Day 5: 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Original Airdate: February 20, 2006
Writers: David Fury and Howard Gordon
Director: Tom Iacofano
While some enjoyed this episode, others felt that this episode was the beginning of the mid season slump, a typical and unfortunate part of 24's writers to plan arcs in advance. I'm not willing to call it a slump since I did enjoy this episode because of the love to hate attitude I have toward Lynn and Logan. However, I will concede that there a few things wrong with the writing that may make me declare a slump in the future.
In a previous review, I wrote that it was difficult to believe that Erwich was the master of this plan. Now it is clear why: he was never the one in charge and he stupidly overstepped his boundaries. It does explain why he wasn't on top of the changing mission as he should've. It could be the product of the writers making the show up as they go along, but why didn't Erwich call Bierko to formulate plan B?
Bierko (Julian Sands) reminds me physically of Gaines from season one. He does have a similarly ruthless nature, shown as he guts Erwich within the first minutes on screen. Although he wants to attack Russia by way of assassinating Suvarov, he ultimately wants to return to Russia to use the nerve gas in Moscow. He will want Logan to facilitate them ignoring their departure from LA, which is surprisingly absent from their phone conversation. Logan putting his foot down is likely going to cause Bierko to go for Erwich's plan, making Erwich's death ironic.
One thing that felt weird was that it took the terrorists two hours to get to Nathanson's hideout of doom. It is a considerable head start for their loose threads. However, this fit the narrative better (not the first time "24" has taken liberties with the real time format) so Jack would be available to pursue this lead. Why no one at CTU (except Lynn) even mentioned tracking Nathanson in the two hours between is beyond me.
Nathanson's call to Jack serves as the catalyst for CTU's drama. Jack rogue is always fun, and Lynn being cranky makes it better. While Lynn is wasting time, Jack manages to get a significant lead, something that helps explain how the nerve gas was made and how it fell into the terrorists' hands. It also has an unknown connection to Jack's past, which makes Jack's involvement necessary again.
He also brings up another mole storyline. It would make sense that there would be more people involved in this conspiracy besides Walt, Nathanson and Spenser. Considering what happened to the man at Nathanson's hideout and the guy Nathanson called after bailing from the hideout of doom, the other mole is likely going to face similar pursuits from Bierko's men.
Lynn and Logan are closely competing for most annoying character on 24, not that they don't make for good drama. Lynn's first mistake is following orders from the useless Logan. Second is his inability to keep his private business that. Earlier, I've mentioned that this behavior was caused by his fight earlier. Lynn is the kid at school who is endlessly frustrated that he isn't cool that when he gets some power he seeks to make everyone else miserable. Lynn is more interested in getting the Jack, who happens to be following a lead, and his associates in trouble than following the break Jack gives them. Hopefully, Audrey will call up Heller (who apparently kept his job when the power shifted) to get CTU back in shape. Since William Devane is on "Crumbs" now, I wonder how much of a role he'll play if or when he returns.
One confusing thing is why Audrey didn't alert anyone at CTU to Nathanson's phone call. She doesn't know that anyone else in the government was conspiring with Nathanson's men. Yes, Lynn is giving everyone a hard time, but maybe learning that there is a lead would make him less cranky over being beaten. She was making it far worse for herself, especially when she got Chloe to erase all the phone logs from her station. Although she knows Jack, she didn't suggest that he go rogue or anything else.
Whatever Dwayne wants out of this keycard, it can't be good. The first theory would be that he is working with the Russians and getting involved with Jenny was a part of the plan. It wouldn't be surprising if Lynn's troubled sister wasn't in his file. The second would be that Dwayne is just trouble and will barge in at an inopportune moment. I hope that this isn't the case, but is the most probable.
There are certain comparisons to Palmer's situation with Saunders in season three (interesting how many parallels to season three there have been) to Logan's situation with Bierko. However, Palmer backed into Saunders' demands because he was backed into a corner, but eventually yielded. Logan is weak, however, and can't stand up to Bierko. We saw that when Bierko called them and Logan all but told Novick to tell Bierko he was in the shower.
Logan's weakness also stands to void the treaty he signed five hours earlier. When the terminal crisis was underway, all Logan could think about was how this was going to blemish his administration and the accord he would sign. Now he is willing to do something much worse. Even explaining that the terrorists were holding the US hostage with the nerve gas, it wouldn't justify Logan aiding terrorists in assassinating a head of state. While releasing the nerve gas would cause huge casualties, aiding the terrorists would trigger an international crisis that would make the Chinese problem last season insignificant.
Again, we're given another reason to love Martha. Considering Logan is too much of a coward to stand up to the terrorists, Martha has to give Logan enough motivation to rethink his decision. Luckily, she is able to do this without creating a scene or giving the terrorists' notice. This plan does make me worry about our beloved Pierce because he is only a guest actor and they seem to be eager to kill off characters this season.
While this episode is enjoyable, some flaws are apparent upon a second viewing. Considering how little Jack appears, this script could've gone through some last minute rewrites before or during filming. If this is the case, the last minute tweaking didn't bother me enough to hinder my rating significantly.
Score: 7/10
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