Rangers vs Sabres Playoffs Game 3 highlights

I am currently not watching 24, too much hockey to watch. I will watch it tomorrow morning with my coffee, and it will be lovely. Ok here are the highlights from the Ranger game yesterday where they went on to win in double overtime. I sat on my couch yesterday for literally 4 hours watching the game through my fingers in agony. This clip doesn't include the second goal, which was disallowed because the people in Toronto are slow and stupid. As head coach Tom Renney said beautifully "It has to be a distinct kicking motion. If that's distinct then we're all in trouble."

I am happy to say that I will be attending the game tomorrow night and I'm confident that I will be witnessing a victory. The Rangers outplayed Buffalo Friday night and probably would've won if it wasn't for f***ing Malik. Tomorrow I will be posting my recap of tonight's episode and my experience at my first playoff game at the Garden!!!

some editorials

Two articles.

This first one is about how the NHL would love to have the Rangers fighting for the Stanley Cup. One thing that I've noticed over the years is that no matter how bad the Rangers are every season, everyone plays them well and hopes to beat them. And in a sport that doesn't get much respect or attention, they're probably the most high-profile team in the league. This guy makes a lot of good points, and it's very much worth reading.

This other article, comes from msnbc.com as well. Every week they have some sort of top 5 article about television shows. This weeks was the top 5 shows that should be cancelled and 24 was included. It's my belief that 24 will not be cancelled, the writers will be the ones who decide when to end it, but the guy has some good points.

Coming off its best season ever, “24” has had its worst season ever. The show has recycled plot lines, and has most recently shifted 180 degrees, dropping one plot and picking up another, which is almost as implausible as all that’s come before it. Worse, Jack Bauer has been more absent than usual this year — and there’s not much left to do to him. Unless the writers can give the series a major reboot, focusing on something other than an impending terrorist attack in Los Angeles, it’s time to pull the batteries out of “24’s” clock.

I think this season or the next should probably be the last anyway. There really is only so much that can happen on the show, and there have been a lot of recycled plots, this season especially. Some shows are too good to stay on TV a long time because they can't sustain their past success. The only reason I wouldn't want this season to be the last is the hopes that the 7th season would be better and they can go out on top. I think there's definately going to be a 7th season anyway, but I'm nervous it'll be worse than this one. So I guess I'm a little torn.

12:00 a.m. - 1:00 a.m.

I can’t decide if nothing specific about last night’s episode is standing out in my mind because it was boring and nothing happened, or if it’s because my roommates and I are trying to finish all of the alcohol in our apartment before we have to move out on Thursday. It might be a little bit of both.

The episode opens with Doyle running like a girl through traffic where Jack has abandoned him. Actually, it’s more like Mugatu in Zoolander. This scene was hilarious and I kept praying that Doyle would get hit by a car and die. But he doesn’t, he just throws some guy out of his car and attempts to find Jack. Bill announces to his CTU minions that “Jack Bauer has gone rogue” and that they have to find him before he gives the chip over to the Chinese. Of course no one at CTU is surprised by this news at all because hearing Jack Bauer has gone rogue is as common as hearing “there’s a mole in CTU” or “the suspect got through the perimeter.”

Now that Vice President Daniels is President Daniels, he wants to make sure Lennox isn’t going to call him out about the tape. I am convinced that Daniels could kill a man using only his voice. Lennox tells Daniels that they’re cool and that the only thing he was going to use the tape for was making Daniels stop bogarting the presidency. Lennox leaves and Daniels’ creepy assistant comes in and we witness one of the grossest scenes to ever grace television. Daniels keeps caressing her and talking dirty and then I threw up. It was horrible.

Back at CTU, Chloe and Morris get in a fight. Morris sarcastically asks her to make a list of all the things she would like him to do differently and the fight is boring and tedious until Chloe comes out with this line.

Don’t arm nuclear weapons for terrorists. — Chloe

Ouch. Chloe that’s cold, even for you. But Morris deserved it because he’s annoying and now he’ll go get shitfaced. Chloe immediately starts apologizing and tries to tell him that that isn’t how she feels, but Morris knows it is. He walks away. Later, he hands in papers to Bill asking for a transfer so he won’t have to work directly with Chloe anymore.

Karen Hayes gets a call that the department of justice guy wants to talk to her. He explains that Reed Pollack has been giving up any information he can so as to avoid the death penalty in the roll he played in the assassination attempt on the president. Karen is showed the video and calls him a weasel, which is pretty awesome. He again brings up the fact again Bill had Fayed in custody and let him go and that Karen might have covered it up. Karen explains that Bill didn’t have enough evidence to keep Fayed in custody and that she followed protocol with the information and that she wasn’t covering up anything. However, DOJ guy explains to her that someone is going to go down for it, and he would prefer it be Bill. Bill is farther away from the president and would therefore cause less damage on the American people’s psyche.

Meanwhile, Jack has gotten in contact with Cheng and comes up with a meeting place, which is an abandoned hotel off the highway. He assembles a bomb in a wall panel. When he’s done, he calls Bill and gets his answering machine, even though Bill’s voicemail message says that if the call is urgent you should dial 0. Jack doesn’t do this and leaves a message. When has Jack ever not made an urgent call? And why wouldn’t Bill pick up? His only job at this point is to locate Jack, wouldn’t he keep all lines open? Whatever. Jack leaves a message telling Jack that the chip will be destroyed and asks him to take good care of Audrey and that Bill’s been a good friend. Run Bill, as soon as Jack considers you a friend he will either kill you or you will be killed.

