24: Season 4, Episode 13: Day 4: 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM Review
Day 4: 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Original Airdate: March 14, 2005
Writer: Anne Cofell
Director: Rodney Charters
This is my final season four review. Now it'll be back to season one to review the episodes I've missed, hopefully to catch up by January. As for this last review, this episode isn't much. Thanks in part to an inexperience writer, some things don't work as well as they should and some of the storylines (not necessarily the writer's fault) come off as confusing or contradicting. Characterization is tried and it works in various cases, but the story is flat, resulting in a distracting subplot while Marwan further advances his plan.
Since the EMP fried all but the most basic electronics, CTU is unable to find Jack and Paul. Meanwhile, Conlon and some guards try to beat the information out of Paul. He defiantly remains silent. The guards prop him against a file cabinet and slam one of the drawers on his fingers. Jack kills them after the second slam. One guard is left, using Paul as a hostage. Paul turns his head slightly so Jack can shoot the last guard in the head. He has gotten bolder since he's been working with Jack.
Jack takes the badly beaten Paul to the office where he hid the evidence. Paul insists that he can't go further, but Jack refuses to listen, commending him for his resistance to torture. He certainly isn't just saying that to be nice. Especially for a civilian, Paul did a fantastic job keeping quiet. Though Jack has served to protect innocent people, he has the added pressure to protect the estranged husband of his current girlfriend.
Tony meets with Michelle to give her the clearance codes he received in the last episode. She thanks him by assigning him busy work. When he tells her that it isn't the most useful way to spend his time, she snaps at him, bringing up his alcoholism. If Tony doesn't like her choices, he can resign, which is funny since he doesn't actually work there. Tony relents, and Michelle gives him a mid-level security clearance, further showing that she wants to put him in his place. Audrey tells Michelle that her father doesn't want personal problems interfering with work. He probably should fire most of CTU if that's the case.
Marwan heads to the restaurant we saw him in earlier. He calls Mitch Anderson to check if he is on schedule. Anderson is, and we see that his part of the plan involves an Air Force uniform. If they could've done this in the last episode, it wouldn't have been like Marwan was doing nothing. Perhaps Marwan should've been playing Halo 2 or Grand Theft Auto while occasionally checking up on his cronies. What made the previous villains, the Araz family, noteworthy was the constant conflict of their personal philosophies. All we get from Marwan are updates, which make his plot filler.
CTU spots a helicopter flying right for McLennan-Forester. It's ignoring police and CTU identity requests. Tony says that they are trained mercenaries sent to kill Jack and Paul and recover the evidence. Now, this is too hard to believe. Coming forward about Marwan's involvement in the company (which they could easily plead ignorance to) is bad. However, destroying all the electronics in an eight-mile radius, creating utter bedlam, crippling a sizable part of the city's economy and murdering a federal agent is better? I guess they would've eaten a baby on live TV, but the EMP knocked out the local stations.
Jack and Paul make it to a nearby city street, where people are rioting. They need sanctuary. A sporting goods store can supply that, and the weapons necessary to fight the mercenaries. When they approach the store, the one owner blows a hole through the front door. Jack feigns withdrawal, but quickly runs back and surprises the owners, getting their guns. They are two Arab brothers. Jack explains his situation. He is going to engage the McLennan-Forester team so that they use their radios. The radios, in addition to the firefight, will alert CTU to their position. He can't make the brothers stay because it's going to be very dangerous and security can't be guaranteed.
They want to because they have been targeted for being Arab, and they see this as an opportunity to show they are against that. 24 has received a lot of harsh criticism for its portrayal of Middle Eastern people this season. The "Look, We're Not Racists" Brothers are here to appease those who have complained. Everyone else just thought it was pandering. Being discriminated against certainly wouldn't be out of character, but their little speeches were cheesy enough to warrant patriotic music in the background. I wonder why they never decided to integrate an intelligence agent who was Middle Eastern, like Yusuf Auda in the second season. Also, since many of the primary Middle Eastern characters are dead, it's too late. Those who complained wouldn't be tuning in this late in the season if it offended them.
