24

Logic/Details - » The producers continue to want to manage the situation in the Hotel Plaza, since this way you can sympathize with Michelle and share the participation, since change the focus to Jack, CTU, Hotel Plaza and Palmer is better. Things are moving in a nice way.



Progress -» This episode is about some setups and management of what is happening in Hotel Plaza.



Emotions/Stimulation/Highlights -» There are some good scenes in this episodes.



Ending - » I don´t Think that the Ending was Strong, only interesting, but not strong, since Chapelle is not someone that the audience really cares about.



Overall - » For me, this experience in the Hotel Plaza is becoming very boring, since I think that show like 24 is devoted to action, suspense, tension and the type of drama that can make you cry. I didn´t see one Scene that could make change my mind and make me thing that this episode is just about details and events managements and give Jack one more mission failed. Repetitive.

wow what a great episode. The people in the hotel are now dying. Geal himself does not have alot of time left..saunders comes with a weird demand which triggers an attack on the MI 6 offices in los angeles wow what a great episode. The people in the hotel are now dying. Geal himself does not have alot of time left..saunders comes with a weird demand which triggers an attack on the MI 6 offices in los angeles dskm w sa ds a s a aa a xda xa x a xa x a a a sa a aa aa

Simply so Jack and Chase have something to do for the hour, they head to MI6 Headquarters to retrieve intelligence files on Saunders. And simply because it's Jack and Chase we're talking about, they get involved in a shootout. Same old, same old.

Palmer is busy as Saunders throws out some weird things for him to do, including one hell of a demand by hour's end. Nice to see Palmer focusing on the same thing that everybody else is focusing on, and this aspect of the episode is just fine.

Another somewhat redeeming factor is Michelle's idea to bring some suicide pills over from CTU so that the infected guests can die painless deaths as opposed to the horrific alternative. Tony agrees, but Chappelle catches him and…lets him deliver the pills. Hmm, that's nice of him. It's almost as if the writers want the audience to sympathize with Chappelle so that we'll all feel sad about a possible death scene coming up. …oh, crazy talk!

A moderately bland episode that serves to stretch S3 out, but the season picks up soon.



Hourly Highlight:

The helicopter blasting out MI6's windows, because even with the hokeyness of that plotline, it's still a helicopter blasting out MI6's windows.

So, now we know who the man behind those things is and what he wants - he wants Palmer to do what he wishes and so far the whole episode he does. And some of those things does not be so innocent as first looks.



Jack goes after a woman who might be involved with Saunders and they are attacked by helicopter on big building. That was really great moment. And the bomb and getting the drive.. And again.. some best moments go to the hotel. The aftermath of shooting in last episode.. Gael's last moments and what he and Michelle talked and then Michelle wanting those capsels and how she made it clear.. emotional.

This is just toooo good! But, come on Tony, at least tell Michelle you love her. She is becoming my favourite character now, simply because she is taking control of the situation so well. Everyone else is panicking and is like "omg omg we're all gonna die", but Michelle totally keeps her cool. The conversation between her and Gael was absolutely touching, I can't deny that I didn't shed a tear.



The reason why the Palmer/Saunders storyline is so great is because the writers can literally have Palmer do anything because millions of people will die if he doesn't. The situation with the 'sky is falling' was really really interesting. And I don't know why, but when Palmer said it in that press conference, the expression on Saunder's face really creeped me out! It seemed a bit off for him to get Palmer to trigger that attack. I actually don't believe it had anything to do with the helicopter at all. I think he was just making Palmer jump through hoops, it was a sort of psychological game.



..Poor Chappelle, I've noticed how he has become a little nicer lately by not following by the book; he's even let Tony have the suicide pills. I'm suprised to see that Chappelle is for the chop - now that's two of the main cast if Michelle dies too.



Quote of the hour! Ryan Chappelle: "It's against every regulation in the book." Tony Almeida: "Yep." Ryan Chappelle "Do it."

This episode was a lot more action packed then I thought it would be. I like how the writers have wrote off Sherry Palmer for the moment, to give more on screen time for Saunders to play with President Palmer. I didnt really enjoy the Sherry Palmer / Milikin situation and I much more like the Saunders / David Palmer storyline over that one. Jack Bauer had a lot of exciting scenes in this episode, from him going to Saunders girlfriends place of residance to the action at the MI6 office. I think that season 3 is really beginning to heat up. Its hard to believe that just hours ago the main threats were Micheal Amador and Ramon and Hector Salazar and now it has shifted to Steven Saunders taking control of the president of the United States. The end of the episode was one of the most shocking of 24 histroy...with Saunders demanding that Ryan Chapelle be killed for trying to follow his money trail. What will become of this in the next episode I dont know, but the ending was very pulse pounding. Overall, I thought it was a very good episode...one of the best season three has done so far.

This episode makes it look not so good for the good guys ... except for the fact that they think the harddrive from MI-6 has been destroyed. Saunders has the president by the short and curlies, he has a larger network than anyone originally thought, and the virus is revealed to have a 100% mortality rate. My biggest complaint with this episode is that they're overplaying their hand. What I like about the current season of 24 is the constant on your edge of your seat. The viral outbreak is a slow, plodding plot... not to say it's bad, but it's not tense. We know they're all gonna die except Michele and maybe the hotel manager. The most exciting part of the show was the helicopter attack which came outta nowhere. They should've ended the episdoe with that because they go from tense to basically the same level of excitement your left with throughout the episode ... which is not much. Season 3 isn't the best season.

