Episode Quote:
“I am dying. I was ok with it, I could handle it. And now you put in front of me the one thing, the one thing that's gonna make this unbearable. I specifically told you do not drag my daughter into this.”
Jack calls Tony with news that the President called off the air strikes. Tony spots something that tells him why -- a fuel truck pumping RP-7, which is used for surface-to-surface missiles. Hodges must be threatening to launch. Tony's got three charges of C-4 and a remote detonator. Jack tells him to get into the depot and blow those tanks.
Jack calls President Taylor to ask permission. She has been fending off the Joint Chiefs and trying to keep the situation a secret, so she refuses to authorize the plan. Yet the President tells Jack she expects he will do what he thinks is right. Jack takes that as a request to undertake a covert action that she can deny authorizing if those missiles are launched.
Comment: I thought Tony noticing the rocket fuel being unloaded was a clever way for Jack and co. to find out that Hodges had missiles containing the bioweapon. Only Jack Bauer could get away with telling the President of the United States she wasn’t telling the truth.
Hodges, with Seaton in tow, arrives at the White House for his meeting with the President. Larry gives his stamp of approval to Jack's plan. He will move in as soon as Tony takes out the missiles. Stokes is in charge of the fueling truck, and Tony forces him at gunpoint to lead him to the fuel tanks, where Tony begins setting up the C-4.
Comment: This Seaton guy still seems like he’s not completely on board with Hodges. He still looks uncomfortable with what Hodges is doing. He may turn out to be a good guy after all.
Hodges sits down with the President in the Oval Office -- a place he used to be welcome at under the old administration. He wants Starkwood to be involved in shaping her military policy and operations, making them essentially a fifth branch of the military. Seaton hands her a non-negotiable outline of the protocols under which their "partnership" would function.
Comment: Excellent scene with two outstanding actors. Both Jon Voight and Cherry Jones did a wonderful job in this scene. I liked when Hodges said, “pick up the document, Madam President.” and President Taylor just glared at him. I liked the way that scene ended.
Tony returns to the fuel truck with Stokes in tow and is ambushed from behind. The detonator drops into a drainage gate. A vicious hand-to-hand fight ensues, and Tony manages to subdue both attackers, but not before Stokes sounds an alarm. The detonator seems to be just out of Tony's reach. Below, Chapman sees the alarm and prepares to launch, but the lead technician wants to be sure it's not a false alarm before he enters the code. Chapman says this is not protocol. The technician refuses to proceed, so Chapman throws him out of the way and does it himself.
Above, Tony sees the launch portal opening. He gropes for the detonator again, and finally gets a hold of it. He presses the button and there is a tremendous explosion. The entire chamber and the men below are vaporized in the back blast. Tony flees the scene.
Comment: That was some explosion. I remember reading around the time this was filmed that this was the biggest explosion ever done on ‘24’.
Larry sees the explosion from a distance and gives the order to move in. Back in the Oval Office, Tim Woods interrupts the meeting to alert the President that the bioweapons have been destroyed. She immediately has Hodges and Seaton arrested. Hodges says she is making a mistake because this doesn't end with him. He is merely a cog in a much bigger machine. She questions what he's talking about. "You'll find out," he says mysteriously as he is led away.
Comment: I thought that was significant when Hodges mentioned he was just a cog in a bigger machine. Evidently this doesn’t end with Hodges. This is not surprising since we still have 6 episodes left. I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of Jonas Hodges. I love the way Jon Voight delivered the line, “You’ll find out.”
The President calls Jack, who asks for clemency for Tony when he's put on trial. Midway through his plea, he suddenly falls silent. He couldn't remember what he was just saying. The President excuses him, and promises she will take Tony's actions today into account.
Comment: Poor Jack, now he has to deal with memory loss. It’s so strange seeing Jack deteriorating mentally. We are used to seeing Jack in physical pain from time to time, but this is really tough to see. Of course, Kiefer plays it perfectly. I also like seeing the President so concerned about Jack and wanting to be kept up to date on his condition.
Larry locks down Starkwood and recovers Tony, reluctantly taking him into custody. Back at the FBI, Dr. Mercer tells Jack that memory loss is a symptom of the disease. She can't do anything to stop it and it may cause personality changes and hallucinations.