Audrey talks to Heller about Jack and what she witnessed two and a half hours earlier. She still hasn't fully processed it. Never before had she seen this dark side. While Heller accents that the dark qualities are important for people in this line of work, Audrey questions whether she can still be in love with Jack after seeing this. This becomes an important part of her storyline for the rest of the season.
A few hours after being tortured, Sarah goes to Michelle to see if her deal will be upheld. Michelle isn't up for discussing it now. Sarah threatens to speak to Heller directly about it. Michelle calls security to escort Sarah out of CTU, ending the most pointless lead character storyline ever. Why was Sarah promoted to a regular when her storyline amounted to nothing more than a plot device? It could've been interesting to see them pursue the ramifications of torturing an innocent person, but they seem not to care, which is a little troubling. As she is taken out, she yells, "You'll be sorry for this". A threat like that can't be good to say when being taken out of a government building.
Following Sarah's dismissal, Curtis and Edgar complain that they are overworked. They ask that she allow Tony to help them. She agrees. They're busy looking for Jack and Paul and they have no leads. Michelle wants CTU tactical teams to stand around the blast perimeter, but Tony believes that they should be positioned by the McLennan-Forester building. Aside from our omniscient perspective, it makes sense. They wouldn't have gone far from the building anyway. Tony knows what Jack is about to do. At the sporting goods store, Jack ends the radio silence as Tony predicted by firing and deliberately missing a mercenary.
When the meeting adjourns, Audrey talks to Michelle. She informs her that Tony saved her and Jack's lives, of which Michelle was unaware and Tony still has feelings for her. When she speaks to him about respecting his opinion, he tries to be tough about it so she won't know how much it still hurts. As the season progresses, Michelle and Tony's fractured relationship and Jack and Audrey's fracturing relation play parallel.
As the men prepare outside the store, the "Look, we're not racists" brothers tell Jack a sappy story about their dad wanting to make a good name for himself and if he was still alive he would be with them, not that that does much good for them now. Jack returns to his position alongside Paul, who thanks him for saving his life earlier. He has come a long way since we first saw this stuffy Englishman. He's now become a more interesting character since he started working with Jack. They both have brought out the best in each other, Paul's courage and Jack's humanity towards those he protects.
Audrey's conversation about Jack's desk job further complicates her feelings. Tony can't believe that Jack gave up field work for a more stable, less stressful job. She knows the new Jack well, and feels that he doesn't want to return permanently. Tony disagrees. Jack was born to do this job. He knows how to think like a terrorist better than anyone else can. This knowledge is invaluable to survive through various scenarios. Though he wants to connect, he is still needed in a job that requires detachment. The only other person on this show who may understand Jack is certainly Tony.
Edgar picks up radio frequency from the mercenaries pursuing Jack. Tony was right about Jack. Michelle tries to hide her embarrassment about her wrong decision; Tony tries to hide his urge to say, "I told you so". Because of this mistake, it will be a few minutes before Castle arrives McLennan-Forester and Jack's crew engage in a major firefight. Jack's crew heads to the back of the store, with flashlights to destroy the soldier's night vision capabilities. The infrared the gunfire gives off suddenly stops, and everyone at CTU worries. Luckily, everyone is still alive, but just sneaking around them, blinding the mercenaries and in one extremely memorable moment, stabbing one in the brainstem.
The cavalry arrive and gun down Conlon. The "Look, We're Not Racists" Brothers prepare to have CTU help them clean up the store. Unfortunately, they don't see that Conlon is still alive. Jack hands Castle the evidence. Conlon raises his gun and fires. This is a cliché in far too many horror/action movies where a character is beyond what should kill a normal person, but somehow has enough energy to have one last attempt to get the good guy. It didn't feel like 24. Perhaps first time scriptwriter Cofell thought that this would've passed as a satisfying twist on the show.
