4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

I like to think that if Kiefer Sutherland and I were to ever meet we would get along stunningly. We could go to a hockey game, hit some bars and he could tell me what it was like to torture and destroy the only replica of the Jack Bauer doll in existence. And it would give him a much needed break from tracking down nuclear bombs and working with his enemies.

Jack calls Bill to explain that his father escaped but left him with a lead on how to find Gredenko. He tells him that President Logan knows how to get to Gredenko. In case you missed season 5, President Logan was the one who helped orchestrate the assassination of President Palmer, Michelle Dessler and Tony Almeida, and helped supply terrorists with nerve gas all trying to "help the country." Bill explains to Jack that Logan brokered some backdoor deals and worked out a plea bargain to be under house arrest and that the American public never knew how he betrayed his country. This does not sit well with Jack, which is understandable, considering all the work Jack went through to bring him to justice.

Jack heads over to the log cabin where Logan is being held under house arrest. He has grown a beard, which I think is a nice addition because it hides his weird neck. He's also wearing plaid because I guess he's taken up lumberjacking and whittling in his spare time. Logan tells Jack he can lead him to Gredenko through a Russian consulate. Jack's like "been there done that Charles" and Logan explains that he has leverage against him. Logan worked with him before and didn't implement him, but he still could. Jack figures Logan's motives are to try to get a better deal, but Logan, rather convincingly tells him he doesn't want anything, just to help. He's "reconnected with his faith" and isn't the same man he was before. Logan tells Jack that their best bet in getting this guy to tell the truth is if Logan goes and talks to him in person.

Jack calls Wayne and tells him the situation and asks him to temporarily suspend Logan's house arrest so they can go chat with the Russian man. Palmer talks to Logan and is very upfront with him about how he doesn't trust him or forgive him. I mean the guy killed his brother (and I mean it the way white people mean it, which is less meaningful I think.) Wayne makes sure that Logan knows that even though he's agreeing to let him go for the time being, he in no way forgives him. Jack gets back on the phone and Wayne tells him to "make it count" ("meet me at the clock."- Lauren Greene with the clutch Titanic reference.)

We see that President Logan has become extremely neat during his confinement and then gets dressed for the whole rest of the episode. He says a prayer to himself in the mirror and Jack sees the same prayer highlighted in his Bible. I think it's about redemption. Jack seems to believe, as do I, that Logan is really doing this without any ulterior motives. He seems genuine when telling Wayne that he wants to help him the way David helped him a couple years ago. Logan seems like he really just wants to be able to live with himself. I don't know why Jack's not hurrying him up and telling him that there's no time to pick out just the right tie for the occasion. It's also convenient that Jack and Logan are the same size, because Jack gets dressed in a beautiful suit very quickly. That means no more denim jacket and formfitting metrosexual t-shirt that Jack didn't bleed or sweat in.

Back in the batcave, the assassin has arrived. He meets Reed in the room where Lennox is being held. He unties him from one pole and then ties him to another one literally one foot away for no reason. Poor Tom Lennox is bound and gagged the whole episode and only gets to say like one line. Reed runs around and tries to make excuses for no one being able to find Lennox. Side note: what has Chad Lowe ever done? Should I know something else he was in? Anyway. They talk about their plan to put a bomb made of highlighters onto the podium and then activating it while Palmer's within 10 feet of it.

At CTU Morris complains. For like half an hour. Chloe asks him if he's been drinking and if he's okay to work about 90 times and Morris says no to drinking and yes to being able to work about 90 times. Nadia thinks he can't work, Bill trusts him, Chloe doesn't and then she shoots him in the head. No that doesn't happen, but it's what I wish did because the only thing that happens in this episode until the end has to do with Morris and if he's able to type things into a computer. I really wish Fayed had just killed him.

Now it's time for Assad's speech. Reed nervously walks down the hallway and every person he passes looks at him. He puts the bomb under the podium where Assad will be making his speech and Palmer stands off to the side. Reed excuses himself saying he's going to go look for Lennox. He then stands outside the room and detonates the bomb. I honestly didn't think he was going to have the cajones to actually go through with it. Fortunately, Assad notices the highlighter fluid and warns everyone with barely enough time to move out of the way of the blast. Assad looks pretty dead, and Wayne is not moving at all. He's alive, but injured bad. Great. As soon as I started to really like Wayne as the president, he gets taken out of commission for probably a good amount of episodes.

This episodes fatal flaw was that there was barely any Jack - Logan interaction. The few times this did happen were the best parts of the episode. A couple of things that I noticed during this episode. Why does Bill continue to trust Jack and do everything he says? I don't think Jack has told him what he's actually been doing all day until after the fact. Yet every time Jack says "Bill I can't explain, you have to trust me, please just send me 76 tactical teams" Bill's like "okay yeah I'll make that top priority even though I never know what you're doing and every time I send you a team the only one left alive is you." And where is Bill's sugar mama Karen? A flight from D.C. to LA doesn't take 6 hours. Maybe she got a flight with a lay over in Canada or something.

I would say that this was one of the weaker episodes of the season so far. But I'm still really glad that Gregory Itzin is back playing President Logan because he's so much fun to hate.

P.S. The beginning isn't supposed to be one long paragraph, this isn't spacing right for some reason and I don't know why and I'm tired of trying to fix it.

season 1 top episodes

So a lot of message board threads discuss people's favorite episodes. This inspired me to write about my favorite episode, but since picking ONE favorite episode is as hard as deciding what I like better, hockey or the beach, I've decided to pick three from each season. I think I'll do a season a week.