Karen goes to Lennox for advice, because they’re BFFs now. He tells her that there’s no point in the both of them going down and that her job is a lot more important than Bill’s. He also emphasizes that keeping the scandal as far from the president as possible would be good. At first Karen says that if they try to fire Bill she’ll resign, and Lennox goes “haven’t you already tried that today?” Karen doesn’t know what to do but eventually decides. She calls Bill and explains the situation to him.

I can’t let this touch me. I have to distance myself from you. — Karen
How are you going to do that? Are you asking me to resign? –Bill
I am firing you. –Karen

For a minute I though Karen was going to distance herself from Bill by divorcing him, but I guess that was a stupid thought on my part. Fired by your own wife, that’s gotta hurt. And it does, Bill is really upset and hangs up on her and doesn’t pick up when she calls him right back. I feel really bad for Bill, he loves CTU. I think the thing he loves the most is how the lights of the situation room always make his hair look purple. He puts Nadia in charge and is escorted out of the building by security.

Nadia’s chattin it up with Doyle about where Jack might be. They narrow down the possibilities of where Jack could be going and Doyle notices Jack’s car at the motel. Doyle hides in the bushes and waits for the tactical teams to arrive. But the Chinese roll up way before the tactical teams do.

Jack makes Cheng bring Audrey to him before he gives him the chip. Audrey looks like shit. Jack takes the gag out of her mouth and tries to comfort her. He tells her to walk up to a bridge and go to a gas station where a cab is waiting to take her back to CTU. She doesn’t say anything but starts to walk up there. Jack waits as long as he can for her to get away and then hands over the chip to Cheng. It’s at this moment that Doyle decides that he has to do something and he starts shooting everyone. The Chinese start to shoot back and Jack gets hit and stays down for a while. The tactical teams arrive, complete with chopper and start to take everyone out, except for Cheng who still has the chip. He hops into his limo and one of his henchmen takes out this gigantic bazooka and shoots the chopper down with it, which was pretty sweet. Jack gets a couple of kills, but Cheng gets away. Doyle comes in and tells Jack that Cheng got away with the chip. Jack yells at Doyle, telling him that he had the situation under control. Jack just can’t seem to get himself killed today, no matter how hard he tries. Nadia tells Doyle to place Jack under arrest.

They bring Audrey back to Jack, and make her run for some reason. Jack tells her that it’ll be ok, but she’s speaking gibberish. Jack asks her if she even recognizes him and it’s clear that she has no idea where she is or who Jack is. They sit her in a chair and she starts shaking uncontrollably and talking to herself. Jack is seething when he sees what they’ve done to Audrey.

The last four episodes will apparently be CTU trying to get the chip back from Cheng after Doyle’s royal eff up and trying to get through to Audrey. I hope Doyle dies, and I hope it’s Jack who kills him. At this point I find myself continuing to watch to see how the season ends, kind of like when I watched season 4. It’s disappointing, because the season opened strong and with a lot of potential. Get outside! It’s gorgeous!

some musings

Two completely different things that have nothing to do with 24.

First, the New York Rangers have defeated the Atlanta Thrashers tonight to sweep them into playoff oblivion. I cannot express my happiness. The Rangers hadn't won a playoff game in 10 years and then they blowout the series in 4 games. Amazing. I think the acquisition of Sean Avery helped a lot and of course my man Lundqvist layin it down as always. Hopefully, when I go home next Thursday (AAAHHHHHHH) I will finally get to go to a playoff game, since I have never been to one. It depends on the schedule I suppose. They just better stay sharp with all this time off they're probably going to have now.

Completely changing topics now, my roommates and I were just discussing the shooting that happened at Virginia Tech on Monday. (It actually kind of makes since that these are the two things that I'm writing about since they're the only news stories I've been following for about three days.) Anyway. With the more information we get about the guy who did it, it obviously makes everyone wonder if it could have been prevented. I feel like there isn't much you can do in these situations. There's been a lot of talk about the gun laws in our country. I've always been one to think that there is no reason for any private citizen to own a gun. I know why the Second Amendment was created in the first place, but British soldiers are no longer forcing Americans to house and feed them. I can no longer see any good reason for making it so easy for people to have these dangerous machines. But I also realize that the Second Amendment will never be overturned and gun laws probably won't be tightened. But if guns weren't available, people would find other ways to commit these mass murders. If someone is sick enough to have it in their mind to kill a bunch of innocent people, they'll find a way to do it. I just don't think we should make it any easier for them by making guns so readily available.

The thing that is so frustrating when these kind of events happen is that the people who commit them, is they say they have a "message" to send. And it's one of hate but that's never what is rememembered. It just bands people together and brings out the best in people because everyone does what they can to help. These things will always happen, but Americans will always bounce back and survive and reach out to each other, even if it's only for a little while.

11:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m.

I was very sleepy and had another paper to write last night. Here it goes again.

