24

Logic/Details - » The objective here was very simple, complicate things, bring a old character and give a new plot to Palmer.



This episode continues to be solid, some surprises and the last scenes managed to build a nice tension. There are also some scenes with tension like when the new buyer arrives and with Chase.



Progress -» A old character is back and Jack didn´t Get the Virus yet. Palmer has a new things to worry about.



Emotions/Stimulation/Highlights -» An older character is back (surprise) and you have some scenes with good tensions.



Ending - » Filled with tension and a new complication for Jack Bauer.



Overall - » A solid episode with a surprise and some tension that continues to build details for the next episodes, this episode deserve at least a 7.

Oh.. this episode was mind blowing.. When we saw that van and some black hair.. my first thought was Nina.. then I thought.. that would be just too much and maybe it is Mandy or.. but no.. it was Nina and it was perfect. I just love the reaction she brings out of Jack. Perfect.



And now where Anne is out of the loop for Palmer, new problem rise. And they are even more bigger.



And Jack losing the bit on the virus. That was hard. Not that I was sure that he won't get it. They never go easy. And the whole thing with Tony and the way Michelle and Kim were doubting him.. that hurt.. and Michelle needs a lot of damage control.

This episode was pretty good. And Nina Myers is back!! I wasn't expecting her to arrive, but as soon as Amador said there was another bidder, the thought of it being either Nina or Mandy crossed my mind. The auction was boring though and not as intense as I felt it could have been, it was blatently obvious that Nina was going to win the bid.



The Palmer storyline has been crap so far, but now there is a random situation involving Alan Miliken. I really liked this storyline though, its a drastic improvement from the previous one, and you'll know exactly why in the next episode.



I hated Kim so much in this episode, and what I hated even more is that she didn't get a telling off by Chappelle for it. I think she makes more trouble when shes out getting kidnapped. I felt sorry for Michelle, I guess she shouldn't have believed her, and Tony was a total dick as well. I don't like seeing this side of Tony, it reminds me of how he was in season 2 *shudders*



Quote of the hour! Roman Salazar: "The man has more lives than a cat."

The plot starts off dry as Chase enters his torture session (I'm no longer impressed after watching Jack's torture in S2) and Claudia fails to give Jack a way to contact CTU. But strangely, it all works out, since Nina (wha?) Myers (huh??) shows up to compete for the virus, delaying the swoop-and-strike for a little while.

Because of said delay, CTU's gotta find another way to keep busy, so there's this big plotline about Kim and Michelle doubting Tony's ability to run things. It's really subtle how the writers just threw that in there. But honestly.

Since the Packard storyline has been milked dry (and the milk was already rotten, by the way), Palmer must also find something else to do, and that comes when his old buddy Alan Milliken tells him to fire Wayne for sleeping with his wife Julia. I'll admit that this subplot is better than anything Anne and Ted had to offer, but still, with a government operation to retrieve an extremely lethal virus in Mexico, who really has time to care about some adultery-based grudge match?

The plot stops drying and starts thickening when Nina wins the auction, forcing Jack to focus the next few hours on finding her and getting her to cooperate with the Salazars. Interesting, much?



Hourly Highlight:

Wanna see Jack Bauer begging for his life in front of two stereotypical Mexican druglord brothers? Search no more!

I thought that the scenes with Jack and the Salazars really made this episode stand out, but the continuous need to have some sort of a filler role played by David Palmer is getting a little old. Having his campaign supporter call him just after everything has gone down (at almost 915 at night) was a little bit of a reach by the writers to try and find something to fill in the gaps. I am all for needing some scenes where Jack bauer doesnt appear, simply because of the nature of the show, but it just seems like David Palmer is always given some kind of goverment conspiricy that he has to work out or his presidency will be in jeopardy. The situation at CTU is also becoming a little bit old for me - with Tonys question to led CTU always seeming to be in doubt among his fellow workers. I thought the scene betweeh Tony - Michelle and Ryan was great, but it wasnt enough to save there part of the three way storyline. Good episode overall, with Nina being a huge surprise facotr that none of us saw coming...

President Palmer receives a call from a top contributor who reveals to him a secret about Wayne. Michelle starts to worry about Tony's mental capacity for dealing with the current crisis and she begins to wonder whether or not she'll report it to division. Jack and the Salazars meet Amador thinking they'll buy the virus from him, but it turns out that someone else is on the scene to make things complicated. I like the surprises shown in this episode. The writers made sure that the plot kept on going without slowing down. The suspense thickens on this point, it's really amazing.

