A Blog
beep…boop…beep.
[My Name Is] Jonas Hodges is dead.
Tony is in custody.
The weaponized Mad Cow disease is no longer in the hands of terrorists.
Looks like Day Seven is done for Jack Bauer.
Wait? What’s that?
Kim’s trapped in the airport with a cougar bewigged terrorist poor hygeine habits?
<jack> Dammit! </jack>
Continue reading “Everything's Really Wrapped Up Nicely – Much Quicker Than Usual”
Let me say off the bat that Season 7 of 24 has been great. The show has redeemed itself from the waste that was Day 6.
That being said, I’m glad there are only a handful more episodes left, because I’m getting tired of these episodes, like tonight’s (4:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m.), that are all plot setup with a minute or two of action tacked on at the end.
Continue reading “Of Patsies, Overachieving Hitmen and a Wasted Supervillain”
Tonight’s episode of 24 (Day 7, 3:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m.) didn’t have much in the way of fisticuffs (or as Jack Bauer practices it, killingpeoplewithyourlegsicuffs).
There were no gunfights.
And no big explosions.
But there were plenty of scenes of people yelling at each other.
Last week, during the 1:00 a.m. – 2:00 a.m. hour of Season 7 or 24, Tony’s heel turn was the big surprise. During tonight’s hour, we saw evil Tony in action, and even more surprising than seeing evil Tony was watching him plot against Jack, and in the final scenes, actually point a gun at and threaten Jack.
Jack Bauer has the symptoms of Mad Cow disease. His memory may be Swiss Cheese and he may be unable to control even the smallest of bodily functions. He may not be able to communicate that Tony has betrayed him and the country (yet again).
But one thing is for sure. No matter how much Tony may have a grip on the situation now, Jack Bauer will extract his revenge on Tony Almeida. Jack Bauer will shoot Tony in the face. Possibly after incapaciting Tony using his legs. But Tony’s actions will not go unpunished.
Continue reading “Dear Tony, Jack Will Shoot You In The Face. K Thx Bye.”
The missile base is destroyed.
The bad guy is in custody.
Father and daughter are reunited
and…
Continue reading “A Supervillain's Fantasy: Taking A Swing At The President”
Throughout tonight’s episode of 24, I kept on waiting for some action. More specifically, some action involving Jack Bauer.
Sure, we had Special Agent Larry Fine’s staredown with the Starkwood security team. And we had Tony sneaking into the bunker with the help of Doug something-or-other (played by the guy who was Hank Jennings). But the first 40 minutes of tonight’s episode was pretty light while Jack Bauer stood around in FBI headquarters suffering from the early effects of Mad Cow disease.
But then [My Name Is] Jonas Hodges went to go have a little talk with Doug and things picked up considerably.
Continue reading “Jonas Hodges. On The Balcony. With The Whiskey Bottle.”
I don’t know why. And I can’t say when. But all I know is that somehow, in the past few hours of 24, the horrible experience that was last season has been erased from my memory and any residual bitterness has been patched over and replaced with hope that Jack survives against [My Name is] Jonas Hodges and his airborne version of Mad Cow Disease.
A few weeks ago, I mentioned that this season’s villain [My Name is] Jonas Hodges could be the best yet bad guy we’ve seen on 24 because he is similar to Ernst Stavro Blofeld, nemesis of James Bond.
Well the comparison stays apt, because one of the few interesting scenes in tonight’s episode of 24 showed Hodges acting in a Blofeldian manner, even if (forgive the pun) the execution wasn’t all the same.
It’s possible that there were things about tonight’s episode that I wasn’t seeing, but for the most part, I found it boring, especially in the White House scenes. All of that drama was between the President, the Sherri Palemeresque First Daughter and the (soon to be former) Chief of Staff.
Jack and Tony met up with lucky to be alive security guard Karl before taking on a team of Blofeld Hodges’ lackeys over a shipping container full of Sentox Nerve Gas a mystery chemical or bacterological agent. That action, taking place in the last 15 minutes of the hour was interesting. Although, I was befuddled as to why Jack and Tony didn’t take on team terror right away. Or at least make it look like Karl killed the goon (hey, it could’ve happened!) so as not to arouse suspicion that they were on the case.
Other than the final scenes involving the shootout and Jack’s theft of the big rig, the only other interesting part of tonight’s episode was Hodges’ meeting of SPECTRE the Starkwood Board of Directors. Hodges was quite animated during this meeting, even taking some time to deal with a dissenter on the board who looked like Bryan Cranston (the guy who played Dr. Tim Whatley on Seinfeld). The one thing that surprised me about this scene was we didn’t see the Whatley wannabe die–either in front of the rest of the Starkwood Board or during their private moment together. Even after Whatley accused him of murdering Senator That 70s Show, Hodges kept his cool and didn’t have Whatley walk over a gimmicked bridge that fell into a shark pit. Hodges makes a great villain, but that was his moment to shine, and he dropped the ball.
One other thing about this episode- at the end when Jack was on the horn with Special Agent Larry Fine, I was wondering- is Jack now off the hook? You think that Larry would call the White House and clear up the situation. But then again, this is Larry we’re dealing with.
I leave you tonight with an image of a man and his truck.
What did you think?
Q: What are three things not to leave laying around when Jack Bauer’s coming after you?
So Jack Bauer escaped from the hospital and is fighting for his life at a construction site, Secret Agent Larry Fine is having a helicopter escort him all around DC, the folks in the White House are going through damage control with the media and what is Tony Almeida doing?
Enjoying himself a nice mocha latte.
Heck of a season it’s shaking up to be for 24.
Continue reading “A: A Bulldozer, A Screwdriver and A Two-By-Four”
I have to admit, when Bill Buchanan showed up at CTU all those years ago (season four, anyone?) as a division stooge, I wasn’t a fan. But over these years, Bill has grown on me. And now, he’s gone.
Usually, when 24 introduces a character, I know right away whether I like them or whether I want Jack to put us out of our misery by crushing their windpipe with his legs. I have to admit, I was wrong about Bill. Maybe it’s because even though he was a division guy, he didn’t get in the way. Maybe it was because even though he was “seeing” Michelle, that was all water under the bridge between him and Tony. Or maybe it was because he was one of the few authority figures who saw the benefits in letting Jack be Jack.
Well, after five seasons, Bill is gone, having gone out in a selfless (typical Bill) blaze of glory in a successful attempt to liberate the White House and it’s hostages.
At least he got a silent clock. And in an effort to memorialize Bill, I’d like to quote something that I wrote in an episode recap from February of aught-six:
I read James Morrison, the guy who plays Buchanan, is a yoga instructor and poet. Because of this, I imagine Buchanan lives in a sparsely-decorated home, and sleeps on a stone tablet. Bill Buchanan is the man.
Yes Bill, in a television world where 95 percent of government authority figures are portrayed as idiots, you were the man.