Jack’s being attended to by medical when Doyle comes over and says, “I just wanted to thank you for what you did today because it could have ended a hell of a lot worse today and it would have if it weren’t for you,” which is one of the most poorly constructed sentences I’ve ever heard. Jack thanks him and walks away to a suspiciously well-lit alley and calls Cheng back. Jack offers himself over in exchange for Audrey’s freedom but Cheng’s not having that, an unbreakable man is a useless man. He wants some circuit board chip that will give the Chinese access to all of the Russian’s technology. I didn’t understand this when Cheng says it because he talks painstakingly slow and I can’t really understand him, but it’s explained later in the episode by at least 6 more people. Jack tells him that he’ll do what he can.

He will of course need Chloe’s help. He calls Chloe while CTU is getting debriefed by Buchanan about a job well done. The only way she can get Jack the information she needs is by going onto Morris’s computer and downloading it onto Jack’s phone. Chloe has a really good "dammit." Clearly her and Jack have become much closer. She gets it done in barely enough time before Morris comes over and sees her there.

Meanwhile, President Palmer, who has moved back up to the Oval Office (bye batcave ) calls Vice President Daniels into his office. He asks for his resignation and for some reason Daniels is surprised and insulted by this. Why is Daniels so shocked? He tried to take the presidency right out from underneath Wayne. Daniels refuses and Wayne explains the tape that Lennox has on him and says it would be better for everyone if Daniels just stepped down instead of a long drawn out trial. Daniels is piping mad but agrees.

Morris finds out that someone logged onto his computer illegally and is ready to go tell Buchanan when Chloe fesses up. She explains Jack’s situation but Morris doesn’t like the idea and doesn’t trust Jack to not give the Chinese the chip. When will people stop doubting Jack Bauer? Morris says he’s going to tell Buchanan but Chloe agrees to tell her himself.

In the warehouse, Jack has gotten to where the suitcase nukes are and sees two armed guards. He tells them that he’s a federal agent and is working by order of the president to bring the chip back to CTU. At first they don’t buy it but Jack flips out and acts like he’s about to call the president and they let him through. Worst agents ever. They’re supposed to be guarding a nuclear bomb and this guy just comes up and swears to them that he’s a federal agent working under presidential orders and they’re like “oh yeah sure just go through strange angry man I’ve never met.” So Jack goes in and starts taking the chips out when Doyle and a bunch of other agents burst in aiming their guns at Jack. Buchanan gave the order to take Jack out and one agent knocks him out with the butt of a shotgun to the head. Ouch.

While Jack is handcuffed, Doyle allows him to talk to Buchanan. Jack explains the situation to Buchanan and asks him to be put through to the president. Wayne is eventually put through and is very reluctant about giving Jack the all clear to go ahead with this mission. Wayne needs to be sure that the chip will be destroyed. Jack says that as soon as he knows that Audrey is safe he will destroy the chip no matter what, even if it means blowing himself up. And he tells the president that he owes him. I feel like that’s kind of a disrespectful way to talk to the president, but he has a point. So Wayne tells Buchanan to give Jack whatever he feels he needs for the operation.

Doyle thinks he can give Jack orders but Doyle is stupid. Jack asks him to back him up when the go in to save Audrey. Doyle’s all like “I don’t get romantically involved with people I work with she’s not worth it blah blah I’m the worst character ever” and Jack gets pissed and tells him to shut up or something.

President Palmer decides to give a press conference to talk about how the suitcase nukes are secure. He takes questions but starts to forget everyone’s names and what he’s talking about. Then he collapses on live tv. That is not good for the healing of a nation. We learn that he probably had severe brain bleeding or something and won’t regain consciousness for a while. That means Daniels is in charge again. Right when he was about to hand in his resignation. His first order of business is to stop Jack’s save Audrey operation because he says that Jack can’t predict the outcome of the Chinese not getting the chip. He is stupid. Jack can predict any outcome he wishes.

Buchanan gets the order to call off the operation and calls Doyle. He makes sure Doyle doesn’t let on to Jack that the operation is cancelled.

I need you to disarm Jack as quickly and quietly as possible before he finds out. –Buchanan

To this my friend and I both went “yeah right!” Has he ever met Jack? Geez what are these people thinking? Why is Chloe the only one who realizes that Jack is never wrong and can do whatever he wishes? Doyle hangs up but Jack knows something is wrong and points his gun at Doyle and tells him to pull over. He tells him that earlier in the day he killed his friend and agent and he will gladly do it again if Doyle doesn’t do what he wants. He then leaves Doyle by a chain linked fence in the middle of no where and goes rogue again. I love it when Jack goes rogue.

bye spring semester

Apparently I’ll be updating my blog three times today. My blogging experience, what can I say? I enjoyed writing my blog. I think I had an advantage over some of my classmates in that I picked something with an infinite amount of material on it and it’s something that I follow closely myself.

The main thing that I got out of my blog was a rekindled love for writing. I grew more confident in my writing because I had to do it so much. I think sometimes my blog got a little repetitive, but it was kind of hard to avoid since I had such a narrow topic.

I think I’ll continue my blog, I’ll at least continue the episode recaps. I think it’ll be good to keep practicing my writing, especially since I won’t be in classes for 8 months now. If I continue my blog after the current season ends, I’ll probably broaden what I talk about, probably to politics and just other things I find interesting in the media.

