(7:00 P.M. - 8:00 P.M.)
Review/Commentary
Reviewer: J
This hour was good. How good? Well, as good as I think 24 has been so far this season. Yes, we've done some whining here that the show isn't up to it's usual standards, but when you consider that you could be sitting there watching two annoying people get married for a few hours (and the fact that people actually do watch that is inconceivable to me), 24 is still quite a few notches above the rest of the pack. In fact, even when you compare this current iteration of 24 to competitors such as ABC's Line of Fire (on which Jack's dead wife is now an FBI agent, and a sassy one at that) you realize that even when 24 is having an off-night, it's still so much better written than the others. The characters have some depth, albeit somewhat corny at times. We've come to know Jack, Kim, Tony and the President over parts of three long days, now. And we feel as though we know them personally. I think that makes watching the show that much more enjoyable because we know these people and know their strengths and weaknesses and we know sometimes before they do what decision they will make. Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is that while I realize 24 may never be as gripping as the first two seasons were, it's still damn good entertainment.
We pick up with Gael tying up Kim. In fact, Fox's episode guide starts with "Gael tapes Kim onto a chair. He covers her mouth with the duct tape." Just reading that sort of warms your heart a little, doesn't it? (Actually, I know that we have some female readers, so maybe we should stop it with the references to Kim as a sex device - nahhhhh.)
Anyway, so Kim is bound and gagged (*snicker*) and Gael locks her into the Terrorist Monitoring Room. This brings us to Adam's phone call (good old Adam to the rescue) - how many offices have phones that ring 15 times? I don't know, shouldn't that bounce out to reception or something? Then later on, Gael's cell phone rings 10 times (yes, I counted) before they answer it. I was duly impressed at how fast CTU was able to rig up the tracking device. I'm digressing, though. So Adam finds Kim and Gael is attempting to escape. Now, we eventually find out that Gael is not the baddie we thought he was (unless he and Tony are involved in a massive conspiracy, but for now I'll assume that's not the case), but my question is where was Gael running to? Where can he go? I guess he felt that with neither Jack nor Tony there, there would be nobody to back him up so he had to get out. That does explain his asking Michelle if Tony was awake and if he was going to be okay. It also explains his wanting Michelle to turn CTU over to him - it wasn't because he's evil, it was because he would be able to do his job (i.e., helping Jack and Tony) with less chance of being caught the way he was.
Still, in the scene where he runs, he actually hits a few guards and pulls his gun on even more - isn't there a serious risk of him being shot? And if he is as dangerous as he appears, what the hell is Michelle doing walking towards him when he has his gun on her?? If I were a security guard in that situation, I'd drop him. And if you're wondering, when Michelle said "If you set foot outside, you know what will happen," she meant that there were snipers ready to drill his dumb ass.
So then we've got Gael refusing to talk to Chappelle - this is where I got really confused (some would say that's not a major accomplishment). What incentive does Gael have to keep quiet? I mean, I'm sure he's got orders from Jack and Tony to tell nobody, not even Chappelle, but then this raises even more questions: Who authorized this supposed infiltration? Do Jack and/or Tony have that kind of authority? I don't think they do. Is it me or does Chappelle never have control over his people? Why would Gael stand up to the torture that Chappelle began inflicting on him?
Go On to Page 2
Back to the Unofficial 24 Page
Go Back to Television
Go Back Home!