end up in a hostage situation.



The great thing about the first season was how Kim's problems stemmed from Jack's problems. While they didn't appear to be at first, the two plotlines became interwoven. The writer's attempt to do this here, but it because just unbelieveable. I mean, how many crazy people can one girl run into in a day? Kim's up to like 3 or 4. But I'll come back to that later.



I've always loved the West Wing. I never watch it anymore, but I remember enough about it to know that the stuff Palmer's going through is rather similar to what President Barlett went through. Not the situation, but the delimma's and the like. And I really like this. Watching Palmer have to decide whether or not to go to war, you can really feel for the guy. He's having to make life altering decisions based on evidence that's not exactly rock hard because he's the President and thats what he was elected to do. his situation is interesting to watch, and at some points can be rivoting, like when Jack calls him about the new evidence from Syed Ali (who is very dead by the end of the episode).



About that... I was relieved when Jack told Syed Ali that his family wasn't really murdered. Not because of Ali, but I was kinda wondering about Jack's character. But I didn think it was awfully convinent that Ali was sniped after he told Jack enough info to raise questions. This is an example of a plot convience.



Onto the next questionable topic, and why this episode is below an 8.5 (Kim's rediculous predicament is why it's a 7.5). When made head of CTU, one must be given an immedeate duschebag complex. Because this is exacly what happens to Tony. I personally have loved the character of Tony Almeida. When I saw he was on the cover of one of the dvd's i was very happy. It's just so cool when he picks up the phone and say "CTU, Almeida." And despite the beginning of season 1, we have always trusted him. In fact he was the only person Jack trusted to keep him informed about Kim at the beignning of this season. Yet in this episode, Tony gets all pissy and tells Jack to leave. From the experience of season 1 and this season, Tony should know that whatever Jack does, it is for the best. And here we have him pulling a gun on Jack cause Jack won't tell him where he's going with Kate. To me, this just seems very out of character from the Tony we've seen up before this. I was a little disappointed.



And about Kim, I changed my mind, I'm not going into it. Just watch the episode, it speaks for itself. I will say that I was extremely very disappointed she let herself get disarmed so easily. After showing that guy last episode that she does in fact know how to use the gun, i was expecting more. Silly me.



In all, this was an information episode. But it was still very good nonetheless, with a revelation about Syed's killer that will prove to be very interesting in the future. Good Stuff.