(8:00 P.M. - 9:00 P.M.)
Review/Commentary
Reviewer: D
So two weeks ago, I was afraid my medication was softening me up, making me hold back on my harsher judgments of 24. This week, I’m concerned it’s just scrambling my brain and making me confused. By the end of hour 14, I had about a dozen questions about what the hell was going on. Some of the questions were clearly ones I was supposed to be asking, like what is all the Air Force Base stuff leading up to? Others were peculiar to my own, um, peculiarities, like why was the hottest woman in 24 so far this season only in one lousy scene?
I’m talking of course about the mistress of our unfortunate unnamed Air Force pilot whose wife reaches him via said mistress’s cell phone. Not only does this woman try to get Mr. USAF to take an extra roll in the sack with him before the phone call, but she kicks his lily-white ass post-call when he tries to get uppity with her. I’m sorry to get rude ladies, but this chick fires on just about every fantasy cylinder there is. Sadly, she gets paid and goes bye-bye. And the dreams and decadent thoughts of thousands of men go with her.
Anyway, I want to get to all of the questions I talked about but first, while I’m on the subject of Mr. USAF, how about a quick recognition of one of the coldest lines of the season. Anderson (who is the bad guy, if you missed that along the way) shoots up Mr. USAF at point-blank range but not without first informing him, “Your family’s dead and so are you.” Man, my TV screen got all frosty with that one. This Anderson guy has obviously got a venti double-ice frappucino (Damn! You are obsessed with Starbucks!! –J) where his heart is supposed to be. In a season already full of torture and knives to the neck, I’m a little worried about the dark places this guy might be taking us.
OK, now let’s get to those questions, which will follow in no particular order because, who’s driving this bus, anyway? Me, baby, that’s who!
First off, what’s Audrey’s deal?
I know there is a fair amount of fan animosity about Audrey but I generally like her character. That is, I did until they made her a blathering idiot this episode. I mean, c’mon, she’s faced up to her dad’s possible assassination, volunteered to her own suicide, calmly presided over a nuclear plant melt-down, but is now going to pieces because her boy – who she was recently willing to show the door – caught a bullet?
And it’s not bad enough that she’s falling to pieces but she has to spout some of that annoying dialogue that writers come up with but that no one would actually say. Audrey, honey, Jack can do some amazing things but he can’t foresee the future and so he’s not going to be able to tell you whether Paul’s going to make it. Does she ask the question so she can be mad at him for something else besides getting Paul shot? If you are really concerned about him, get him the hell out of the CTU clinic and take him to a real hospital!
The only good thing about the whole Paul segment was it gave Kiefer a chance to show a little variation in his character. I’ve never really understood why Kiefer gets all of the acting nominations for 24 when mostly all he plays is angry, desperate and, of course, really desperately angry. The actors who play Tony, Michelle, and even Chloe have deserved at least as much recognition. But in the beginning scenes with Audrey, he had to project regret and sorrow and anguish and our boy Kief did an amazing job.
Next question: what exactly are Keeler and Heller talking about in terms of contingencies if there’s another attack?
Hopefully, Fox’s 24 site will have a “Research Files” bit on martial law soon, because I’m not quite sure where this is coming from. There’s been talk about looting in L.A. where the power went out, but that’s just a grand ole American (and I would guess international) tradition. Besides that, we haven’t seen rioting in the streets or anything. Even the evacuation during the nuclear plant meltdown seemed to go relatively calmly. So why all of a sudden are we talking about bringing in the National Guard? (And just as an aside, does 24 exist in a post-Iraq world? Because if not, is there even any National Guardsmen to call on?)
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