I would’ve liked my blog to reach more people, or at least get more comments. Maybe people are reading it and just not commenting. My family and some friends seemed to really enjoy it. Ten minutes til Jack.

season 4 top episodes

So I lied about posting a substantial post while I was home, but to be fair I was only home for a second. I had just enough time to watch the Rangers kick some Thrasher ass, could this finally be the year I get to go to a playoff game? I don’t want to jinx it.

In case you don’t know by now, I really don’t like season 4, so picking my favorite episodes wasn’t very hard. I think my problem with season 4 is that I can’t suspend my disbelief enough. In one day, the secretary of defense is kidnapped, nuclear plants are on the verge of melting down, Air Force One gets shot down and terrorists get a hold of nuclear missiles. The only thing their missing is like aliens coming down and holding the president hostage. There are some good moments, like when Chloe uses a machine gun and we see part of Los Angeles go all black, but as a whole, I don’t think it works. There are also a host of new mediocre characters and side plots. It’s hard to pick what side plot I like the least, the Araz family, Erin Driscoll’s daughter or Secretary Heller’s gay son. The season finally gets better towards the end when Michelle comes back and Logan is sworn in as president, but before that it’s really incoherent. Anyway, here we go.

1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. – I thought this might have been the turning point of the season. Jack and Audrey go to an office to try and ID a man she recognized while she was kidnapped. But of course, there’s a mole at CTU, and the bad guys are alerted that Jack and Audrey are there. Jack calls the “one person he can trust.” They come under fire, and we can kind of see why Jack loves Audrey so much. She shoots people with him and they make a pretty good terrorist killing team. But they run out of ammo and two bad guys are quickly approaching them, Jack’s only defense is an empty gun that he’s holding ready to hit the guy in futility with it. Then we hear gunshots and hear a familiar voice yell “Jack!” and we see Tony standing in the doorway of the garage. Jack, Tony and Audrey run to Tony’s car as the episode closes. I had been waiting with baited breathe for the return of Tony, and when he finally comes back, he saves Jack’s life and looks REALLY good doing it. In the following episodes we see that Michelle has left Tony and that his life sucks and he’s started drinking and living with a skank. It allows for probably the funniest Jack Bauer line ever. After dealing with Tony’s bitchy, skanky girlfriend, Tony looks at Jack and says, “Sorry.” Which prompts Jack to say, “No, she seems real sweet.” One of my favorite Jack Bauer lines ever.

2:00 a.m. – 3:00 a.m. – Ok this episode is pretty awesome. In this episode Jack goes into the Chinese Embassy to get a man with ties to terrorists that the Chinese wouldn’t turn over. This starts the hate-hate relationship Jack has with the Chinese government. The man they need to question gets critically shot in the melee and they bring him back to CTU to be operated on. The funny thing about this episode is that no one is supposed to know that Jack is going into the Chinese Consulate. He calls Tony and tells him to make sure no one else at CTU knows what he’s doing and has him bring up schematics or something of the building. However, Tony speaks in a normal speaking voice and brings the images up on the HUGE monitor so all CTU can see it. Why doesn’t anyone notice this? But anyway, Audrey’s husband, who had been shot earlier in the day, is in medical and starts to crash before Jack arrives. The witness needs to be operated on, but Paul is already in surgery that could save his life. Jack orders the doctor to forget about Paul and work on the Chinese guy. He points a gun at the doctor until he complies. Meanwhile, Audrey, who for some reason is allowed in the operating room, flips out. Paul starts to crash and Jack and Curtis do everything they can to save him but he dies nonetheless. Audrey screams at Jack and tells her she hates him. Every season we see Jack a little bit more unhappy, a little bit less of himself. This season started out pretty promising for Jack. He had a job that didn’t constantly put his life in danger and he was able to fall in love again. But once again, working at CTU destroyed his chances of being happy and that is embodied in this episode.

5:00 a.m. – 6:00 a.m. – The main reason this is one of my favorite episodes is because Tony is shirtless. It’s also a really good episode, but that’s the driving factor. Especially because there’s real no reason to show it. Anyway, in the previous episode, Jack, Tony and a bunch of field agents go to check out a lead. I don’t know why all throughout this season Jack treats Tony as if he’s a field agent, the last time Tony went out into the field he got shot in the neck. Whatever. Tony gets taken by Mandy, a recurring terrorist who always seems to pop up whenever shady terroristic deals are going down. Mandy’s pretty badass, she’s kind of the Jack Bauer of terrorists. She kills without thinking twice about it and always gets the job done. So she holds Tony hostage and learns about how he committed treason to save Michelle’s life. She decides to see if Michelle will do the same for him and calls Michelle and tells her to move the agents so she can escape or she’ll kill Tony. After Michelle gets the call, Buchanan comes in and at first Michelle doesn’t mention the call, but at the last second blurts it out. You can see that she’s really struggling with the decision. They tell Jack and the field teams about the call, and they try and make Mandy believe that Michelle’s doing what she asked. Mandy and Tony head out in the rain to a car but they see one of the field agents moving. They get in the car and it explodes.

They’re both gone. She blew herself up in the car and she took Tony with her. They’re gone. –Jack

Michelle cries out and Jack stares in disbelief. He feels that something is off and watches the video of what happened over and over again. Curtis tells him to stop and says the he understands that Tony was his friend. Jack yells at him and explains that Mandy wouldn’t martyr herself. He finally notices on the video that you can’t hear the rain falling on the umbrella and they go back in, knowing that Mandy sent two different people into the car. Mandy and Tony are trying to find another way out and Tony cuts his barefoot on a piece of glass in the hopes that Jack will follow the blood trail. He does and they catch up to Mandy in the parking lot.