Paul sees this and pushes Jack out of the way. He saves Jack's life, but the bullet hits Paul in the chest. Jack tends over him as medical help comes to Paul's aid. Paul says that he owed Jack for what he did earlier in the hour. Jack has to deal with not fulfilling his promise to protect Paul as he is now in critical condition. Although he has proven himself a hero many times, his failures stay with him the most. This certainly complicates Jack and Audrey's relationship and Audrey's reconsideration.
Michelle apologizes to Tony for bringing his drinking into their office. Through this episode Michelle has been less than pleasant compared to how she was the previous two seasons. I don't like it much, but it helps to establish her character's need to be tough to show her authority and hide her feelings she has about Tony. She softens throughout because of Tony, like when he says he's leaving because it is too much to see her in CTU. However, she convinces him to stay because he could be useful decoding the encrypted McLennan-Forester evidence. Of course, it would be too easy to have him leave. Dramatically, we need the tension and Tony's redemption isn't close to done yet. He may want to leave, but part of him doesn't because, like Jack, he is born to be a public servant.
Finally, Marwan calls Anderson, who is in his uniform and ready. Marwan tells him that the President is on a tight schedule. We know that the president is now involved in the attack. In retrospect, it would've been better had they combined the incidents of the next three episodes into 8-9 PM. It's great to have some mystery involved on the show, but stretching it out too long hurts the show. When we find out what, it has been a few hours since we figured out what exactly. If they combined this all in a few hours instead of having CTU take down distracting goons, it would've been better.
Probably the part of the episode that receives the most gripes is the "Look We're Not Racists" Brothers story. It is too forced and late in the storyline to please those who have been offended. They could've made this more effective or subtle, but it didn't quite work. It was unpleasant to see how cranky Michelle became, but as the episode progressed, I liked her more. In many ways this is a pivotal episode, but it's more about the events we see than its delivery.
Score: 6/10
Original Airdate: March 14, 2005
Writer: Anne Cofell
Director: Rodney Charters
This is my final season four review. Now it'll be back to season one to review the episodes I've missed, hopefully to catch up by January. As for this last review, this episode isn't much. Thanks in part to an inexperience writer, some things don't work as well as they should and some of the storylines (not necessarily the writer's fault) come off as confusing or contradicting. Characterization is tried and it works in various cases, but the story is flat, resulting in a distracting subplot while Marwan further advances his plan.
Since the EMP fried all but the most basic electronics, CTU is unable to find Jack and Paul. Meanwhile, Conlon and some guards try to beat the information out of Paul. He defiantly remains silent. The guards prop him against a file cabinet and slam one of the drawers on his fingers. Jack kills them after the second slam. One guard is left, using Paul as a hostage. Paul turns his head slightly so Jack can shoot the last guard in the head. He has gotten bolder since he's been working with Jack.
Jack takes the badly beaten Paul to the office where he hid the evidence. Paul insists that he can't go further, but Jack refuses to listen, commending him for his resistance to torture. He certainly isn't just saying that to be nice. Especially for a civilian, Paul did a fantastic job keeping quiet. Though Jack has served to protect innocent people, he has the added pressure to protect the estranged husband of his current girlfriend.
Tony meets with Michelle to give her the clearance codes he received in the last episode. She thanks him by assigning him busy work. When he tells her that it isn't the most useful way to spend his time, she snaps at him, bringing up his alcoholism. If Tony doesn't like her choices, he can resign, which is funny since he doesn't actually work there. Tony relents, and Michelle gives him a mid-level security clearance, further showing that she wants to put him in his place. Audrey tells Michelle that her father doesn't want personal problems interfering with work. He probably should fire most of CTU if that's the case.
