24

This isn't bad, I guess. But you know what might've been better? Saving it for the final friggin' season!
Jack and Tony re-team for a little stealth work at the Port of Alexandria, where Starkwood mercenaries are picking up a shipment of bioweapon canisters. But it all goes to hell when Jack saves a side character and gets his guns blazing. It's a fine shootout, but nothing too impressive. Especially since we've already seen a firefight years ago at a certain other Port. But who am I to compare seasons?
Olivia does her own stealth work regarding the leak of Burnett's death, and Kanin decides to take responsibility for that fiasco and resign. Okay, he will return later, and the writers did have this whole season mapped out, so why did they have to make his "final" conversation with Taylor so damn long and tedious? And don't tell me it was to give Jack and Tony enough time to get to the Port; the last six seasons are a testament to their superpowers.
Anyway, Tony gets captured, and Jack tries to drive the canisters to safety. Except that one of them gets shot. And he gets exposed. And Hodges' men take the bioweapon back. So we're all screwed.
Except for Jack. The main character of this show. Which still has one more season. Way to go, 7!

Hourly Highlight:
Know what? The Starkwood board meeting. Because we never really get such scenes, and sometimes it's all about the novelty! And, y'know, some Hodges ham.

Jack gets a shower (decontamination), Jack shows his scars, Jack sits around in his underwear, Renee apologizes to Larry, Larry apologies to Renee' (but says it was really her fault), Tony is tricked by a lawyer (!), the President signs a piece of paper, Larry invades an empty warehouse, nobody shoots. What a sleeper. The first disappointing episode.

I have no trouble with suspending belief (i.e. no one goes to the bathroom, constant action), but I have trouble with an episode where NOTHING (and I mean NOTHING) happens. This is supposed to be exciting. In all the years I've watched 24 (never missed an episode) this weeks was the slowest ever. A real disappointment.

Not as much action in this episode as the last, but enough to keep you on the edge of your seat. Ethan Kanin resigns as Chief of Staff due to the days events and authorizing Jack Bauer to interrogate Ryan Burnett, who subsequently killed by Quinn but blamed on Jack. Kanin also tells the President that Senator Mayer was killed and apparently by Jack Bauer. The President is in disbelief because of all that Jack had done to stop the previous attacks.



Jack and Tony where the biological WMDs are are coming in at by the phone Jack had retrieved from Quinn when he kill him. They work with the security guard to try and gain control of the container holding the biological weapons. The team from Starkwood find the container with the help of the Security Guard and they take him out to kill him. Jack sees what is going on and takes out the Starkwood guy before he can kill the Security Guard. What do you know, Jack does have a soft spot.



After a firefight and Jack chasing and jumping on the truck carrying the weapons, he gains control of the truck and the weapons.



Jack finds a tear in the truck and an open canister of the bio weapon and has to go into the truck trailer to shut it down. In the process he gets exposed. Jack calls Larry and lets him know what is going on and that he needs to send a team to secure the compound he was just at as well as send the CDC to his location. Before help can arrive, Starkwood attacks Jack by helicopter and a vehicle and he has to abandon the truck and bio weapons. Starkwood once again has possession of the biological weapons.



Jack sits with a very solemn look on his face.

Presentation Phase - » (8/10). I liked the beginning, some setups, Henry Taylor is fine and Ethan asks for his resignation and finally Larry opened his eyes and knows that Jack is innocent. Another guest character that you can suspect that will die.



Complication Phase - » (10/10)*2. This seems like Rambo, Jack and Tony against one group of mercenaries and they had to recover the container with the biological weapon. The complication itself is very attractive and seemed that could end in this episode. Jack saved the day again, but he sacrificed himself to do it and ended up with almost nothing.



Ending - » (10/10). Jack is infected, I could not see that coming.



Time and Scene Management - » (10/10). IT was very hard to notice any filler, seemed to me that all the scenes was necessary.



Plot Details/Holes- » (10/10). Nothing that I can point.



Surprises/Shocks/Twists - » (10/10). The ending presents a game changer in 24, can this really happen?



Suspense/Tension - » (9/10). The gun fight provided great tension, you actually can pay too much attention because you can feel that someone can die.



Drama - » (7/10). Ethan presented his resignation and this guest character that had his own drama and Jack has to decide if he will save him.



Action - » (9/10). Another nice gun fights with some realism.



What I liked -» Almost all scenes.



What I Didn´t Liked -» I didn´t care for this guest character that helped Jack and Tony. Olivia continues to be annoying.



This episode surprised me, a simple episode that brought good details, excellent complication, action and outcome.