A lot of times I forget how good season 1 is, since I went on such a 24 watching blitzkrieg. I love how every episode starts with Jack saying, "Right now, terrorists are plotting to assassinate a Presidential candidate" and "I'm federal agent Jack Bauer, and this is the longest day of my life." He also says "on the day of the California presidential primary" after what hour it is. My friend and I continued to say this after the hour well into season 3, which for some reason, never seemed to get old to us. Season 1 is Jack Bauer before he's "Jack Bauer" the invincible superhero. He makes mistakes. He's a regular guy, albeit one with an unusually stressful job, who is trying to fix his marriage and improve his family life. Jack is a family man and a CTU agent. After season 1, there's no line between "at home Jack" and "federal agent Jack" which leads to his emotional downfall.

1. 8:00 a.m. -9:00 a.m. This episode is directly after the terrorists try to make Jack assassinate David Palmer (which came extremely close to being in the top 3.) He's been taken into Secret Service custody and tries to explain that he's protecting Palmer and that his family is in danger. They don't believe him and he escapes custody, while handcuffed. That alone is enough to make this a top episode but the thing that sets this episode apart is when he accosts a driver, Lauren, and they hide out in an office. I think some of the best moments from the show are the times when it slows down, and we can see Jack as more human. As he waits in the office, he expresses to Lauren how afraid he is.

I used to be in the military. Used to do field work for the CIA. I've been to some horrible places. I've seen some pretty terrible things. I don't think I've ever been this scared in my whole life.

He also threatens her in a really sweet way: "I have killed two people since midnight. I haven't slept in over 24 hours. So maybe you should be a little more afraid of me than you are now."But more importantly, he's vulnerable. He dozes off the only time in the history of the series. He naively trusts Lauren to not call the police when he tries to make a run for it. After season 1, Jack barely trusts anyone. We can see in this episode how much Jack loves his family, and what he's willing to do to protect them.

2. 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. This is the Jack in the limo episode. While trying to find his family, Jack hijacks a guy named Ted Cofell in his limo and proceeds to threaten to torture him for a long time. He wears these awesome bada** sunglasses, puts on an awesome soundtrack and drives him to an empty parking lot. Jack threatening to shove a towel down his throat (which I believe I just quoted in my previous post) is one of my favorite moments of all time on the show. He's so calm about it, and you know he'll do it. I don't remember anything else that happens in this episode, because Jack in the limo steals the show.

3. 11:00 p.m. - 12:00 p.m. This is the last episode of the season. So many unconventional things happen in this episode, and it really sets the tone for the seasons to come. Nina, who we find out in the episode before this one has been working for the Drazen's all day, calls Jack and tells him that Kim is dead. This is so that he'll go into where they are and they'll have the opportunity to kill him. We see Jack overwhelmed with grief and unable to keep himself together. Once he calms down, we only see a violent rage as he goes into the warehouse where the Drazen's are holding Kim, who had gotten away and is actually safe back at CTU. He takes out like 6 guys in a matter of 5 minutes. Then it's just him and Victor Drazen, the man behind the attacks all day. Drazen's out of ammo and Jack is clearly not in any danger. A "good guy" on any other show, or in any other movie, would have learned that revenge isn't worth it and would have just arrested him and put him in jail for life. Instead, he unloads the rest of the bullets into his body, even continuing to shoot him when he falls off the dock into the water. This was the first time I realized Jack was not a conventional hero.

Back at CTU, Teri overhears Nina speaking German and Nina ties her to a chair as she prepares her get away. Jack realizes that Nina's the mole when Mason tells him that Kim's fine. He comes back to CTU and finds Nina trying to run away in the parking lot. He explodes at her, and it takes George all of his powers of persuasion to keep Jack from killing her.

Jack: I trusted you!
Nina: I was just doing my job.
Jack: Your job!?!?! My wife and daughter almost died today!!! How many people that trusted you lost their lives today because you were doing your job!?!? Walsh Jamey? Ellis? How many others?
Nina: How many people died because of you Jack?

Then, Jack is reunited with his family. Finally this day is over and Jack can relax. He's debriefed and him, Teri and Kim head home. Right? No. The closing shot of the season is Jack sobbing as he holds Teri's lifeless body. Even though I hated Teri, this is not what's supposed to happen. Jack is supposed to fix his marriage, bond with his daughter and live happily ever after. But 24 doesn't care about happily ever after. This episode shows that you will never know what's coming, and that really no one is above being killed. It sets the precedent for future episodes. It gives Jack's character a completely different dynamic, and it makes him much darker.

I never thought that 24 would be a show that I could watch repeatedly. But like many shows, the more you watch them, the more details you pick up on. Knowing what's going to happen makes you watch it and notice things in a different way. I might have to go back and watch season 1 again, since it's been so long since I watched the whole thing.

When I'm finished with you, you're gonna wish that you felt this good again. -Jack Bauer

Instead of studying, I'm of course cruising the Internet. Story of my life. I found this article posted in the comments section of the Jack Bauer Torture Report. Executive producer Howard Gordon said that the final episodes of the season will be less torture-heavy than the first half has been. He claims this has nothing to do with "the U.S. military, human rights groups and children's advocates" wanting it to.

"It's not something that we, as writers, want to use as a crutch. We'd like to find other ways for Jack to get information out of suspects,'' said Gordon. "Our appetite has decreased. Personally, I think the audience may be tiring of it as well. My wife says it's too much.''

That's a good point. It's really easy to just have Jack torture someone to fill up the episode. I think the writers should be branching out more to have Jack obtain information more creatively, and not just having Agent Burke come in with his torture juice when they can't think of anything. Personally, I like it better when Jack just threatens to torture someone, like in one of my favorite Jack Bauer moments from way back in season 1:

You probably don't think that I can force this towel down your throat. But trust me, I can. All the way. Except I'd hold onto this one little bit at the end. When your stomach starts to digest it, I pull it out. Taking your stomach lining with it. For most people it would take about a week to die. It's very painful.

