24 Recap: 8:00-9:00 A.M. & 9:00-10:00 A.M.

Title: 8:00 – 9:00am, 9:00 – 10:00am
Original Airdate: 1/15/07

Oh no they didn’t!! Oh. No. They didn’t. But they did. Wow… this is the 24 that I’m talking about, people. The kind of shocking, no holds barred, genre defying – nay, genre gleefully-laughing-in-the-face-at – that we’ve come to love and expect from this show. I mean, a freaking nuke exploded in Valencia! Valencia!! The home of Six Flags Magic Mountain! No way 24, you did not just nuke Six Flags. (oh, and, of course, all the hundreds of THOUSANDS of people who live there as well!!) Not only that, but Jack freaking killed Curtis!!! (though if I’m being honest, I had a strong feeling that Curtis would be goner as soon as I saw that he was just “guest starring” in the episodes this season, whereas last year he was a regular… and then when he wouldn’t let go of his hatred for former terrorist mastermind Assad, even after Assad’s Presidential Pardon, well, I knew something really bad was going to come of it).

But man… I did not think that Jack would actually shoot Curtis with a kill-shot in order to stop him from revenge-killing Assad. I thought Jack would at least shoot him in the arm or someplace non-deadly so that they could have time to get the gun away from Curtis, and then just arrest him. Man… That was HARSH. (Once again, this is what I mean when I say that Jack will do ANYTHING to get the job done and ultimately save lives) Oh Curtis, Rest in Peace my friend. You served CTU, Jack, and your country well. It’s just too bad you made the deadliest mistake you can make on 24: you didn’t trust Jack implicitly.

I did like, however, that Jack had a breakdown and vomited as a result of killing Curtis, a man who had saved his life many times. And then Jack’s subsequent “I can’t do this anymore” phone call to Bill was a very believable next step in the story, especially after everything that Jack had gone through. Because realistically, after enduring the kind of horror that Jack has, there’s no WAY he could continue on. Unless… of course… a freaking NUKE explodes in Valencia!! Yep. That’ll bring him back.

In other news, I first want to mention what I failed to mention last night: Bill and Karen are married. Awwwww. Who knew that going out to get breakfast together two years ago after exposing the President of the United States for the villainous traitor that he was could lead to a romance? Actually, after what they went through together, it is actually totally believable – and sweet. So I just want to say congrats you two crazy not-so-young-kids on your marriage, which is so strong it can apparently stand the two of them living apart on separate coasts. Good luck with that. Also, I thought that I was crazy last night (since I had just been watching Extras), but it turns out I was right: Stephen Merchant, i.e. Ricky Gervais’ creative partner, had a brief cameo on 24 last night as a CTU analyst!! How freaking cool is that?! Here’s hoping Kiefer Sutherland makes a cameo on Extras some day, because that would rule!

Anyhoo, as for the rest of the happenings in these two stellar episodes, several moments stood out for me. First, I really loved the moment when teenager Scott was holding a knife behind his back and lingering in front of Ahmed, trying to decide whether or not it’s worth it to try and stab him. I mean, here is a kid who has no experience or training in how to effectively defend yourself and disarm someone, let alone kill someone. Yet, if he succeeds, he could save his family and many other lives. If he fails, he’s dead. So is it worth it? Man, what a hard, hard choice that must be for hostages in that situation, and I thought that moment was done brilliantly. Many kudos to Michael Angarano and Kal Pen for their stellar work in these past 4 episodes. Here’s hoping Michael Angarano will appear on the show again, even though Scott has been rescued – though unfortunately Kal Pen’s character was killed. And hey, speaking of stellar young men on 24, I’m still waiting for Brady Corbet, who was so excellent in the opening episodes of Season 5 last year, to make a comeback on the show. Jack did promise Brady’s character that they would get together and have a chat when “all of this” was over. Still waiting for that chat, people.

Speaking of returning characters that you thought were gone for good, though, I have to say: I’m not really digging the return of Milo’s character, who was an annoying systems analyst in Season 1, and is now back as… an annoying Internet Protocol Manager. Yes, I know that Morris was mostly the one who was being difficult and combative to Milo, and yes, I know their tension stems from the fact that Chloe has dated both of them (by the way, I LOVE that there are two men fighting over Chloe – girlfriend deserves it!). But still… I can’t blame Morris for being hostile to Milo: the dude is just plain annoying. Though, in his defense, I have to say that he’s not nearly as annoying as Sandra Palmer. Several major cities in the U.S. are bombed only hours ago, her brother the President is in the middle of trying to handle the situation and find the terrorists, and all she cares about is that her boyfriend has temporarily been put in jail by the FBI and that thus his civil liberties are getting violated? And she’s willing to embarrass her brother’s administration because she can’t wait a few hours to talk to him about it? I mean, how incredibly selfish and irrational is that?!?! Thank goodness her boyfriend, who is obviously a far better person than her, finally forced some sense into her. Not only that, but he nobly wants to stay in jail so he can spy on the terrorists and supply crucial info to CTU – like that there are four MORE nukes out there. Yeah… that should definitely take Jack about 20 more hours to get a handle on.

Finally, the last thing I want to mention is how these two episodes in particular seem to be making a strong argument for why you should NOT negotiate with terrorist masterminds who are currently attacking your country. If Wayne hadn’t trusted Fayed and agreed to release all those terrorist prisoners in exchange for the violence supposedly stopping, than nuclear terrorist extraordinaire Namir would not have been able to escape, and thus that nuke would not have gone off just like Fayed planned all along. I mean seriously, I can’t believe Wayne trusted this man who, only a few hours ago, majorly lied and broke his word to them even after he got what he wanted (i.e. Jack). Wayne: you sir, are a moron. If 24 has taught us anything, it’s that you cannot negotiate with terrorists like Fayed who will not be satisfied until every American is dead – and you certainly can’t trust them to keep their word, for Pete’s sake! At least Scott’s mom was smart enough to realize that her husband and son would be killed anyway because they knew too much, even though they were following the terrorists’ demands. Thank goodness she didn’t listen to her naïve (and now dead) husband, and went ahead and called 911, because if she hadn’t, Scott would be dead and CTU would have no lead on Fayed. Here’s hoping President Naïve – who partially redeemed himself by putting Jack in charge and doing whatever Jack said – will soon follow her example.

LaLa is a writer who currently resides in LaLa Land, aka Los Angeles. LaLa also likes to sing. LaLa also knows some lawyers in a law office. LaLa is also prone to making bad jokes, like this one. And of course, LaLa also loves her some quality television shows with quality actors on them, like House… and The Office… and 24… and, well, pretty much any smartly written show that doesn’t include a fat guy with a hot skinny wife or the words “two and a half men” in the title.