Episode Title: "Day 8: 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m"
Writers: Shauna McGarry & Geoff Aull, Howard Gordon
Director: Brad Turner
Previously on "24":
Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) staged an impressive assault on the motorcade of former President Charles Logan (Gregory Itzin) and forcibly abducted him. After a brief interrogation, Logan gave up the name of the Russian diplomat behind the day's events. Jack knocked Logan unconscious and left to seek his revenge.
At the United Nations, President Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones) continued to subvert the constitution by ordering the arrest of journalist Meredith Reed (Jennifer Westfeldt) and obtaining Jack's only evidence that proved that the Russians were involved with the terrorist's plot. Back at CTU, Chloe O'Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub) got Agent Cole Ortiz (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) released from custody and sent him to find Jack's associate, Ricker (Michael Madsen).
Jack broke into the offices of a Russian diplomat named Mikhail Novakovich ( Graham McTavish) and successfully killed Novakovich along with most of his men. However, Jack was stabbed in the process. Recovering from his ordeal at Jack's hands, Logan called the Russian President, Yuri Suvarov (Nick Jameson) and told him that Jack was unaware of Suvarov's involvement with the attacks.
Unfortunately for them, Jack heard everything they said thanks to a bug planted on Logan.
Story:
Cole catches up to Ricker, but doesn't get much in the way of help beyond learning that Jack is now targeting Suvarov. Logan tells President Taylor about Jack's latest actions and admits that Suvarov was involved with the plan from the beginning. Jack takes Jason Pillar (Reed Diamond) hostage and uses him to get into the secured area near the United Nations. After forcing Pillar at gunpoint to suture his knife wound, Jack pistol whips him and stuffs him into the trunk of his car.
Inside the UN, IRK President Dalia Hassan (Necar Zadegan) goes to Taylor with her fears that the Russians are behind the assassination of her husband earlier in the day and asks for Taylor's assistance in finding Meredith Reed to confirm her story. Taylor initially lies to her face, but when Hassan refuses to sign the peace agreement, Taylor finally admits that she had Reed arrested. Realizing that Reed's accusations were accurate, Hassan pulls out of the peace agreement until Taylor threatens her country with military reprisals for the failed bomb attempt by the IRK based terrorists just hours before.
Chloe and Cole realize that Jack is in the nearby building thanks to facial recognition software. She asks Cole to give her twenty minutes to find Jack and get him to surrender before sending in the security field team. Before she finds him, Jack records a message for his daughter Kim, explaining why he's taking action and what the conspirators have done today. Jack gets the drop on Chloe and literally chokes her out until she loses consciousness. He then targets Logan in his office with a sniper riffle and demands that he bring Suvarov there, so Jack can kill him.
Jack's plan succeeds. But he can't bring himself to murder Suvarov knowing that his death will cause a war with Russia. He agrees to Chloe's idea to get his proof to the media and orders her to shoot him just before other CTU agents arrive. Pillar is freed and personally searches Chloe for Jack's evidence. While attempting to question him, Jack bites off a piece of Pillar's ear. Chloe and Cole attempt to upload the info from Jack's hard drive, but are stopped by Pillar's men and arrested.
With the evidence in hand, Taylor watches the video Jack made condemning the agreement and is moved by his arguement that true peace is built on trust. Shaken by his words, Taylor has an attack of conscience and publicly admits that she committed crimes to create the peace treaty. However Pillar and Logan have already made arrangements for Jack's death in custody. Logan kills Pillar when he tries to answer Taylor's call before turning the gun on himself.
Jack is extracted by a black ops team and prepared for execution. However, Taylor is able to reach them with the help of Chloe and she orders them to release Jack. Taylor apologizes for betraying Jack and says that she will resign from the Presidency and remand herself into custody. She warns Jack to get out of the country before the Russians or his own government can find him. Jack says his goodbyes to Chloe and prepares to go on the run again.
Breakdown:
The first hour or so is the "24" we know and love. Jack Bauer has a plan and everyone else should get the hell out of the way.
Unfortunately, in the second hour — and the last episode of "24" ever — Jack is sidelined in favor of the President Taylor show.
I know that actor Dennis Haysbert has said that his portrayal of President David Palmer on "24" may have helped Barack Obama become the first African-American President. But I think if that's true, then Cherry Jones' President Allison Taylor could set women back a few decades.
She really is that bad!!
She lies to President Dalia Hassan's face about the conspiracy and when she gets called out on her BS, she threatens Hassan's country with an attack if she doesn't sign the peace agreement! She even implied the attack could be nuclear! Who does that? Not even President Logan did that...
It was a monumentally huge mistake to make her character the focus of the second hour. I have to wonder if the producers of "24" realize that people tune in to watch Jack Bauer. The President has always been superfluous. Only David Palmer and Charles Logan made any lasting impression, but they never literally stole the focus away from Jack!
Oh... and who can forget her crisis of conscience after seeing Jack's video. So, President Hypocrite took the stage at the UN and in front of the crowd, her heart grew three sizes that day (as Boris Karloff might say).
So the President who sent her own daughter to jail will become the first President to resign and remand herself into custody. Somehow I don't think that's going to inspire women to higher office.
"24" is Jack's show. It should always be Jack's show. Even with the weakest scripts, Kiefer Sutherland has always made Jack Bauer an interesting character. And the scenes here with Jack are still compelling.
Jack's gone rogue so many times in the series that it's become a drinking game, but he never had a better reason to do so than in the final hours of "24." He denounced the peace treaty as an agreement between liars and murderers. And he was absolutely right.
There are also some last moments of classic Jack, where he has Logan trapped by his snipper riffle. It was also really amusing watching Logan squirm while waiting for Jack to kill Suvarov, before he came up with an excuse to get Suvarov out of the office. Logan really is a gifted liar and he's a villain you love to hate. He also had a fitting end for his character.
The Jack Bauer/Chloe O'Brian friendship has turned out to be the crux of the series, which is somewhat surprising. Both actors do well with their scenes here and their farewell at the end is moving. However, I do have to question the logic of installing Chloe as the new director of CTU. She's gifted with computers but she's no leader. It's more like she was the most qualified person within 15 feet of whoever made that call. Do the producers really expect us to believe that the U.S. government would promote someone incredibly unqualified for a leadership role into one of their most important positions?
On second thought, her appointment makes perfect sense.
As much as I've enjoyed "24" over the years, it probably should have ended sooner. So many moments in the past two seasons have felt like stories that were told more effectively in previous years. The setup at the end of this episode is intriguing, but it's also essentially the same one we saw at the end of season five. It would be interesting to see a complete story with Jack on the run instead of having to deal with another terrorist threat.
But that's the "24" formula. And that's what we'll probably get from the "24" movie.
Until then, vaya con dios Jack.
Crave Online Rating: 7.5 out of 10