'10pm - 11pm' is very much a game of two halves with the first coming in a little weak and the second really picking up the pace. To begin, we have Ethan resigning as President Taylor's Chief of Staff in a rather stifled scene that overstays its welcome. Then there is the annoyingly unnecessary set up of security guard Connor Trineer's moral dilemma as the father of an unborn child which, while believable, is nothing other than extraneous and serves to distract from the main thrust of the action. And then, of course, there's Taylor's absolutely ridiculous appointment of her daughter as her temporary Chief of Staff. What's the betting that, by the end of the day, she'll have made such a 'good impression' that she'll ultimately end up in a permanent post? Actually, scratch that. She'll be exposed as the duplicitous no-gooder that she really is and will have a showdown with Ethan. Or maybe that's just my personal fantasy. Anyway, however you look at it, this is just plain dumb. You're telling me there's no one remaining on staff in the White House who would be better suited than the President's fricking daughter? What about Tim? What's preventing this faithful aide from stepping up? Ack, this sort of rank nepotism is just irritating and smacks of lazy writing. Plus, every second that Olivia spends on screen is a second wasted, in this writer's opinion. What is exactly IS the point in her character, other than to p**s every member of the viewing audience off? She's Sherry Palmer lite, an annoying vulture picking at the scraps of the overblown buffet that is the White House operation. And somewhere along the line, that metaphor went horribly wrong. Anyhow, if you can look past these disappointing elements, there's a great deal of good to be found in the later moments of the hour. Cassar shows his skill as a director yet again in the confrontation sequence at the warehouse which looks absolutely fantastic and could be one of the finest in the show's history. It's also very well written, making the right plot movements in exactly the right places and ultimately leading to a rather dramatic, if surely superfluous (seeing as Sutherland is signed on for an eighth season), closing cliffhanger. Highly tense stuff then... it's just a shame the rest of the hour can't live up to these standards.

We're almost two thirds through the season now (next Monday sees Hour 16) and the focus is now on Jonas Hodges's operation. There was a bit more action this week compared to last week, although that didn't come until the second half hour. Unfortunately the start of the big action scene with the large container, the lorry and Jack and Tony's attack on the unit picking up the bio-weapon, was ruined by some awful music. This has become a problem with "24" over the past few seasons, getting worse as each season has gone on.



The episode on Sky 1 tonight was preceded by an episode content warning ("violent scenes from the outset"). This I assume included some of the Hour 14 recap (Senator Mayer being shot by Quinn at his house entrance).



Will Jonas Hodges find out in Hour 16 that some of the bio-weapon has leaked?



The media angle regarding Olivia, the news reporter and Jack could become very interesting.



I've been disappointed with how the makers of "24" have used Tony this season. I can't see him lasting the rest of Day 7.



The scene with the lorry and the bio weapon in the last 10 or so minutes was great. It's looking like eventually the FBI will raid the location of the bio weapon. Where this storyline will go I don't know. But I'm guessing things will come to a predictable end at the end of Day 7.



The very end of Hour 15 felt a bit flat. Hopefully next week's episode will be excellent. It feels like "24" is running at a consistent but not very exciting pace at the moment.

This hour starts off with Jack finding the address where the ship-man for the bio-weapons will be delivered. Jack and Tony capture a security guard named, Carl and ask his support in accessing the port manifest to locate the weapon. The men who are on their way to collect the weapon give Carl a radio to keep contact, when Jack and Tony can't get through to the FBI they have no alternative but to let Carl continue with the plan. Tony thinks the plan is to follow the guys to their next location and catch them, Jack has other plans. Jack takes one of them out while the rest load the container onto the truck, but when one of the fat men don't call back, that's when Jack and Tony open fire. Jack gets the truck while Tony gets captured. Jack gets a call out to Moss, where he lets on him what the hell he's been doing for the last 2 hours. Jack suspects something's not right; he gets out finding a leak in the tank. Jack manages to stop it not before Hodges men come back to get what belongs to them. Elsewhere Olivia seems to be the one who did scooped the news about Jack Bauer to the press and got what she wanted by Ethan resigning. What other devious plans has she got up sleeve?

The writers are chugging along this season, delivering on the promise of a more cohesive season arc. With the complication phase of the season coming to a close within the next couple of episodes (if the usual pattern holds), then this first real battle with Starkwood forces is the prelude to something much more substantial. Jack's exposure to the bioweapon and his inability to stop them from regaining possession of it certainly set the stage for something nasty.



Jonas Hodges is still a bit obtuse as a villain, even if his goals are fairly clear. With national security demands going through the roof in the wake of the terrorist attacks earlier in the day, he's done a great deal to increase the military's dependence on organizations like Starkwood. And whatever else they have planned will only increase the apparent need. It would be nice if Jonas was a bit less obvious in his evil, of course; villains are always better when they act out of a sincere belief that what they're doing is right.