Mandy: (holding a gun to Tony's head) Do you really have what it takes to let me kill him while you’re looking him in the eye?
Jack: Yes.
Mandy: I believe you.

Knowing she’s no match for Jack Bauer, she lets Tony go in exchange for the infamous presidential pardon. Tony calls Michelle to let her know he’s still alive and the greatest love story ever told comes full circle as they tell each other they love each other.

Season 4 is essential in that it leads up to the events of season 5. In the final episode, Jack learns from President Palmer that his life is in danger because some of Logan’s men don’t think Jack will keep quiet if the Chinese ever catch him. When Jack gets off the phone with Palmer, he smiles as he realizes what he’s about to do and goes to Tony for help. Tony, Michelle and Chloe help Jack stage his own death so he can escape. The season ends with Jack walking off into the sunrise in his aviators. And that is a pretty cool image.

Jack Bauer - Ninja Garbage Man!

I found a pretty good sum-up of Monday night's show on tvguide.com. I can't tell who wrote it though, which is weird.

Whatever your complaints about this season so far, you have to admit, there's nothing cooler than watching Jack take out a cadre of terrorists with his bare hands.

So true. I also found on some random Web site the other day, I don't remember where, that some of the writers from 24 visited the writers of South Park and gave them a fake suitcase nuke after the parody that South Park did. I thought it was pretty awesome that they at least had a sense of humor about it. I promise to write a more substantial post when I'm home tomorrow.

Say hello to your brother. -Jack Bauer

It's that magical time of year again. The time when all college students realize that those term papers, final projects and exams that they've been putting off all semester are due or occurring in two weeks or less. I am no exception. But Prof Liz wants us to update our blogs every day this week, and I want to keep Prof Liz happy.

I read in Entertainment Weekly a while back that Kiefer Sutherland was dreading filming this scene, and it's easy to see why. This scene looks physically exhausting, and one wrong move could easily cause a broken bone. But it was well worth the effort because this scene kicks such major amounts of ass.

I'm off to the library now. Fun times.

10:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.

Wow. I might go so far as to say that that was my favorite episode of the season.

We start out with President Palmer and the cabinet watching the nuclear bomb slowly approach its target. There are 5 minutes to go before it blows the northern regions of Derka Derkastan off the map. Lennox and Karen plead with Palmer to stop the attack. The ambassador of Derka Derkastan calls Palmer after their military notices the bomb. The ambassador tells Wayne that one of their generals, Habib, was in contact with Fayed in the hopes that this new information will persuade them to call off the attack. Palmer agrees and the bomb is deactivated. Lennox says he’ll dispatch troops to go pick up the bomb but Palmer stops him saying that it won’t be necessary. The bomb wasn’t real and never would’ve gone off. Palmer realized that Daniels was right in the respect that they needed to be stronger in order for other countries to cooperate with them, but unlike Daniels, Wayne wasn’t ready to sacrifice innocent people to do it. BOOYAH! President Palmer officially kicks ass. I was wondering how they were going to explain Palmer’s decision to go ahead with the strike anyway, and that was a spectacular explanation in my opinion.

Finally a Jack centered episode. Jack is punching Fayed repeatedly in the face trying to get him to talk. Doyle looks on from behind a refrigerator, because they’re in a kitchen for some reason. Fayed and Jack both know that Fayed’s not going to tell him anything. Doyle wants a shot with him, but Jack’s not having it and calls Bill to tell him he’s getting no where with Fayed. Doyle tries to convince Fayed that he won’t be remembered for planning the attacks so he might as well tell them where they are, but Fayed’s not falling for it. Doyle pulls a gun to Fayed’s head and Jack yells at him to put his weapon down. All Jack’s done whenever he’s around Doyle is yell at him. It’s awesome. One of my friends actually likes Doyle. He’s the first person I’ve met so far who likes him as a character. Anyway, Jack tells Doyle they’re bringing Fayed back to CTU and Doyle tells Jack there’s no time for that. Doyle, only Jack can say that, shut up. So the merry trio gets in a CTU-mobile and start to head back.

Now we're gunna have some real fun. –Jack Bauer

Fayed will not like Jack Bauer’s idea of fun. I guarantee that. In the truck, Fayed keeps telling Doyle he won’t say anything, and Doyle’s cool with that because he’ll still “get to watch him suffer.” Jack tells him to stop talking or he’s going to turn this CTU-mobile around and no one gets ice cream. The truck Jack’s riding in gets hit by an on-coming heavy duty truck and flips over. Jack, Doyle and various CTU agents are under fire by the guys coming out of the truck. One by one the agents, Doyle and Jack go down and Fayed escapes in the van. Ok Jack, get up now. We see 4 or 5 trucks coming up the street, Jack sits up, yells “clear” and everyone brushes themselves off. Beautiful. Fayed thinks he’s been rescued, but really he’s been taken by men pretending to work for General Habib, who are really CTU agents. This is the 24 I know and love.