After Amador gets killed by a bomb Saunders calls Jack Bauer and demands a conversation with President Palmer. Jack finds a woman who can lead him to Saunders. Gael's medical status gets worse. This episode shows a lot of stuff within the hour, it's really exciting, the writers added a lot of drama to make it look more interesting. The writers made sure this episode doesn't slow down during the dramatic scenes. It's fast enough to get your heart pumping. It's a really exciting episode, the action scenes are so well written and directed, the actors were amazing. This is a great episode.

After Michelle shoots a civillian at the end of the last episode, this episode continues with his wife asking why was he shot & who shot him and then looks directly at Michelle. And with all this on her plate, Michelle doesn't crack under all this strain being put on her.



Gael's death was both heartbreaking and emotional, and I loved how he refused to kill himself.



Michelle's idea of using suicide pills to end the suffering of the infected guests was surprising but did make sense. I knew Tony would back her up but Chapelle surprised me when he also agreed. I'm starting to like the guy so he'll probably be killed in the next episode, because Saunders ordered it.



And Finally I loved how the Drazen connection was brought up.

I remember this being the weakest of the three episodes that the people at Fox really hyped up after 24 returned from its long March break in 2004. However, it's much better when watching it again. Gael's death was done wonderfully which is rare on 24. Most characters get no such wonderful death, they are usually cheap ones. Good episode with a chilling ending that set up the best episode of Season 3.



Pros

-More great intensity in the hotel scenes. The hotel scenes really made these three post-5 week break episodes click.

-Some good exposition in the beginning. It wasn't annoying for a change.

-Cool techno stuff used by Michelle when she was questioning Alvers.

-The Drazen connection was very cool for old fans of the show.

-Extremely badass dialogue by Saunders to Palmer.

-I like how the Saunders cellphone had this special evil ringtone.

-I loved the "sky is falling" thing. Palmer's storyline really improved when Saunders was introduced as the main villain.

-Damn, Chappelle was awesome in this episode. His two scenes with Tony were amazing.

-I liked feisty Diana White. Jack not even flinching when she disrobed in front of him was classic.

-Jack's line about Diana White's rights no longer applying didn't make much sense, but it sure was cool.

-Gael's final scene was extremely heartbreaking. Great acting, great dialogue, great score, great makeup, great lighting. Brilliant and emotional.

-The helicopter scene was...unexpected to say the least. It was shot brilliantly. I loved the shot of the chopper actually rising up in front of the window.





Cons

-While the Drazen connection was cool, it made zero sense logically when you look back at the first season and read through the book that accompanied the first season. Oh well, it was a nice gesture.

-The squabbling over the raising of the terror alert level was stupid.

-The idea that the Secret Service would be able to screen a cellphone for the Cordilla virus within 10 minutes was laughable. Also, if they knew that Saunders knew where the president was, wouldn't that be a sign that it was time to evacuate him in case Saunders used the virus against Palmer himself? Just a thought... Oh and the "subchannel chip" thing made me laugh.

-I really noticed in this episode how odd it was that the President only had one key advisor that remained with him all the time.

-I disliked how the writers had to worm Kim into every episode for no good reason. It was similar to last year when Kate Warner was stuck into every episode no matter what.

-Stupid dialogue by Diana White.

-Honestly...who's going to think that Jack's ever going to die? The C4 scene lost some punch because of that.

-Whatever happened to that hard drive anyway? We never found out about its conclusion.

-Also, how the hell did Saunders know Chappelle? That's something else we never found out about.

Michelle does a kicka** job in this episode - coming off the shooting of Danny in the final moments of the previous ep, she follows up with a harsh reminder of exactly who is in charge of the hotel. She doesn't crack under the strain of having to shoot an innocent civilian, but instead turns around and further establishes her authority to the rest of the people there. Her solution to end the suffering of the hotel guests is remarkable, and heartbreaking. The courage it would take to even propose the idea is commendable, and having Tony and Chappelle back her up on it is great. She is definitely the strongest character in this episode, and Reiko Aylesworth is to be commended for the job she did in portraying her.



The storyline with the president and Saunders does tend to bog down a little and slow the episode as a whole, but the interaction is obviously necessary to move the story forward. Having Saunders establish his control over the President is disturbing - all comfortable beliefs that this could never, ever happen go flying out the window and makes one start to wonder - "What if.... ?" The satisfied look on Saunders' face when the President uses the required phrase is the one of a cat who has just eaten the canary.



Having Tony be the one now worried about Michelle is a swift turnaround from the beginning of the season when he was shot and she was a basketcase - I'm not sure I need the Tony/Michelle marital therapy course though. As much as I have disliked Ryan Chappelle in the past, his comments to Tony about assuming the worst and making it about revenge are entirely apropos.



The helicopter scene - where it hovers outside the building and uses a .50 cal machine gun to take out the occupants of MI6 - I'm supposed to believe that pistol beats .50 cal machine gun? C'mon, Jack, you're awesome, but not that good... (This is one of my reviews, you knew there had to be a nitpick in there somewhere... lol)