(10:00 A.M. - 11:00 A.M.)
Review/Commentary
As for Hour Three specifically, it (of course) didn’t disappoint.
Excellent writing/ideas, having Kim end up calling dad for help. Of course, now dad is back on the job and once again is in this position of job versus family. He seemed pretty hell-bent on not letting his job risk his family an hour or two ago, but now he coolly keeps his cover. That had to be so difficult for him, given how hard he’s been trying to get in touch with her and how he now has to essentially hang up on her. Wow.
Some of my random questions from the first hour are getting answered. For one thing, it appears Aunt Carol lives up in San Jose. Now, I’m certainly no expert, but I don’t know if 400 or so miles is enough to be safe from a nuke blast. I mean, for sure the initial blast won’t kill the folks up in the northern Cali area, but the fallout would certainly affect them. But at least Carol’s location has been explained. That was really bothering me. However, Kim’s way to get there is still unclear. She even was like “What?” when Jack told her to go there. Ha. One day maybe she’ll realize she should listen to her father, given the fact that, oh, well, he’s a FEDERAL FREAKING AGENT!! He might actually know a few things that the general commonfolk don’t know. When he says you need to get out of L.A., you should probably run, not walk. Ah, Kim, Kim, Kim. What am I going to do with you? (besides evil, evil things that I can’t write about here.)
Another thing I was wondering about after the first hour was their casualty figures and how they seemed to be forming out of thin air. They didn’t know if they had a dirty bomb on their hands or a full-fledged nuke. Well, at least they addressed this and sort of implied (though glossy as it was) that they’ve done some more research and ruled out dirty bombs. Let’s just take a little leap of faith here and assume they looked under the right rocks and discovered that a nuke was indeed missing from Kiev or something. I’m willing to dismiss this. Not because I think it’s been explained well, but just because I don’t think we’re going to get much more explanation. Like how it would get into the country, where it came from, how it has remained hidden, etc, etc. Forget it. It’s not integral to the story, I suppose, so I will drop it. For now. Hell, I don’t ever drop things completely. It’s part of my charm.
So anyway, getting back to Kim, Miss Smartypants calls Tony at CTU for help. Interesting, since dad hasn’t been working there in 18 months, but Kim still feels she can trust Tony. That’s good, and again I hope is not a set-up for us to trust Tony until he turns bad (grrr, writers). Anyway, it looks like Tony is caring towards Kim as he does understand what Jack went through. But I discussed this ad nauseum after the first hour, so I will skip it here.
Oh, boy, Eric Rayburn. Where do I start? Is it possible that he’s going to be more difficult to peg than at first it appeared? I think so. He obstructs Lynne from telling the Prez about the impending attack on CTU so as not to blow Jack’s cover. This makes him seem heartless but it also illustrates that he will do anything to get to the one good lead they have to the nuke. So is he acting in the “best interests” of the people of L.A. in the long run by letting the CTU folks die? I mean, is this any different from Palmer silencing a member of the press? Yes, in that there are no deaths (yet) in Palmer’s sidestepping of the law. But it is a similar thing – best interests of the masses. For now, I’m going to assume Rayburn is not unlike Mason – a jerk on the surface, but someone who is simply doing their job underneath. Rayburn knows there will likely be casualties one way or the other on this day. Better it be counter-terrorist agents who know it’s at least a slight job hazard, even if they’re just techies, than innocent civilians. The more I thought about Rayburn’s actions, the more I realized he is acting a lot like Mason would act in the situation. Heartless, but probably by the book, and by the averages.
Speaking of Mason, I guess he won’t be back next season. There’s the advantage to having only day or so to live when the show is only one day over an entire season. You get plenty of advanced notice. So Mason stops by the warehouse like he’s supposed to and somehow avoids being shot, but inhales plutonium! Not good at all. And not a good way to die either, I would imagine. As far as I can figure, he’s basically going to radiate from the inside and it’s going to be a painful death. I really liked how his demeanor doesn’t change in most situations. We saw fear on his face when he realized he was exposed to the nuclear stuff, but even when being told he was going to die, he just shrugged, as if to say “not your fault, don’t apologize.” It’s part of the job and Mason is such a tightass, he understands that. Still, it’s gotta suck a little to be walking away knowing you’re going to be dead in less than a week. Hopefully, this will make him a little more heroic and perhaps he’ll volunteer to take some more risky assignment. My gut feeling is we’re going to see Mason die sometime this season, but not from radiation. He’ll do something honorable and lose his life doing it. Just my guess…. It’s not based in any fact or knowledge or anything. I was actually really worried that Mason was going to be killed in this hour, so I’m glad we have him around for a little while longer. Might as well head back to CTU George, you’re a dead man anyway.
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