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Saturday, February 21, 2009

Episode 9 Overview & Thoughts


4:00 pm – 4:12 pm

Episode opens right after Henry Taylor was shot at the end of the last episode. Renee shows the EMT’s where he is. Jack is working on him until the EMT’s take over. Jack asks Renee if she’s ok. He wants her to check the computer hard drives to see if they can find out where Dubaku went. Jack then makes a call to the President to update her on Henry’s condition.

Jack says Henry’s sustained a gunshot wound to the chest and has lost a lot of blood. Jack tells Bill Dubaku was gone when they got there and that he thinks he will try to leave the country now.

President Taylor wants to go to the hospital. Ethan is worried about guaranteeing her safety outside of the White House since the SS has been compromised. The President insists she is going to the hospital and will not be held prisoner there while her husband is fighting for his life. She demands she be taken there or she will drive herself. Bill interjects that he will take responsibility for her security. Ethan explains his credentials were cancelled when CTU was dissolved.

Bill asks the President to re-establish his government clearance so he can vet White House staff and allow him to bring in someone to assist Larry at the FBI to run tactical. Of course he’s talking about Chloe. Ethan states that her credentials are were cancelled as well when CTU was decommissioned. He asks if there’s anyone else who can do the job – HA! Of course there’s not – this is Chloe we’re talking about here. Come on Ethan, get with the program!

Bill states that because the FBI has been compromised, Larry can’t afford to use anyone within the FBI to try and track Dubaku. The President agrees to Bill’s suggestions and grants him the authority under her office to do what he needs. The President vows to do whatever it takes to find Dubaku. She wants the SOB found! Go Madame President!

We next go to Dubaku outside of where Marika works. He gets her attention and she comes outside. Dubaku says he needs to leave the country because he his visa expired and immigration has caught up with him. He wants her to come with him to Belize. She’s reluctant because it’s too soon and she is the only one who can take care of her sister Rosa. He says they have to leave now, but her sister can join them later (yeah, right). Dubaku talks the stupid girl into leaving with him. She is told to go home and pack and wait for his call. She leaves. Dubaku makes a call to an unknown man who apparently has made his travel arrangements. Dubaku states the mission is over, he’s done all he can do. He wants to meet this guy in the lobby of the Roosevelt Continental Hotel to get his travel paperwork. The man thinks it’s too public of a meeting place, but he agrees.

Back to Jack and Renee. They can’t find anything on the computers so they start searching the bodies. Renee gets a phone call from Larry. She updates him on what happened there and Henry’s condition. Larry asks if she’s ok. She says she’s fine. Larry’s not so sure about that. Renee asks what that is supposed to mean. Larry tells her about the report about the incident regarding Vossler’s wife and child.

She said they did what they needed to do; that was the only leverage they had against Vossler. Larry sarcastically says, “whatever it takes” – Jack Bauer’s rationalization for everything. He says she’s following his playbook. She says no one was actually hurt. Larry flips out and reminds her that Jack killed the woman’s husband (Vossler). As they are talking Renee looks in a mirror where she notices she has blood on her hands and face.
Larry is scared of what is happening to her. He thinks what she did does not bother her. Renee said she didn’t say it doesn’t bother her, she said that it worked. Of course it bothers her she says, she can see the woman’s face. (nice split screen showing Jack looking over at her. I couldn’t tell if Jack could really hear what she was saying or if he was just noticing the expression on her face.)

Renee said the woman had no idea her husband was a killer and a traitor to his country but she looked at her like she was the monster. Jack then interrupts the conversation. Jack says he came across some bank transactions on the PDA’s registered to the same address. They think it may be a safe house. They give Larry the address and they are heading out. Renee wants Larry to provide satellite surveillance. Jack asks Renee AGAIN if she’s ok. Once again she says she’s fine. She sure gets asked if she’s ok a lot. That’s the 3rd time in the first 12 minutes.

4:16 pm – 4:26 pm

Now we are at Marika and Rosa’s apartment. Rosa is asleep when Marika comes in. She starts to pack her things. Quick jump to Chloe riding in a car – Morris is driving! Morris is back.! I like Morris. I hope we get to see more of him. He’s taking Chloe to the FBI. Their son Prescott is in the back seat. Prescott? – OK. She says goodbye to her son and Morris. A little trivia – the kid is actually the son of 24 writer/producer Howard Gordon.

Larry is giving Janice instructions on what he wants her to do. Janice just thinks he’s giving her busy work to do. Larry wants a VPN socket setup. He says he’s bringing in a consultant from Homeland Security to make sure the firewall is secure. This is the cover for why Chloe is being brought in.

Larry brings Chloe into a conference room to show her where the computers are setup for her to help Jack and Renee track Dubaku. Chloe looks uncomfortable. Larry notices and asks her what is wrong. Chloe’s feeling exposed and thinks they should be doing this more covertly since they believe someone in the FBI is working for Dubaku. Larry tells her about the Homeland Security cover story and that their network does not support remote access modules. Chloe says that’s inefficient and whoever setup up their network that way didn’t know what they were doing. Larry says he setup their network that way. Classic Chloe response: “Oh… OK”.

