Mania Grade: A-

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Info:

• Episode: 6:00 PM â€" 7:00 PM
• Stars: Kieffer Sutherland, Mary Lynn Rajskub, DB Woodside, James Morrison, Jayne Atkinson
• Created By: Joel Surnow, Robert Cochran

"24: 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM"

Mary Lynn Rajskub Fox's 24
© N/A

How good would a near Bauer free episode of 24 be?  Better than you think.  In this episode, Bauer is still a prisoner in the Russian consulate, but not for long.  He quickly breaks free from his captures but he’s still hiding out in the building trying to find a safe way out.  CTU has brought in a new leader for field operations, Ricky Schroder, and he’s actually trying to play it tough.  Now, when he started pushing Morris around it did bring a smile to my face.  He is doing a find job playing a jerk, but a tough jerk, I just don’t know about that.  Anyway, CTU is planning an invasion of the Russian Consulate, not to save Jack, he’s secondary, but to kidnap the official who knows the whereabouts of the remaining nuclear weapons.   

Former crook President Logan insists that he can stop the act of war that the United States is about to commit by invading the Consulate.  Last season, Logan’s wife Martha became friends with Anya Suvarov, the wife of the Russian President, when she saved him and his wife from a deadly attack approved by the President.  Logan believes that Martha can convince Anya to have her husband turn over the official and free Jack.  This sets up the main suspense for the episode.  The CTU strike team prepares for the invasion while Logan goes to visit Martha, who has been institutionalized and now lives with Aaron in a small bungalow.  If you remember from last season Martha had some mental problems that the President used to his advantage to manipulate her and silence her when necessary.  Their meeting was my favorite part of the entire episode.  I was surprised last season at how much I enjoyed Jean Smart and she’s just as good here.  She seems to be on the brink of losing it again and Logan’s condescending attitude just seems to be making it worse.  That’s part of what’s great about Logan, he doesn’t even mean to be condescending but he just is.  He just is that way all the time.  The more they talk, the more unstable she seems to get, fidgeting and moving around the room, cutting fruit then throwing it at him.  When she walked past him and jammed that knife into his shoulder, I admit I leapt forward from my chair to get an even better look at what just happened.  After stabbing him, she calms right down and makes the call to Anya and the Russian President gives the go-ahead for CTU to use force to retrieve Jack and the official. 

At the same time, the Vice President is itching for a fight.  He basically forces Lennox to lie and say that the terrorist we were buddies with planted the bomb in an attempt to force his home country into helping us find the nukes. The Vice President even warns that he’s bring down the full power of the American military on the country if they don’t agree to help.  Has anyone noticed that the Vice President had an assistant appear last episode and in this one two that’s the alien/human hybrid mom from Invasion?  Apparently the Vice President trusts her because she’s allowed to stay in the room while he verbally beats Lennox into submission.  I believe she’ll play a larger role when Lennox grows a pair and starts trying to find a way to subvert the Vice President. 

During all of this, the only thing Jack did was escape just as he was about to be killed and hide out in a basement.  He kidnapped a couple who had slipped down there for a little uhhh “filing” and forced the man to go get a satellite phone because all the phones in the building had been disabled.  My question is; why didn’t Jack ask one of them for a cell phone?  Did I miss something about some special gadget that would disable cell phones in the building?  Seems a bit of a stretch but hey, this is 24. 

This episode was strong, better than last week, especially considering how little Jack had to do in it.  I’m happy to see Jack coming out of the Consulate without another international incident weighing on him, that would just be weak.  I’m sure we have one on the way due to the actions of the Vice President though.  Now, if they can just come up with a way to work out the White House conspiracy in a unique way I’ll be happy.  I know this series has a format just like CSI and others but that doesn’t mean you can’t be creative within that format.  So far, everything happening in the White House is a bit boring to me.  I don’t particularly care about any of the characters and the Tom Lennox story arc seems predictable to me, we’ve seen this same character in the White House before.  Hopefully, the writers will find a way to surprise and engage me in that part of the story soon.  At any rate, this was a fun episode with Logan and Martha really making it enjoyable.  I hope we see plenty more of them throughout the rest of this season.