If you have been watching the show for a while, you know that one of the fun things to do is to watch the "Previously on 24" section. The people that they choose to highlight often play a big role in the upcoming episode, and so when I saw that Spenser got his own highlight, I was hoping that he would die. Only time would tell if my dream would come true.

We start out this episode where we left off last week. President Pussy sort of watched in horror as Jack threatened to make give Walt Cummings a reason to wear an eye patch for reasons other than Halloween and his wife's pirate fetish. Walt continued to give up more information on what he knew about the plan. He was originally contacted by James Nathanson, formerly of the CIA, and who I am guessing is the mastermind we keep seeing with all of the Minority Report plasma screens roaming around his head.

For most of us, it is impossible to sort of understand Walt's thinking. To aid in the procurement of a deadly nerve gas, knowing that it was intended for civilian targets, imagining there would be little collateral damage, and on top of it, thinking that it was all in the best interest of our nation and its citizens? I know that he said the goal wasn't to kill Americans, but aren't you kind of putting your faith in the wrong people? This was not letting your neighbor borrow your John Deere so he could mow his lawn, but he messed up and bent your mulching blade going over a tree stump. Walt gave terrorist nerve gas, didn't follow through with the plan properly, and now millions could be dead. And all of this after he ordered the deaths of four people, with three dying, including a former President of the United Sates! But at least he isn't advising the President anymore, so we won't have to deal with him for long.

The last thing Walt is asked to do is to place a call into Nathanson, but if CTU could have simply placed a trace on his call, things would be too easy. Nathanson disconnected his phone, which meant Walt knew nothing, which meant that they had to assume that the terrorists were acting on their own. I am not sure that anybody believed it, but Jack kept on saying that he would disappear once he wasn't needed anymore. CTU is more than qualified to search for the remaining canisters, so it is time for him to really disappear. He should marry a slightly mannish gypsy and rent Vespas to tourists on the Peloponnesian coast. That way, nobody will find him, even an annoyingly resourceful Julia Stiles.

I have given President Logan shit for a lot of things, but he seemed to at least gain some conviction after the whole Cummings incident (by the way, I have decided it was a crime not to have named this guy Richard. Dick Cummings jokes would have RULED. Hopefully, they'll also introduce an army officer, Major Wood). He trusted Walt, and got burned, and now he's learning that if you're going to gamble, always bet on JACK! Logan promises Jack full status, and as soon as the canisters are found, he is free to do whatever he wants to do. Jack has no allegiance to Logan, and the president knew it, but he is so committed to helping the people of this country that he can't say no.

There are a few things working in favor of CTU and stopping the nerve gas before it kills lots of people. Like Walt said, the detonators had been changed, so the only way that the nerve gas was going to be weaponized was by satellite detonation, and we have the codes. When we get a little peek at what yellow tie man, also known as Ivan Erwich, and his crew are doing, their technician confirms that they circuitry has been tampered with, and they will have to repair those mechanisms or their will be no big boom.

Posted by J-Unit on February 7, 2006 10:32 AM