24

Palmer plot continues to be boring, nothing really relevant happens, and it is more weaker that the previous season conspiracy plot.



Jack as usual is the highlight of the episode. Now we finally see Jack doing crazy ideas that only he can execute. This mini plot prison should be interesting. Chase presence is now more justified, he will be Jack direct obstacle for now



Kim, Tony and Michelle play their roles. Michelle is in drama mode, Tony is in Hospital and Kim helped her father in a indirect way to his supossed final mission.



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Oh, Jack has to make a hard decision when Palmer follows the rule not to give in terrorist demands and does not let Ramon out. So, Jack goes to rouge mission to break him out and that is not easy. On the wrong moment Chase tries to save the day and so Jack has to deal with him too and all the hell broke lose when they do not manage to get out in time.



On the other fronts, in CTU that Gael is trying to get Michelle leave as then he would have much easier than and Michelle - oh it is hard to see her suffer and her struggle to stay and do her job and be where she wants to be.



Very exciting episode.. really nerve wracking

Certainly not quite as good as the previous episode, but I loved the ending when Jack broke Salazar out of prison. Things are going to get interesting now... I'm not convinced that the Salazar's are the main villians of the season though. This show has as a habit of making us believe we know who the bad guys are, but then we are randomly introduced to someone else.



And Michelle not wanting to be at the hospital with Tony was too unrealistic!! But I wouldn't be surprised if Tony is back at CTU in a few episodes, haha.



The Palmer storyline is continuing to be a yawn. But I think that Wayne is a good character, and I like that he seems to have different policital views to David. The debate could be interesting and I hope it improves this the Palmer storyline because I loved it in season 1 and 2.



Quote of the hour! Chase Edmunds: "Let me know when you start to worry."

In pretty much all respects, this episode is merely there to keep the S3 episode count at 24. Except for Kyle Singer's subplot, all the events here could've been merged with the events of the next episode without losing too much credibility or realism (the latter of which doesn't really matter on this show anyway).

Yes, Kyle gets captured by Hector's goons and brought to some sealed-off chamber, left to wait until the virus begins eating away at him. His girlfriend somehow gets dragged into this as well.

Jack uses Kim's amateurishness to his advantage, forwarding a bogus prisoner transfer document so he can get Ramon out of prison. That's pretty funny.

Jack's agenda conflicts with that of Chase, who's gone to the prison to get some information out of Ramon. So Jack knocks Chase out, which is also pretty funny.

Over in Mexico, we meet Claudia's little brother, which is just stupid. Fine, Hector can let him play with his gun if it makes for character development, but little kids don't belong in this show unless they're here to get killed.

Everything considered, the hilarious ending is what makes this episode worth it, and it leads to some very nice drama and tension in the next hour.



Hourly Highlight:

Jack ordering all the cell doors open. Raise your hand if you thought this was a smart plan from the get-go. Anyone?

I always enjoy the interactions between David Palmer and jack Bauer and I thought there phone conversation in this episode was one of the best parts of the episode. David puts a great amount of faith in bauer and authorizing him to break Salazar out of prison was one of the great moments in 24 histroy. The break itself was pretty intense, though it looks like it will get even more intense at the beginning of the next episode as the Prison has been locked down pretty well with Jack and Ramon still inside of it. The drama at CTU kind of died down, with Michelle staying at CTU as opposed to going to the hospital. Gale, the mole, didnt do much in this episode either other then make anothe phone call. The situation with David Palmer was kind of intersting, authorizing a blackmail situation and then calling it back. He seems to be giving into the stress, something he hasnt done in the past. I wonder how he will fare in the debate which is sure to start in the next episode. With Jack now working against CTU, we seem to be getting back to what makes 24 so great - Jack breaking the rules and getting things done.

Tony Almeida gets seriously injured in a shoot out at the mall. Michelle takes over Tony's duties as director of CTU, she steps up on the job while she worries about his medical condition. Kyle and Linda gets captured by men working for the Salazars. Anne's ex husband is complicating David Palmer's reelection campaign, but she convinces him to ignore the distractions caused by her ex. Stuff happens in here, so much stuff is seen, the action is really good, it never bores you. This episode is really good, I had a really good time watching it.

I was deployed to the Middle East so now that I am home I catching up on Season 3 via Netflix. So that is why these reviews are later.



I guess Kyle and the girl are being exposed to the virus.



Jack is getting into some muddy water but right for this part of the season.



I think the whole deal with Wayne, Ann, and President Palmer is setting him up to lose his reelection. There is not a lot leading to a climax here.



Overall, I am waiting for something else big to happen here. It looks like there are a lot of subtleties.

This episode could have used less Dr. Anne/Kyle and that would have elevated its score tremendously because of its great ending. Alas, I saw way too much of those two in this episode so I'm forced to give it a relatively low 7.2.



Pros

-At least Linda was prominent in all of the Kyle Singer stuff. Seeing her on screen made it a little less painful having Kyle himself on.

-Jack/Palmer conversation. Anytime these two talked together on this show, it was mesmerizing.

-More great Chloe stuff again.

-Pretty good scene between Claudia, Hector, and Sergio.

-Good stuff with Gael trying to become head of CTU.

-Great stuff between Jack and Chase near the end of the episode. I finally started to warm up to Chase in this episode, but it was very satisfying having Jack beat the crap out of him.

-I liked the actor that played the prison warden.

-Fantastic ending yet again with great tension as Jack hurries to break Ramon out. Great score, great moment where the cells open and the guard there has a look of "Oh...um...damn. I'm screwed." Chase's pump of the shotgun was great also.



Cons

-More Kyle crap.

-More Dr. Anne crap.

-Palmer said he had never given into blackmail before in this episode. Does he not remember in the first season when he gave into Carl Webb's demands regarding his son?

-Since the whole sting operation storyline really started to be played out in this episode with Jack's plan to break out Ramon, I need to comment on it in this review. It sucked logically. Just think about the stuff Jack said he was going to do to Palmer and Palmer accepted without reservations. Really not the smartest plan in the world.

-Again, this episode suffered from not much happening until the very end.



This was an alright setup episode for the incredible episode that was to follow.

You want intense? You want edge of your seat, gasping for breath type action? Then you want this episode of 24. It's easily the best episode of season 3 of all the opening 4. A day after seeing it I'm still gasping for breath.



It's so intense because of one specific plotline. President Palmer can't release Salazar as the terrorists demand it, as it would go against America's policy of never negotiating with terrorists. So Jack comes up with a new plan to get Salazar out without making America look bad. Prison. Break.



That's right, the plan is for Jack to basically become a fugitive and get Salazar out of prison. It will be his "last mission".



Soon things become crazy. Chase is going to the Prison to interrogate Salazar, so Jack has to take him out and escape. There's one specific scene that really has your jaw dropping where the prison warden realizes something is up, and goes to Salazar's cell. Meanwhile Jack is trying to get past all the security that is at the prison, and doing things like waiting for his ID and his gun while the Warden is just steps away from discovering what Jack is up to.



Things also get really interesting at the end as Jack has a guard open all the prison cells, starting a riot. I expect some big time action next episode.



Meanwhile, Kyle Singer has been recaptured by the terrorists, also setting up some great things for future episodes.



I'd write more on this episode, but I think I'm going to need to lie down. Just thinking about this episode makes me short of breath. This is exactly what 24 should do, and it delivers.