There are a lot of good reasons to love 24, but I think the reason that brings me back each year is the suspense. There are so many questions that you ask throughout the entirety of the season. For me, I like to see how far 24 is willing to push the envelope about what happens on TV. When we last left you, our intrepid hero Jack Bauer was about to put a little bow tie on this whole deadly virus thing that has been ravaging Los Angeles and my personal favorite on the show, Sherry Palmer, ended her rough day by getting punched in the face and taking two slugs from a .38.
Concerning Jack, he and Chase seemingly had everything under control in the subway station. They were taking pictures of all men who bore even a passing resemblance to the 11th courier as described by our pal Saunders. Back at CTU, Saunders would holler back when his man was identified. But with nearly 50 minutes left in the show, you knew that there had to be more to come. As always, some uncontrollable force comes and intervenes in the neat and tidy scenarios CTU lines up to take care of problems. Today's first uncontrollable force was in the form of Mrs. Gaelle Ortega, who arrived at CTU to pick up her husband's belongings. In the first of several semi-predictable twists, Mrs. Ortega shot Saunders dead using a sidearm recovered from her husband's desk, singlehandedly adding at least 15 minutes worth of plot lines to the episode.
While all of this is going on, Wayne Palmer informs the President that his wife was shot and killed. Seeing this as an opportunity to clear away all of the political trouble they put themselves into, Wayne suggests they posit the theory that Sherry was having an affair with Alan Milliken, Julia Milliken found out, and killed both Alan and Sherry. With no Julia around to deny anything happened, it looks like their troubles were behind them. President Palmer decides this is a perfect chance to call up the doctor he was seeing and say "Hey, my spouse was shot too, how about some pizza?" . Well, he didn't say that, but you knew that was what he was thinking.
With Saunders dead, Jack sets up a search of every passenger in the subway station in an effort to flush out the last of the virus. Ravens, the final courier, slips out while waiting in line, slices a couple of police officers manning the door and hijacks a car in an effort to get away and deliver his payload. Chase and Jack finally corner Ravens in a Middle School (strangely filling at least one classroom with 8 year olds).
By this time, I had thousands of scenario endings popping into my head, especially those involving the demise of Chase. With his character probably not making it into next year's show, he seems a logical choice to be killed off in the final few minutes of the episode. Indeed, it is Chase who finally Ravens, and fights him in the school chemistry lab. Chase didn't take chemistry, so he was unable to effectively use everything at his disposal to stop Ravens. A little HF would have prevented Ravens from ever bothering anybody again. Instead, Chase decides to strap the last vial of virus to his own arm, so Ravens doesn't have a chance to move it to another location. Just as Ravens is about to leave, Jack shoots him and attends to Chase.
What followed was some of the best television all year. With the device still attached to Chase, Jack desperately tries to stop the timer, only to find the wiring is not the same as in a few other devices, and so he must wait for fear of premature detonation. As the clock runs down, Jack and Chase know they must find a secure container for the virus, or risk a whole new round of infections. Seeing as it is going to be impossible to remove the device from Chase's body, maybe the smart idea is to remove Chase's body from the device? Conveniently, there is a fire axe nearby and Chase is willing to make a sacrifice to keep containment of the virus. Using his belt as a makeshift tourniquet, Chase faints as Jack swings and chops his hand off with one swing of the axe.
Wow.
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Comments (2)
Did anyone else think the scared asian kid in the classroom was the funniest thing all episode? I think he really nailed the part of "10 year old asian boy schocked and surprised by Jack Bauer".
Overall, an excellent finale though.
1 of 2 | Posted by Aseem | Posted on May 27, 2004 8:05 AM
I thought the funniest thing all episode was Wayne and David trying to one up each other on the deaths of their former significant others.
David "The wife of my kids just died"
Wayne "The woman I loved killed herself in front of my face"
Seriously, Mr. President, she almost blew up a nuke in Los Angeles. I know it's been 3 years, but you would think you would be bitter.
2 of 2 | Posted by J-Unit | Posted on May 27, 2004 1:18 PM