24: Day 7 | 1:00 p.m.- 2:00 p.m.

It’s going to be a short review this week. I’ve got three pages to write about old newspapers (long story) and, plus, there were only a few big moments this episode.

Debrief

• Fear not, true believers. As many of you mentioned in the comments from last week, Jack dispatched Chloe and Bill to go save Renee. The three of them joined up with Jack and Tony, who had taken over the kidnapping operation. Jack convinced Matobo and his wife to be kidnapped by Dubaku in an attempt to stop him.

• President Taylor refuses to pull troops out of Sangala. In response to this, Dubaku crashed two planes into one another, right outside the windows of the Oval Office. Still, with the possibility of Matobo being found, she isn’t willing to pull back. In the wake of her decision, her Secretary of State resigned.

• Brian killed Samantha and was in the middle of staging Henry Taylor’s suicide when Henry found the strength to take him out.

Agent Philboy’s Assessment

First off, I was completely uninspired by Agent Moss’ speech to the FBI team. Seriously, this was a chance to challenge Coach Boone in “Remember the Titans” and the best he could come up with is, “We’re the only ones she’s got.” Seriously?! Lame. This guy keeps going up and down on my radar. First, he’s kind of stalkerish. Then, he defends Janis to the ends of the Earth. Then, he loses an amazing oratorical opportunity.

Last week, I was so caught up in the moment of Renee “dying” that I forgot that Chloe and Bill were all over it and listening in on everything. One quick shot and our favorite new FBI agent was back with us, only slightly confused.

On the way to the airplane hangar, the writers decided to tie up one loose end I hadn’t even thought of: How Tony got out of CTU. It turns out that Christopher Anderson, the man who was in CTU custody who escaped and “stabbed Tony” was working for this giant evil organization and intentionally missed Tony’s artery. Then, Emerson took care of him, but Jack had ruined the mission by killing Anderson. Oh, that pesky Jack. This was something that only a small percentage of people really thought about, but it totally shows that they are looking out for the fans and that they really are taking time to tie up all of the loose ends that a show like “24” creates.

Most of the rest of the episode was Taylor dealing with her conscience. I think that she still believes in invading Sangala, but the stakes are mounting higher and higher. The reasons for pulling out are quickly and exponentially outweighing the reasons for staying put. The writers have done an excellent job of making it feel like if Jack and the gang don’t save Matobo and/or stop Dubaku, more people will die and she will have to pull out.

But, then where would the show go? Yeah, I know. We all know that the good guys will score at least one next episode.

Everything I Need to Know in Life I Learned from Jack Bauer (and Others)…

• You can kill anyone, as long as you call someone to give them the Vincent Vega style shot of adrenaline.

• Don’t mess with women who stay at home a lot. They know what’s best. Just let them do it.

Weekly Kill Count = 276+ Total Kill Count = 285+

I have to say 276+ because we don’t know the casualties on the ground when the two planes collided ever-so-conveniently outside of the President’s window. I know they’re the bad guys, but props to whoever placed the planes there, because it was PERFECT!

Sorry for the short week this week. This week, I want you to come up with one thing that Moss could have said to rally his FBI troops. Be creative or cliché. JUST GET THE JOB DONE, people!

— posted by Philboy

Philboy is GMMR’s resident Dexter and 24 analyst. He spends his days studying Communications at Purdue University and his nights failing at keeping up with all of the TV shows he loves. His can’t miss shows are “24”, “Chuck”, and “Life on Mars”. The thoughts running through his head for this week are, “The Closer is back tonight!” and “This is an awesome crop of Oscar films this year.”