Needless to say, the guy told him who he was working for. I'm sure this shying away from more gruesome torture scenes will make some viewers happy, and hopefully we can see Jack use more clever devices to get the information he needs.

P.S. I read a very disturbing story this morning about a blogger in Egypt who is going to jail for 4 years for insulting Islam. That's no good. I really love the First Amendment.

just a rant

This post will probably be minimally 24 related but I feel like it must be addressed.

On blogs4bauer.com, they have nicknames for all of the main characters. This is the explanation for Chloe's nickname.

Potato-Face --- Television Without Pity's nickname for Chloe, because of that scrunched-up face she always makes and because it's a much less cruel nickname than Rene Zellweger-face.

Let me explain. If you've known me, for oh say more than a month, you know that I pure straight hate Renee Zellweger. If you ever watch Scrubs, my Renee Zellweger is Dr. Cox's Hugh Jackman. The reasons that I hate her include, but are not limited to, the movie Jerry Maguire, the movie Chicago, her weird body, her annoying voice, her disgusting hair, her "I just ate a whole lemon" face, her complete lack of talent. But even all of these reasons don't really add up to the violent hatred that burns in my soul. I really shouldn't have these strong feelings for someone I don't know, I can't explain it.

My point is, it made me really happy to see other people hate her too, and to acknowledge that Chloe is at least cooler than Renee Zellweger. This picture is evidence that Mary Lynn Rajskub is actually quite pretty when not scowling at CTU, and a million times better than Renee Zellweger.

I'm sorry if this is off-topic but every time I hear her name I cringe and want to punch children, and I really needed an outlet.

I'd like nothing more than to hang you as a traitor and watch you jerk until you die. -Ryan Chapelle

So apparently, there are mad people hating on this season of 24. An article posted on one message board on the Fox Web site claims that a lot of people aren't happy with this season and that it's "off" somehow. This article seems a little biased since they only quote people who aren't enjoying the season so far. The posts responding to this article are mostly defending the show, and point out that a lot of people are still liking this season.

One thing that I thought was odd about the article is the following quote.

Last season was just too good. Almost everyone agrees that "Day Five," in which Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) came back from the dead and saved the world from terrorists with nerve gas, was the best yet. It landed "24" its first Emmy and set up any follow-up to be a letdown.

I think this is a broad overstatement. While season 5 was the most popular in ratings yet, I think it's a bad idea to say that it was overwhelming every one's favorite. Amount of viewers does not equal every one's enjoyment. Personally, my favorite season is 3, how can you not love the Salazar's? Season 5 is a close second, but 3 wins because Tony and Michelle are both major, living characters.

After 6 seasons, some aspects of the show that you could overlook previously (like the fact that there's never traffic in LA) do seem to be a little more ridiculous. However, it's really easy to pick a show apart and over analyze everything. A lot of things that happen on 24, just need to be taken for what they are. Yes Jack never eats, sleeps or needs to charge his cell phone, get over it. Would you really want that to be included in the show?

One valid point that the article brings up is that with so many major characters being killed off in season 5, we don't know, or particularly care about the new characters. Personally, I just think that this season is vastly different from previous seasons. We've probably seen Jack show more emotions this season than in all the other seasons combined. It's also different in the sense that there is more political debate about civil liberties than usual.

I remember after seeing Spiderman 2 with a bunch of my friends, one of them said that he didn't like it because there wasn't enough action, and he didn't like the personal life of Spiderman. This is one of the things that draws me to the Spiderman movies is the fact that Peter Parker is a tortured hero and has so much conflict. My friend said all he wants is to see Spiderman fight bad guys. Maybe this is what people want 24 to be like, just Jack beating up evil terrorists, not caring about his personal feelings. But perhaps that's me being over broad now.

My friends and I have been really enjoying this season. We also enjoy the fact that we now like to think of Jack having Babe as a half-brother. This makes the show infinitely funnier.

3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

With great Bauers come great responsibility. Yes I thought of that terrible pun all by myself and I'm pretty proud of it.

This was kind of the Morris back-story episode, but it was still really good. We begin with Marilyn and Milo fighting off bad guys in one of Los Angeles's famous abandoned industrial parks. Milo takes a bullet to the arm and holds off Poppa Bauer's henchmen until Jack arrives and saves them at the last minute. Milo is not phased at all by the machine gun bullets he's just taken to the arm, so I think I'm going to need to be giving him some more respect.

Jack then violently throws Marilyn against a concrete wall and snarls for her to tell him why Gredenko knew they were coming. She tells Jack they weren't Gredenko's men they were Phillip's. She explains that Phillip killed Graem and is threatening to do the same to Josh if she doesn't tell him where Gredenko is. Jack calls Bill and tells him that the team has been ambushed. Jack tells him that he can't explain what he's about to do, which makes Bill angry but Jack's going to do what he wants anyway, and Bill knows that.

At CTU, Nadia (who I expected there to be more of during the day, she's kind of been in the background) tells Chloe and Morris that Milo was shot holding off thugs and that he was going to be fine. This bothers Morris, because everything does, and Chloe questions his ability to work effectively. She tells him to talk to a psychiatrist of his sponsor. He tells her that he'll be fine, that he just needs to take a break and go for a walk. Morris goes to a quick mart and picks up a bottle of whiskey and Altoids. Morris should know that you should never drink and set up a perimeter. He goes into the alley and downs practically the whole thing, which impressed me. He then realizes he's made a huge mistake and throws it up. Chloe calls him and mid-breakdown tells her that he's on his way back to work. Morris picked a hell of a day to quit drinkin.

