What a bullshit episode! Let's break down the moments that had me shaking my fist in my 'recliner of rage'. 1 - You know where Marwan AND the Football are, you send two agents and one of them gets killed. Don't bother sending any more, right? 2 - Have the hippie couple go to the only building around instead of just laying down somewhere off road where the terrorists could look all night and never find you. 3 - Instead of just ditching 1/2 of the football and having the couple keep moving, have each of them take part of it and seperate. That way it doubles the chance that one of them will be caught and held hostage until the other one gives up the missing part of the football. 4 - Shoot one out of the two jeeps and then land or leave or something. No way that our military can spare enough bullets to catch the terrorist AND shoot the tires out of a jeep. And once he's out of the spotlight you'll never find a jeep driving in the middle of the desert again.

Bullshit!

What ever happened to Behrooz?

Ditto on the B.S. call, drew--last night's 24 tested my faith to the limit. did you get how when jack called in to michelle he said 'the other agent' got shot? CTU agents get shot around jack so fast they don't even bother to give them names anymore. never mind the fact that marwan's laptop seems to have more capabilities than the entire CTU mainframe. guess all that internet porn edgar's been downloading must be slowing down the system. and then of course there's the classic 'i promise i won't kill you' line from marwan to kelly. honey, the guy just shot down Air Force One. if he doesn't get you with his gun, he's sure as hell going to get you with the NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST he's got planned. take one for the team, sweetheart. and i know jack's good with a pistol, but since he keeps singlehandedly taking on half a dozen terrorists, you'd think he'd bring along an uzi or something (or, better: a team of commandos--i mean, wouldn't the special forces be in on this thing by now? are they all still in tora bora looking for osama bin laden?).

while i admit to getting invested in the fate of our furry camper friend and his dimwit spouse, this episode was but another step backwards. i think the big problem was that the only legitimately active story line was the pursuit of the football. 24 works best when they give us more than one thing to worry about, which tends to help distract from the plausibility issues. the writing has gotten really lazy. mitch anderson vaporized with but a toss-off line from buchanan. curtis was pretty much MIA this episode; he and heller must have taken a long weekend in Puerto Vallarta or something. and, of course, we all know that when random people call 9-11 claiming to have information crucial to national security, they get patched through to federal agents by those ever-helpful and efficient LA dispatchers in seconds flat. two jeeps are racing away from the scene of a national security breach. what does CTU do? crash one and blithely let the other one speed off into the night (presumably towards another one of those 'hard perimeters')!?!? oh yeah: what ever happened to behrooz?

let's hope this is but a necessary lull before a frantic finish.

Let me just ask this: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE JET FIGHTERS THAT WERE WITH AIR FORCE ONE? They made a big deal last week of how "no one could miss the radar signature of a 747 and 5 fighter planes blah blah blah" but then they disappear and can't help Jack get the terrorists driving in their two jeeps? Hello! Just bomb them and it would all be over. And Eric Stoltz did not bomb the fighter planes, just Air Force One. Arrgh. I sat there last night pointing out the same flaws that Jack and Drew did and just hating the fact that after such a great season they really lose it all to complete rediculousness. Audrey needs to GO. I hope she's part of it. I'll remain hopeful that things improve next week.

Frantic finish? There are still what, 7 hours to go? They are stretching this year out to make it to 24 episodes. Is it better than last year? Maybe, but it's not up to year 1.

To continue the suspension-of-disbelief thread:

* Since when is a third-level, treasonous, former-but-reinstated CTU employee tasked with working on the transfer of power?
* What the heck is Mike Novik doing back in the government following his spearheading of the coup attempt on Palmer?
* Jack and the rest of CTU continue to amaze with their comprehensive knowledge of EVERY computer system, EVERY password, and EVERY tech spec in the entire government.
* Ditto on the poor agent of the week destined to get shot next to Jack. My son and I have started a game out of it.
* Just exactly where can I get one of those infinite-ammo firearms that Jack carries?
* Since when is CTU more responsive and/or repsonsible for AF1 than either the Secret Service or the military?

But I'm a diehard fan ... only 6 more hours to go!

I find the show more enjoyable if I just feign blithe ignorance. All of your points are valid. There are gaping inconsistencies all over the place. However, consider that you are watching a show where in less than a day we've had terrorists engineer a train derailment so they could steal a device to take control of all the country's nuclear reactors, they kidnapped the Secretary of State, took control of the internet and swamped it with traffic to broadcast his execution as a distraction, so that they could then melt one of the reactors down (RIP Edgar's mom and melty-faced reactor worker). They then managed to steal a Stealth fighter, find Air Force One, shoot it down and then salvage information from the wreckage in order to take control of a nuclear warhead. All this in 17 hours. This we're accepting, so are the finer points SUCH a stretch?

Another moment of disbelief was when camper husband guy heard a "noise" which camper wife did not. Then within mere feet of their campsite they stumble upon a completely decimated Air Force One. How could wifey NOT have heard that?!

