Does this series still star Kiefer Sutherland? The last few episodes have felt fairly Bauer lite and the series is paying for it big time. Even if the episode is weak, if Jack is acting like a bad ass and handing out beat downs like candy at Halloween somehow all is still right in the world. At the rate 24 is going I expect the opening credits to change to read “and Special Guest Kiefer Sutherland”. Now, this episode wasn’t as bad as the previous one, but it still wasn’t up to par for a series that used to be so much fun.
So, Palmer fresh from his restful coma is fighting for power and facing a cabinet vote just as he brother did before him. That statement alone is enough to get this episode a D; it’s not just similar to a previous season at this point I felt like I was just watching a rerun. Anyway his doctor gives him an adrenaline shot to boost him up enough to face Vice President Daniels who seems dead set to take the Presidency by any means necessary including letting his assistant lie in documents to be submitted to the Supreme Court. This leads to about the only interesting scene in this part of the story other than the finale. Tom Lennox apparently bugged the VP’s office and nabbed a recording of the VP and his assistant, who still might be half alien from her time on Invasion by the way, plotting to lie to the Supreme Court to get the ruling they need to oust the President. Lennox confronts the VP and gives him a taste of the medicine he’s been taking since the beginning of the season and the blackmail works because Daniels stops the fight allowing President Palmer to resume his duties. Lennox believed he was doing what was best for the country from the beginning and he found himself in over his head but now he’s fighting back by playing the same kinds of games the villains in the White House have been playing all along. Don’t forget he’s not afraid to get his hands dirty; he did try to blackmail Karen Hayes out of the White House several episodes back. The climax of the film was almost amusing though, because Lennox didn’t believe a nuclear strike was the right decision eh decided to help the President get his position back and what does the President do? Well, you guessed it. Why the President had this change of heart remains to be seen and how Daniels will react should also be interesting.
Meanwhile the only thing Jack gets to do in this episode is use Gradenko to get to Fayed. Gradenko is wired for sound and injected in the arm with a tracking device and sent to meet Fayed. Bauer underestimated Gradenko though because he destroys the wire and even gets Fayed to lop off his arm so they can make a fast getaway. On the run when the two of them get cornered in a bar, Gradenko gives up Fayed to bar patrons who attack Fayed and take him down, not before he shoots a few random people though. In the confusion Gradenko slips away. Some people may think that Gradenko’s character gets wrapped up to easily in this episode but I actually really liked his ultimate end. He gets away only to die alone in the water under a pier of blood loss from the missing arm.
There’s still some weirdness going on with Doyle back at CTU that’s really irritating me more than intriguing me. First, he receives evidence that would set Nadia free and acts like he might hide it but he doesn’t then he uses Nadia to get evidence against Milo, which he gets, then he destroys it because “he needs Milo”. I really don’t like this character and I’d love to see him get blasted on by Jack for some reason. This hour had a few moments that I enjoyed but overall the White House is offering Season 2 all over again and there’s not enough Jack in the other parts of the episode. Next week looks like it might actually be an improvement, keep your fingers crossed.
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