Meanwhile, Jack convinces Marilyn to call Phillip and tell her that she won't give up Gredenko's location until she can come see Josh. Phillip puts up a fight but eventually gives her the address. Josh overhears that Phillip will kill him if his mother doesn't cooperate. He then tries to convince grandpa to let him go down to the lobby and get a soda. Pop-pop Bauer pulls a gun and lets him know that he's not leaving. Now I'm doubting if Josh is Jack's son because Jack's son would have the ability to kill him with a throw pillow or something. Or even better, the room key card, Nina Meyers style. Anyway, by the time Jack and Marilyn get to the hotel, they see that Phillip and Josh are gone. Poppa Bauer calls the room phone and Jack and Marilyn see that they are on the roof of the building across the way. Jack tells his dad that he'll trade himself for Josh.

Cut back to Washington. Lennox gets Reed the president's itinerary and promises him that he'll give clearance to the man who is supposed to assassinate Palmer. Wayne asks Lennox for his help on Assad's speech. Lennox confesses that he didn't think the president cared too much about his opinion anymore. Wayne says that's not true, and apologizes for making him feel that way. He tells Lennox that his changes to the speech are great and thanks him. Lennox goes back to the bunker to see Reed and tells him he'll get the clearance within the hour. Reed leaves and Lennox calls the secret service, having changed his mind about helping kill the president. Note to bosses, just compliment your employees every once in a while and they won't have you killed. Reed overhears the conversation and bashes Lennox in the head repeatedly. Lennox says that he cannot condone the murder of the president, so Reed knocks him unconscious and cancels the meeting with the secret service.

Morris is back to work at CTU, but Chloe can smell alcohol on his breathe and calls him out on it. He explains to her that he drank it but spat it back out immediately. I feel really bad for Morris here as he explains to Chloe that he didn't drink it because he couldn't give up everything, especially her. He says it was at least one little triumph in his terrible terrible day. Morris is usually really annoying, but he was tortured, so maybe we should give him a break for wanting to have a little swig. Chloe believes him, but warns that she'll be watching him for the rest of the shift, aka another 14 hours.

Jack goes unarmed and alone to meet with his dad. Poppa Bauer lets Josh go and it's just Jack and dad. Phillip explains that he needs to find Gredenko to keep his legacy and enterprise alive. Phillip, we get it, you REALLY love this company. He says if Jack was in charge and hadn't abandoned the family, none of this would have happened. He tells Jack to get on his knees and points the gun at the back of his head. The camera zooms in on Jack's face and explains to his dad that he wasn't abandoning the family, he just had to go out on his own and make his own life. He finishes talking and tells his dad that he's ready. Nothing happens. Jack turns around, wondering what's taking so long, and Phillip's gone. Jack rushes outside and finds a cell phone instructing him to dial a number (which was a real number by the way, so if you want to call it someone from the set of 24 will answer. Or at least that's the way it usually works if you see a real number on a television show. The way you can tell is if the middle three numbers aren't 555) He calls the number and, in honor of President's Day, PRESIDENT LOGAN ANSWERS. YESSSS! He tells him that he can tell him where Gredenko is. I think, I was too excited to really hear what he was saying. Will this mean the return of Martha Logan? Dear God I hope so.

Let's get one thing straight, kid. The only reason you're still conscious is because I don't want to carry you. -Jack Bauer

As I sit here watching the original Jack Bauer, John McClane in Die Hard, I came across an article on msnbc.com comparing television and movie quality. I don't consider myself to be an avid tv watcher, and my movie theater going has been dwindling over the past years. This has a lot to do with not having a job, but it also has a lot to do with the decreased quality of the movies being produced by the mainstream studios. My last really enjoyable movie outings were The Departed and Little Miss Sunshine. But before that I can't really remember a GREAT movie that I saw. Then I thought about the television shows that I watch, 24, Rescue Me, Scrubs, South Park. No movie of late can compare to the levels of drama, suspense, or comedy, respectively, that these shows produce. This hadn't really occurred to me until reading this article.

One really good point that was brought up, is that both the television and movie industries are deathly afraid of the Internet, but they are both battling the problem differently. Television is giving any idea that's new and unique a chance, and Hollywood has delved more and more into sequels and special effects.

The Internet age has put both industries into a state of high anxiety, with everyone scrambling to figure out how money will be made in a digital future where people watch movies on their phones and surf the Web on their TVs. But while the major film studios have responded by taking shelter beneath big-tent franchises, the TV industry has gone the opposite route, welcoming anyone with an original idea. The roster of channels has ballooned into the hundreds, creating a niche universe where shows don't need to be dumbed down in order to survive (because the dummies have their own channels). DVDs, meanwhile, have upended how we watch television, transforming shows from disposable weekly units into 8-, 12-, sometimes 22-hour movies.

Before, many channels were afraid to give shows like 24 or Lost a chance because they were afraid viewers wouldn't stick with it. Now with DVDs, you can catch up on whole seasons of shows in a couple of days, with no commercials. With a whole season, you can do a lot more than with a two-hour movie.

There are a lot of really bad television shows (Grey's Anatomy) but more creative shows are being given an opportunity to thrive. It seems that the movie industry is afraid to try anything too different, and the same types of movies keep getting made. It's not mentioned in this article, but many people also feel the price of going to the movies has gone up too much. I personally don't mind paying $10 to see a movie, if I feel like it will be really good. I will not pay $10 to see a mediocre movie. However, I can sit home and watch a mediocre television show courtesy of Northeastern University.

Shows like 24, Rescue Me, Nip/Tuck are willing to make viewers think and "push the envelope" more than many movies I've seen coming out lately. There are plot twists upon plot twists, character development, controversy, and more entertainment packed into one hour than most movies have been delivering.

I'm getting real tired of your personality. -Tony Almeida

Every night on Keith Olbermann's show he picks a "Worst Person in the World." Tuesday night's winner was Joel Surnow, the producer of 24. I've never watched Olbermann's show, I only read this on the msnbc Web site so I can't tell if this award is semi-sarcastic. There's not much of an explanation for the award, only that Surnow did not attend a meeting with the dean of West Point. Olbermann has previously called for the cancellation of 24 because he believes it spreads negative stereotypes about Muslims. So to Keith Olbermann I say, stop overreacting and start loving television violence like all good Americans should.

