Jack, meanwhile, is delivering a flying punch to our bloody friend Fayed. "WHERE ARE THE BOMBS?!" he yells. Awww, it's just like old times! Fayed won't tell him anything, so Jack punches him in the JUNK (really) and walks away. Have I mentioned lately how much I love Jack? Fayed tries out his new soprano voice while Jack confers with Mike "I like toys" Doyle, telling him that Fayed isn't going to give them anything, that he wants to be martyred. Bill calls up Jack and tells him about the arrest of Habib, but since Habib doesn't know the location of the bombs, they're still shit outta luck. But Bill and Jack have an Idea.

As Jack keeps talking to Bill off camera, Mike starts to sass Fayed around. He tries to play up the fact that Fayed's number two guy is probably going to get all the glory, since he's going to blow up an even bigger city, but Fayed's not biting. Mike of course goes all loose cannon and puts a gun to Fayed's head, but Jack stops him. He tells Mike that they're moving Fayed back to CTU so that Burke can break him with a "pharmaceutical package". Ooh. Is it wrong that those two words and the prospect of seeing Burke turn me on a little? Mike insists that he can break Fayed himself, but Jack ignores this and smirks to Fayed, "NOW we're gonna have a little fun." Huh? That's a little out of character. Is Jack taking Fayed to the circus?

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"I hope you like ponies."

Wayne looks over Habib's dossier while Tom yammers on about something or other. He apologizes to Wayne for doubting him. But Wayne says that Daniels had the right idea, and that they never would have gotten that vital information if they hadn't tried the attack. "I'm not David, Tom, and I never will be." THAT'S FOR DAMN SURE, I scream, as I lovingly stroke my framed David Palmer photograph. He goes on to say, "But I am learning that who I am isn't so bad." I disagree. Tom goes to leave, when Wayne asks him what info he got on Daniels that made him drop out so quickly. But Tom isn't one to Bug A Decorative Bowl and Tell. He leaves, and Wayne quells a small tremor in his hand. Paging Dr. Burke!

Jack and Mike are transporting Fayed back to CTU. Jack puts in a call, telling them to load up Burke with everything he's got. Get ready for some FUN. Mike starts whining, and distracts Jack enough to allow a truck to head straight for them. The two vehicles crash head on (apply directly to the forehead!) and the truck rolls over. There is a firefight! Mike goes down! Jack goes down! Fayed is captured by the gunmen! I reach my exclamation point quota!

The gunmen speed away. Jack sits up rather perkily, as does Mike. A bunch of CTU cars pull up, Jack and Mike pile in, and they all start following Fayed. So it was all a clever ruse. Jack was right, that WAS fun!

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"Did I miss the grisly death of Mike? DAMMIT!"

Jack points out to Mike that he's bleeding, which causes Nadia to pipe up and ask if he's okay. This results in a FIERCE glance from Milo. Chloe gets the video and audio up and running, so Jack watches as the agents talk to Fayed. So I guess these guys are part of the CTU Middle Eastern Theatre Troupe? Always at the ready for some good old fashioned terrorism improv? I approve. The leader explains to Fayed that the General arranged for his pickup, and that they're taking him back to his men. Fayed seems to buy this and asks for a gun, which they reluctantly give him. He then asks to speak directly to General Habib. Bobby the Improv Guy tells him that will be quite impossible, but Fayed isn't going anywhere with them until he talks to Habib. Jack tells Bill that they have to make this happen, otherwise they'll never find the bomb. Bill sneers that he'll have to call the White House and involve the president. Yeah, I'd be annoyed too, Bill.

Quit Yanking My Chain, TERRORISM Sections:  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5 

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Comments (12)

Sam Author Profile Page:

I have to say, even I was like, "Wow!" when Jack completely took down the ENTIRE terrorist cell and, sans weapon, hanged Fayed.

And then I thought, "Wait a second. This isn't the season finale! What are they gonna do for the next 10 episodes!?"

