Throughout the season of 24, Fox will run a night here and a night there of two hour blocks to make sure the season ends at the appropriate time. This week was one of those nights. It was an interesting night as it wasn’t as high energy and action packed as you might expect but there was plenty of suspense and a good bit of character development.
This season, Jack gets a wide scope of emotions, he’s still in pain mentally from his time in China, and now he’s carrying a sense of failure and guilt. Jack’s father Philip killed his son Graem last week and now this week he’s succeeded in pinning it on his son and followed that up with laying a massive guilt trip about it on Jack. So, to recap, Phillip was part of the plot that got Jack sent to China in the first place, then he killed his partner in crime/Jack’s brother Graem, he laid Graem’s death on Jack, and finally by the end of the two hours, he will have tried to kill Jack and threaten his own Grandson in the process. All of that along with being central to the terrorist plot where four nuclear weapons have been released for detonation on U.S. soil. Phillip is one bad dude.
You could almost say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Even if you’re new to the series, this season you know that Jack will do anything to save the country and do his patriotic duty. Well, Jack’s father will also go to any lengths to carry out his mysterious plan. Jack’s brother Graem still believed he was doing something right for the country.
The first hour picks up from last week where Morris was kidnapped to help the terrorists build a new device that will allow them to set off the bombs. Morris was beaten, submerged in water, and finally had a drill buried in his flesh before he finally gave in to terrorist demands. Morris isn’t a military man; he’s just a computer geek, so he has no real training on how to fight off torture. After he’s done Fayed orders him killed but Jack and his team show up to save the day. Fayed escapes leaving Jack with an armed bomb. He disarms it with Chloe’s help. So, two of the bombs are now out of play, one blew up and Jack disarmed the other, leaving three more.
When Graem’s widow remembers following Graem to a house where a he met with a Russian terrorist now connected to the plot, she agrees to ride with Jack to find the house. Phillip calls her and tells her he will kill her son unless she leads Jack to a house that’s been rigged with a bomb. She complies but Jack gets out of the house just in time.
While all of this was happening, the political struggles in the Presidential bunker took a really ugly turn. Lennox decides to resign but is convinced by a shifty aide that he should stick around because he is connected with others who believe in his policies and are working to get them in place even if that means removing the president from power. We’ve seen this before in 24 and it’s a bit disappointing to see it again. Lennox believes he is right but is he willing to see the president removed or worse to push his agenda? The creators are kind of stuck here because even if they made Lennox a balls out villain that was done well last season. I can only hope that as this plot thread develops they plan to do something unique with the Lennox character.
A lot happens in these two hours, more emotionally than action though, and that may be a little off putting to some fans. I am happy to see more deeply defined characters and stronger motivations. Morris returns to his station full of guilt over what he’s done. Will he be weakened by his state or driven to desperate measures to make up for his mistake? This story is closer to Jack than any before so how will it continue to affect him, especially when he discovers his father is one of the main players against him? The final cliffhanger for this week wasn’t as suspenseful as others but the set up looks to be exciting and more character driven than ever. Going into the next several episodes, I do have a few concerns, mostly about the political side of the story, but I’m really looking forward to a final showdown between Jack and his father. You think Phillip will just ground Jack and send him to his room?
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