WHAT'S THE PRIMARY TARGET? -Jack Bauer

As you may know by now, I'm usually of the belief that people aren't that heavily influenced by what they watch on television. The group Human Rights First doesn't seem to agree. The group is concerned about a recent study that shows that prior to 9/11, the only torture depicted on television was perpetrated by the bad guys. Now, the good guys are the ones doing the torturing, and they're often praised as being patriotic. The instances of any torture scenes at all have also been steadily increasing as a whole.

While I usually find myself rolling my eyes at articles like this, I found that this one has some validity. I found a similar article in the New Yorker entitled "Whatever it Takes." Both of these articles reference a recent meeting between U.S. Army Brigadier General Patrick Finnegan, the dean at West Point, and several top producers of 24. The meeting was arranged by Human Rights First, over their concern that the show is facilitating false images about torture. The following is an excerpt from the New Yorker article.

Finnegan told the producers that “24,” by suggesting that the U.S. government perpetrates myriad forms of torture, hurts the country’s image internationally. Finnegan, who is a lawyer, has for a number of years taught a course on the laws of war to West Point seniors—cadets who would soon be commanders in the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. He always tries, he said, to get his students to sort out not just what is legal but what is right. However, it had become increasingly hard to convince some cadets that America had to respect the rule of law and human rights, even when terrorists did not. One reason for the growing resistance, he suggested, was misperceptions spread by “24,” which was exceptionally popular with his students. As he told me, “The kids see it, and say, ‘If torture is wrong, what about “24”?’ ” He continued, “The disturbing thing is that although torture may cause Jack Bauer some angst, it is always the patriotic thing to do.”

This is more than a little disturbing. Along with a reference in the Yahoo article that claims that one serviceman in Iraq saw people mimicking torture scenes from 24 on actual prisoners. That scares me, quite a lot actually. I'm of the John McCain school that torture isn't affective. Since McCain was actually a prisoner of war and tortured for years in Vietnam, I think he's a pretty good source. I read an interview with him a while ago that said during his imprisonment when he was being tortured, he was asked to give up the names of generals in the army. He claims to have given them names of football players. McCain has said that if someone is being tortured, they will say anything, especially false information, to get someone to stop the pain.

A big part of 24 and the so-called "necessity" for torture is the "ticking time-bomb" scenario. As is referenced in the New Yorker article, this never actually happens in real life. If you need to justify Jack Bauer's actions, you can say that the threat is imminent, and hurting one person will save the lives of thousands. However, this does not translate into real life, because this scenario never comes up, and is simply not plausible.

Also on the show, until Morris gave in to Fayed, the good guys are never affected by torture. Usually it takes Jack about 5 minutes of inflicting pain for someone to give up everything they know. Jack was tortured for 2 years and didn't say a word. This undermines the fact that torture actually works if you stop and think about it. One of the most intense scenes of season 4 shows Jack shooting a suspect in the knee asking him what the primary target of the day's attacks are. He quickly tells him the answer. This would never happen in real life. Radical extremists are brainwashed and trained not to give up any information, no matter what happens to them. If they are convinced to die for a cause, what makes us believe that they would give in to a little pain?

I've also been reading some articles recently that say that fans are a little bit put off by the increasingly more gruesome torture scenes. No one seemed to be a big fan of the drill in Morris's shoulder. This thought never occurred to me until I read other people's distaste of it, but I think that's because I've become about 99% desensitized to all television and movie violence. Yet I can't watch a boob job on Nip/Tuck. Figure that one out.

To say the least, these articles are a little unsettling. I'm usually the person who will respond to an article about a kid jumping out of a building because he saw Superman on tv fly, "well what were they really going to contribute to society anyway if they're so dumb to think Superman is real?" But if military personnel are finding truth and justification in torture because of a fictional tv show, maybe the threat is more serious than I once thought.

On a less serious note, I know that my Boston constituents will like this video. Never again will our commutes be delayed by 10 minutes!

2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Dinner break, and I'm back.

Fayed flies a chopper to his team who are holding the other three suitcase nukes. He calls, Dmitri Gredenko, who worked for Jack's dad's company. Gredenko is played by Rade Serbedzija, who I immediately recognized from one of my favorite movies Snatch. This means I will be picturing him as the guy who shoots a tea cozy clad Benicio Del Toro in the head for at least the next 4 episodes. Anyway, Gredenko is more involved than everyone originally thought. He explains later in the episode that he's holding over a grudge that the U.S.S.R. lost the cold war, and he's using Fayed so that they will get blamed for it but Gredenko will get what he wants, which is revenge on America.

Jack comes back into CTU for the first time in two years, and you can see the emotional toll this is having on him. He sees Chloe and asks how she's doing with everything. This is the first time I can remember that Jack is nice to Chloe without him needing her to patch him through to someone, and he genuinely seems to care if she's all right. I've read that Mary Lynn Rajskub plays Chloe like she's secretly in love with Jack, so this is kind of a nice moment because Jack usually blows her off until he needs her again for something.

Chloe: I'm really glad Fayed didn't kill you this morning.
Jack: Me too.

I really like this exchange. It's simple, but it's kind of the way both of the characters are. You don't usually get that much more emotionally from them.