Fayed won’t tell head “terrorist” Jamal where the bombs are until he speaks to the general. Jamal tries to stall while Buchanan tells the president of the situation. Lennox isn’t feeling this ruse CTU has set-up and Wayne says, “If Jack Bauer says that’s a dead end, then that’s a dead end and I believe him.” Finally people just believe what Jack says at face value instead of questioning his every word. Lennox then apologizes to Wayne really sincerely. Wayne explains that he’s not his brother David, but he’s learning a lot about himself and that he’s not too bad. I agree Wayne, you’re really coming into your own. Wayne tells Lennox it’s ok that he doubted his strength and ability, and Lennox says that it really isn’t. Is Lennox my new favorite character? Possibly. Meanwhile, Wayne keeps looking weaker and weaker.

The ambassador arrives at the batcave and Wayne explains to him that they need to get the general on the phone so that Fayed will lead them to the bombs. The ambassador says he’ll do what he can but Habib might not cooperate. Karen and Wayne both get all tough on him. Wayne is awesome in this scene; he really lays down the law. He also tells the ambassador to threaten Habib’s family if he doesn’t agree to do what they need him to. He then tells the ambassador that Derka Derkastani’s are barbarians, but in a good way. It works and General Habib gets on the phone with Fayed and Nadia translates.

Fayed seems to believe that Habib is legit and agrees to go to a meeting point. Nadia double checks the conversation and a name doesn’t match up. He was linked to terrorists, but he died two years ago. Nadia thinks this is a way for the general to tell Fayed that he’s speaking under duress and that Fayed is on to them. Good catch Nadia. Bill tells Jack and Jack tries to warn Jamal. However, they go under a tunnel and lose reception. Jack and Doyle move into the tunnel and find the van Fayed-less and a lot more bloodied than when they left it.

Jack goes into a door in the tunnel and finds Fayed getting onto a sanitation truck. He’s going to meet with his terrorist henchmen to launch the rest of the nukes ASAP. Apparently, terrorists are trained to be able to operate every kind of transportation vehicle ever, even 18-wheelers. Jack climbs under the truck and holds on for dear life, even though he could have easily just hopped on the back like garbage men do. But to be fair, that would have been far less badass.

After they believe Fayed bought the general’s phone call, Palmer whisks the ambassador away and collapses in his office with Tom at his side. The doctor comes up and tries to convince the president to go to the infirmary for some tests but Wayne refuses. He goes back to work.

Fayed and Jack arrive at Fayed’s terrorist headquarters. Jack is left alone with one terrorist henchman, gives him a “Judo Chop!” to the leg and breaks his neck. I love it when Jack breaks necks. Fayed says he wants to detonate the bombs in downtown Los Angeles and to do it now. Jack starts shooting at the maybe 8 or 9 terrorists assembled. He doesn’t waste a single shot. Then it’s just him and Fayed and we get one of the most intense “oh shit that was sick” inducing fight scenes ever. They’re both giving and getting it really good. Jack’s not looking all that well and I keep having this sinking feeling that Jack might not make it out of this one. But he of course does. He strangles Fayed with a chain, whispers “say hi to your brother” and hangs up and watches him die. Wow. That is Jack Bauer at a whole new level of badass.

Doyle and CTU agents come in and explain that they traced Fayed’s get away vehicle with satellite. Doyle’s only response to seeing the carnage that just went down is, “damn Jack,” which really is the only response necessary. Jack doesn’t look too good but says he’s ok, being the ultimate alpha male that he is. Fayed’s dead and the bombs are secure. Ok, there are still about 8 episodes left. Jack gets a call. He can’t hear who it is. When the voice finally speaks, we can tell it’s Audrey. The split screen shows Audrey in an abandoned warehouse somewhere with the Chinese diplomat who’s had it in for Jack ever since season 4. I knew Audrey wasn’t dead. It’s convenient that the Chinese diplomat knew that Jack would be free to take the call at just that moment. Did he just see what Jack did to Fayed? He does not want to declare war on Jack Bauer.

This episode was great, and why is that? Because there was so much Jack. Simple math, more Jack screen time = better episode.

hour 16 already?

I wanted to see what the girls over at slate.com had to say about Monday's episode, which to recap, sucked.

If the 9 p.m. hour were an episode of Sesame Street, it would have been brought to us by the word "affadavit" and the phrase "for the good of the country." Once again, Jack Bauer had very little to do, but hijinks in the White House bunker and interterrorist rivalries between Gredenko and Fayed almost made up for his absence from the screen.

Very good point. They made the point that all of the action happened in the last five minutes of the episode and there were a lot of pointless plot twists that ended up going no where. All of the Gredenko plot twists made no sense and in the end didn't matter because he just kicked it anyway. They also made the hilarious observation that Gredenko uses the world's biggest wire ever when going in to meet with Fayed, when Jack usually just uses one of those ear plug things. But his wire matched with that giant satellite phone he's been using. They also say that terrorists seem to really want to stick to their plan. When Fayed and his men are going to meet with Gredenko, one of his more astute henchmen say that they can cause plenty of damage without Gredenko and should just launch from where they are. But Fayed's not down with that and has to "go ahead with the plan."