Marwan heads to the restaurant we saw him in earlier. He calls Mitch Anderson to check if he is on schedule. Anderson is, and we see that his part of the plan involves an Air Force uniform. If they could've done this in the last episode, it wouldn't have been like Marwan was doing nothing. Perhaps Marwan should've been playing Halo 2 or Grand Theft Auto while occasionally checking up on his cronies. What made the previous villains, the Araz family, noteworthy was the constant conflict of their personal philosophies. All we get from Marwan are updates, which make his plot filler.
CTU spots a helicopter flying right for McLennan-Forester. It's ignoring police and CTU identity requests. Tony says that they are trained mercenaries sent to kill Jack and Paul and recover the evidence. Now, this is too hard to believe. Coming forward about Marwan's involvement in the company (which they could easily plead ignorance to) is bad. However, destroying all the electronics in an eight-mile radius, creating utter bedlam, crippling a sizable part of the city's economy and murdering a federal agent is better? I guess they would've eaten a baby on live TV, but the EMP knocked out the local stations.
Jack and Paul make it to a nearby city street, where people are rioting. They need sanctuary. A sporting goods store can supply that, and the weapons necessary to fight the mercenaries. When they approach the store, the one owner blows a hole through the front door. Jack feigns withdrawal, but quickly runs back and surprises the owners, getting their guns. They are two Arab brothers. Jack explains his situation. He is going to engage the McLennan-Forester team so that they use their radios. The radios, in addition to the firefight, will alert CTU to their position. He can't make the brothers stay because it's going to be very dangerous and security can't be guaranteed.
They want to because they have been targeted for being Arab, and they see this as an opportunity to show they are against that. 24 has received a lot of harsh criticism for its portrayal of Middle Eastern people this season. The "Look, We're Not Racists" Brothers are here to appease those who have complained. Everyone else just thought it was pandering. Being discriminated against certainly wouldn't be out of character, but their little speeches were cheesy enough to warrant patriotic music in the background. I wonder why they never decided to integrate an intelligence agent who was Middle Eastern, like Yusuf Auda in the second season. Also, since many of the primary Middle Eastern characters are dead, it's too late. Those who complained wouldn't be tuning in this late in the season if it offended them.
Audrey talks to Heller about Jack and what she witnessed two and a half hours earlier. She still hasn't fully processed it. Never before had she seen this dark side. While Heller accents that the dark qualities are important for people in this line of work, Audrey questions whether she can still be in love with Jack after seeing this. This becomes an important part of her storyline for the rest of the season.
A few hours after being tortured, Sarah goes to Michelle to see if her deal will be upheld. Michelle isn't up for discussing it now. Sarah threatens to speak to Heller directly about it. Michelle calls security to escort Sarah out of CTU, ending the most pointless lead character storyline ever. Why was Sarah promoted to a regular when her storyline amounted to nothing more than a plot device? It could've been interesting to see them pursue the ramifications of torturing an innocent person, but they seem not to care, which is a little troubling. As she is taken out, she yells, "You'll be sorry for this". A threat like that can't be good to say when being taken out of a government building.
Following Sarah's dismissal, Curtis and Edgar complain that they are overworked. They ask that she allow Tony to help them. She agrees. They're busy looking for Jack and Paul and they have no leads. Michelle wants CTU tactical teams to stand around the blast perimeter, but Tony believes that they should be positioned by the McLennan-Forester building. Aside from our omniscient perspective, it makes sense. They wouldn't have gone far from the building anyway. Tony knows what Jack is about to do. At the sporting goods store, Jack ends the radio silence as Tony predicted by firing and deliberately missing a mercenary.
When the meeting adjourns, Audrey talks to Michelle. She informs her that Tony saved her and Jack's lives, of which Michelle was unaware and Tony still has feelings for her. When she speaks to him about respecting his opinion, he tries to be tough about it so she won't know how much it still hurts. As the season progresses, Michelle and Tony's fractured relationship and Jack and Audrey's fracturing relation play parallel.
