Episode 18: 1a.m. to 2a.m. of 24 took me on quite the emotional roller coaster ride.
And I’ll take the privilege of saying that those of you who disagreed with me initially that Day 7 IS THE BEST SEASON THUS FAR (ahem, Shakeel) PROBABLY agree with me now. Right? RIGHT?
If you don’t watch the show or don’t want any spoilers about Monday night’s episode, then skip the rest of this entry.
My Jack Bauer Power Hour Emotional Roller Coaster:
There was triumph. The evil mastermind Hodges was arrested even though the President is a weenie.
There was a lot of suspense: As he was being taken into custody, Hodges said, “You think this ends with me? I’m just a small cog in a very big machine.” When the President sputtered, “What are you talking about?” Hodges simply said, “YOU’LL FIND OUT…” Psychopath.
There was wonderment and lust at Tony Almeida’s heroic solo tactical efforts to blow up the WMDs at Starkwood.
Shakeel texted me: “Are you watching 24? This is the most bad ass Tony has ever been” and I agreed. The whole time, my heart was racing and I was hoping, “Tony BETTER not die.” And I was greatly turned on by his one-man efforts.
Whisper in MY ear, baby.
Then sadness: The lovely Kim Bauer, Jack’s “estranged” daughter, returned
to help her father, who is rapidly succumbing to his exposure to the bioweapon. Their exchange was so emotional and intense that even I cried. I mean, you can’t watch Jack Bauer cry and not cry. Then he told her to go. BEGGED her to leave, because he’s made peace with dying. She walked out of the room, but we all know she’s not going anywhere.
Oh, was I ever a GLASS CASE OF EMOTION.
Finally, I experienced confusion, bewilderment, shock, anger, and increduity–Tony suffocated FBI Agent Larry Moss and helped a Starkwood hostile to get away with the one canister of the bioweapon.
"I'm sorry, Larry."
WTF?
Why would Tony kill Larry? Is he trying to save his own ass from governmental prosecution because he doesn’t know that the President will probably pardon him?
Has Tony been working undercover THE ENTIRE TIME? If so, he is a tremendous actor playing an actor. It would suck if EVERYTHING he’d done today was a lie.
So many different scenarios are possible here, and all I can think is that if Tony is in fact on the evil side, he is indubitably going to have to stay there now.
The thing about Tony is that back on Day One he was an annoying little snitch
whom we thought was a mole, but time and time again it was proved that he wasn’t.
So we grew to trust and love him. And then he died. And then he wasn’t really dead, but we didn’t know that ’til years later, on this Present Day.
How many times can one person flip-flop between being a bad guy and a good guy? He was bad in the first hour, then good, then undercover bad-good, and then full-fledged good (or so we thought), and now he’s bad, but undercover bad and only the audience knows.
Unless Agent Moss isn’t dead. He didn’t get a Silent Clock, but maybe that’s because he wasn’t really worth it and was pretty much a douchebag/unlikeable character for the vast majority of the day. I personally think ol’ bulge-eyes is dead, but YOU OBVIOUSLY NEVER KNOW.
Tony wasn’t dead.
Maybe Larry’s NOT dead.
This makes me think back to Tony’s hiatus for several hours during the day. Like when he called Jack asking to meet him on the concrete steps on the waterfront, only to tell whisper to Jack to meet him somewhere else. Tony did mention that the terrorist attacks went beyond Dubaku and Juma, but he didn’t say HOW FAR and HOW HE KNEW. Then there was the time when Tony was just chillin’ at a little cutesie cafe for a bit. What was he doing?
I suppose we’ll see next week. I wouldn’t be surprised if this leads to a Jack-Tony showdown. Or maybe Tony’s just trying to save his ass and get in good with the Starkwood guys. Or maybe he’s still bitter about losing his wife, Michelle Dessler, so many years ago.
I am so confused, and I digress. Good times. What a great show.
5 responses so far ↓
1 Shak // Apr 15, 2009 at 4:06 pm
This is a twist that could either be totally contrived or could totally work if done right. I remember that Tony was “missing” for a few episodes and I couldn’t help but wonder what he was up to. I also thought that what Hodges said was really eye-opening, and will probably set the tone for the rest of the season, if not also in subsequent seasons. I think Starkwood is just one of many factions that will continue to threaten the security of the US for a while, and I think Tony, assuming he’s still bad, probably was too knee deep into this conspiracy to do anything to retreat it. He may be the greatest double agent ever (and the slimiest) if it turns out he won the favor of past friends merely as leverage for his own agenda. Something also tells me his hatred for the US government runs deeper than just his wife dying. I have a feeling something more is going on in Tony’s psyche that led him to go down this path. Time will only tell.
P.S. This season is pretty sweet, but still not as good as Season 3
2 Charlotte Mutesha // Apr 15, 2009 at 4:57 pm
I actually agree with every one of your ponderings here.
Except the last sentence.
My gut feeling is also that Tony’s actions and intentions go way deeper than what we know at this point.
3 bokeen // Apr 15, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Incredible plot twists. The writer had best be careful with the last six episodes, because they took a huge risk with the Tony flip-flop. If the story doesn’t develop in a way that seems plausible, the season could go down the tubes with a quickness. (Though I have all the confidence in the world in the writers after what we’ve seen over the past four months or so.)
My money is on Larry being dead. He’s only been around for 18 episodes, and he’s not a beloved character…the writers would have no reason to make us think he’s dead and then bring him back, because the viewers wouldn’t be letting out a collective sigh of relief. They’d just be toying with us at that point.
@Shak – I know it’s subjective, but I have to disagree. I recently rewatched Season 3, and the pace simply doesn’t keep up with Seasons 5 or 7.
4 Shak // Apr 16, 2009 at 1:01 am
@bokeen – Totally agree it’s all subjective. And I see your point with the pace of the storylines for the different seasons, but to me Season 3 just had more substance to me and that trumps pace in my opinion (you should head over to a previous comment I left on another 24-related post Charlotte wrote). I just fell in love with the fact that Jack grew darker that season. And I’m biased towards David Palmer. I love that dude!
That being said, I love how the show has gone this season so far. No CTU and Tony being around, along with Bill still running what I like to call the “Ghetto CTU” were interesting developments, along with Jack and co. being involved with the FBI and Kim coming back. I think we can all agree that this season blows last season out of the water. What a waste of my time last season was.
5 Char // Apr 16, 2009 at 3:28 pm
@bokeen – A lot of people counter saying that a lot of this day’s happenings haven’t been plausible (the White House ambush, most importantly), but it’s all in the name of drama and action, so they get a little more creative license. I
Also, good argument about Larry’s death. There was a lot of “finality” to the character in his last minutes alive–he had that tender moment with Renee on the phone, he was working WITH Jack, and he was gracious toward Tony. At least he was somewhat redeemable in his final moments.
@Shakeel – I know, nothing will ever compare to the David Palmer era, but we gotta look forward!
The writer’s strike certainly was a blessing in disguise.
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