24 – Day 8: 11:00pm – 12:00am

With the end of this week’s episode, we ushered in the second phase of Day 8 of “24” and I couldn’t be happier. While I may not be happy with all of the storylines (OK, OK, just one), I’m expecting some interesting things to happen from here on out.

Debrief

• Jack is transported to Bazhaev’s restaurant for questioning. Sergei doesn’t know if Ernst (aka Jack) is a cop, so the uranium transport has been halted. After many minutes of shock torture, Jack breaks free and kills his captor and apprehending Sergei. Sergei wants immunity for himself and Josef in exchange for the nuclear rods.

• After finding out that the transport was stopped, Hassan’s brother gets lippy. Sergei and Josef decide it’s time for him to go to the rendezvous point and wait for the rods. Josef decides to escort him.

• Renee returns to CTU and blames herself for Jack’s disappearance and torture. She’s being sent for a psych evaluation.

• Hassan has reached the peak of paranoia. When his daughter comes to him to think sensibly, he banishes her, thinking that she is part of the conspiracy against him. She seems to have a plan to help her boyfriend escape Hassan’s custody.

• Dana’s absence from the CTU floor forces Arlo to confront her, saying he will tell Cole her secret if she doesn’t. She tries to, but doesn’t. Cole has Arlo track Dana’s cell, while she goes to the strip club to presumably kill Kevin and his buddy, ending the problem once and for all.

• Sergei gives CTU the location of the nuclear rods. When they get there, the rods are gone and the henchmen are dead. Josef has taken the rods and is on his way to Hassan’s brother for delivery within five minutes.

Agent Philboy’s Assessment

One thing I need to get out of the way: The car battery that the Russians tortured Jack with wasn’t plugged in. Rewind and look at it again. Trust me. That thing had no power whatsoever. Way to pay attention, “24.”

Anyway, this week was the springboard for Phase II of the season and I thought it was done quite well. While the Dana storyline continues to annoy me, I like the fact that she, like so many others in this season’s pantheon of characters, is coming unhinged. I wonder if Cole will be able to stop her and how he will react whether or not he can.

Seeing Jack tortured, when done in doses, is always good for an entertaining hour, only for the fact that he will escape in the most badass of ways. I’m glad they didn’t make it drag on for too long, since we know he’s going to be able to a) handle whatever they can do to him and b) make them pay a dear price. Another thing I was glad to see shortened was the wrangling about immunity. Earlier this season, I talked about the “24” formula and how it was starting to get a bit stale. To add to that, every season it seems as if some bad guy wants immunity and whatever president is in office at the time has to wrangle with the political and ethical decisions surrounding the granting of immunity. In this case, it was the only option for so many storylines to continue that they had no choice but to give the Bazhaevs immunity.

I’m excited to see David Anders as our new bad guy. Even though my only previous experience with him was his stint on “Heroes,” he was always charming and an enjoyable part of an otherwise stupid storyline (I really like Katee Sackhoff, but she hasn’t risen to that level for me, especially with her devolution into a redneck Southern accent this week).

What I Learned This Week

• Never check the fuse box by yourself.

• A table can be a weapon.

• You can electrocute someone with a car battery that isn’t plugged in.

• Even Jack Bauer: The Next Generation (aka Cole) has trust issues. Ahh, he’s starting young, but Jack had trust issues in the womb.

• Before you criticize, walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. Then, take off those shoes to be tortured. Then, kill a room full of people without wearing any shoes. You can then criticize AND you’re awesome.

Weekly Kill Count = 3 Total Kill Count = 22

What do you think of the new direction this season? Is Josef enough of a bad guy to scare you?