As the men prepare outside the store, the "Look, we're not racists" brothers tell Jack a sappy story about their dad wanting to make a good name for himself and if he was still alive he would be with them, not that that does much good for them now. Jack returns to his position alongside Paul, who thanks him for saving his life earlier. He has come a long way since we first saw this stuffy Englishman. He's now become a more interesting character since he started working with Jack. They both have brought out the best in each other, Paul's courage and Jack's humanity towards those he protects.
Audrey's conversation about Jack's desk job further complicates her feelings. Tony can't believe that Jack gave up field work for a more stable, less stressful job. She knows the new Jack well, and feels that he doesn't want to return permanently. Tony disagrees. Jack was born to do this job. He knows how to think like a terrorist better than anyone else can. This knowledge is invaluable to survive through various scenarios. Though he wants to connect, he is still needed in a job that requires detachment. The only other person on this show who may understand Jack is certainly Tony.
Edgar picks up radio frequency from the mercenaries pursuing Jack. Tony was right about Jack. Michelle tries to hide her embarrassment about her wrong decision; Tony tries to hide his urge to say, "I told you so". Because of this mistake, it will be a few minutes before Castle arrives McLennan-Forester and Jack's crew engage in a major firefight. Jack's crew heads to the back of the store, with flashlights to destroy the soldier's night vision capabilities. The infrared the gunfire gives off suddenly stops, and everyone at CTU worries. Luckily, everyone is still alive, but just sneaking around them, blinding the mercenaries and in one extremely memorable moment, stabbing one in the brainstem.
The cavalry arrive and gun down Conlon. The "Look, We're Not Racists" Brothers prepare to have CTU help them clean up the store. Unfortunately, they don't see that Conlon is still alive. Jack hands Castle the evidence. Conlon raises his gun and fires. This is a cliché in far too many horror/action movies where a character is beyond what should kill a normal person, but somehow has enough energy to have one last attempt to get the good guy. It didn't feel like 24. Perhaps first time scriptwriter Cofell thought that this would've passed as a satisfying twist on the show.
Paul sees this and pushes Jack out of the way. He saves Jack's life, but the bullet hits Paul in the chest. Jack tends over him as medical help comes to Paul's aid. Paul says that he owed Jack for what he did earlier in the hour. Jack has to deal with not fulfilling his promise to protect Paul as he is now in critical condition. Although he has proven himself a hero many times, his failures stay with him the most. This certainly complicates Jack and Audrey's relationship and Audrey's reconsideration.
Michelle apologizes to Tony for bringing his drinking into their office. Through this episode Michelle has been less than pleasant compared to how she was the previous two seasons. I don't like it much, but it helps to establish her character's need to be tough to show her authority and hide her feelings she has about Tony. She softens throughout because of Tony, like when he says he's leaving because it is too much to see her in CTU. However, she convinces him to stay because he could be useful decoding the encrypted McLennan-Forester evidence. Of course, it would be too easy to have him leave. Dramatically, we need the tension and Tony's redemption isn't close to done yet. He may want to leave, but part of him doesn't because, like Jack, he is born to be a public servant.
Finally, Marwan calls Anderson, who is in his uniform and ready. Marwan tells him that the President is on a tight schedule. We know that the president is now involved in the attack. In retrospect, it would've been better had they combined the incidents of the next three episodes into 8-9 PM. It's great to have some mystery involved on the show, but stretching it out too long hurts the show. When we find out what, it has been a few hours since we figured out what exactly. If they combined this all in a few hours instead of having CTU take down distracting goons, it would've been better.
Probably the part of the episode that receives the most gripes is the "Look We're Not Racists" Brothers story. It is too forced and late in the storyline to please those who have been offended. They could've made this more effective or subtle, but it didn't quite work. It was unpleasant to see how cranky Michelle became, but as the episode progressed, I liked her more. In many ways this is a pivotal episode, but it's more about the events we see than its delivery.
Score: 6/10
posted by Matt @ 12:31 AM
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