Nevertheless, Jack was onto something. "Give me more damn volume on the phone call!" he yelled at Curtis, who responded with "Jack, Tony's gone." There was a quiet, reflective pause, and then Jack replied calmly, "I'm sorry, Curtis. Just play it again. Please." Well, since he asked so nicely, how could Curtis resist? Jack watched the footage again, and this time, he noticed not the explosion but that none of all that hard rain even showed up in the recording. Mandy must have been calling from another location! DUH.

Yes, Mandy was alive and well, and she had even been so kind as to finally throw some clothes on the entirely too shiny Tony Almeida (she got the garments from the recently deceased Joss, and we can assume the decoys were the two other unlucky residents from that apartment. Still waiting for the backstory on that...). Anyway, as Mandy prepared to head outside with her hostage, Tony pressed his toe against what looked to be egg shells. Oh wait, never mind. It was broken glass, and he had cut himself in order to leave a bloody trail of his whereabouts. How very Hansel and Gretel. Well, in a rare moment of proficiency, the CTU field team actually spotted the blood, and as Jack came over to investigate, he noticed there was actually a trail.

Tony and Mandy, meanwhile, had ventured down to the garage, and in an attempt to wrangle himself free, Tony engaged in a headbutting extravaganza as he tried his best to whoop his captor with nothing but his torso, forehead, and knees. Unfortunately, Mandy was able to easily fight back, thus securing Tony's badass ranking as firmly #3 behind Curtis and Jack. After all, let's not forget when Jack was able to kill two guys with his hands cuffed behind him last season. And must we overlook Curtis's insane escape from Marwan earlier that afternoon?

Speaking of badasses, Jack suddenly showed up in the garage and told Mandy to drop her gun. There was a neat little showdown, and as Mandy tempted Jack to shoot Tony, Curtis snuck up from behind (he and Jack LOVE sneaky maneuvers) and OH YES, he just punched her right in the FACE! Man, it was like he heard Tony threatening to be badass #2 and just HAD to one-up him. Wow, a punch to the face. That was awesome. Let it be known that this moment was replayed on the Tivo many, many times. Producers, if you ever kill our man Curtis, I will never forgive you.

With Mandy knocked out and handcuffed and Tony safe and sound, it was time to alert Michelle that her husband was still alive. I kind of was hoping Jack would call her up and be all coy and everything. "Guess who I found. I'll give you a hint, you used to be married to him and you thought he just died!" Then of course Audrey would come galloping in, yelling "Paul? Paul? Is he alive!!!!" Ah, it would be worth it just to see her crumble all over again. But anyway, Jack alerted CTU in a normal way, but alas, Michelle wasn't there. She was in the parking lot, sitting in her car. A knot slowly formed in my stomach as a tragic Romeo & Juliet scenario played out in my head: Michelle thinks Tony's dead, Michelle commits suicide, Tony finds Michelle dead, Tony commits suicide, and so on and so forth. As Buchanan tried to reach her on her cell, my fears became more and more intense. Answer the phone! Your man is alive! Don't shoot your brains out!

Luckily, Michelle picked up and tearfully learned the wonderful news that her man would be coming back to her. "I'm coming to CTU right now," Tony said. Oh no. The other kiss of death: telling people to wait. Would this be curtains for Tony?

Anyway, while Jack arranged a deal with Mandy in exchange for information, we returned to San Diego where Howard was now tied up and ready for some good old fashioned torture. But Chang didn't need to do any of that. Instead, he was simply going to ship Howard off to China, never to be heard from again -- unless he talked. Who authorized the raid on the consulate, he asked. Dumbass, say it was Habib Marwan. You know, the guy that actually was chasing the witness staying there. But no, Howard wasn't very quick, and as the first hour concluded, he reluctantly admitted that Jack was behind the mission. Hand slapping forehead.

The second hour of the broadcast began with another nifty "Previously on 24" recap where we got to see Curtis punching Mandy in the face yet again. Ha, that never gets old. I mean, it's not like he punched her face with an uppercut or a jab. He full on rocketed his fist right between her eyes. Seriously, it was one of the very best punches in the series' history, let alone network television in general. Okay, I'm gushing. Let's just move on.

Posted by B-side on May 24, 2005 1:11 PM