They talked a little bit about Doyle and how they don't care about him as a character. They can't tell if he's a good guy or if he's still some sneaky bad guy. Both of them would prefer he be a bad guy because they don't believe or care about him as a good guy. I agree, Doyle is not cool. I've seen a lot of fans talking about how they're possibly grooming Doyle to be the next Jack Bauer after Jack is killed. That would be the worst idea ever. If that happens I will never watch an episode of 24 again. I've tried to find some articles to back that up with but haven't been able to find any. But I also haven't been looking that hard.

They didn't come right out and say whether they liked the episode or not, but the fact that they said all the action happened in the last five minutes leads me to believe they didn't. They refer to the country that Palmer's going to bomb (in his "Uma Thurman andrenaline craze") as Fayed-istan which I really enjoy.

9:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.

Huh? I can’t really remember more than one thing that happened in this episode because it was so weak.

I’m getting really really sick of Jack not being around in these past couple of episodes. He was in like the first scene, and then didn’t show up again until 9:26 in real-life time, which was very close to 24 time this hour. He does some cool stuff at the end but that’s it. I tend to lose interest in the episode if Jack’s not the focus. That wasn’t always true. Occasionally when there were some less Jack-centered episodes in previous seasons, they would focus on other characters I cared about. The only characters I’m invested in at this point are Jack and Chloe, and Chloe only had a couple of lines in this episode too. Some side plots and other character stuff is good filler for non-Jack time, but it’s been like Jack is the filler now for a good portion of the season. It’s making me extremely angry.

Anyway, here we go. I have a feeling this will be rough going. Wayne Palmer is meeting with his sister and Karen about the cabinet meeting to decide if he’s ok to stay on as president. He asks the doctor for a shot of adrenaline to keep him strong and makes a big deal about walking and appearing strong in front of the cabinet. He looks absolutely fine except for one scratch on his face. He’s also gotten a new shirt and tie apparently because there’s no blood or debris or rips in the one he’s wearing now. In the cabinet meeting, Palmer and Daniels both make their cases as to why Palmer should, or shouldn’t remain as the commander in chief. Then there’s a commercial like every ten minutes. Why is the kid from Even Stevens in more than one movie at a time? That’s weird.

The cabinet votes and comes out in a 7-7 tie. The attorney general says that the vice president needs a majority to win, and since he doesn’t have one the president will remain in power. Daniels then claims that Karen’s vote doesn’t count because she quit earlier in the day and isn’t an active member of the cabinet. Weak Daniels. Lennox says this is a legal matter, and lucky for them! the Supreme Court was hearing a case today (yeah right) and can have a decision within the hour.

Karen calls Bill because she’s upset that she might be costing Wayne the presidency. This reminds me that they’ve barely spoken all day. Bill’s really supportive and tells her that Daniels is trying whatever he can, knowing it’s a long shot. Sandra reaffirms that when they meet to go over their argument for the Supreme Court. She says that since Daniels treated her like a cabinet member and allowed her to sit in on a meeting, he gave no indication that she wasn’t an active member of the cabinet. They’re all pumped by this. On the other side of the batcave, Daniels is hearing the opposite from his creepy–weird nosed assistant. She doesn’t think that they have a case, so she suggests putting in an affidavit saying that Daniels was planning on keeping Karen on temporarily. Daniels is all like “that’s perjury” and assistant girl goes all Machiavellian on him and Daniels agrees with her. Then they share a weird hand holding moment. For some reason this suggestion really bothered me. Daniels isn’t giving very strong arguments as to why he wants to blow Derka Derkastan off the map. Usually I can see the reasoning behind the bad-guys’ actions, but this doesn’t seem to be based in much. And this would’ve just been frustrating and more backstabbing and lying than is necessary.

Something happens at CTU but I doubt it’s important enough to really comment on. Oh no wait, Doyle tells Nadia that he thinks Milo’s the one who didn’t update some security thing that allowed the breach. He wants Nadia to check out his computer to confirm it and she does because Doyle says it would be better than having him be investigated in front of everyone. Doyle was right about Milo messing up and she tells him so. Doyle then changes the logs so that no one will know it was Milo because he knows they need Milo around to find the nuclear bombs. Then he talks about how he’s read the Quran and other various religious stuff but I still hate his existence. Stupid old-man baby.

Then one of the only cool things to happen in the whole episode happens. Lennox tells Daniels he needs to speak to him privately. He tells him he needs to inform him about something in the room. He walks over to the desk and picks up a futuristic candy-dish and points out a radio transmitter. He had been recording everything that was being said in the room. OH SNAP! Lennox is officially cool. He explains to Daniels that after he tried to convince him to lie about Assad’s involvement in the assassination attempt, Lennox thought he needed to watch his back. And boy did it come in handy. He tells Daniels to call the Supreme Court and call everything off and let Palmer resume his duties. Daniels agrees, but looks like he wants to eat Lennox out of anger.

We finally see Jack again. He’s having Gredenko call Fayed and set up a meeting point. Jack says that if he says one word wrong he will shoot and kill him immediately. Gredenko’s being shady, he rolled over too easily to Jack, he’s definitely up to something. Gredenko and Fayed agree on a meeting point and Doyle is sent out with a tactical team. Then, even though he leaves before Jack, Jack gets there first, and Doyle never actually arrives.