The good news about this episode was that we were just one episode closer to getting out of Mexico. Nina's return was a double-edged sword. It was so impossible, it was ridiculous; however, seeing Nina back on 24 was wonderful.



Pros

-I'm glad they just had Jack take those mysterious anti-heroin pills to get rid of that storyline completely.

-Tense scenes with Jack and Claudia.

-I finally gained a bit of respect for Chase in this episode. Took the torture head-on.

-Great Chloe interaction with Kim. Also some great stuff by Chappelle.

-The Alan Milliken storyline was at least somewhat better than the Dr. Anne storyline.

-CREEPY white tent for the auction. Looked almost extraterrestrial.

-Despite the implausibility of Nina's return, it was good in a way to see her back. Her reaction to Jack and his reaction to her was just...brilliant.

-Claudia was awesome in helping out Chase.

-The reactions of the various players when Nina won the virus was hilarious as well.

-Smooth talking by Jack at the end saving his life.



Cons

-The Tony being a dick storyline was stupid.

-I feel very bad for bringing this up, but Claudia's nose was distracting in her scenes with Jack. It was hard to pay attention to the rest of the scene with her nose being like it was.

-Let me rant on Nina's return for a second. My favorite villain ever on 24 was Nina Myers. Sarah Clarke is a great actress and Nina Myers is pure evil. However, the way they brought her back in this season was just pure nonsense. There's suspension of belief and then there's sci-fi mystical stuff like this. Out of all the people in the world, it's Nina? No, just no. Also, I can't hold this against the people that make 24, but was anybody surprised by this? The previews for this episode practically gave it away and Nina's long hair on the DVD told you that she was coming back. (/End rant)

-Come on now...did anybody think that Jack was going to get killed?



This season REALLY dragged when Jack was down in Mexico. I think the writers made a huge mistake when drawing up this storyline in the first place.

24: Day 3: 9:00 P.M.-10:00 P.M.



Anyway, I\'m glad in the beginning of the episode we actually got to see Jack having actual withdrawal symptoms. He\'s been going the past 8 hours without even getting cold. Now, he\'s shaking all over the place. If I was Jack, I wouldn\'t trust Ramon\'s pills. I\'ve never thought of Ramon to be the generous type.



Palmer\'s Story is starting to turn around. Watching his plot is much better without Anne. No offense to Wendy Crewson but, god did you have to make that character so dislikeable. This episode featured some great acting by Dennis Haysbert and that guy who plays Alan Milliken. Wayne Palmer has gotten on my good side now as he shows in this episode how great a character he really is. Thank god the Anne story ended last week or we wouldn\'t get suck great acting. A personal thank you to whoever ended Anne\'s story. Thank You.



Claudia seemed more likeable this hour. I thought the kiss between her and Jack was kind of awkward. I guess this means Jack cheated on Kate. Too bad, I though Kate and Jack had gone through worse times than Jack and Claudia. I mean I don\'t really know what happened in those three years but, Kate and Jack met on the day a nuclear bomb was set to go off. Kate and Jack then spent more than half the day trying to stop disaster from striking. Some of that has to mean something. Anyway, back to Claudia. One of the most Non-Nina tension scenes was when Claudia was trying to give the cell phone to Jack when Hector is standing right there. It was terrific moment when Hector said \"Claudia, I left my phone in the house\"



I thought the drama at CTU was kind of just setting up for a big Michelle/Tony fight in the next episode or so. I liked how in the first 40 minutes or so, the writers made us think Tony was unfit then WHAM. Tony shows us just how fit he is. I don\'t understand why a few format codes would be important enough to lay off the head of CTU for a day. Sometimes, I just don\'t understand Kim\'s logic. That should teach Michelle a lesson. Never listen to Kim!



Anyway, The Nina and Jack moments reminded me of Nina\'s first episode from last year. When Jack doesn\'t even talk to her but, Jack stares at her and it adds this huge tension to the scene. The exact same thing happened tonight. Nina and Jack barely talked but, both of them being in the same place together just added this gigantic amount of tension to the scene. The Auction scene was so tension-packed I thought I was going to explode out of excitement. Finally we learn that Nina outbid Jack and she gets the virus. This makes things a lot worse for Jack and makes better television for us.



Biggest Shock of the Night: Nina has long hair now!!!!!!!!! Wow, that was unexpected.



Quote of the week: He\'s got more lives than a cat! - Ramon





Weekly Continuity Error:

Both buyers were at the auction and yet the auction happens thirty minutes later and it takes about 2 minutes. I would think they would want to get it over with as soon as possible.





Highlights:



*Claudia\'s Phone Trick



*Nina\'s Return



*The Auction





Overall Grade: B