And then voila! Audrey enters the picture. I have to say I didn't see her coming up this early though. I figured, they'd surprise us with one more season of Jack kicking ass in China! How cool would that have been?

Did I just see Jack bite Fayed's arm? Heh.

Tony A. Author Profile Page:

Uh, Scream? Not to pick any nits, but I believe Walsh is an Admiral, you know, like in the Navy?

I continue to be driven mad by the egregious abuse of the space/time continuum. There is NFW we'd know Iraqistan troops were assembling because of an incoming missile. And there's NFW they could have found Habib and his family, arrested them and start interrogating them in the time it takes me to brush my teeth. I know, we have to be more tolerant, but damn, sometimes this gets annoying as hell.

I don't welcome the arc shift. The entire first 11 hours were jumbled and a bit incomprehensible. Now we have to suffer 13 hours of the annoying Audrey. Please! And why the hell would Cheng want to mess with Jack some more? Are we ignoring they tortured the shit out of him for 2 years? Is it because we're tired of Arab terrorists? I'm beginning to worry about the fate of this once absorbing show.

jack:

Dude, Jack's single-handed cell annihilation and his battle royale with Fayed ALMOST redeemed this whole shitty season. Jack BIT Fayed!! How awesome is that? And as soon as that chain showed up, I turned to Mrs. Jack and said "we're going to get a chain-hanging here, a la Bruce Willis v. Alexander Godunov in 'Die Hard." S-WEET.

Frankly, I'm perfectly happy for Audrey to come back into the picture (could this also mean the return of William Devane as Sec.Def. Heller?). It will keep the show focused on Jack instead of all of these idiotic digressions into Milo Crotch-Face's stalking of Nadia (although I wouldn't mind it if Milo ended up walking in on Nadia riding Ricky Schroeder on a gurney in the infamous CTU Infirmary of Certain Death).

Too bad Jack didn't have on his Stealth Hoodie of Infiltration--it would have made climbing under the truck Cape Fear-style completely unnecessary. Maybe in his quest to free Audrey, the hoodie will make a comeback, along with the Aviator Glasses of Badness and the Messenger Bag of Intrepid Readiness.

This episode also brings '24' full-circle, as the whole story began with Jack's loved ones being captured and used by e-vil people to force him to do their e-vil bidding. It also reminds us that 24 always works when our boy Jack is permitted to kick some serious ass.

Maybe Jack will also have time for a bathroom break.

LagunaConsultant Author Profile Page:

Screaming, the cap about the wrench was hilarious. For some reason I didn't even notice that when I was watching. And I thought I had a trained eye for this stuff now...

I think it’s terrible that we are all so thrilled about this episode. Granted it was solid, but if this episode happened during season 2 or 4, we wouldn't have even batted an eye. It just goes to show how boring this season really has been that we are all bathing this episode in praise.

I agree about the Jack fight, it was almost as good as when he single handedly killed 10 guys in order to save Kim at the end of season 1. The best part was the music they fired up when the fistfight began. I was on the edge of my seat.

I wasn't really that surprised about Jack defusing the nuclear situation for good. Normally by the 12th episode, they conclude one storyline, and then start up another one for the last 12. They waited this time, and it had me slightly conufsed.

I agree with Screaming and the previous posters about the Audrey storyline being extremely predictable. If they don't show the person die on this show, they're not dead. The moment they casually mentioned to Jack that Audrey was dead, you knew she was alive. I think that's what has killed the show more than anything this season; it has become somewhat predictable all of a sudden. The only thing that hasn't been blatantly obvious was Jack killing Curtis, but even then, you knew something was going to happen because he signed on with another show. The only thing you didn’t know was how. Speaking of predicting things, does anyone else find it strange they have left the door open for a Milo terrorist angle? It was never cleared up about him "forgetting" to change the security parameters, and the situation seems eerily similar to Nina back in season 1. They gave us the equation back then:

Office romance curveball + Not completely resolved terrorist doing in the office x Slightly foreign looking person with a slightly unusual name = International terrorist.