Cut to Phillip Bauer in the CTU morgue (which I think is really funny that they have one of those and get so much use out of it) erasing contacts from Graem's phone. How is the fact that he just killed his son affecting him? Not at all. He actually seems annoyed that Graem left him all this extra work to do. Jack comes down and whole-heartedly apologizes for what happened. He explains that he didn't mean for it to go down the way it did, but Poppa Bauer clearly doesn't believe him. Jack asks Phillip what he knows about Gredenko. He acts like he's really mad that Jack just asked him this and emphasizes again that he doesn't know anything. There are a couple of moments in this episode where you get the idea that Jack doesn't trust anything that his father says, but is too afraid to question him any further. Phillip says that he'll call some of his business associates for Jack about Gredenko. He also twists the knife he has already plunged into Jack's back by reiterating how badly Josh is taking the death of his "father."

As soon as Jack leaves, Phillip calls one of his henchmen and orders him to find and kill Gredenko no matter what it takes. He explains that if Gredenko is found, his whole company will be destroyed. Here is one of the times where I really wish I could swear in this blog, but I'll try and control myself. WHAT IS SO GREAT ABOUT THIS COMPANY? It seems like all they do is sell nukes to terrorists, is that really all that cool? NO. Maybe if they were a company that created a cure for cancer or something, I could see why Phillip and Graem were so goddamn proud and protective of it. What do they even do? This is driving me crazy.

Sorry. Now Buchanan needs to have a little chat with Jack over the death of his brother. The autopsy says that the torture juice is what induced his heart attack. The report says that Jack didn't follow protocol (of course) and threatened another agent. Jack explains to Bill that he lost control and did not set out to kill his brother. He also says that he tried to tell Bill that he didn't think he could do his job anymore. Bill asks Jack if he wants him to alter the report before he hands it in and Jack tells him not to, that he's willing to suffer the consequences of his actions.

Then it's time for Jack to face Marilyn. He apologizes for what happened to Graem but Marilyn really really doesn't care. He asks if she knows anything about Gredenko and she explains to him that she thought Graem might have been cheating on her. She followed him one night to a house with a bunch of men speaking in Russian accents. Jack asks if he can drive her to the neighborhood to try and remember which house they were in. She agrees and Jack goes off to tell Bill the plan. Phillip lurks around and asks where she's going. Marilyn explains what she's doing and Phillip agrees to watch Josh while she's gone. I don't know why Poppa Bauer gets to walk around CTU like he owns the place, as opposed to being put in holding room 2 (which is my favorite holding room) but he dashes into another dark corner to tell his associates that Gredenko's in West LA. Phillip tells Marilyn that he thinks Josh will be more comfortable if he takes him out of CTU, so they go to a hotel, where Josh whines and cries and is really annoying. He must be Kim's brother.

Jack, Marilyn and Milo head off to look for Gredenko. We learn that Jack left his family and joined the military because he didn't want to work for the family business, like Phillip wanted him to. I think we also learn, in a really vague way, that Marilyn and Jack were in love. Phillip calls Marilyn and tells her to not let Jack know it's him. He explains that he killed Graem and will kill Josh too if she doesn't do what he says. Phillip tells Marilyn to take Jack to a specific location, and she agrees. At one point she comes so close to telling Jack what's actually going on that I actually said out loud to the TV (that I was watching alone mind you) "tell him you idiot!" However, she doesn't listen to me, and brings Jack to Phillip's location. Jack and a team go in and a bomb explodes, with Jack jumping through a window to safety just in time. Milo and Marilyn speed away with bad guys in pursuit. We hear one of them say that Marilyn must be taken alive. The van explodes as they run away.

While all of this is going on, Wayne is helping Assad draft his speech to the world. He gets interrupted by the VP who is calling from his airplane. I don't know why he's not in D.C. to begin with. But the VP is not happy and tells Wayne this. Lennox is also having secret meetings with Reed about just what they are planning to do. Reed won't tell him much, just that he needs Lennox to get him the president's itinerary. The last time an itinerary was leaked out, there was a really sweet shootout on the Russian president's motorcade. But this time, Aaron Pierce isn't around to save the day. Lennox agrees to get the itinerary for Reed.

There was no Sandra Palmer in either one of these episodes which was a good thing. Phillip Bauer definitely gets the worst dad of the century award. I'm liking the whole Jack's dad plot a lot, but I just keeping thinking about how awesome it would have been if Kiefer Sutherland's real dad had taken the roll. I know he was offered the roll, but no one is sure why he turned it down. He probably knows it would have made everyone so happy they wouldn't have been able to control themselves.

I know this picture isn't from this season, but it emphasizes how much I miss Jack's knapsack of goodies.

1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.

My friends and I have always wanted there to be a season of 24 that was just like a regular workday. Maybe Bill would bring in bagels for everyone, Chloe and Morris would get in trouble for taking too long of a lunch break, Nadia and Milo would fill out a Mad Libs during a slow hour, Kiefer Sutherland wouldn't be in the season because he never actually works at CTU. But this is clearly not that season, and it's not one we'll ever see, but the idea lives on in my mind.

Anyway. The first of two episodes last night begins with Jack in a chopper looking for the car that is carrying Morris away to Fayed. Chloe is supposed to be doing satellite coverage on this but keeps messing up because she is worried about Morris. It was kind of nice to see Chloe crack under pressure because she is worried about someone else. According to some fan "chatter" a lot of people miss snarky Chloe. But new Chloe who has the ability to actually interact with other humans is really growing on me. This came out more in the two episodes tonight. McCarthy, being ever so observant, notices that a chopper is following him. They drive under an overpass and switch cars. While McCarthy is out of the car looking for one that works, Morris tries to appeal to Rita to let him go. He tells her that CTU knows who McCarthy is, but they have no idea who she is and she can let him go and get away without any repercussions. She thinks about it, but gets back in the car with McCarthy.