Next is my favorite part: Larry remembers Chloe worked with Jack in the past. Chloe says she has worked with him on and off for seven years. Larry says that’s impressive because she survived the experience. Larry points out many others haven’t like Curtis Manning, Ryan Chappelle and even his own wife. Chloe retorts by asking Larry if he thinks it’s Jack’s fault his wife was killed. Larry says, “You tell me.”

“Jack Bauer is the most trustworthy, honorable man I know and he’s my friend.” – Yeah Chloe! Thank you for defending Jack. It’s about time someone did. Then she tells Larry he should worry more about finding the mole in his office working for Dubaku than about Jack. You tell him girl!!

Erica tells Janice she recognizes Chloe and that she thought it was odd that she would be there from Homeland since that did not seem like her area of expertise. Janice is looking worried.

The scene goes to Dubaku meeting unknown man at the hotel. Mr. Burnett tells Dubaku of the flight arrangements. Dubaku requests a driver to pick up Marika. Burnett says he’s not sure if he can make arrangements on such short notice. Dubaku says he could ask his man at the bar, on the balcony, etc. Burnett says the men are there to “guarantee his safety.” Dubaku doesn’t believe that and says if anything happens to him while he’s trying to leave the country, he will send the names and bank transactions of those working with him to the Justice Dept. Burnett says that is unnecessary. Dubaku also says nothing better happen to Marika either. She knows nothing of this and is no threat to them. Burnett tells Dubaku he understands.

After Dubaku leaves, Unknown makes a call to another unknown person. I really wish they would give you their names upfront. Anyway, Unknown says Dubaku knew they were going to take him out so they better make sure Dubaku leaves to country so they won’t be found out.

Back to Marika and her sister. They argue about Marika leaving to go away with Dubaku. Marika says she’s going and demands Rosa get out of her way. As soon as she goes into the living room, Jack and Renee bust through the door. Renee demands to know where Dubaku is - they say they don’t know. Jack then shows Marika a picture on his cell phone of Dubaku but she says she doesn’t recognize him. Jack says she’s lying. “Why are you lying to me?!” Why do I like it so much when Jack yells? I guess it’s because Kiefer does it so well. Rosa asks to see it and she recognizes him. She tells Jack he told them his name was Samuel Aboa and that Marika was going to meet him. Jack wants to know where but Marika says she doesn’t know.

Jack: “Do you work for him?!”

Jack: “Do you know what he’s doing in this country?”
Jack: “Do you have any idea…WHAT this man is?” (love the way Kiefer delivers this line. It’s a simple line, but powerfully delivered)

Marika: “He’s everything to me.”

Jack looks away realizing it’s a romantic relationship; she doesn’t work for him.

4:30 pm – 4:39 pm

The President arrives at the hospital. The doctor says Henry’s looking at a minimum of 5 hours of surgery. He says his chances aren’t good but he’ll do everything he can. The President sees Henry briefly as he’s being brought to surgery. She tells him she should have believed him about Roger; that he didn’t commit suicide. Henry says he was a hero. President Taylor asks Bill to find someone to contact her daughter Olivia. She says they haven’t spoken in some time so she knows she wouldn’t come to the phone if she called. She asks if there is someone trustworthy he can send. Bill says there is.

Renee is showing Marika pictures about all the horrible things Dubaku has done in his country. Jack says he’s seen first hand what Dubaku’s capable of. He was responsible for killing a friend of his. Jack wants Marika to answer the phone when he calls. Marika doesn’t want to but Jack says the man she knew doesn’t exist. All that’s left are his lies and betrayal. Just then the phone rings. Jack begs Marika to answer the phone.

She does. Dubaku thinks she sounds strange. She covers by saying she and Rosa were arguing about him. Dubaku says a car has been sent for her. He wants her to go downstairs to wait for it. Renee wants them to grab the driver and make him tell them where Dubaku is. Jack doesn’t think they can get him to talk in the time that they have and Dubaku won’t stay around if they wait too long. Jack wants Marika to meet with him and track her using her cell phone. Renee doesn’t like the idea. Jack gently asks Marika to go with the driver and they will follow her. Marika agrees but Rosa doesn’t want her to. Marika says it’s her decision to make and it’s the right thing to do. Jack takes her phone to get her SID number so they can track her.

Rosa still protests Marika’s decision but she believes Dubaku wouldn’t hurt her. Marika tells Rosa she should have listened to her. Rosa said she said those things because she was jealous and didn’t want to lose her.

Meanwhile, Jack calls Larry. He finds out Chloe is running operational support. Jack seems relieved to be working with Chloe. Jack gives her the SID number to setup the tracking. Janis is trying to track what Chloe is up to but she’s locked out.