We'll see, something is going to come up regarding the leak that allowed the terrorists in. It could just as easily be Mike, and that information he changed might have been his cover. I just think Milo's going to end up being a terrorist. I didn't trust him in season 1 either. He was a contractor. Normally contractors work for the highest bidder. Who's to say a terrorist didn't slide him a million to "forget" to set the security parameters? Only time will tell I guess.

Mo:

Actually, I am a little worried that they are setting up Ricky Schroeder as Kiefer's possible replacement at some time. You know, hard-as-nails guy who reputedly enjoys torturing people, lots of murky backstory with minor characters who might turn up again in bigger roles later on, and under it all, a big gold heart and a very capable guy. Sound familiar? Hell of a twisted start to a possible later love story with Nadia, too. Does anyone else worry about this too? I only started watching 24 last season, and I was instantly hooked, but this season is really letting me down. Where the hell is Jack's father? Why in the world introduce the annoying sister-in-law? What was the deal with the whole Martha-stabs-Logan episode? Are all these threads now going to come together with the Chinese guy and Audrey? I know they have left threads hanging before, but... (By the way, does anybody know what ended up happening last year with the First Lady's secretary and her daughter? Last thing I knew, she was bleeding on the floor, Robocop came in the room, the little girl screamed and... never heard from them again. Cold!)

Screamapillar:

Dagnabbit, looks like they switched out General Walsh and threw in Admiral Smith while I wasn't looking. Sorry about that. Thanks for the catch, Tony A.

I just tripped over my own ineptitude!

jules:

FANtastic show, start to finish, back to the basic "24" 101. I knew it was coming...could have happened sooner, but I'll take it. And Mo, 24 has a huge list of characters MIA - the most famous being Behrooz. He's even replaced Waldo ! But anywho, great stuff Scream and glad to see you're back to "enjoying" the show. It's getting annoying reading all the bad press, because if you're a true fan, you appreciate any 24 action at all. So was it just me or was anyone else screaming at Jack to call for back up before he came out of hiding to fight the masses? And this time he only had ONE gun and floating rib fragments !

ronclone:

Yes, CALL FOR BACKUPS!! biggest bullet clip ever....
I'm a little worried too about the Doyle for Bauer thing...
Audrey isn't in china, only 12 or 13 hours ago the chinnesse guy was delivering Jack to CTU in L.A. that guy it's soo death by the end of the season, can't wait fot it!
Good recap and episode.

Beatriz:

Holy s*it, Scream, your screenshot captions are priceless. By the second one I was laughing so hard I was crying, and my boyfriend was giving me weird looks from the couch. You should caption for a living. Or maybe not, because that's lame. But great recap anyway.

Big McLargehuge:

24 ripped off another plot device from Prisonbreak this week when they had Fayed escape into the innards of a tunnel. What the hell was all that underground? Looked like a linen room stacked with towels AND a garbage truck hanging out in the middle of the spacious subterranean area. Tunnel innards don't look like that. I was waiting for agent Kellerman to whisk Fayed away.
Poster Jack, you cracked me up repeatedly. Thanks.
And I can't get over how abruptly this arc ended. I'm not looking forward to the Audrey thing too much. I seriously hope the Pres needs to call Crazy Logan (at The Bungalow) to call Mrs. Head of China to arrange Audrey's release. That would be fun.

y2kcsc Author Profile Page:

I've only see three seasons of 24....but Ricky's...er...Doyle's line of "Damn Jack" was the best ever. that's basically how i felt after the shoot out/chain death scene. jack is so badass, i love it.

Scream...you crack me up....."as I lovingly stroke my framed David Palmer photograph" LOLOL!! still laughing!

keep up the great work!

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