Comment: Let’s see, personality changes and hallucinations… Jack has a lot to look forward to. Jack says he feels like he’s losing part of himself… so sad. :(
Renee meets with Kim Bauer. When Jack finds Renee, he tells her that he needs to go on record about the events of the day as soon as possible. She informs him that his daughter is in the building and this enrages Jack because he specifically told her not to bring Kim into this. He had accepted dying until Renee put in front of him the one person he has that's worth living for. Renee says that nobody dragged Kim into this -- she has been trying to see him all day and leaving messages with the FBI to reach him. Renee only just got the messages. Kim was at his Senate hearing, but Jack was pulled out before she could get to him. She offers to tell Kim that Jack's not there. Chastened, Jack asks Renee to take him to see his daughter.
Comment: What a powerful scene! I liked that Kim had actually been there the whole day trying to reach Jack and was there for the Senate hearing. That was a great play by the writers. Of course, once again what can you say about Kiefer Sutherland; he just hits it out of the park every time he is in that type of scene.
Jack apologizes to Kim, explaining that he thought he was doing the right thing by staying away. He encounters so many enemies in his line of work, and that puts the ones he loves in danger. The experimental treatment for his exposure to the bioweapon involves a risk to her if she helps. The slight chance of recovery isn't worth the pain of having her watch him dying. Kim says she doesn't want to lose her father, and the two embrace, sobbing. Suddenly, Jack suffers from a spasm. He tells her gently that it's time for her to go. "I love you so much," Kim says as he leaves.
Comment: It was so good to see a more mature Kim Bauer. I’m so glad Jack was able to see her and that she apologized to him. Elisha Cuthbert always does a wonderful job in her scenes with Kiefer. Kiefer has this amazing ability as an actor to make you cry with him when he cries. This is the scene he should submit for Emmy consideration. If he’s not the best actor on television right now I don’t know who is.
At Starkwood, an FBI agent is killed by Galvez, a Starkwood commando. He is caught by the agent's partner, who makes Galvez drop the duffel bag he is carrying. Keeping his gun trained on Galvez, the agent opens the bag to find a canister of the bioweapon. He calls Larry to report this, but Galvez overpowers him and shoots him. Galvez then steals the agent's vehicle. Larry sends out the word that a Starkwood commando has the bioweapon and may be escaping in an FBI vehicle. There is enough bioweapon in that canister to take out a small city.
Comment: That FBI agent being killed by the Starkwood commando caught me by surprise. That other FBI agent who caught Galvez must have been a rookie - he didn’t handcuff him?! Duh…
Roadblocks are set up as Larry takes off in a chopper, accompanied by Tony. Janis tracks the GPS of the stolen vehicle. Larry catches up to Galvez, who is now on foot. With no time to wait for backup, Larry has the chopper land. As soon as it does, the helicopter pilot is shot dead. Automatic gunfire strafes their position. Larry and Tony take cover. Tony is unarmed. Galvez manages to shoot Larry in the abdomen. Larry collapses, and Tony scrambles over to check his condition. Larry sees Galvez sneaking up behind Tony, his rifle at the ready. Gasping and barely able to speak, he just barely manages to alert Tony to look behind him. Tony sees Galvez and silently gestures to him. Galvez, unexpectedly, lowers his weapon, deferring to Tony. "I'm sorry, Larry," Tony says as he puts his hands over Larry's nose and mouth to suffocate him to death. Galvez shows the canister to Tony, who has him go find a place to hide it. As Galvez takes off, Tony waits for the arrival of the FBI to come rescue him.
Comment: Ok… now I’m confused. Tony’s really bad now?! I don’t know what’s really going on with Tony, but that was certainly a twist I didn’t see coming. I really don’t like the idea of Tony really being a bad guy after all but the season’s not over yet so it will be interesting to see what happens.
Final Comments: There were so many great scenes in this episode. Hodges and President Taylor, Tony at Starkwood taking out the missiles, Jack’s phone conversations with President Taylor, Jack and Kim’s touching reunion and of course the twist at the end involving Tony and Larry.
I really hate to see Larry being killed off. I’ve gone back and fourth with this character the whole season, but he was a great character played by a very fine actor, Jeffrey Nordling. I was hoping he would last more than one season.
We are now down to only 6 episodes left. I can’t wait to see how the rest of this great season of ‘24’ plays out.
Episode Recap From: http://www.fox.com/24
Comments are mine: 24FanForever
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