4:43 pm – 4:50 pm

Olivia Taylor is shown talking to a potential client. More trivia: that potential client Olivia is talking to is David Fury, the writer of this episode. He’s been known to make cameo appearances in shows that he writes.

They are interrupted by… Aaron Pierce! He’s come to escort Olivia to the hospital. Yeah – Aaron’s back. I’ve missed him too. Aaron explains that her father has been shot and is in surgery. Not public knowledge. She looks upset and then goes with Aaron.

Janice goes to Sean to ask for the “digital data key” for the server. She says Larry asked for it but she tells Sean the real reason she wants it. She thinks Chloe’s been brought in to replace her and she wants to know what’s really going on. Sean still doesn’t want to give it to her but she blackmails him by saying she’ll disclose his affair with Erica. Sean reluctantly gets the data key for her. “You’re a little bi*** you know that?”, “You’re a little bi***.” I don’t believe Janice and Sean like each other very much.

Marika is now ready to leave to meet Dubaku’s car. Rosa tells Renee to keep Marika safe. Renee says she will. Marika tells Jack she’s scared. Jack says she’s going to be fine and to remember they are right behind her. Renee starts to tell Marika to dial a certain number if she gets into trouble. Jack says he doesn’t want her to do that. He doesn’t want the driver to become suspicious.

Marika goes to wait at the door. Jack and Renee remain back from her in the hallway. Jack wants to know why Renee tried to give her the number to call.


Renee tells Jack Marika was scared and she wanted her to know there was another option other than waiting for them to swoop in. Jack says there are no other options when trying to catch Dubaku. He says she’s run other operations like this. Renee points out not with out backup. She doesn’t like that Marika is “naked out there.” Jack says this isn’t about her this is about Dubaku. Jack lectures her that life gets ugly and sometimes innocent people get hurt. They have one job and that is to get Dubaku. At least Marika has a choice to do the right thing unlike his other victims. (Jack in this scene kind of reminded me of the old Dragnet show when the Jack Webb character Joe Friday would lecture someone. I don’t know why that reminded me of Joe Friday but it did.)

The car arrives. Marika gets in. After the car leaves, Jack and Renee head out. Chloe is tracking the car. Janice goes to the server room and uses the data key – Access Granted.

4:54 pm – 5:00 pm

Marika asks the driver how much further but he doesn’t answer. In the server room using the data key, Janice overhears Larry, Chloe and Jack during the operation. Someone comes in and Janice quickly disables the data key and leaves the server room. When she does that she causes Chloe’s link tracking the car to disappear. She tells Jack the tracking grid is lost. It comes back up and Chloe runs a diagnostic to find the cause of the glitch. Chloe finds out someone was in the system mirroring her terminal and knows what they are doing. Larry looks around the office.

All of a sudden police cars come in from all sides. Jack tries to evade but can’t. They are ordered out of the car by DC Metro Police. Jack and Renee are arrested. That came out of nowhere. Larry calls Metro and says no warrants have been issued for them. Chloe says yes they have and pulls up on the screen a warrant for their arrest using “decisive force.” She says it is a real warrant from someone in the office.

Janice gives Sean back the data key. She tells Sean about the covert operation Larry is running with Jack Bauer to track Dubaku. Sean asks why they are being kept in the dark about it. Janice doesn’t know but she doesn’t like it. Janice leaves and Sean makes a phone call to Burnett! He’s the mole in the FBI!!!

Burnett explains why they could not take out Dubaku and that Sean should pray Dubaku gets away.

Dubaku gets a call again from Burnett. He tells Dubaku Marika has been turned by the FBI and she agrees to lead them to you using her cell phone. Dubaku says he’ll take care of Marika.

….clock ticks to 5:00 pm.

Another good episode. In fact I enjoyed it even more the 2nd time I saw it. The storyline moved along well and the pacing was good. The fact that we find out Sean is the mole really didn’t surprise me. They went with the person you expected rather than someone totally unexpected. Although, I did briefly begin to believe it was Janice. Some pretty good mis-direction there.

I also liked the police coming out of nowhere to arrest Jack and Renee. That was an interesting unexpected twist caused by the FBI mole.

I also loved the scene where Chloe defends Jack to Larry. Defense of Jack is so infrequent, it is a real treat when that happens. Jack hasn’t always made the best decisions, but he’s saved many lives over the years and the appreciation for the good things he’s done gets overlooked way too often. Way to go Chloe!

Of course it was great to see two past characters return in Morris and Aaron. Especially Aaron Pierce. He’s always been one of my favorite characters ‘24’. The actor that plays him (Glenn Morshower) does such a wonderful job, you really believe he’s a Secret Service agent.

Based on the previews for next week, it looks like another great episode. I know some people avoid previews so I won’t give too much away, but there is a very intense-looking scene between Jack and Renee I’m really looking forward to.

…anxiously awaiting Monday night.

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