At any rate, I still Kelly 24.

michael,

i don't think we're really talking about fine points here, but that's beside the point, which is that, up until about two episodes ago, the writing was sharp and the action precipitous enough that i never thought to question the logic. as i mentioned above, i think part of the problem here is that the narrative has narrowed in focus at the precise moment that the most unlikely scenario is taking place. the exit of the araz family, for instance, took out a major source of dramatic tension. heller is now out of the picture, and i don't recall seeing curtis at all last night either. everyone is at CTU headquarters except for jack, terrorists, and the vice-president and cabinet. novick is the only familiar character there, and since we all remember him best for stabbing palmer in the back, there's not too much suspense about how his storyline will evolve at the moment. so, basically, things have slowed down to a point where the audience just has too much time to ponder the improbabilities. it doesn't help matters that the crash of air force one happened off-screen, along with the shooting down of anderson in the stealth bomber, which is naturally going to open up a lot of questions about how the most protected man on the planet could get shot down in his own plane right in the middle of a major terrorist attack.

we have a right, i think, to moan a bit about the shortcomings because we've seen the producers of 24 pull off the impossible much more persuasively, particularly in season 1 and to a lesser extent in season 2. up until the midpoint, this season has thrown the most unlikely and unbelievable circumstances yet at the audience, and i was totally on the hook until last week. the writers and directors have proven they can do better than they're doing right now. i suppose we're all complaining, but mostly i'm just hoping they right the ship before it sinks, and bring back the same level of tension that made the first half of the season kick ass.

"Anyway, Jason explained the football's significance to wifey, who asked "Who you gonna call?" Ghostbusters! Sorry, knee-jerk reaction."

Don't worry B-Side, I shouted out the same thing out loud to...well, myself in my apartment. Great minds--like yours, mine, and Jay Fiedler's--think alike.

On a side note, I think we 24 fans would have a lot of fun adopting the Jack Bauer Method of Communication in our daily lives. That is, alternating between (1) Low volume, husky, adrenaline-charged whisper and (2) High volume, my-patience-is-gone-after-half-a-second barked commands.

Go into a deli and try it out. "(1) I need a turkey and swiss on rye bread. (2) MAKE IT! NOW!" Or the laundromat: "(1) I need you to change this dollar for four quarters. (2) DO IT!!!"

It really will make your life much more exciting.

You forgot to add "DAMMIT!" your your deli scenario. :)

Well,
This season of 24 has had its ups and downs, just like every season (I'm sure the first season may have had some implausability moments, just too far in the past for my ADD mind to remember)! Last nights episode got me excited at the edge of my seat to see what was going to happen. Sure, during the commercials I cursed the show for Jack's "team" being one other guy, cursed the helicopter not going after Marwan, cursed at the token pretty girl trying to save her husband....but i got heated and excited and that is all i can really hope for from a great television show. At least we can be thankful Kim Bauer is not back. I do hope Audrey turns into a villain because she is such a boring sad sack, and this show does have the best female villains. Maybe she is having a love affair with Behroooooooz as well.....stranger things have happened!

Point taken, jack, and I'm wholeheartedly behind your right to moan/quibble. Hell, for some it's probably part of the fun, right?

Jack - I agree with you that the narrative focus has simplified recently, especially with the loss of the Araz family. And I agree that there have been many implausibilities that have therefore come to light. I haven't lost my love for the season though. Yeah, I think the Araz family should still be in it -- they really added an interesting dimension to this season -- but I'm still happy with how these episodes have played out. By the end of the hour, I still tend to be extremely wound up and excited, but it would behoove the writers to take a step back and bring just a shade of reality back into the picture. I do think this has been the best season yet.

And I agree with MyMomStalksB-Side. We all should try acting like Jack in mundane, everyday situations.

24 was better than expected after last weeks excellent episode. even with all of the suspension of disbelief. how could the writers be so cruel in crafting such a great episode? I couldn't shift into relax mode after seeing it.

Jack kicked major azz. 24's Veep is a big wuss. Dick Cheeney I imagine would step to the fore and say "paste that presidential logo on my suit" while simultaneously laying the greatest of smackdown on whoever he thought was involved. Including his lesbo daughter. where's Dick when you need it.

did you have to show the picture of the hairy fan again?

I love this show, but I didnt like this episode b/c it was just totally out there. The nations nuclear security is at risk and CTU only feels the need to send out TWO agents. WTF? I wonder what they think a real emergency looks like?

A few questions, has the writing always been this poor? Have there always been these little personal side stories? Like in Monday's episode, Jack takes a personal call from Audrey, DURING A NUCLEAR CRISIS!!

Oh by the way if you want to see(laugh) at what Edgar (Louis Lombardi) is up to, yep he has a web site: http://www.louislombardi.com/ The intro is worth it.

A little spoiler if you want it...

According to IMDB, Dennis Haybert is coming back to 24 on the April 25th episode and for the rest of the season. Then on the May 2nd episode, James Badge Dale will return for the duration of the season.

Clearly, Jason should have stuck to singing "Man, I Feel Like a Woman" in the desert with his Chevy truckload of homophobic pals instead of tenting up with Fertile Myrtle. Now he's shrieking, "Man, I Feel Like a Gunshot Victim."

Dennis Haybert question....

Will he be returning as an ex-president or to sell insurance?
My suggestion to any insurance brokers out there would be to avoid selling any kind of insurance to current CTU employees. Also NEVER EVER sell a life insurance policy to one of those annonymous day players escorting Jack anywhere.

Suggestion to Paul Raines ----------

By all means get a second opinion before agreeing to additional surgery at the CTU clinic.

Re: Paul Raines, It's never a good idea to preform neurosurgery at the office infirmiry!

I almost pissed my pants during monday's episode when the terrorists were after that innocent couple with the football. These writers deserve a big ol cookie. They're incredible. I want dennis haybert back running the country with his shirt off. And I want to see the tall dark brother in CTU in a shower scene with soap and water dripping down that hot chocolate body of his!!!

The episodes are getting regularly forgettable...there is no longer the passion of the first season...the writing is weak at best...there is a lot of wallowing in a "thought" and very little substance...this past episode could have filled a great 10-15 minutes...with all the pablum filler...it stretched to a tiresome 59 min...