There's little chance that Jack will actually die from the effects of the bioweapon. It's more likely that is exposure, and the tests conducted as a result, will tell the CDC what they need to know to counter the biological terrorist attack. This plot twist also requires Jack to be in custody. As such, it's little wonder that Agent Moss begins to listen to Jack in this episode. Thankfully, his decision to start trusting Jack is based on clues at Senator Meyer's house and a short discussion with Agent Walker.



Because the story is forcing law enforcement to support Jack once again, based on the preponderance of evidence, another source of pressure must be applied. If there's one thing that has been abundantly clear, it's that Jack will not find restoration easily, even with his most vocal opponents out of the equation. The rest of the season will still be devoted to proving his true worth, and the worth of his brand of counter-terrorism.



Olivia's gambit with the press is precisely that kind of external pressure. Olivia will make it hard for Jack to be treated fairly, because the media will be portraying him as a terrorist. Add to that the minor fact that Ethan has resigned and Olivia has the President's ear, and Jack will have quite the uphill climb in getting back the President's trust.



Tony's capture will only add to the pressure Jack feels in terms of the timetable, since it's unlikely that Starkwood would keep Tony alive as much more than leverage. It's actually surprising that they kept him alive at all. I suppose it would make sense if Jonas wants to keep him as insurance against Jack, but otherwise, it's hard not to suspect that it merely serves the plot.

The president's daughter becomes increasingly involved in the day's events, a high-ranking official delivers devastating news to the administration.



The show has slowed down quite a bit and the last two episodes show that. Bauer and Tony take 45 minutes to set up what they have to do with the takeover of the biological weapon. I did like a lot of this. Jack Bauer saves the man with the wife at home, something that Tony was ready and able to let happen but Jack just can't do it anymore. We can start seeing Jack devolop as a character, which is great considering that we are almost seven seasons in. Jack keeps his word and calls Larry once he has the weapon, full and ready to turn himself in. I am a little curious as to what is going to happen in the next episode with Jack and the FBI crossing paths again. I think Larry gave Jack some respect when Jack called Larry the second time with some information. The other portion of the episode was devoted to the Presidents storyline and this has gone back to being something that I don't care about. At all. Just don't care. =/

What can be said about this season that hasn't already been said. It has been simply brilliant with great set pieces of action as well as a gripping story to complement it. This episode manages to keep the break neck pace going as well as deliver some more new turns to keep the regular and casual viewer sucked into this gripping season.



This week Jack and Tony rendezvous at the harbour where the WMD is to find one man guarding the whole compound. You see this guard, Carl, calling his wife about how she is going and how her twins are going as she is pregnant. Ususally unneeded info like that sounds the death of a character that the writers want people to care about. Thankfully this doesn't happen as Jack's new found compassion leads to him taking care of him when he joins them in the plan to stop the weapon from getting out. The weapon is seized by Jack but Tony is taken captive as Jack plans to escape. When Jack lets Larry in on the facts he realizes that the weapon was damaged in the firefight and Jack has to repair it befre it exposes all of D.C. In the process he exposes himself to the toxin in the weapon then he is overwhelmed by Starkwood and the weapon falls back in their hands.



Back in the White House, with the news of Mayer's death, Ethan feels guilt over letting Jack interrogate Bennett. He resigns as Cheif Advisor and the President has no choice but to accept. This dampens Allison's hour as Henry was just given the all clear at the hospital. Before Ethan leaves he apologzes to Olivia and tries to impart some advice on her. Upon his exit she lets it be known the she leaked the story to the press (no surprises there) and that the journalist can run the story now in return for something. It's obvious that she will be found out soon enough and Ethan's call will prove correct in the end but it is nice to see that there are still more twists in this tale to keep things fresh.



This episode has kept the pace of the show going and gave the audience enough excitement to be hanging out for the next episode to come back on TV. Lord knows I am!

wow great episode, i liked how the whole episode builed up to the final 10 minutes that suspense make it feel like season 1. great having tony back and in action he was cool in this episode also great character development for jack when he saved the guy i enjoy good guy jack every once in a while (not that he is usually bad) larry is becoming a great character i liked the cameo that the first gentleman made and that olivia is a bit%h also prewiews for next week look epic : tony and jonas hodges in the same room cant wait. but what made this episode was the cliffhanger i mean thats an epic ending i just cant wait for next week

Well they finally decided to use Tony. After many episodes of being wasted they decided it was time seeing as Jack was now a suspected criminal.



Even though CTU isn't around anymore and Bill is gone you could call this a CTU reunion. Jack and Tony work together well.



Although there were a few far fetched moments (like Jack helping out a total idiot and blowing his and Tony's cover and Jack infecting himself with the bioweapon when the CDC people could have found traces of the virus on their own) it was still an around great episode due to the fact that there was more action here than the last episode.



The things that didn't surprise me was the Olivia thing. She's shown herself to be a deceitful, ambitious slut from day one when she was berating a senior official in Ethan so the fact that we learn that she actually did leak the story about Ryan Burnett and Jack is not surprising.