McCarthy calls Fayed and is given an address to bring Morris to. He pulls over, taps it into his GPS and is read to roll when Rita shoots, kills him, and leaves him on the side of the road. Morris is super psyched by this, until he realizes that Rita is still going to bring him to Fayed and keep the $7 million that was promised McCarthy for herself. Meanwhile, Jack does something I've never seen him do before while trying to figure out what car Morris was switched into: he uses speed dial to call CTU. NO ONE on 24 ever uses speed dial. It makes no sense to me, I haven't dialed a number since I was like 6, and I always have enough time. Now Jack usually goes through about 20 phones a season, so maybe he doesn't get the chance to program numbers into each new phone. But the rest of the staff has no excuse. Shame on them.

Anyway. Morris is delivered to Fayed and they begin torturing him to get him to fix the device to activate the nukes. This scene may best be summed up with a comment my mom made to me via e-mail this morning: "I'm not a fan of the torture. That's for sure. Too much torture. I'll say no more." That's how Morris felt too, and he agrees to activate the device after Fayed pulls a running drill out of his shoulder.

Meanwhile, Jack stumbles across McCarthy's body, and they use a cell phone found on him to trace Fayed's call back to an apartment building. They can't figure out which room he's in though so they set up a perimeter around the building and set off the fire alarm. Chloe's back in control of herself at this point, and uses infrared to see who's left in the building after the evacuation. They figure it out and storm in. Jack takes out pretty much everyone with this gigantic shotgun and they save Morris.

Jack finds the activated suitcase nuke and calls Chloe to have him walk through disarming it. This is how awesome Jack Bauer is, while he is disarming a NUCLEAR BOMB, he is telling another field agent to keep looking for Fayed, who got away in the raid. Now that is multitasking. This was a nail-biting scene if you ask me. The audience is sure that Jack's not going to die this early in the season, but his hands are shaking and Chloe makes mistakes telling him how to disarm it. He does though and sits down with a sigh of relief, thinking it's all over. Morris shoots down that thought pretty quickly though, when he tells Jack that Fayed can now activate the other three nuclear bombs with the device he gave him.

While all this is happening, back in Washington, President Palmer the sequel is meeting with Lennox about the fact that he shot down his proposal for a second time. Lennox throws a huge hissy fit to his lapdog Reed and asks him to draft a letter of resignation. Reed calls a shady business-type man and they discuss plans that they have made. Reed goes back to talk to Lennox and not-so-subtly hints that maybe plans have been made to assassinate a second Palmer. Lennox is appalled at this, and at this point Lennox isn't all that bad. He firmly believes that his actions are in the best interest of the country, but he won't do anything that would hurt the country or the president to implement his policies. But that lasts for like a second, because once he hears Fayed has the ability to arm the nukes whenever he wants, he's on board with Reed's plan.

Lennox is also not happy about the fact that Palmer is meeting with Assad in the batcave to try and discuss peace talks. He wants Assad to address the world, and get radical extremists to see his new way of thinking. They start drafting the speech, and I'm beginning to like Wayne more and more. Especially because now, he is all alone in his administration on what he stands for. Even when David Palmer was keeping to his unpopular convictions, he would have one person on his side. Now that Karen's gone, all that Wayne has is Assad, but they're not exactly BFF's.

The episodes are kind of blending together a little bit since I watched them back to back, but I'm pretty sure that that's where it cut off before episode number 2.

Such a delayed entry. The Beanpot went into OT, and I'm proud to report that at least NU didn't come in dead last by beating Harvard 3-1.

blogs

I've never been one to read blogs until recently. I occasionally go on Romenesko because I feel like I have to. But since I started this blog I've been reading some more that have to do with 24.

The one that I reference and read the most would have to be the Jack Bauer Torture Report. Every week, the ruler of this blog writes a pretty detailed description of what happens on the show, with his own pretty funny commentary. I really like the look of his blog, the background is of a very intimidating Jack Bauer, and the post and comments section look very high-tech. I only wish he updated more often since usually he just gives a recap of the episode and then maybe an article he finds interesting about the show or Kiefer Sutherland.

I have a problem with some blogs because you can tell that the author doesn't have a life outside of the blog. This isn't true of the Report, which is one of the things I find appealing about it.

On the Torture Report's link list, I was led to blogs4bauer. I've only looked over this briefly but it looks like a very active blog, with guest spot writers. I'm going to have to start to read this one more closely.

Here is a picture of Jack blogging maybe?

You are gonna tell me what I wanna know, it's just a matter of how much you want it to hurt. -Jack Bauer

I recently discovered that Slate.com does a weekly podcast chronicling each episode of 24. I've only listened to the one for this week's episode. The show is hosted by June Thomas and Slate's Culture Editor, Julia Turner, and Slate's Literary Editor, Meghan O'Rourke, joined her this week.

The first thing the women discussed was if the show had too many subplots to follow. Turner and O'Rourke, who did most of the talking, did not think there was. However, they all agreed that after the bomb went off, the show seems to not really be focusing on it as much. Since the bomb exploded, we've been mostly seeing Jack deal with his family. Fayed has barely been in the picture, and he's who CTU is supposed to be using all their resources to find. Thomas said that she would like to see more people panicked, which is a good point. Apparently no one is fleeing Los Angeles because the streets are still clear for Jack to drive on. They feel there should be more urgency surrounding finding the other bombs.

Thomas brought the conversation to the scene where Jack tortures his brother. They talked about the intensity of this scene and the juxtaposition of Jack torturing and consoling his brother at the same time. I think that this scene is probably the best I've seen Kiefer Sutherland act in anything I've ever seen him in. He shows us a roller coaster of emotions in a span of 6 minutes. They talked about the fact that none of them were surprised that Jack's dad turned out to be a bad guy, and how this worked because the writers didn't seem to care if the viewers saw it coming or not.

They also brought up the good point, that had occurred to me too, that Jack will now feel responsible for the death of his brother. As far as I can remember, Jack has never killed anyone via torture, and the fact that his brother will be the first one will no doubt have an intense impact on him. I always love it when the audience knows something that characters on the show don't, and this will probably lead to some great television in the weeks to come. Watching the episode last night it really hit me that Jack has nothing left to live for. I don't see how he will emotionally survive the day.

