Television:

TV Review: 24 - SEASON EIGHT - '2 a.m. to 3 a.m.'

One of the best episodes of the season as the Jack we all remember returns

Grade: B+
Stars: Kiefer Sutherland, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Annie Wersching, Freddie Prinze Jr., Cherry Jones, Katee Sackhoff
Release Date: March 8, 2010

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By EMERSON PARKER, Contributing Editor
Published 3/9/2010

Now that’s the Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) from 24 that we all know and love.

The kind of guy that will do anything, anything, to get the job done.

 

You knew that when the mom failed to convince the suicide bomber in the isolation chamber to turn back from arming the explosive vest that Jack was going to threaten the mother. You just knew it. But given the way Jack and this season has progressed, there was still a hint that they might have written him to be a kinder, gentler version of the badass, do-what-it takes American.

 

Luckily, they played it as they should with Jack threatening not only to have the mother clean up the dead body of the terrorist but then march her down to the dirty bomb aftermath and expose her to the radiation. Classic Jack Bauer.

 

You also knew that the vest once armed wasn’t coming off the easy way and as soon as he hit those four LED lights that dude was a goner, no matter what change of heart he might have had.

 

Only 24 can have nearly an entire episode take place in an isolation chamber and make it interesting. But given what the show has given us this season with the cold Russian winter, the lack of a definitive bad guy and far too many setting up episodes, it wasn’t clear at first if this was going to be another episode that missed the mark. 
 
It didn’t. In fact, this was the best episode in some time as it focused on the tension between Jack and the suicide bomber and CTU’s need to have a legitimate new source to track down the stolen radiation rods.  

 

And that source just happens to be the former head of security, Tairn (T.J. Ramini) to President Hassan (Anil Kapoor), the dude Hassan had already arrested because he suspected the same thing, but had escaped and was now shacked up with the I.R.K. president’s daughter.

 

Last week I suspected that either Hassan’s daughter or wife may be in on the conspiracy along with Tarin and it seems at least I was partially correct. While the daughter and wife seem to be off the hook, Tarin certainly is guilty. He’s been working with the terrorists the entire time against his boss and looks to have a bigger role than I originally thought. But is he the head of the snake or have we not seen him or her yet? I still believe that Tarin is just another cog in the terrorist machine working for someone with a greater influence or grander purpose. At least I hope so because right now it appears to be just a network of disgruntled members of the I.R.K. looking to strike against the U.S. because it will put fear into the country.

 

Meanwhile, the storyline that won’t die continues as Dana Walsh (Katee Sackhoff) runs into another problem in her attempt to crawl away from her past as Kevin Wade’s probation officer (Stephen Root) is looking for him in order to keep him on the straight and narrow. Since Wade called Walsh multiple times, the probation officer is hitting her up first. Of course, with Wade dead, Walsh is gonna have to come up with a hell of a lie to get him off her scent.

 

Next week promises to hold a few surprises from the previews as Hassan’s daughter is taken captive and it looks as if CTU is attacked – not a shock there, the place is always a target it seems. Should be interesting to see who targets the facility.

 

Source: iFMagazine.com