I did find it out of character for Ethan to apologize to Olivia...there's no way most people would be so generous toward someone who was clearly out to get them and make a name for themselves would be so polite, much less resigning their position without a fight.



Back to the bigger picture, the cliffhanger with Jack leaves a lot of questions answered. The previews look compelling as usual. Larry Moss looks like he finally grew a brain and started trusting Jack. I know they won't kill of Jack but it'll be interesting to see what they'll do with him. It'll be

also interesting to see what they do with Tony next.

24 is one of the few series which keeps you attached from beginning to end and which maintains it's top five position in my book weekly.



*CONTAINS SPOILERS*



Each hour seems to be nerve wrecking as Jack goes from being hunted like an animahttp://www.tv.com/24/day-7-1000-pm---1100-pm/episode/1255130/write_review.html?user_rating=90&rating_ref_type=103l to being infected with a deadly nerve virus and Jack does this 'all for his country'. Doesn't the world need more people like him? Then again over time Jack feels like he has nothing to live for, could this be his big break?



This segment opens with the continued hunt for Jack's head on the platter as he is assumed to be a murderous felon. Still Jack pursues the only lead on Starkwood, the only useful piece of information he got from the Mayor, before he met his demise. As Larry realizes that there was a third party at the Mayor's house and Jack isn't the psychopathic killer he imagined him to be, he rings Renee to gain some more perspective on Jack's whereabouts; it's about time.



Jack and Tony, on the verge of meeting, each discuss the recent events Jack discovered. Starkwood has biological weapons in the country and is plotting an attack. The entire community is hunting the wrong person as usual. Jonas Hodges should be the individual under scrutiny; he is a ruthless business man who believes that the death of millions could compensate for his ridiculous cause. What's 24 without the madman and the absurd theory. On the other hand John Voight's screen time often benefits 24. His representation of Hodges is astounding from since 24 Redemption. Hodges stood still as he managed to stand up in front of the board of directors and make the idea of 'taking charge and standing up for the Starkwood rights, possibly facing government indictment' sound like a walk through the park, only settling with one opposer to his ridiculous theory 'The Mayor's dead so it's okay now'.



I found myself wondering if Jack was going to help Carl, the guy he befriended in a short space of time. Jack promised him that he would have his back after he rambled on about his wife and the twins. I kept thinking back to the conversation between Carl and his wife, wondering if she would becoming a widow and a single parent in one day. When Jack shot the guy that was holding Carl at gun-point, Carl's "Thank you, Thank you" proved more than amusing, like he was saying "I knew he had my back I didn't doubt it for a second". I was happy to know that Jack wasn't willing to stick by his theory of "Let one die to save thousands", maybe Carl rambled on about his wife to give Jack some sympathy towards him. I'm glad Carl got to go home to his wife-without the money, but that proves; you play with fire, you get burned. At least he made it out without a scratch or at least a bullet to the head.



I rooted for Jack when he got a hold of a truck, though I felt it was too easy. It couldn't end with 'Jack apprehends the weapons returns it to the government and everything returns to normal', there are nine more episodes left sadly, in this case, hours. Starkwood had to reclaim the weapons, in that case, was Jack's rescue attempt a sham? Tony ended up in Starkwood's custody and Jack ended up being exposed to the canisters, let's hope there is a cure. Let's hope the CDC sent by Larry arrives on time.



Looks Like my review went a little overboard, there was just so much to write about.



Here's the continuation:



At the White house was Olivia actually nice to Ethan? Of course our suspicions of her leaking Ethan's input in the Jack Bauer murderous spree was confirmed when she openly fed the reporter more juicy details on-screen, with an additional promise of dinner, let's hope the reporter doesn't turn the tables on her. The funny part is, she claims to be doing all her dirty deeds for her mother; lay the dirt on someone else while her mother escapes scot-free. I couldn't believe that Ethan fell for her tricks, apologizing for ever doubting her in the beginning. All in all Ethan proved to be a good man as he personally resigned without persuasion or hesitation.





Bonus Facts



*Was it just me or did you sense a personal connection between President Taylor and Ethan, as they held hands in the end. Even from 24 Redemption it felt as though they had a history.



*Henry's alive and well and is expected to have a full recovery. I hope he remains well and ready, I don't think he could survive another hostage attempt.



*How far would Olivia go to protect her mother?



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Four and a Half out of Five Stars



Grade B+



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I think this season really well stands out for the stability - we really have exciting, good episodes in row, always something happening.



I really liked what was going on. All the turns in the White House - Olivia having her own agenda after all and pushing out Ethan.. and then the whole action Jack and Tony had - it looks like they seemed to get all the fun and I liked how the story developed. That Jack could not let that man die and exposed themselves. What happened with Tony? And Jack now exposed. It just looks like there is another really good episode coming.