If you stop and think about it, you have to feel a TINY bit sorry for Graem. He truly believed that what he was doing was in the best interest of the country, and he probably just wanted to make his dad proud. And his dad rewards all of his hard work by killing him. I personally wish we could have seen some more Graem - Jack drama, three episodes wasn't nearly enough.

The podcast is worth listening to, it's only about 15 minutes and they make a lot of good, funny points. I might have to listen to them every week now.

12:00 pm- 1:00 pm

Oh wow. If only the Huskies had matched this episode of 24 in excitement then maybe they would've won at the Beanpot. But that's for some other blog in some other life.

So many revelations, so much intensity. Our adventure begins with Jack and Poppa Bauer in the back of a van, chatting it up, heading towards their impending death. Phillip explains to Jack that after he left, the only person he was left with was Graem. Am I the only one who doesn't know where Jack actually went, or is that still to be explained? I hope so. Jack and Poppa Bauer are taken to an abandoned oil rig or something, which seem to be plentiful in California, and are about to be executed. They rather easily take these men out, and Jack calls CTU. A team is sent to Graem's house, and Jack and Phillip meet the team over there. They storm in and Jack begins to torture Graem.

During this scene we are shown a lot about Jack Bauer. His brother just tried to have him and his father killed, and he's still tormented with the fact that he has to torture him. Jack begs Graem to give him the information he needs so that he can stop hurting him. After all the terrible things Jack has done on the show, it still hasn't gotten any easier for him to make the tough decisions. Graem blurts out that he was the one who ordered David Palmer, Michelle Dessler and Tony Almeida killed. This makes Jack angry. He flips out and has a gun pointed at Graem's head, about to kill him, when he sees his father in the doorway and calms down. Phillip and Jack talk, and Poppa Bauer tells Jack that he deserved a better family.

Back at CTU, Morris is told that his brother was admitted to the hospital with radiation poisoning. He is about to go to the hospital, but Chloe convinces him to stay. He helps her debug a picture of the man that the terrorists need to assemble the suitcase nukes. Morris is on his way to the hospital when the picture finally finishes uploading and they discover the picture is of him. Morris is taken by McArthur at gunpoint so he can help Fayed assemble the bombs. This is bad news.

Meanwhile, President Palmer calls a cabinet meeting to discuss Tom Lennox's proposal. Tom believes the cabinet meeting will be endorsing his plan, but then everyone gets new respect for Wayne. President Palmer explains that the Constitution is not only applicable during peacetime and that if they ostracizing the Muslim community by taking away their rights, they are losing their greatest ally. He says that the country will rule by law and not "the politics of fear." In this great moment, we finally realize that Wayne is indeed David Palmer's brother.

Then, wait for it, oh my god! Poppa Bauer asks to be alone with Graem before they take him back to CTU. Graem asks him if he's been convincing so far, and Phillip tells him he's been doing fine. Graem explains that they have fooled Jack into believing that Phillip has nothing to do with what Graem has been orchestrating. He's pleased to discover that he's just as tough as Jack, which might be the biggest exaggeration I've ever heard. As tough as Jack? Not even Jesus died twice to save us all. Anyway. Phillip explains that he has now asked too much of Graem and that he must deviate from their plan. He injects Graem with torture juice and suffocates him. May I repeat: oh my god.

I cannot believe that Graem is dead already, and that Jack didn't get to kill him. How can Jack be so different from his father and brother? Are they really all that different at all? They all strongly believe that what they are doing is right, we just love Jack because we know he's the "good guy." Maybe Graem wasn't wrong when he yells to Jack that they are exactly the same. All of them are willing to sacrifice everything for "the good of the country," except that 2/3 of the Bauer's believe that killing innocent people is something that has to be done sometimes.

Two episodes next week. This season is flying by.

the late great Michelle Dessler

Tomorrow and next Monday night I will have to tape 24 to attend the Beanpot. At least I'll be delaying Jack watching for my other favorite thing, hockey. Let's go Huskies!

Since I started this blog well after the death of Michelle Dessler I never get to gush about my love for her. So I've decided to do a post about her, even though she's no longer on the show.

I am a heterosexual female, but I was madly in love with Michelle Dessler. Reiko Aylesworth, who played her, is so beautiful I can't even stand it. In my opinion, she was far and away the most attractive female to ever be on the show. Michelle was my favorite character after Jack. She was a strong, independent, intelligent woman, who always kept her cool throughout the very stressful days she worked at CTU. Michelle always did what was needed of her, no matter what personal crisis she might have been going through. In season 2, she was the only one for a long time who helped Jack to try and stop a war based on falsified information. In season 3, her husband got shot in the neck, and she was still able to run CTU effectively. She was brave enough to go into a hotel that was infected with a deadly virus, and keep order over a lot of annoying, panicky people. She even had to shoot someone, which was awesome. When the terrorists kidnap her to try and use her as leverage to get Tony to do what they want, Michelle escapes and then gets caught again for the good of the country.

Her romance with Tony was the only thing that kept me watching season 4, which is my least favorite season because it's so ridiculous and stupid. The Michelle-Tony story lines was one of my favorite aspects of the show. It gave the characters depth and added a lot plot-wise.

I haven't been crazy about a lot of the female characters on the show. I hated Teri Bauer, Nina was a mole, Kim's less than intelligent, Audrey is cold, Sherry was the worst. Without Michelle, there aren't any women left to love. Her death was a tragedy, that probably effected me more than it should have. So in conclusion, I miss Michelle and wish she had never been killed. And I also hope to see Reiko Aylesworth and her beautiful hair in more rolls because I miss her dearly.