In the van on the ride over, a CTU agent puts a tracking device in Gredenko’s forearm that goes deep in to the bone so that he can’t try and take it out. He meets Fayed at a carnival and they buy cotton candy. Then they get down to business. Gredenko takes off his wire. Fayed is pissed that Gredenko led CTU to their location but Gredenko convinces him that they’ll both get out alive. Jack suspects that something is wrong and goes inside to find them. He goes to where the transmitter is but the room is empty. Jack keeps looking and finds Gredenko’s arm. I have to admit, that was pretty awesome. I admire Gredenko’s commitment.

Jack follows the blood trail, because he’s also a CSI, and it leads him to a parking lot. The terrorists spot him and start shooting.

Show me your head. -Jack

Bang! BYEEE head. Quote of the episode right there. Never, ever show Jack Bauer your head. Fayed and Gredenko have stumbled into a bar and they try to escape out the back. Gredenko, who’s lost a lot of blood, yells to the crowd that Fayed’s the one on the news. The bar patrons start attacking him and Fayed shoots into the crowd and Gredenko escapes. The only explanation I could think up for this betrayal is that Gredenko knew he was going to die and might as well take Fayed down with him. But wouldn’t it be a safe assumption by all of them that chopping off a limb with a rusty axe and not getting immediate medical attention would lead to a quick death? Gredenko’s the worst terrorist ever. His plans never seem to work out, Brady out-smarted him and he doesn't think things through.

Jack comes in and fires two warning shots to clear the crowd away. He gets everyone to calm down. Some guy complains that Fayed shot his buddy.

I’m sorry about your friend. –Jack
I hope you’re friend is dead! -Fayed

Haha. I loved that. Jack now has Fayed in custody, and he did it all alone. As usual.

Gredenko has wandered down to the beach and is stumbling and losing blood under a pier. He falls into the ocean and presumably dies. Happy birthday gredenko good night. This scene seemed very OC to me. I expected Ryan Atwood to come and punch him in the face while Modest Mouse played in the background.

Lennox gives Palmer, Sandra and Karen the good news that Wayne will continue to be the president. Karen and Lennox then call a truce and shake hands. Lennox and Karen really seem like they want what’s best for the country, and maybe they’ve realized that and are getting passed their differences. Not like Daniels who just seems like a little boy eager to play with his toy nuclear weapons.

Buchanan calls President Palmer and tells him that Jack has Fayed in custody but they still don’t know where the suitcase nukes are. “That’s what I needed to know,” Palmer says ominously and hangs up.

Mid-truce, Lennox and Karen are informed that Palmer is about to go ahead with the nuclear strike. WHAT? This makes no sense. I don’t get it at all. Lennox enters the cabinet meeting room and asks Wayne what he’s doing. He says that he’s been accused of being weak all day or something. He risked his life to do what Daniels was going to do anyway? Did he just want to take credit for it? I’m confused. It seems really out of character since Wayne’s been kicking so much ass lately.

This episode was really weird. It didn’t keep my attention and a lot of things happened that didn’t make all that much sense. Hopefully next week we’ll get to see Jack torture Fayed at least. I chose this picture a) because it made me laugh b) because it makes as much sense as the end of this episode.

The following takes place between recess and Geography class.

24 has achieved the highest honor ever to be received. It was parodied on South Park. Cartman is Jack Bauer and Kyle is his Chloe. They use the ticking clock, the CTU ringtone, split-screens and "whispering, but whispering really loudly for dramatic effect". I'm also pretty sure they just ripped some lines straight from the show, along with storylines such as Homeland Security taking over Kyle's room, like Homeland Security takes over CTU in Season 5. Download it, youtube it, do whatever you must to watch it immediately. This should be done with any South Park episode anyway.

Along with making fun of 24, they also allude to the idea that you can find out anything about anyone using the Internet. Kyle uses myspace, ebay, youtube, craigslist, mapquest, google and various other Web sites to find out everything about all the suspected terrorists.

Hillary Clinton is also featured in the episode. Cartman believes a new Muslim student is planning an attack on a rally she's giving later in the day. During her speech she talks about how South Park is a small town just like the one that she grew up in with "real Americans" a least 5 times. I love it, why do politicians ALWAYS seem to think that they have to paint the picture that they're just like us? It's never true! And to quote Jon Stewart, "Don't be like us! Be better than us! We got all caught up in the macarena!"

Some good quotes from the episode as provided by TV.com. The best part at the end where Kyle accuses Cartman of being racist and arguing with him isn't on there yet because it's really long but hopefully it will be soon.

Cartman: Okay, who got rid of the Muslims, huh? That was all me. A simple thank you would suffice.

Cartman: Mr. Thompson, you have to call off the Clinton rally. There's a terrorist in South Park.
Alan Thompson: What do you know?
Cartman: He just showed up out of the blue. I need to speak with the president right away.
Alan Thompson: I'm the head of the CIA. You can tell me.
Cartman: I said I will only talk to the president.
Alan Thompson: Look, if you have information of a threat, you should-
Cartman: Lalalalalala-
Alan Thompson: I will have you arrested for it-
Cartman: Lalalalala...Can't hear you...only the president...lalalalalala.

Vladimir: It doesn't matter, the detonator is on a timer. You are too late, in 3 minutes.

Cartman: Look further down the page. Does he list his favourite band?
Kyle: White Stripes.
Cartman: That's funny...
Kyle: What?
Cartman: He told everyone in class today his favourite band was Blink 182.